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July 27, 2003
Finally good business The season has finally warmed up for Manali's guest house owners, but is better for some than others. Old Manali's centre of gravity seems to have shifted upward from the area near the bridge to nearer the village, around the new "complex" at the Dragon guest house. That area is now beginning to resemble some part of Bangkok or Kathmandu with its flash restaurant and cyber cafe. The lower part is still rather empty and desrted looking, although our guest house has finally filled up in the last few days.
Upside, there is apparently fierce competition, with restauranteurs, money changers and shops apparently offering big discounts to get bums on seats. A cup of coffee, normally about 12-18 Rs in Old Manali, can now be had for 2 Rs or so. Since the place is apparently full up there, the logic of such discounts rather eludes me. The places that need to attract punters at the bottom of the village, have if anything put prices up.
Many of the tourists here now are just passing through for a couple of days on their way to Leh and Spiti for trekking or to avoid the monsoon in these dry areas.
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Bug season The monsoon brings with it the start of the bug season, when every light bulb is beseiged by insects attracted to the light. Some of the bigger beetles are a good 3 inches long. At evening the ciccadas kick in with their massive loud chirping that sounds more like a large electrical transformer with seriously damaged windings than an insect. The fact the noise is made by a relatively small insect makes it all the more amazing.
While most of the local bug life is harmless, the scorpions are a lot less so. How dangerous they are I have never managed to find out from local people. We found one in the room the other day, sitting next to the wall just by a metal trunk, doing a very good job of looking menacing. I have no problems with the bugs, spiders or even the occasional snake, but scorpions scare the shit out of me - whatever size they may be, and this one had to go. So we sat there for five minutes without moving trying to decide what was the best approach to hitting it with a large object - you only get one chance, these things are fairly quick on their feet.
We eventually decided on a decisive strike with "lonely planet India guide 1996" as being the right weight etc. By then of course the scorpion had decided to amble rather slowly under one of our metal trunks, so we had to fish the trunk off and hope it didnt bolt. It didnt, so I hit it hard with the spine of the book a couple of times, which stunned it, then finished it off with a few more whacks. While I doubt it did my Karma any good at all, I did get a better nights sleep.
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Monsoon season The monsoon is still at the stage where it resembles an English summer; alternating clear skies with rain that slowky winds itself up from a gentle drizzle to a serious downpour over a couple of hours. Unlike English summer, the time of day is fairly predictable over a period of a week or so. This week, for example, seems to be "raining at night week", with a wet night followed by a pleasant day, with clouds gathering again in the early evening. And so on. As I am writing this at 3.30 am, I can hear the first drizzle starting.
There have been two nasty cloudbursts, one of whichg hit a camp for workers on the big Hydroelectric project near Kullu, killing somewhere between 20 and 150 depending on which paper you read.
Another more local tragedy came near Bahang village, where a wall of water swept down a nullah and buried two people alive under the resulting mud. These apparently tiny streams that are a constant feature of the sides of the Kulu valley, and in summer the streams are often small enough to step across, but can be turned into a violent flood if it rains hard high up on the hills, with the water draining down and quickly multiplying the streams size.
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July 14, 2003
Back in Delhi
Although Delhi was surpisingly cool when we arrived a few days ago, due to some particularly violent monsoon rain -106mm in 2 hours- the skies have cleared and it is back to solid heat and humidity. It never ceases to amaze just how much a few clouds can take the sting out of the heat.
Had a sit for 45 minutes of people watching (and being watched) on the grassy patch above Palika Bazaar. As ususal the people relaxing were well serviced for all their possible needs by the amazingly diverse range of hawkers, sellers and beggars that ply this small patch of grass.
In the brief time we were there we were offered (most rather more than once):
Tea/coffee
cold drinks
flowers
balloons
a massage
ear cleaning
sandal cleaning
keyrings, statues and other tourist tat.
One guy recited the entire feasible list of soft and hot drinks available plus a few snacks at breakneck speed.
Enterprise is alive and well in Connaught place.
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