Off into the Mountains

Hello all,

I am giving you a quick update from a tiny Internet shop located in one of the many back alleys of Minali. India has continually impressed and I am still enjoying myself. Here are a few tidbits from my continued journey's.

Bhagsu greeted me with open arms and luckily I was able to begin a yoga course. There are many different schools in India, but I went for the Shivinanda style. I did about ten solid days with the same instructor. She was totally amazing and overwhelmed most of the class with her beautiful energy. Her vibe was the embodiment of the Hindi word “Shanti,” or chill. In the end I was blessed with a great base to continue from and still practice when I get a chance.

Mountains surround this small village and nature is right on my doorstep. I took several little treks into the surrounding hills and lounged by a couple beautiful waterfalls. Looking up from the city a huge ridge and snow capped mountain beyond was visible. A couple of buddies me made the trek up there one day which was about an 8 hour round trip. We were greatly rewarded when we finally crested the ridge. Fresh cool air floated from the snowy mountain before us. Eagles soared with pleasure on invisible highways. An audible silence rung in my ears and my lungs just could not get enough of the delicious oxygen. My mind cleared and I felt miles away from the town I had ventured from. Most of my time was spent meeting new people and eating around at the several villages within walking distance. I did get the rare opportunity to walk by his holiness the Dali Lama's abode. Even though he never showed up it was still quite a treat. Monks are everywhere in McCloud Ganj. Dressed in their usual red and saffron robes, they emanate quite a peaceful air. It was interesting to see the new emerging culture of the young Tibetan's. Dressed with much western influence they can be seen hanging with their buddies drinking chai most of the day. I was even invited one day to shoot a bit of hoop with these dudes on a very strange afternoon. With sandals on I played as well as could be expected, but it was incredible to be playing on a court with Tibetan's in Dharamsala...

My buddy Gilad from Israel and I were still engrossed with our yoga routine and the amazing instructor, but we were ready to keep trekking. So we hopped on a bus and ended up in Vashisht, next to Manali. Located on the side of a hill our guest house soaked up an amazing view. A winding river cut through huge mountains to form a beautiful valley. Snow still sat upon several mountains in the distance. With only a few restaurants in town and cows outnumbering the people you would think our time here would have been short, but we stayed for about a week. Hot water bubbles up from the ground into a public hot spring in the middle of town. Only men are allowed in the bath, but the women are busy doing laundry and cleaning dishes with the help of water pouring from pipes. It was these same pipes that I used on several freezing early morning baths. I would soap up and rinse all while watching snow covered peaks sleep softly in the distance. There is also a temple with a private male and female bath. I jumped right in with the locals and took several soaks. Surreal comes close to an explanation. Days began with yoga and consisted mostly of hanging with the locals and eating loads of different foods. Met a crazy French dude along the way named Cyril. He's still in the crew. Oh yes and my first American from Utah. He kind of reminded me of Uncle Steve and has a forest service job coming up this summer in North Fork. A 20 minute walk from the heart of town landed me at a breath taking waterfall. Its scale matched the surroundings at about 300 ft. I hiked a bit up to the base and found myself being blasted by the power of this giant. Cold wind shot an energy rich mist that saturated my entire being. I felt so alive. Added 20 more minutes to the same hike and a new level of the falls exposed itself. A huge fan of water exploded from its mouth into a serene pool studded with miscellaneous boulders. Mist hung silently in the air giving a mystical feeling to the place. It only got better as I walked behind the falls and saw reality through a veil of water. Easily the most impressive thing I have witnessed in Inida to date. Someone opened the Indian tourist floodgates and we knew it was time to go.

Everyone seemed to be pushing up to Leh, but with the pass freshly opened only jeeps are allowed and cost about $50 per person. So we headed in the exact opposite direction toward Parvatti valley. Kasol was a bit much and after a quick bite we were back on the bus to a smaller village, Jari. WOW! Situated on a sheltered hill this was the quintessential town that time forgot. No cars or scooters to speak of and only a few buildings. Authentic places like this have been hard to find on my trip so far and I was quite glad to just relax and hang. Children with great big white toothed smiles always want to know, "where from and how old?" Most of the kids ten and older spoke amazingly great English for such a young age. I only got in a couple days here because we caught wind that the road to Leh was now officially open to buses.

So today we all came back to Manali. Bus to Keylong in the morn around 5 then up up up to Leh. Hope everyone is happy and great. Much love and peace to all.