KULLU TO MANALI

The day announced itself with promise. I had had a decent slumber,the sun was shining and Santoshe had knocked on my door at seven thirty with my bed tea. My parcel to be sent was just waiting to be ferried cver to the GPO, and my bergen was packed. I bade Santoshe an emotive fairwell( well not that emotive, one has to keep up appearences) and sauntered off to the bus station. Kullu lies on two rivers, the Parvati and the Beas. To get to the bus station you have to take a serpentining alleyway, which is really a bazzar all the way down,  until you get to the footbridge. Its just 50 m further on that a breakers yard, doubling up as a bus station is repleat with coaches in varios states of decay in a disorderly formation. I forgot to mention obviously that by this time my parcel was undergoing its preparation for its trip to Spain. I, however was walking up and down this sorry looking set of  scrap metal shouting "Manali ! Manali!" Eventually someone behind a steering wheel( who didnt look like the sort type of chap who should be behind a steering wheel) beckoned me on. I boarded meekly, as it seemed to be the worst, and handed over forty rupees. Apparentley this is the cost of forty seven  kilometres of calvary lasing over an hour and a half. To say that I nearly took out an eye with the Nikon says a lot of that perilous undertaking. When I got to Manali, I carried out my routine on getting somewhere new.1, Locate suitably cheap, with non talkative employees, which charges between 300-600r; 2.Locate cyber cafe and get chummy with the cyber prince( cyber king if he also has international dialling facilities); 3. Start looking for cardboardboxes. As it started to rain that persistent mountain rain I decided to call it a day. After calling Carmen and getting a dhosa masala down my neck. I had a hot shower(or bucket), got into my jams and bed , The last thing I remenber was CNN waxing on ad nauseum about some royal wedding and how it would be a great morale boost for the nation. I drifted off trying to imagine how spending millions of pound from the country's coffers, would be any sort of benefit to people being made redundant and families losing their homes. Mmm, perhaps Im missing something.

El dia se anuncio con promesa, Habia dormido como un senor, el sol se asomaba, y mi hombrecillo, Santoshe me trajo el te a la cama a las siete y media. Mi paquete solo tenia que llevarlo a correos, al abrir estos a las nueve, y mi mochila estaba lista. Le desee a Santoshe un adios emotivo( bueno, no tan emotino, ya que hay que mantener aparencias),y me enfile a la estacionn de autobuses. Kullu se ubica sobre dos rios,el Parvati y el Beas.Para llegar tienes que coger un callejon que caracolea (que esta repleta de negocios de todo tipo) hasta que se llega al puente de peatones. A solo 50m esta la chattareria(?) que hace las veces de estacion de autobuses. Se observa unas diligencias en varios estados de lamento. Mientras mi paquete seguro que se ya estaba preparando para su viaje a Espana, yo estaba pasando revista de esta chatara gritando " Manali!, Manali!" De repente un sujeto detras de un volante( que a mi modo de ver, no debia de ser el tipo de elemento que debia de estar detras de un volante) me hizo senas de montar.  Me subi algo mansito y no con un poco de duda, porque parecia ser el mas jodido, y me separe de cuarenta rupias. Al parecer esto es el precio de cuarenta y siete kilometros de calvario que duro hora y media. Para decir que casi me quito un ojo con la Nikon, lo dice todo de ese espantoso viaje. Al llegar a Manali, hice lo que hago al llegar a un sitio nuevo . 1, Encontrar alojamiento, lo suficiente comodo, pero cutre, entre 300-600r. 2, Encontrar un ciber y hacer migas on el principe ciber(rey ciber, si tambien se puede llamar al extranjero desde ahi. 3 Empezar la busqueda por cajas de carton, Como empezo esa lluvia de montana persistente decidi acabar el dia. Despues de llamar a Carmen y meterme una dhosa masala por el pesquezo, me di una ducha caliente(o un cubo), pijamas y cama. La ultima cosa de que me acuerdo era como la CNN estaban poniendose pesados sobre alguna boda, y como iba a ser un gran golpe de moral para el pueblo Britanico. Me fui flotando hacia la inconscencia pensando como el gastar millones del cofre del estado iba a beneficiara a gente que espera ir al paro o a los que van a perder sus hogares. Alomejor hay algo que se me escapa.