Manali

Manali is a beautiful town. It's high in the mountains. It's in the middle of green pine forests, and is in a valley right on a huge river. It's much more lush and green than Ladakh. I stayed at a guest house in Old Manali. It's a big backpacker place and is full of tourists from all over the world. It sits on steep hills with narrow roads. I was planning on going trekking while I was there, but I had injured my foot by jumping off of something so I wasn't able to do much. I couldn't think of a better place to just be. I ate a lot, wandered around town, and soaked up the beautiful surroundings.

I spent a lot of time with my new friends Max and Angelina. We went to an open mic one night and saw some really amazing musicians. We were regulars at a Mexican restaurant near our guest house (yes there was a Mexican restaurant). I also made friends with some Indian shop owners Ram and Sunny. They have a jewelery store that sells jewelery that they make themselves with beads and gemstones, tribal jewelery, and poi swings. They spend the summers in Manali and the winters in Goa. We spent a lot of time hanging out with them in their store listening to Indian music. They are amazing at playing the didgeridoo! I even made my own bracelet! They had us over one night to hang out and watch Slumdog Millionaire. They were the best hosts. They brought us food and drinks, and even offered to let us stay the night if we were tired.

One day Angelina and I went and visited a temple in the small neighboring village of Vishish. It was a beautiful temple made of intricately carved wood. Inside the temple was a private room with a natural hot springs bath. There is a separate area for men and women. We soaked in the hot springs that is believed to be sacred holy water. It was full of women from other parts of Asia, and poor Indian women bathing their children in the hot water. The women were topless and the richer Indian women are so conservative and modest that they would just enter to quickly dip a toe in the water or scoop up a handful to put on their children's heads. After soaking we covered our hair with scarves and went up and rang a bell at the temple entrance and then knelt down to be blessed with the water and have an orange mark put on our foreheads. This is very common in worship in India.

While I was there I had another Indian shop owner try to cast a love spell on me. I bought a ring from him, and he told me that I would fall in love with him within 2 hours. I didn't fall in love with him but had to visit the store again with my friends. He insisted on having us sit and have a tea. He proceeded to hit on me the whole time. He begged me to come back later. It was awkward when I refused. When I went to leave I sat on what I thought was a bench outside that was covered with cushions and my ass went straight through a glass case! What a perfect way to end an already weird experience! LOL I steered clear of that shop for the rest of my time in Manali.

I also got threading done while I was there. It's the Indian form of hair removal. They use a piece of thread to remove body hair. I'm not exactly sure how they do it, but it works! They claim it's better than waxing for the skin. I didn't see a huge difference, but it was a great experience!

I also saw a yak. They're huge and weird. They are usually white or black with long hair. Yak cheese is good. It reminds me of goat cheese.

Manali was beautiful, fun, and relaxing!!