Day of much walking...

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Today we got up really early again (we have been waking at around 6am most days) the sun was creeping in through the curtains so we decided to make the most of the morning and head out for a walk before the sun got too hot. We had been out walking a few days ago when this man told us that up the valley there was a gorge that was supposed to be quite impressive, so we said 'see ya later!' to the cow and goat and set off in search of that...

We headed in the general direction, but got a bit distracted by the waterfall and decided to find our way to the top and try and get behind it, we were the first there and grabbing a quick sugary-chai from the sleepy cafe owner before hand gave us the boost we needed for the climb.. It took us around an hour to climb to the top, and had to scramble (hands/knees and feet) to get to the there, some of it was at the edge of a sheer drop and the path (when there was one) was like a goat-track.. I'm not sure of the height, but our guest house is high on the side of the valley anyway, but the views were more stunning than ever! We had so much fun, covered in mud and soaked under the waterfall, after a hot and dusty climb was the best ever!!

We continued walking for most the the day - completely absorbed in the snow-capped mountains, lush green orchards, river rapids and the mass of wildlife along the way. Spotting an elephant, strange birds that we've never seen before and thousands of gecko's!

We passed through four villages on the way back to Old Manali, which in themselves were facinating. In Vashiste, we do have some very traditional Northern Indian and Tibetan families living in the village, but because it is a bit of a travellers hub, there is plenty of shops with the usual tourist-type of things - for this area it is shawls and blankets made from pashmina or angora, along with plenty of cafe's serving multi-national menu's. But the villages had none of this, which was really refereshing and like we were really exporers out to find the places that were completely untouched. We walked a few miles through the valley with this old man, him giving us directions and pointing things out to us at times.. but mostly it was just us walking... cows, rice paddy-fields, apple orchards, women knitting or weaving in the shade, men sleeping under trees. Fantastic!!

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Photos

Waterfall4
Whoa! it's a bit steep... part of our climb.

Me and Joe
Hmm, taking pictures of yourselves never really works does it?? We were trying to get a picture with the falls behind us.. took loads then ended up in fits of giggles!! this is about as good as it gets!

Waterfall5
To give you an idea of the scale, the rock behind the fall was taller than either of us.. but it looks tiny there behind Joe on the rock..

Waterfall6
Somewhere near the bottom..

Brown-eyed girl!
Isn't she beautiful?? She lives at the guesthouse with us.

Goatee
She lives with us too.. we don't have much conversation, she is quite a serious creature and not in to small-talk.

Ole washer woman
No automatic washing machines here - just mje and the cold tap.. Joes turn next time!