Manali-Leh Highway and the Border Roads Organization

The new academic semester has started and it will take me sometime to get back to my regular blogging. At the start of the semester, life seems so hectic, but two weeks later, I invariably find time. In the meanwhile, I thought I will share this moving piece written by Vikrum at How the Other Half Lives.

I also noticed that their clothes were pathetically inadequate for the climate. One man had a torn green windbreaker and another wore two long-sleeved t-shirts. It was painful for me to see these grown men shivering as they observed us.

These men, like the Nepalis, seemed eager to talk to anyone who would listen. I introduced myself to the group, and one man answered for all of them. The first thing he said caught me off-guard. He said, in Hindi with a strong country accent, “We are proud to keep this highway open for you all.”

I realized that he worked for the Border Roads Organization. He and his friends were the reason why the road was open and in such excellent condition.

Another View of the Manali-Leh Highway

Snow on the Manali leh Highway- See it for yourself!

What I wrote about in my last post, here is a picture of it. You can see how the road is! And the amount of water that is visible on this patch is nothing, it could look like a small stream flowing. But how beautiful it is! Any given day I will like to go back.

On the Top: Leh-Manali Highway, at Pang

At Pang on Manali Leh Highway- Checking if everything is still there?

This photograph is taken at Pang, on Leh-Manali route. The tents in the picture are food tents. We started our journey back from Leh at 5.00 am. The bus made a stop at 7.00 am and I had tea, and after that nothing. So when these tents came in sight around 2.00 pm I was famished and tried beyond words. This tiredness comes from the condition of the road.

I was sitting on the window and looking out for most of the journey. It was difficult to believe that the road could contain a bus, it was so narrow. Not only was it narrow, the curves seemed impossible to negotiate. But the state transport driver did all that and more.

At one point in our journey, our way was blocked by a Tata Sumo as it got stuck on that part of the road where water was pouring from the melting snow. Whatever tricks the driver tried the vehicle refused to budge. It crossed my mind that we might be forced to spend night at this spot freezing in the night. After watching the proceedings for a while our bus driver asked us all in and told us to go to the back of the bus and stand there in a group. He will try to cross the patch.

My heart was thudding in my mouth as the bus lurched forward swaying crazily. After a few anxious moments, which seemed like ages then, we were out in the clear. I am so glad this happened only once in the entire journey.

The Road Less Traveled: Manali-Leh Highway

Manali Leh Highway

If you are traveling to Leh by road it may turn out to be much more than you bargained for. For me it led to philosophical ponderings about my existence or the continuation of it!

One can reach Ladakh (Ladakh is in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, but not a troubled region) either by air or by road. We decided to travel by road. There are two ways to reach Ladakh by road. One is the Srinagar-Leh highway and the other Manali-Leh highway. We decided to go by the Manali-Leh highway, as Manali is closer to New Delhi.

Delhi to Manali
From New Delhi, Manali is a 16-hour bus journey, which left us really tired. The 2X2 luxury buss was not so luxurious and various lumps in a seat that would not recline properly haunted me. Then we stayed for two days in Manali.

Manali to Leh
From Manali to Leh is 450 km, which we covered by jeep in a single day. One can book an entire jeep but it is costly (Rupees 10,000 upwards, or one can buy a seat which works out much cheaper at Rupees 1100 but cramped).

I developed a new respect for the humble Tata Sumo jeep through this journey. They ply in highest numbers on this route. It is meant to take 3 people in the middle row, two in front and four in the back. The taxi operators take two to three in the front, four in the middle and four in the back. The journey begins at 2 am and ends at 8 pm, making it 18 hours in a row and this is what we did. It is extremely tiring and a very foolish way to travel from Manali to Leh. The journey was uncomfortable because we were seated four on a seat meant for three and both my husband and I have motion sickness. We take medicine for it and though it keeps nausea at bay, it leaves us very sleepy and gorgy. However, the scenery on the way is spectacular and not to be missed for anything. We arrived in Leh dead tried, found a hotel, dumped our luggage and started looking for a restaurant to eat.

Is there a better way?
There is a better way to travel by road and that is to break the journey into two days and take a night halt on the way. Government buses (which are much cheaper than the jeep, at Rupees 525 this season) ply on the route and this is what we did on our return journey. But we found that the buses move much more slowly and they take too much time to reach the night halt and the total time spent increases a lot. So, we concluded that if one has to reach Ladakh by road one has to pay the price in terms of being very tired, even turning philosophical. With hindsight, probably the best way to travel to Ladakh is to go by road only one way and take the flight the other way round, if possible.

But I have to say it was one road trip, which I will remember and brag about shamelessly. After all traveling from Manali to Leh by road is not for the fainthearted.