Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

After our Spitian trip, we felt we deserved to relax for a week or so. In this time we literally did nothing apart from play cards and eat lots of "western" food.

Eventually, we summoned the energy, and the will, to pry our bums off of the comfortable floor seating in our Old Manali guest house (and away from the ever cool-under-pressure, Pratha) and head to McCleod Ganj for a change of scenery.

This is highly ironic, as we really just moved from one lazy environment to a very similar one in Bhagsu (near McCleod Ganj). Our guest house restaurant even has floor cushions and a similarly helpful and friendly waiter as the one at Veer guest house in Manali. This one is a Pratha reincarnate called Ravi.

Days flew past. Did I mention that there's also an internet cafe AND a shop stocking all manner of goodies on site?

Then, out of the drizzly skies came salvation: a silversmith course! And it too is in the same complex as our guest house!

However, what started as a worthy distraction for a minimum of three days became a test of ones' spirit and determination, as the ability to file a precious metal and be able to tell the difference between 70, 90 and 96% silver became important.
We persisted, and have come up trumps with some lovely rings and a silver bangle for our trouble. Ben and Ellie got well stuck into it, and even went so far as to buy lots of different semi-precious stones to incorporate into their pieces.

Here are some action shots of the class:

Tim squished behind one of the working tables.

Completely absorbed in filing a ring.

Ben getting frustrated in the corner.

Our guru, Ravi, who has the patience of a saint and fixes your mistakes, but only once you've
adequately proved (i.e. after the third attempt) that you're really really bad at it.