On arrival we stayed in the Hotel Gold Regency Regal (email: info@goldregency.com) ) in Paragani. It was OK. Largish rooms, good airconditioning and OK an bar restaurant, but all a bit soulless.
On the way back we returned to Hotel 55, on Connaught Circus. This is our personal favourite. It has pleasant rooms, good airconditioning, friendly staff and a really nice terrace where you can have a cold beer and watch the eagles soaring above the roof tops.
Eating
We like the United Coffee House. It's cool airy interior and ex-colonial atmosphere is a sanctuary from the heat and bustle of Connaught Circus. It's good at any time of day, but the breakfasts are particularly good - poached eggs, toast and cona coffee.
Surviving Delhi
Most people hate Delhi when they first arrive. It's hot, humid, crowded and seems to assault the sense at every turn. However, bear with it - the place grows on you. A couple of tips are:
Don't bother walking. Walking any distance in Delhi is very exhausting. You just get hot and sweaty. It's best just to take autorickshaws. The ride is nervewracking and not that comfortable, but it beats walking. Make sure you agree the fare before you set off and have some change (because the driver will pretend not to have any).
Competely ignore hawkers. You will be regularly accosted by beggars, travel agents and hawkers trying to sell you something, arrange a trip for you or "be your friend". The only way to deal with them is to completely ignore them -don't look at them, don't tell them to go away, don't apologise. It feels very rude, but it's the only way to stay sane.
Watch out for the shoe shine men
If you refuse a shoe shine from one of the hawkers in Connaught Square they have a little trick of flicking sh*t on to your shoes then offering to clean it off
Manali
Getting there
We flew up to Kullu (about 30km from Manali) with Jagson Airlines. Contrary to what we'd read on the internet, we found Jagson to be a very helpful outfit. We booked the tickets by email and paid for them on arrival in Delhi. Things to note are: a) its a small plane (12 seater) b) baggage allowance is limited to 10kg (but you can pay for extra at $10/kg) c) the flight is frequently disrupted by bad weather (ours left 4 hours late). Contact details are Jagson are:
Jagson Airlines
12E Vandana Building, 11 Tolstoy Narg, Delhi
Tel (00 91) 11 337 1217
Fax (00 91) 11 335 5298
Email: jagson-id@eth.net
From Kullu we took a taxi to Manali, but there are plenty of buses.
The alternative to flying is a 16 hour bus journey from Delhi.
Hotels
There is a wide range of hotels in Manali to suit all pockets. We stayed at the Mayflower which is a little way up out of town amongst the apple orchards. It was a bit pricey for us , but had spacious rooms and a very nice garden.
Arranging the Trek
We agonised over whether we should arrange our trek in Manali, or Keylong nearer the start of the route. Doing it in Keylong would have meant our money being spent closer to the area we were visiting and we would have been more likely to get a ponyman from the area. In the end we did it Manali, because we were worried about getting to Keylong finding no ponymen available. With hindsight it would have been perfectly doable in Keylong.
There are a great many treking agencies in Manali and unless one has been recommended to you, it is impossible to distinguish between them. In the end we chose Antrek Tours and Travel. The Manager, Naushad Kaludi, proved to be helpful and reliable, and I believe his prices were pretty reasonable. As we had brought all our kit (tent, sleeping bags, stove etc) we were only looking for the agency to arrange a ponyman and four ponies. If you haven't brought your own gear, the agencies will be happy to arrange a fully supported trek for you including, tents, sleeping bags and a cook. We met some of these on our trek and they looked pretty comfortable. Once we had fixed it up (and paid half the fees) we then had to allow three days for the Ponyman to get to Jispa, beyond Keylong, where we were going to start the trek.
Guide Books
We used "Trekking in Ladakh" by Charlie Loram, published by Trailblazer. For Zanskar and Ladakh you really don't need any other guidebook.
Gear
As the gear is being carried by the ponies, you don't need to be too light weight. That said you don't need too much stuff. The main gear we took with us was:
Small mountain tent
Four season down sleeping bags
Karrimats
Multi-fuel stove (MSR Dragonfly)
Waterfilter (Katadyn pocket filter)
Plastic bowls and cups (not metal - they burn your lips)
Collapsible bucket - this makes a huge difference to your quality of life when camping.
Clothing
The key items of clothing we took were:
Decent gortex cagoule
Good quality treking trousers x 2
Shorts
Good quality fleece
Good quality thermals - long johns and long sleeved top. These are really important, it can get bloody cold in the evenings and going over the passes.
Tee shirts
Sun hat
Thermal hat
Food
Sorting out enough food for 20 days was a bit of a problem. As it was the first time we'd done a trip of this length, We didn't buy nearly enough. So it was lucky we got rescued, although we would have been able to top up with staples at Padum.
Things that we brought from the UK were: porridge oats (breakfast), instant coffee, nuts and raisins (lots), chocolate (lots), boiled sweets, dried soups (lots).
Things we picked up in Manali and Keylong were: tea,biscuits, sugar, rice, tinned tuna, tinned cheese, potatoes, beans, onions, apples and oranges (difficult to get a hold of). It was really nice to have fresh vegatables (potatos and beans), but they take an age to cook at altitude
The biggest problem was lunches. The best thing to do is arrange with the ponyman for him to make you some chapatis each morning and you can have these with Jam or cheese.
Insurance
This proved to be particularly critical for this trip. You need to make sure your policy covers you for the cost of rescue. We arranged ours through the British Mountaineering Council www.thebmc.co.uk You have to join the club, but the rates are very competitive and when we needed it the assistance was first class