On the Road Again.... (Oct 20)

We slept a bit later than yesterday - most excellent sleeping!!
Brad got up at 10 and went down to the travel office in the hotel to get our overnight bus tickets for our trip to Manali. You just have to make sure you get a 2x2 deluxe pushback coach... otherwise you might end up on an old bus with bench seating, riding with the sheep, packed in like sardines. On the 2x2 pushback, you are guaranteed a seat.

We rearranged the stuff in our packs, did the idiot check to make sure we didn't forget anything and checked out of the hotel. We decided to eat in the hotel while we waited for our bus since it was a good place to just hang out. We checked emails, blogged, and really just watched the world go by.

The cab took us to the bus stop at 3:30 pm or so. It dropped us and a woman from Milan by the side of the road. It didn't look like a bus stop but there were other people standing around looking like they were waiting as well so ... we waited.

A bus pulled up that apparantly was our deluxe coach to Manali. It sure didn't look deluxe except that it was nicer than the local buses I had seen. It was a 2x2 and the seat were nicer than the Alitalia seats we had flying over but there was no A.C. and no toilet. This could be a long trip! (Actually it will be... we're not due to get to Manali until tomorrow morning!)

The travellers on the bus with us were an interesting mix. A caucasian mother, father and daughter who appeared to be living here since they wore the local dress and spoke the language, an Indian couple who we think may have been on their honeymoon, a quiet guy who just slept, a hippie an Asian couple with an infant, and two young Asian girls who appeared to be on an adventure.

Luggage piled in the back, us piled in our seats and we were on our way. The ride bumped along (and I mean bumped) and it seemed to take forever to get out of Delhi. We stopped a few times to pick up and drop off passengers and at one point we passed a garbage dump that seemed to stretch on forever. It was atleast a couple of kilometres and it was on both sides of the road. The smell was disgusting. The Indian couple actually pulled out a can of air freshener and started spraying. In India they don't bury the garbage, they just pile it up and spread it out. There are people then dig through it... for a more graphic view of this you can check out the scene in the movie Baraka that shows the trash diggers.

We stopped at roadside mechanic station at around 8 pm or so but apparantly he couldn't help us (I had no idea there was anything wrong really). We continued on until the first pit stop. It was a cluster of snack kiosks, a place to get food and toilets. That stop was 1/2 hour. We discovered a new tastey snack... I think they're called Lasha? I guess its like a spicy bits'n'bites in Indian style.

We drove for about another hour or so and the air finally seemed to start to clear. I'm not sure if that's when we finally got out of Delhi or if that's just how far the smog reached. We stopped again at another mechanic stop and waited an hour or so while they worked on the part that was giving them trouble. The shop seemed to be a three sided wooden room on stilts with a tool box and an electric lightbulb. I think they were using the light bulb to test circuit completion. Brad said it was the alternator that they were working on. Back together and on the road again.

I thought it was bumpy before... now it was getting really bumpy! We started out on paved roads but now I wasn't sure whether we were just driving on some dirt tracks or something. The back row was empty but I figured if we went back to lay down we'd have been bounced out of our seats and onto the floor!

A couple more pit stops, dropping people here and there and we had arrived in Manali. It sounds short and sweet but it took eighteen hours.... yes.... I said eighteen! That was about as long as it took us to get to Delhi from Canada! The guide books recommended the overnight bus since (hopefully) you can sleep through some of the white knuckle driving. A couple of times I looked out the window I could see straight down (we were climbing into the mountains). I wasn't sure we were even still on a road .... but we made it....