Tagne 2001

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Dan's Diary

Day 5 - Monday 2nd July 2001

The centre of Manali

Andy had spent most of the night running backwards and forwards to the bathroom, being ill. As my mattress was between his and the bathroom I had to make sure I got out of his way and fast, so I didn't get much sleep either. We got up at 9am and went down to breakfast. Jon was not feeling a hundred percent either. I thought we'd escaped the Delhi Belly but it seemed to have caught up with us in Manali. Rahul came and joined us. He needed some more money for the cricket set and radio we'd asked him to get. Everything else had been bought. Andy gave up on breakfast and went back to bed.

During breakfast, one of the waiters returned to the kitchen only to swing the door open, knocking a tray of omelettes from the hand of the oncoming waiter. They picked up the mess and returned to the kitchen, to inform the chef that he would have to cook some more. By the sound of the loud voices, he didn't take this too well. We eventually got our omelettes, but the waiters forgot who'd already had some and how many had broken. They kept on bringing us more and more until there was a pile of them in the middle of the table, which no one could eat.

After breakfast Alan went off to the police station and the Himalayan Mountain Institute to register and tell them that we were there. Jon and I played pool on the table in the hotel lounge at 11:45 for an hour, stopping only while a chap fumigated the many flies. Alan returned from his trip into town and we went upstairs for a game of cards. I had beginners' luck on my side and won both games.

Jon, Alan and I got an auto-rickshaw up to the main square at 1:45pm, stopping only to pick up petrol at the station just up from our hotel. Steve and Andy decided to stay in the hotel as they weren't feeling too well. Lunch was had in Chopsticks, a restaurant situated in the middle of the main street. I had a very large Egg Chop Suey, which I was only just able to finish.

Walking through Old Manali

After lunch a little girl asked Alan to sign a petition for poor workers. He did so, but unbeknown to him by signing the form you had to pay the girl some money, or so she said, so he was soon parting with cash as well. We took an auto-rickshaw up to Old Manali, with the same driver we'd had yesterday. When the road started to get steep and the driver and I had to get out to push, we decided that we would walk the rest of the way. We walked up through Old Manali, a single lane tarmac road took us up between small wooden shacks and shops all crammed full of items. Old Manali is where the Israelis came for there holidays and where many European hippies live. We took a stone path up behind some timber buildings and cattle sheds into the forested hillside. A woman saw us approaching and came down from the porch of one building, which was set back from the path. She tried to sell Alan some drugs to smoke but he was having none of it and we kept on walking, leaving the woman talking to herself. We walked on to a viewpoint and took some photos. Thunder could be heard from the lead-coloured clouds up the valley, becoming more frequent as time progressed. Without waterproofs, we decided to head back, stopping off at a café for a cup of sweet tea. Just as we left at 4:10pm there was a crack of thunder right overhead and it started to spit with rain. We prepared for the heavy downpour, which looked inevitable, putting cameras and guide books in Alan's rucksack. We walked back the way we'd come, without getting accosted by the drug seller we'd met on the way up or by the street sellers that plagued tourists in new-Manali. A twinge in my right knee gave me momentary worries, but after walking on it for a bit it soon disappeared. We took the path back through a forest of tall evergreens, next to the fast flowing river. It made a nice change from the bustling roads, on which you constantly had to watch your back for the trucks, which didn't stop for anyone. The gate at the other end of the park was locked, so we walked back up alongside the perimeter fence, through the undergrowth until we found a way out through an open gate. I had developed a headache and just wanted to lie down.

Jon poses for the camera near Old Manali

Back in Manali, Alan and Jon went in search of another bag, into which we could put some of our kit. They soon gave up and we went to the Internet café, where Alan sent some e-mails. We waited as the Internet connections went down, painfully in my case. I just wanted to sleep my headache off. Alan had decided he would get the bag if he could knock the price down to 200Rs. There was an agonising wait at the bag stall as the woman showed him all the features, trying to agree a higher price. I got frustrated and walked away because I just wanted to go back to the hotel, my head ache not improving. In the end they paid 250Rs and bought the bag. I jumped into the nearest auto-rickshaw, Alan and Jon following and we returned to the hotel. Rahul met us and gave us a briefing. He was taking a jeep to the Chandra Tal at 4am to recce the area for us and for another group so we wouldn't see him in the morning.

I packed my rucksack until 8:10pm when we went for a meal with Narinder. Jon stayed at the hotel, since he had been ill. We walked up the road in the dark, looking out for an auto-rickshaw. One came past some five minutes or so later and Alan, Steve and Andy jumped in. Narinder and I followed in another sent down by the first auto-rickshaw driver. We ate at Chopsticks again, so Andy and Steve could sample the great food. I wasn't that hungry, and didn't really want anything but I ordered some noodles anyway. I hadn't wanted to go out to eat but as our Liaison Officer was joining us I thought I'd better turn up otherwise it would look like a pretty poor show with Jon not going as well. I couldn't finish my noodles and was glad to be heading back to the hotel at 10am. A street seller tried to sell me a plastic toy, which he catapulted 100ft into the night sky. I watched as it came down, straight into another street sellers' open cooking pot. He looked bemused as he tried to work out how it had got there. Narinder found one auto-rickshaw that would take us back to the Hotel for 20Rs, but everyone else wanted 30Rs.

Back at the hotel, I couldn't be bothered to finish packing. I had a shave and went to bed at 10:53pm. Jon was violently ill at 11:25pm. I lay there half feeling sorry for him, and half wondering when it would be my turn.