In Manali, the lines at the 2 ATMs in town are really long, so while I was waiting for about 45 minutes, I was able to observe a large crowd (20 people maybe) illegally placing bets and yelling in Hindi around a sheet that covered something that looked like a human head, moving up and down underneath. Jim was afraid and walked away before we got to find out what this was, but I went back a couple times and saw that this sheet would appear and reappear based on whether they were scared of getting caught. For some reason, Jim thought there was a child underneath, but I think it was just a really weird scam, can't imagine what though.
We're going to Keylong on our way to Leh, but, first, we plan to go to a neighboring town so I can go zorbing:
On the way to our guest house, a snake charmer yelled at us that we could watch him play a song and get his cobra to dance, just like people have been doing here for thousands of years, but he was right next to some shoe repairers hustling their services on the street, and my shoes, despite being shitty-looking by Indian standards, suit me just fine. I still got to see the snake dance a little bit, and the charmer kiss it. I wonder how a guy gets into the snake-charming business?
Jim's living like a tourist, not a tramp, and that's making this less fun. He's also so used to this place that the novelty has worn off for him, and that's wearing off on me. I'm trying to hold onto the spirit of adventure in the face of this. Tomorrow, I hope to go "river crossing":
Later, at dinner, Jim said he's up for adventure, like meeting random Ladakhis and staying with strangers! I don't know how he knew I was feeling a need for this. Maybe from our conversation where I told him he's no fun and he said "I'm fun!" and I said "what do you do that's fun?" and he said "I study texts." He is funny.
Jim ordered the trout, a local speciality, so after he finished I asked if I could borrow the trout head to make this hilarious video:
Jim got grossed out and walked off, but this French couple behind me must've heard my falsetto because they audibly laughed several times. I really love that video.
I also love how often Indian English uses this word:
I don't think I want to eat there.
Speaking of which, today we went to a Buddhist temple with a school in it. Seeing the young monks there made me sad because some of them are getting molested right now and the only thing I could do to stop it is pay off the entire police force to investigate the temple.
Jim said the only requirement to become a young monk is you have to be big enough to scare a crow, so some of these kids are like 3 years old. So, so sad.
Our guest house has so many insects in it because they don't use screens on windows here. I threw a wolf spider out the door onto the balcony, then another off the balcony, then I moved my stuff elsewhere on the floor and one crawled out:
I turned to grab the bathroom squeegee and when I went back the spider was totally gone. Scary.
There's also a bee in here now.
Tonight we went out looking for fun and failed, as always. But at least I did get to take the most metal photo ever at a Hindu temple that still does animal sacrifices:
Time for bed.
We're going to Keylong on our way to Leh, but, first, we plan to go to a neighboring town so I can go zorbing:
On the way to our guest house, a snake charmer yelled at us that we could watch him play a song and get his cobra to dance, just like people have been doing here for thousands of years, but he was right next to some shoe repairers hustling their services on the street, and my shoes, despite being shitty-looking by Indian standards, suit me just fine. I still got to see the snake dance a little bit, and the charmer kiss it. I wonder how a guy gets into the snake-charming business?
Jim's living like a tourist, not a tramp, and that's making this less fun. He's also so used to this place that the novelty has worn off for him, and that's wearing off on me. I'm trying to hold onto the spirit of adventure in the face of this. Tomorrow, I hope to go "river crossing":
Later, at dinner, Jim said he's up for adventure, like meeting random Ladakhis and staying with strangers! I don't know how he knew I was feeling a need for this. Maybe from our conversation where I told him he's no fun and he said "I'm fun!" and I said "what do you do that's fun?" and he said "I study texts." He is funny.
Jim ordered the trout, a local speciality, so after he finished I asked if I could borrow the trout head to make this hilarious video:
Jim got grossed out and walked off, but this French couple behind me must've heard my falsetto because they audibly laughed several times. I really love that video.
I also love how often Indian English uses this word:
I don't think I want to eat there.
Speaking of which, today we went to a Buddhist temple with a school in it. Seeing the young monks there made me sad because some of them are getting molested right now and the only thing I could do to stop it is pay off the entire police force to investigate the temple.
Jim said the only requirement to become a young monk is you have to be big enough to scare a crow, so some of these kids are like 3 years old. So, so sad.
Our guest house has so many insects in it because they don't use screens on windows here. I threw a wolf spider out the door onto the balcony, then another off the balcony, then I moved my stuff elsewhere on the floor and one crawled out:
I turned to grab the bathroom squeegee and when I went back the spider was totally gone. Scary.
There's also a bee in here now.
Tonight we went out looking for fun and failed, as always. But at least I did get to take the most metal photo ever at a Hindu temple that still does animal sacrifices:
Time for bed.
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