Day 6: Manali to Leh

Our bus left Leh at around 2:30 am in the morning. It was a long journey. I don’t think I have ever done such a long non-stop bus journey in my life. Though it was not crowded like the government buses that we had travelled it was still very cramped for an 18 hr journey.

The Leh-Manali road is around 480 km long and it passes through one of the highest motorable roads in the world. It climbs up to a height of 5300 m altitude. It goes through 5300+m altitude passes at least 3 times. The road winds up and down giving spectacular views of the Himalayan mountain ranges. The roads are not well paved most of the time and in some place it’s just dirt road with potholes. The roads hardly had the width of a truck, and being a 2 way road made the travel extremely dangerous and scary at times. But the journey through the mountains, passes, valleys, riverbanks, plateaus are so beautiful that given all the risks and discomforts, it still is worth to take the trip at least once in a life time.

The bus made two long stops in the 18 hr journey for breakfast and lunch. The high altitudes means the air was thin and I started getting headaches afterwards – a clear symptom of altitude sickness.

The long journey was very tiresome. If I had known this earlier that it is going to be so tiring then I would have skipped this part of the journey altogether and flew directly to Leh from Delhi.

We reached Leh at 8 pm. We took the taxi from the bus stand to the Gangba homestay where I had stayed last year. It was really nice to see some familiar faces and to be in the familiar atmosphere again. The family was as friendly as before and I was surprised to see that they still remembered me. We took a shower and had our homemade dinner. Afterwards we just sat there and surfed the net, posting messages and photos. Finally it was wonderful to just relax and not worry about anything.

Day 5: Manali

We reached Manali around 4 in the morning. Too tired and exhausted, our initial plan was to take a share taxi to Leh. The information I got was that it is an 18 hr journey to Leh along the mountainous Leh-Manali highway which is about 450 + kms long touching upto 5300 m altitude. Though we were travelling for 12 hrs non-stop we decided to take it.

But nothing went to plan. There was no share taxi available as all of them left by 2-3 am. Due to the Buddhist Kalachakra festival at Leh, where H.H. was giving teachings all the buses/taxis were going full and all were moving only towards Leh. Only a few of them were returning as they were not getting customers to travel back from Leh to Manali. So altogether the number of share taxis available was less. The only option left for us was to catch the taxi next day early morning.

 
We somehow found a room to put our luggage and take rest for the day. After putting the luggage we went out to have our breakfast. The town was too crowded with honeymooners and the tourists who were escaping the summer in North India. We managed to get a booking for a minibus to Leh which is starting at 1.30 am in the next morning. We returned to our room and slept till 6 pm. Both of us were very tired from the horrible journey to Manali. We had now nothing else to do than having our dinner and wait for the bus

Day 4: Dharamsala to Manali

Our bus to Manali is at 4: 40 pm today. After breakfast we just walked around and sat at a restaurant at noon. Then the rain started pouring down. That announced the arrival of monsoon at Mcleod Ganj. It rained heavily for about 1.5 hrs. We went back to the hotel after the rains subsided. Packed our bags and went out to the bus station to catch the bus to Manali.

Our nightmares with public transport started again. We booked tickets for a delux bus. But when the time came the bus that arrived was an ordinary bus. I had an argument with the conductor of the bus. He said that there is no delux bus and this is the only bus to Manali at this time and we can take it or leave it! I was very angry. After our last bus journey to Dharamsala, both of us were really pissed off. I didn’t try to talk with Bru, and as we had no other option we decided to take it. A 12 hr journey in an ordinary bus was staring at us and both of us were not at all looking forward to it. Once the bus started climbing up the winding roads the ‘show’ started. Many of the passengers started getting sick and after a while many of the people were vomiting all around the place. It was one hell of a ride. And it was just a beginning!

Day 3: Dharamsala

After breakfast we went to a nearby waterfall at Bhagsu which is about 2 km from Mcleod Ganj. There is also an old Shiva temple. We walked from Mcleod Ganj just enjoying the landscape. The temple was small, just an idol and a priest. But it was crowded with tourists. There is a pool outside. We have taken the swim shorts and towel along with us. But after seeing the crowd at the pool we decided to give it a skip. We went further to the waterfall, which is about a km away from the temple. The waterfall was small but beautiful. Again, the crowd made me feel like running away. We didn’t stay there for long. We walked back into the town, had our lunch and went back to the hotel. In the evening we went for the Khora walk again. It was again the best part of the day. Afterwards we had our dinner in the town and returned to the hotel.

Day 2: Dharamsala

Not much was planned for today other than walking around the narrow roads of Mcleod Ganj. Mcleod Ganj is about 10 km from Dharamsala. The whole place is covered in less than 2 km radius. The highlight is of course the temple, monastery and the office of His Holiness.

The traffic along the street is hopeless. It has hardly the width of a car and all the tourists coming with their fat SUV’s makes the place too crowded even to walk. To add to that are the drivers honking all the time. There are basically 2 roads running parallel from the main square towards the temple. One is called the temple road. Both roads are one way roads. All the craft shops are situated in these two roads

We just walked around the roads in the day time. The hotel owner suggested that we should do the ‘Khora walk’ in the evening. The walk is around 2 km circling the temple and the monastery. The Buddhist monks do it in the evening in the clockwise direction. For them it is a prayer walk circling the temple and H.H. We also did it in the evening. It was an absolutely beautiful walk along the narrow paths through the woods lined with Tibetan prayer flags, mani stones and prayer wheels. The absolute silence, the beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains and the spiritual atmosphere helped to calm my mind from the madness in the last days. At the end of the walk we visited the temple where a large statue of Buddha could be seen. Afterwards we had a dinner in one of the roof top restaurants. I didn’t enjoy it much as it was noisy being on the side of the street. In addition the staffs were greedy and unfriendly.

Day 1: Jalandhar to Dharamsala

We reached Jalandhar around 9 am next day. It was not at all a comfortable ride. I was so tired that I had a dead sleep in between. At Jalandhar we had breakfast and then checked for the next options. There is a direct government bus at 11 am. Or we could go to some nearby ‘stop’ and get a bus to Pathankhot where the buses are more frequent. We decided to wait and go for the direct bus to Dharamsala. No more adventures!

The bus left in time. May be because it is a government bus. For the first time something worked in time.  A rarity in India! It was again a very long journey. Travelling in local buses gave Bru a good feel of the real Indian life. Did he enjoy it? I don’t know. But I felt that this experience should be there for anyone visiting to know the pulse of the country.

We reached Dharamsala around 5.30 pm. Since our booking was in a hotel in Mcleod Ganj where the monastery of H.H. Dalai Lama is, we took a taxi to our hotel. The hotel sits in a valley. We had to climb down around 50 steps to reach the hotel. Not so comfortable, especially when you have around 15 kg backpack. But the rooms had a beautiful view of the valley. We had the rooms on the top floor. Finally after almost 2 days of travelling we have a beautiful landscape and peace in mind! I think both of us earned it!

Day 0: Flight to Delhi

It’s June 2014. The flight to Delhi was long. It had a stopover at Mumbai. Total flying time may be around 4 hrs. But together with the check in it was a long journey. I left home at 9 am and by the time I reached Delhi it was 4 pm.

As planned, Bru was there at the airport. Though there was some initial confusion with respect to arrival terminal we managed to find each other. The only problem was the heat. The temperature was around 40 deg C, dry heat. Though you don’t sweat like in the south, you will feel like you are walking in an oven!

The little time I spend in Delhi, I did not enjoy it.  The crowd, the dust and the people -  not my idea of holiday conditions. We decided to go to the railway station to check for the train timings. Our booking said the train is from New Delhi (DLI). But when we reached there they said it is from old Delhi! I think it just the beginning of what is to come. We took a taxi to old Delhi. Since Bru is a white guy he immediately became the magnet for people selling things and beggars. Also the prices for everything we asked shot up in split second. Taxis, shops etc charged more than double. And that made my bargaining attempts tighter. As the money without bargaining was not much in foreign currency, Bru was not much concerned. But for my Indian salary, it was not a comfortable number. So I had to do the donkey work of bargaining with these greedy vultures all the time. Na! I didn’t enjoy that either!

We reached old Delhi railway station at around 5.30 pm. Our train is only at 8 pm. So we thought to have some food and Bru suggested McDonalds! Not our favourite, but somewhere clean and air conditioned. We got into the train in time. It was very very crowded and noisy. I couldn’t find our name in the reservation chart. I had booked the tickets online – first time I did that in ages. I decided to wait for the ticket controller and check it. The train was full and we waited in the corridor with all our big backpacks. The train started moving. I went to the next compartment and checked with the controller regarding our reservation. The all the trouble started. He said the number on the ticket is just waiting list numbers. Though they have charged for the ticket, it will be refunded to my account as the ticket is not yet confirmed. Or in other words we are completely screwed! I asked the controller if he can help us in some way, by paying fine or by extra charges for atleast a seat instead of a bed.  But he was very rude. He said we are not supposed to board the train without confirmation and we should leave the train in the next stop! Even after repeated asking he was not ready to help.

We got down at the next station. Some small unknown station in the outskirts of Delhi. Then Bru started vomiting. It seems the food from McDonalds didn’t do good to his stomach. I started getting worried. As per plan we have to somehow get to Dharamsala next day. I walked to the ticket counter to check with the station master for options. Since it is a small local station we can only get general class tickets for trains. Also our next train is atleast 3hrs away. Nothing looked good.

Then someone suggested going to the Metro station nearby and catching a metro to the Kashmiri gate which is 3 stops away. From there we could catch interstate buses. We went there and purchased a ticket for a bus though a ‘backdoor’ ticket agent in a non A/C bus. The tickets for A/C buses were not all available and our only option was to take a bus to Jalandhar in Punjab and from there take a bus to Pathankhot, and then one more bus to Dharamsala. I think its one of the worst bus routes we could take and at this last moment that was the only option available. Nothing sounded good.

The bus driver said the bus will leave in ½ hr. It was already 9.30 pm. In India if one says ½ hr it has a completely different meaning. By the time the bus left the station it was 1 am!!! These people are born cheats. They simply say ½ hr to get customers and wait till the bus is full.