India report

[seanlyall]

Hey guys, never done a trip report of any sort until now so be gentle haha. Earlier this month I went to India with my mate and we dedicated the second week to the Himachal Pradesh region. We had some of the best hash either of us have had and a great trip overall.

On our first night we had a dodgy taxi driver that we got from the airport to Delhi and within 5mins we scored some nice Kashmir, about 2grams for around 300 rupees. It was a decent smoke but no where near the quality we were expecting. Sorry no pics of this guys.

Anyway, after all the touristy things were out the way we set off for the Himachal pradesh on the "Death buses" of India. Our first stop was Shimla the capital. No score here but it was an epic place to chill for the night and the monkey temple we went to was really cool, a monkey actually jumped my mate and stole his specs much to my amusement

Next stop was Kullu, we arrived at around 3am and was offered some hash as soon as we were off the bus, it seemed shady so we declined. In the morning we went for a walk and it didnt take us long to find our man. Walking past a "Chicken" shop we were offered some of the local hash, hand rolled Kullu Valley Charas, we paid 1000rupees for 10 grams which the man weighed up infront of us on some old school scales. The hash had a nice citrus taste and was a very nice high.

Next stop was Manikaran, lovely little town next to the Parvati River, we checked into our guest house and straight away was told that down at reception they have some lovely Manali Cream. We went down and had a look and decided to buy 8grams for 800rupees. The Manali cream had a spicy taste with a heavy body high which somehow didnt really hit our heads, after our curry we sat and watched Cop Out stuck to our chairs

After we left Manikaran we headed for Tosh Village where once again we were told that at reception we could get some more Charas we didnt purchase right away and decided to go for a walk up the mountain, after an hour or so we hit some beautiful looking plants that were ready for the chop, after talking to some locals we got the go ahead to take some bud (a lot of hermis if im honest), they assured us that it was alright as everything the people wanted had already been chopped earlier that week. We headed back to the guest house and I began to attempt handrolling Charas. After a good hour I had got about a gram out of all the bud I used. We stuck the lot in a joint, it was a great smoke and really potent, it smelled really nice burning, tasted great and sent us into nap mode haha. The next day we decided to check out the local produce and got 6 grams of Himalaya Cream for 800rupees, very tasty bit which had us struggling to hold our heads up as we sank into our chairs.

Ive tried to upload some pics but the comp im on at the moment wont let me upload anything so I will post them up soon. Hope my first report wasnt boring guys, let me know what you think.

Sean

[MadCore]

Sounds like you had a good trip and smoked a nice variety too. I love the creams they are so savage. Nice you got to make your own. Pretty cool experience just rolling it and so nice to smoke your own freshly made charas.

[winnie]

Sounds like a great trip. I'd like to hear more about it than what you smoked. (but that's great too) Even some touristy stuff is fine by me.

[jjmcjohnson]

I've been doing quite a bit of reading the last couple of days on that area of india as I'm looking to go sometime in the next year. No doubt I will be back here to ask you some questions.

Any other places if interest? Bars? Restaurants? Were you offered any other drugs? Did you come across any post offices? Any trouble with the police?

[seanlyall]

overall the trip was good, the touristy things like the Taj mahal were epic to look at but the swarms of people trying to sell you things and asking for money for merely pointing out that you are indeed looking at the taj mahal kinda ruined it for me, this was the same everywhere we went in Agra, Jaipur and Delhi if im honest. We went to Haridwar to see the Ganges and we went knee deep but there was so much stuff floating around for me to even think about going in deeper. Haridwar is a vegetarian city so picking the right curry there was essential haha. As I said before I went to Shimla on the way to the Parvati Valley, well worth a visit imo, beautiful scenery, architecture and great people, a much needed change of pace from the bigger cities too.

The police seemed really scetchy and I heard a lot of horror stories so we stayed clear of them. I was offered coke a few times in Delhi but I never had any. There is a lot of good food to be had everywhere, even hotel restaurants where really good. there was plenty of post offices kicking around, apparently India has the biggest postal network in the world so you wont be too far from an office anywhere.

Still trying to get pics up guys, I will tell more when I find how to do that.

Sean.

[cattales1960]

overall the trip was good, the touristy things like the Taj mahal were epic to look at but the swarms of people trying to sell you things and asking for money for merely pointing out that you are indeed looking at the taj mahal kinda ruined it for me, this was the same everywhere we went in Agra, Jaipur and Delhi if im honest. We went to Haridwar to see the Ganges and we went knee deep but there was so much stuff floating around for me to even think about going in deeper. Haridwar is a vegetarian city so picking the right curry there was essential haha. As I said before I went to Shimla on the way to the Parvati Valley, well worth a visit imo, beautiful scenery, architecture and great people, a much needed change of pace from the bigger cities too.

The police seemed really scetchy and I heard a lot of horror stories so we stayed clear of them. I was offered coke a few times in Delhi but I never had any. There is a lot of good food to be had everywhere, even hotel restaurants where really good. there was plenty of post offices kicking around, apparently India has the biggest postal network in the world so you wont be too far from an office anywhere.

Still trying to get pics up guys, I will tell more when I find how to do that.

Sean.

Like winnie said, the touristy and smoke combined makes a great report. A far as the swarming you, that seems to happen alot of places. I have learned to just walk on by and not even respond. I refuse to let them ruin something for me. Its real bad on the islands such as jamacia and Antiqua.
Great report.

[seanlyall]

Hey guys sorry about the very late reply, had laptop problems. I cant seem to get my pics up because the file is too big? Anyone know how to sort that?

[Lamont]

Fun report thanks for posting it!

[nel z bub]

Sean,
thanks for your report. it brought back fond memories of time I spent in the Parvatti valley, mostly in Kasol but up and down as the search for the best hash took me.
It truly is one of the most stunningly beautiful places I have ever spent time and still, fifteen years later I regularly have dreams that take place in the landscape.
Tell me how far up the valley does the road go now? In my time the road stopped at manikaran and you had to walk to get to Tosh and beyond, up to Kir ganga- which had to be the most amazing journey I have ever been on- crossing hundred foot chasms on bridges made of two fallen trees to get to the hot springs and caves where I spent my twenty third birthday, tripping hard,smoking chilums and placing those mountains forever in my heart and soul.
The other place that really stood out for me was a village called Mandi, high on the side of the Kulu valley on the way to Manali. Another gem I think of often.
See that for me is one of the few drawbacks of living in Amsterdam; I miss the hills, I miss there being a view, a horizon to see.
Sure Amsterdam is a very pretty city, but it's also quite a narrow one and in the dark of winter the lack of a big sky above, or a horizon to see, can begin to subtly get to you. I'm sure it's why I have been a bit seasonally affected during the winters since moving here. i mean sure the winters are just as grim in Glasgow but at least there, even in the heart of the city you can see out to the hills most of the time. Anyway, sorry for rambling all over your travel thread, it got me thinking.
Look forward to seeing some pics, I'll try to scan some of my own old photos of the valley for you as well.

[geekymonkey]

Great report! Thanks so much for sharing it. I am dying to see pictures!

You can get a flikr account for free at www.flickr.com and then post the pictures over here. That's what I use and I find it works really well. Let me know if more instructions would be useful.

[alpen rock]

Hi Sean, thks fr your report!

I also would love to see yr pictures

Fr those who cannot wait, I suggest to have a look on ICMAG, where you can find several report trips in Nepal and India with tons of stunning photos (breathtaking landscapes and hash/hash processing/ganja fields)...very informative...makes you drool bad!!

[seanlyall]

Hey guys, really sorry about the late pics. Loads of things got in the way. Anyway here they are.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91574542@N03/

[PotHead]

Nice trip report; I like reading about 420-related travel. Thanks for sharing.

[spidergawd]

Nice thanks, enjoyed your pictures and worth the wait . Some very stoned eyes amongst them Sean .

[Colino]

nice pictures there, thanks for sharing!