Never Before

                                                           29 May, 2009

No, I didn't try it. Next time, though.

Never Before

Thirsting for Reusability

                     Contributing to plastic waste in Old Manali

Refilling old plastic water bottles beats buying new ones, especially when travelling. Not all towns and cities that you visit have waste disposal processes similar to the ones that exist in large cities like the one you may come from, and buying and throwing away a lot of plastic bottles could easily ruin a beautiful town. So it makes sense to reuse old bottles to reduce the amount of garbage that you create. Also, you save up on money that you'd normally spend on bottled water, which amounts to a lot if you're backpacking on a budget over a period of time.

I found Leh and McLeod Ganj great as far as drinking water was concerned during my visit there in May & June, 2009. Instead of buying bottled water (Rs 15-20) everyday, I could reuse and refill my 1 litre bottle at refill stations that sold purified or boiled water refills, at Rs. 7 in Leh and Rs. 10 in McLeod Ganj.

In Leh, an environmentally conscious organisation called Dzomsa runs two shops that provide people with boiled water refills, apricot & sea buckthorn juice, dry fruit products, etc. Dzomsa is a good initiative to keep Ladakh clean, and to ensure waste gets reduced and reused where possible, particularly disposable plastic water bottle waste.

Old Manali was a different story however. A day into my stay there after travelling down from Leh, I realised there weren't any refills and that I'd have to keep buying a new bottle of water once or twice a day. So not cool. And after 9 days I had my own little plastic bottle collection (see picture above).

Another thing that struck me when I visited all these towns was the fact that almost none of their restaurants served free drinking water, something I'm not used to in Mumbai, where every single restaurant serves you free but probably unpurified water, which is refilled at many points during your meal, whether you want more water or not.

Not so in the North. They just sell you the bottled stuff. Now I wonder if that's a good or bad thing. Not serving free drinking water does save on water wastage, since people have a tendency to misuse and take for granted what is given for free. But it also means people are buying more water, and probably increasing plastic wastage, so I'm not sure which is the lesser evil.

I suppose the best solution would be for a restaurant to offer only bottled water that you could then refill at a subsidised cost? In which case Leh and McLeod Ganj seem to be on the right track, while Mumbai and Old Manali lie on opposite ends of the extreme wastage spectrum.

Do you have any thoughts on water or plastic wastage that you'd like to add?

Thirsting for Reusability

Travel Diary: May 28 - June 1

Day 21 - Thursday - May 28
Old Manali

Woke at 10.00. Had breakfast at Kathmandu Cafe - beans on toast (Rs. 40). Went for a long walk. Took the road out of town that passes the clubhouse. It was around 6 kms through beautiful green scenery. This was my first walk through lush greenery since Ladakh so it was a big difference.

The road was pretty lonely, but towards the end I did come to a little resort town, where I crossed a bridge to the east and came to the highway, where I began walking back to Manali, passing Vashisht, another small town popular with foreign tourists and backpackers. This must have taken another 5 kms.

It was late afternoon now, and while walking up to Old Manali, I cut through the nature park situated between the two towns. Again, it was the first time I'd seen fir trees so I went a bit photo crazy. I really enjoyed the coolness of the forest as well. It tends to get dark among the tall tress, even in the middle of the day.

I rested at the guesthouse from 5 till 8, and then ate dinner at Simpy's restaurant - a chicken tikka & roti (Rs.100). A blackout ensued when I finished my meal and I had to wait at the restaurant for around 10 mins before the power returned, since finding my way back to the guesthouse in the sudden pitch blackness would be risky, the roads being potholed and all. Leh had a lot of blackouts but most of the hotels and guesthouses had generators, at least for some emergency lighting. I hope blackouts aren't too frequent over here.

It's cold at night, but not in an uncomfortable way. I use a sweater and monkey cap when out and about at night and a light blanket while sleeping. This suffices.

Day 22 - Friday - May 29
Old Manali

I had breakfast at a little cafe nearby - a garlic cream cheese mushroom olive sandwich - really large and great value for money at Rs. 40.

Went on a nice pleasant walk to Hadimba temple - walked down to the Beas, crossed the bridge, and walked up the path, through mid range hotels and guesthouses to the temple compound.

The compound has four entrances, I discovered after walking around for a while, and I came in through the quietest one. The others can be noisy affairs, with lots of people trying to sell you stuff - saffron, kesar, pictures of you touching a yak, rabbit or snake, etc.

The temple seems pretty much hidden from view until you really come to it. It has a few interesting animal horns hung around its sides. There's a little forest, leading up from the temple, a nice place for a walk or rest - very similar to the little nature park between Manali and Old Manali.

I checked out some of the posher hotels on my way back to the guesthouse, which I reached around noon. Had lunch at 2.00 at Evergreen Cafe - a Falafel plate (Rs. 90) - which wasn't that good, and then spent time at the internet centre next door from 3.00 to 6.30.

Met P & T for dinner at 8.00 - we went to the Moon Dance Cafe where I had a Bruschetta (Rs. 60). P's food took an extraordinarily long time to arrive, and we were finished by the time it eventually did.

I'll be trekking to the Solang valley tomorrow.

Day 23 - Saturday - May 30
Old Manali/Solang

Woke early today and had breakfast at the same place as yesterday's cafe - another sandwich.

Put on a sweater - it was pretty cold today morning - and began my trek. I walked past Manu temple, and then climbed upwards following a shepherd and his herd of cows to a beautiful open green pasture really high up.

I saw three other people - foreigners. By the time I reached them, to ask for directions, two had already begun descending, and the remaining guy didn't seem to know where Solang was. He then began walking upwards, towards the where the pasture sloped up and the mountain continued upwards. I could also hear techno music coming from somewhere up there.

It was warmer now and a light rain began to fall, so I swapped my sweater for a light raincoat and approached the herder for directions to Solang, but he instructed me to go through the forest, meet up with the road I had walked on two days ago, and continue on that road to Solang. This would take me the rest of the day to accomplish, much longer than the two hours the LP guide had mentioned. I decided to continue with the trek anyway. I hate turning back. When asked about the music, he said something about a party some foreigners were throwing. I decided to investigate.

So I climbed upwards again. This time I didn't have to climb far and it wasn't too tiring. I just followed the music and it kept getting louder as I went up. It was really good techno music. I finally came up over the slope and saw before be a small clearing, where 3 yellow tents were set up, and around 15 Japanese/Korean hippie like people were milling about, some inside the tents, some outside, in the midst of a techno music rave party.

They were all in the zone, swaying to the pulsating repetitive music, some standing around dancing by themselves, some sitting and following the beat, all in their own little worlds. They were high. Some of them didn't even notice me, or didn't care, and seemed to be smoking hash.

The middle tent had a DJ with a laptop. He seemed to be the only truly sober member of the group. I also noticed large speakers with a generator. I can't believe people lugged that equipment all the way up here. They had to do it themselves. There were no roads here. They could have had a pack animal do it though.

I walked back down the slope to the green pasture below, and continued onwards to Solang, following a narrow,sometimes invisible path beside a line of barbed wire for what seemed like forever. This bit was the hardest. I managed to get myself inside the fenced off area at one point but couldn't find any way down to the road below.

I went on. The path took me across a steep little creek to another point in the mountain with a few homes and farms strewn about, where I got directions to the road at the bottom. Climbing down to the road took a long while since I was so high up by this time. After about twenty minutes, I came down to the motorable road I had walked on two days ago, the one following the river north. I continued walking along it, in the direction of Solang, stopping at 12.30 to eat some biscuits for lunch.

I kept on walking, on to the Whispering Woods resort. It was really hot by now, not only because I was out of the mountain forest area, but also because it was mid day. About 4 kms later, I came to a bridge allowing me to cross the river to Palchan. It was another 4 km walk uphill from there, along the road, to Solang.

I finally arrived at Solang at around 4.00 P.M, and rested at the bus stop. I wasn't sure what I'd find here, but a lot of vehicles kept passing me on their way further uphill. It was at this point that I saw paragliders in the air. I walked up the road; it turned out to lead straight to the valley, where a lot of adventure sports take place.

The first thing I saw were cars, so many of them that they were parked on both sides of the road next to the valley. The valley itself was really crowded, with people walking about the huge open ground, paragliders landing in their midst, kicking them in their faces as they landed, people in zorbing bubbles being rolled down one slope of the valley, pony rides, quad biking, tiny open air restaurants selling Maggie noodles and other snacks lining the sides of the valley, etc. There was even a small ski lift that looked like it was under construction.

I took in the whole sight, then walked back to bus stop. Waited for a bus to Manali for a long time but none arrived. A group of us then jumped into a tourist vehicle and paid the driver Rs. 20 each to get us to Manali.

I walked back to Old Manali, my feet a bit sore from all the walking, freshened up at the guesthouse, and ate dinner at the Cnaan restaurant at Sagar guesthouse - a mixed veg tikka & roti (Rs. 90).

Day 24 - Sunday - May 31
Old Manali/Vashisht

Had Muesli for breakfast at Yangkhor Tibetan Cafe. I had never heard of Muesli before but it is on most of the menus here so I finally decided to give it a try. It took a really long time to prepare but it was filling, I'll give it that. It seemed to have everything in it - around twenty different types of nuts and fruits in a bowl and mixed with curd and honey. Tastewise it was O.K, but a bit pricy at Rs. 70. I didn't mind since this was a one time thing. I'm not averse to trying these new types of food when travelling. We don't get stuff like this back in Mumbai so it's good to experiment now and then.

I came back and met P & T at their guesthouse. We had agreed to meet today and go to Vashisht. They hadn't even had breakfast yet. We took a rick to Vashisht, three kms morth of Manali on the east side of the river. It's supposed to be a hot spring town. Vashisht itself is more or less on the highway, like Manali, but it's built in to a hill (like everything else on my travels) so you need to take a steep motorable road right up to the top of the town, which is where the main temple, restaurants, and guesthouses are.

It's actually pretty crowded, what with people constantly visiting the temple and all. They have a few hot spring baths lying around but since it was late morning by the time we arrived there, there didn't seem to be any point in heating ourselves up further.

We waked around a bit, exploring the area around the temple. A few few narrow lanes off the main square lead to village like areas and guesthouses populated by foreigners. Vashisht is a lot larger than Old Manali. Like Old Manali, there just seems to be one main street running through the town, but unlike Old Manali, most of the action seems to take place at the top of the hill. Most of the atmospheric guesthouses and restaurants are located here, though surprisingly, given the town's size, they're not as numerous as the ones in Old Manali.

This town seems to be more of a holy place populated and visited mostly by Indians. This might not be a bad place to stay for a few days if you're looking to just relax, read and do nothing else whole day, but for someone like me, I'm not so sure I could handle it. At least not without company.

We asked around for hot springs and waterfalls and were told that there was one a few minutes walk away from the town centre. The path we were shown initially took us through village like homes. I was reminded of Goa. We then came to a small waterfall, Then a slightly larger one that turned into a little stream at the point where we crossed it, hopping over stepping stones to keep our feet (or shoes in my case) dry. The path took us around the periphery of the hill that Vashisht is built onto, and the views of the surrounding quiet beautiful forest were fantastic.

We finally left the forest area and came into a clearing where we could see the waterfall crashing down below us. This was the real waterfall, tall and strong. It only took us around 15 minutes to walk here form Vashisht town, the first time I've had to walk so little to get to a waterfall. There was a little lookout point built around a Hindu shrine somewhere around the middle of the waterfall, a little lower than the point in the forest from which we emerged. We relaxed there for a bit, and then climbed up, above the shrine to where the waterfall forms a pool of water after it comes crashing down over a precipice in the mountain. This was a really lovely meditative place. I love sitting around waterfall pools. Though deafening, they seem so peaceful.

Being a Sunday, and a popular spot for visitors, we saw quite a few more people come to this spot while we there, though I wouldn't call it crowded. Still, I'd like to come back here on a weekday. We walked back to Vashisht where we ate a late lunch at the World Peace Cafe. I had a mushroom mutter and two rotis (Rs.85). I needed to have something spicy after all the bland/continental food I've been having lately.

We took a rick back to Old Manali. I got off at Manali on the way and hit the ATM. Picked up a quart of rum on the way back to Old Manali and, back at the guesthouse, mixed it into a little-more-than-half full bottle of Pepsi that I carried all the way from Leh. I had bought it during our one and only visit to a bar there. Skipped dinner. Just read a bit and slept.

Day 25 - Monday - June 1
Old Manali

It was raining outside for almost the entire day today, so I got a chance to relax. Had breakfast at the guesthouse - cheese mushroom toast (Rs.50). Yum.

I picked up a book from the guesthouse collection - Avalon - The Return of King Arthur by Stephen R. Lawhead. Pretty crappy but it passed the time. I kept reading till lunch, which I also ate at the guesthouse - a chicken do pyaza with rice (Rs. 100).

I then returned to my book for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Met the guys in the night for dinner. I hung out at their guesthouse for a while, sipping my concoction and getting high while they finished a joint. They seem to have a whole bunch of beer bottles lying around. They really don't do much. I almost finished my rum while I was there and was pretty high by the time we left for dinner.

We went to the Lazy Dog, this really expensive place. I finished the rum I had (was really feeling good) while the guys made and smoked another joint between their beers. And then they smoked a sheesha. I had ordered Japanese food for the first time (another first for me) - a chicken katsu-dom (Rs. 180). It was really bland and not worth its price.

Made it back to the guesthouse in one piece.

Travel Diary: May 28 - June 1

Travel Diary: May 23 - 27

Day 16 - Saturday - May 23
Leh

Woke at 9.45 A.M. Had breakfast at Gesmo today - Aloo Paratha (Rs.20) and a coffee (Rs. 20).

Spent the morning on the internet. One and a half hour offline and one hour online (Rs.130).

Met P, who lent me one of his books - Mark Tully's India in slow motion. T was sick today, so P and I went for lunch ourselves, to Gesmo again, where we both had yak cheese chicken sandwiches. I took a photo this time around. P tells me they really should be called nak cheese sandwiches, to denote the female of a yak, which is really where the cheese comes from.

We spoke to another guy who organises treks to the Markha valley, who told us it's Rs. 3,500 per person for 3 nights from Spituk to Stok. The other guy recommended to me was closed today so we couldn't talk to him to compare prices. At this point, we're just looking for ways to kill time for the next few days while we wait for the highway to Manali to open so we can be on our way.

I went for a walk with P. We hit a couple of army surplus stores in the market. They stock army boots, caps, hats, balaclavas, etc. I was looking for a cap, but the ones there were of an inferior make.

We walked through three 'Tibetan Refugee' markets, though not all the sales vendors there are Tibetan.or refugees.

I went back to the hotel and read for a while, before going for dinner with the guys at 8.30. We went to a new place again, and I tried a chicken Schnitzel (around Rs.100). It's supposed to be Israeli.

Day 17 - Sunday - May 24
Leh

Went to Kangla Chen restaurant for breakfast. Had the French toast. Found it oily and hard.

Met P on the street outside, and we went back to Kangla Chen so he could have breakfast there. These guys start their days later than I do.

Went to an internet place on Fort Rd next. I had planned to spend the rest of the morning there, but went back to my hotel to rest after I started feeling a bit sick - dizzy and low on energy - not sure why. T was sick yesterday, and I'm sick today.

I skipped lunch and slept the whole afternoon. Met the guys in the night for dinner. We went to Happy World restaurant where I had a sweet chicken corn soup. It made me feel a lot better, and I ordered a chilly chicken to follow.

We decided to put off our plans for a trek. It's too cold to trek anyway, and we're not feeling up to it.

Day 18 - Monday - May 25
Leh/Shakti

Went back to Happy World restaurant for breakfast today, where I had a mushroom omlette (Rs. 35).

Then went back to the hotel to decide to do something more productive today as compared to the last two days.

I decided to visit Shakti village in the Chemrey valley, south of Leh, much more south than Thiksey but along the same route more or less. I walked to the bus station, around 10-15 minutes away, but had to wait an hour for the bus to leave, it being 12.30 by the time it did.

I reached my destination at 2.00 P.M, after a long but scenic bus ride that took me through Shakti village and terminated at a point soon after. I confirmed with the bus conductor that the last bus out of the village and back to Leh was only two hours away, and then began my walk back through the village.

I've not had a chance to see a lot of greenery in Ladakh, most of it being in Leh, and that too just restricted to small farms, but Shakti had full blown pastures, something I haven't seen here so far. Naturally, I had to take a lot of pics.

I caught a bus back to Leh on my walk out of the village. Another one and a half hour bus ride. I notice how well people adjust in buses here. There are absolutely no arguments or fights breaking out, despite the buses being crowded. Also, women seem to be treated with a lot more respect here, or rather, it would be more accurate to say that they're treated more like equals here than in many other places I've been to. There's absolutely no hesitation or fear from them as they share close confined spaces and seats with male strangers in crowded buses.

It's something I've noticed a lot here. Young Ladakhi women (all of them really beautiful, don't know how they do it) seem to lead more confident and liberal lives here as compared to other places I've been to in India. They have no reason to feel uncomfortable in or fear public or crowded areas. And Ladakhi men in turn seem to be really respectful, in the sense that they never seem to do anything to make a woman, either local or an outsider, feel uncomfortable, like stare at her or anything.

Ladakhi women also tend to play larger roles in the community, many of them in charge of operating shops and restaurants, unlike other parts of India where managing an establishment would be left to the men only. And the men seem to take this freedom that women have for granted. The liberal lives that women in Ladakh seem to lead just seems to be a part of the Ladkhi culture, ingrained in them, and not something their women have had to struggle or fight for.

I don't mean to paint a picture of a Utopian society where women are treated as complete equals. Gender discrimination no doubt still exists in Ladakhi society. A woman wouldn't be encouraged to take up a career in mountaineering or single handedly leading trekking expeditions, etc. Close knit traditional societies like the ones that exist here simply cannot change overnight.

But the liberal lives I'm referring to are more to do with how women seem to hold themselves over here. They do so with a lot more confidence than anywhere else in India that I've been to. In Mumbai for example, women tend to avert their eyes in public, looking down as they walk. Also, they wouldn't be very confident or willing to converse with a male stranger. Women don't have a reason to behave this way in Ladakh.

Anyway, it was around 6 by the time I reached my hotel. I ate a small packet of dry fruits since I missed lunch. P dropped by to give me news I'd been expecting - the road to Manali opened yesterday or today and the first batch of people have come in today. I thought I saw more people on the streets today. But of course, that could just mean that the tourist season is taking off.

It's amazing how much this town has changed since we arrived here 18 days ago. It resembled a ghost town then, half the shops still being closed. And we've slowly seen it transform into a proper international traveller centre, and get somewhat warmer as well.

P told me that T and he have booked jeep tickets for early tomorrow morning, and asked if I'd like to come along since there's going to be place. I told him I'm good to go. So we finally leave for Manali at 3.00 A.M tomorrow.

Day 19 - Tuesday - May 26
Leh/Manali

Left the hotel to meet the guys at 2.30 A.M. It was really dark outside but not as cold as I'd expected. We had booked a taxi the previous evening so we didn't have to walk all the way to Leh bus stop with our heavy backpacks in the dark.

The jeep stand was next to the bus station. We found our vehicle, got into it, and left at 3.00 A.M. It began snowing on or way to the second highest motorable road in the world - Tang Lang La - which we'd have to cross on our way to Manali. Visibility was bad as we climbed up and the convoy we had set off in had to stop at the pass for daylight to arrive before we could continue at around 5.00 A.M. It had drizzled a bit the previous evening and we had seen a lot of dark clouds here for the first time but thought nothing of it as it rarely rains in Leh.

We continued on, stopping at Pang for breakfast - omlette, chapati, and tea (Rs. 40) - which refreshed us. We then stopped a little before to change tires around 12.30 P.M. Most of the trip seems like a real blur since we travelled a long way - 450 kms - in 18 hrs. I remember driving by wide plains in a large flat plateau like area afterwards, and then down the mountain for a long time through the twenty Gata loops and past Sarchu, then through Darcha (where we first began seeing green mountains after almost three weeks of barrenness and where foreigners need to register), Jispa, Keylong and Tandi, then to Khoksar (a small town full of dhabas where most people break immediately before or after attempting to cross the Rohtang pass) and then further uphill to the Rohtang pass itself, during which time night fell, and we drove on in darkness all the way over the Rohtang and down the other side and the 50 kms to Manali.

We arrived in Manali hungry and tired. The whole town seems to consist of only hotels and restaurants, and is very crowded and dirty. None of us liked it from the moment we set eyes on it. Still, we had to spend the night here and so began looking for a cheap hotel. We finally found one that would take all three of us in one room for Rs. 800. It's the tourist season here and everything seems booked up.

We checked in and went looking for dinner. I like the weather here. It's cool without being cold. A relief after Ladakh. We found a restaurant on the main road, crowded, and I had soup (Rs. 65). Then back to the hotel for some well deserved sleep. We simply can't believe that everything that we saw and did today really took place today. It seems more like this morning or afternoon actually happened two weeks ago.

I also notice that I've reached day 19, the halfway mark in my travels.

Day 20 - Wednesday - May 27
Manali/Old Manali

A lot of noise outside woke me at 5.00 A.M today - traffic noise - and again at 7.00, after which I just couldn't go back to sleep. It seems Manali gets up real early.

I had breakfast at the hotel - Aloo Paratha (Rs. 15) - and then walk with P to Old Manali to find a new place to stay while T slept in. I can't imagine why anyone would want to stay in Manali. Old Manali was supposed to be a better place, according to the LP guidebook, and it took us a about a half hour to cover the 2.5 kms there.

I liked Old Manali immediately. It's small, friendly, and full of international travellers and backpackers, which means most of the people here are more or less my age, and there aren't any noisy children or traffic problems around. The town is really close to the roaring Beas river, and we found the main guesthouse-restaurant area after an initial wrong turn. These seem to be built along a slope with a narrow road running uphill through the town, which seems to be used mostly by Indian tourists in their hired vehicles from Manali coming to visit Manu temple at the top of the hill and end of the road.

Indian tourists bug me. They roam about with their large families, take a lot of pictures, make a lot of noise, leave plastic about, and then leave in their noisy vehicles. They don't ever dwell on any of the places they've visited, inquisitive about its history or significance. They only seem to want to have some kind of pictorial record of a place that they can tick off their list and brag about visiting later to their friends.

One thing I noticed in Old Manali is the number of international tourists, or rather, the lack of Indian tourists living here. A lot of Indian tourists pass by the town in their vehicles to Manu temple and then go back to their hotels in Manali or elsewhere. But none of them actually stay in Old Manali. I'm trying to figure out why. Maybe a place gets a certain type of reputation after a while, and Indian families don't want to be associated with that kind of reputation.

Also, Indian families like to stay in hotels - the more expensive the better. Probably because they mostly travel as part of a tour group, that prebooks hotel rooms for them. Foreigners, not bound by this constraint, are free and in fact prefer to stay at cheap quiet guesthouses with gardens and cafes and like-minded company where they can relax and do their own thing and not be disturbed, like reading a book on a balcony taking in the scenery, as opposed to living in a characterless hotel room with all its typical depressing features that lean towards anonymousness.

Furthermore, foreigners want to live in a place they feel comfortable in, not a place where they'd be conspicuous or made to feel self conscious, and the only places in India like this tend to be places already populated by foreigners. The same applies to Indians I guess - they'd like to live around other Indians when they travel.

So P and I walked through Old Manali inquiring at different guesthouses about prices and rooms. They all had rooms available, and though some were more expensive than others, we each found something in our price ranges. Mine is Rs. 300 a night. We waked back to Manali, checked out of the hotel with T and took a rick to our new homes.

Again, the climate here is excellent. It's hot in the middle of the day - but only if you're in the sun. You do sweat a lot if you're walking along an asphalt road in the afternoon. But the moment you step into the shade, you cool down. Five minutes in the shade and you wouldn't believe you'd been sweating five minutes ago. I love this kind of heat. It's dry heat. Not something I've experienced in Mumbai. There, the humidity keeps it hot no matter what the time of day it is. This is the first time I've been so comfy in the last week of May. People in Mumbai must be suffering right now.

I rested for a bit at the guesthouse, then went for lunch and a walk with P & T at the Shiva Garden Cafe and Restaurant, where I tried Israeli food - Pita, Humus, chips and salad. Quite good. I continued alone uphill to the end of the road and Manu temple, and then walked to an ATM in Manali, walked back and got a haircut. I also bought a few nuts and biscuits I might need for lunch if I go an a trek here.

And I've been drinking more water here. Unfortunately, no one here offers refills so I have to keep buying bottled water.

I met the guys for dinner. We went to Dragon Restaurant (attached to the Dragon guesthouse) where I had mixed veg and naan (Rs 100).

Travel Diary: May 23 - 27