May 25, 2011
Today’s entry which is a day late is going to be quite short and without photos as internet is scarce and I am not sure when I will be able to post anything let alone pictures. We woke up rather late today, getting an easy start to our last day in Delhi. This was exciting as we could sleep in for the first time in several days. We started off the day going to the Humayuns tomb. It was beautiful and the geometric and symmetrical pools and manmade water ways were extraordinary. Gandhi’s cremation spot was nice but nothing too special. Gandhi Smriti was much more interesting. The Gandhi Smriti is the place in which Gandhi lived for the last 5 months of his life and was eventually assassinated in 19.. something. We grabbed a few pictures with our fantastic driver Jesse, and our ridiculous hotel manager who was very happy by the fact that me and Kelly we just friends.
May 26 2011
This was our first day in Manali, We left for the airport at 1:00 am. Then we met the group at the airport. An interesting bunch by the time we had reached the gate of the airport we were fully assembled and entirely too tired for good first impressions. I believe I introduced myself to a few people several times as I was too tired to remember which of them I had. I have actually started and ended this paragraph 4 times in 3 days at this point… I have been increadibly busy!
So this is going to incorporate all the first few days in Manali I hope. We arrived in the Kullu for an amazing view. The mountains extend all around us and its hard to remember that they are everywhere and I cant take a picture every time. On the way to Manali we stopped at a little resturaunt, the green shadow I believe. This was my first chai tea of Manali but I was unaware the extent of chai I was about to consume. Every meal and every where we go offers chai. The road to Manali was littered with trash and small towns containing mostly shoebox stores and advertisements for the larger Indian companies. More then the views was the increasing smell…. While it went back and forth from the sweet smell of the forest to the smell of bus traffic, the smell was apparent, (Cannabis). Many munchies jokes were made. We spent the first day getting lost. There are 6 guys on the trip and 8 girls. Me and Kelly included. Four of the guys and me went into the town with no idea of where we were going. Our plan: go up. We did a great job as we went up and up into the residential area till we ended up in a field. It is beautiful up here. My pictures will tell more than my words.
I will begin with what my family wants to hear and end with the exciting part of the trip. Those who are reading this for interesting stories, still read this part Disclaimer: I am staying safe and not getting into trouble. You don’t need to worry too much. We spent most of the first few days in what is known as New Manali. New Manali is the area where all the Indian tourists go to shop for over priced shirts and plastic childrens toys. Though the area is beautiful, it is full of traffic, cars and what I have found to be straight from hell, horns. I have bought multiple gifts, most in the form of beautiful pashmina/wool scarves that if you lucky enough could be yours! But probably not. Don’t get your hopes up. The mornings have been spent perusing the city watching it come to life. Its begins around 6 or 7 with store owners opening the gate to their store and small restaurants beginning to cook the food that could be regarded as fresh for at least the morning. The air is moist and cool as people follow along their daily routine. One interesting one we unfortunately had the pleasure of viewing first hand is the morning dump in the river. This is a river, the nicest ive ever seen, that runs through and around the town. Turns out, lots of people use it as a direct toilet and paper. Some people not even making it to the river but only the walkway to the river… have some modesty! The morning we spent at the river was exciting. We found a buddist temple and were invited into the home of the caretakers. Calling this place a slum would be too nice. It was a trash dump located under the temple. We accidentally stumbled in as my legs tend to carry me farther than logic tell me to go. These people, a family of 4 or so men and children had nothing. Absolutly nothing short of what I would consider obvious trash. They invited us in and offered us chai. You may consider me rude but the need to keep my stomach in check bypassed the need to be respectable and we graciously declines. Background: foreigners cannot drink the water here unless it is cleaned, this chai was probably made from the river water( yes the poop river water). I don’t think I could stomach it. Another interesting part was that the son, a boy of around 11 was dressed very well and getting ready for school. It makes me happy to see those who have nothing care about the education of their children. It represents a move in a positive direction for this city.
We have spent a lot of our time trekking around the area, through the mountains and up to the countryside. Each day is more amazing than the next. The mountain peaks white with melting ice pose questionable challenges for the future as we plan on taking a multiday trip up to one of the peaks . Pictures will suffice for this part of the trip.
Travelers Travelers Travelers. I have met some of the most amazing people in my life in the past 4 days! All thanks to an amazing place called old manali. When you think of manali,you think of old manali. It is a small town consisting of several shops with a quiet street running up to the top of the mountain area in which it is located. It is full of crazy people that live their life day by day enjoying it more than any of us ever will. From the shop owners to the waiters, people are happy, glad to see you and ever more hospitable. Every other store we walk into ends in a 30-90 minute conversation with the owner about their shop, their travels and life. While most store owners are Indian, a very large amount are Israeli. I never thought my Hebrew would be useful.
We have been spending most of our downtime in a small little restaurant called “people”. This place gets its own paragraph. I have met people from Sweden, france, England, germany, Israel, southern india, and south Africa, just to name a few. Each person has their own story of how they ended up there and how they ended up traveling with certain people. Two guys, Leo and Will, from Sweden and England respectively, met up in in one country and hung out there, they said there good byes and a month later wound up in the same country, thus decided to simply travel together. These guys, who brought us to this restaurant were a bit too crazy for us to follow in their footsteps but lead a life of excitement and spotaneosity (whatever it is kinda a word). We have heard a multitude of music ranging from a saxophone and guitar band to deederidoos (how ever you spell that). Everyone brings something with them to this place, either music, stories or fun. People leads up to its name as I have never met people like this in my entire life. Leo, a 19 year old from Sweden, told us “Life happens when you don’t go with the plan.” Though I understand that is not always how life should be, it’s a refreshing concept in a world of premed.
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