And then there were four. Met up the rest of the photo group: Neville - the lead photographer (from Bombay), Anuradha (from Delhi), Lakshmi (from Bangalore) and me. Introductions out of the way, we set out around 6 am for Manali via Punjab, Himachal Pradesh.
And thus begins our quest of what has often been termed as an ‘epic Himalayan road journey’.
Not much to the drive today, mostly because it was hot and humid as hell. Since its way too early in the trip to yawp about discomfort, I’m going to skip the details ;)
Stopped for an awesome lunch on the way – glad to notice the dhabas (a roadside eatery) in Punjab are not called ‘Punjabi Dhabas’. Heh! For those who are confused, Punjabi food is one of the most popular cuisines in the country and every other dhaba outside of Punjab touts itself as a Punjabi dhaba. And if it’s not Punjabi – then it’s a Chinese Dhaba (second most popular). Of course in Himachal, someone seems to have convinced them it’s called “Chinies” food judging by the number of stalls offering this fare :)
Somewhere down the road, we got thoroughly lost thanks to a miscommunication and were rambling around the wrong part of the Himachal countryside for quite a while. Would have been much more fun had the roads been in better shape..
670 odd kms later, - we are in Kullu Valley around 7.30 pm. We halt for the night in a town called Naggar and check into a hotel (Sartak Resorts). Shower and hot dinner later, we crash out early.
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