Dogs, donkeys and yaks

The sun goes down, the shopkeepers go home and the streets empty. Now is when the donkeys, dogs and yaks come out to play...



Two of the Bangalore boys are going home two days later, Rahul because that was what he arranged and Varun because Jetways screwed up his flight. Ahh, yes, this is why we love India. Roshan and Vikram left this morning. I will prolly visit them in Bangalore later in my trip.

Bye to the Bangalore Boys

We parted ways on a bottle of tequila. Usually I won't go near the stuff but I think it was good quality because I quite enjoyed the four shots and felt very good soon after rather than having a head ache and feeling poopy which is usually what happens when I drink hard liqueur. Salt and lemon are key. The boys had to go to sleep right after to wake for their early flight so I lay in bed drunk bemusing myself with my camera.

I got money out of the ATM today and while I'm counting the cash and putting it back in my wallet the ATM is beeping at me to take my card, but I don't want to take my card until I'm done putting my money away. Just before I finish I see my card slip back into the machine. No biggie but it was a bit alarming to see it go bye bye. It could have waited more than 10 seconds. Okay, sorry for boring blog, but I'm just hanging around Leh taking care of some business, waiting for my Ipod to charge and listening to some Indian music on this here computer. I'll pick up my card tomorrow morning at the bank.

I'm trying to get mom and dad to buy a carpet. Forget Persian rugs, these Kashmere carpets are out of this world. If you want one they range from $200 to $900+. Silk and wool carpets that change color and shimmer in the light, not to mention how soft they are to the touch and how luminescent they look. The silk ones even massage your feet. And they're surprisingly durable for being so soft -- the salesman crumpled one up to demonstrate the transportability and when he unraveled it again it was like a magic carpet-- totally unfussed. You really should consider....







I ran into Kathryn in the market, the Austrian girl who got intimate with the car windshield on the ride home from the party and helped her confirm her flight and she accompanied me to the post office to ship some CDs home. The post office didn't have any packing materials so I bought an empty box from a store that was a good size and then I picked up a cardboard bottle separater lying on the side of the street and tore it apart and used that as packaging between the CDs. Getting resourceful is fun, and necessary. Right after we went our separate ways I ran into another person from the party, a local, who gave me a little tour of Ladakh.





Still haven't arranged for my trek but hopefully will do that tomorrow. The season is gettting late....

Through rivers and over mountains

The jeep safari ride wasn't too bad; fun, if not a bit tiring. Everytime I'd fall asleep we'd go flying around a turn and I'd have to wake myself to keep from ending up in the driver's lap. Once I didn't wake up in time and the gear shift was the only thing that kept me from causing an accident. He played music the whole time. Hindi pop including the soundtrack from Kriish, a Bollywood movie! That was really nice. He had about 40 or 50 tapes on his dashboard and when he'd tire of a tape or when it wasn't playing propely he'd switch it with another one or sometimes he'd just throw it out the window.



I never got altitude sickness but I felt properly womped upon arriving and my back was pretty sore from bouncing about for 17 hours. I was developing a cold and felt I was getting borderline sick. Woke up in the night coughing and was like "uh oh, my luck has finally run out", but I had taken my trusty wellness pills and took more in the morning and was in top shape by the end of the day.

Last night went to a party/dance hall and was up past 3am. The guest house I'm staying in is run by a trekking guide and lots of people had just gotten back from a trek including four Indian boys about my age from Bangalore. They were celebrating their 6100 meter ascent. It was a bit strange to be in a dance hall listening to American music in this isolated mountain town. Was surprised how much energy and wind I had for dancing. They played Deep Forest "Forest Hymn" and Robert Miles' "Children" among other more traditional pop/dance/house music. Seems that many of the treks involve crampons, ice axes and 6100 meters of sky scraping fun. It was the
first time the guys from Bangalore had seen snow and yet they nearly made it to the summit of the 6100+ meter glacier peak which you have to ice climb up. I was duly impressed. Unfortunately they leave tomorrow morning.

When we were all ready to go home apparently the bus to bring us back to the guest house wasn't to pick us up until 6am. But, with some complaining and insisting, a little car smaller than a Ford Fiesta was arranged to pick up eight of us, yes eight (8) adults piled into a teeny four seater. Four in the front and four in the back. One of the guys in the front had to operate the shifter in sync with the driver because he was sitting on the gear shift. That was ... interesting. There was only one other westerner at the party and on the ride back, squished against the windshield she says "I love India" - yes, somehow it's moments like these that make travelling fun. In America we drive around in our oversized SUVs with one, maybe two people on a rare occasion, and in India 8 people happily squish into a car the size of a pin head and joyously sing custom versus of Old Mcdonald all along the way.

But back to the jeep safari. Along the way there were all these cutely written signs warning you that you'll die if you speed. Things like "The shortcut may cut short your life" -- "Life is short, don't make it shorter" -- "Be gentle on my curves" -- "If you’re married, divorce speed" -- "No race, no rally, enjoy the beauty of the valley." all of which seemed to have no bearing on our driver, especially the last one. I'm afraid no pics for awhiiile.. The internet is garbage here and expensive. One section of the safari reminded me of Fraser Island from Australia, flying along the uneven sand in the same style jeeps.



And the signs are not without their warrant.
At one point the bridge was out and a truck capsized in the water trying to fiord the river. A jeep in front of us got stuck and the poor occupants had to get out in the freezing water and shovel out. We were lucky and crossed the river without incident.

A truck stops to pay homage to a fallen friend. Or maybe he was just too afraid to go on..... Our driver would cross himself and say a prayer out loud whenever he made it to the next town. Up until he started doing this I had been feeling relatively safe considering his speed and the condition of the roads and pretty confident about our chances of making it to Leh in one piece. But it then ocurred to me that just because Indians are used to the crazy driving, doesn't mean they are always completely comfortable with it.



Well, there were pics I wanted to post but it doesn't seem I'll be able to until I go back to Manali. Maybe I can upload one or two.... okay, faster at night when less people are using it.

Sun kissed mountains


Uhh... snow.. cause it's the Himalayas.


Light, shadow, and mountain align...


The road winds ever on.




More funny road signs: http://www.oktrails.com/India/funny_road_signs.htm

I made it okay.

I will tell you about the trip over the mountains - it was a bit of an adventure - but first I am going to need a few days to acclemate to this altitude here in Ladakh (3500 meters or about 11375 feet).

The tourist season is winding down here so all the shopkeepers are eager to get my business. Nori I'm thinking of buying some shawls but want your input. I sent you an email about it. Thank for the scarf and socks! They have already been very handy as it is cold here in Leh and the jeep ride was very cold. More soon.

The Blog Must Go On

And so must the Intrepid Dr. Root, even if going on must be done alone and with one hand. The mountains are no place for prissy little girls anyway. They have forsaken the spirit and beauty of the Himalayas for the safety of Darahmsala. I saw them off just a short while ago.

Tonight at 2am I squeeze into a jeep with seven others to make the dangerous passage to Ladakh. The journey means going over the second highest mountain pass in the world, nearly 19000 feet. I'll make Nori sorry she didn't come with me. Ohh yes. I have just the trick. Just kidding Nori (half kidding :P) But for now it's time to get you all up to speed. Steve, didn't you ask me if I was going to go Zorbing in India? I'm pretty sure I thought that was an assinine question at the time. As some of you know, I went Zorbing in New Zealand. Well, when I came to India I wasn't exactly expecting to go Zorbing. I mean, it's not like it exactly crossed my mind ya know? Afterall, it's not like you *can* go zorbing in India... can you? I mean, this is India we're talking about, right? Well, it's the first year Minali has had Zorbing. I was pretty shocked to say the least.



I brought the cam inside the ball and shot a video of the zorb from inside.... Unlike in NZ, two people are harnessed in facing each other: me and one of the outfit operators. I gave the camera to the operator to shoot the video for me. Might upload the video on Youtube when I get back from Leh.

Just imagine me tumbling down the hill

We also went horseback riding and you could tell the operators got their kicks terrorizing unsuspecting tourists *ahem* I mean travelers by getting the horses fired up into a gallop. Unfortunately no pictures of us holding on for our lives.







Yesterday we did a nice day hike where we passed Mt. Doom and a field of 'pipe weed' growing in the wild.




Life in the mountains.






Gnome huts on the river bank.


At one point we had to fjord the river. After scanning the bank and finding no safe crossing we were forced to make two dangerous leaps over the frothy rapids.






It was shortly after that I fell and hurt my thumb and was overwhelmed by sympathy and concern by the girls who insisted I be helicoptered to safety immediately. Ahh, yes, one of the perks of hiking with girls. As tempted as I was to put my insurance to use, I dug deep and resisted the easy way out and holding my wounded thumb in my other hand, gritted my teeth and trucked on through to the end.


yet another gratuitous picture of mountains.

Unwinding after the arduous hike.
Clearly we still have a long ways to go to overcome camera shyness. Rachel is like "Get over it already Nora. Like, it's not that big a deal!"

Nori and I did a nature walk today in Fangorn forest-- really, LOTR could have just as well been filmed in India. Look, there's even a little gnome popping out of a tree.





We crawled through a narrow hole in the fence to see the billy goats graze in safe distance from the troll. Luckily we didn't see the troll, but we saw a few monkeys.







Nora playing with a shoe shiner on the street earlier today.




Farewell Manali.

A Dilemma

We went for a hike today and I hurt my thumb when I fell so it will be hard to do proper blog updates for awhile. Sorry. :(

Rachel and I were going to go Dharmasala maybe but we are torn now because who leaves an injured friend in the Himalayas?

Send get well notes. This is very sad. --Nori

I was going to go to Ladakh up north tomorrow but will prolly leave on tues. or wed. now. little drama for you all...

Nori and I make friends...

"Back that ass up" was the song playing in the restaurant while we were having breakfast this morning. Nori and Rachel had the restaurant put on one of their Hindi pop CDs. Something we all agreed was a bit more appropriate.

Yesterday we hiked up to a temple. Quite a remarkable view up there. Nori and I made friends with cows. I don't have a photo of me with the cow I was petting but I got a great photo of a cow stretching its neck and arching its head up so that Nora could stroke under its neck. Quite endearing but due to copywrite issues with a certain member of the party (hint: not the cow) the photo was not cleared for publishing on the blog. My sincerest apologies to my viewers about this but sometimes you just have to imagine.... Sometimes it's just better to be in the moment and not take the camera from its case though it threatens to burn a hole in my pocket. It's precious to me... but I know that sometimes I just have to let go.... It's hard, but this is all part of a process of growth and maturity. Wait... wait... there's been a change of heart. Nori has reluctantly agreed to have the photo published!


The view from a little restaurant I ate at while I had some lone time.


A flower in front of Nori's room.


Me outside our chalet.


Me again at a restaurant in town.


Some biker dudes on the way to the hike we did yesterday.


A man squatting by the side of the river that runs through Manali.


Nori and Rachel pausing a moment on the steep stairs.


Burros going down....


Rachel caught in the rain!





A Greek woman from Athens and her Italian partner we talked with awhile while we waited for the thunder and rain to subside.


On top of the mountain near the Temple.


The view from the bathroom window in our Chalet.


Rachel getting psyched to zip across the river.


Rachel bouncing on the zip line.



Me about to rapel across the river.


Me bouncing on the zip line. Woo hoo!


Bungee Jumping over a river in NZ: $110.00.
Crossing a river on a zip line in India: $1.25