One Helluva 20 hour Jeep ride (Manali-Leh)

Let me start by saying I thought I had been through it all in India. However, nothing can prepare you for the madness that is the Manali-Leh Highway. I chose to do the drive all in one day, starting at 2 and scheduled to arrive around 7 at night. However, if you have read any of my blogs nothing is on time in India. The route begins innocent enough, climbing through Manali in the pitch black night. However, the madness starts as you ascend over the Rothang pass, which is over 12,000 feet and looms over the resort town of Manali. Our jeep reached the crest of the Rothang pass just as the sun was rising over the high himalayas. Aside from the few skidouts, the route was innocent enough. I had thought that paying a few extra bucks to sit in front would be a good idea. It is less crowded and I figured that it would be a better spot to take photos. Boy was I wrong, Instead it was like staring death in the face for 20 hours. The group in my taxi, after being assured there would be other tourists on it was 9 other Indian workers going to build army barracks in Kargil and me. I guess you could call them tourists, but it was fun anyway. After the first town, about seven hours into the trip I convinced one of the guys in the back to switch with me. Nobody wanted to sit in the front because our driver was a little crazy. After admitting to not sleeping for the last 32 hours ,he continuously dumped packets of pan into his mouth to keep himself awake and alert. It took about 10 hours for me to realize that although he drove like a compelte maniac, skidding around the corner of high passes with no guard rails, he had great control of the card. In fact, the only time the other Indians were truly scared, when our driver took a shortcut that began with a sign stating Shortcuts cut life short, I felt fine knowing that our driver had pretty decent control of the car. Plus, the short cut was just a steep hill, which avoided about ten switchbacks which I think are much less fun. Asidef rom 20 hours of breathtaking scenery, and thoughts of writing a goodbye letter more than once, it is better to let the pictures do the talking. All I can say is that I am so glad that I made the trip overland. It was something that I will never forget, and likely never do again. HOwever, if anyone wants to do a 24-25 day trek from Darcha (just over the rothang pass) to lamayuru in Ladakh, i would love to do it if I ever have time.

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