motorbikes and waterfalls

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In Rishikesh as things are fairly spaced out many people hire motorbikes while they are here to make getting about easier. Having been several years since Stoppard had sold his Vespa he was more than a little willing to get his hands on a motor bike again and have a ride; we have decided to hire an enfield when we get to Manali and to take it into the hills and try and stay in some of the villages but thought the extra practice while we were in Rishikesh couldn't hurt. Yesterday we found a place in the morning that would rent us a bike for the day, much to Stoppards dissapointment it was a rather crappy 125cc that was falling apart with a clutch that was on its last legs, however as long as it was above 20kmph it went fairly smoothly and did us for the day. We sped off in the direction of a waterfall that we had been told was particularly beautiful. Parking at the base of a hill with a sign that indicated a 1.5km walk to the waterfall, we climbed a steep path upwards into the trees. Although the top of the waterfall, where we wanted to go swimming as there was a pool which the water crashed into, was busy and full of a group of male indians splashing about in the froth, we walked a little way down to a spot we had seen ealier where there was only one other couple there who soon left. Here there were several small but deep pools, like plunge pools, with the falling water forming the perfect "power shower", at the edge of the largest pool you could sit with your body in the water leaning on the edge of the rocks looking down the fall and then off into the valley for some distance where all you could see were the sloping hills and forests, there were large green plants all around us and butterflies and it felt ridiculously like some mythical fairytale palce; i had never imagined to find myself at such a place in india, the country constantly surprises me.

After drying off in the sun we carried on down the road on the bike for about an hour hoping to come to some form of civilisation but to no avail and we turned back when the roads began to get increasingly dusty and dug up for, as far as we could make out, was absolutely no apparent reason other than to make driving on these bendy roads even more difficult, as if we weren't already contending with the trucks that insist on driving in the middle of the road if not entirely on your side. We headed back to town and then took a turning off to the left and stopped for lunch about half way up the hill among leafy surroundings looking down on Rishikesh.

I was back in the early evening in time for my yoga class at 5. I wanted to carry on my classes as it seemed a waste to be at the centre of the yoga world and not. I was recommended to try a small centre run by a Taiwanese lady and an indian man and have been going to the hour and half long classes in the evenings. There are only three of us in the class, myself and two Russian men, one of which insists on doing the class topless and sits there sweating and belching profusely the entire time...very hard to concentrate at times with such distractions.

On our last day in Rishikesh before heading further north and into himachal pradesh Matthew and I went for one last swim in the Ganges and walked away from the main town centre along a deserted road in search of a quiet beach. Down a small path that lead us down to the water, we found an empty beach with massive rocks forming little pools and where the first 10 feet of water were away from the strong currents so that we could swim. We had been told that the bus left Haridwar at 5 to go to Manali from the main bus stand but as we had to check out of the hotel by 12 so headed off early...very very luckily.

The bus journey was not one of the best; although only 1 hour to Haridwar a boy that was standing right behind me chose this moment to fall victim to motion sickness and proceeded to vomit the length of the bus spraying said vomit down one side of myself, but in particular the poor guy next to me who had to stand up the rest of the journey as he was covered. First job therefore when we got to haridwar was to change and wash, not pleasant but in india you kind of get used to dealing with everything and vomit on ones trousers becomes not so much of a big deal.

After a very confusing conversation with the enquiry desk at the bus station we finally managed to ascertain that our bus was leaving at 4, meaning that we had only half an hour. Not having eaten lunch we ran off to buy somosas and pakora so that we could at least have something to eat on the bus. Little did we know what these little bits of fried food had in store for us. About 4 hours into the 17 hour journey, the bus stopped for a food break at one of the many Dhaba cafes that line the roads of the main highways. Usually these places look as if they could give you fatal dysentery just by standing near them for too long but this one was spottless. Unfortunately neither Stoppard nor I could take advantage of this as we were beginning to feel a not so pleasant side affect from the snacks we had hungrily purchased in Haridwar. Although neither of us felt ill there was a definite green pallour to us and our tummies felt very doughy! Back on the bus and we were entertained for a while by the three ladies that were sitting in front of us who began singing a devotional song for Lord Brahma; sat there happily clapping along which kept my mind off my grumbling stomach for a while.

After not much sleep I came to about 6 in the morning after dozing for a while to find my self surrounded by snowy mountains. The first major town that we came to was Kullu where most people alighted. After sitting on the bus for about an hour for apparently no reason while watching forlornly as every other bus pulled out of the station, we were told to move onto another bus which would take us the rest of the way to Manali, a further 2 hours away. Finally got to Manali after what seemed an age but gazing around the whole journey seemed worth it. Manali itself is set down in a valley, although still at 2000m above sea level, with wooded hills around it and in the distance on three sides snowy mountains rise up. I knew that the north would be mountainous but i never expected to be this close to the mountains. It feels very much like Nepal here; the buildings are all Nepali stlyed, there is a very large community of Nepalese and Tibetan people who do not consider themselves Indian but of their Native country - being here you can understand why most people are from these two areas and it really feels nothing like india at all apart from all the indian tourists - the food is mainly Nepalese and in general this is just not the landscape that you associate with India.

The main town of Manali is fairly small but very busy with hotels, indian tourists who come here for light trekking and rafting, tibetan markets and shops and, owing to the acres of fruit orchards around this area, places selling all kinds of fresh fruit juices and fruit wines. We opted to stay in a village about 3 km above Manali on the hill side as it would be quieter. At this point after a hellish journey and practically no sleep all i wanted to do was drop into bed but we still had a rickshaw ride to Vishisht to make before finding a hotel. Vishisht lies up a steep road that snakes away from manali and up the mountain side. There are Nepali wooden buildings with verandas upstairs where the family live and space below for the animals, some guest houses, bakeries (it really is like Nepal with the strange abundance of german baked goods for sale), and shops selling all manner of tibetan gifts and yak wool clothing. The hotel we found is stunning and at the moment it seems that our accommodation just keeps getting better and better. It is a wooden house with rooms upstairs that lead off from the balcony that runs the length of the upstairs. We have an ensuite, comfy bed, plus the room is spotless and the cleanest place i have stayed so far. I almost bit the mans hand off when he said it was 150Rps a night! There are chairs and tables along the balcony and from here we can sit and look down into the valley and across the roofs of Vashisht or gaze upwards where we can see the peaks of the mountains running the length of the hills.

It is most pleasant to be somewhere cooler, even Rishikesh was starting to get a little too hot. Here it is warm enough in the day to walk around in a t shirt but at night you need to have a jacket or light fleece on. The air is cold and clean and i am so happy to be back in the mountains again.

The first day here we did very little but catch up on some much needed sleep and eat, although we did take a short stroll down to the back of the village which is filled with local people tending their animals and just going about daily normal life, and stumbled across a water fall that we followed down to the river. Feel like i have landed in the middle of a fairy tale landscape with lush vegetation, waterfalls, little Tibetan women grinning toothily back at you and wooden houses scattered across the hillside. When we were down at the river we saw some local people tickling trout and making it look impossibly easy; they simply stood fairly still, waited until they caught sight of a fish then dropped their hands in the water to bring them back up again in an instant with a struggling trout in their hand. After this we were determined to get some fish for supper and that first night here dined on fresh fish and chips accompanied by a much deserved beer.

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