Road trip to Paradise

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I am sitting on the slate floor of the verandah at 2,275m watching the sun rise over the mountains. The river below sounds like the sea and the birds are just beginning to wake up. I might just do this forever.
Since last blog, our guide met us as we pulled into Chandigarh station in the now usual efficient manner and we spent our first night in a shared room - Liz and I that is, not the guide. Up at 6:15 and on the road by 7 for our 9 hour drive to Manali. We had breakfast on the way, not the strange sandwich packed by the hotel but masala dosa. Our driver was young and not very talkative, however we came to appreciate that as we headed up into the hills. There are a lot of slow trucks but a continual blast on the horn means 'I am coming through, I don't care if it is a blind corner.' After awhile I realised there was quite a protocol to the chaos with hand signals, lights and horns all used at full noise. I found it total exhilarating especially against the backdrop of the mountains and rivers. After lunch, we asked the driver to stop - somewhere safe - so we could take some photos. As he didn't stop until we reached Manali I can only conclude that nowhere is safe! Yoga, our host met us and we walked 20 minutes or so up the steep path to his lovely home which will be ours for the next 4 days. We had dinner with the family. Well, we had dinner and they watched and talked to us. Today is Diwali and we will have a fantastic view of the fireworks tonight. They are banned in Delhi this year, because of the pollution they cause but luckily(?) for us, they will be full on here.

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