Update 1: report from Manali

Hello faithful and patient listmembers!

I am in Manali, a town in the mountains in Himachal Pradesh.  It is supposed to be the trekking capital of Himachal.  There are a lot of trekking companies here, but organizing a trek is a little bit of work here.  A few days ago I met with a few agencies and along the way hooked up with a guy named Orr.  We joined up together and started to compare prices and negotiating.

This will be the Himalayan style of trekking.  We've hired a guide from the trekking agency and he is arranging a cook and porters to carry the gear.  It seems a little bit strange to me as I am used to carrying the tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear, and food.  We will have a small team of people carrying this stuff.  We have five trekkers and probably the same number of crew.

I will be out of touch for four days and back on the evening of June 10th, in time for the U.S. - Czech Republic opening World Cup game on June 12th.  Manali and Vashisht are picturesque places and very laid-back.  There is a mixture of Indian tourists avoiding the heat in the south, foreigners, and locals.  The locals are busy harvesting barley.  There is also a lot of construction going on here, as there seems to be all over India.

You can see photos of these things in the gallery.

This past week I uploaded photos of my entire journey to the present, with captions.  It is also possible to view albums as a slideshow and to add comments.

Hope you are well, wherever you are!

Mark