She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

In answer to Nicole's demands, I can't put up any photos yet because I am not traveling with my laptop, but when I get back to Hyderabad on the 3rd, I plan on going back and adding photos to all of these unillustrated posts. So be patient.

In India it is next to impossible to use a credit card. As a result, I ran into a rather tight financial situation for my last few days in Dharamsala. This wasn't a huge problem. Actually, it's pretty easy to live on about 2 dollars a day in India, it just requires that you make some more adventurous choices in dining establishments. The Tibetan Yak Cafe, for example, is a tiny hole-in-the-wall lunch place in Dharamsala where one can enjoy a large lunch for about 60 cents. I entered the Yak cafe to find six old local men, three plastic picnic tables, and one mural of a yak. I sat down and space being limited, soon found myself sharing my table with a Tibetan man, who from appearances must have been well over 200 years old. He was served without ordering, and before my soup had even arrived he had put away three heaping plates of food.

The following morning I dined across the street at a similar establishment which advertised "Special Muesli." I did not really know what this meant, so of course I ordered it. What arrived was a giant bowl of every fruit, nut, and grain known to man covered in yak yogurt and honey. I plunged my spoon in and began eating, which apparently was the wrong thing to do. The elderly woman running the cafe ran over, removed my spoon from my hand and very delicately and meticulously stirred the bowl for several minutes much to the amusement of everyone else in the restaurant. To be fair, it did taste better her way.

Another dreadful overnight bus ride brought me to Manali early this morning. I haven't had cell phone reception for days so I had no way of booking a room and when I arrived at 4:30 AM none of the hotels appeared to be open and I was in no mood to make decisions, problem solve, or do anything sensible. Against all odds I was able to find a really decent hotel room with a spectacular view of the mountains.

If Dharamsala was beautiful then Manali is BEAUTIFUL. While Dharamsala is more of a town, Manali is more of a resort. It is mostly made up of little hotels and cafes hidden in the forest. Actually, Manali might just be the Portland of India. This occurred to me this morning as I sat shivering in a trendy Bob Dylan-themed cafe surrounded by latte-sipping outdoor enthusiasts. The area is very green (with real fir trees!!), there are plenty of nature trails, it is actually cool and overcast outside, and the two main activities of the area seem to be drinking coffee and exploring the outdoors.

I started my day today with a long hike out to visit Hadimba Temple. Seeing as the area is packed with tourists I was shocked when I arrived at the temple and found myself the only Westerner there (evidently all of the other Westerners are only here for the rafting, paragliding, etc). This of course, resulted in the usual excitement among the Indian tourists wanting to take their picture with me and the shouts of "Which country? Which country?" One family took a particular interest in me and the matriarch of the group kept asking "Indian Culture very high, is it?" I did not understand the question but I responded with "Uhh...Mujhko India bahut pasand hai" (I like India very much). This butchered Hindi had very positive results.

After surviving the uphill hike to the temple, one finds ones self immediately bombarded by aggressive souvenir peddlers, many of whom are tribal people with yaks or giant, long-haired Himalayan rabbits trying to get you to take photos with their animals for money. This is the first time in my life that the opportunity to ride a yak has ever presented itself to me and I was not about to pass it up, but the yak hustlers were demanding 50 rupees and the didn't seem to take my counter-offer of 10 rupees very seriously. No yak ride today, but I still have another day in Manali.