Got on the 11 hour public night bus to Manali, was a v bumpy ride and didn't get any sleep, much to Tom's annoyance! We arrived in Manali at freezing o'clock in the morning, we looked quite silly in our t-shirts and flip flops, feelin v tired we found the first room we could then fell in to bed. Next morning i sent Tom to find a nicer place to stay as the place we found the night before turns pretty much in to a building site in the day. Nice!

Spent our first day wondering round a nature park, eating apple crumble and drinking coffee. Second day we got up early and got a taxi up the mountain in an attempt go skiing. We found two guys to hire skis and boots off... they had the huge range of two pairs of boots and two pairs of skis. The boots were exactly the same size, we reckon a size 9, so not really good for either of us (me being a size 5 and Tom being a size 12), but we made do! The skis were v skinny, v long and v unwaxed, but again we made do. We hiked up the mountain a little way then gave them a good go. Both clumsily skied down the mountain in a fit of giggles.. didn't stick at it for too long but very glad we did it. We were almost tempted in to hiring the local ski wear of a massive fur coat or bright coloured one piece,but decided against it in the end.

Went for a walk up the valley today, we have been on a strict vegi diet since bein in India but we may try some of the local trout this evening. Yummy!