Flying Solo... (Nov 22)

Morning came and Brad was completely immobilized. We tried massage, stretching and pain killers but he could barely even stand. Around 11 am I propped him up in bed, gave him the remote control for the TV and some crackers and headed out the find something to eat and check our train reservations on the internet.

The Lonely Planet showed a restaurant that looked like it should be next door to our hotel so I headed in that general direction. I walked for a bit... passing sari shops, a Docker store, a Levis store.. I was sure I'd missed it but I kept going and figured I'd find something else on the way. Then it appeared. It was not on the same street as the hotel, it was actually around the corner from the hotel. I slipped inside to discover a very posh restaurant with cloth napkins and waiters dressed in white shirts and black vests. I had spaghetti bolognese. It didn't occur to me until it arrived that it had beef... or did it? It was a meat sauce and it tasted good so I decided not to ask. After lunch I asked directions and headed to shopping complex up the road that had internet cafes. It looked more like an abandoned, multi-level self-store than a shopping complex but I did manage to find an internet place. I checked our train reservation and tried to find Brad a chiropractor. There don't seem to be very many in India and none in Amritsar.

Back to the hotel to check on Brad. He was sitting up in a chair - a good sign!! He still couldn't move around much. We had come to see the Golden Temple so we decided I should go without him and take lots of photos.

I called Jai and had him pick me up. An exhilarating ride through streets filled with every sort of shop and traffic. We scooted down alleys, over pot holes, around bicycles... in one alleyway there was a traffic jam. Jai decided to do a U turn and take another route. It didn't seem wide enough to me to turn around but he was driving - back up.. ok... forward.. ok... back again (hit the wall), forward.. oops, not forward, hit the wall again, forward? nope.. forward? ok...back... nope, forward again - the gearing was just not cooperating. He had a rickshaw driver from behind us help to push us backward and we were out... just as traffic started moving again (of course). We headed back into the alley... it was really quite comical. We eventually arrived at the temple. I arranged for him to come back and pick me up at 4 and headed for the temple.

The Golden Temple is the Sikh holy shrine with a large golden dome that is supposed to be covered in 750 kg of pure gold. Four priests keep a continuous chant 24 hours a day, 7 days a week that is broadcast by loudspeaker across the complex. There's even a TV station where they show the temple live (though there's not a great deal of action really). I wandered down past the market stalls selling temple souvenirs, including a small scarf you could wear on your head that was emblazoned with "Golden Temple".

The temple gate is guarded by men with very large mean looking spears. You have to cover your head and remove your shoes while inside the temple complex. There was a large green garbage can filled with scarves for people to put on - I had brought my own so I didn't have to use the communal ones. I put my sandals in my bag but a man told me that I had to check them. I guess shoes aren't even allowed inside. I checked my shoes, washed my feet in the pool at the entrance and went in.

The temple is made from white marble similar to the Taj. You walk down a staircase under a large archway and out to a very large courtyard - kind of. There is a large building that runs all the way around a sacred pool circled by a wide avenue. In the centre of the pool is the main temple, covered in gold. This is where the priests carry on their endless chant. I have to say, the temple is pretty darn golden. There is one bridge that leads to the temple called guru's bridge and it was lined with people waiting to go through with their offerings. I did a circuit of the pool, strolled by the dining hall where they give somewhere around 30,000 free meals a day, looked at the marble work and sat and watched the giant goldfish in the sacred pool. It didn't look all that clean to me but there were people bathing in it at a couple of ghats that were set up. At one point I caught someone sneaking a picture of me (tourist attraction again).

Since the place is white marble, even with everyone removing their shoes and washing their feet, it needs cleaning regularly. Men with buckets were flooding the walkway is some kind of assembly line while others came behind with giant squeegees. I got run over by a squeegee since I didn't hear him saying "watch your toes" - I should have learned Punjabi I guess!

After a couple of laps and plenty of photos to show Brad, I headed back out to meet Jai. He was waiting as planned. Another crazy ride back to the hotel but I was back safe and sound.

Brad had been trying to move around and get loosened up while hanging out in the hotel all day (rotting his brain with bad TV). We decided to walk to the restaurant I'd had lunch in since it was good and fairly close by. Trekking pole in hand, we struck out into the fray. A little slower than usual but we made it just fine and had a really nice dinner. The tandoori chicken was excellent. To loosen up a bit more, we decided to walk up to the internet place I'd been at earlier in the day, checked emails, called the hotel in Bodha Gaya and walked back. Some mobility was returning (thank goodness!)

One warning on eating in India... if they look like green beans, double check, they may be chilies and... if it looks like carrots..hmm... may be raw ginger... or so Brad told me after he finished choking!

Best Supporting Actor... the trekking pole (Nov 21)

We woke (really freaking early... 4 am) to get the bus to Amritsar. The bus stand in McLeod Ganj is 500 feet from our hotel so it will be a quick walk. We loaded on the packs (Brad could barely walk - he was using my trekking pole as a cane). We woke up the night watchman in the lobby to let us out and headed to the bus stand at 4:45. There was no bus. The taxi drivers informed us that the bus didn't come up into McLeod Ganj at night, we had to catch it in Dharmasala - down the hill.

Jump (hobble) into the taxi and zoom down the hill. Well, zoom as much as you can with speed bumps (one of which just about finished Brad off) and the taxi's engine kept stalling. We made it to the bus stand while the bus was idling, getting ready to leave. Whew!

It was one of the regular interstate buses with 3x2 bench seats. I grabbed a 3 bench and tossed in my bag against the window, grabbed Brad's bags and stowed them on top. Brad could still barely walk and the rush to the bus with the full pack on really didn't do him any favours. The bumpy bus ride wasn't any better.

The ride was about the same as the more expensive 2x2 pushback - hardly makes the extra price worth it. We pulled into Amritsar around noon and were immediately swarmed by touts all wanting to take us to the Golden Temple. They were so bad (and the signs to direct us out of the station and the Lonely Planet map were no help) that we dove into a restaurant to escape them.

Sitting quietly, having a snack while the touts staked out the exit, we discussed our plan of attack. Brad went out and called the hotel. He told us that we should take an auto rickshaw and about how much it should cost. We loaded up again and headed back out into the fray. In all the swarming, there was one guy (Jai) who had been trying to get them to give us enough space to talk to each other. I decided we should go with him. He took us straight to the hotel and was apologizing profusely for bothering us. We got to the hotel and Brad checked the room while I waited with the luggage and chatted with Jai. We decided we would use him the next day to take us to the Golden Temple as well so we got his cell number to call for pickup.

The rooms were quite nice, European style with the entrances to the rooms running off a central courtyard that had some tables and chairs. The room keys had small silver bells as the tags - cute in theory but annoying at 1 am when someone in the courtyard is trying to get into their room. The room was done in white marble and had a bench swing suspended from the ceiling. (Not sure what style or era that's from but it was unique). Brad couldn't stand or sit so we stayed in the hotel for dinner.

As I was unlocking the room after dinner, Brad was leaning against the railing and his back cracked so loud that I heard it... that accompanied by a large groan of relief as his back shifted partly back into place. More pain killers and I tucked Brad into bed.

Totally unrelated... the light bulbs here all seem to be clear (not frosted) and lamp shades are pretty much non existent - this tends to create really harsh light and shadows at night. Also, there is extensive use of fluorescents - which is really hard on the eyes (see Joe vs the Volcano... it sucks the life out through your eyes man!!)

Grass is Greener Syndrome... (Nov 20)

Our last day in Dharmasala. We woke up, had a snack and headed to yoga. Another sunny day (actually, we haven't seen a single drop of rain since we arrived).

Another Australian girl was joining us for class today (the Scottish girl I'd been practicing with lately was too hung over today). We were progressing through our sun salutations when Brad jumped back and his back jumped out of alignment. He twisted this way and that... he tried everything he could but it was out and was not going back in. He left in the middle of class and hobbled back to the hotel to take some relaxants and lay down.

I continued on and finished class, made dinner plans with Sivadas and Joanna and headed back to check on Brad. He was crumpled on the bed, could barely stand and when he was walking we were going no where fast. (Note.. no more jump backs for Brad!) We spent a quiet afternoon, had some lunch and picked up our train tickets, packed and pretty much just tried to get Brad's back to relax and shift back into place (maybe I should go to chiropractic college?) We are catching the bus at 5 am tomorrow and the bus rides are pretty short on shock absorbers.

Just before dinner, we headed to check email and call some hotels in Amaritsar. Its generally easiest if you know your destination when you arrive into a town, otherwise you could end up at some hotel that the rickshaw driver "knows" and your hotel bill is jacked up by their commission (better known as finder's fee).

We met Sivadas and Joanna on the street and strolled down for one more meal at Taste of India with Mrs Nishi's excellent cooking (the kofta is outstanding!)

Sivadas is originally from Kerala (in the south) and he and Joanna will be heading down at the end of the month to spend Christmas with his family and to escape the winter. Sivadas had an interesting wisdom about him. I'm not sure how old he is but, from his various exploits and hints that I picked up along the way I'd put him around my age. He had no five year plan - he was just going with the flow - but he'd already done a great deal. He had been a trapeze artist in the circus, run a restaurant, taught yoga, taught ayurvedic massage, and on and on. One of his thoughts on yoga - if you use a block, you'll always have to carry a block. Instead, do what you can and let your body find its awareness and placement. It will find its way to the pose.

We also discussed food (we were eating dinner... food is a great topic!) We had also noticed that the more expensive the food, the worse it seemed to be for you. If you keep it simple, your pocketbook and body will be much happier. Something funny he told us was that India was a large exporter of beef. It seems strange, since you can't get beef in most of India (although he said you could in Goa due to the large number of Christians who live there). He also said that in some places, when you were ordering lamb or mutton, you were actually getting beef. I guess the cow isn't as sacred as it used to be.

Having done so many things and Joanna being a traveler herself, we started talking about, what I would describe as "the grass is greener syndrome". People tend to crave and gravitate to stability, except when they have it. People who are on the road all the time just want to stay home and people with a comfortable home and family life just want out... adventure. They usually aren't sure where or what, they just want out. Maybe it's just a lack of contentment or maybe not realizing or appreciating what they have or maybe by practicing contentment you will realize what you have... or maybe I'm babbling and have lost my point somewhere... sorry, I've been reading too much Dalai Lama, The Way to a Meaningful Life.

After dinner and great conversation we headed back to finish packing, settle the hotel bill and head to bed. Brad's back is still out but we'll keep up the stretching, muscle relaxants and see how we do.

To Boldly Go... (Nov 19)

We decided to take the trek to Bhagsu today. It's a small village a couple of km from McLeod Ganj. The guide books indicated that there was a nice hike to a waterfall (Joanna said it was a nice walk and that the cafe above the falls was good).

We had breakfast, grabbed our packs and cameras and set off. The walk to Bhagsu is fairly easy running along a paved road set into the side of the mountain (much like everything else is set into the side of the mountain). The small tea stands along the way seem precariously perched, balancing one edge on the side of the road, held up in the rear by flimsy looking stilts. Sivadas told me that they often have small tremours but he didn't seem all that concerned about it.

We reached Bhagsu and a choice - the road forked off in several directions and road signs seem pretty much non existent in India. We consulted the map, made a (somewhat) educated guess and headed off down the right fork. A few minutes later, we came across a small temple that had a cold spring bath. The water was gushing out of the mouths of three fishy looking characters into a large pool that then overflowed into a bathing pool. Even though the water was cold, there was one person using the bath.

We seemed at a dead end. There didn't seem to be any roads leading anywhere from here let alone to the waterfall. Then Brad noticed an old faded sign on a wall next to an archway that said "waterfall this way". We guessed right! Imagine that!

We wound through a narrow passage and came to the entrance to a trail we could see snaked its way along the side of the mountain overlooking a stream below. It was laundry day and there were clothes and blankets stretched out over the boulders on the banks of the stream drying in the sun. There was a group of children splashing about and playing in the water creating echoing laughter up the valley. The faded sign at the start of the trail said that the path was closed due to danger. The sign looked pretty old and we figured it was just a CYA so we went ahead anyway. If we came to a landslide and couldn't go on safely, we'd just turn back.

It was a really nice trail. Much of it had been paved with large stones cemented together and stairs formed with the proliferous shale stone. We reached the waterfall without incident. It was funny to find a small stand selling chips and snacks right at the base of the waterfall but I guess he must get enough business.

We took some photos and started up the path next to the falls. There is a cafe above the falls called Shiva Cafe. It has some of the best chai and some really nice gardens where you can relax in the shade and cool off from your climb. In the summer it also has a pool fed by springs for swimming in.

Many of the rocks in the area are flat, smooth and flake almost in layers like shale. Every little nook and cranny of the gardens and the cafe had stones that had been used as canvas where artists and people passing had left their messages... impressions... inspirations. It was a garden filled not only with flowers, but with art. One of the stones had a quote from Goethe, "Whatever you dream, begin it now. Boldness has a power and magic in it."

We relaxed under a tree for awhile and let our feet cool. It's a bit of a climb up to the cafe and we'd worked up a bit of a thirst. We watched two local dogs getting friendly with three Austrian women who were eating some sausage they'd brought with them. They were refueling before venturing on to trek a bit higher.

On the walk back down we were stopped twice. Once by a group of eight or nine men who were on a tour and wanted a photo taken with Brad and I (they, of course, also had eight or nine cameras) and once at the bottom of the trail by two young men who simply wanted us to take their photo.

On emerging back at the crossroads, we were considering continuing the loop to Dharmakot to eventually end up back in McLeod Ganj but it was getting later in the day and we weren't positive of the route. We headed back the way we'd come.

On the road, on the way back we stopped at the Jungle Hut. It's an open air restaurant done up like it should have been on some Caribbean beach with thatched roof and drinks with umbrellas. I had a strawberry soda just for fun. As we sat looking out over the valley, a parade of women wearing brightly coloured saris went by accompanied by a large number of children. We think that it was the end of the school day and that the women were walking the children home.

As we continued on our way, Sivadas and Joanna passed us on their motorbike. They had been out for a ride and were headed back to town. We chatted and decided that we would take one last yoga class with them the next morning. Since we are leaving Monday, we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for the small trinkets we wanted to pick up. They had to be small since we don't have much room and we really don't want to have to carry too much!

I have a certificate from my massage class and some handouts that I didn't want to get crushed so we also picked up a telescopic document tube. It should come in handy for storing the prayer wheel as well!

Back to School.. (Nov 13 - 18)

We spent the rest of our week in Dharmasala pretty much the same. I was doing yoga with Sivadas in the morning from 10 to 12 and then massage class in the afternoon from 2 to 5.

Brad took a morning Astanga class with Vijay one dayu for 2 1/2 hours! He ran through the full primary series and those who knew how, were to use ujai breath and the bandas. He looked pretty tired when I saw him afterward.



After 6 days of yoga with Sivadas my headstand is getting pretty darn good! I still need the initial help getting up but once up, I can balance quite nicely for several breaths. I even managed a hand balance in crow for a few breaths and, on the last day, my toes reached the ground in plough. I kind of surprised myself with that one. It's a pretty tough class - we are doing 3 types of sun salutations (classic, A and B) 6 to 8 times each. Thankfully, we get to do a small relaxation right afterward before we dive into the asanas. The ayurvedic massage is really interesting. I'm learning the Kerala method that ws apparantly developed as part of a martial art system to relax the body and stretch out after a workout. The essential oils all have a different use depending on the weather and the person's constitution. It's so cool and Brad hasn't been complaining about my need to practice on him each evening!

Brad spent three days in an Indian cooking class with Mrs Nishi. She has a restaurant in town called Taste of India and the food is excellent. She's had the restaurant for eight years and is written up in the Lonely Planet guide. One of her key instructions - only use fresh ingredients!! Nothing canned or frozen allowed. She even makes her own cheese for paneer! I can't wait until Brad can test out his new skills on me. He learned to make my favourites - channa masala, dahl makhani and samosas, among other things. It looks like we're going to have to get ourselves a pressure cooker to do things up right.

The power grid here had been pretty stable up until Thursday night. We'd been so long without a power failure, we were almost shocked when it happened! All the restaurants cook with gas so it doesn't really slow business down any (I guess we'll have to get a gas stove as well).

Some random thoughts and observations on Dharmasala :

The use ketchup on everything. Or maybe they just assume that tourists use ketchup on everything. What I wouldn't give for a good tamarind sauce or coriander chutney!

We had some of the best chocolate cheesecake I've ever tasted at the Green Cafe. It was like a really dense, rich brownie.

Dharmasala seems to get a really high number of Isreali tourists (Mrs Nishi was even fluent in Hebrew). We're not sure why this is.

Dharmasala is quite a spiritual place with a large number of temples and shrines (and the residence of the Dalai Lama). There are monks everywhere yet, at the same time, it's quite touristy with every second shop hustling souvenirs. Even so, they shopkeepers and monks seem to coexist quite happily.

One afternoon we walked around the main temple and stood outside the gats of the Dalai's pad. We are a bit curious about something the monds were doing. One would be standing and talking to another monk (or small group of monks) and would puntuate what he was saying by, what I can only describe as an exaggerated clapping of the hands. I had read somewhere that they often have afternoon debates so maybe that's what was going on - we'll just have to investigate further.



Even as quiet and peaceful as this place is, one morning while in yoga, I heard a very heated domestic argurement going on next door - I guess people are people, no matter where you are.

The Exuberance of Youth.... (Nov 12)

We decided to take the morning yoga class at Kailas. These yoga classes are on a large balcony in the sun, overlooking the valley. There were two young men and 3 young women in the class with us. There were all traveling together from Australia and had never taken yoga before. They were using this class as an introduction. Since the kids (as I like to call them) were only in town a few days, the teacher (Sivadas) was giving them a crash course and showing them various poses along with advanced variations. Being kids, they always wanted to jump right into the advanced version. I know some of our yoga teacher friends are probably cringing at this thought (we were even doing headstand). One saving grace is that I think they were young enough that they wouldn't hurt themselves... much.

I was a two hour class and, like Vijay, was done in a kind of sing song voice and included breathing exercises. We found out that the school also has a 6 day Ayurvedic Massage course. I'm going to take the massage course while Brad looks into cooking classes.

We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and had some most excellent hummus (yes, hummus again – what can I say, it was good!) I tried out the ATM and took out some cash but Brad’s card wouldn’t work.

I went back to Kailas to start my massage class. I’m taking it with a young Russian Kundalini teacher named Natasa and Sivadas’ girlfriend Joanna. Joanna is originally from Dublin. The massage is Kerala Ayurvedic and I think it will be pretty interesting. We covered some basic theory and the opening relaxation and head massage today. I’m sure Brad is going to enjoy my new skills!

While I was in class, Brad wandered around town peeking into shops and testing various tea stands. He also showed some amazing restraint while in a bookstore and managed to exit without buying an armload of books! He tried the ATM again in the afternoon with his two alternate cards and managed to blow up the machine. He claims it wasn’t his fault, of course.

We met after class for dinner and a movie. We caught the Corpse Bride this time. Very Tim Burton.

High Tea (Nov 11)

After two days of yoga with Vijay, we decided to take a day off and do a bit of exploring. There are plenty of courses and studios in town although not all of them are fully operating since it is low tourist season right now. We wandered around and checked out 2 or 3 places. There are still alot to choose from. One place that seems interesting is Kailas. I think we'll check it out tomorrow morning for a yoga class.

One thing we've noticed about Dharmasala is the number of beggars. Maybe its because we are in a more touristy area (like being in downtown TO or the Byward Market in Ottawa). The majority of the beggars are lepers (it looks really painful) and we've started to recognize them - they seem to have their usual corners where they sit.

We wandered down the hill and stopped for tea at a croissant shop. Yes, real live croissants! I opted for some marble cake (it was quite yummy) and Brad had some apple cake type thing. As we sat soaking up the sun, we perused the latest edition of the Lonely Planet. The cafe had it, among other books, available for people who were just hanging out. The latest edition hadn't been released in time when we were preparing to leave. Not a whole lot had changed but we made a few notes.

As we were sitting there a small shop up the road opened where I'd seen a great suit that I was interested in. We stopped in and started looking around. The suit is an orange tunic top with nice detail work on the neckline and sleeves, a pair of burgundy drawstring pants and a scarf. The pants were very giant - one size fits all but the top is pretty snug. The shopkeeper was Indian but spoke English with a French accent. I understood why when his wife came in - she's from France. I accompanied her above the shop to the tailor to get the top altered a bit - it will be ready tomorrow.

We stopped at the movie theatre to watch Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - we'd both seen it before but it was really good so we decided to see it again!

Momos versus Perogies (Nov 10)

We may be taking this slowing down and relaxing thing a bit too far... or are we?
Maybe we haven't been away long enough yet and still feel that we need to be "doing" all the time. I guess that remains to be seen but regardless, today we didn't get up until noon!! (Scandalous!)

We had a small snack and a quick email update and headed to another yoga class with Vijay. Yoga in India (so far) is really different in some ways from yoga at home. The poses are pretty much the same, it's more the approach. We start in relaxation while Vijay gives a guided relaxation in a sing song kind of voice. Then we do some rather callisthenic type warm ups, then sun salutations, then relaxation, breath exercises and then final relaxation. Vijay does another sing song relaxation and chant and you're done! It was another excellent class.

There were some young people in the class from the US we were speaking to afterward - one girl was complaining that since she started running her hamstrings were always tight. We didn't think she'd be up for the "stop running" solution so Brad (being Brad) showed her a great stretch she could do with a partner.

We headed back up the hill and stopped for soup and potato momos. The momos are Tibetan and are alot like perogies (without the fried onions and sour cream). We did a bit of shopping at the Green Shop to buy some boiled water. They sell boiled water in an effort to reduce the waste produced by all the plastic bottles. While we were there we also saw that they were selling notebooks made from recycled paper (made by Tibetan refugees) and lots of herbals creams and oils. I picked up some hair oil (makes your hair really soft and you don't need conditioner) and some cold cream. Since it's getting on to winter, the air is getting really dry so the cold cream will come in handy.

Charlie's Angels was on HBO! I know, bad movie but it was entertaining anyway.

Tibet or India? (Nov 9)

More exploring today.

After breakfast we just kind of wandered around. We haven't managed to located the Dalai Lama's residence yet but I'm sure, if he was home, there would be alot more pilgrims in town.

There are several temples in Dharmasala and there seems to be more Tibetans than Indians here. They have cooperatives set up for when refugees arrive from Tibet to give them a trade - I guess that's why there are so many shops selling Tibetan souvenirs. There are also a ton of monks walking about.

I really like it here.

We checked out a few different hotels in the area but we have decided to stay where we are. It's a bit more than we want to pay but it's clean and comfortable (it actually has chamber maids... you don't understand, this is the first we've seen) and a portion of the proceeds go to a trust to support Tibetan orphans.

We've also located a couple of yoga places and have decided to take a class today with Vijay at the Universal Yoga Centre. The room is a large, empty warehouse type place with cement floors. They put down tarps and mats to cut some of the chill from the floor and they have two space heaters going to warm the place up. Vijay has been practicing for over 35 years according to his pamphlet and he donates 35% of his profits to the Tibetan school. The class was fairly full - around 20 people. Since it is low season, not all of the studios are operating.
Vijay has 4 student teachers as well, demonstrating and adjusting. It was a 2 hour hatha class and it felt awesome!

At one point during class we were in supta padangustasana and I could hear Brad talking to someone. Vijay was standing over him asking him where we were from, where and what we generally practice, etc... Brad may even have taken yoga classes with one of his students the last time he was in India!

After class we were pretty hungry. We stopped at a place called the Chocolate Log (yes, that's really it's name). It didn't have regular meals, just desserts. We had a tea and a piece of cake to give us enough energy to climb back up to the main square.

We stopped in at the hotel for some warm clothes and decided on Nick's Italian Kitchen for dinner. Brad had pizza and I had the spinach and cheese ravioli. The pizza was really good and the ravioli seemed to be made with wonton wrappers but it was quite tasty.

The theatre down the road was playing What the Bleep Do We Know so we decided to go see it. It was only 30 rupees a ticket - best deal for a movie I've ever seen! We stood outside waiting to go into the movie talking to a guy from Washington state, a girl from the west coast of Canada, a girl from Calgary and a girl from somewhere in the southern US recounting our various travel tales.
The theatre was 10 or 11 rows of 2x2 bus seats bolted to the floor and a 52 inch big screen TV. Major home theatre! For those of you who haven't seen this particular movie, I highly recommend it. I will make you think but be careful.. it may give you a brain cramp!

Hey... Did you see that?? (Nov 8)

We slept in and it was most excellent!
Our room is on the front of the hotel, just above street level, so it's a bit noisy but atleast we weren't bumping around in a bus! The rooms here are quite comfortable and clean and the staff is very friendly.

Hunger got the best of us and we got up and went down to the restaurant in the hotel. Toast, tea, porridge, juice, eggs - how continental (and filling!!)
We were sitting next to a window in the restaurant, it's on the second floor, looking out over the mountains... when a monkey walked by on the window ledge! They also told us to keep our window shut in our room because the monkeys might trash the place - how crazy is that!



After breakfast we grabbed our guide books and set about trying to get a lay of the land. The books indicated that this is a popular destination and would have tons of souvenir shops. They weren't kidding. We'd seen more Caucasian tourists in and hour here than in 3 weeks of traveling... and every shop seems to be selling handmade Tibetan handicrafts. There is no end to the souvenirs you could buy.

We stopped at the Green Cyber cafe and checked emails and blogged a bit. This place had the fastest connection so far ... and the most reasonably priced!

More wandering about. There are several bookstores stocked with books on anything you can imagine. Of course, there is a large concentration of books by the Dalai Lama - some of which are only for sale on the Indian Subcontinent... so we bought 2. (We shouldn't really be allowed into bookstores unattended.)

There are Italian restaurants (Nick's Italian Kitchen is apparently a favourite of Richard Gere), Thai, Tibetan, Indian... so many choices! There are also movie theatres (we'll have to check them out at some point) and lots of yoga and massage.

We stopped in one restaurant and had hummus and falafel (and it was really good!) We had a 'strong beer' that said on the label that it was 5 - 8% alcohol. I guess they couldn't decide! (And I'm pretty sure that's not all that strong by Canadian standards).

We were feeling incredibly lazy so we went back to the hotel. We moved into a room on the back of the building looking over the mountains so it should be much quieter and we'll get the sun all day to warm up the room. We hung out and watched TV all night... yes... we got sucked into the TV void. Hey, when you don't have TV, it can be a treat just to sit and watch TV all night!

One More ChowMein for the Road (Nov 7)

This is our day to move on.
We packed up, had our last breakfast on the veranda and did a bit more yoga.
After checking out we strolled down to our favourite internet cafe at Bob Johnson's Lodge (they also have the cleanest bathrooms in town!) The internet still wasn't working... grr!
We gave up and went into the downtown.

We dropped our bags off at the travel agent rather than lug them around all day. Our bus leaves at 6 pm and we should be arriving in Dharmasala around 4 am. It seems early but all the buses seem to leave at the same time.

Off to Chopsticks for a late lunch and to kill some time. We just can't seem to get enough of the fried wontons. We met ran into the older couple we'd overhead the conversation of the day before. They sounded British but they currently live in the south of France. He said he was originally from the US, had met her living in Britain, went to France for a bit and 23 years later they were still there. Go figure! We had a good chat about places they'd been so far in India and how to best send packages home.

There is another internet cafe nearby so we decided to give it one more try. It was actually working! I started updating the blog while Brad went off and got us some snacks for the bus ride. We stopped at the travel agent at 5:30 to get our bus number and hopped into a rickshaw to take us the 2 km down the road to where the buses were parked.

There was a pretty big line of buses on the side of the road but our driver managed to find our bus with very little difficulty. Our bags loaded in the back (you have to pay 10 rupees a bag to have them load them... it seems silly but I imagine your bag may not arrive if you don't pay).
Standing on the sidewalk waiting to depart I was looking up at the sky watching the stars come out when a couple of small bats starting flitting about catching dinner.

It was starting to get chilly so we ensured we had our warm jackets and hats for the bus ride (the buses are not heated and are often quite drafty. We are in seats 1 and 2 - directly behind the driver. The front of the bus, where the driver is, is walled off with glass and has a door where they go in and out of the passenger compartment. On the left of the driver and behind him are benches for the luggage guy and a variety of other people. We weren't sure why it took 4 to 5 people to drive a bus but maybe one was a backup driver.

There was a problem before we departed with the luggage door on the back of the bus. We saw one of the guys trying to cut a piece of wood of some kind. Boyscout Brad leapt into action with his trusty Swiss army knife (it has a saw and a fish descaler!) Off to the back of the bus, some more Swiss army magic and the repair was complete. We hit the road around 6:20 - not too late at all.

Even though this wasn't a state run bus and not the milk run, we seemed to stop a great deal. I guess each little town has travel agents, all selling tickets and we needed to stop. We also seemed to stop and pick up buddies of the driver every now and then, drive awhile, and then drop them off. There was a great deal of coming and going from the front compartment. We tried to nap as much as we could. I'm not sure when it happened but at some point I noticed we had a new driver and he seemed to be in a very big hurry. The road was not like the one of those northern cottage roads with twists here and there to get the blood going - it had really big turns and twists... constantly. I'm not sure if there were any straight sections! At one point he had to put on the brakes and back up because he couldn't make the turn and we were going to drive off the cliff. (Driving in these buses ... I'm pretty much going on the faith that the guys in the front don't want to die either). It was almost too exciting to watch the road ahead so, since I couldn't sleep, I looked up and watched the stars. They were moving much slower.

Two rest stops for toilets and snacks and we pulled into Dharmasala at 3 am. An hour ahead of schedule.

Not much is going on in Dharmasala at 3 am and there isn't much in the way of places to stay either. Unless they have a bus to catch, most people stay up the hill in McLeod Ganj. It's only 2 km on foot (straight up) but 10 km by road (due to all the switchbacks). There were 8 or so of us dumped off the bus - all looking rather bewildered and half asleep. The cabs were sitting waiting (they sleep in their cars I guess). Our book said it should be 100 rupees to McLeod Ganj but the cab wanted 50 rupees per person and the car would hold 4 people. We tried to argue, consulted with other people's books and eventually gave up. It was now 3:30 am , we were tired and we really had no choice unless we wanted to walk. We piled into a cab with a couple from Australia and headed up the hill. The Australian couple had just come off trekking in the mountains and had encountered some snow. Winter is coming!!

We had preplanned that we would stay at the Hotel Tibet. The cab dropped us out front and was gone. The streets were entirely deserted and the hotel was locked up tight. Standing there, trying to decide what to do, looking for a bell or something, we managed to wake up a young man who was sleeping on a cot in the lobby. I guess it's not unusual for people to arrive at all hours. He put us into a nice room and... thankfully, we went to bed.

Closed for the Season (Nov 6)

Tea, breakfast, yoga on the veranda...
We decided to walk to Vashist today - a nearby village further north a couple of km and on the other side of the river. The guide books indicate that this is where a large number of people choose to stay when they are remaining for longer periods of time in the area. There are also some yoga studios that we've seen posters for and a public hot springs bath. If we decide to move over to Vashist, Achariya also have us the name of a guest house to stay at.

Vashisht has a small Tibetan colony on the outskirts - it can be spotted by the prayer flags prominently displayed on all the buildings. We stopped at a couple of hotels and checked them out. It's low season now so the places are pretty empty. We decided that the places were pretty nice, we'd walked 1 1/2 hours to get there and we were hungry. We'd discuss our next move over lunch!

The World Peace Cafe wasn't open... the Freedom Cafe wasn't open... the Rainbow Cafe's chef was in Kulu so we could only get Naan and Pakora... everything was pretty much closed down for the winter.

We needed to eat something so we stayed at the Rainbow Cafe. The cafe is on the roof of a building overlooking the public hot spring baths. Brad had stuck his hand in the water that was flowing out - it's pretty hot! There were women washing clothes and dishes in one part... the other part had the pool with the bath section. There were a variety of people bathing, soaking, and just generally splashing about. As we sat and had our snacks we could hear some of the kids below protesting quite loudly about taking a bath. I guess kids don't like baths here either!

Over the screaming children I overheard a conversation next to us in the cafe between a young man who had been writing letters and an older couple. The young man had been traveling since July. He had cycled through much of Europe and was now cycling across India. The would take some major fitness (and a really tough butt!)

As we sat and snacked and contemplated, we decided not to move to Vashist but to move on from Manali to Dharmasala. We strolled back to Manali and stopped at the travel agent that Achariya had introduced us to so we could book our bus tickets. The bus leaves tomorrow evening.

We stopped to do some blogging, emailing, dinner and then headed back to our hotel. Using our experience of the previous evening, we got a big blaze going right away to try and avoid some of the smoke issues.

Warm and toasty, a spot of tea and sleep.

Someone Call the Fire Department!! (Nov 5)

We ordered room service today and ate breakfast on the veranda sitting in the sun. We watched the lizards warm themselves in the sun and relaxed.
After sunning for a bit, we did yoga on the veranda, looking over the garden. Living the life of leisure is getting pretty comfortable!

Off to do some more blogging and get caught up. The walk from the hotel has a section where there are stone walls on either side of the road and large trees creating deep shade. One side has a forest reserve and the other side is a variety of homes, gardens, etc. On the walk down I heard something and looked up. It was a very sizable monkey just sitting in a tree. Then, when I started to look around, I realized it was an entire family, babies and all. They were just sort of hanging out. I wanted to get a photo but they were a bit camera shy.

We met Achariya for lunch at 2 at Chopsticks. Achariya told us that Kuku usually brings the kids to this restaurant when he's on his school trips. We recounted some of the stories from the hike that Achariya had missed and talked about places to do short hikes nearby. We also wanted some advice on booking a bus to Dharmasala (our next stop).

As we were sitting in the restaurant a bit of an altercation broke out. I'm not sure what was being said but there was a man with his wife, child and infant. They had ordered a beer - I'm not sure if they were ordering food or just hadn't done it yet. The man started arguing with the waiter and poked him a couple of times. Achariya said he didn't want to pay for the beer. I don't know what the guys problem was but he seemed to be acting like a bit of a jerk from my perspective.

After lunch, Achariya took us to a travel agent to introduce us to his friend. When we decide to move on we can go there and be assured that we'll get a good bus at a reasonable rate.

More wandering, more internet, dinner and back to the hotel. We had wood tonight for the fireplace to warm the room up and take the chill off (how romantic!) Well... it was supposed to be romantic. The fireplace was a pretty old design so we ended up with so much smoke in the room that we had to open the windows and door to clear the smoke... which let the cold air in!
Once we had a good blaze going, the draw was enough to clear the air and eliminate the smoking problem enough that we could close the windows and warm the room. Whew!



Snuggle under the super heavy blankets... sleep...

Walking on Sunshine (Nov 4)

We got up this morning and enjoyed some juice and fresh bread we'd bought in a bakery the night before. Manali has some awesome little bakeries, our favourite is the Super Bake. It has some most excellent cookies - the chocolate chip are especially addictive.

We checked out after breakfast and moved up the road to Sunshine. The veranda will be great for sitting in the sun and relaxing. After dumping our stuff of we headed back into town to try the internet again - we've go alot of catching up to do!



While I was madly typing, Brad called Achariya to arrange to meet for lunch the next day. We hadn't seen him since we'd left the first campsite on Oct 25th.

Not much else of note really happened today. We ate, blogged, wandered, ate and basically just chilled out. We got back to Sunshine after dark. We wanted some wood for the fireplace to take the chill out of the air but they couldn't get us any after dark (no lights in the barn). We had to suffer. We snuggled under some super heavy blankets and went to sleep. (The blankets were so heavy in fact it was hard to roll over!)

My Kingdom for a Blog (Nov 3)

A lazy morning. Today we try to get caught up on all the goings on. We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant (since it was easy). The restaurant here has Italian Wood Oven pizza if you can imagine! We didn't have pizza for breakfast but we may try some later.

We wandered into town and started blogging. The first place we went to was really, really slow and I was having some problems saving, then the whole site went down... I was a tad frustrated so we left.

Onto another cafe, more typing, more problems, more frustration... it seems the Universe didn't want updates today.

Brad had gone exploring rather than watch me type so, when I gave up, I went outside and stood on the corner waiting for him to return. The flow of activity is constant and quite a spectacle to watch. It would be perfect for sitting on a patio and watching it all go by. Unlike other places we've been, I was entirely unharassed. One rickshaw asked me if I needed a ride and one guy asked if I needed a shoe shine. Granted my boots are a bit dusty but so is the rest of me!

Brad returned shortly and as we stepped off the curb we started to realize how easily we had acclimatized to the constant horns and traffic flow. It seemed like nothing to dodge between trucks and rickshaws and mules, amid horn blowing to get across the street. It's not unusual for cars to pass within inches of you but no one ever seems to get hit.. and the cars really never get going all that fast. Even the dogs and cows know how to dodge traffic!

We gave up on blogging and decided to get some lunch. The guide books recommended a place called Chopsticks at the south end of the Mall (the main street). It was small, like most of the restaurants here, they remind me of the restaurants in High Park. Long, narrow and max 10 tables. The menu had Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan food. Who knew that chow mien would taste so good sitting in a restaurant in India while listening to Bob Marley on the sound system.... check that .... where are we again??

After lunch we stopped to make one more try and get a bit of emailing done. More frustration so we decided to give up and check out a few hotel alternatives.

There are lots of dogs here that no one really seems to own. Every now and then one will just decide that you look like you're going somewhere interesting and start walking with you. We had that happen while we started scouting out hotels. This dog would even stop and wait for me if I was taking too long to climb the hills. It was very sweet.

We were looking for a hotel that was still nice but a bit less expensive than the Mayflower. Some of the ones we looked at were a bit dodgy and I just can't bring myself to stay somewhere that I could create a science experiment in the bathroom. We decided on a place called Sunshine Guest House.

Sunshine is an old Raj era building with separate dressing rooms, high ceilings, in room fireplaces and large verandas overlooking the gardens. We can only get hot water in the morning but the place has character.

We headed back to Chopsticks for dinner... we couldn't help it, the Hot and Sour and Wonton soups were just too good to pass up!

Back to our room at the Mayflower for one more night of luxury. It's quite cold at night so the space heater is nice (although too small for the room). A little BBC and off to bed.

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round (Nov 2)

Today we decided to head back to Manali. It's been a nice rest but I don't know if I can eat another parantha. We've been relaxing and recuperating long enough and we've decided it's time to move on.

We got up and Brad started the fire, made tea, toast, and home fries. It may sound silly but it was the most delicious breakfast ever!! I think the family finds it quite humorous that Brad cooks and does laundry. It's not that the men don't help out, it's just not their normal role. (Are we inadvertently introducing women's lib?) I think they also feel a bit sorry for us - in their eyes we are poor since we have no land and no children.

Keshau missed Diwali as he was delayed in Malana but he returned home this morning. He said he would arrange a taxi to pick us up at 1:00 and take us into Jari to catch the bus.
From Jari we take the bus to Bhuntar, then a bus to Kulu, then another bus to Manali. We had decided to take the local state run bus since it should only take about 4 hours and it was the cheapest way to go.

The family all came up to the guest house at 12:30 with some lunch for us and to wish us our final goodbye's. The cab arrived, we did all our goodbye's with promises to send pictures and we were off again. We arrived in Jari fifteen minutes later and caught the local bus. It was bumpy!!

The bus was fairly empty so we had the back bench to ourselves and could keep our bags between us (I didn't want to have to load them on the roof - they'd get bounced off!) When we pulled into Bhuntar, we found out that we didn't have to try and change buses again... our bus was continuing on to Kulu - Bonus!!

With state buses there are lots of stops. It seems to be like hailing a cab - if you see one you just stick out your arm and it stops. It's quite the milk run with constant on and off traffic.

When we arrived in Kulu, we pulled into a fairly large, bustling bus station. There were buses everywhere. None of the signs that were in English indicated Manali as a destination so we went to the booking counter. The man came out of the office and pointed at a yellow bus that looked like it was getting ready to depart. We hustled across the parking lot, Brad confirmed with the driver that he was indeed going to Manali and we hopped on. This bus was quite full. An older gentleman got up to let me sit in the back seat and we stashed our bags underneath the seats. A little more squishing and maneuvering and Brad managed to sit as well. We were off again on more twisty, turny, bumpy mountain roads.

About 1/2 way there we stopped in a place called Patikuhl. There were some road side vendors, we were a bit hungry, and it looked like we'd be stopped for a few minutes so Brad hopped off and grabbed us some most excellent pakoras to snack on. They were actually the best pakoras we'd had so far!

Back on the bus and a short while later we arrived back in Manali - in the end it took just about 4 hours by bus. The bus cost us only 108 rupees while the cab to Jari took 150! We loaded on our packs and headed up the road. Since we'd been here before, we'd already scoped out where we wanted to stay and how to get there so we could easily refuse the rickshaw offers.

The Mayflower hotel is straight up the road from the downtown area about 1/2 km or so. It seemed closer when we didn't have our packs on but it was good to be walking after a long bus ride. The hotel is pretty high end compared to what we have been staying in - it has an in room water heater (called a geyser), TV with satellite and a space heater! Luxury!! The price was high compared to what we'd been budgeting to spend but we decided to splurge and scope out cheaper places tomorrow.

We were hungry so we wandered back into town to the place we ate the first time we hit town. The tandoori chicken was excellent. We tried some quick emails but didn't feel like spending too much time typing (sorry guys!)
Back up the hill and time for sleep...

Happy Diwali!!! (Nov 1)

Today is Diwali.
Everyone gets ready. There is no school, the house is cleaned top to bottom, fresh paint for all the walls, fresh garlands of marigolds strung over all the doors (did I mention how big the marigolds grow here?).
The excitement is pretty high as, from what I gather, this is their biggest festival of the year. We read in one of the guidebooks that it is tradition to give sweets so Brad decided to head into Jari to get some supplies while I just hung out. Keshau had headed to Malana for business the previous night and wasn't expected until later in the day so Brad could sneak into town, get some supplies and sneak back before anyone was the wiser.

Half hour hike down, 15 minute wait for the bus, 15 minutes on the bus and Brad was in town. The town was busier than usual with preparations and last minute shopping for Diwali. Brad wandered around and checked out all the shops and the rest of the town. He even checked out the hospital in case he decided I needed more attention. Fireworks are another feature of Diwali and they were being shot off regularly all day. Brad bought us some snacks and supplies along with an extra treat - potatoes! (I had been craving a baked potato)
He also bought chocolate for the kids, a kilo of these honey spiral fried pastry things that would rival Krispy Kreme and some whiskey for Keshau... oh... and some fireworks of course! He also enjoyed a leisurely tea while he waited for the bus back to the path. On the bus Brad was busted by Keshau's son who had also gone into town to get some supplies. They rode back together and Brad, who was looking forward to a leisurely hike back up to the house ended up with a brisk, breathtaking climb.

When he got back with all the goodies, Brad got the fire going and I roasted the potatoes in the wood stove. Alas, my timing was off and I couldn't enjoy them (I had to take my medicine on an empty stomach). Ah well, homefries for breakfast then!

We headed down to the main house for the celebration. Everything was freshly painted and there were symbols on the floor at all the doorways in red sand. We sat in the living room and watched all the action while we snacked on the fried sweets. There was music playing and much running around - it was very festive. Since it is the festival of lights, the son at one point plugged in this string of Xmas-like lights that flashed off and on. It turned out that they were not Xmas-like lights, they were actual Xmas lights since they played that annoying electronic music... and it was Santa Claus is Coming to Town - it was a bit surreal really.

The colour for Diwali is red. They tied red yarn around our wrists and one of the little boys smudged red on our foreheads. They put on a DVD for us to watch some of the traditional dance as well. (Seems to be mostly hand movements).

At some point they told us it was time to go outside. Time for fireworks! They had bags of them, along with the ones that Brad bought. Brad almost got his hand blown off twice - some of the fuses are really short - and it took a couple of days for the hearing to come back in his right ear. The kids thought it was hilarious (of course). I have to say, it was really fun.



After we had finished blowing stuff up, off to the kitchen for dinner. Chicken, rice, dahl, chapati, and some sort of sweet corn meal honey concoction for dessert.

After dinner we were enjoying tea with three of the women - practicing our Hindi. We started to explain how a western wedding ceremony worked with the exchange of rings and the kiss at the end. There is no public kissing between the sexes in India so when we kissed it caused some blushing and a fit of giggles.

It was a very full day so after tea and some photos (the kids love the digital camera) it was off to bed.

Trip to Jari... (Oct 30 and 31)

We decided to head to Jari today since we realized that we'd been out of contact for awhile. Jari is across the valley and can be seen from Chouki but it's not like you can just hop in the car and drive over. We had a long hike down to the river at the bottom of the valley, crossed the bridge at the large hydro facility (strange that they lose power sitting right next to the hydro facility), and then the local bus into town. The bus runs every 1/2 hour and costs 2 rupees - seriously cheap.

The hike down was OK - Brad's knees were a bit sore but not the stabbing pain he had previously. Jari, or what I saw of it, is not very big. It's more like one road with a strip of shops and the usual clamour of people and cars and trucks and buses and cows and dogs. There is only one internet cafe in town but the service was down and had been for quite some time. They weren't expecting it to come up any time soon. This is the same service that carries long distance calls so local calls could be made but long distance was not happening. The next closest town was 45 km down the road and we had no guarantee that it would be working either. I was starting to feel nauseous (not really eating for several days was wearing me out fast) so we decided just to go back to Keshau's. Rather than take the bus back and hike back up to the house, we took a cab for the big splurge of 150 rupees - it was worth every penny!

The rest of the day... and the next day... more relaxing.
We both managed to plow through a full novel (the same novel actually) in 3 days but, as Brad put it, it was a real page turner! (For those of you looking for an exciting read... check out Angels and Demons by the author of the Davinci Code)

At one point I was sitting and reading on the veranda in a plastic lawn chair, Brad was next to me washing the laundry in a bucket. (The Cipro had made me even more sensitive to the sun so I was constantly trying to sit in the shade but warm myself in the sun). As I was sitting, I felt something heavy hit me in the shoulder - it was heavy enough that I'd initially thought that Brad had thrown a wet Tshirt or something at me. I looked up just in time to see a large lizard launch itself off my shoulder, onto the ground and down the side of the wall. I guess Brad was blocking the way to his afternoon stroll and I looked like a good launching pad!

Along with the lizards, there are some freaking huge ass spiders (pardon my language). I'm talking really big... bigger than any dock spider I've ever seen. I'm OK with most creepy crawlies but spiders... well let's say I find those a challenge. It got so that I'd have Brad do a spider sweep before I went to the washroom. One day I was going to get washed up and the spider that Brad launched out had to be 6 inches across - the body alone was 3 or 4 inches... it was big enough that it's eyes glinted in the light from my flashlight!!

We also had to implement a rule about checking the woodpile before grabbing a stack. One night, while building a fire, we discovered a scorpion in our wood pile. Brad thought it was only a baby but I thought it was plenty big enough and it looked rather annoyed with us.

Hanging out in Chouki (Oct 28 - 29)

Sleeping, eating, napping, resting, hanging out... that pretty much describes how we spent our next few days. I was still not getting any better and, although we had a bed, I wasn't resting very well. There was constant activity, Brad was doing an excellent job taking care of me, but I wanted quiet and rest. We decided to move to the guest house since it was quieter and the toilet was right next to the house.



It had gone on long enough and the symptoms were enough that we decided I needed to start taking the Cipro. If there was no improvement in a day or 2, I would take a taxi to Manali to see a doctor... Brad said "no arguments" (who me argue?)

I sat, watched the lizards dart back and forth or just sun themselves, tried to eat when they fed me (I had no appetite) and basically just tried to get better. Brad is an excellent nursemaid and took very good care of me.

Sitting and absorbing the comings and goings of rural life was interesting. There is a constant flow of people carrying, washing, cleaning, harvesting, threshing - that amid the comings and goings of goats and sheep and cows and dogs. We occasionally had to shush the cows off the veranda since they started to eat the cardboard boxes that were lying about.

There was always something going on but no one ever seems to be stressed out or in a hurry to get anything done. There were no deadlines to meet... Keshau doesn't even have a watch - he tells the time by looking at the sun, and that's close enough.

On moving to the guest house, there is a kitchen area in the back where one of those little wood stoves is located. Brad managed to figure it all out and boiled some water for drinking, washing and tea. He's quite a boyscout! We kind of got into the whole routine of getting up, gathering wood, boiling water, making tea, washing, eating, cleaning, relaxing, repeat. It was funny that we adapted so quickly - you want tea, you gather wood, make a fire, boil water. If you want a bath, you gather wood, make a fire, boil water... The daily chores of living take up most of the day - you can't just plug in the kettle or turn on the shower.

The moral, environmentalist in us was a bit uncomfortable constantly burning wood in these small, inefficient stoves but it works, and it has for a long time (and atleast wood is a renewable resource). If we improved it, followed that eternal cry of efficiency and effectiveness, would we end up creating more problems that we just don't have the foresite to realize? I had this dream the other night that I had discovered this deceptively simple way to solve the world hunger problem but then I thought that it was a bad idea since it would lead to a population explosion on our little planet that can barely hold the population that exists today. (I know I'm crazy... it's ok)

Brad has noticed that our level of hygiene is higher in India than at home (even if we don't shower every day). We have to treat the water, bleach toothbrushes and drinking containers, keep hands clean - we have to be very vigilant in order not to get sick (again). We can't just turn on the tap and assume we'll be OK... shades of the future? (Don't forget Walkerton!)

Time for a Rest........ (Oct 27)

Life starts pretty early at Keshau's. I'm not sure when it all got going but it was definitely in full swing when we got up around 8 am. The procession seems to have the daughter in law getting the fire going and breakfast cooking... daughter number 2 and 3 (Prema) get the kids moving... everyone bathes at the tap outside, brushing of hair, braids, getting dressed, getting books ready... organized chaos.

All the children including the fourth and fifth daughter attend school. Most of the children seem to wash and dress themselves (except the baby - Chandon - who is only 2 years old). Grandma and one of the daughters gets most of the brushing and braiding done.

We sat in the kitchen next to the wood stove and had breakfast while we watched it all unfold. The activity is pretty much constant. There are 6 grandchildren ranging from the baby to around 10 or 11 years old. Three of the kids belong to his son (who is 28) and three belong to his second daughter. His first daughter lives in the city with her husband (the only one who doesn't live at home). His fifth daughter is only 8 and her name is Minaxi (I don't think I spelled it right).

Keshau told us he is 50 so I figure his wife must be 46 or 47 - they look older than that but I'd imagine it has alot to do with the life they lead.



We had tea and toast for breakfast. I think they had bought the bread and butter just for us. I was still feeling sick so tea and toast was just fine for me (British comfort food?). The children washed and carried and basically participated in everything that needed to be done. It was interesting to watch them as they seemed pretty much self managed and looked after getting each other ready. The only time a parent stepped in was when something got out of hand. I'm not sure what those women were saying when they're speaking to the kids but their tone alone would stop me in my tracks!

Today we just sat and watched the world go by. A little napping... a little writing in the journal for when we return to civilization... Prema was quite interested in what I was writing. My handwriting can be pretty hard to read if you understand English so I went and grabbed her one of our books to read as well as our little photo album to show them where we live, etc. I've found that they are all really interested in learning more English and try very hard. I sat with her for the afternoon chatting and reading while Brad napped.

Lunch time is not noon in this part of the world - it seems to come some time around 2 pm. We started to wonder if they only ate two meals a day. We shouldn't have worried really, they are incredibly genuine, generous and attentive hosts. So attentive in fact that I always have company when I go to the bathroom. Now, you have to understand, they know I'm sick and they're really just trying to look after me. The toilet is outside, down a path behindthe house, past another house, past a cow and in a little building.

We ate lunch in the kitchen sitting on our special mat with the daughter in law, Prema and Keshau. Everyone else seemed to be at school or out working in the fields.

Everything and everyone gets cleaned, washed, scrubbed and generally maintained every day. It's quite rural... a farm really, but it's very tidy and well cared for.

The children returned from school and the women from the fields around 4 or 5. It gets dark (and cold) around 6. For dinner, this was the first night we were eating with the family. Son, daughter in law, Keshau and wife, 3 grown daughters, 6 kids ... all seated on mats around the small wood stove in the middle of the room which is lit by a single light bulb.



The conversation is lively and the kids can't take their eyes off of us. We are served first, then the family. Everyone (including us) ate Indian style. We were amateurs compared to the kids and Brad made more of a mess than the 2 year old. The son had been out hunting so we had mutton, dahl, rice and chapati. There was much fussing over us to make sure we were comfortable, had enough to eat, could wash our hands, did we want more (like an Italian Grandmother... you must eat!) The dishes disappeared and were cleaned before we knew what hit us.

When the children eat, we noticed, there is no complaining, no whining, no playing with the food. The food goes in the mouth and everyone is happy. Even the 2 year old gets just about every drop into his mouth.

As head of the house, the son and daughter in law eat after the family is finished. As we sat there, we were contemplating Keshau's life. He has land, some crops, wife, kids, grandkids... by Indian standards he is quite well off. He is a successful businessman... and he is completely content. I think we may have glimpsed peace. He goes for a walk in the morning, takes care of whatever needs taking care of, maybe takes a nap, a walk in the evening, time with family, and bed. He feels no pressure to keep up with the latest shiny gadgets, he is happy and there is plenty of love in the house.

The family has invited us to stay and celebrate Diwali so we'll be hanging out until after Nov 1.

The lights failed (it seems like a normal occurance), the candles came out - I took it as our cue to go to bed!

Praise the Universe... Halleliuah (Oct 26)

This morning was a fairly leisurely start compared to the others. There was a campfire and people were taking it easy. I had slept but still wasn't really at my best. I packed up and started to get ready for the journey out. Brad brought me a pancake and some tea but I couldn't eat the muesli - I don't think my stomache would have taken it.

After breakfast we started to descend again. Another 4K feet or so over 3 hours. Brad and I took it fairly slowly - I also think Kuku was keeping the pace slower so they wouldn't lose us. There was one landslide area taht we crossed that was so narrow I'm not sure how the horses made it across! I know that in the narrow areas, they have to unload the horses, carry the bags by hand and reload the horses... but this was reeeeeaaaalllly narrow.

The descent continued to be painful for Brad - his knee started hurting again while we were still in site of the camp! We hopscotched over two rivers (with only one wet teenaged foot) and stopped to have lunch in a beautiful valley meadow at the bottom of a shear rock face... this was apparantly our last climb up to the road to meet the bus.

After lunch and rest, we started up. There was a staircase here and there but I think it was a staircase for giants... it was a very slow climb. By the time Brad and I got to the top, the bus was fully loaded with students and luggage. Our bags were off to the side as we were not going on with the kids. We were staying with Keshau in his village for a few days rather than continue back to Manali right away.

We said goodbye to Kuku and everyone while Keshau grabbed us a car.
Keshau is a very well respected member of his village and he has a large family living with and around him. He seemed to know everyone who went by. At some point a car pulle dup and did a U turn, loaded our luggage and started driving. Thank goodness!! No more walking... no more carrying packs... and no more camping!

We stopped at what seemed like the middle of nowhere and unloaded the bags. We followed Keshau up a path that I hadn't even noticed on the side of the road to a fairly new building. This was the new house that Keshau and his son were building. It has a hall to be rented for banquets and weddings as well as several guest rooms. Brad and I sat on the balcony and enjoyed the breeze while Keshau went down to his current house to gather the keys.

On his return, he had two women with him. He explained that one was his daughter and on was his daughter in law. (Brad thought that he's said doctor and that they'd run to town and gotten a doctor because I was sick). Keshau's wife had decided that we shouldn't stay so far away up on the hill and that we had to stay with the family... even in India the wife is in charge!

Keshau has one son and five daughters... along with a variety of grandchildren and nephews... and brothers... and nieces... it was pretty hard to keep track. The daughter's are all very pretty! He knew that we were tired and had brought the women up to the house to carry our bags for us. They seemed so petite but his daughter-in-law (I figured later to be about 25) picked up my pack and slung it on her back like it was nothing. I guess working in the fields makes you lean and mean!

All the bags gathered up, we descended to the family home. The house is set into the side of the mountain amongst three or four other houses that can be seen in the immediate vicinity. It has a slate roof, low ceilings and is painted blue and white. We are staying in one of the daughter's rooms, just inside the front door. It is quite small holding only two single beds and a table. The table sits at the foot of one bed, next to the door and there is just enough space for one person to walk between the beds. There is a cabinet built into the wall painted bright red - I assume this is where she keeps her things though it isn't big enough to be a closet. The wall with the door is covered with pictures and Diwali cards.

Diwali is the festival of lights taking place at the end of October / start of November each year... it is like our New Year's.

The beds are a bit short and wooden.. the mattress pads are 1 1/2 thick or so but it looks like heaven coming from sleeping in a tent! We drop our things and are invited into the next room. This is like a living room. It is larger and square. The floor is covered with rugs and mats, it has two cabinets built into the walls, two beds pushed against the wall, a refridgerator, a TV, a DVD player and a telephone. We sit and rest. For the next little while, there is a virtual parade of shy, fascinated children coming in and out of the room from the front hall to the kitchen in the back.

They brought out a long, thick green carpet runner with dragons on it and placed it on the floor for us to sit on and eat dinner. Keshau said the first night we are guests and eat separate, after that, we are family. We sat and had an excellent, authentic Indian meal and tea.

The TV was showing some sort of agricultural program in Hindi but when the news came on, it was in English... weird man. The power grid here is not the most stable so the lights were constantly flickering. No one really seemed to mind until the power went out completely, then the candles had to be retrieved.

On returning to our room, the girls had pushed the two beds together for us and left four very large, heavy woolen blankets. We are still fairly high up and it still gets cool at night.

The kitchen is on the back of the house and has a two burner propane stove as well as a small wood stove. The wood stove seems to be where most of the cooking is done and the daughter-in-law (being the oldest female after Keshau's wife) seems to be in charge. The kitchen is also large enough to fit the entire family. I guess this is where they spend a great deal of time in the winter... staying warm. There is no insulation, no storm windows or doors, no central heating, no indoor plumbing... I can't imagine how hard winter is!

We'd had another long day and I was sick... we went to bed!

March of the Penguins....... (Oct 25)

This morning was a very early wake up... 6:30 am! It was the day of the 'mega hike'.
We are also breaking camp today and moving on to our next site. Brad and I had both had the sniffles since arriving in the mountains but this morning I woke up with a full on head cold and larangytis (oh what joy). No worries... I managed to collect myself and after some mad packing, getting ready, and eating... we were off.

We started on a fairly easy dirt track that wound through a pine forest. It could have been Alaska (except for the monkeys we saw). The air was nice and cool since the sun had not yet reached our side of the mountain. It was great weather for hiking.

Single file still with Kuku trying to get the kids to be quiet and just listen to what was going on around them. It was almost like he was trying to play the game - who can be the quietest... but I think they were a bit old for that and started to catch on.

After awhile, we turned off the dirt track and started up a fairly steep zig zag. It was slow and tiring but, if you were patient and took it easy, it wasn't too bad really. We went up... and up... and up... and up... oh... and up! At one point I wasn't sure if there was going to be a top! We did eventually emerge onto a meadow overlooking the valley and the mountain range in the distance. We were at what I thought was pretty high, but even there, there were cows just kind of hanging out... and this was only the rest spot - we still had a bit more of a climb to get up over the ridge.



It was an amazing view even if we weren't at the top yet. The mountains stretched off in both directions for as far as you could see - some were even covered in snow. Unfortunately, it was too hazy to get a really good photo so you'll have to take my word for it. Snow caps, clear blue sky, terraces of villages and apple orchards down to the valley below... breathtaking.



After a suitable rest and photo op, we continued on up over the ridge of the Bringa Top pass at 2,650 metres and then on to our very long descent to our next camp at Prini. We took around 2 1/2 hours to climb up and it took us the rest of the day to descend. Two of the guides on the trip that had stayed behind to break down the camp caught up to us just before lunch (good thing since they were carrying lunch!) Like the porters in Peru, this was like a Sunday stroll to them.

We stopped for lunch in a very pretty meadow below a couple of houses. There was corn growing and a few sheep and cows grazing about. A fairly simple, self sustained existence. I overheard one of the students ask where they did their shopping. I really hope she was kidding! Sleeping in a tent on the ground with a cold coming on in those cold mountain nights had taken their toll on me. I started to burn out somewhere just before we stopped for lunch. I felt like a bag of dirt. I ate what I could. Brad (always looking after me) made me a pillow from his vest and I tried to rest a bit. It wasn't long though. We had to press on.

The remainder of the hike is a bit of a blur. I was sick, Brad's left knee stopped working (old ACL injury that got aggravated during the many hours of descending). Kuku commented at one point (when we finally caught up to the group) that we looked like the walking wounded returning from the war. I gave Brad my walking stick to try and help ease the pressure on his knee (he was starting to walk like a penguin and I could tell he was in alot of pain). I just kept putting one foot in front of the other while still trying to appreciate how beautiful it all was.

We reached our campsite at 5 pm, just ahead of the pack horses that were carrying all the gear. Darkness falls around 5:30, and when it gets dark, it gets dark and cold. With that in mind, there was a mad dash to get tents up, get luggage unloaded so people could get their thermals on and most important, get the kitchen set up so they could make dinner!

We were staying on a small terrace near a village. Keshau is quite well connected in the area and had pre-arranged everything. The villagers had even flattened the area out for us and brought firewood for a campfire (wood is a fairly precious commodity). The local kids all stood in a group and watched the scene unfold. I think they thought it was a festival.



I was feeling worse than ever so Brad, Kuku and Keshau located our tent and started rushing to get it set up. We got our bags and got me tucked into a sleeping bag as quickly as possible. As I was sitting off to the side waiting for things to get set up I made the mistake of looking toward the kitchen tent upon hearing a noise... the chickens weren't for the eggs... it may be awhile before I eat chicken again.

With everyone in such close proximity on the plateau (and teenagers being so loud in general) I didn't get much sleep for the first 2 hours, but atleast I was warm and resting. There was going to be a campfire that evening but everyone was pretty tired so they decided to have one in the morning instead.
A head cold, a really long hike, sleeping in a tent... my immune system gave up and I came down with a case of what Brad likes to call "Delhi belly". I tried to eat some plain rice at dinner and some tea but I just did not feel well at all.... and we still had to hike the rest of the way out tomorrow. Back to trying to sleep....

We Go Up, We Go Down - Part 2 (Oct 24)

Wake up call at 7:30 with a nice cup of hot tea. You know... I could really get used to this!
Warm water arrived for washing up... breakfast and tent checks.
Kuku is trying to ensure that the kids not only have a good time but that they learn something at the same time. All the kids come from fairly priviledged families where they have maids who do everything for them. It's a challenge to teach them to be contientious and responsible and to look after themselves (besides the fact that they're teenagers).

We started our hike up. Kuku had everyone in single file, we were bringing up the rear. The pace was nice and easy. Our camp is at a little over 8K feet. Today we're hiking up to a little over 9K feet. It was a fairly short hike up and back - not too steep, through some meadows where horses were grazing. Only about 3 hours in total. We stopped several times to do this breathing exercise that floods the system with oxygen (the kids were still adjusting to the altitude). You stand with your feet hip width apart and as you take a deep breath in through your nose, you raise your arms out to the sides at shoulder height and raise up onto your toes. You hold for a second or two and then exhale forcefully through the mouth while lowering your arms and heels.

Spending time with the kids from HK has made something obvious to us... teenagers are teenagers... everywhere. They hung out in thier cliques, they rarely listen, they're loud and boisterous and they snack on junk food, alot! Some of them, I'm sure, had their entire backpack filled with junk food! We think one of them even had dried noodles.

Three or four of them likely found the entire experience life changing but we think for most of them it won't be a conscious change. Miss J (one of the teachers) had to remind them several times that their parents weren't there, that their nana wasn't there and there was no one who was going to pick up after them.

We returned to camp in time for lunch while the kids broke up into their pre-determined work groups to prepare the activities they would be presenting when they went to the orphanage in Delhi. Once they had that under control, Kuku asked Brad if he could conduct an impromptu group exercise for leadership and teambuilding. Brad was on the spot "oh crap... what do I do?" were his actual words as I recall.

Of course, in his typical, wing it, fly by the seat of his pants fashion (while avoiding the 6P's ... proper preparation prevents piss poor presentations) he managed to come up with some awesome ideas... all without props.

The main group was too big so we had to split it into smaller groups and we also wanted to break up the cliques while making them interact and maybe feel a bit out of their comfort zones. We used the lava pit rescue exercise which Brad ran. In this exercise, we had 7 of the kids stand on a 2x8 board we found that was approximately 7 feet long. The object of the exercise is to have one person move from one end of the board to the other without anyone stepping off and dying a horrible death in the lava pit. This exercise was mainly about communication and teamwork and in trusting your team.

The next exercise was the trust fall. I ran the trust fall assisted by Miss Thomson (teacher number 2). In this exercise I paired each of the teens off - still trying to mix it up a bit. One person stands with their back to the other and falls back, trusting that the person behind them will catch them. The purpose.. obviously, is trust. I discovered that many of them actually had trouble with this one. I guess teenagers just don't trust each other!

The last activity was the pillow toss run by Miss J. The students stood in a circle and tossed a pillow back and forth until Miss J says stop. At that point, the person with the pillow has to say something nice/positive about the person who threw them the pillow. The purpose was to try and learn how to be positive and give supportive feedback (since we're all pretty overtrained on recognizing and verbalizing the negative).

Two of the groups seemed to have a really good time and an overall positive experience from all three exercises. One group had trouble with all three activities and Brad said they died regularly by stepping into the lava pit. Miss J loved the pillow toss and the trust fall. In the quick debrief afterward to explain to the kids why we had them doing what they did, they asked if we trusted them. Kuku jumped up and had the smallest girl catch him in the trust fall. It was a complete hit!

After that was free time until dinner. We sat with Kuku, Miss J and Miss Thomson drinking some very smooth Indian rum mixed with Evian - "special tea" from coffee cups. It was quite delicious... and I think Kuku may have converted Brad entirely.

Tomorrow's hike is a long one so after dinner... straight to bed.

The Sounds of Silence...... (Oct 23)

Instead of roosters crowing as our wake up call, we had crows cawing in the morning.
We were lounging, not really wanting to climb out of our nice warm sleeping bags. The sun had not yet reached our plateau so there was still a chill in the air. When the hot tea arrived outside our tent at 7:30, that convinced us to emerge.
There was still frost on the grass and it was so quiet here that we could hear the sound of the birds wings flapping as they passed overhead, bees buzzing in the flowers, sheep grazing as they passed, dogs barking, lizards... well, lizarding. OK - so it's not quiet exactly, but the sounds sure are different from the city!

Some of the lizards here are quite large. I was also commenting to Brad on how big some of the bugs were that were lazily perusing the flower assortment when I realized one of them wasn't a bug... it was a teeny hummingbird! I wasn't fast enough to get a photo (too bad).

We could have gone on a short hike with Keshau today but we opted just to hang around and do nothing except contemplate our navels.

Another strange observation - why do we sometimes have so much trouble getting a cell signal in some parts of Toronto and Kitchener yet these guys have no trouble getting calls on the top of a mountain in the middle of no where??

The school kids arrived around 4:30 or 5:00. Twenty five Chinese and Korean students between the ages of 14 and 16 plus two Australian teachers and Kuku. Twenty five teenagers!?! Yes... it was chaos.

We worked the dinner assembly line to get everyone fed and then sat in on the details of the next couple of days. Tomorrow we will be doing a short hike to train the kids a bit and see what some of the strengths and weaknesses are. Early start tomorrow so ... as usual... bed!

We Go Up.... We Go Down... (Oct 22)

Up, pack, check out, down to breakfast.
Achariya arrived with Negi during breakfast and told us that Negi would arrange a taxi and meet us at the petrol station.
We finished eating, climbed into the taxi and we were off.
We got to the petrol station and Achariya explained that we would drive to the start of the trail in the taxi, drop off our bags for the horses and then hike up to the first camp. We also picked up our guide for the ride up - Keshau.

Manali is at around 6K feet above sea level. According to Achariya, our first camp is at around 8K feet. Our drive was back and forth and up and down. The start of the trail seemed a long way from town! We were surprised by the tall growths of pine trees, though we're not sure why exactly we didn't expect to see pine trees in India. Of course, you don't usually think you'll see monkeys in a pine forest either, but we did. As we were driving, a family of monkeys scampered across the roadway similar to seeing a family of raccoons at home.
At some points on the drive, I was reminded of the Black Forest in Germany. Brad once said that the more that he travels, the more he realizes how similar we all are.

We came to the end of the road and unloaded the packs. The men would be along shortly with the rest of the gear that would be taken up the trail by the horses. When the truck arrived with the supplies all the loading and unloading started. One of the baskets that was being brought along was moving and making noises. I realized that we were taking live chickens with us! I really hope that they're for eggs.

We grabbed our day packs and started down the trail to our first camp. Keshau speaks very little English but is quite friendly. He says it should take us about 3 hours to get to camp. As we hiked we marveled that we could have been in BC, Colorado, Upstate NY... even Morocco or Peru. It's very beautiful and I'm sure the photos won't do it justice. (Michael... any recommendations for cutting haze???)

We passed many apple orchards and I have to say... the apples were quite delicious... green and crispy. I guess they'd be organic, since there isn't much technology let alone pesticide use going on up here. That was another thing that surprised us. The apple orchards. There were plenty of them, terraced up the mountainside.

We climbed up ... and down... and up... and down...
I had forgotten how tiring it was to climb in higher altitudes... not as much air up here!
Going down, I'm great. Going up, I'm a bit slow.

Part way there we came across a German couple riding an old Enfield motorcycle. They were on their way down. They said that they had been visiting a friend up in the mountains for a few days.

Right when I thought I was about done (too tired to go on.. no lunch... only a few cookies and an apple... ) we arrived! Right on schedule too. It took right around 3 hours.

Our first camp is at the entrance to some sort of nature reserve. There are 3 buildings - 2 seem unused and the caretaker lives in the other one. It is surrounded with beautiful flower gardens filled with marigolds and a variety of other flowers similar to what I'd expect to see at home. We realized later that the flowers are likely for honey. There is a small opening in the side of the caretakers building where you can see the bees going in and out of a beehive. What better way to ensure lots of honey than to plant flowers for your bees!? The marigolds here get 3 and 4 feet high! My flowers never did that.

We sat and rested for awhile, just chilling. A short time later the horses arrived. There was a flurry of unloading and setting up of the kitchen, etc. The guys set up a tent on a small plateau above the gardens. It turned out to be for us. We get the 'penthouse' suite. We grab our bags and start to get settled. There are so many butterflies. Yellow, orange, even blue ones. There seem to be alot of crows too.



When the sun sets... it really sets. It dropped below the mountains at around 6:30 pm and it was dark and instantly cold. We sat on a mat outside the kitchen tent and watched them make dinner. Our cook is from Nepal. We had rice, some yummy fried potato and onion mixture and mutton. The broth for the mutton was very rich and flavourful but not too spice.

We sat out and looked at the stars - there are so many!! We could even see the milky way. As with camping, after dark there's not much else going on so we were in bed by 8:15 ... and it was definitely cold. I was wearing full long johns, fleece socks, cotton bed liner, fleecy blanket and my sleeping bag - I could have used another blanket!

Once I got myself situated, I did warm up. We had a sleep pad that they provided us plus our thermarests but the ground is still pretty hard and it's a challenge to stretch out in a mummy bag. Regardless... we were tired from our hike so we slept.

We Made It.. (Oct 21)

Off the bus in Manali and more rickshaw offers.
We weren't sure exactly where we were so we crossed the road to a public phone to call Achariya. He was out of town gathering supplies for the hike, gave us a hotel recommendation and said he would meet us later that evening to make plans.
We walked back to the rickshaw stand and caught a ride to the centre of town.

Manali is situated in a valley in a beautiful mountain range (check google earth for a birds eye view). We got a bit confused in locating the hotel. We were looking for the tourism office that helps you located state run hotels. We went into one place that looked like it was a tourist office but it was only connected with the hotel next door. He quoted us 1300 rupees for the hotel. On the other side of the hotel was the state tourist office connected with a number of hotels (including the one next door). He quoted the hotel rate as 1250 rupees. We decided it was only one night so we went into the hotel to book it direct. When we went to the desk, the clerk quoted us 1124 rupees... sold!

The room was nice enough. It gets some good light and there is a water heater in the room so we can take a shower. Since we're in the mountains and it's getting on into winter here it gets pretty cold as soon as the sun goes down. There are no heaters in the rooms but there are some nice heavy wool blankets on the bed so we should be warm enough.

Manali, for those who don't know, is the honeymoon capital and is also well known for the vast growths of wild hash plants. The locals consider it like a dandelion - a nuisance weed. Yes, it is still illegal to smoke hash here but I guess the locals use it occasionally when they are under "duress". Even with it being illegal and not really used regularly, after we dropped our bags and headed out to look around, it wasn't 2 minutes before we were offered some to purchase. I guess a great number of Europeans and Middle Easterners come here for the smoking.

There also seems to be a big market for saffron (although I'm not sure of the purity... quality... etc) The main street is called the Mall and off the main drag are all these little side alleys filled with shops. There is very little harassment here compared with Delhi and Agra.
Manali is also cleaner than anywhere else we've been. There are still cows and horses and dogs and donkeys walking around but this is the first place that I've seen public trash cans on the street. This could be a nice place to just hang out for awhile.

We had lunch at a nice little cafe recommended in one of the guide books (Mayur). It even had cloth napkins. Usually, if you get napkins here, they seem kind of waxy and don't really absorb much.

The shops have really nice woolen shawls for sale (the area apparently is famous for it's Kulu Shawls). I may have to pick one up before we go. We cruised around looking at some of the shops. I decided to buy some red bindi's after one too many men asked Brad if I was his wife. I think he'd be able to get a pretty good price for me if he decided to sell me. We also met a group of young people on vacation who were getting ready to move to Canada to become home care workers. Surprise... they also wanted their picture taken with me. I'm a celebrity!



We wandered around awhile longer, ate a late snack/dinner and met Achariya in the hotel. The plan is that he'll pick us up tomorrow between 9 and 9:30 and we'll hike to the first camp. For us... that's pretty early so... bed!