Bus Trip that Met My Expectations (Unfortunately)

Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007--Leh (Continued)

I met Siam, the manager of the coffee house, for dinner. He wants to come to the U.S. Since he has bachelor's and master's degrees in geography, I suggested that the easiest way might be if he could find a community college looking for someone to teach that subject. I know it hasn't been a popular major in the U.S. for some time, so there might be a shortage of teachers which would make it possible for him to be sponsored by the college to fill a need that cannot me met inside the U.S. Otherwise, I don't think he will have a chance of working in the U.S.

My stomach is a little upset. It's not bad, but my bowel movement was a bit loose today. I have taken Peptol Bismol tablets. I can't identify a specific thing that I have eaten that might be the cause. I'm still going to the toilet just once a day, so it isn't the Delhi Belly that tourists get here. Because of it, I ate a sandwich tonight for dinner. That sounded like something safe and easy. Then I went to the hotel and packed for the horrible trip I will take starting tomorrow.

Monday, Aug. 20, 2007--Bus from Leh

From dark to dark. That's how long I was on a bus today. I was up at 4:05 and at the bus by 4:35. We departed at 5:00. We didn't arrive at our stopping point for the night until 20:30--15 1/2 hours later!! Essentially, the roadway is a one-lane road with two-way traffic. It twists and winds through the Himalayas. In general, the speed is very slow because of constantly approaching curves and because of the surface of the roadway. Parts of it are smoothly paved, but most of it is rough--either loose sand, loose gravel, loose rocks, or packed rocks. There are lots of potholes. The mountains themselves consist of loose sand and gravel, so the roadway is very unstable; often there are landslides where part of the roadway gets covered or part of it disappears. Every time another vehicle approaches, both have to slow down with one pulling to the side to stop for the other to slowly pass. The speed for passing is slow, because it's a tight squeeze with a severe drop-off on one side and the mountain on the other. There is always the danger of the vehicle on the outside stopping just at the time when the ground underneath is ready to give way from the weight. It's not a trip for the faint-of-heart to make. The bus itself was quite comfortable. We had plenty of room, the seats were good, the luggage was stored either in back or on top, etc. There was no toilet, though. When we stopped, everyone had to head to the roadside. The women looked for where they could go behind a small hill. The men just walked to the side and faced away.

One poor guy got diarrhea as we started. He finally had to take his roll of tissue up to the front of the bus and ask the driver to stop by saying he was sick. At first, the driver just said, "Open the window," thinking it was motion sickness. But then the guy showed his toilet paper roll. We stopped and he ran off behind the bus. Actually, I was rather surprised that no one got motion sickness with all the curving and bouncing we were doing.

We were slowed down by shepherds hearding their flocks of sheep and goats, by pack trains of horses with their drivers, by military convoys, by military checkpoints where they inspected our passports, the many switchbacks as we climbed up and over passes and then back down (at least 3 passes today). It's so slow that the trip becomes tedious.

I liked the people on the bus. I sat with a 45-year-old Austrian. He's a social worker who works with alcoholics. He lives on a limited budget both at home and when traveling. There was a couple from Ireland (him a home builder and her a lawyer), two Frenchmen (one a mechanical engineer and the other a college professor of mathematics), an American young (and naive) woman who is out experiencing the world with enthusiasm after having finished at university, etc. I visited with all of them and a few others on the bus.

We slept in tents at the stopping point. They were furnished with cots that had sheets, a blanket, and a comforter. It was rather nice and comfortable. I was surprised. I used my earplugs to avoid the sounds of traffic on the road and people moving about. I put the straps of my backpack under my bedpost so someone would disturb me if they tried to get it. I slept quite well after eating the meal they provided of chipatis (flat bread), rice, and 3 kinds of vegetables.

Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007--Bus to Manali

It's been a day of delays. We were supposed to be in Manali within 6 hours. Instead, it took 9. I've now traveled on that bus 24 1/2 hours over the past two days. I was so tired by the time we arrived. The delays were all ones that could have been worse, though. Miraculously, the problems were cleared away rather rapidly. One involved a truck that didn't make a switchback and had its front wheel go over the edge of the roadway. The cab was half on the roadway and half off. Men had already been working for hours to place rocks under the wheel in the air and to brace it with a jack until a wrecker could arrive. They were just lucky that the switchback was where the mountain was sloping and not where it was dropping off. Next came a traffic jam where someone had stalled and cars had tried to pass. There were cars side-by-side trying to go the same direction from each direction on a roadway where two cars can barely pass. (Indians tend to all be in a hurry and to consider themselves so important that they should be allowed to go ahead of everyone else. This was just the first traffic jam of the day due to that kind of attitude. There was another later.) It took a while to get that one settled. Another delay was caused by a petrol truck that had tumbled down the mountainside onto the lower roadway where there were a series of switchbacks. I wonder if the driver was able to survive that. We had to go dangerously to the edge of the drop-off to get by it. Another delay came with sheep and goats on a bridge. And a final delay came when we were in sight of Manali. The roadway was very unstable, and pieces of it had dropped away making a switchback curve even tighter than normal. A huge, overloaded truck just couldn't get around it and up out of the mud that was there. By the time it finally was through, traffic had backed up for a long way in both directions. We sat there about 2 1/2 hours waiting for our turn to make that curve and go the final 30 km (18 miles) into Manali. We didn't arrive until 16:00. I was exhausted.

Manali is a pretty place. There are lots of pine trees, and big areas of trees have been preserved in a park. The town essentially goes up and down the mountain. The hotel I had chosen was up the mountain about 3 km (almost 2 miles). I headed upwards wearing my small backpack and pulling my suitcase. It was a true test of the ability of my heart. And I made it. Parts were very steep, and I had to stop twice to get my breath back before continuing. I found a nice room with cable tv, hot water, and a view toward the pine-covered mountains. I just relaxed and watched tv for the rest of the day until dinner time. Then I only went to a nearby place. I tried to get local food, but they had already run out of everything. So I went to a pizza place.