back to Manali

Am back in Manali now.

Figured I'd had enough time in Dharamsala/McLeod Ganj and wanted to make my way up into the high mountains, and realized that my original plan of waiting for the passes to open up for buses probably wasn't worth it, and I should just spring for the private transport. Was weighing whether to reach Ladakh via Srinigar in Kashmir, or via Manali, where I'd already been.

Lots of people seemed to be heading up to Kashmir, and rumor had it Kashmir was the place to be this summer. But then I saw in the newspaper that violence has actually increased there, and foreign tourists are directly targeted, so I figured it was probably best to go the other way.

I would have taken the public bus like i had before, but i got an offer to take the 5th seat in a shared jeep (kind of like a taxi), and it was all organized and everything so I said sure. I met a very nice Spanish couple and American couple (from San Fracisco!) so the ride was enjoyable. Normally a private jeep would be much quicker than the public bus, but we had some car trouble en route. First, the steering wheel stopped working (!). It simply died in the middle of our journey - a journey on twisting mountain roads with a steep fall just feet away. Luckily, we were going uphill at the time and he was able to navigate the car over to the shoulder. We didn't even realize anything was wrong until he stopped the car and started turning the steering wheel - around and around - it had disengaged from the drive shaft..or whatever it is that it's connected to. We were lucky the car wasn't headed downhill around a curve when this happened!

Anyway, another jeep came to take us the rest of the way while our first driver waited for the mechanics. Our second driver gave up one hour before we reached Manali so we got a third jeep. This jeep stopped to help a family fix a flat tire and by the time we got to Manali it was the same time as if we had taken the public bus. But the jeep is more comfortable - there's no doubt about that. And it was nice to have the comeraderie of a group sharing the journey.

Now I'm back in Manali, at the same place I stayed before.

There's a very thick grey haze over the region, obscuring the phenominal views I enjoyed two weeks ago when I was last here.

Had a bout of illness yesterday, from which Ifortunately seem to have recovered today. I was in bed most of the day with chills and then fever.

Am off to Leh tomorrow as the 4th member of a shared jeep. We are taking 3 days instead of the normal 2 days. That way we will spend less time driving each day, and more time to stop and see things along the way.