Mission Ladakh Zanskar Siachen 2007 - Day 14

Patseo – Manali – Mandi – Kiratpur

The morning started early with Bed Tea and Rest Room Management meanwhile Hari and I stepped out for some photography.

Patseo - a small Station covered by Cliffs all around

Hari with his Tea Mug outside our Barrack

Pahaadon ke beech mein Vaadi aur Vaadi mein Main

Once again, the bridge at Darcha banged loudly with us crossing over. The yellow BRO board at Baralacha La had been replaced by a new Light Green HP Tourism Board and we got to know the name of that beautiful lake – Suraj/Vishal Tal because of a new HP Tourism board.

First Sight of a full-grown tree in 14 days!

Waterfall that was not there before!

We were enjoying our way down from there. Our eyes were feasting on the beautiful newly created waterfalls and recently sprouted shrubs and lush green grasslands – especially those around Sissu, Koksar and Keylong. I must have been fast asleep when we crossed Gramphoo because I couldn’t see the bifurcation to Kaza again.

Argh! Almost unanimously, we nodded our heads in frustrated negation and sneered our noses as we approached Rohtang La. Drivers became crazy and were on an overtaking spree – our poor “mature” Ladakhi Driver was abusing the Himachali’s :-) Now I understood why he wanted us to change the car again after Darcha – The condition of the traffic is a reason simple enough for anybody to be afraid of.

We had crossed Rohtang Top at 11.20 AM and touched Manali Bus Stand at 1.40 PM. By the time, we confirmed the departure point for our Bus and subsequently, cleared the accounts with Rigzim, it was well past 2. We decided to head straight for a restaurant, expecting that we could keep our luggage there only, for the post-lunch couple of hours. We were trying to buy more time but as expected, the surd restaurant-owner turned drastically hostile immediately after our lunch and asked to keep our luggage at the Cloak Room rather. We decided to spend our time in the Park. Leaving Hari and Bikiran there, I and Farhan decided to go and check out the conveyance options for Leh near Hotel Himadri and yes, there were a flurry of JK-10 vehicles waiting for the day. To our amazement, we met Rigzim again with other senior drivers from Leh and discussed all the issues involved in taking the passengers back.
On getting back, I didn’t have the energy to explain the entire details (with the issues) to others and hence, Hari went out with his discontent over the cost of the conveyance. His logic was we could have booked a direct bus from Delhi to Leh or Manali to Leh because for him “Destination was important – How we get there, Does not Matter”. I replied “For this trip, Journey was more important than the Destination itself” – to which nobody could reply anything. I also felt low for a moment at recalling how much I had toiled for this trip to be successful and immaculate. To my content, all my team mates soon consoled me and convinced me that there is absolutely no problem with this trip and this is one of the best trips they could have ever had :-)