DAY 24 - SHIMLA/MANALI

We left our hostel in the early morning and swiftly made our way down Shimla's sloped paths until we arrived at our coach's departure point near the railway station. Our coach was far from 'deluxe', as our tickets had advertised, but it was comfortable enough and the 9 hour journey passed with relative ease. Once again, the Himalayan scenery was a treat and we spent the majority of the journey glued to our windows, watching river rapids cut through mountain valleys whilst women climbed precariously overhanging trees to pick fruit and farmers ambled up steep paths, leading their flock. We stopped off on the way for a very quick and simple lunch before eventually arriving at Manali at around 6.30pm. From there, we caught a rickshaw up to Old Manali, a quieter and more relaxed part of town, before scaling the side of a large hill next to a streaming river in order to get to our guesthouse of choice, Rockway Cottage. On the way, we met another group of travellers, consisting of three individuals from Devon and one from a remote northern part of Canada, who were residing in Rockway. We spent the evening checking out the local area before heading down to a nearby 'club house', where we grabbed some food (I had my first Dosa - very nice) before having a couple of drinks at the bar where we met a small group of guys from Delhi who were taking a weekend away (we decided to try the locally brewed apple wine - passable, but I wouldn't recommend it). After playing a few games of pool, we headed back to our room and got some rest. The guesthouse was fantastic, probably the best so far, with spacious, cheap rooms situated perfectly amongst the hills and breathtaking views over the snowy mountains and small rapids below.

DAY 25 - MANALI

We decided to spend our first full day in Manali getting a feel for the town so walked down to its 'model village', the most busy and developed part of Manali, filled with market stalls, retail shops, restaurants and countless street vendors. We had a fantastic breakfast at Cafe Amigos, a nice german bakery, before trailing a network of underground markets, eventually purchasing a set of batteries for our speakers. We then leisurely made our way back up to Old Manali, enjoying our second meal of the day at the Blue Elephant Cafe. We remained in the cafe for a while after our meal playing cards, avoiding the rain which would fall intermittently for the rest of the day. After a short walk, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the club house playing ping pong and pool, eventually making our way back to our room, via the beer and wine shop, after the sun had faded below the rocks and trees. We spent the evening enjoying a few drinks and listening to music, the recently lit stove fire providing us with a comfortable warmth which carried with us through the night.