My first impression of Manali
Manali feels like a strong contrast to my travels in the plains and desert further south in India. Manali is set in the Himalaya mountains. There is a convergence of ethnicities here. The contrast is stark in such a small place. There are people of Tibetan, Nepalese, and Aryan background. The Aryan background throws me off at first: people with light-colored eyes - blue or green - and fairer skin. Their faces have European features. Sometimes I am thrown off when I see one. I think it is a European traveller gone totally native. But then I look again and it is a short woman wearing a traditional skirt and top and a bandanna on her head. She is speaking the local language and has a large basket on her back full of hay. And she is talking to two other women just like her.
In addition there are people of Tibetan descent with what might be considered asian features. Also there are locals who look Nepalese.
This area used to be considered part of Nepal. It is part of the same chain of mountains. It is also the intersection of trade routes: northeast is Tibet, east is Nepal, south is Hindu Indian, west is Kashmir and Pakistan, and further west and north are Afghanistan and other areas that are the source of the Aryan ethnicities.
In this tourist town there are plenty of Indians from further south who have come on their summer break to visit the local temples. They wear a mixture of Western dress and saris and salwar kameezes - typical attire in the cities in the south. Then there are the Nepalese who have migrated recently recently to work in the restaurants and hotels. And there are the Western tourists, the "foreigners". In Vashisht near Manali most of the travellers are Israeli and wearing hippie attire.
In addition to the ubiquitous concrete buildings which exist the world over, there are traditional buildings made of local materials of timber and stone. I see houses made of timber and stone with slabs of slate for the roof.
So it is a marked change from just a little bit further south. Also, since coming to Shimla and now Manali, the atmosphere is more relaxed. The high-pressure sales on the street are mostly gone.
