many thousand km in 12 days...
So i foolishly ended up being stuck in a little tourist trap of a village called bhagsu in himachel pradesh. It was nice because it was totally full of little cafes and hippies and jam sessions and getting drunk and good food. The second night i was there i played at a little open mic night with the most random mix of punjabi folk music, classical indian music, israeli pop and acousticy folk rock. It was totally acoustic which was nice and it devolved into a really good fusion jam session with guitars, tabla, djembe and a washboard. I also got attacked by a scorpion.
What are you supposed to do when you get a scorpion crawling up your leg and you're sitting in a room full of people trying to be very quiet to hear the music? Luckily for me there was a guy who managed to flick it off my back then outside. And it wasn't even small. It was about 4-5 inches. Anyway i survived.
I also got to play my own gig. A whole hour of me on stage. I got some people to play guitar and didge and djembe with me. I got a really good reaction and in fact the whole time i've been in india has been really good for confidence in my own ability.
So i left bhagsu on tuesday and got to manali on wednesday at stupidly-early-am. Left again at 2am the next morning after deciding if i didn't sleep before it then i could sleep on the bus. Then i spent the next 20 hours on one of the most beautiful and 2nd highest motorable road in the world. It really was amazing and nothing could ever substitue the real thing. I can't explain it except to say that if you get the chance and can stand 20 hours in a minibus then do it. It looks like nothing else on earth.
But it means that i've made it to Leh in Ladakh. I've got one more night here before i plan to leave for srinigar then head all the way down to mumbai via amritsar, agra and indore. I'm going to travelling about half the length of india in 10 days and it will be mostly nonstop and on a tight budget. It'll be crazy and exausting but after 2 weeks of over indulgence i need it.
What are you supposed to do when you get a scorpion crawling up your leg and you're sitting in a room full of people trying to be very quiet to hear the music? Luckily for me there was a guy who managed to flick it off my back then outside. And it wasn't even small. It was about 4-5 inches. Anyway i survived.
I also got to play my own gig. A whole hour of me on stage. I got some people to play guitar and didge and djembe with me. I got a really good reaction and in fact the whole time i've been in india has been really good for confidence in my own ability.
So i left bhagsu on tuesday and got to manali on wednesday at stupidly-early-am. Left again at 2am the next morning after deciding if i didn't sleep before it then i could sleep on the bus. Then i spent the next 20 hours on one of the most beautiful and 2nd highest motorable road in the world. It really was amazing and nothing could ever substitue the real thing. I can't explain it except to say that if you get the chance and can stand 20 hours in a minibus then do it. It looks like nothing else on earth.
But it means that i've made it to Leh in Ladakh. I've got one more night here before i plan to leave for srinigar then head all the way down to mumbai via amritsar, agra and indore. I'm going to travelling about half the length of india in 10 days and it will be mostly nonstop and on a tight budget. It'll be crazy and exausting but after 2 weeks of over indulgence i need it.