Had a good look around town in the morning before breakfast.Was invited up to the town Soccer Pitch by the "live in" groundsman to "take snap".I've discovered that here in India most people have Live In occupations. Sleeping and working in the same small room.
After breakfast we head up to the Pheasent Protection Park. This is a much smaller version of the Mt Bruce bird reserve back in the Wairarapa
in NZ. A very pleasent walk up through the trees.
Back to the hotel to use the communal toilet before we leave - only to be put off by meeting my 1st floor level "squat" toilet.I can wait...
17km downhill! Not sure if this is really the right way to start the day.
We continue up the Satluj river valley on a spectacular road often climbing very high above the river with vertical clifs down to the water
1500 feet below.
Stopping for lunch at a roadside Dhaba gives me my 1st taste of real Indian food - Dahl and Rice, with added flies for free.
Passing several tunnel entrances for the local Hydro Electrical scheme on the other side of the river we arrive at Wantoo.This had been our intended hotel stop, however all that we found there was a small shanty town at the side of the road."Hotel in Tapri" we're told. So we carry on through the dust.
Arrived at Tapri shortly before dusk to find the Govt Rest House. A very basic establishment with no hot water and very suspect electrical
wiring.
Dad is sick of rice, so at a local Dhaba he asks for Potato - which is all he gets, boiled and sliced on the plate.The rest of us have Dahl and rice. Not as nice as last time. More flies!
We sleep - broken only by the occassional boom from blasting going on down river.
After breakfast we head up to the Pheasent Protection Park. This is a much smaller version of the Mt Bruce bird reserve back in the Wairarapa
in NZ. A very pleasent walk up through the trees.
Back to the hotel to use the communal toilet before we leave - only to be put off by meeting my 1st floor level "squat" toilet.I can wait...
17km downhill! Not sure if this is really the right way to start the day.
We continue up the Satluj river valley on a spectacular road often climbing very high above the river with vertical clifs down to the water
1500 feet below.
Stopping for lunch at a roadside Dhaba gives me my 1st taste of real Indian food - Dahl and Rice, with added flies for free.
Passing several tunnel entrances for the local Hydro Electrical scheme on the other side of the river we arrive at Wantoo.This had been our intended hotel stop, however all that we found there was a small shanty town at the side of the road."Hotel in Tapri" we're told. So we carry on through the dust.
Arrived at Tapri shortly before dusk to find the Govt Rest House. A very basic establishment with no hot water and very suspect electrical
wiring.
Dad is sick of rice, so at a local Dhaba he asks for Potato - which is all he gets, boiled and sliced on the plate.The rest of us have Dahl and rice. Not as nice as last time. More flies!
We sleep - broken only by the occassional boom from blasting going on down river.