Blogs from Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia - page 9

How could I possibly summarize almost 3 weeks of trekking and travelling by bus across the Himalayas... It was almost 3 weeks ago that my group of 5 clients and I left Leh for a beautiful trek in Ladakh. With a local guide, 3 cooks, 4 horsemen and 12 horses. Waw. It was amazing scenery and a lot of fun. with some long more difficult days and some shorter ones, and even a few rest days. We went up about 5 moutain passes of about 5000m or more, saw kyangs, cranes, marmots, hare, yaks, dogs and also a few trekkers and of course, some nomads.... So here is just a few memories that I bring back from the trek... The visit to the nomads, when we were invited inside their tent... There was one woman and ... read more

So our plans have shifted once again. In Leh we settled into a very nice guest house, were reading luxuriously, enjoying the view when suddenly the reality of being at 11,500 ft suddenly struck. Jason suffered first but the clouds of suffering cleared the next morning for him. I on the other hand had three lovely days of hanging my head in agony out of the window and nibbling on what I could. The window was very nice. I could look over the garden, see the brook, watch all of the interesting birds of ladakh but nonetheless it wasn't so good with an ill tummy and an aching head ache. Finally at 5 am on the fourth day of being sick we decided to leave. I was losing too much weight so we were forced to ... read more

Hello all, Nothing much to report here i am afraid. We changed hotels today as the group decided to stay in a rubbish hotel for a bit and then save up for a real nice one for a few days. Its a lovely place that we will stay in eventually as they have already booked it. This afternoon we took a bus ride to Naggar castle which is 10 minutes away. Oops silly me i was using Indian time i meant A BLOOMIN' ETERNITY!!!!!!!!!!!!! well 2 hours. I have to say probably not the kind of castle that i would want to fend off intruders. instead of the robust materials and design of a normal castle they had decided to use carved wood and it was about 10 foot tall. I assume the whole idea was ... read more

Quick update XD Finished placement, headed around Punjab for a week with Elyse (the other egyptian cat) and Dayel (the pirate) and saw Amritsar (golden temple, silver temple, mata temple, border closing ceremony), Anandpur Sahib (stayed at Kesgarh Sahib, met Mother Teresa, Elyse became a guru and Dayel and I were the unhelpful sidekicks with none of the language) and Chandigarh (only there for a day, and saw Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden.) Back to Dsala for Dalai Lama's birthday, but all the celebrations were cancelled because of the killings in Tibet a few months ago. Got to visit the nunnery though. This is the point where we lost Dayel (he may or may not be rejoining us) and headed up to Manali after the worst bus trip ever. Manali *is* pretty though. I just got ... read more

This is a quick email to see that everyone can reply. Please excuse any typing errors as some of the keys have been replaced by lego bricks and old teeth. We arrived safe and sound into Delhi at 11am. Most of the challengers got a good 1-2 hours sleep Had a nice 8 hour wait for our connecting bus to Manali. We left our ruck sacks in the bus depot and we had various groups waiting with the bags at various times. The heat hits you the second you walk off of the plane and its humid so the sweat continues relentlessly. The second thing that you notice is the smell. In places it is mouth watering with the scents of spice markets and cooking. The next its sewers in poor sanitary areas..We left for Manali ... read more