Crashing out of McLeod Ganj on the Road to nowhere

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McLeod Ganj - Where we ditched our plans and spent a week escaping the hordes and breathing the fresh air of the Himalayas. We spent most of the time going for walks or hanging out in the 'Peace Cafe' chowing on peanut butter toast and washing it down with Chai. This is an important town for Tibetans, it hosts their exiled government and is home to the Dalai Lama - so there was plenty to keep us occupied.

We got a great hotel room with 180 degree views over the nearby mountains and valley below. We spent hours watching mountain life unfold thru these windows. From the room we could see the whole valley and watched as on our last day, the sky got dark, the thunder shook the hotel and lightning took care of the power and the worse bit was we had to check out in half an hour and catch our overnight bus to Delhi. Worried faces allround.




Whats the most dangerous thing you ever did in your life...? I rafted grade five rapids and tracked lions on foot - neither of these came close to taking a night bus in India. As mentioned, we had disastrous weather leaving McLeod Ganj... thunder, lightning, the works. We hussled to meet our 6pm deluxe coach to delhi, drenched but delighted we found it only half full. We plonked down in seats 11 and 12, well one of us plonked the other made more of a splash - obviously the monsoon was more than a match for the Cityland bus co. We took the libertty of reseating ourselves and we were off, back to Delhi.

The ride started off normal enough but soon got hairyer as it got dark. We were descending from 1750m up in the himalayas down to the plains, and we were doing it quickly. We hadn't seen the driver but judging by his driving he was mad keen to get us there tonight rather than safely tomorrow morning. I was torn between looking out the windscreen white-knuckling the headrest in front watching the world go by at strange angles or laying back in my chair, eyes and fists clenched praying. We'd been on the road less than an hour and the series of cut-back bends, pot holes, hairpins and various other obstacles was proving more of an amusement park ride than a jaunt on private transport. We both looked at each other - how are we going to get thru this? We were spending more time bouncing out of the seats that cost us 450 Ruppees a throw than in them.

We were convinced we were going to crash, the recipe was all there. After accelerating out of one hard left into an equally sharp righthander, the bus going 60kph lurched head on into the cliffside taking the front windscreen and bumper with it. It was a nasty shock, most passengers had been sleeping and were woken violently. While everybody seemed ok and was brushing themselves off, the bus backed up and kept driving minus his windscreen... it was madness but the driver had a schedule to keep, nobody but us seemed overly concerned. The bus stopped a while later at a compulsory bus stop and we didn't muck around, I got off(via the drivers door as the passenger one was poked) and took photos for posterity, Lisa took licence plates and we jacked up another bus to Delhi. We wrestled with the driver to get our luggage, he was adamant he wasn't drunk and would continue on to delhi, we didn't hang around to find out, wished him good luck and boarded the next bus. We were on our way again, this time more of the same except with complimentary Bollywood soundtrack - I dunno which bus was worse?

The happy ending is we made it to Dehli in one piece with a few bumps and bruises. Pics to follow...

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