Kiriganga

So where was I? Oh yea, Kiriganga. Small place, 3500 meters high. Three guesthouses, one large mineral bath.

Michal and I stayed at a place called Lotus, which is a common guesthouse name around these parts. Am I repeating myself?

The day number thing just kind of evaporated on me. What day are we talking about? 30? 35?

Suffice it to say we were in Kiriganga for 8 days. Michal decided to continue on to Dharamshala before me without the motorcycle, so from this point on i was on my own.

The owner of the guesthouse we called "G", which is how indian men refer to each other sometimes. Its kind of like "sir", but at the beginning of my trip i thought this was a reference to the "G" in the US, which is short for "Gangster". But no connection. So we called out "G!" whenever we needed anything. The israelis love this: need something? just call out G! and someone is there with your mint tea, coffee, veg pakora, thali, or hashish.

The whole thing about india is thats its so cheap here and poor backpackers feel like Kings!

Our group in Kiriganga included some interesting characters: Australian couple: Ren and Jay. early 30's. The girl, Ren, is funny. They married 3 years ago. She likes to talk, he doesnt. Maybe thats why they get along. Ido: 22, ex-D9 commander. Smokes a lot, too much, likes to talk a lot about meaningless things, a little annoying sometimes but entertaining. Enjoys cold showers. Asher: this is the guy im traveling with at the moment. Ethiopian, 22, no army, managed dominoes pizza for a couple years. Plans to open his own store when he returns to israel. Loves playstation. Lashman: Indian, 41. Strange little man, has his own restaurant in Goa which he operates in the winter, and travels in the offseason. He led us to Tosh from Kiriganga.

It started raining a few days in Kiriganga, which delayed our departure but have us plently of reasons to stay and bathe and smoke and watch the hills and the sky.

After michal left asher decided he may like to buy a motorcycle and continue with me to Dharamshala, and leave Ido and Ainat, his traveling partners. I told him fine, being rather indifferent to traveling alone or with someone. I suppose for the longer rides its good to have a partner or two. Also traveling with someone saves money on lodging sometimes, as u share a room.

We left Kiriganga about a week ago, and headed for Tosh. Tosh is another outpost in Parvati Valley with no access to motor vehicles. This is all changing however, as a new road is currently being noisily constructed which will inevitably change the dynamic and attraction of the whole area. Tosh is only about an hours walk from varashani, and then a half our motorcycle trip.

In Tosh we stayed at Lashman's friend's closed guesthouse. not operating this season. I stayed with asher in the main room with the tandoori, and ido and ainat stayed in another room and that australians in another room. I borrowed High Fidelity by Nick Hornby from Ren and read it while in Tosh.