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Honeymoon Suite
Our special deluxe room! How did they know?? On the road again....
A bus from Mandi to Manali.....fortunately I managed to keep my food in check. We got onto a local rattler bus again, which became more and more crowded as the journey progressed, with people jumping on and off at the most backwater and remote places. The road started to follow a flowing brown river, which, once we changed buses in Kullu, changed to an amazing and extremely inviting bluey-green, almost the same colour as my face as we bumped over sections of the road which were being re-done, and I was only just recovering from being literally pulled onto the bus as it had been moving out from the station, by the small guy who sold the tickets (they have a 2 man team here on the buses - the driver or the "pilot" as is written on his door, and a man who collects money for tickets and blows a whistle in varous ways to indicate stop, go, reverse etc, and pulls stupid slow tourists on board the bus as it has started to leave....) At a particularly bumpy part in the trip I was hanging onto the seat in front of me for dear
Mrs Pancakes and the Local Gat
This is me sampling the fine taste of Manali Cider...never heard of it? There's a reason for that. Do I look like I am enjoying it? One word - vinegar life and my dear husband says to me "You look like you are on a rollercoaster" to which I calmly replied "I feel like I'm on a f#$@ing rollercoaster!" Fortunately we made it onto the smoother road, and we were able to enjoy the scenery of amazingly high mountains, apple orchards, goat herders and remote temples. The scenery changed as well as the faces of the people - from dark Indians to the flatter and lighter skinned Tibetans.
We had a hotel booked in Manali old town, or so we were assuming. John had called the day before and spoken to the guy at reception:
John: I'd like to book a double room for tomorrow night
Man at hotel: Yes
J: Do you have a room?
MaH: Yes
J: Well, do you want my name?
MaH: Yes sir, my name is (long hard to pronounce Indian name)
J: No, do you want MY name
MaH: Yes sir, my name is (blah blah blah)
J: Oh, well MY name is John Supple
MaH: Ok sir
So not surprisingly there was some confusion when we rocked up to see our room, and we got a bit of a pantomime and a lot of pressing of buttons by the front desk guy as he tried to "call the manager". In the meantime, John went down the road, looked at a room, and we left the guy at the hotel, without an apology or even a flimsy excuse.
But were we in for a treat at Hotel Diamond down the road! John came back to me to say he had got a "special room" I walked in to find streamers stuck to the ceiling, heart-shaped, deflated balloons dying in each corner of the ceiling, and "Happy Weds" in cut-out crepe paper stuck to the wall. Classy leftovers from previous occupants we assumed. Needless to say we literally headed for the hills, to Old Manali, to find a new hotel straight away for the following nights.
And then we began to fall in love with Manali. We saw our first snow-capped Himalayian peaks, and found a hotel with a view from our bedroom, with a garden area. Great shopping and food too! (plenty of choice for someone who is now on a strictly non-Indian diet...Even had sushi last night! The locals were intrigued.)
But not so fast.....we had a night in the Diamond to endure first. The place was full with Indian families, we assumed from the same clan as they all kept their doors open and ran from one room to the other. The night started off quiet enough until I was woken by the sounds of someone puking up a major organ (or so it sounded) at 4:45 a.m., and from then on the rest of the hotel was awake with shouts from kids, bells ringing and general clatter. We got a call then at 8:15 - "Good morning madam, would you like tea or coffee?" "No thanks" I growled as politely as possible. And that was the end of our Diamond experience.
We were able to move into our new "home" - Hotel Veer, and checked out the surrounds. We went to a private yoga class and have booked in again for tomorrow morning. John is looking into traditional Indian music classes (on the Tabla) and we have finally been able to get into kick-back mode. Things are a lot more laid back, and COOLER! Even COLD! I had to buy some wooly socks today, and may have to get some warm clothes (what a shame, more shopping....)
Watch this space as we put up some pic's over the next few days of the mountains....
xx
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