Manali

We returned from Manali about 7:00 this evening. Rakesh and Mukesh had pizza waiting for us. They, Anil, and the rest of the staff have been madly working all weekend preparing this house and the one next store for the new batch of volunteers coming in tomorrow. Dynamics will be quite different. We have been incredibly lucky so far.

Manali is a 6-7 hour drive of about 170 km. We only saw one bad accident - bus and a little car. We arrived after much had been taken care of I think. Forest fires along the way, but ground fires, not serious ones. Saw a hydroelectric Dam and reservoir in an incredible river valley. People trying to pull down a tree they had chopped a wedge into. The tree had ropes attached to it and we went under the ropes...they stopped pulling for a bit. They would then pull it to the side of the road, cut it up with two man saws and then turn it into lumber. We saw women using a two woman saw making planks out of the trunk of a tree.

There is old and new Manali. We stayed in the Dragon Guest House in old Manali. Great Place. $14 a night with TV, $12 without. Since most rooms had tv's (with no reception) it all was a moot point. Shamani and David went Paragliding. I sat by the river and watched women was clothes and communicated, in sign language, with a little girl who came and sat on the rock behing me.
David and I went to the large temple where a festival and carnival (ferris wheel, viking ship, creepy carrosel with only Santa Clauses) were occuring, a museum, and then we all went shopping in New Manali where the festival continued and the streets were closed to traffic. Saw a little girl tight rope walker, found the Tibetan Temple and a gigantic prayer wheel.
A nice man from Isreal named Isreal made friends with us and talked with us about philosophy and CCS while we ate breakfast. He and his wife were three months in India last year and have been here a month already this time.
I saw snake charmers charm three cobras..... ugh!