pass passed and passes

hello all

I have been without internet and also resting after a grueling journey.

Well friends in the dark and the icy conditions I travelled over some of the
worlds highest passes. Yes at two o'clock on the 4th I met an irrate taxi man in the
dark to be told that our seats had not been booked or had been over booked and also
he need more money from us. As I was travelling with seven Israiles who are generally extremely rude and arrogant (more objectivity on that in a later post) diplomacy was needed in a big way. Luckily I was also with a wonderful kiwi/oz/taiwan traveller!! Anyway aremed with a silly hat
I went out and explained various options and SOLUTIONS to the problems.
WEll, the wrangling went on and on for over an hour and a half until and strange compromise was reached. I can relate the whole tale to you at a later date. Needless to say,
we moved off on the trail of no return.

Darkness fatigue and the most rediculous amount of hairneck hair raising hairpins on the planet
took us over in the dawn. What a fucking exhausitng exhilirating 18hrs of sheer joy and pain. India really is the country of opposites. While we crammed and fiddled our way(complete with ipods) over the beauty that is ladakh and hamichal pradesh the sun rose and we follwed the shadows until we met the sky up high. I must say at this stage you must drop weverything and get on a plane to india. It's even better that it was 13 years ago when i first came here. Yes folks just drop all and come and see some of the most amasing sites the plaet has to offer.
It was tiring a wee bit scary as my sphincter got the old work out as we overtook on blind hairpins
with nothing but hundreds of meters of drop welcoming us if the driver was an inch off. (The driver was amazingly adapt by the way and had the lovely name of yogish.) So the exhiliration carried us through the bangs and clatters as we made our salow way over the peaks.
Let me say that this place makes the alps luck like otely chevin( or for north america it dwarves your rockies or appalachians!) yes its an amzing place that will be seen by many of you if you get hold of me and want to be guided,(more later.)

So after 18 hrs of pain and mnarvel we cruised into what was once my old small town of manali.
Belive me when i said that this place has grown at least ten times and changed completely unrecognizably. 13 years ago it was a small hippy hang out that had my favourite small hotel
(HOTEL ANUS no joke i have the pics to prove it) so today after resting up i am going to walk round what seems to me to be las vegas in the himalaya. More on that . much more soon..

enjoy your day whatever longitude you reside in.

bo