Kristi and I headed out of Manali at 200am (330am India time) on a 19 hour bus ride to Leh. The bus ride was the quintessential India experience. Basically it was one of the worst and the best experiences of my life. Any remote hopes of sleeping on the mini bus were dashed seconds after the van careened down the road swerving back and forth, I can only assume testing the weight of the bus. The next 19 hours were constant swerving on narrow mountain roads where if you attempted for a second to rest your head, the bus would laugh at you and push you right out of your seat and slam your head back leaving you with a slight whiplash sensation. Most of the hours were spent gripping the bar in front of you trying to stay seated. Gasping for thin air (literally at that altitude) but mainly getting dust or exhaust from the bus in front of us.
That, for those who couldn't guess, was the worst part of the trip. The best part was that while clutching your seat, the bus passed through about 4 or 5 mountain passes all between 5000m and 5500m high. As the sun was rising you felt you were literally driving on the top of the world and you could see for miles.
The geography changed every hour. The bus would work its way down from snowy mountain passes to pastures with nomads herding their sheep, back up through mountain deserts and rock formations that looked straight out of "Star Wars." At times you could look back at what looked like a sheer rock face and see the thin line of the road that you just drove on. Then we would be driving on a high plain and it felt like you were in a cross country race as the busses (we were carvanning) would drive as fast s possible aross the dusty plain till they started on a windy "road" again. It was by far the most spectacular scenery I have ever come across.
The Ladahk valley feels like a completely different country. Leh itself is a large town but it is actually quite relaxed. It is more Buddhist then Hindu, and there are monks and temples everywhere. The town is surrounded on all directions by rocky, snow-capped mountains. Leh itself is 3500m and most treks go higher then that so you are suppossed to give yourself some time to acclimatize. Kristi and I have had no problem spending our days "preparing" for our treks. This has consisted mainly of us buying a lot of great quality knock-off out gear for super cheap. Everyone here is so proud it comes straight from China. Between all the amazing Tibet handicarft markets, outdoor gear shopping and sampling as much yummy Nepali food as possible we have managed to keep ourselves quite busy.
Of course it hasn't all been easy. We did have the stress of deciding what treks we wanted to do. We have decided on a 10 day trek that leaves on the 6th and ends at a nomadic festival. Very excited to see what we have gotten ourselves into!
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