Manali in Manali

So all my life I've heard about and have been dying to see this beautiful little village in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains called Manali, where of course my name comes from. And we're finally here. Upon research though about the place I find that there's a holiday inn and I have even heard from the occasional person who's been here before that there's a McDonalds, so needless to say this place has become all but undiscovered. Good news-- there's no McDonalds though it's very built up with guest house after hotel after guest house. Many Indian honeymooners choose to come here as with Indian tourists in general and for some odd reason hordes of Israeli backpackers. Unfortunately the local people have never heard of a trash can so they through everything in the river or on the nearest patch of available space, though litter is a huge problem throughout India not just here. Not to knock the place too bad, I know I don't sound too impressed yet, but it wasn't until our second or third day here that I discovered the gem of this place. In the back lanes of Old Manali, as opposed to the part known as New Manali, Hernando and I happened to come across the very old traditional houses of the local hill tribe people. They're 2 story homes that function both as a barn and house. On the bottom floor there's the family cow and the top floor usually has a beautifully carved wooden balcony that may be painted bright turquoise or green. It was lovely to get lost in those lanes they also have an amazing view of the valley below and tall mountains, some so high they are still capped with snow. That I imagine is what my parent's saw and fell in love with all those years ago, before the development Manali now sees today.

It is quite surreal to finally be here after a lifetime of curiosity. I'm still not quite sure what to make of it. The wierdest part is hearing my damn name everywhere-- that I will never get used to. I have to stop myself from turning around to every passer by sthat says Manali. It is also of course quite amusing to introduce myself to people. The bus driver from Delhi got a real kick out of it. One of the other people at the station must have told him my name because he didn't speak any English but whenever he saw me he would just say "Manali, Manali!"

Moving on to the most terrifying ride in my life, well one of them. There was one in Venezuela that was pretty bad as well... anyhow... Yesterday H and I were in a jeep like vehicle climbing 2,000 meters, over a 60 kilometer road (40ish miles?) fpr 3 hellish hours to reach the beutiful place you see in the photo called Rohtang pass. Our driver was nuts, though nery nice, overtaking any vehicle he could on this narrow cliff edge road. We finally made it and then an hour and a bit later it was time to come back down, mostly in the dark! I took videos. One day I'll have the time and gather the technological known how to upload that.

Tonight we leave on an overnight bus to Dharamshala, the home of the Dalai Lama.

Namaste!

(hello and goodbye in Hindi)