"Stop the bus!"

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"aaaarrrrkkkkk," went the brakes on the bus we had just boarded, barely able to stop it. Given the fact that we were about to start the trip from Kasol along a very winding road with sheer drops, we decided that a bus with no brakes was definitely not a good idea. For the first time ever in our travels, we got off a bus because we were too scared to continue. Granted, there may have been times in the past when we should have got off, but this time we were scared enough to actually follow through.

"Stop! Stop!" we shouted, as the driver continued to drive along with all of his passengers happily oblivious to the possible dangers (or maybe just too used to Indian transport to care?) When he stopped, we told him that the bus's brakes had something wrong with them so we were getting off to wait for the next bus. "It's one hour to wait," was the reply. It didn't matter. We were in no real hurry, and we decided that our lives were more improtant that a wasted hour (even though we had already waited 45 minutes for this bus). Out of the 60 or so peope on the bus - it was packed - there was only one other person that also got off - the sole other foreigner! Maybe we worry too much?!

We all waited by the side of the road together, ready to flag down the next bus in an hour. In the meantime, a car and a truck had to pass. In true Indian style, the car didn't want to waste a few seconds to avoid the pedestrians, so it ended up squeezing by the truck and us at the same time, in the process almost forcing the truck off the edge of the cliff, and running over Scott's big backpack, breaking the clasp! Very annoying, and all for the sake of saving about 5 seconds!

Luckily, the next bus came in only 20 minutes and was much quieter, so we even got a seat. From there it was plain sailing to Bhuntar, where we switched buses to Kullu, where we switched buses again to Manali. In all, the distance was about 50km and it took about 4 hours! Such is bus travel in India!

We then spent a pleasant few days in the town of Vashisht near Manali, taking day trips to Old Manali. We really didn't do much apart from walk around the area taking in the rural life and the occasional tantalising glimpse of snow-capped mountains. We also did lots of research for the next leg of the trip - the two day mountainous trip to Leh. I really hope this bus has some brakes!!!

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Comments

[mum]

true local style
Nice to see you're learning the local culture carrying your bag like that. Next you'll be washing your clothes in the river. Don't tell me you already do, yes? mum

[Born to travel]

RE: True Local Style
No way! I don't really trust the laundry here unless it is machine wash as they tend to rub your clothes on a stone or a hard brush, getting them all holey! Luckily it is colder here in the north, so you don't have to wash everything every five minutes, like in humid Delhi!