Finally!!!

ok, so its been like 30 minutes since i started trying to log into this website.

first i used a computer that was all in chinese, or japanese. So anyways im finally on the internet in Kasol where im staying and im smoking a joint and its only 10:45 in the morning. Thats the way its done around here.

See, Parvati Valley is a series of small villages, some accessible by road, others only by foot. Kasol is the main stopping point for travelers, especially israeli travelers. Everything is in Hebrew. Everything. There is israeli food and some israeli music in Every restaurant and cafe. Some of the locals here, like in rishikish and Manali know hebrew quite well.

so ive been all around in the last few weeks. I think i got real sick right after i wrote last time. That was in Manali. I decided then to take my motorbike for a spin. It was morning and I took off towards New manali. But then i veered left and headed for RHOTANG PASS. Yes, its a very famous pass thats 4000 meters high! I road and road and road up and up and up on an increasingly fucked up road with big potholes across the entire roads, filled with mud and water and rocks and sand. It was cold and i was only wearing my fleece and jeans but no gloves. I kind of didnt plan for the adventure, but thats how it usually is with me.

I got near the top and saw a paragliding sight where the ride itself lasted all of 10 seconds, as they took off from one hill and landed quickly on the one right below it. I drank some chai and took a piss. Then i thought if i should continue the last 12 kilometers to RHOTANG PASS, and I decided Yes, after seeing a large group of Sikhs on motorcycles with barely nothing on but the scarf they cover their heads with and an old sweater. So I continued up and it was a bit hard to breath and very very cold. My fingers were numb due to the lack of gloves.

Well I finally reached the top and was amazed by the view but underwhelmed by the pass itself. Their are many indians wearing late 70s early 80s skiing alfits, you know, the full suit ensemble. They sell loads of them on the way up. I ate some over-roasted corn, just the way I like it. and then i saw what seemed like someone sitting on a chair that was a sled being pushed down the hill. Strange. But i didnt have time to watch, i was hungry, so i sat at a small dhaba and ordered two little potato burgers and a tomato cabbage something else stirfry something or another, and ate that while looking at the stunning snow covered himalayan cliffs all around me.

I rode down feeling nauseous. It was not a fun ride, I was freezing and I new i was going to be sick. I wasnt sick yet, however, and made it home safely. I then talked with a group living next door, three brits and a german, and then took a shower, and went to bed. I was sick for the next five days. Combination altitude sickness (i climbed 2000 meters from manali in 3 hours), and food poisoning (those fried potato burgers i bet).

During the days i was sick i talked a lot with the german guy next door, 24. He's a carpenter and lives in the Alps, and snowboards a lot.

Left Manali and travelled to Kasol after five days, and that took one day. The ride was three hours or so, passing through a little town but nothing too crazy. In Kasol both michal and I still didnt feel 100% (michal also was sick at the time), so we took it easy. I had just finished The Joke by Kundera, so i read Elmore Leonard's Out of Sight, in one day cuz there is absolutely nothing for me to do in Kasol, and it was OK. I was unimpressed.

Anywho just sat at a cafe all day in Kasol, and the next day we left to Kalga. In Kalga there was A LOT of Chillum activity. A chillum is made of hardened clay, and its about five inches long and one inch wide with a hole like a doughnut in the middle, so its like a straw kind of. Anyway you smoke jaras in it, by mixing with tobacco. And you hold in cupped in your hand and dont put your lips on it and you just get major major rips. So In Kalga there was this huge group of italians and germans just smoking all day long. and when i say smoking, i mean there was a chillum constantly being packed and smoked, all the time. Sometimes I partook, but always in moderation, of course.

Kalga was chill, I spent the time reading the namesake by Jhumpa lahari. The views were stunning, obviously. We were about 2500 meters up. The climb there was steeep. Nothing much going on there, a few houses, some chickens, a little restaurant that is supplied with food by human porters who bring the food up on their backs. We visited Pulga one day, another village a little larger than Kalga, and were surprised by how filthy it was there. Some of the villages are cleaner than others.

We had heard about a village way up 3000 meters high called Kiriganga. One guy who works at the local bookstore, an israeli, told us he "spit blood" on the way up. Others echoed that sentiment. So we were hesitant, but decided to "go with it" or "lizrom im se" as it is said often among israelis here, except when it came to Kiriganga.

We left at six am, with a porter guide who carried michals bag, but not mine, since im a man and can carry my own bag. Of course we left the big bag in Kasol, and only had our two smaller bags with us. The climb was surprisingly short, three hours, and not so difficult. Of course there were areas we had to climb with all four limbs, we were happy when we reached Kiriganga without barely breaking a sweat. Im not sure what all the commotion is about.

Kiriganga was amazing. Simply the most beautiful place with a hot natural mineral bath up at the top from which you see the best views in 360 degrees. Every day we went both morning and evening, one time i went with asher and we stayed til 9pm, two hours after closing, ooooohhhhh. That was pretty awesome since it started to rain hard, and we were sitting just the two of us in a large hot sulphur bath. Oh and you get used to the smell.

Girls dont have it so good they have to use the adjacent enclosed room, and though they get the hot water, they dont get the stunning views.

Immediately on arrival we met a group of israelis at the guesthouse. This guesthouse, like a lot of places in these hill stations, are third world mini resorts for poor israeli backpackers. Theres a tent divided into room. The restaurant is also a tent with some aluminum and wood panelling. Inside there is a tandoori that is used at night to keep the place warm. Now i know why they call it tandoori chicken! And the seating is all on the floor with pillows and low tables so you can just chill and lounge about all day long. People even sleep there at night. The israelis were just chilling around the table at 10am smoking joints. This is how it is everywhere in parvati valley. Everywhere you go people are smoking chillums and joints, in the internet cafes, restaurants, trek shops, clothing stores, everywhere. Its a constant activitythat goes on round the clock, everybody constantly creating "ksessa" which is the mixture of jaras and tobacco. The jaras is like hash but is made differently, lots of people taking the marijuana leaves and rolling it in their hands until their hands are coated with the black jaras.

We sat with the israelis and we continued sitting there for the next seven days. Going thru a routine is nice. Wake up, 8. Mineral bath 9. Sit patio in sun, 11. Trip somewhere, everyday, to a little nook in the forest surrounding us. We'd buy some patotoes, onions, chocolate, make a fire near a river somewhere and eat and sit and smoke. For hours. Come back: 4. Sit on patio till 6. Mineral Bath 7. It gets cold up there and rained half the time, for the last few days. Teh first four days were gorgeous weather. Eat inside, talk chill, read whatever 10. More of that 11. Sleep. So you see Kiriganga is pretty nice if you want to reeelax.

On the first day of rain it was hardcore rain and my room got a little revenge from the god of rain, mashnavitu (im actually not sure if thats a god or not, i just made it up). My bed got soaked only, so i slept in the restaurant, near the tandoori. However i froze at night cause nobody kept putting wood in the tandoori!

Ive been sitting here for 1.5 hours, so now ive reached a point where i can no longer continue writing due to energy saving concerns. Please visit the next post in this blog when you find a quiet open moment in your day.