Playa from the Himalaya

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I lucked out on my flight from Istanbul to Delhi and managed to meet three guys from Brixton UK in the airport who were traveling to India. After swapping iteneraries it looked as if we were going to a lot of the same destinations, so they asked if I wanted to join up with them for the NE Himalayan leg of the trip to Manali and Shimla. We rented a "tourist taxi" with a personal driver and car to take us around, which sounds insanely expensive but can be actually quite cheap in India ... especially when you split t four ways. We got the car, driver and 6 nights accomodation for about $130 USD a piece ... and probably overpaid. Still, it was a nice way to assimilate slowly into India, because it is overwhelming. Im still overwhelmed. As they say "There is the rest of the world, and then there is India". And on top of that there is India and then there is Delhi. The heat, poverty and pollution in Delhi can not be described in words. It is overwhelming, and the couple of hours it took to find and hire a tourist taxi waall I needed. Im trying to stay out of India's gigantic cities if at all possible because I dont want it to ruin my opinion of India overall. A whole lot of slumdogs, and not any millionaires.

The drive from Delhi to Manali took 12 hours, the very northern tip of India. Manali is in the Himalayan Mountains tucked between Pakistan and China/Tibet. As we discovered, its a hugely popular tourist region among Indians looking to escape the hottest months of the year of May and June (Hey, guess which months Im in India?) in the cool mountains. Its touted as the "outdoor adventure capital of India', which white water rafting and camping and paragliding and fishing and etc. etc. Its also probably the most naturally beautiful place Ive ever seen. Surrounding the town are a backdrop of green mountains with huge pines, almost the size of Redwoods ... and backdropping that are majestic snow capped mountains of the deeper Himalayans. There are a lot of Tibetan refugees, so its not uncommon to see Tibetan monks walking around in their robes on the mainstreet. We spent a couple of days just sleeping off our jetlag and meandering lazily through the village. Then we spent one day driving up the mountains to see some glaciers and huge vantage points.

Then we headed off to Shimla, which is the capital of the local provence. Shimla seems like a city about the population of San Antonio carved into the side of a mountain. It has a gigantic bazaar street that takes an entire day to navigate.

All in all, India is still overwhelming me, but Im starting to graudually adjust and get the hang of it by the day. Ive gradually reduced from 1,000 "What the hell?" and "Did I really just see that?" moments a day to a mere 800. Such as "Is that lady really riding on the back of that motorcycle side saddle loosely holding a baby with one arm going 60 mph?" and "Is that lady squatting by the side of the road going to the bathroom?" The beggers and touts take some getting used to as well, as they are much more aggressive than Im used to. If a beggar has a deformed hand, he has no problem shoving his deformed hand in your face to grab your attention. I just raise my eyebrows as in "Wow, that's a nice deformed hand you got there buddy, but Im afraid Im not handing out money today. Best of luck" kind of way. And bodily functions are pretty much out in the open as well. Pick, scratch, burp, whatever in public and its all kosher. Okay, I kind of like that part, but there is something strangely disconcerning about watching a Buddhist Monk blow a snot rocket.

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