The Himalayas...Wow!

Namaste! The bus ride from Dharamsala to Manali, which we later found out should only have taken 8 hours, ended up taking 13. Tuesday was a very long night! Gundula moved to another seat to stretch out and give us some room after a stop where a lot of locals got off the bus. Five minutes later, we stopped again and a few more guys boarded the bus. I was lucky enough to have the Indian version of Santa Claus (sans beard) who reeked of liquor sit next to me. The bus broke down twice, so those were the only times that I was able to doze off…the roads are way too bumpy for anyone who is not on drugs to actually sleep! Gundula and I are seriously evaluating whether or not we have it in us for anymore overnight bus trips in India!

Arriving in Manali more than made up for the sleepless and crammed journey to get here. I am living in a postcard, literally. I am writing this blog from the balcony of our room which overlooks a wide and rocky river and huge mountains are all around us (picture!). It is truly breathtaking. The sound of the river is so meditative. Last night, we watched the nearly full moon rise over the snow capped mountains…incredible.

We spent most of Wednesday lounging by the river in a café, reading, taking cat naps, eating delicious food, enjoying the incredible temperature and scenery and watching World Cup. Go USA and Germany!

On Thursday, Gundula and I went off on a small hike which turned into a five hour trek. It was so great to be out in the woods again smelling the fresh mountain air. We passed through several small villages, apple orchards, etc. We kind of got off the main trail and ended up in the middle of a small cow pasture. One of the calves and I instantly bonded, meaning that he came up and started trying to eat my backpack. He was licking me (cow tongues are like sandpaper!) and then started to eat one of my braids. It was so funny! I had cow saliva all over me...first time for everything.

We got up really early on Friday and hired a taxi driver to take us up to Rohtang Pass, a famous pass about 52 km from Manali. On the way, Petra (the German girl we met in Bhagsu), Gundula and I hired ski clothes and ski equipment. The ski clothes were hilarious – all from the early 1980’s…lots of great neon colors. My ski pants looked more like M.C.Hammer pants from my 5th and 6th grade years at Apollo Elementary School. The skis were not any newer. The 3+ hour ride up to the pass was terrifying. I am not a fan of narrow, winding mountain roads mostly because I tend to get car sick and am afraid of tumbling down the side of the mountain. The road was rocky and broken, sometimes intermittently paved, and there were spots were waterfalls were literally running over the dirt. ...the whole place is one big avalanche waiting to happen…luckily it didn’t happen yesterday! No reinforcements or guardrails, blind turns, hairpin bends…stressful. On top of that, you have to share the road with other cars trying to pass you on the single lane, random fallen boulders, horses, cows and goats. Oh, and it was raining the whole way up. I am very thankful to be writing this blog today.

The ski area in Rohtang Pass was what I imagine Tahoe looked like maybe 100 or more years ago. There were tents strewn about haphazardly with people selling grilled corn, chai tea, noodles. There were horses to pull you up the mountain, a few snowmobiles and people who pushed sleds up the mountain…no ski lifts! I skied down the bunny slope and only fell once when the binding on my ski broke. Therefore, I didn’t actually get to ski that long, but for all technical purposes; I have skied in the Himalayas! Even the little bit that I did was challenging as I had to navigate around plastic bottles, corn cobs and other bits of trash. India could really use a waste management system. We took pictures, I made a snow man and by that time we were all freezing. We warmed up with some chai tea and then headed, slowly, back down the mountain. The skies had cleared up for the ride down and the views were simply stunning. The highlight on the way down was seeing a goat riding a horse. Great times in the Himalayas!