Delhi

The play that I mentionedin the last letter ended up lasting till 1am (7 hours) - it appeared to be mostly a long speech in the end - very little music or movement or interaction and the audience sat on the hard dirty ground so patiently and quietly. Quite amazing! Anyways we finally got to sleep after it finished.

Saw athe sights of New Delhi the next day on a tour. Then we caught a train to the old English summer retreat in the hills, Shimla. As we left Delhi, we saw lots of shanties made of plastic and sometimes corrugated steel rooves - no toilets - lots of people defecating beside the train tracks. Obviously no running water and lots of poverty. Much worse than the trrain view from London or elsewhere. My stomach was doing cartwheels.
As we spent the day on the train, we enjoyed seeing the agriculture and countryside with people much more spread out and working the land and living. We arrived in Shimla and climbed the mountain hills. The hills everywhere are pretty much straight up and down - not even the switchbacks that we are used to in the Rockies. We go quite some distance everyday - so I am not missing Sikome hill and Clive just does it all.
We meet people everyday and having an interesting time. Mostly travellers but not always.
We took a 10 hour bus ride through the twisty mountain roads - very narrow, of course no shoulder and often parts washed out - they are fixing the road often by hand - banging and breaking rocks and filling in the eroded parts - unbelieveable to see the painstaking effort that it takes to make the road passable.
Arrived in Manali, another wonderful more remote mountain village. Had a wonderful time here hiking about and meeting people, etc. We hired a taxi one day and a guide and went up to the pass at 3400 meters. The Himal-layas (not Him-a-layas). I went on a hike with 3 others and the guide. It is slow going at this altitude - Clive could not walk very far as the altitude affected him too much - it was wonderful. The Himalayas are not unlike the Rockies when you actually get there - but they are a long way up. Saw the glacier in the distance and lots of prayer flags. Everyone builds a little rock cairn (each adds a rock) and says a prayer. It was pretty chilly at this altitude.
At our wonderful little hotel we were the only guests - the season is finishing. On the last night, I cooked with the chef and made dinner. It was great - what they manage to do and the flavors. I now know that curry means gravy here and I was reminded that tomatoes and onions are the thickener in Indian cooking.
Not wanting to do a 10 hour night journey on a bus through the mountains, we got together with 4 others and hired a taxi to travel the about 200 km through the mountains to Dharamsala/McLeod Ganj - that took 7 hours - so you can imagine the state of the roads. The drive was wonderful. We had tea at the taxi driver's home about halfway here. Looks pretty prosperous here - agricultural - quite a few cars and tractors (occasionally) - but still no toilet at his house - they are in the process of building one.
McLeod Ganj - the centre of Tibetan refugees here has lots of Westerners visiting. Lots of people exploring Buddhism, yoga, reiki, etc - hope to do a class or two - but so far they appear to be 8 or 10 day courses.

Our stomaches have not been upset - we are fairly careful - and we do love the food so far. Great weather everyday, lots of walking and of course interesting people.

We considered going to Kashmir yesterday - but after researching thought not to. People really do try and get you to believe what they are saying. One wants to trust people and what they are saying but we are approaching most things with some skepticism. People do have tales - at least they just lose some money - not getting what they thought they had purchased. Of course, it is nice not to be taken for a ride, bu of course much more important is one's personal safety. So we decided against Kashmir - even thoug they try to show you letters of how great it was (one letter and 144 clients). ..Lines like "this will be the best part of your vacation in India....but no pressure...I have 3 others going and later in the day,,l,,suddenly 5 are going and now it is 2 jeeps ....I have Canadians out there now and they are extending their stay --the best thing that they have ever done.....and so on....still no pressure...no loss if you don't go"- and then the Aussie who sits down beside us and says that he is going - maybe he is in on the con (if it is one) or maybe he is just naive. Anyways, one always has to be on one's toes and look after oneself. Nice to meet other travellers to share tales with. Of course, we have met wonderful hoteliers but one needs to approach carefully and not trust too readily - more difficult I am sure if you are younger? or alone.

Anyways, thats the latest - a bit disjointed but life from this minute's perspective. Probably here for about a wek and then off to Amritsar.