The one with Le Corbusier

Tuesday 12th May
We had planned on heading out to Rohtang Pass today, to see some snow and enjoy the scenery but basically we kept getting conflicting answers on whether it was open yet (to anyone but the army that is). The travel agent we'd been speaking to said it was definitely closed so Rohtang was off the cards and we spent the rest of the day exploring all the cute little shops on the road between Manali and Old Manali. We bought a couple of bronze elephants that were really cool. And then Karly headed to the Tibetan quarter and bought some more interesting things.
Wednesday 13th MaySpent the morning in the forest and found a quiet spot to read for a couple hours.... funny thing is, we're pretty much alone hanging out by the river and this begger guy with a wonky foot shows up to beg from us! Nowhere is safe! :) He was a regular round Manali and showed up here and there all the time throughout our visit. Tonight a couchsurfer rang us who we'd been in contact with before we got to Manali, but then he'd kinda dropped off the planet, luckily we decided to message him one last time and he phoned... hooray :) He had been in Delhi and only got back to the valley the day before.
Thursday 14th MayWe had a leisurely day today! First stop was the apple tree cafe in Manali for breaky, and from there we basically cafe-surfed most of the day from Old Manali to the mountain villiage of Vashisht with our couchsurfer-friend Prashant. We went to an old temple- Hidimba Devi temple, which was apparently built in one day by a king who had the strength of 100 Elephants, and I had a photo with one of the Angora bunnies! Overall the day was a culinary tour of the local villages, we finally tried tibetan momo's (delicious little steamed things) and some amazing Indian sweets. Everything was topped off by a delicious dinner at a spanish restaurant that we never would have discovered on our own.

Friday 15th May
Bus Trip from Hell Part II Manali- Chandigargh

Saturday 16th MayChandigargh!!! Le Corbusier's urban utopia
We headed out on a cycle rickshaw to see the High Court and the Assembly Building which are Le Cordusiers most famous buildings in Chandigargh.

They wouldn't let us take photos at the high court so heres one prepared earlier...

The cycle rickshaw driver was a good sport and he let Nick cycle us for a while :) The buildings were fabulous and Chandigargh is well organised, unlike most Indian cities, but they could do with some footpaths!Next we headed out on the hop-on hop-off tourist bus (only 50 rupees each!!) and went to the Bouganvillia park, then the local art gallery (also designed by Le Corbusier), Nek Chands fabulous rock garden... it really is like going down the rabbit hole! And finally the man made Sukhra lake, which was actually kind of disappointing, a bit of a tourist trap. And to top it off the bar was closed.

Heres the Assembly Building... it is saturday so basically they let us romp around unbothered by bureaucrat's.

It was Election result day here in India and for those playing at home the popular Indian Congress has the majority of votes and BJP is still out. They havent picked a prime minister yet.