Bob Marley taking a toke greats my ride into Hippytown...

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2003-06-14 - Katrain - Manali (Day 60)

Another sunny day and I am up and packed to leave for Manali. The commandos got me up at 7:30 to take pictures of their squad before they had to leave and escort the minister back to Delhi so I have a lazy breakfast and get on the way. Manali is only a short way up the road so I am on the outskirts of town by mid-day. I drive on through town, which has become one of the hottest places in India for honeymooning couples and pass one concrete block tourist hotel after another. This is also apparently the peak of the Indian tourist season with summer holidays at their peak. My plan is to stay in Manali for a week or two so I am looking for a nice place with a view to crash for a bit and the typical Indian tourist hotel is not what I am looking for.

Pressing on, just past Manali I run into a total time and culture warp, enough so I'm wondering where the hell I am. All of a sudden, there are western guys on Enfield's all over the place, bra-less western women in tie-dyed shirts and bell-bottoms and Bob Marlely graffiti on the buildings. I pass one after another of what are obviously cheap guesthouses filled with dreadlock sporting hippies. This is India? All of a sudden, every bike on the road is an Enfield's where I have only seldom seen them in other parts of India. There are German bakeries and Italian pizza shops on every block. Unfortunately, it seems the place is a little two popular and even after stopping at 8 or 9 hotels; I am unable to find a room. Probably best not to stay very long in this part of town anyway as if any of this is contagious, I will end up with multiple piercings, tattoos and wearing tie-dye within a day or two.

Back down the road, I find a nice little hotel tucked back into a stream with a nice little room with a desk for US$ 8.00 a night. Since hippy-town with what I am sure is a great selection of western food, bakeries and Internet shops is just 4-5 minutes by bike, I have probably found a good place to stay for a bit. One of the things that appealed about the hotel is there is an Enfield parked on the lawn setup for traveling like mine is and not painted florescent pink or yellow as the ones in hippy-town had been. I meet the owner Paul who has done about 60,000 km of riding on seven trips to India. He is a treasure map of experience and has a couple of pieces of good news for me, one that the road to Nako is probably the worst I'll see in India, I've already been as bad as it gets and that Leh is a must see and that I have to take the ride up. In the space of an hour my whole trip plan turns around and it looks like I will spend the next month or so up on the high Himalayan plains going over the highest road in the world.

Paul does remind me while I'm bitching about the ride from Recong Peo to Nako that no one enjoys traveling while it happens - its something you look forward to or look back on but while it is happening its never any fun.

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