Vashist & Whiskey With Indian Tourists

While in Manali I took a day trip to Vashist. Vashist is a small, pretty village, known for its hot springs, across the valley from Manali. Once in Vashist, I hiked to the nearby waterfall.

Photos of the walk to Vashist







The waterfall, which had an upper and lower part, was beautiful. At the upper part I was approached by a holy man who talked to me for awhile before aggressively trying to sell me marijuana. At this point I headed to the lower part where I came upon half a dozen Indian men swimming in their underwear. After taking some pictures (of the waterfall, not the men) I headed back to the village.

Photos of the waterfall







On the way back to the village I chatted with the Indian guys, who were college-aged tourists from a suburb of Delhi. When they offered me a ride to Manali I obliged.

Upon arriving in Manali I mentioned I was heading back to old Manali for dinner and a beer, and they said I was welcome to join them for food and drink. The rest of the night went a little different then expected. Instead of eating and getting a beer at a restaurant we ended up sitting in a circle on their bed, talking about women, eating spicy chicken and drinking cheap Indian whiskey mixed with water.

The night ended with the guys walking me back to Old Manali where I hospitably invited them in to my guest house room where we shared a few beers and looked at pictures of my friends and family. Friends and family should be pleased (or scared) to know that a few of the guys took photos of my photos on their camera phones and thus many of you will forever be saved on some random Indian guys' phones.

Photos of the debauchery

Leh - Manali Highway

Earlier this week I took a 20-hour jeep ride from Leh to Manali. Their were 10 people (I was the only non-Indian) in a jeep that was made for 7, so it was uncomfortable. Despite, the discomcomfort, or perhaps because of it, it was a ride I will never forgot. The scenery was stunning, and the road was terrifying. The road was rarely more then 1 lane wide and was on the edge of a mountain atleast 75% of the time. This does not stop drivers from passing each other, driving fast, and speeding around blind turns.

Highlights (and lowlights) of the trip include:

1 - Singing Hotel California with the non-English speaking driver (who somehow knew, and loved Hotel California) at 4am, while the sun rose, as passed over the 2nd highest motorable pass on earth.

2 - The drivers friend driving off with our keys and stranding us at a desolate high-altitude camp site. We were told we would likely be stranded their for 2 days. This is the amount of time it takes for the guy to get to Manali, hand off the keys, and have someone else bring them back.

3 - Learning how to hot wire and Indian jeep so that we could continue on from the desolate high-altitude camp site.

4 - Taking care of business (pooping) above a rocky ledge so that people could not see me. As soon as I assumed the position I hear a deafening noise and am suddenly feet away from a thundering herd of tibetan antelope, or chiru (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_antelope) . No pictures because of my compromising position, but the sight was really amazing.

5 - The jeep breaking down just 40 km outside of Manali. Tinkering with it for a few hours before finnally getting it working.

Below is a link to photos from the highway. Most were taken from the moving jeep.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dproyer/LehManaliHighway

Tikse Gompa

The day before I left Ladakh I went to the Tikse Gompa, which is about 20km outside Leh. The Gompa was beautiful and I spent a lot of time looking around. I missed the bus back to Leh and started to walk towards Leh while looking for a truck to catch a ride with. I ran in to a monk in the same predicament. We got to talking, and it turned out we were the same age. His English was good, and we talked for an hour about his life as a monk, and mine as an American student. It was the first long conversation I had with a monk and I found it very interesting and insightful. Pictures below:

The Gompa









Prayer Wheel



Buddha



View From The Gompa

Leh

I arrived in Leh 2 weeks ago, and I feel it is finally time to move on. I had a great time in Leh, thanks partly to my great guesthouse. If anyone is ever in Leh, I suggest they stay in Magsoom Guesthouse. The family is friendly, the food is delicious, the facilities are clean, and the views are inspiring.

I loved Leh and hope to return again in my life time. Below are some pictures of Leh:

The view from the front yard of my guesthouse.

Shanti Stupa

Namgyal Tsemo Gompa

Other Photos From Leh

Nubra Valley

Last week I visited the Nubra Valley, which is in northern Jammu and Kashmir, near the Chinese border. I visited with the 4 Dutch girls and we stayed for 3 days. The valley consists of 5 very small towns. We walked, hitchhiked, and took local buses to get from town to town.

The Nubra Valley was one of the most wonderful places I have been. The valley was beautiful. It had diverse landscapes, ranging from desserts to forests, surrounded by bare, towering Himalayan mountains. The quaint towns seemed to have more donkeys, cows, goats, and yaks, then they did people.

The people that lived in the Nubra Valley were very charming. Everyone you would see on the street would cheerfully say 'Joolay!' (which means hello, goodbye, thank you, and please in Ladkhi) as you walked by them. The local kids, who were adorable, shyly requested high fives. The fact the valley has electric power only 3 hours a day, little outside communication, and limited food choices, was easily overshadowed by the amazing landscape and people.

Below are some pictures (w/ captions) of my trip to the Nubra Valley:

The bus we took to the Nubra Valley.



On the bus.



Eating dinner at our guest house.



Hot spring up in the mountains. The water must have been at least 110 degrees.



Teacup lake. A lake in a rocky hill, next to the river bed.





Views from the Diskit Gompa.









Other photos from the valley.













Waiting for the bus in Diskit.



The jeep ride back to Leh.



Khardung La - The highest motorable road in the world @ 18380 feet.