Manali - in & out
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2009
1
2
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Trip End
Mar 01, 2010
Where I stayed
Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India
Friday, October 2, 2009
I waked up not that early in the morning, and wakled around the town looking for a breakfast. I stopped by some local-style-caffee, the food was very fatty, whatever.
The town is very crowded with the local tourists, i'm not sure what brings them here - small kids, young couples, big families... strange.
I waited all the morning for the local Bookworm shop to get opened, and was more than happy to get myself a brand new Lonely Planet! I'm not sure what to do with the Beni's LP, probably I should sell it, or just give it as a present to some nice traveler.
I looked for a cheaper place to stay and was prompted to go to the Old Manali - the most of the foreigner travelers stay there. That was true, i imediately met some Israeli girls, there were also freshly paked tourists, so there was nothing interesting to talk about.
The guy at the Antrek Tours & Travel agency proved to be helpful - not only he booked me a place on a minibus to Leh departing tonight, he also had an interesting trek to propose. Some 5 days, $60 a day, all included. But for now I'm taking the bus, and then when I'll be back we'll see about the trek.
The guide was really interested in the brand-new LP I hold in my hands. He said he travels alot in India and likes this book very much. I was not so sure what to do with the old one (I already have some 4 books in my backpack), so I gave it to him as a present. Hope Beni will appreciate that :)
In the evening i had to return back to the center of the city to pick my backpack. There were a few drops of rain which scared me a little. But i preferred to trust the travel agent who said there is no problem with the weather yet.
The Chopsticks place was crowded and I gave it a chance - I tried the Fried Momo - the sort of Tibetian dim-sum. Probably these are better when steamed. A tanned bloned guy aksedm if he can join my table, which i of course aggreed. He proved to be form New Zealand, a paraglide guide. He told me that all the used gear they sell comes to India, and it's probably not a good idea to take the paragliding cources here. He travels in the mountains with a motobike (500cc) and his paraglide - it works really nice together.
I returned to the Old Manali, taking a riksha.
At first I wanted to stay with Chabad folks, but the place was closed, so I went to the place Israely people told me about. It was a nice and quite there. I played a little with the laptop and went to sleep. Till 1:30 o'clock...
Comments
I also used Antrek Tours and Travels Pvt. Ltd. located in the Mall in Manali. They were very good and very responsible. Took care of alternative accommodation when we were unable to get to their camp on time due to mud slide that caused road delays.