Day 18 – From Jespa to Manali
Again, we had an early start. I think we left Jespa around 6:30 AM. It was important to get on the road early, since the road ahead would get more treacherous and wet as the day went on. The melt-water and potential monsoon rains could potentially leave us stuck on the road, unless we got a jump start on it.
The sunrise over the Himalayas was beautiful and clear. I couldn't help but click away with the camera, as scene after scene of natural beauty passed us by.
Along the way, our cavalcade became blocked by a big herd of sheep and Pashmina goats. I jumped out of the car to walk with them for a bit.
Here's a short video I took, giving a better view of the sheep and pashmina goats:
After the goats, we jumped back in the car and continued down the mountain. At another police checkpoint, we stopped off for a stretch break. I thought I'd take a shot of one of the many "English Wine Shops". They're so named because the alcohol is labeled in English. Apparently, the imported alcohol is highly sought after. A few members of our group had been craving something besides Kingfisher beer and bought some whiskey at one of these.
The steep hillsides and narrow switchbacks of the mountain continued on, along with scene after scene of natural beauty.
Soon, we made our way to the notorious Rohtang pass (now down to 13,000 ft.). As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, Rohtang means "pile of corpses". It is one of the oldest trade routes along the silk road in Kashmir, although the road on which we drove was across the valley from the well worn foot paths of the goat herds and nomad that continue to make this trek on foot.
I particularly like the shot of the herder walking into the mist at the pass. He came running down the mountain, shouting at his pack of mules, and then disappeared down the road.
The next two are favorites of mine. The bulldozer parked on the edge, shows that the B.R.O. is prepared to make daily repairs to this road as melt-water and rain work to destroy the road. As the clouds moved up the side of the mountain, we found ourselves in a surreal environment. Knowing that the valley was anywhere from 1-2 km below, and the packed mud that was making due as our road was often narrow enough to allow only one lane of traffic, we simply had to trust that our drivers were very experienced and that they wanted to live just as much as we did. The nearly bald, retread tires on the cars didn't help confidence much. But hey, if it's my time to go, it's my time…
All along, we would see groups of people on the side of the road doing manual road construction with picks, shovels and sledge hammers.
We stopped off in a little town called Kothi, ate our boxed lunches and went for a walk.
Within an hour or so, we made our way into the town of Manali. After a rest at our hotel, we regrouped for a walk through the town and a bite to eat. A bunch of us met at a place called Chop Sticks in town. The food was fantastic. Now, a word of warning. If you ever find yourself in the Manali area at Chop Sticks, order just one thing and share it with someone. We all ordered and were astounded to see the quantity of food. Each dish seemed like a meal for two. I had Mo Mo's and chow mien noodles. Wow was I stuffed.
We were relieved to have made it down the mountain, and to have a 2-day respite in Manali to rest.
