Velcro Town

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Its getting to that time again... Five days passed and we're looking at moving on from Mcleod Ganj. Our departure is still two days away but already we're getting a little knot in the stomach at the thought of leaving. This place is lovely. The weather, the climate, the atmosphere and the people make it almost feel homely. The shear amount of westerners here means that we're not the only ones who feel this way.

Over the last couple of days, not a right lot has been achieved other than a few ounces(*cough*) on the scales... and a few around the waist. Our chest infections have all but cleared up and our colds have almost gone too. My ankles still swollen but its not hurting quite so much anymore. We went to the tibetan resistance museum(thats not its name but it is its subject matter) and were quite shocked about how much we don't hear about in the UK. I'm still taking many photos and videos but as of yet haven't found a strong enough connection to be able to upload them from here so i'm gonna stick them on a CD and post them.

I think here would be a good place to list some savoury delights that we have experienced so far:

The tibetan food is really nice! Not spicy at all. A lot of noodles and scrambled or fried eggs with soup and Momo's(MMmmmm Momo's!)! Momo's are sort of like a cross between a Cornish Pasty and Ravioli, sort of, little pasta covered pasties which come steamed or fried also called Kathay and cooked differently but still more or less the same thing. Yum yum yum.

Tikki... Delicious! Mashed potato, maybe a little onion, perhaps mild spices, rolled into a ball and squashed into a little fat fritter type thing then half fried and sat then refried and squashed some more so that the outer shell of crispy goodness breaks and bares the fresh fluffy... (keyboard malfunction due to drool)

Dosa... When i first got one of these, the guy came over to the table with a plate with, what i thought was, a cloth on it for wiping the plates down... I was wrong. A large triangle, maybe 12 inches across after it was folded with like a cottage cheese type thing and onions, not spicy at all. Smashing.

Gulab Jamun!!! Little tiny cake balls completely soaked in syrup, served hot. We discovered that if you put custard with them they taste just like puddings back home. Wonderful(and oh so syrupy...).

And here's me being worried by spicy food... I'm doing better than jill and she's the indian foodie out of us two. Granted, we have been sticking mainly to pizza's(the shame) and other westernised foodstuffs but we're getting there slowly but surely. We've had a few Thali meals(cheap, bit of everything) which were a lot nicer than they looked(think multicoloured gruel with a pancake and you're not far off) but still not quite what our tastebuds are accepting yet.

So its onwards to Punjab and then to Rajasthan. Lets see if the heat of the desert will get to us after the cool and damp mountain air which is surprisingly cooler and damper than ussual right now as it 'eshed it down last night and a couple of times today. Perfect.

On a lighter, final note; Jills spent a couple of nights curled up with my feet as its a smell of home... Sick sick puppy.

Love to all, Alan and Jill.

P.S.

An offering has been made for the lost and yet to be.
Goodnight Squigg, beneath the double pear tree.
Sammy and Sherley and Lulu too
will run with you now you are safe and free.

To the new pup: You got big paw prints to fill little one. ;-)

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