Sept. 2, 2008. Last day in Manali.

I had a little Delhi-Manali belly last night (actually a lot) but am OK today. In retrospect, this was the only episode of looseness for me during the entire month, and the group was also generally spared severe GI distress. I have had two bowls of yogurt (curd, Hindi name dahee) and am now going for some pasta. It is nice and sunny today. After lunch, off for some shopping.

The beginning intimations of our trek group dynamics are coming together. I have deleted my personal observations here...you know who you are!

3 PM: I have been out and about. I took an Rs50 3-wheeler taxi uphill to Vashist and walked back. I bought two Kulu caps (the red velvet front variety) for Rs 50 each, and a shawl for Rs 700. The later was mainly white wool with red trim. I ended up giving it to my mom. The proprietor of the store I bought it in said she made it herself. She also said she is from the first village where the Manali-Leh road hits the Chandra-Bhaga river. I am now sitting in the Sher-E-Punjab ("Lion of Punjab") restaurant in downtown Manali. I met Karen and Usha from the bus here; they are headed back this afternoon on the same bus. They tell me the unique decor is "typical Punjabi".

I composed and sent a Hindi postcard to my teacher in the US (as he requested). Several people looked at it and were generally impressed. While I tried to hit my Hindi books a little whilst in India, in general I was too exhausted and busy meeting everyday challenges to do too much on the intellectual front. The postcard postage was cheap (Rs 10 = about 25 cents US) and I think all my postcards made it. I posted them from the internet cafe just uphill from Johnson's Hotel. This was an interesting place as one of the proprietors was also involved in the trekking businesss. He said he was involved in the recovery effort for the body of a Swedish woman who had died on the Kang La last year (2007).

One minor note concerns the foriegners who congregate in the garden restaurant at Johnson's. This afternoon there was a big guy with a swastika tattoo (German style, not Hindu) on his shoulder. He generally seemed a )(*%)$(*. The hotel security gaurd and myself exchanged a few words in Hindi about this jerk. Enough to put a damper on my spirits for a while.