And the Three Bears Thought Goldielocks Was a Problem
Thank God for Dusshera, at ten-day Hindu festival. It means, I get a ten-day vacation. And none too soon. My non-stop teaching schedule was starting to wear me down, made worse by the girls' habit of getting up at 3 a.m. to study for the tests they were taking all week. If they would do their work during class and mandatory study hours instead of sleeping and sleep at night, maybe they wouldn't have to get up at such an inhumane hour to review. Not that I'm bitter or judging. I'm just saying...
Anyway, I decided to stop letting the sight of the massively beautiful Himalayas continue to taunt me from the Doon Valley and get in them. The two main towns I'll hit are Dharamsala and Manali, with some smaller towns possibly on the side.
Really, the only way to get around in the mountains is the bus. So I took the overnight bus that left Dehradun last night at 5 for Dharamsala. It was a deluxe bus so it was better than the one I took to Jaipur (God help me), but it was by no means luxury. I did, however, gain the attention of a kind Tibetan women on her way to visit her brother. She switched seats so that she could sit next to me and we chatted during the trip. She told me about how she was two months old when her mother carried her over the snowy Himalayan peaks from Tibet to India. I was awestruck by the story of persistence and determination. On a lighter note, she also told me about the how the monkeys in her neighborhood in Dharamsala will come into her kitchen, open her fridge and steal food. After my experience with the evil monkeys in Jaipur and hering this story, I have decided that I no longer like monkeys.
The bus ride wasn't very restful. I would sleep for short spurts and then wake up to find myself on the high side of the bus as it careened around the winding mountain road. Horns continue to honk, even at three a.m. We got to Dharamsala at 5 in the morning, and I was a little nervous as I made my way to my guesthouse in the dark. A German trekker who was arriving from Manali scared me to death as she approached the guesthouse right behind me. We had to wait for awhile for someone to come out to the reception, and I was insanely tired and stiff from the busride, but I thought I would find fellowship in another solo female traveler. Not at all. This woman was really unfriendly; she seemed annoyed that I even said hello.
On the upside, I got to experience my first Himalayan sunrise. Absolutely breathtaking.
Thank God for Dusshera, at ten-day Hindu festival. It means, I get a ten-day vacation. And none too soon. My non-stop teaching schedule was starting to wear me down, made worse by the girls' habit of getting up at 3 a.m. to study for the tests they were taking all week. If they would do their work during class and mandatory study hours instead of sleeping and sleep at night, maybe they wouldn't have to get up at such an inhumane hour to review. Not that I'm bitter or judging. I'm just saying...
Anyway, I decided to stop letting the sight of the massively beautiful Himalayas continue to taunt me from the Doon Valley and get in them. The two main towns I'll hit are Dharamsala and Manali, with some smaller towns possibly on the side.
Really, the only way to get around in the mountains is the bus. So I took the overnight bus that left Dehradun last night at 5 for Dharamsala. It was a deluxe bus so it was better than the one I took to Jaipur (God help me), but it was by no means luxury. I did, however, gain the attention of a kind Tibetan women on her way to visit her brother. She switched seats so that she could sit next to me and we chatted during the trip. She told me about how she was two months old when her mother carried her over the snowy Himalayan peaks from Tibet to India. I was awestruck by the story of persistence and determination. On a lighter note, she also told me about the how the monkeys in her neighborhood in Dharamsala will come into her kitchen, open her fridge and steal food. After my experience with the evil monkeys in Jaipur and hering this story, I have decided that I no longer like monkeys.
The bus ride wasn't very restful. I would sleep for short spurts and then wake up to find myself on the high side of the bus as it careened around the winding mountain road. Horns continue to honk, even at three a.m. We got to Dharamsala at 5 in the morning, and I was a little nervous as I made my way to my guesthouse in the dark. A German trekker who was arriving from Manali scared me to death as she approached the guesthouse right behind me. We had to wait for awhile for someone to come out to the reception, and I was insanely tired and stiff from the busride, but I thought I would find fellowship in another solo female traveler. Not at all. This woman was really unfriendly; she seemed annoyed that I even said hello.
On the upside, I got to experience my first Himalayan sunrise. Absolutely breathtaking.
posted by Lindsey at 4:12 PM
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