Monday 15th June 2015
We were up and about at around 8.30am we have come to
realise that the earlier we get to breakfast the busier it is and longer we
have to wait. But we did make a friend in the tea house this morning and so
that whiled away the wait.
We came back to the guest house and mucked around for a
while at a bit of a loss of what to do with ourselves today. The weather which
had started off gloomy and wet looked as though it was clearing and so we
decided to jolly ourselves and hike to the waterfall.
It was much harder than we thought it would be its not too
far but the path is extremely narrow and in places has fallen away it’s also
very slippery as a lot of it is clamouring over wet rocks. In several places
the path crosses scree and it looks as if the entire path could be swept away
by a rock fall at any moment.
Land slide waiting to happen...
Standing on the path trying not to dislodge any rocks!
We saw a snail with a sideways shell
The water looked so amazing...to bad there was a naked man preventing us from dipping our hinges.
not the most spectacular waterfall!
When we finally reached the waterfall we wanted to go down
and dip our toes in the pool but there was a guy sitting naked by the water and
we decided not to disturb him. Instead we sat on a big rock for about ten
minutes before heading back. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived back
to town where I changed my shoes for jandals and we went in search of some
food, both of us were starving.
Once we had eaten we went back to the guesthouse for a quick
shower as we were heading down to the Tibetan institute of performing arts to
see a show celebrating the Dali Lama and the Karmapa’s birthdays (they are both
having big birthdays this year 80 and 30 respectively) at the beginning there was
a ceremonial cake cutting and cake was offered in spirt to the two great
leaders (as obviously they didn’t actually attend) we had hoped to get some
cake at the end of the show but it wasn’t offered.
The show was an hour long performance of traditional song
and dance and it was incredible. The costumes were amazing the dancers and
musicians were amazing and the songs were beautiful and unusual. Each dance was
from a different region of Tibet and celebrated something different it was
great.
My favorite dance was this one with the snow lions!
After the show a group of us went and had dinner it was a
great meal full of fun and laughter by the time we headed home it was late and
we were keen for bed.
Tuesday 16th June 2015
We didn’t have much of a plan for today but it was sushi day
at the Japanese restaurant and so we used that as a good excuse to head to
town. We also needed to hit up the ATM to pay for the tai chi course we start
tonight so it worked out well.
After breakfast (at the tea house of course) we walked down
to town and as it was still early we popped into a café for Mark to get his
caffeine fix. We sat there a while with me trying to look at things to do after
India but not really feeling the motivation especially after looking at a few
flights and seeing how extortionate they were.
Before it got too late we headed to the Japanese restaurant.
I actually struggled to eat all of it but it was so delicious I persevered. As
we were finishing friends arrived and we stuck around talking to them for a
while before deciding we needed to head back.
We had said we would pick up some tape from the chemist for
Sandeep but it was closed so we had to walk through town to the other pharmacy
where we found what we were looking for we then walked past the ATM so decided
to go to another one but it was out of money so we had to walk back through
town to the other one.
As I took my money I dropped my purse and everything fell
out including a crystal I keep in there which smashed. In typical Indian style
as soon as I had taken my money out of the slot the next guy had pushed his way
in so I had to scramble to pick up my money (it was only when we got back later
I realised I was missing a wad of money)
It took an age to walk up the hill back to the guesthouse we
had about an hour before our first tai chi lesson (we are starting a five day
course) so we chilled out for a bit and then walked to the tea house which was
the meeting place for the class.
The class is really small just us and one other guy which is
perfect. We waited a bit to see if another guy who was potentially joining
showed up but he didn’t so we walked to the rooftop where classes will be held.
Conveniently for us it’s right next to our guesthouse.
The first class was loads of talking as there is so much
information to take in. Tony the teacher is a perfectionist which is awesome as
it means our style will be on point once we have learnt it all. We spent ages
going over the first few steps it’s like leaning the moves to a dance. By the
end of the lesson I wasn’t sure any of it had stuck but it was good fun and I
could defiantly feel that id worked out, it’s so much harder than it looks.
After class we met Sandeep at a café for dinner the food
when it finally arrived was really good but it took well over an hour to come
and we were starving and it was late by the time it did. My plate of food was
massive and I went to bed feeling stuffed.
Wednesday 17th 2015
We had a pretty low-key day today starting as always with
breakfast in the tea house we then spent some time doing laundry and cleaning
our room for some reason it seems to be some sort of mecca for insects they
especially love to come and die in our room although I’m not sure how they get
in since we stuff clothes under the door at night.
Once all our cleaning was done we headed to the Thai
restaurant and sat there for a while on the internet I was still full from
breakfast but Mark wanted Tom Yum Pak (soup) as it’s his favourite food at the
moment we chilled there for a while and when we got hungry went down the road
to an Indian place (I wanted cheap curry) I wasn’t as hungry as I thought I was
and ended up feeling stuffed.
We walked back to the guesthouse and had a bit of time
before tai chi started. In class the first half of what we learnt yesterday
seemed to have stuck but I still wasn’t clear about the new bits it was fine
when we were following Tony but as soon as we had to do it on our own I got to
a point and got stuck. At the end of the sequence we learnt today was a move
that really hurts my dodgy hip but I think it’s just because it’s so tight.
After class we headed straight for food we felt lazy and
only went as far as the closest restaurant luckily they have good food and it
is pretty cheap which is a bonus. We ate and then thought about meeting Sandeep
for chai but decided we just wanted to go back and have a shower we had spent
ages at dinner already and unused to so much exercise we wanted to go to bed.
Thursday 18th 2015
After breakfast at the tea house we decided to walk into
town to ask about buses for our onward journey (destination still undecided)
and to get some lunch. We walked down and went to a café for a drink first and
a bit of internet abuse. I used my time to look at options after India.
We then went to a few different places to ask about buses
and with the information written down went in search of a meditation cushion
for Mark which at only 250 rupees was a bargain.
With all our chores down we went and had some lunch at a restaurant
we hadn’t tried before. The food was awesome and it had a cosy atmosphere.
Feeling satisfied we walked up the hill and spent about an
hour chilling out before we had to leave for Tai chi. tonight the form seemed
to fall into place which doesn’t mean it looked good but at least I could
remember the moves. As it has the past two nights the two hours flew by and
before we knew it class was over and it was time to go and find dinner.
We hadn’t taken anything with us to class so we had to
return to the guesthouse to get money and then headed out for food. We went
somewhere we have been before and last time the food was excellent but tonight
it was average at best and the service was atrocious as all the staff seemed to
be sitting in a corner drinking and only occasionally remembered they were
supposed to be working. It seemed one guy was running the show on his own
tonight.
After food we decided to have an early night and so headed
back to the accommodation for showers and movies in bed.
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