A Cold Night in Manali
After 3 days of camping in the snow and slush, we were all thrilled to go to Manali, a small city that used to be a British hill station at the base of the mountains in the Kullu valley, to sleep in a proper bed and have a hot shower. The sun was shining when we arrived about 3 hours later. Our hotel was located in the center of town on a pedestrian only street. There were at least a dozen mangy and likely rabid dogs sleeping in the sunshine in the street.
The afternoon was spent exploring the small town which is a popular tourist destination for Indians and westerners as they head further into the Himalayas or come for winter sports. We heard that for about $60, one could take a helicopter ride to the mountains and ski in the fresh powder.
Caroline, Max, Beth, Karen, Jen, Jess and I set out in search of a coffee shop we'd read about in the travel guide. After nothing but tea for the last week, we were ready for our coffee fix. We failed at finding the coffee shop, but we did get a walk around town. There were lots of small alley ways lined with one room shops or eateries. The roads were narrow and packed with snow so there was very little space for us to walk without nearly getting run over by cars, motorbikes and auto-rickshaws. We walked up the hill above the main town next to large parks filled with tall pine trees and snow banks. It was cold but at least the sun was shining.
On our way back, we finally found a shop with an espresso machine. We all savored our lattes and cappuccinos and even pieces of chocolate cake. I almost felt like home.
We ran into the rest of the group wandering around as well. Together we weaved our way through the heart of Manali which was brimming with action and livestock. We saw a cow, covered in her own diarrhea, who appeared to be close to dying while she lay in the middle of a busy street. Aren't cows sacred in this country? There was a group of donkeys eating voraciously out of a dumpster. We almost ran into a cow who was nearly the size of a small car as she stood guard over a fruit stand.
The store fronts were all fascinating to peer into. There were confectioners filled with brightly colored squares of sugary treats. The barber shops were he size of stalls and each contained a lathered-up man getting a straight razor shave. We tried some freshly fried samosas and the Indian equivalent. of funnel cake. Interspersed throughout the town, we found Buddhist temples, Tibetan shops, and food stalls selling Chinese food and momo dumplings.
My camera sporadically stopped working despite a full battery so I found a camera shop to buy a new battery in hopes that it would solve my problem. While I was out on my quest, I bumped into Brett who had just come back from wandering around town with Nick. They had visited one of the many parks in town and found not only a temple but a yak they rode for about $2.
When Beth and I reconnected, we decided it wasn't everyday that one had the opportunity to ride a yak so we thought we'd go find it. We tried not to slip on the icy streets and steps as we walked uphill as fast as we could; there was only about an hour of sunlight left so we had to beat the clock. In a deodar tree thicket, we found a pair of yak with saddles. While we negotiated the price of a short ride, we were harassed by women holding fluffy white bunnies. Even as Beth and I mounted the yaks, the women still tried to shove their rabbits at us so that we'd pay them for photographs. We needed to be firm to reject here advances. Our yak herders moved things along as the large stout animals plodded uphill towards the temple. It was a short ride but we got our touristy photos for the cost of a few dollars.
We took a brief look at Harimba temple, a simple wooden structure built in 1553. There were some brightly colored statues inside but it was an overall simple Hindu temple compared to others we'd seen. After leaving the temple, Beth and I caught beautiful pink sunset that illuminated the snow-capped mountains and the Kullu valley below.
It was a brisk walk down to make it in time for the group dinner at the hotel. We had a few mangy dogs who tried to follow us home so we also figured the speed-walking might help us lose the dogs too. No such luck.
Back the hotel, we found the entire group eating dinner, still bundled up in their jackets. The hotel had no central heating and to make matters worse, it had the worlds worst insulation. A few space heaters were on in our dining room but the temperature was still frigid.
After dinner, Ravi, our tour leader, invited us into the adjacent bar area for a drink on him. I ordered a scotch, hoping it might warm me up. While we all sipped our complimentary drinks, we huddled around the radiant space heaters, fighting over who got to sit closest. After the bar shut down, a few of us plotted to steal the large heaters from the bar for the night. The hotel had provided each room with a heater that put out about as much heat as a hairdryer. Beth and I had had the heater running all day and it was still freezing in our room. It was cold enough that we could see our breath when we spoke. Even with our new, large heater running all night, the thermals I wore under my pajamas, the thick fleece jacket and wool hat I slept in, I was still painfully cold. The only way I could get a little comfortable was if I lay in the fetal position but eventually my body would cramp up and I'd awake. I tried to inch closer to Beth for body warmth. It was one of the worst sleeps I'd had in a very long time. We'd have to wait another week to fulfill our dreams of hot showers and comfortable beds.
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