the magic bus- manali to leh

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No sooner than I'd arrived in Manali, I was leaving. I was off to Leh. Off to see the one place I knew little about but was and had always been so positive I'd visit. Leh, the name on everyone's lips. Things already felt different the day I left. I felt 'alive' again, ready for a new adventure, and my luck was definitely changing. Now, I didn't get into it, because its all been documented in my journal, but for whatever reason, (as with every travelling adventure, you have your ups and downs) I'd just had a really big down. My time in Dharamsala was good, but not great, it wasn't adventurous enough, it just was what it was, and that's ok. I was having a travel rutt after Nepal, and I was just about to get out of it. The best part about a big down, is there's always a big up coming, and I was lucky enough to meet some fabulous people on my two day trip to Leh. The bus was full of my kind of people 😊. Adventurous and joyous people, people that were interested in relaxing, but people that were also interested in adventure. People I could call friends. People who make an effort to welcome you into their already formed groups (i.e: couples or friends). We were a very mixed bunch, we came from all over the world. England, Ireland, Brazil, France, South Africa, Israel, and of course Australia. But we all got along famously. We were all as excited as one another about getting up to the mysterious Leh. There was only one guy out of the 12 of us that had been there before, and he had nothing but good things to say. Insert excitement building music here. The road was hectic, not traffic wise, although there was definitely traffic at the beginning and there were definitely several, get out of the bus and wait road blocks, but yes, the road itself was hectic. It was like it had a mind of its own. It was, in parts, beautifully smoothe, a nice, western like highway, and at other times the complete opposite. There were parts of bitchumen that had literally crumbled away, broken off like the edge of a biscuit, crazy drops just lying below. Some parts of the road were so narrow, two cars couldn't pass, and there were times when you were enjoying the scenery and suddenly you'd get a glimpse of something shinging below, and it was indeed a truck that had gone 'overboard'. It was times like these that you wonder if those 'warning road has crumbled away' rocks set up around the broken parts of road, are doing their job. Hmmm, safety first in India!

But for every bump that sent your head banging into the window, or lifted you out of your seat, there was an equally as epic view. Magnificant views, in fact, from start to finish. Views that made you not want to fall asleep. Postcard views. Out of this world views, and luckily enough for me, I was able to enjoy them all from the front seat; unspoiled views and leg room, perfect!

For every pinch yourself, is this real moment, there were those moments that make you shake your head in disbelief. Yes, there were moments of disbelief that I was here, surrounded by such beauty, but mostly I was shaking my head at the extreme conditions the local workers were subjected to. Men and women alike. Covered from head to toe in dust. You saw them, almost constantly; dotted along the roadside, literally chipping away at rocks all day. Shifting rocks, chipping rocks, moving rocks, being constantly covered in dust by passing vehicles, working on the edge of sheer drops, working at high altitude. Extreme conditions and only for people of the lowest caste. It was hard to watch, but at the same time, I smiled at them, and most of the time they would smile and wave back. They were completing work no Australian would ever do willingly, not even for a huge salary and that made me smile, because they turn up every day to work on making the roads safer for tourists like me. They work hard chipping away at big rocks, to make smaller rocks, and they do so with a smile. It is also all they know. They are ignorant to what lies beyond the mountains, the place they grew up. Their parents and grandparents before them probably had similar jobs. This, for them is a way of life, a way of living. The hardest part is knowing how little they're being paid, but it is all they know.

Now this road, they say, is one of the most magnificant drives in the world and I can 100%!b(MISSING)ack that claim. Ah-mazing! But in case you don't believe me, let me put it into some kind of perspective. The total length of the highway is 490 km. The distance in Himachal Pradesh state between Manali and Sarchu is 230 km, which was day one- 9 hours, and the distance in Ladakh region from Sarchu to Leh is 260 km, which was day two-10 hours. You see, the highway crosses some of the highest mountain passes in the world, including Rohtang La 3,978 m (13,051 ft) Baralacha La 4,892 m (16,050 ft), Lachulung La 5,059 m (16,598 ft) and Taglang La 5,328 m (17,480 ft). That’s a lot of passes to cover in only 490km, hence travel time being, well, negotiable, and depending on your driver, enjoyable. We were lucky enough to have a very skillful driver get us over fast flowing ice cold streams (from melting glaciers) and past huge Tata oil trucks on stretches of road that can typically only fit two cars. He was thoughtful with toilet stops and even more patient with photo opportunities and ultimately he got us from Manali to Leh, on one of the most spectacular roads I’ve ever been on. He allowed me to, fairly comfortably, see incredible sights. He took us on a wonderful journey, that everyone should experience once in their life.

So you see, the stats alone make this road sound epic! Now, like I was saying, in every direction you looked, there were amazing sights, rolling hills and huge mountains, a foreverness of desert, the lushness of green rolling hills and nothing, no one. Apart from the roadside workers and the traffic on the road, the big oil trucks and local buses, the motorbike riders and cyclists, there was nothing, anywhere. It really was wild. No villages, per say, or cities, just a few camps set up every 60-100km, for people to stay/stop and rest. You see this road really is in the middle of one of the most extreme areas in the world. In winter they get over 20 meters of snow, which means the road is closed. It is only open for three months a year, and that's if they are having good weather. This year it actually opened up a little bit earlier, but it was easy to see how hectic things could get it winter, considering how hectic they were, at times, now.

We stopped in Sarchu (if i'm not wrong) a small village, actually scratch that, a tiny dot on the map, with a few 'camps' set up for tourists. It was no more than a kilometer in length, but it was our stop for the night. Most people stop over for the night, even those that take the local bus, as alititude sickness is quite common for those who do the whole trip without stopping, or for those who fly into Leh. We stopped at a cute camp, and checked into our tent. It was quite the novelty. Your own relatively big, triangular, festival worthy tent. Complete with a ceramic western style toilet stuck in the mud out the back, two stretcher beds and a generally cosy feel. We enjoyed a family style dinner of the typical variety, simple but tasty. Dal, rice and chapati, a wholesome spread. Bed soon followed, as most of us were feeling rather weary from the 9 hour day in the bus...sometimes seeing such beautiful things can be tiring. It was also really, really cold, like almost freezing, so bringing back memories of EBC, I rugged up, layer after layer; beanie, blanket, gloves, two pairs of socks and looking fabulous as always 😉

I didn't sleep all that much, but that just seems to go hand in hand with the altitude and the cold weather. We woke early-ish, I'd say 6.30 is early and enjoyed a rather scant breakfast of toast and jam, porridge and fried eggs. We stood out in the sun and tried to de-frost whilst watching our driver attempt to start the bus, which turned out had basically frozen. We all rallied together and pushed the beast about 50m's up the road and got her started, and it nearly killed us. That altitude sure knows how to knock you about. A few people in the group were really feeling the altitude and so didn't really enjoy today as much as yesterday. You see, today we went over not one, but two passes and by the second pass, which comes in at the second highest motorable road in the world, I was starting to feel it too. Heart pumping, dizzy, lethargic. You name it, I felt it, but what a view. From the top of Taglang La, some 5,328m the views into the desert were truly out of this world and it easily made up for how horrible I felt. The best thing about these mountainous areas, what goes up get's to come back down, and about fifteen minutes after leaving the pass, I started to feel fine again. The drive just got better and better, slowly shades of green started to re-appear and after another hour the word lush could once again be used. We were nearing civilisation, and slowly, more habitable camps and villages starting to appear and eventually a village that you could call a village. A tiny little oasis of a town like that of Tiri, in Nepal, was our next tea stop and what a lovely place to stop for tea. The excitement was again building within the group, we were almost there, we had almost made it to Leh. The last hour was a sign of things to come. We passed by all of the beautiful monastery towns, the likes of Thiksey and Shey, with their monastery's perched high up on rugged looking hills, all grand and magnificent, and before we knew it, we had arrived at the bus station in Leh. We had made it, and we weren't so sure we wanted it to be over. We all agreed that we could have easily stayed another night, hanging out in the wilderness, camping in the boutique like tents, drinking hot cups of tea and playing cards. It really was a wonderful journey, where I was able to see sights I never thought I'd see, and unfortunately, sometimes, the destination has to be reached and the journey has to end...

We quickly hopped into a taxi and made our way to the east side of town; the backpacker haunt near old town and then the fun started. Ah probably, actually, easily the worst part of travelling, for me, is finding and bargaining for a good room upon arrival into a new town. I loathe it, so much so, that I split up from my newly acquired friends from the bus and venture off into lands unknown to find myself a bed. Turns out, today wasn't really my lucky day. We'd arrived at about 6pm, which wasn't ideal for finding a room, considering it took me about an hour to find one, and by then it was dark. You see, I was being rather picky. I turned down a decent room for 300Rs purely because it was basically full of Israeli's and I've got nothing against them, they're lovely people, but they were already playing doof doof music and it was only 6.pm (they're renowned in these mountain towns for playing really bad dance music until the wee hours of the morning) so I continued. I was then turned down by the next three guest house owners "full", "we're full", "no rooms", and so it went on. My patience was starting to dwindle. The only other answer I got was "600rs a night", which is the equivalent of $12 and it doens't sound like much, but for India it is a lot, and there was no way I was paying that. Hmmm I had to eat my words. After walking around for another half an hour and being consistently turned down I had to suck it up and pay 600 for one night in an okay room. Ahhh sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, and this had to be done. It was late and I was having no luck, I would just have to find a cheaper place tomorrow. To make myself feel better I went to a very nice restaurant and tucked into a delicious vegetarian lasagne and hot chocolate, tapped into some wi-fi and settled in to watch some One tree Hill on the tv, yes it had a tv!! A big luxury.

Thankfully the following day I was able to check into a cheaper room in the same guesthouse, and that is where this adventure ends and my favourite adventure so far in India begins, so tune in, Leh blog is coming soon 😊

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Photos

at the pass feeling faint
just managing to take a few photos

random house love
manali