It's been a little bit, and not for a bad reason: we left town! I left four days ago to go to breakfast with a friend of ours that was visiting, Subash. You may remember Subash from the grand drinking fest that was my first night in Delhi. Well, Mr. Subash came to visit. We went for breakfast, and accidently left town for 3 days.

After a lovely meal at Johnsons (my favorite food in Manali), we met up with Hemroj, Subash's friend, and the owner of Ishaan Resorts: the owner of the restaurant/bar proposal. Well, Subash, Hemroj and Simone decided we'd better take an adventure, and that we should drive somewhere out of Manali to see the beauty of the mountains. Besides the constant chain smoking in the car, I was more than excited to get in a little new-site seeing...

So we hopped in the Car, and Hemroj called some people. An amazing talent of Indian people: give them a cell-phone and a challenge: and they can create something out of nothing "no problem!" Hemroj knew some people working for the Government - and India has this terrific (for us, anyway) deal where Government Officials have permanent reservations on these houses in their districts. The ones in the mountains are called "Forest Rest Houses". Anyway, only govt people can stay here, or their guests. We were invited to stay at a really lovely FRH near Shoja... a very high mountain town. The FRH was really nice, clean, with a huge lawn. It was next to this really beautiful village, in which and of which we took many pictures.. a few for you:

Anyway, after the trek to the village, we came back, had dinner, beer, etc. And went to bed. The next morning, Simone and I were interested in taking a walk. The men wanted to go to Shoja and then drive to Jailori pass. Shoja was "only 5km or less" so we decided we'd walk there, and meet them. So we started walking. Turns out, it was a decent bit further than 5km, and perhaps more importantly: it was certainly not a flat hike. Shoja was approx. 1500 meters up from the Rest house. I was weary with 3 km to go. But then, I had some space, and the clouds started moving in. I'll share with you breifly the words that passed in my mind then:

I'll not choose because of Fear,

How do the heaviest things

seem to rise the highest?

How is it possible, that so much mass

accumulates so high

That the world lives with such mass

That I live with such mass, underfoot.

I'll not make my choices because of fear.

From Here, the Clouds and Mountain tops

shift and collide,

and become indistinguishable.

The vacancy of truth falls into the valleys of the

himalayas,

the Strength of Millions of Tons

Of Rock

and Millions of Miles

of grass.

There are people Milling the fields,

terraced farms, built on inclines impassable by motor

or by machine

Each morsel of land that is tamed

can only be tamed by hand

Less, it runs untamed. And I

a simple observer

seeing shapes shifting in the sky,

my legs only another trunk

of millions plunging into the earth

another conduit, springing life

up and out of the incredibly massive

incredibly heavy

rock of the earth.

Shortly after reaching Shoja, the monsoon started. We sat in a little cafe and had soda water with lemon. We couldn't find the Men. And, between the Monsoon + The total isolation.... there was no cell-phone signal (I know, gasp, startling, etc... but for some reason, we hadn't thought twice about having signals in one of the highest village in the region). We looked around, and there was no finding the men. So, we decided to start hiking up... toward Jailori Pass. Well, it was 2 km into THAT wicked steep hike, when we finally got a little cell-phone reception. There was a great deal of confusion, we ended up hiking up to 9000m high, and then took a little hitchhike to the top of the moutain. We were pretty much stuck up at the Jailori pass, we found the driver, but he had not had any contact with Hemroj or Subash. The Clouds were so thick they enveloped the mountain. We were standing on top of a mountain, and literally all you could see was white in every direction. It was difficult to see across the road. People and Cows would emerge from the white void and into my vision, It was amazing, and strange. There was nothingness in my eyes: just whiteness all around. And, if I got close enough, I could also see this beautiful Temple. I took some pictures, but they arent great --- because it was SO misted in WHITE!

Temple at Jailori Pass... beautiful!
This was our omlette walla (walla means "guy"), he made us yummy omlette, and also tasty Rojma (kidney beans).
Misty Cows Emerging from the great white beyond.

This picture was taken at the beginning of our hike! Neat donkeys - no one in sight to be directing them, just walking along the road. Also, to the side of this, there was a funeral and all the local villagers were building a huge funeral pyre in the river. Amazing.

After 4 hours, eating yummy omlets and rice & Dal, the Men finally reached our driver on the cellphone.

It was raining pretty wildly, we were all exhausted, lost and wet. We travelled through the rain on the scariest roads I've ever been on in a car. I was pretty ambivalent about whether I was going to live through the day at all. We made it back to semi-solid land, eventually - thankfully! We found a guest house, Doli Guesthouse, and the guy rented us a lovely cottage in a sunflower field. The next morning, we came home. My tummy was aching from too many windy roads and funny indian foods & water. I've been in a minor recovery since! This morning we went over to Vischist to scout out Yoga Retreat hotels... that went pretty well, and I've been inside enjoying the rain the rest of the day... and my tummy is almost back to normal.

This is me! Finally in the dry warmth of the Doli Guesthouse! Whew! I think I'm laughing, but it's hard to tell...

Also: I just wanted to tell you all that I've gotten inspired to start sharing all the beautiful things I'm seeing and finding in India. I want to buy all of it and bring it back to the states (or wherever you may be), but I simply don't have the dough or baggage space to do so! So, instead, I decided I would post beautiful things I find here, and can act as a sort of 'personal shopper' abroad. I've started a separate blog for this purpose: http://welltraveledwonders.blogspot.com -- I'll try to feature objects that I find that have a great story, a unique attribute, or are just really great indian businesses to promote. Today I found awesome eco-friendly sketchbooks.. they are beautiful! And for $2-$7 (depending on size), you can have one! Anyway, they are produced by the Tibetan Refugees, and really lovely. But, I'll be adding more things as I find them!

Oh! I'm twittering now, if you're into that kind of thing: @ZoeLive, and @TraveledWonders

Anyway! It's been a crazy, wonderful, insane last few days - and I'm ready for bed!

Keep well, Be Well,

and Much Love from The valley of the Gods.

Zo