TUESDAY 10th June Well, I'm on the Internet at last, having waited for hours for that wife of mine to do her stuff! "I'lll be very quick as I can type faster than you!" Aye, that'll be right. By the time she had come up to relieve me, I'd done all the packing, and everything! Well, you can believe that if you want to!
Alison developed a chesty cough 6 days ago. I advised her to start an antibiotic straight away but true to a wife's prerogative, she chose to ignore my advice. It was 3 days before I elicited from her that she had ignored her Physician's excellent advice. Since then, I have been subjected to the most horrendous cough overnight Then it was the sinuses, and sneezing, and blowing catarrh out of her nose as if there was no tomorrow! And on't mentiopn the groaning and sighing, to me! Anyway, she's a lot better now. Mind you, she's really pissed-off that I didn't catch it - she blames some poor guy who coughed near her in Varanassi! Got to be careful as she's making a point of reading all my blogs, so I daren't be too rude about her!
Since Ali was on her death-bed yesterday, I felt obliged to wash 2 pairs of shorts AND a tank-top - all by myself! Not bad for a useless young lad! Being in room 3 at the White Haven we have a great verandah, about 8 feet square, and it gets all the afternoon sun. Well, I can tell you it is great for sunbathing without a top but it is also great for drying clothes. After a hard morning's sight-seeing, my pants are all soggy! Best treatment for that: lay them on the balustrade of our verandah! A great advert for any prospective guests, a pair of my soggy pants drying in the baking sun! No wonder, we have been the only 2 residents here for the last 3 days. There was a party of 12 very noisy complaining well-to-do Indians but they cleared off within an hour. Today another couple arrived but so far I haven't managed to drive them away!
This hotel is owned by a wealthy Chandregar couple - his first name is Malik, and she is a princess i.e. they have oodles of cash which is just as well as this property must be costing them an arm and a leg to run! There are 2 lads in the kitchen; 3 in the hotel; 6 gardeners who apparently work like beavers only when Sahib Malik is due for a 2-yearly visit; and one lovely laundry lady. The owners started to build a house at the entrance 5 bleeding years ago, and it still needs windows, and all the bits inside. What it must be like to have money. Anyway, I get first dibs when Malik decides to sell the place; it would be a great location for my youngest daughter to practice her massage and stuff, and she could run the hotel really efficiently Today we went on a visit to a local Tibetan workshop: Norbulinka. It was very interesting, and we looked round the wood-carving shops; the metal-working studios; the embroidery studios ; and the thangka section. Got loads of photies, and one of the lovely Tibetan refugees gave us 3 samplers of his first wood carvings. We couldn't accept all 3 but Alison, being of Scottish heritage, took one! He was such a nice lad - my sort of age: early 20's - that we all felt very humble!
Later we walked back to the car but on the way, our Guide, Jane, had the brass-neck to walk into the refugees' nursery. We were treated to seeing all the 2- and 3- year olds , and it was absolutely charming.
At this point I have to explain a closeness to Jane; she looks like an older version of my previous partner, Dr. Manasses. In 30 years time, I can see Dr. M. looking very like, and sounding like, Jane. However, if she is as sexy and commanding as our Jane in her 60s, she will be doing very well! And she has a good sense of humor which was sadly lacking in my erstwhile partner!
Later in the day we were invited to Jane's house as she had a visitor that she felt we might like to meet. No, it wasn't the Dalai Lama but the next best thing! A pujari that she knows well She said he was a nice well-educated man, and she was right; he was delightful, and very well-read. I thought I would catch him out, and asked of him, the significance of the swastika in Hinduism and Buddhism. It apparently is all to do with doing good or bad; much like the old Scottish saying : you sow what you reap. Anyway, Dharamsala holds a very special place in Alison's and my hearts thanks to Jane. And she tried to refuse a wee tip! But I wouldn't let her! If I find out she's given it to the Tibetan refugees, I'll kill her!
I haven't mentioned any of the birds we have seen as I don't want to bore the pants off you. However, I went out at 7.30 this morning, and the first thing I saw was this huge blue bird with a 2-foot long blue tail ! Seems it was a Blue Magpie, and what a beauty. On the way back, almost at the steps up to the hotel, a Grey Hornbill shot down infront of me. We've seen these at the Taj Mahal and here before but this one was so close - huge but slim One of the really bonny birds we have seen here is the Asiatic Paradise Flycatcher: slim, white and with a 2-foot long tail.
Tomorrow we leave for Manili where the young ladies are even more beautiful! What would she know? She's a woman!
Saw the second Audi Q7 in 4 weeks in India today. It was a plain old nonmetallic white one - and probably didn't have the expensive extras some of us have! Quite how anybody can drive on these narrow hill roads with such an expensive car, beggars belief. The wheel arches stick out, and the wing mirrors are huge! Most roads round here are 1 1/2 car-widths, and take into account pedestrians, parked cars, dogs, cows and goats - well you have a recipe for disaster!
