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!