Day 3: Manali to Jispa ----------------------
We 've been to Manali only once before this, but never went beyond it, not even rohtang pass which is part of the travel rituals for any tourists coming to Manali. Naturally we were excited, not to mention this was going to be the first pass of the journey.
But there was a damper when we woke up early in the morning, it was raining quite heavily. And things were not improving by the time we got ready. Initially we thought to pack the breakfast and go but then seeing the situation decided to have it in the hotel itself. This was the major blunder as turned out later! Intensity of rainfall came down in between and the hotel stuffs took ages to prepare even the basic items like bread toast and omlettes. And the quality of food was no different than previous night, equally pathetic! Someone commented that the juice tasted like cough syrup!! When we finally started, it was around 7.30, though few people assured us that there shouldn't be much of tourist rush enroute.
Here are few shots in the morning:
Inside Holiday Inn
The surroundings
At the breakfast hall
Anyways the drizzle stopped finally when we reached the main signboard where Project Deepak welcomes you on the Manali-Sarchu road. Forgot to mention that there was a new vehicle in the convoy, a 3 month old new Wagon-R, driven by a 60+ gentleman from Delhi who was on his own! Few clicks in front of the signboard and we started the Rohtang ascent.
The signboard
The line-up
Raring to go with the jeep
It was not raining any more, and the surroundings were refreshingly beautiful. And how enjoying the drive could be in a Jeep! Here are two videos of the leisurely drive enourte Rohtang.
In the initial few kms roads were in really good condition but then it gradually started deteriorating and we got the first hint of the typical 'bad rohtang road'.
Condition of the road in the beginning
But then it turned into something like these
When we reached Marhi and stopped for a cup of tea, we realized that we were going to pay heavily for the delay in the morning! Got to know that there was a major landslide few kms before Rohtang top the previous night and vehicles were struggling to go past this stretch.
The picturesque guest house
So the inevitable had happened, there were queues of vehicles in the inclines up ahead and the picture was no different than the typical jam scene enroute Rohtang as seen in many travelogues before!! Anyways we finished the tea and surrendered ourselves to the existing queue of vehicles going up. Traffic jams in hair pin bends and that too where roads are non-existent are the worst kind of things one can expect in the hill. The smaller cars were sliding like anything while attempting the tougher stretches.
A small video of a relatively better portion of the incline
Not to put any pressure on the Jeep, i used the 4wd in couple of occasions. For the next few hours it was like we were moving for 5 minutes and then stopping for 50 minutes! People from various other vehicles were passing by the Jeep and giving a surprising look. The local drivers were mostly surprised seeing the tyres in particular! After all they must not have seen too many mud terrain tyres in vehicles around. The vendors selling chole-kulche and corn were having a brisk business.
The scene
The jam was really profitable for this guy;
In between we saw two fully gear-equipped cyclists going up the road and one of them actually had his left leg amputated below the knee! We were literally dumbstruck for some moments and this is one of the greatest demonstrations of mental courage i 've seen in person till date.
Finally we came to that portion which was the cause of the delay. It was a sharp hair pin bend, an incline of probably 30 degrees, filled with mud of significant depth and condition worsened by multiple vehicles plying till morning. The trucks were sidelined and given a chance to try once after every 5-6 smaller vehicles. Many Rohtang bound tourist taxis returned from this patch as vehicles were taking multiple attempts to clear it and few were unable to make it even after that. And when they used to get stuck it between, it was more dramatised situation. The Jeep, offcourse cleared it without any fuss. But we were so engrossed by the overall setting, forgot to take any video of the climb. Those who want some real life adventurous mud & slush OTR, should try Rohtang during the monsoon, off course at own risk!
Rohtang top was couple of more kms, but the roads were in the worst of condition till we were almost near the peak, and it also started raining quite profusely decreasing the visibility to the minimum. The Rohtang top was deserted and it took us some time to realize that we had crossed it. Here is a video somewhere near the top.
And the road condition
Rain settled down the moment we started taking the downhill enroute Khoksar and we reached there around 6 in the evening, time lost due to jam was around 7 hours!! This actually had a much worse effect on us in the journey ahead.
Anyways the hot maggi at Chironjilal's dhaba at Khoksar brought some energy back and we started for Jispa afer taking a longe break when darkness was about to fall. The two foreigner cyclists chose this place as their night hault. Sanjay was accompanying us, rest of the vehicles were much ahead. Driving by the river, gradually we passed Sissu and reached Tandi where the pump was closed. Sanjay got down to check whether anyone was around, but there was none. Good decision to fuel up at Manali itself. Anyways we had enough reserve and carried forward.
Experience of driving through such terrains at night in the jeep was something new for us. Though we could realize that we were missing the scenaries around, but then the Rohtang saga messed up everything. Finally reached Jispa around 10 at night and went to Padma Guest house in stead of the designated Hotel Ibex. The accommodation was basic but very neat and clean, the food was really delicious and the chicken preparation was somewhat unique though very tasty.
Official journey time of the day was close to 15 hours and undoubtedly it took a toll on our body! Not to mention the next day's journey was going to be even longer and tougher as Sanjay was repeatating that Rohtang was just the trailer! Putting the worries aside temporarily, crashed in the bed and finally called it a day.