July 16, 2006
I spent 4 days here, and met several people. One day, I was sitting in a small Tibetan cafe, and many older Ladakhi women came in and sat down at my table and the table next to mine. None of them spoke any English, but as they stared at my mashed potatoes and egg-drop soup lunch, I felt obliged to explain. I motioned that mz stomach was sick and that I had diarreah. They seemed to understand those universal hand motions, smiling and nodding. Not sure how we communicated so well, but they told me they were from Leh (where I was headed) and that they were going back the next day. I asked if we could take a photo together, and they were excited about it....giving me their addresses and telling me to send 5 copies after they were developed. I said I would. Then one old lady made a motion of a house and pointed to me and to her and made a motion of drinking tea together. I thought she was inviting me to her home, but wasnt sure. I looked around for someone to translate, and one of the women in the group came over and spoke to me in English, explaining that the old lady wanted me to come to her home outsie of Leh. I said that I would come, as we would both be in Leh at the same time....but again in Leh I was sick, and never made it. This is the one regret I have from this trip...
Leaving the cafe, I stopped by my hotel and then walked along a ridge leading from there into the other side of town. The ridge narrowed into a small path which ended at a nunnery. I didnt realize it was a nunnery until 2 small girls dressed in maroon robes started giggling at me. I asked them if I could take their photo, and they gave me an enthusiastic yes! After I took their photos, they came over and started talking to me, showing me their Tibetan study books and telling me that they were heading to debate class, which was very difficult, they said. After looking at the Tibetan books they were holding, I agreed that it looked very difficult. They said they were from a village north of there, they were in McLeod Ganj studying Buddhism. They were like any other small girls of 10 years old. I thought of my students at this age, and what would they become if thez studied the same things as these girls...
I headed to Nicks Italian Kitchen for some raviolis, which I heard were good. Thez were fabulous, and I struck up a conversation with an Australian girl, also alone, sitting next to me. She had been living and studying Hindi in a small village in the mountains for the past year, and her time here was almost up. We were both leaving McCleod Ganj the next day, me in the morning, she in the afternoon.
The next day, I checked out of mz beautiful room overlooking the mountain, and headed to the bus stop early for my 830 a.m. bus. After wandering around, checking out several buses, I went down the hill where I learned that the bus to Manali would be. When I got there, a bus driver told me that the bus to Manali would leave at 830 PM, not AM, that I would have to wait 12 hours before leaving for Manali, and spend the night on the bus. What a nightmare!! Here I had gotten up early, already checked out of my room, and would have to lug my luggage around all day, waiting for the bus, which I would then have to ride through the night, not sleeping a wink, arriving tired to Manali the next morning. Well, I sighed to myself, This Is India. And I have only myself to blame, ay it says plain and clear on my bus ticket that it leaves in the evening...
I locked up my backpack and left it in the bus station, and went back to Nicks Cafe. After eating and reading for a few hours, I decided to leave, and then I saw the Australian girl again! After I explained to her what had happened, I asked her if she would like to come with me to the Bhagsu Waterfall, about a 1/2 hr. walk away. I didnt get to see it yet, so this was a good opportunity. We headed down the road, chatting about photographz and travel, asking our way to the waterfall. Eventually, we were climbing up a large mountain path with the river on our right-hand side. We could see a huge waterfall in the distance up ahead. A man came up our left-hand side, saying Good Morning, How are you? We just ignored him, as these kinds of advances from Indian men are very common, and we Western women have learned not to get into innane conversations with random strangers. After we ignored him, he went ahead and unzipped his pants, flashing his penis to us. The Aussie girl screamed at him in Hindi, trying to shame him. I that it was so nasty, that I couldnt believe he just did that. We ran up the hill, panting, trying to get away from him, but he followed and passed us as we sat in a small hill-side drink stand. When we glanced ahead, he was still there, so we didnt want to go on. A man came along with his wife, and we told him what had happened. He said that the man hadnt flashed THEM. Of course not, youre Indian, for one thing...and for another thing, youre a MAN! I said. He just blew us off and kept walking. But the boy in the drink stand had heard everything we said, and he went on to tell the man to stop harassing us, which he did. He came dashing past, pulling his ears....which apparently meant that he was sorry. I suggested we push him over the cliff!! =)
The waterfall was nice, we sat on a rock and watched as a little girl about 10 years old climbed like a boy, up and down the rocks, through the water, holding up her dress and not being shy about anything. I imagined her 10 years from now, needing to be protected by her husband, not taking such initiative in doing just as she pleases, just as boys do. There was a small cafe above the waterfall, so we enjoyed waterfall-cooled Limcas before heading back to town.
That night, I said goodbye to mz friend, and boarded the night bus to Manali. I was seated in the row right before the back seats with an Israeli girl with beautiful long, curly hair. We hit it off right away, laughing about my seat which would lean WAY back only with the weight of my body pressing on it. I turned and asked the Korean girl behind me if I was killing her with my seat leaning back so far, and when she didnt respond, I said, {She is already dead!) For some reason, we couldnt stop laughing. The Israeli girl joked that she needed an ultra-strong sports bra for this trip, (due to the huge bumps in the road and the twisting and winding) otherwise her boobs were going to be sagging to her knees by the time we arrived....and we laughed again. Stopping several times during the night for tea and to use the bathroom, we snacked on cookies and crackers we had bought in McCleod, commenting on how hungry we were.
In the middle of the night, everyone was asleep except me. The worst curse I was born with was the inability to sleep on planes, buses, trains, etc....I listened to music and hung my head out the window, awestruck, even in the dark, with the dark mountains surrounding the valley we were traveling through, the speed at which we were traveling, and the raging river far below the road we were on. The moon was visible, dimly lighting up the valley, and the air was cool. I gasped as I hung my head out the window...both from the beauty of the winding green and black mountains, and also from the river below and the speed at which we were traveling... while no one was watching.
Arriving to Manali, the Israeli girl and I took a rickshaw to Vashisht, a small town outside of Manali. It was 5 a.m., so I spent over an hour looking for a place to stay. One place was 70 rupees, (less than $2) a dingy place with a squat toilet and no shower. I took the risk of offending the man, and went to another place, the New Dharma Hotel, which was up on the top of the hill and overlooked a beautiful valley and mountains in the distance, the view of which changed from morning to evening and day to day. I checked in, put down my things, and crashed for about 5 hours, completely exhausted from the overnight trip...
