Day 3 - Mandi Ntn India

There's nothing like being thrown into the deep end when arriving in a new country and today's 13 hours assimilation by way of a death defying coach trip from Delhi to Mandi in Nthn India gave our group a great insight into the Indian sub continent

It was an early 6.a.m. start with a no. of the group still recovering from flights and different time zones.

Our small group of 3 Aussies, ' 1 Irish, 1 Danish and 3 English boarded our spacious 44 seaterr coach in preparation for what was described as a rather long day !

The moonsoonal rain that fell just prior to our departure created street flooding resulting in a bridging system having to be placed between our hotel and the coach to save possible drowning !

The initial stage was typical Indian traffic fare, cows wandering across roads, 3 lanes of traffic trying to fit into one, motorbikes galore and a constant use of the horn to indicate "here I come" !

The level of excitement began to rise when our driver reversed down one side of the freeway and then travelled the wrong way up the other simply to get around a tailback - his move soon had others following !

Eventually out in open countryside we began to take in the real India as people eek out an existence anyway they can - shanty buildings with tarps for roofs, dilapidated permanently 2/3s finished buildings, an inordinate amount of rubbish everywhere and people going about their daily lives.

Our lunch stop comprised the mandatory courses of spicy Indian food and rice but was good enough to fill the hole.

Part two of our entertaining journey reached a new level of risk - First came the rain, mainly torrential and eventually just persistent as we took the main. manali road with some initial sections just a slithering pile of mud and pot holes the size of bomb craters !

This really slowed our progress but did little to kerb our drivers enthusiasm as he skilfully overtook on blind corners, merged where no space to merge existed as we climbed up a mountain road with no barrier protection.

For the next 4 hours we travelled through and over misty valleys with forest scenery and in parts sheer drops !

Despite this there was a dense of calmness in our drivers ability knowing that our screams would alert him to any traffic coming head on !

Eventually after 13 long hours we arrived in Madani in the dark to be transported by a van to our hotel for the night.

There is only 3 more hours to Manali and our base for the start of our Himalayan adventure.