today is officaally a week iuntil i leave india! daisy and i are in manali for 5 days and then off to delhi.

after mcleod ganj jo and i came back to manali where we stayed for 2 nights just hanging around as its very easy to do in manali. on wednesday we got up at 1am to get the mini bus to leh. it was poring with rain and we were wandering around in the pitch black looking for our van, we finally got in one that told us it was ours only to find out it wasn't. finally at nearly 3am we left for leh. the drive up was amazing with the sun coming up over the peaks of the mountains as we drove higher into the himalayas. unfortunaly there were 2 very sick girls in our van who vomitted constatnly possibly due to the altitdue. at 4am 5000m up a mountain i began to feel the cold beacause i was only wearing my thin cotton salwaar kameze. luckily we stopped at sevearl dhabas along the way which were nomadic tents. it was awesome sitting inside on these giants beds drinking chai and eating omlette and chapatiis when outside its 0deg! there was such a dramatic change in the landscape coming from manali to leh. after 2 hrs we left behind the green and lush mountains of manali enterig into the dry tundra of Ladakh. we arrived at Leh at 9:30pm somewhat stiff and exhaustesd. we found a wonderful guest house just near the center of town onluy costing us 500Rs a night.

the next day we were far too ewxhausted to do anything except go out when the hunger pains began to kick in and lie in bed. the day after with jo too sick to move daiays and i went for a walk up to the Leh Palace. the palace itsself is a miniature represenatation of the Potala in Tibet. AFter climbing up around teh outside of the palace perched on a mountain side only to find we couldn't get in we finally got inside the palace. only the parayer room remained in tact but the outside of the building was spectacular. we spent our next day in leh just wandering around eating and looking in local shops. Then daisy and i took a tour o the Thiksey Monastry, the Shey Palace and tjhe Miser monastry. the thiskey monastry was more like a small town. some 5 year old monks showed us the praryer room and of course being 5 year old boys they slid up and down the holy polished floor on their socks! the shey palace had a massive 3 story gold buddha in it as did the Miser monastry. unfortuanly after such a wonderful day on the wayback into our room at the guest house one of the dogs decided to bite my leg. after a few minutes of panic and some attempt at reassurance by the owner we all rushed off to the leh hospitaal to have a tentaus and rabies injection.

the next morning at 1am daisy and i got a jjeep back to manali. this time we had more leg room because jo had to fly to delhi because of being too sick. the drive would have been quicker than 16 hours had petrol tanker not gone over the edge of a mountain causing a traffic jam. although we took that oppurtunity to have some really yumy charcoled corn on the cob for only 25c! at the top of the rohtang pass soe very sad indians in fake fur coats and ski suits were attempting to ski or simply trudge through what they must have considered snow. daisy and i couldn't help but laugh at their stupidy as they trudged through the brown/grey sludge making the most of this clearlyl wonderful photo oppurtunty!

so now we're back in manali spenidng our days wandering around, sending packaaes and seeing celia and phillipa. last night we went ot our gap reps house whos up form delhi on holiday. we played a very interesting game called 'grabble' which celia and i with our very poor english skills failed miserably at. we all had chopsticks for dinner and told her about our placements. i had my second rabioes injection yesterday in manali, and daisy and i leave for delhi on saturday, to have 3 days there before i fly out to london.

so far im yet to find any indian food or chai that beats the homecooked stuff but the other day daisy and i had the best meal in india yet (we think) a fabulous salad, pizza and finally a cold chocolate milkshake! although we did have a wonderful meal at teh most expensive restaruatn in manali; Jonson's but the spending over $30( alot in india \n standards) was so totally worth it.

well my next blog will be my last. its weird to think that 4 montsh has gone so incredibly fast. at times it seemed so long and as though time was never going to go quick enough but its really over now and im on to the next part of my journey in the uk.

photos are a lot easier ot upload on facebook so if you look on their you'll see far too many albums containting all the pics form my time in india

lots of love alex xxxxxxxxx