Go to the start

After a good night sleep in the fantastic Mayflower hotel, we are now exploring Manali. It is a bit like Kathmandu, but very very small. Souvenir shops, tea shops, fruit bars and travel agents dominate the 'mall'. We are very happy to be here, because getting here was quite an adventure. We have seen too many road accidents - watching the towage of a truck that has fallen hundreds of meters down to the river is not a pleasant sight. Signs with texts as: alert today is alive tomorrow are not giving much energy either :( Fortunately, we can have a good laugh about the hotel names such as: Apple Villa, Sulphur Source Hotel (?) and Hotel Stay Home (???)
As per tomorrow, we will head to Leh. Our first destination is Marhi, 37 km away form here at an altitude of 3300 m. The next weeks, we will have no internet access. As soon as we arrive in Leh, we can post a new message.

Dazzling Delhi

Finding a cybercafe in Delhi is not so easy - that means, if you are out the city center. Uploading photo's is a disaster as well, so for now, only a text message. There is not so much news; the only thing we do at this moment is getting used to the heat, enjoying sweet lassies, (too!) spicey somsa's, marsala crisps and Starbucks coffee and making preparations for our 13 hrs road trip to Manali. We have heard that the monsoon is very light and late this year. In the case of good karma, the Rohtang pass ascent will be doable. The games begin!

One week to go

Getting closer and closer! Within a week, we will head to India. Weather in Delhi seems to be horrible: heavy rain, humid (92%) and hot (35 degrees Celsius). The same for Manali: rain, humid and a bit cooler, but still 25 degrees...  We expect that the first days of our adventure will be the highly adventurous - the monsoon will be our first obstacle, I am afraid.

Do not want to think about road blocks because of landslides and mud rivers.... Yesterday we viewed our pics from 2004. Monsoon then forced us to take a detour as well. Well, we should be mentally prepared for the worst: waiting for days to leave Manali and cross Rohtang pass.

This picture was taken after our departure from Manali - because of landslides we had to walk in the pouring rain :(

Please click here for our 2004 blog and pics on the Zanskar expedition (in Dutch).