Chopta and Tungnath part 2

Okay, and I'm back. 

After we got to the  summit ofTungnath, we stopped to eat biscuits and view the clouds rolling in. 

There were a dozen or so crows swooping around. At first I wasn't sure what they live off up so high in the mountains. Then one crow landed close to someone's stuff they had left lying next to the temple. It hopped over, and pulled a bag of potato chips out of the guy's jacket pocket and took off with it. Moral of story, crows are thieves, so watch your potato chips.

This is the temple at Tungnath.

You have to take off your shoes, so here I am, in my socks with the valley spread out behind me.

There was another shrine even further up the hill. Matthew wasn't feeling up for the extra hiking so I went on along. 

This is the shrine at the very top.

If I had gotten up there a bit earlier, some of the peaks wouldn't have been covered in clouds, but as it was, it was still a pretty awesome view.

We ate at the same place for lunch. They had a pet monkey who apparently likes jolly ranchers? Okay, I'm not sure what he's holding, but it looks like a green apple jolly rancher, right? 

He wasn't very friendly. He definitely tried to bite me. But it didn't break the skin, so no rabies shots for me.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, watching this guy make a basket,

and talking to this guy.

I forgot his name already but he was the manager (kind of) of the guest house. He asked me for my hiking boots. Then he asked Matthew if Matthew's dad (who is retired from the US air force) could help him get into the Indian military. It was all very awkward but very good Hindi practice.

We headed out the next day and stayed in another small town. Don't remember the name of that one either. I really should have written these things down when I could look at the map. Oh well. 

Next up, Nanital and sad news for my camera.