Day 30 (Old Manali)

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Woke up pretty late after last night. After about 5 minutes I received a text from Helen suggesting we meet for breakfast, halfway through my reply I got another text from Steve asking the same. I met with Helen and we arranged to meet Steve and Keenan in town. We went for the very Indian option for breakfast, Little Italy, and waited for Steve and Keenan. As our breakfast arrived I got another text saying they had found breakfast somewhere else. We had breakfast and headed through Old Manali to meet the others.

They were in ‘People’ cafe, a little place with a very friendly waiter which was covered in crayon pictures that had been done by customers, the quality of which ranged from art to scribbles. I grabbed a Chai whilst they finished eating and once we were all done we decided to go and use the internet.

2 hours later I finished everything I had to do online, Steve, Keenan and Helen were all long gone and the only others in the place were two boys who seemed to be playing World of Warcraft.

I met up with Helen, who was shopping along Old Manali road. I spent some time drooling over the huge Yak wool jumpers that a few of the stores had, but I resisted, mainly because on my budget they were a little too pricey, but also because I knew that later in my journey bulky items would be a pain.

I bought a new notebook, which I’m writing in now. According to the shop owner it’s made of camel leather, but I’m not sure, either way it’s nice and I’ve not used handmade paper before, which this certainly is.

Once we finished shopping we headed back to the hotel. I had planned on having a nap but ended up writing this instead. I also forgot to mention that earlier on Steve and Keenan has sorted out tickets for the three of us to get the 2am minibus to Leh (Helen was heading back south so wouldn’t be joining us).

My task for today is to not miss the bus.

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