september 2ol2

I’ve been sharpening my teeth to do this crazy dust “soaked” journey since I first visited Manali in 2005. Here I am – “finally” rinsing the black brownish dust out of the few uncovered parts of my body – being head and hands only actually…plus where ever these tiny particles levitating in sharp Himalayan sun pushed their way through, under, over and everywhere…You can ride this 490km long half gravel half paved snake for about 4.5 months per year, between May til mid-October. Nicely acclimatized from a week chilling in Vashisht we got out of the jeep after a whole day ride with average elevation over 4000 m looking like Sophia Loren’s sisters – with perfect make-up and boney cheeks. Young soldier heading to his base kept hugging his handkerchief while changing colors from blue to green at the end settling for pale yellow. But we liked too much.