My first India life lesson

I made it to Manali! Phew what an adventure this last couple days have been. Like I said in my previous post, I met up with Rachel in Delhi. We had a nice dinner in Delhi at a revolving restaurant. After a solid nights sleep (that means only waking up 4 times), Rachel and I checked out of our hotel and made our way to Jantar Mantar http://www.shubhyatra.com/delhi/jantar-mantar.html, the old Indian observatory. I will admit that the inner math nerd was a bit excited. Afterwards we headed over to Red Fort for more tourist stuff. It is indeed an impressive sight which included an open-aired marble emperors palace that had a small waterway running from each building and into the various rooms. Wish it had been on, but yeah yeah yeah waste of water, whatever.

This is when things started to deteriorate. The heat, humidity, jet lag, and I think my altitude sickness medicine that I started to take made for one CRANKY Jen. We were scheduled to meet two other women, Luciana and Emma, at the swanky Shangri-La Hotel at 3pm. We left Red Fort at about 2 (or a little later). I realized i was a cranky wanker, but was trying my best to achieve my goal of not being a control freak. Rachel needed to go to the ATM, which when added with a tuk tuk driver who dropped us off at the wrong place, made for a long journey. Then by the time we got our bags from the hotel, it was 3:45!

Control freak Me: We shouldve hired a car like I wanted. Now cranky + irritated.

We make it to the meeting spot with no sight of two brit girls. Rachel had the amazing idea to sit and have a pepsi. That combined with AC, beautiful 5-star lobby, and women wearing amazing saris lifted my spirits a bit. Plus 5-star concierge service helping us figure out how to get a bus to Manali. As we leave, a random guy asked if we were looking for 2 british women. Agh we JUST missed them! They left at 4!

We lug our stuff a few blocks to the bus terminal place. Random guy out front pesters us and says the bus from the official tourist agency is full. I think its a crappy tout. Wait. nope. bus full. Traipse to another private bus down the road. Loads of talk in Hindi. Tout? Me: raging bitch about to bust out.

All buses full.

Control freak me: Shouldve prebooked our friggin tickets. Now we have to spend another night in this hot, sticky, dusty, crazy place called Delhi and miss meeting other people in Manali. Want to scream/cry/go home/smack the smiling/laughing potentially scheisty men.

Oh wait! There is light! Theres seats that arent together. thats ok right? Wait, you want us to pay for the jump seat that folds down over the stairs onto the bus while we go up and down a mountain? Umm.....

Deep breath (many).... Ok, we'll just get tickets for the next day. Stay the night somewhere...

Then voila! Two seats together in the last row (no idea how they booted someone but whatevs). Ah, India, ok I get it. Patience.

Control Freak me: We still missed Luci and Emma. Irritated. (and worried theyre ok and got on a bus)

The bus ride is surprisingly comfy and pleasant. It drove all night up and down some crazy steep mountains and very narrow roads -- with absurd drops off the "side" of the road. Rachel is also pretty sure she saw 3 people get out of the luggage boot under the bus midway (how we got our seats?). And we think we witnessed some bribing and drug trafficking in the cover of the night. Here's a lovely sign from one of the rest stops. Perhaps not a good choice of toilet to use?




The break of light brought breathtaking views. I only wish I knew how to properly take pictures to show you how lush, green, and steep the mountains were. But heres a pic anyways.



Ok, ok India, I get it. Let the irritation go.

We finally role into Manali. Trying to figure out where to stay and theres lots of men trying to get us to stay at their hotels. We end up just going with this one guy who of course lied about the room having two beds and being nice. He takes us around to find another place and keeps bringing us to dumps. Tout? Yes, me thinks. We end up just taking a room at a pricey room (well pricey for manali, but really at Rs1600 thats ~$27/night). While waiting for our room, Rachel gets a call from Matt! HOORAY! UGH phone died...

Me: still irritated and cranky and thinking we wont meet up with Matt. Oh and did I mention I hadnt had an actual meal since breakfast the previous day? Irritated+cranky+low-blood sugar. blargh.

I shower, etc. As I'm packing my purse to go explore, Rachels phone rings again. Matt! He's met up with two others (hooray!). We're staying at Hotel Kanishka. Lets meet at ___ call dropped.

UGH. Want to scream from being frustrated.

I get a spare key from reception (after asking twice --A-hole) Then I forgot something in the room. As Im leaving the room again, I run smack dab into Matt. He made it to our hotel! SUCCESS!

He's going to come to the main shopping area with me. He had also emailed us and Luci about meeting up at 2 in Old Manali so we head p there instead on the off chance that Luci is there. We wait by the bridge at a cafe (and have YUMMY veg Momos= dumplings). We wait outside with (sugary) chais as it pours. Hmmm 2om, no Luci and no email. DOH. We chat away, then, wait, who is that across the way.... Luci? YEP! She didnt even know to meet there, Totally wonderful twist of fate that she was staying up there and heading into town at that exact moment.

Now, private jeep is booked for a 2 day drive up windy (and scary?) roads to Leh, Ladakh.

Ok India, I get it. Let the control freakness go =D

Much love!

PS -- I checked in. I bet I'm Mayor of Manali