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Other entries in Nanital

switzerland?

by the looks of it from a distance, this place could be switzerland. but peek up close and you notice the samosa vendors, women in saris and sweaters (were in the himalayas now :) plus the usual beggars, garbage in the streets, horns honking and strange smells that remind us that oh no, we're still WAY in india.

but gotta say the vibe here is pretty great. after immediately getting off the bus, of course we're hounded by a taxi driver. we say 'no'... and get this - he actually backs away! he didn't ask 3 thousand more times and the 5 guys next to him didn't also ask us if we needed a ride. he just walked away and left us alone. what sort of heaven did we just step into??

turns out a pretty sweet one. we were a mess from the bus ride so the first day included loads of napping. but next day we hiked up a mountain and got our first views of the himalayas!! and even better - it was of the most remarkable mountain range that includes nanda devi and nanda kot. a friend of mine climed nanda kot last year as research for a book he wrote (buy it here: http://www.petetakeda.com) so it was even better to get to see his 'hood. and I finally fulfilled one of the few traveling dreams I've had which is to see the himalayas. what a fabulous day!

most the rest of the time we've (dont tell anyone) been watching TV.this is the 1st room we've had with one and we've been keeping a hectic pace up to now, so when a 60s style bollywood movie comes on titled 'roti', that opens with one guy throwing down a roti (naan) gauntlet style, then 2 guys play keep-away-from-the-roti for the next 10 minutes while the opening credits run.... well, you just can't pass it up.

but around that, we've found some of the best food so far on the trip, the beer store, the cricket pitch (those 2 being a great combination), abandoned fun parks, cable cars and trails. plus it's been fun to just kick back and not be too hassled for a while.

next move - we bus back to delhi tomorrow night (noooooo......not delhi again!!), then on to jaipur to watch south africa play in the ICC cricket semi finals. we bought face paint and peds' bro-in-law is recording the game for us in australia cause we hope to make it on TV (depends on how much flesh I feel comfy revealing I think ;)

has been a great break in naini tal but now it's back to the chaos of more long-term bus travel. wish us luck!

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