Lāhul and Spiti

I wasn't even going to write about our day today as it was to be 6 to 7 hour trip high up into the hills of Manali heading east?
Our trusty bus having being fixed arrived in good time while we had all had a leisurely breakfast and off we set in our bouncy jalopy.
Prior to leaving some person who remains nameless and you can all be the JUDGE of who that could be was showing off doing throw the umbrella in the air tricks and nec minute it's on the roof. The poor staff were in a flurry to get it down and ladders produced and finally the umbrella was retrieved.
So off we then bounced knowing it was going t be a long trip.
These long travel days do not factor in the wee stops or possibly food we may need and 17 of us today were driving that bus.
The amount of time we all inhaled or stifled a scream as passing trucks nearly clipped our sides or a little 2 year old child would be standing on the side of the road, never mind the cows sleeping right in the middle of the road! These are busy busy roads and a huge amount of traffic but it all seems in it's chaotic way to work.
We are never bored as so much life going on outside our windows. We stop at these random places so the driver deservedly gets a well earned break. Let's say they are not the loos of your normal z stations of NZ.
The roads have huge rock/ landslides and there is constant cleaning of roads. Massive boulders lining the roads.
The worst part was coming near the city of Manali where last week there was serious flooding and the river washed out roads. It looked like a war zone. Our driver was incredible the way he negotiated the roads.
We were stopped by police as needed to check the driver. The clock was ticking.
The final straw was when we were so close to the hotel and there was a road block. The poor driver had to back the bus down the rockiest road and go another way. How he got the bus up to the hotel again on the road is incredible. At one stage when he had to 3 point.turn a corner one of us who will remain nameless but she OKAY with that jumped out to do a quick pee by the wheel and the bus started moving. We were very relieved when she emerged and jumped back on the bus!
After 10 hours we arrived to the most beautiful hotel in the style of Swiss chalets. Mountains surround us and more on Manali tomorrow.
What a day!
Budhist saying below very appropriate for today's travel

We need to spread our wings to fly far. · "If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it's lethal" - Paulo.

Routine is looking OK at present!Weiterlesen