Saturday 5th April
We sadly said goodbye to Chris and Marisa yesterday and tears were shed. They have been our travelling buddies since we arrived in Delhi, so they will be missed by us as well as the others in our Bir home stay.  Promises have been made to visit each other in our respective countries...
I have been enjoying the yoga here, Cookie and Roshin are our yoga teachers. It is about $4 NZ a time which is a bargain, and you couldn't wish for a more idilic location to practice with the amazing view from the rooftop.

Jim and I hired a scooter today and went for a tour of the countryside. It is very scenic and also quite populated. We stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe and enjoyed the curries and survived eating off site. The owner was extremely attentive and polite. The cost to eat here is dirt cheap, less than $10  NZ for two or three curry dishes, bottled water, chapatties and coffee.  This definetly suits our budget. 

The roads were reasonably quiet which was great for us as it was our first outing driving ourselves.

The Himachal Pradesh area of Northern India is a complete contrast to Dehli and surrounding areas. There is definitely less pollution here in the north and people here have a much more sustainable mindset for the environment. When shopping your purchases are wrapped in newspaper or handmade newspaper bags; great to see they are not using plastic here in Bir or in Mcloud Ganj. 

There is also a lot of terracing of the land here and cropping of wheat and tea. There are also market gardens, though small allotments. 
The weather here ranges from very cold air from the mountains to warm balmy days, with some quite impressive thunder and lightning. Overall very pleasant temperatures.