Journey to Manali
We have now arrived in Manali. we arrived late yesterday after a gruelling journey originally from Jaipur to Chadigarth via Delhi which left at 9.00am in Jaipur and we got into Chandigarth at about 11pm. Hot sweaty and no air con over 40 degrees heat!! Arriving in Chandigarth was a relief its a shame the hotel was a little dodgy but we left the following morning at 7am and got onto another coach this time heading away from the heat and up into the mountains. A better journey with amazing views of the foothills of the Himalayas. Unfortaunately we had one sick student and one teacher who injured her thum whilst trying to get a back for the sick student to change...clearly don't want to humiliate so no naming and shaming! you can prob guess the teacher the only one from Hatton! We finally arrived at about 6pm last night. Food was ordered in the hotel this took til 11pm...we are all on Indian time and there is no rush for anything. Then we got to bed. Manali is a refreshing change after the heat and sweat in Jaipur, cleaner and less frantic. A hilltop town ready for trekers to prepare for the Himilayan hikes. A typcially tourist place with street shows and stores to suit. The students have one day tomorrow to buy their food, order kit and get together for monday. So this is really the last blog entry until after the trek. We leave on monday morning and return on the 8th August covering over 140km. We may arrive back a day early as we have recently heard that the final trek day has not been completed by other teams due to heavy snow blocking the pass ....so we will have to see. Beautiful weather at the moment with cold chilly nights. Every one is excited and nervous as we head into the main part of the trip. So signing off now until later....wish us all luck!