Manali

By Sanne

Manali we absolutely loved. We stayed just outside in a little village called Vashist. There were a few travelers around but not too many so it was quite peaceful. This is where the famous Manali-Leh road starts but unfortunately for us it doesn't open until June-July. They have had so much snow there this year and farmers have lost about 70% of their crops and it still was snowing while we were there making it really cold! The views of the snow-capped mountains made up for it though. The air was crisp and clean and it was just what we needed. We had hoped to do the Rohtang Pass just north of Manali which is just under 4000m but because of the long winter it still wasn't open. You can go up so far which we did one day, just hoping to ride in amongst the snow. We weren't the only ones with that idea, the road up the mountain was packed with cars  carrying Indian tourists all geared up in their snowsuits and pimp fur coats! It seemed that when there were no other places to park on the side of the road people would just park smack bang in the middle of the road, take their keys and go for a walk to the snow. As you can imagine this caused a huge traffic jam of tooting cars with people trying to go up and people trying to come down. We managed to squeeze through eventually but not without having to maneuver the bikes down into a muddy ditch and up over some rocks, then we had to avoid hitting the hundreds upon hundreds of ponies taking up the road carrying tourists around.
But we eventually got up to the snow line...only to get stopped by officials. They didn't want to allow us to go any further, too dangerous apparently and if anything happened to us it would be their responsibility. Only tourist taxis, quads, ponies and people on foot were allowed. Mark who wanted to actually ride in the snow was not having any of this! He had a long discussion with the officials and with a little help from some Indian tourists persuaded them to call their boss back in Manali. Well, sometimes it pays off to be persistent - we got given the green light to continue, but just for 2 km's. We thanked them and we were off. The 2 km mark came and went without anyone stopping us so we just continued riding! After 10 km's we stopped. Here was what we had hoped for: snow all around us and big mountains - we were officially in the Himalayas.

View from our hotel in Vashist

Traffic jam and one hottie in a snowsuit

We weren't the only ones wanting a bit of snow action

While we here several small avalanches set off on the mountain behind me

Mark did get to ride in the snow - for about 3 metres. Then he got bogged

With a little help from some locals he managed to get it back out though

Me and a giant snow wall

They love their little snow house photo ops here

On the way back down the weather was really moving in quick

 Some crazy Indian guys

I have a healthy respect for the horns on that yak, hence the distance

Bunnies are a lot less scary!

The good man who served us tea and parantha every morning

Himachal Pradesh

By Mark


After Chandigarh we headed up into the mountains for the town of Shimla. Nice short ride for us and leaving late was not the best idea as the heavens opened and we got to have a nice wet and cold arrival. The usual ride around trying to find a hotel with safe parking for the bikes was a hassle. The mountainous towns always have little to no parking and makes it difficult to find a room. Eventually we found a place with a very warm and welcoming host who gave us a good deal on a room. This time of year prices tend to double with all the domestic tourists heading to the mountains to escape the heat of the lowlands but we managed to escape the price hike this time round. Our plan was not to stick around long as we wanted to keep heading further north towards Manali and the Himalayas. We found a great quiet road to travel along towards a town called Tatopani. Beautiful scenery that changed along the entire way with monkeys hanging out by the roadside and very little traffic. Just what you want on a twisty mountain road. Every time we hit these roads you fall into a zone of cruising along taking everything in, the next minute you have a bus hurtling towards you in a blind corner with just enough room for you to pass or you can take a tumble down the mountain side. We left with no intentions of knowing where we would spend the night and after a fair old ride, and slow going we found a great quite guesthouse in the middle of nowhere and stayed the night.

Views out over Shimla

The Mall, Shimla

A quick stop on our way to Tatopani

Some curious kiddies who came to check out these white coloured freaks

These photos do not do any justice to how beautiful the countryside is here

Cruising through the pine forests, awesome especially with such a small amount of traffic

New Friends

By Mark

Travelling through India we are constantly meeting new people, with each stop we make we always attract a crowd and amongst some of these people we are lucky to meet some very special and kind folks. After arriving in Hisar and having some issues with finding a hotel, Rajesh stuck his head through the crowd and asked us if we needed any help. We obliged and in no time found ourselves in a hotel room sitting and having a tea together (as you do in India) and getting to know one another. Next thing we knew we had been invited to dinner. We had a beautiful dinner with his family and talked of our travels and was told many a story and shown many pictures of Rajesh's bike trips and family holidays. After a lovely evening, Rajesh gave us a lift back to our hotel and we promised to meet up with him again on our next visit to India.
The following day we were on our way to Chandigarh when a short fuel stop ended up being a 3 hour break. This all came about after the President of the local village saw us fueling up and wanted to meet us. Before we knew it we were sitting down enjoying another cup of tea. We were then invited back to his home for lunch but not before the obligatory photo shoot with all the locals. One photo is never enough for these guys... After a little run across town we were at the house of his sister in law who cooked us up a huge treat of your typical Indian meal of roti, dahl etc. The funniest thing we have come across is when we say we cannot eat anymore we are always hit with the question, Do you not like? After lunch we had a meet and greet with all the neighbours and children and another photo shoot was in action. Just as we were preparing to leave we were invited to stay and be the guests of honour for the night. Sadly we had it in our heads that we needed to get to Chandigarh and declined the invitation. It was obvious they were very disappointed that we weren't staying and when we said goodbye, Mr Singh said that in all his 40 years of living this day was his happiest! Did that make us feel like assholes for leaving or what?! These people were so lovely and so happy to have met us... We had a hard time that evening racked with guilt for turning down such goodhearted people. We have vowed not to do this again and never want to think we have to be anywhere else when such great opportunities arise.  

Rajesh and his family minus his son who had already crashed out

The President of the local village invited us for lunch

This cool looking dude, just another fellow in the crowd 

hanging around at the petrol station, gave us his blessings

Many photos were taken during our lunch break with all the neighbours wanting to jump in

Our super friendly hosts

Sanne struggling to feed herself was given a helping hand

The youngest was a little wary of the wildebeest

Bikaner and The Rat Temple

By Sanne

India has tons of temples but on of the more bizarre ones you find just outside Bikaner in Rajasthan. The Karni Mata temple aka The Rat Temple is as the name suggests a temple full of rats! They are considered holy here and people flock here to sit down and have a bite to eat with a rat friend. Before visiting we were a little concerned as to what we would find - would there be thousands of big sewer rats running around nibbling at your toes??? The reality wasn't so bad. Yes, there are thousands of rats and yes, you do have to watch where you walk so you don't step on one as they scatter across the floor, but they are not too big, more like the size of a pet rat. You'll find them crashed out in the corner sleeping with their friends or gathered around a big bowl of coconut milk. It is considered good luck if you spot a white rat of which supposedly there are 4 or 5 but unfortunately we did not spot one :( It is also considered good luck to share some food with the rats and people queue up to sit down and eat some sweets with them. We were happy to just observe this ritual!

On the way to Bikaner next to some basic desert dwellings

A working camel

And a hardworking donkey/pony!

The Rat Temple

Dinner time!

Hungry?

Doesn't look very comfortable does it?!

Sleepy time...

Faces of Rajasthan

By Sanne

As we mentioned we loved Rajasthan. The people we met there were so incredibly friendly. On our way to Jaisalmer, about 60 km's out, we stopped for a cold drink at a little roadside store. As usual we were greeted by immense curiosity by the locals - one thing in particular that always seems to fascinate them is my Camelbak (the rucksack I drink water from). As I bring it up to my mouth to take a sip people move closer to see what this weird device is. Believe it or not, more than a few people have asked me if it is oxygen!
Anyway, the people at this little shop asked us to come see them on our way back from Jaisalmer, so when we left the city a few days later we stopped in again to see them. Next thing we knew we were sitting inside a small dark room having (naturally) tea. They didn't know more than a few words of English and our Hindi vocabulary is pretty much non-existent but it didn't really matter. Lots of smiles and good vibes all around. One thing I have learned about Indians is that they LOVE having their photo taken! These people were handing me my camera to get me to take photos of them! They are incredibly photogenic too which makes for great photos. After taking each photo I would show it to them on the camera screen and their faces would just light up. Seeing their reaction I felt bad that I was sort of taking these beautifully captured moments with me, so I promised them that I would get some prints made of the photos and send them to them. Hopefully they'll enjoy them like I have.