Leh to Manali to Delhi - across the Himilaya and into the madness

The kayaking group departed from Ladakh after Adam, Susan, Jake and Christie sold all their gear to Nimu and the crew at Splash, the local rafting company that we had been working with.  There was more currency exchanged than any other kayaking yard sale ever, the numbers were in the hundreds of thousands of rupees, it felt like we were selling Porches or Herion, but these were just cold hard plastic.  These things are very valuable in northern India where the closest kayak manufacturer is probably England, as well as paddles, drytops - most of the locals use sleeveless wetsuits and maybe a beat up old splashtop (at times I was cold in the old trusty Kokatat Gore Tex Drysuit), drybags, carabiners, pogies, helmets and even duct tape.

Nimu was an awesome connection, helping with shuttle logistics on our kayaking trips that made our lives a breeze.  We got to become friends with his crew and the sale of all the gear was bittersweet, lots of cash floating around which is always fun to watch but sad becasue it meant that kayaking in Ladakh was over, for now at least, we would all be leaving and saying goodbye to our new friends.  One last family dinner and off to bed, four of the crew had a 6am flight to catch, which meant leaving at 330 am.  Ty, Monica and I scheduled to leave at a more modest time and take a private car to Manali, across the Tibetan Plateau.  In the morning we woke up to find that it was Monica's turn last night, in the morning I woke up to a note under my door.  My poor traveling partner had been up all night, with last nights delicious veg and mushroom sizzler (a dramatic and delicious local dish like fajitas with only veggies, baked in the oven it comes out sizzling like crazy) coming out repeatedly, luckily she was only praying to the porcelean gods and it wasn't coming out both ends.  We needed a day so I took advantage to hike to the palace overlooking the valley again, do some reading and yoga and enjoy one more mellow day in this little slice of paradise in northern
India.

View of the valley from the Palace, what a view!

During the day, I found out that tomorrow was a very special day for all of the locals, many of who are Buddhist, from India and Nepal but also including many Tibetan refugees.  Tomorrow the Dalai Lama was coming to town to give a talk.  It is a big deal for these people to see a major religious icon of their alive and in person.  We decided we should attend as well, what an awesome experience to see him speak to a Buddhist crowd in India. 

We left early in the morning for the event.  It was to start at 8am but we would leave the hotel at 5:15 to catch a cab, get there early and get a good seat.  We got there and got a great spot, front and center and waited as the crowd poured in.  By the time everything got going a few hours later, people from all over, many from surrounding villages far away, young and old all came to the event.  Everyone sat on the ground with little more than an old rug to sit on and waited patiently.  It was actually quite amazing to watch, the people were all very friendly and the kids were more well behaved than any children I’d ever seen.  None of them made a peep; they all sat and waited, like they could tell at the age of three what a big deal this was.  What was also amazing were the outfits, very traditional and fancy outfits on everyone, you can see a bit in the pictures but it was incredible – they were so beautifully adorned with the finest fabrics and gems, in headdresses, necklaces, bracelets, many intricate vests, jackets and shawls woven together in an impressive display of their traditional cultural clothes that are saved for the one time when the Dalai Lama comes to talk – well probably not but it was really amazing for sure. 

Sunrise at the grounds

Making tea for thousands.  Yak butter tea, its definitely an acquired taste.  

When we could feel the tension rising, like there couldn’t be anyone else jammed into the giant field, we were told there was a special place for foreigners.  We got up and moved even closer, which actually felt quite strange.  Why at the last minute the foreigners were given up front seating when many locals were sitting much further away.  We were told part of it was because there was a translator so we could understand what he was saying, of course the speech wouldn’t be in English, he was speaking in Nepalese.  After about 45 minutes of drums and passing around yak butter tea to everyone in the crowd, he finally showed himself and very graciously bowed to the crowd and all of the other devoted Buddhist monks immediately surrounding them.  As it turned out, there was a translator but he would be translating to the whole crowd and into Ladakhi, the local dialect, not in English.  It didn’t really matter though, we had no idea what this guy was saying but did know that the speech was amazing.  He was so happy, often laughing with his very distinct laugh that he has, you know what Im talking about if you have ever heard him speak.  It was mesmerizing to be in his presence, he has such a powerful yet peaceful and happy presence about him.  You get the feeling that he is a truly happy person despite living in exile in Dharmsala India from his native nation of Tibet.  If you haven’t read any books that the Dalai Lama has written, Id highly reccomend it, he is so logical, smart, and happy and somehow gives advice on question in life that seems so simple but many have been asking and hunting for answers for their entire lifetime.  This was truly an amazing experinece to witness and even Monica said it, maybe there was a reason she got sick.  We had to stay another day so we could see the magic.  

The man himself - no security, no guns, no bulletproof glass.  Just a big giant chair to sit on and thousands of stoked folks

The grounds filled to capacity and beyond.  There were no pathways, no chairs and everyone from newborns to the very elderly sat on the ground for hours, about a close as humanly possible without actually sitting on eachother.  The smart ones brought rugs to sit on and umbrellas to protect from the intense high elevation sun.

We left a bit early so we could be sure we'd catch our taxi to Manali.  We walked a mile or so past thousands of taxis.  No one wanted to give us a ride.  Finally we found a guy and to give us a ride, packed our stuff and no sooner our driver Sunil showed up.  We didnt know at the time but we scored with his guy, we found him in the bus park and randomly hooked up with him, he agreed to make the drive tomorrow at any time we wanted.  It was about $200 for the drive which seems expensive in India but when you consider it is 16 hours of non stop driving and not the type of easy, paved road highway cruising you're thinking about, it was well worth the money.  

On our way out of town we realized it was a good thing we left early.  About four hours after we'd left the event, there was busses with a rated capacity of 30 or so in the states, with about 80 people jammed inside with another 20 on the roof and hanging off the sides.  It was amazing, they kept coming, and coming and coming.  So many people trying to come back to the event.  Everyone looked stoked, smiling from ear to ear as they tried not to fall off the ladder of the back of the bus.  

Finally leaving Leh felt like a relief.  Back into adventure mode, Leh had been a beautiful little paradise.  I could sit in my room and look over the garden, stare at the mountains across the valley, do yoga, eat delicious food.  Life was comfortable and the place was stark and beautiful, the mountains the surrounded the valley incredible, but I’m ready to see some fun new stuff. 

The adventure started immediately, we drove along the Indus toward China, hung a right and quickly ascended the second highest motorable road in the world.  Then onto the Tibetan Plateau, flat, high elevation and amazing.  In this section the road was incredible, flat, freshly paved and fast – I mean we must have been cruising at least 40 miles per hour.  The open road felt great!  About three hours and countless amazing views into the drive we stopped at our first camp at Ibex Restaurant.  This drive from Leh to Manali is a major route for commerce and tourism, though somewhat treacherous and only open 3 months a year due to snow.  The drive is long, about 450 km and about 16 hours for us in a new car, as many as 30 in a bus and who know for the guys driving the tanker trucks with 4000 gallons of fuel.  The journey crosses four passes exceeding 5000 meters, pretty high, all over 16,000 feet.  The first one was a breeze, the second one a little rougher and the fourth one down right terrifying.  As you go south out of Ladakh, the terrain slowly gets wetter, not hard as in Ladakh there aren’t any trees at all.    

The Tibetan Plateau, its flat, really high and gorgeous.

Holy wow!

Simple and effective, the problem is they stink and people still cant seem to get everything in the hole despite using this style for their entire lives.  

Wild deer, Sunil called these mutton too, which really confused us about what the hell mutton really is in India 

The crew, Ty Bequette, Monica Gokey and me 

On top of pass 2, on our way down

The rest areas along the road fascinated me.  They are camps setup in cold, windy, high elevation areas.  They are built to serve the folks that travel the route.  They serve up a mean dal baht, some of the best milk tea (chai) you’ve ever had in your life and the people are friendly and happy.  There are beds in the tarp tents that you can get for about a dollar and often they are a wall of mattresses in what they call a communal bed.  No individual beds here, no respite from the snorers and no privacy.  No worry, you won’t be hanging out long – unless you’re one of the lucky folks that gets to live in one.  For these folks, you have a tight crew of friends and family and you all hang out at night, close together because it is cold.  This is the only place I saw people in northern India drinking, probably to stay warm all night.  They were huddled around a metal bin of coals about the size of a paper shopping bag, shoulder to shoulder laughing away watching terrible Bollywood movies.  They had cable!!  

A camp, in a really pretty and really really isolated spot.  I bet the Chai is amazing.   

Trucks, barreling up the hill at about a swift walking pace.  At least they get good views. 

The man, the mythm, the legend. Sunil our driver.  Smoking away.   Read below to hear about this guy

 On top of another pass

Lots of prayer flags, this place is holy.  Also to wish for a safe journey 

The rig, and the last of the pictures I was able to take.  Shortly afterward it got dark and we got to continue the adventure in the night.  

If you have the attention span, you can read on...There were a few amazing parts of the drive.  First, it is definitely a construction marvel.  Not a particularly well engineered one but amazing nonetheless.  The road is carved into the side of the mountain, many times sheer vertical cliff faces.  Keeping it open is a constant maintenance process, we heard that on Tuesday the first pass, Rhotang, is often closed for maintenance.  Im not exactly sure what that even means because the road is basically a mud track perched on the side of the cliff.  At this point the major trade route is on top of an incredibly wet mountain, they can’t do anything about the drainage because everything is so wet and the road is basically a river at certain points.  The road seems to be constantly falling off the cliff, there are rockfall, mudslides and water flowing down the road, and in turn the road is flowing off the side of the cliff.  It is muddy and steep and the cliff off the side looks like it descends into oblivion (think of a scene from a movie where the bad guy falls into the mist and you’re sure he just fell all the way to China or something, I guess here that wouldn’t be too far but you get what I’m saying.  My movie was Indiana Jones, you know the scene where they are trying to make it to the Holy Grail and have to cross the magic bridge).  Back to the “road” - there is no guardrail to protect a fall and many of the microbuses were getting stuck, people getting out and having to push in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain, hoping their rig would make it so they wouldn’t have to spend the night perched on the side of the mountain to wait for help, whenever that may happen.  Here is a youtube link to a video of the road, watch at your discretion.  I didnt watch it but looks like a lot of other folks did.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYarATAL7ZM

Sunil, who was the next amazing part of our drive, charged hard through the mud and made it over the pass.  We thought that the coast was clear but the Manali side of the pass, though not as muddy, was in a thick cloud and driving rain coming from it made the driving nearly impossible.  You couldn’t see more than 20 feet in front of the car, which made that cliff off to the side a little scarier.  Maybe it was because we were all delirious, we had been going for about 14 hour straight with only 2 stops for tea and a Dal Baht.  Sunil didn’t eat, he only smoked cigarettes.  He said the food made him tired and he couldn’t sleep much because when we got to Manali at 4am he had to turn around at 7am and start the drive over again in the opposite direction.  Sunil had been driving the road for 30 years and he knew it well.  This was the best condition it has ever been in and he was stoked so he sped like a mad man, often exceeding 25 miles per hour, which may be the speed limit in mountainous Himalaya and drove for 16 hours straight without stopping.  He drank one cup of tea, smoked about 40 cigarettes and jammed tunes until it got really scary, then the tunes got turned off.  The drive was long and we were delirious, but without him we would’ve never made it, well that’s not true, but we would’ve been considerably more frazzled upon arrival in Manali. 

The last most amazing thing to me was the mountains.  Obviously they are incredible but I was in awe, we had a full moon so we could see pretty well throughout the night.  We drove through a few major river valleys that were absolutely incredible and though most have been explored, the travel has been very limited, the mountains shot straight into the sky, the rivers were often far below the road going through incredible canyons that we could barely steal a glance at every so often, and we could see just enough to know that this place is very special.  Driving through Keylong was the last good views we got and I was amazed.  Apparently there isn’t much tourism here, only a few guesthouses in this relatively large town – maybe because its is only accessible to the outside world for 3 months a year.  These people live in a little Shangri La that is pretty temperate and secluded, leading to what I’d believe is a fairly traditional way of life.  Here is a pic I found on a google search of the Keylong area.  Looks rad to me. 

Picture of Keylog area I took from the internet.  I would have taken a way better one but it was dark.  I forget the river name but this place is absolutely incredible.  It looked like you need low low flows but by then, after September 15th, the road is closed....

We arrived at Manali at 4am and conveniently found a little dry garage cell to sleep in until the hotels opened.   I considered it a lucky find because it was raining and I was exhausted, the others didn’t think it was such a score but oh well.  We bid Sunil good morning and he sped off, hopefully to sleep a bit and consider eating something before his next journey back over the hill. 

Manali was good to us, it was a great place that we only stayed for two days but I think I could’ve stayed longer.  It is a relatively small mountain town, the weather was cool and the people friendly.  There were some tourists for sure but not as many as Leh and the scenery couldnt be beat. 

We walked around the area once we were able to drop off our boats and bags, in a daze after the journey unable to sleep.  We walked down the hill into town, through a big riverside park with huge cedar trees.  We walked up a nearby side creek on a scouting mission, happy to find a great class IV run only minutes from our hotel.  We looked at the flooded Beas River which forms the impressive valley, wondering how long it could be until you could run the local class V river.   We wandered around town, which is a popular tourist spot for Indians and I felt nice to be out of the backpacker area with some Indian tourists.  

This is the local trash service.  Everyone throws it on the ground all day, in the early morning people are paid to clean it up and they take it to facilities like these where the holy cows and stray dogs eat everything they can.

Looking up the Beas River with way too much water.  

Up the hill from town is a ski area that is supposedly not too much but I like the idea of coming to India on a ski vacation.  Apparently the best spot to go is Gulmarg, (http://www.powderhounds.com/Other/India/Gulmarg.aspx) in Kashmir which is mostly gondola serviced backcountry.    

Solang just up the hill looks more like this – it is a small green hill with all Indian folks trying to ski.  Feeling down, that’s something funny for ya.  The possibilities in the area are incredible, the valley is so steep, the mountains huge and they get SO much snow.  

After two days we left Manali, bound for Delhi.  I walked into a random office and asked if they knew a local kayaker we were supposed to contact.  The kayaker was unreachable and we needed to get to Delhi so we bought tickets.  We headed to the bus park and loaded our kayaks in the bus for the journey, they had already sold all the space underneath for apples, which are a major export from the region.  Delicious apples!  

About four hours and 50 km into our journey, loaded down with apples, we stopped becasue of some engine malfunctions.  About two hours later everyone was told to get off the bus, it wasnt going to make it any further.  Everyone was able to make it onto another bus that night but with the kayaks and buses already loaded down, we got to stay an unexpected night in Bhuntar, India.  It was a bit of an ordeal, one of the kayaks had managed to get wedged in between the bus seat rows in the aisle and no one could get it out.  To make it even more fun, it was about 120 degress on the bus with 100% humidity.  The bus crew was stressed out and got in a fight with some drunk locals, they were over it, over us, and we had a kayak stuck on the bus.  Eventually I sat on the floor between two rows and pushed the kayak with my legs until it was about 8 inches narrower, sure Id break it, but was able to get it free.  We found a room with A/C, drank some terrible local Pear wine that tasted like dirty socks and slept until 10am the next day.  If you get the chance to go to Bhuntar, I would not reccomend it, it is a small and fairly unfriendly place on the side of the highway.  

The next day, taxi back to Manali, under an hour this way, and back to the bus park where we try again. We had to go back because if we tried to get a bus from Bhuntar they would likely laugh at our big plastic kayaks and tell us to pound sand.  We made it on a bus that afternoon and another 16 hour, totally uneventful ride later we were getting dropped off in the middle of Delhi, on the side of the highway.  We got off and were immediately swarmed by taxi drivers who grabbed at us and our gear, desperately wanting to overcharge us for the ride.  I kind of freaked out on them becasue they were being so aggressive, yelled back and told them to back down.  I felt bad but it worked, and was actually a little fun.  They are overwhelming but none over 5'2" so not too scary.  By the time we loaded boats, I was completely soaked in sweat from the early Delhi heat and humitidy.   

The morning drive through Delhi was amazing, we passed by markets, throngs of people, heaps of trash, ox pulling carts full of goods and not so goods and got plent of stares before we arrived in a hotel district to find a room.  It was a nice room in a crazy part of town, the Main Bazaar they called it where you could buy anything you want.  There were lots of people begging, many very disabled and disfigured.  It was eye opening.  

We wandered town for a while and ended up taking a rickshaw to the Red Fort, an impressive walled city that was constructed in nine years.  The walls on one side 30 plus meters tall and about 10 meters thick of red sandstone, surrounded by a giant moat.  There were many impressive buildings inside, a place where the king could sit and watch everyone come through the main gate, park their elephants and come in, they had a jail that was an island surrounded by water, ballrooms and ornate living quarters.  The site is holy for many Indians and it was packed on Sunday while we were there, thousands of Indian tourists coming for a visit. While there it started to rain, it felt great to beat the heat but soon we were completely drenched and a long way from our hotel.  

Entrance to the Red Fort 

While there it started to rain, it felt great to beat the heat but soon we were completely drenched and a long way from our hotel.  We decided to bail and catch a rickshaw back.  Another crazy game of human mario cart through the streets was fun, the streets were flooded from the rain and traffic was more than a bit congested.  We got dropped off about a half a mile from our hotel, the rain had messed up everything so that we couldnt drive close to the hotel so we walked.  Or you could say we waded.  This isnt like pretty mountain stream wading, this is like one of the nastiest, dirtiest cities I've ever seen and we were calf deep in the funk.  It was crazy, we got back to the hotel and washed off. 

Kiddos, thoroughly enjoying the rain.  They were not the least bit worried about what was in the water. 

Sleeping on the job, a rickshaw driver somehow comfortable enought to catch some winks in what is likely is house and home.  

The rain subsided as quick as it downpoured and we decided to do some more wandering.  It was our last night, almost my birthday and felt it appropriate to drink at least one or two beers.  We found a local guy and asked him to take us to a neighborhood we thought was cool.  He laughed at us and before we knew it we were at a hole in the wall bar, drinking with the Indians where it was affordable for all.  It was awesome.  Afterward, he took us to a tailor where Ty ordered a suit.  I drove the next leg in the Rickshaw, or at least tried until we had to cross something like 17 lanes of traffic in one block.  It was fun and terrifying but we had found a buddy and he let me drive.  It was a great birthday present from my local Indian friend.  We went to another place and had a few more, then tired and beat retired.  I needed to wake up at 2am to catch my flight to Nepal...