The revelry of the previous night had us sleeping well into the morning. We finally clambered out of bed at 10:30 a.m, freshened up and made our way downstairs to meet the others. We walked into a Tibetan restaurant, sat down and ordered breakfast, admiring the interesting paintings and photographs that adorned the walls. I finally quenched my craving for that elusive ingredient called meat by ordering a chicken burger while the others ordered more conventional breakfasts. Once done with breakfast, we walked around for a while and ended up at the Oakview Café. Here I tried the Bhagsu pie and watched the others play cards.
 |
| Colourful Jew House |
An hour later, we grew tired of sitting around, and after bidding farewell to Maya, who was leaving, decided to walk to the adjacent town of Dharamkot. Though a scenic walk, it was in the hot sun, and by the time we reached, a beer was in the wanting. We shared a pizza and a few bottles of beer after which Robin and I played a few games of chess while Tory and Ben narrated stories from their travels around the world. Tory had worked with an NGO in Peru and later had taught English in South Korea. Ben was planning to teach English to kids in Brazil soon after this trip. A while passed like this, and after a couple of funny conversations with the Israeli girls at the next table, we decided to make our way back to Bhagsu.
 |
| Will I fit in that Shoe ? ? |
We stopped on the way at ‘Once in Nature’ and had a cup of tea. The most fake sadhu I had ever seen had set up his pandal outside the restaurant and claimed to have taken a vow of silence for twelve years. He was however, constantly writing notes to foreigners present, writing words into the mud around him and doing all kinds of things to gain the attention of passersby. Funniest of all, he kept pulling out his phone every little while to Message or Whatsapp somebody or the other. So much for his vow of silence! While many of the foreigners seemed to find his vow and devoutness impressive, watching from a distance, I was finding the whole spectacle extremely amusing, even tending towards hilarious at times.
After finishing our tea, we walked along the stony path down the hill wondering where to spend the evening. We got back to the room, pulled on a sweater and trousers as it was getting chilly, and headed out again. We met Will from England downstairs and the six of us made our way back up the hill to Welcome Café. It was a nice place with interesting lighting. A few drinks and dinner was downed while some French guys played some lousy Manu Chao music that, for some unfathomable reason, people seemed to enjoy. We met Jessie from England who seemed to have boundless energy, talking non-stop and also bumped into Fernanda and Natalia. Jessie was quite high and clearly smitten with Ben, and kept saying she wanted to bite him, everyone enjoying a good laugh. A fun evening followed and we wrapped up by around 1 a.m. We made our way back to the room and switched on the TV for a few minutes but neither of us did any watching as we fell asleep almost immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment