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Published: July 10th 2010
sorry it has been so long since i updated. but i was doing so little in old manali it never seemed worth updating! it was just very very relaxing. it was the only place in india (apart from goa) where there is some nightlife. most nights would be a jam session, it was amazing, all sorts of musicians from all over the world,. who just met, and produced some amazing music together. mostly there was drums and guitars, but also one night a guy turned up with a saxophone! also people travel around the world carrying didgeridoos how they manage it i have no idea.
i was two weeks in old manali after Monica left and in theory it was so nice i could have stayed the whole rest of my time here. but i started to feel a bit lazy and there is still things to see. also, old manali is very touristy, it was a bit too easy, i kept forgetting i was in india!
so anyway. i left on wednesday and did just 2 hours by bus to Kullu. Kullu is definately not touristy at all, but it's a really nice pleasant town. set on the junction of two rivers, with some nice temples. even though i was possibly the only white person in town (okay, i admit, i met one french couple, halfway up the mountain but apart from that i saw no other westerners) i hardly got stared at or asked for photos etc.
i did what i thought would be a nice 'walk' to a temple in the hills which turned into a bit of a trek. on the way up it was almost vertical, climbing something a bit like steps, something a bit like piles of slippy rocks. as i am struggling and sweating, local women are strolling past with huge baskets of wood on their backs, chatting casually. many people live in places which are completely inaccessible by vehicle and probably inaccessible by foot when it rains a lot. children do walks like this on their way to school everyday.
anyway, it was okay actually, apparantly about 3km. on the way back, i thought it would much more sensible to come by the road way (there IS roads to some places, but many people live in between the roads.). the road obviously is very winding so it is a long longer, and i miscalculated how much longer! it took me ages to walk back but it was so nice, amazing views, occassionally meeting a few kids playing, cows grazing etc.
now i have come to Manikaran in the Parvati Valley. again, the scenery is just stunning. i wish i could think of better words. but it's a very steep narrow valley, with a road perched along the edge. the river is quite fast and rocky and lovely, but at manikaran it's like a seething boiling mass. there are hot springs underneath and the water is used for the showers on all the guest houses. there are bathing pools, including a huge tank in the gurdwara.
here is less touristy for westerners, but a site of pilgrimage for hindus and sikhs, as there is a important gurdwara and several temples, and various myths about the source of the hot springs. so there are quite a few indian tourists around. within the first five minutes of walking around town i was asked if they could take a photograph of me three times.
this is something you just have to get used to in india. sometimes it is very annoying and you just want to say no, but sometimes i want to take photographs of local people so why not them take photos of me? usually if it's a family or girls only i say okay, but if it's only men i say no!
on the other hand, i have already noticed that people are especially keen to help when they notice a girl on her own. in the bus station, i was trying to find the bus for manikaran and asked one or two people shouting out the destinations, neither of them knew so i went to the enquiries desk, where he gave me the resgistration number of the bus, so i then had to search the bus station of maybe 30-40 buses for the right one! when i found it, the driver was waiting for me, he was was "hello! manikaran! yes please! take the front seat, here is space for your bag"..... someone had obviously already told him, look out for the white girl with the big backpack - she wants to go to manikaran! i had even asked one of the previous people where the toilet was. and once the driver had got me the best seat on the bus and helped me store my bag etc, he said, okay you have ten minutes, now you can go to the toilet!!!
tomorrow i am going to move onto to Tosh. i am slightly worried about this as Tosh is not mentioned in the Lonely Planet so I am concerned it does not exist. Although I have heard people talk about it, the taxi stand lists Tosh as a destination, and maybe even the bus goes there. The Lonely Planet map of Parvati Valley just ends at Manikaran, so I have this idea that just up the road, the world must end. However, when I got off the bus at Manikaran the bus was still going on, and there is only one road! I am going because the guy who ran a place we stayed at in Goa runs a place in Tosh. we met him again in Dharamsala and as I am now so near (probably) it would be nice. Also, i seem at the moment to be a little bit avoiding the main touristy places, they can all be a bit same same.
anyway, don't worry, i think i will actually go by taxi and go direct to the guest house (i have the name) because i don't fancy getting off a bus in the middle of nowhere in case the place is sooo quiet it doesn't even have rickshaws!!!
although i still haven't booked my flight, i have an excellent, flexible route / schedule planned to get back to Delhi sometime before my visa expires. so i can stay a few days in Tosh or other places in Parvati Valley if i like it or start to head back sooner.
now a bit of an announcement for those that don't already know. i will be coming home back to UK when my visa expires and not heading to any other country. i feel like India has been so incredible that to go somewhere else straight after might spoil the memory, or at least dilute it a bit. if it wasn't for my visa i think i could stay here in India for another few months, but if i think about going somewhere else it makes me feel a bit tired!
so it is only two weeks before i have to leave..... i do have to admit i am feeling quite odd about it. on the one hand, i often think now that i have to go home i should get back quickly, but i still want to appreciate as much as i can in india. i feel very much like i am *leaving* india and not *going* home, if you see what i mean.
i can't wait to see people and bore them to death with all my stories, but i will miss india so much....
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marcia
non-member comment
happiness
Hi karen, I am still following you with envy. I am restless. girl how will you work again Marcia