Had to get a taxi from Mussoorie to Dehradun, an hour and a half to the bus station. For some strange reason I didn't foresee that the 12.30 bus I was going to get to Dehradun was sitting at the bus stand with the grills up and oil pouring from the engine - silly me! I was told that the next one would go at 1.00, which would leave me with enough time to get the bus to Manali. But it was only arriving at 1, not leaving till 1.30 they said. I'm still not sure if that was the case, because they are supposed to go every half hour, but couldn't take the risk of not getting my bus.
Dehradun, looks like quite an interesting city, it is the Administrative office of this state and appears to be quite organised with- dare I say it western style shops and a very busy town centre. There are major colleges here, so lots of students around. Each time I have passed through it, there is a feeling of lazy, summer days, with a nice energy about the place. Plenty of trees and nice buildings make it different from most of the cities I have seen.
The bus trip from was pleasant to begin with, even though it was "shake, rattle and roll" all the way I've said it before, but don't these guys know about suspension? Or maybe they used to have it, but its long gone.These are the Government buses, local and interstate seem to be the same. A lot of the windows didn't shut, so it was freezing on the bus when it got dark, (we left at 3pm) and when we got here at 6.30am I didn't know how I was going to get warm. The hot water takes 15 mins to heat, but I needed to sleep first, got a couple of restless hours before going for a walk.
Its very beautiful here, can't believe how close I am to the mountains, they are covered on the lower slopes with cedar (called Deodar here) trees, then barren slopes to the snow topped peaks, with the narrow Beas River running below between me and them. Luckily it was very warm during the day. Went for a walk further up the hill to have a look at the little village, its a little farming community as well, so I walked along the narrow paths between the old houses, some wooden, others brick, and was amongst the house cows and goats, and vegetables growing. There were corn kernels laid out to dry, hay hanging from roofs and attics and a lot of activity - washing, cooking etc. There are lots of little shops, plus the Kashmiri shops trying to persuade you to go and buy the shawls and jewellery. You know how it goes "You are my first customer today, special discount". I tell them all that they must have had a very quiet day if I am everyone's first customer!
I was very sad when I almost got back to my hotel to find that the shawl I had bought in Mussoorie had dropped off, I retraced my steps to where I knew I had it last, but not found. I really loved it, it had lots of the colours that went with everything I wear, and was very unusual, but won't find another like it in this area.
Today, Thurs 18th Oct, went for a long walk down the hill, across the river and up the other side, a distance of about 6-7 kms, to Old Manali, which I can see on the other side from my hotel. It was the other choice of places to stay, because Manali township itself is on the main road, and very busy, so not an option. The walk up was over half an hour and quite steep in places near the top. The narrow road brings you to the local housing area, again the old timber and stone houses, with the cows and hay etc as part of the furniture. Such a lovely smell, like the farms I have passed in my travels all the way since leaving Delhi. The sweet smell of hay, soft smoke and the lovely smell of the cows and goats. Yesterday passed a huge herd of goats, and found that they are Angoras, all being shepherded along the main road, so of course a big holdup for the buses and trucks.
I was glad that I chose to stay at Vashisht though, its more compact and interesting, and gets lots of sun. I found out today that 2 days before I arrived there had been a lot of rain, and then on that afternoon- snow! So I was lucky that I wasn't here for that, no wonder it felt so freezing on Wed morning, but good for the scenery. But I just want to take photos all the time here. The local people here who live at the top of the little roads are very Tibetan in appearance, it reminds me a little bit of the farming community at Dharamsala, coming across men and women carrying huge baskets of hay, grasses or sticks, and at this time of the year, corn. And of course its great to be walking around the cows in the streets, whether they are just standing looking at the scenery, wandering around, or lying in the most unusual places - in the middle of the road, letting the cars and autorickshaws make their way around them, and thats the normal thing. Although I do wonder if it wouldn't be much more peaceful for them if they were on the side of the road!
My Yoga teacher in Rishikesh said we are more like monkeys than cows, our minds are full of chatter and we are very busy all the time. He said we should learn to be like cows. always calm, not worrying about what is going on around them, just doing their own sweet thing!
So its getting rather cold here suddenly, I froze all night, and when I looked out the window, the snow line had come down lower - It looks like it might snow today or tomorrow, so I have decided to move down to the plains and get warm again. So its off to Amritsar, on another 15 hour bus journey - eeek!
