Breakfast, gas, and off we were towards Narkanda, Rampur,
and ultimately up the mountain to Sarahan.
Today was a very enjoyable ride … we are now very
comfortable with the Indian way on the roads … unpredictability did not seem
that threatening anymore … cows everywhere, monkeys all around, chaos in every
town and every turn … but somehow, it was all fun and enjoyable. Like a video game where you have passed the
first few levels and collected some skills. Now you are dodging everything
skillfully and under control. Sort of.
We went straight down from 2300m altitude at Shimla to
around 800m to a valley with a pretty sizable river … lots of water, cool rapids,
waterfalls coming down the mountains … nature at its best. And the sheer drops and heights all around… reminded
me of the Alps except these mountains are all green.
I have always wondered why the sight of spectacular nature
drives introspection, thoughts about philosophy, perspective, and family … why
do we find peace and calm when in the presence of something so massive? May be
because it is easier to understand where the universe is going.
Anyway, as we headed farther north, we started seeing more
soldiers, more checkpoints, and even an army base … a sign that we are getting
close to a conflict area (Kashmir). Humans
and their interminable conflicts. We
also started seeing more people with Asian and Nepalese features as we get
closer to Nepal.
Finally, as we were heading to our final destination, the
road we were supposed to take had been take out by a massive landslide so we
had to take a small dirt road that was narrow, rocky, and muddy but we managed
to get through it and on to our hotel up in the hills at 2300m.
We sat down on the terrace to enjoy the views down the steep
mountains … had a nice Indian food dinner (again : ) with sporadic electricity
… a good day overall.
Tomorrow we head up to higher altitudes and closer to Nepal
and the Spiti Valley.
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