Manali, India

Kaza to Manali: I have been trying to keep the blog entries down by grouping multiple night stays in one location in the same description. However, the events and experiences of this day have made me break from that pattern.

We left our hotel at 6 am planning on a 10 hour drive. Little did we know what lay ahead. (We broke the previous worst ever record of a 13 hour drive by more than 2 hours….)

The drive from Kaza to Manali may be the most beautiful (and difficult) that I will experience in my life. To paraphrase Auntie Mame, “The problem with roads in India is gargantuan.”

Kunzum: We passed through the Kunzum Pass – 15,000 foot high roads that were the roughest on our journey. There were several waterfall crossing over the roads that the drivers coming from both directions had to help each other negotiate. We felt like we were in the middle of a documentary – that is the only time that you see such an alien appearing, barren, unadulterated slice of raw nature. Everywhere that I looked, I saw potential photographs – the ever changing light conditions and scenery made for a photographer’s paradise. The mountain scenes, glaciers and the Kunzum temple at the top of the pass were so stunning that it was sometimes hard to hold back tears. The clouds rolled in near the top of the pass making views of the surrounding mountains quite fleeting to say the least. At least we got a chance to look for the silver lining in cloud 9 (you had to be there for that one…)

Rohtang: The next major issue was the Rohtang Pass. Initially there was a huge party atmosphere as we came across people who took advantage of the long weekend (Indian Independence and Shiva’s Birthday) to head to Manali for the weekend topped off by an almost compulsary day trip to the Rohtang Pass. The rain and mild hail had most Indians covered in one piece, head to foot weather gear (we call them snowmobile suits in Canada). There were food stands interspersed with parties throughout the mountain pass.

Little did we know that the worst part of our day lay ahead. We were less than 50 km away from Manali but it took us over 4 hours to travel that distance. The first hold up was a section of road that had washed away several days previous. It left a 100-200 m section of single lane road that now featured a new waterfall flowing over the entire length. There was no one directing the holiday weekend traffic so it was free for all waiting to pass through the area. We were standing still for over an hour at one point as cars from the other side rushed the open segment of road. The next challenge that we faced was an accident involving 2 trucks. I don’t know exactly what happened but there was an oil truck that overturned on a series of switchbacks. Interestingly, they were able to get a crane in to remove the truck in less than an hour. (Quite a feat considering the remoteness and the several km long traffic jam). It gave us a few minutes to stop in a small mountain side village with amazing smelling food stands and people having a little fun as they thought that we were facing a several hour delay. The final obstacle was a bit of a surprise. There was a cloud burst in the mountains, 120 km away. They had to close the road and the redirected traffic had to merge with that coming out of the pass at an acute intersection with a corner so tight that drivers had to do a multiple point turn to make it.

To top it off, our (local) guide disappeared in the Rohtang pass. He went to scout out the first washed out/waterfall road segment ahead and never showed up again. The car that he was driving in had to continue there was no possible way to stop to try to find out what happened to him. Interestingly, he made it to the hotel before us full of stories about his adventures as a Good Samaritan. Dan showed amazing grace during his subsequent interactions that day!

Thankfully, the resort hotel in Manali had great rooms and, even better, hot running water! We all rushed off to bed early for some much deserved sleep. (The only people who deserved sleep more than us tonight was our drivers. It was abundantly clear over the course of today in particular, that our lives really were in their hands. We were blessed with amazingly skilled and tireless professionals!)

Toto Description: After breakfast, we check out and board our bus for the drive over the famous Kunzum Pass, at a dizzying altitude of nearly 15,000 feet. En route, we stop to visit Lahaul Valley, aptly called the no man’s land since it is dominated by glaciers and rocky mountains cut across by the Chandra river. We pass by the Bar Shingri Glacier, the largest in Himachal Pradesh at 15-miles long and nearly 2-miles wide. Before arriving at our destination, we have one more pass to cross, Rohtang, at 13,000 feet. Today’s drive offers awesome views! We arrive at Manali in late afternoon, and the rest of the day is free. Overnight in Manali.