Day 02 Incredible India!!

24 August 2009

Traffic was bumper to bumper. I stopped along the way to buy some bottled water from the roadside stall. At around 0200 hours, I stopped for supper. I had Naan (a type of Indian bread) and dhal with tea. I do have to admit the tea tasted weird but Stan liked it anyhow. Ewww.

240km into the journey, the driver stopped for a quick nap. I found quite a number of makeshift houses across the road. It looks like a slump but the condition doesn’t seem to suggest so. It was clean.

The kids were extremely friendly and were not selfish with their smiles. A simple life they lead but yet they seem contented. I should be grateful with what I have. Lesson 2: Dont take things for granted!!

Their bed was simple and sleeping out in the open seemed to be the norm, if it was not raining, of course.

San had to wake up the driver as he was ‘dead’ in sleep, too tired maybe. I left the place 2 hours later and stopped for breakfast at 0930 hours. Ooops, it was day 2 of Ramadhan, so I had to excuse myself. Another 5 hours drive before my first destination, Manali.

Strangely, Kashmir Singh had been quiet so far. But this time he stopped the vehicle and urged us to get out of the car to photograph a water dam with that “ Oh nice!! You have to snap this!!” exclamation. After a few clicks, an aged local man kept shouting at us in a local language from his vehicle with fingers pointing at us. Huh??What?? Of course we ignored him since we did not understand him and saw him turning back. Moments later, we were stopped by a soldier with an AK47 in arms asking San and I to step out and delete our photos. Of course we had to comply. Later did we realize there was a big NO PHOTOGRAPHY sign 50 meters down the road. What a DAMn!!!

The car ride was very bumpy and I began to feel nauseous. Moments later, I stepped out of the vehicle and vomited. Maybe I was on an empty stomach into a long journey, oh well.

Finally, I reached Manali at 3pm. Apple Cottage was fully booked and so is Sunshine Guest House. We requested our tour agent to assist us for an alternative and was offered a 1000 rupee a night hostel. What?!!!1000?!!! That rate is so exorbitant, it’s daylight robbery. Of course we refused and we finally settled for a relatively cheap night at Mamta Guest House after persuading the driver to drive us around hesitantly.