Wed, March 27

Woke up to a warm sunny morning in Manali. Knowing that we wouldn’t have to battle traffic to get up to the snow was a relaxing thought. After a fiery breakfast, we decided to go on a short hike to Lion King Rock, just above town, apparently named for the eponymous Disney film.

I imagine there is an older name, but “Lion King Rock” is how it’s labeled in Google and various forums.

We parked near the “Delhi Public School” and followed a steep path of concrete steps on the s. side up to the switchbacks. The switchbacks wound through an old growth forest, Deodar Cedar I think, up to the snow line, maybe a 30 min hike. We saw two guys hauling downed trees out of the forests, illegally I imagine. The rock itself provided panoramic views of the valley.

After Lion King, we went to The Apple Country Resort and got some food and chai. View was great and it was in a different part of Manali. We followed that up with deep tissues massages. The massage was far from the best that I’ve had, but not bad, worked out most of the knots, and cost $38 US for 90 minutes.

After our massages, we checked out old Manali and the Lazy Dog Lounge. Old Manali had a different and more laid back vibe than the s. part of Manali. Beer selection was decent for Manali. I tried some of the local cidar which said it was “up to 8% alcohol” so I was unable to finish the 22 oz bottle.

March 28

On our final day, we left the Manali Inn for Bhuntar at 600am to meet Akshay, return the jeep, and catch our flight out at 10:50am. We were both praying that our flight, the only one for the day to Delhi, would take off. Being stuck in Bhuntar was not an appealing thought. Once we got to the airport, we met Akshay and he inspected the Jypsy. Managed to get my full 10,000 INR deposit back, which I considered to be an accomplishment. Total cost for the Jypsy rental for 8 days was 28,000 INR ($403 US). For India, that’s pretty expensive, but when you need to drive up the Rohtang at 5 am and you have a ton of stuff to haul, I think it wound up being the best choice. The driving was the most stressful I’ve encountered, but we managed to escape, along with the Jypsy, unscathed. If you’re looking to rent a vehicle in Bhuntar, I highly recommend Akshay’s business http://www.bikerentalsbhuntar.com. The main thing to be aware of is that it’s a cash only business and the ATMs in the area only dispense 15,000 INR at a time. Further, there’s were 30,000 INR daily limit for the two ATM cards that I tried. All of this can make for a difficult all cash rental experience. I would have greatly preferred to put all of this on travel Visa card which has $75k in collision damage for rentals worldwide, but hey, it’s India. We were lucky to have a relatively new (17k km) Jypsy in the first place.

The checked baggage process at the Bhuntar airport was comical. After sitting around for about an hr, our bags got weighed and scanned at least three times before Air India asked us to pay an excess baggage fee that was about half of we paid in Delhi. Signs like “Do Not Pay Bribe” gave us further pointers.

Luckily, our flight took off from Bhuntar. It was a clear day and we had some spectacular views of the Pir Panjal

Once we got to Delhi, we checked our bags at the left luggage facility across from Terminal 3 and took the new Airport Express metro line to the Shivaji Stadium stop. Delhi was oppressively hot, 36 C, and the Air Quality Index was up to 250 at some stations. We ate lunch and checked out Central Park and the Connaught Place part of Delhi. The stiffling heat, hazardous air, traffic, and honking made it fairly uncomfortable, although I noted less trash on the streets of Delhi than in Manali or Solang.

We retreated back inside the subway station for a beer and to cool off. When we went back out into the heat, we checked out the Sri Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, a Sikh temple with a pool have water with purported healing properties. We checked our shoes downstairs and donned tunics.

This temple was the highlight of our jaunt into Delhi. It was also nearly 5 pm so there was a more shade to be had, making the heat more tolerable.

From the temple, we hopped back on the metro to the airport and waiting for our delayed United flight from DEL-EWR. Security was a pain again, with xray screening prior to entering the international terminal, then again at the gate, where all the passengers from UA 83 had to sit without water or food while the plane boarded. The second level of security screening didn’t give me much confidence, but India has hostile neighboring countries.

Because of Pakistan’s airspace closure, westbound flights to EWR are stopping in FRA for refueling. Overall, the flight to EWR took 20 hr, plus another 6 from from EWR – LAX. Then I had a 7 hr drive home through LA traffic. I stopped at at rest stop on 395 s. of Lone Pine. I marveled at the lack of litter and cleanliness of the toilets.