Tuesday evening: I got a decent meal in the main town- Manali is divided into old town and main town, I'm staying in old town which is also the hippy area, but at £2.40 a night?! We are surrounded by very lush and green mountains here, so it's a pretty town although full of Israelis!
Wednesday: I decided on Sri Lanka, so was busy booking the flight and arranging the visa and first hostel, etc. I walked to a famous temple, which was just like the other 10,000 I've seen in the last 2 months although it was in amongst the forest which was cool. Then it started to rain torrentially, so I took shelter in the hostel til it stopped and I walked to another temple, took some laundry to a laundrette and was asking around about canyoning- but no one had any groups running and it's expensive alone. I walked to main town and grabbed some street food and booked a night bus to Delhi for Friday, I also arranged a cooking class in Delhi for Sunday- my last full day in India. I got stopped by a Buddhist monk on my walk back who was talking to me for ages, although I didn't have much idea what he was going on about. I don't feel I really fit in here as I'm not 'cool' or 'hippy' enough, as in I'm not sat smoking weed all day or dressed in brightly patterned, baggy attire with dreadlocks. Maybe I'm just getting old?! Although you think of hippies being laid back, not caring what people think and into nature; I have realised how much effort the females, in particular, put into this. I'm sharing a twin room with a Dutch girl who meets the hippy stereotype in every way, but she must have 10 times the amount of toiletries as me and spend 10 times longer getting ready and looking round you notice how they all have perfectly painted nails and makeup, etc. A rather ironic observation.
Thursday: the sun was out, so after breakfast at a cafe I walked 6km to nearby Vishisht- a slightly more relaxed village with temples, etc. I walked on to a waterfall, although went the wrong way for a while and found myself surrounded by pretty lilac butterflies and having a stand off with 2 cows that were blocking the narrow path- we've all heard the statistics about more people getting killed by cows than plane crashes, sharks or lightning..... But I made it and the waterfall was nice, although a lot of pot-bellied Indian men in their pants getting pictures posing by it. I walked back to the village and visited the temple, although this one was a bit more exciting as it's built on a hot spring and so has two free public baths inside- one for men and one for women. The sulphuric water is meant to have healing properties. I went for a dip- although the pool was boiling and so I could only soak my feet and splash the water over me. The naked Indian women were washing from the taps that spouted the hot water. Outside the temple were more of these hot taps and locals doing their washing, etc. I had an amazing lunch- trout is the local speciality so I splashed out an extra £1 and went for the trout thali. It didn't disappoint and I had an interesting chat with the owner, who was sat smoking a joint, about Brexit and cricket. Then I walked the 6km back, arriving just as the rain started! I picked up my laundry and had acquired a new pair of pants- they are quite nice (and obviously clean). Still trying to arrange canyoning for tomorrow before I get the bus, but it's a nightmare! Finally, after touring the agents and numerous phone calls I organised it for 10am. Treated myself to cheesecake, which was disappointing- it didn't even have a biscuit base! Then a chilled night reading- it's a book about the French colony in Laos/Vietnam and so nice to read about someone other than the British torturing natives but not the most engrossing thing I've read (should be Alex's travel and literary blog).
Friday: I went for breakfast and had the Israeli breakfast- been a while since I had shashulka (traditional egg and tomato dish) and hummus. Then I went to the office for canyoning, they informed me it was reduced to 1400R's from 2000R's, I don't know why?! But I wasn't going to argue and so it cost me about £16! The instructor gave me water shoes, a wetsuit, helmet and we had a steep climb up the mountain to near the top of the waterfall. If you don't know, canyoning is the art of rappelling (like abseiling) down waterfalls and rapids, but you can also slide down while attached to a rope. So I'm ticking another extreme sport off my list! It was great fun- there was a series of about 5 waterfalls, 2 of them were pretty high and you have to lean back just like when abseiling and lower yourself down. Although the last one I slid down on my bum even though it was a sheer drop and about 25m. The cold water was refreshing after the hot climb! The instructor said he had someone else in 30 mins if I wanted to go again for free. Seemed a great opportunity, but as we waited in the office he got a bit too friendly and was trying to persuade me to stay another day and he'd take me climbing. There were 2 Israeli guys showed up with an Indian camera crew who were photographing them for an advert for an indestructible phone. So the 2nd canyoning was a lot slower, as they were taking pictures all the time and the guide was trying to touch and kiss me, etc. What's wrong with people?! The water flow had increased since the first session though and the canyoning was a good experience, although not the scariest thing I've done. I then went back to my hostel to get my bag and got some lunch/dinner before my bus at 5.30. I'd paid a bit more for a half decent coach, as I figured I was saving on accommodation as I would be sleeping on it. Had no one next to me either! We'd been on the road a couple of hours when we saw a car clip another and all of a sudden there were these guys fighting and soon dozens of local people appeared to watch and join in the spectacle and we couldn't go anywhere as they blocked the road. I must admit it was some pretty feeble fighting, although one if them picked up a rock and was about to smash the windscreen in. The roads were much improved from my last journey and I was able to spread out in my two seats and sleep well!
Saturday: arrived at 7.30 and got the metro to the same hostel as I stayed last time. I had a freshen up and the free breakfast and chilled for a couple of hours til my cooking class- the woman had emailed to ask if we could rearrange for today as the other person cancelled for tomorrow and today would suit her better. I got there a bit early and so looked around the nearby market. The class was very good- first she went through spices, then we made pakoras and a popular milk-like drink called lassi. Then we made a lentil daal, a buttered paneer dish, ochre dish, rice and chapatis, which we sat and ate as a meal. Finishing with a popular flour based dessert. The food was amazing and I certainly learnt a lot about what I've been eating for the last 2 months and some useful things for home, although soph wouldn't like it as they use lots of coriander! It took about 3 hours and I stopped at another busy market area on the way back- you could just people watch for hours in India!! I headed back to the hostel where I could check in and had a shower. I chatted to people in the hostel and the staff were organising a night out. I haven't had a night out in India so was going to go, but then I was the only female and following my Indian molestations I decided it wasn't wise. So I got some fruit from the food stalls nearby and had a quiet night. I have noticed that Indians are not early risers- I got the metro about 8am and it was quiet?! Whereas a couple of hours later it's rammed! You still saw 100s of people asleep by the sides of the roads at this time and little is open. Trying to get breakfast in Manali before 9.30 was almost impossible.
Sunday: I had a lazy morning, then got a metro to Akshardham temple, which is the biggest in the world and on the site next to the 2010 commonwealth games village. It is a huge tourist attraction and is the Indian "Disneyland" as it features three exhibitions that include an inside boat ride through the history of a specific branch of Indian/Hindu history, plus a walk through robot acted scenes from the history/culture and a fairytale type film. It was quite amusing as they boasted about having first discovered gravity, Pythagoras and other discoveries through history. It was very entertaining for a couple of hours- there was also the impressively carved temple and 100 or so carved elephants. But very strict security- you weren't allowed to take anything inside. I befriended an older Swedish guy as we went around as he was the only other white guy and equally bewildered by it all. I dashed back to the hostel for the free tour. We went to the famous Bahai lotus temple then to the Hare Krishna temple, which was very amusing as they were all dancing- it was impressive and all in-sync as they chanted "Hare Krishna". We also got some great street food- it's the bonus of being with locals who know the good places. It was 9pm before we got back, so I chilled and by coincidence caught up with a Dutch guy I met a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I'm getting old, but hostels have changed from when I first went travelling nearly 10 years ago- then you would be lucky if the hostel had one computer to be used by everyone, whereas now everyone is sat on their smartphones/iPads/laptops watching films or TV or else browsing the internet. I blame this as the reason I haven't met as many people on this trip- backpackers don't talk to each other or socialise as everyone is absorbed in their screens! You don't even have to ask your fellow travellers about places, as you can just google it.
Am I sad to be leaving India? It's been an amazing experience, but the people are rather uncivilised even compared to Africa! They spit and toilet everywhere, there's no respect for personal space or queuing, people are savage when it comes to pushing, no one has respect for authority or follows rules (there are signs saying "no photography" and they are all taking pictures) and that's just the supposedly educated folk who can afford to ride the metro and visit the tourist sights. The poverty is immense and so many people sleeping on the streets or on the back of their bicycle rickshaws. But the food has been great and it's certainly been an experience to be part of this culture, although I don't feel the need to return and it won't be topping my list of favourite places mainly due to the lack of wildlife, adventure, new experiences, etc. Plus, I suspect Sri Lanka will not be so dissimilar.
Monday: my flight is not til 6.45pm so I'm having a chilled morning, not anything else I feel I need to see in Delhi. I had to give up on the French colony book- I'd read over 200 pages and only had 100 left, but it was just getting more stupid and life is too short to waste on reading rubbish. So I've started the infamous "the alchemist", we'll see if it lives up to it's reputation. I got the metro express to the airport which was nice and easy. Although as I checked in the woman was like "you need an onward ticket before we can check you in". I explained that I already had my visa granted and had no internet so couldn't book anything. In the end she made up a date that I'd be flying to London.
So we'll see what the next adventure brings......