high-ho from Manali

alp and i are writing from the semi-beautiful, semi-over-touristy Kullu Valley in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. we got here after a 18-hourlong bus trip from delhi, drawn-out by when the bottom of the bus got broke. we are staying in a lovely room with a rather alpine feel for 3 dollars a night and eating wonderful food for even cheaper. israeli falafal lafas! tibetan momos! chinese chowmein! and not to mention our recent discovery of the coolest protein source around: yak cheese (which tastes like a combination of parmesan, gouda, and eski kashar). this journey has been a wonderful reminder to me of how alp resembles macgyver. we walk along apple orchard paths and dream up hypothetical horror situations and then plan our responses, and alp has improved our standard of living tremendously not only with the gadgets he thought to bring from america (i.e. tiny towels) but also with our recently acquired immersion heating coil, which makes it possible to drink tea any time, day or night. we are blissfully enjoying our strolls and our muscles are getting stronger, but we miss you all.
ingrida

namaste shanti shanti
we arrives at the manali a few days ago. althoug our buses axle broke it broke not far and didnt take long to fix. it actually broke in the bus man's home town. we have found ourselves all the amenities that make you comfy and nothing extra. we are walking a lot, today we walked more than 12km, and tomarrow we will try to rent an enfield motorcycle. We walked to a near by village where there were hot springs but The private bathhouse was closed and we weren't impressed by the hygiene of the public one. But the water is so hot that you can cook an egg. i here is having a brilliant time with snow white. shanti
alp!

Off to Himachal Pradesh

Okay so before we leave Delhi I want to make a few additions to my comments. First of all 5 people on a motorcycle, a whole family, is ok here. Second, anyone out there who think they got the cool ride with a SUV think again, here you can ride an elephant on the highway, ha. Last thing, for those of you who just can't imagine cows on the road and everywhere well you just have to come here. Ingrid and I are heading up to Himachal Pradesh tonight on a bus. We plan to chill in Manali for about a week and find some shanti shanti.
Alp

Rajasthan

Back from Jodhpur. This city in the Rajasthani desert has the most amazing fort, indigo houses, colorfully dressed women, and extremely enthusiastic people. Ingrid has a lot of acquaintences in this city whom we met and ate their food. So far neither Ingrid or I have gotten sick and we have been eating out, drinking and all except for water and ice. Although I did get a small fly in my ear one night and woke up with the sound of the fly jammin' on my ear drum. I don't think we managed to get it out but we drowned it by pouring water in my ear. Then the next day after we ate at the Khan's house and they said we needed to go see their daughter who lives a little further off and suggested Ingrid and I ride with Selim, head of the household, on the back of a 100cc Hero Honda. I did not straight out refuse this but considering there are numerous dogs, pigs, cows, chicken, kids, people, and dung on the road, I said I was afraid. Riding with 3 or 4 people on a motorcycle is common practice in India. Then they suggested that Ingrid and I ride on the Hero Honda and Selim and his brother-in-law would ride on the scooter, and this would be my test to have their blessing for me and Ingrid, so I said ok. Other than almost running over a small child on the road it was an extremely pleasant ride.
Alp

Alp and I arrived back this morning on the Mandore Express, dirty-footed and sooty-nosed, from our pilgrimage to Jodhpur, the desert city where I did my study-abroad program three years ago. I felt rather nostalgic actually for my good fortune to have lived in such a magnificent fort for three months... Nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing it from Yogi's guesthouse below, drinking Limca (a soda flavoured like Pledge) on the rooftop terrace and living it up in our $7 a night suite. Alp has adapted remarkably well to India, politely stepping around the piles of dung in the street, learning Hindi very quickly, and drinking endless cups of chai with our Jodhpuri friends and their huge families. We walked around in the old part of town and I loved once again seeing all the crazily painted old houses and their intricate facades. I insisted we take a food tour of the Jodhpur and introduced Alp to the town's best makhania lassi (saffron-flavoured butter yogurt drink), local soda pop (Black Horse Extra Strong, 10 cents each), and deep-fried peppers (so called "fried rats" because that is precisely what they look like). After the heat and admittedly terrible air quality of Rajasthan and Delhi, I am dreaming of going up to the mountains. Even though we will not be in Nepal just yet, we will simply see a different part of the Himalayas and hopefully find a beautiful place to have a long-term holiday.
Ingrid

DaDelhi-o

In Delhi now. Today we were in a rickshaw and the righthand tire fell out as we were in the middle of the road! We are well though, and staying in our friend Ben's posh flat. Our plans to go to Nepal have been hindered by the news of the American Embassy evacuation there but we will be listening to news in the meantime. We will go to Rajasthan next week for two days, then we will head up to Himachal Pradesh. We plan to find a nice place there away from the hash crazed Israelis doping up with the best hash in the world in Manali. Although we plan on visiting there as well for a short while hehe:)