Motorbiking to Manali

July 3^rd, 2012

With the paragliding ban in effect and pre-monsoon weather rolling in anyways, Garth and I planned to make a move to Manali.  By chance, Matthew wanted to sell one of his two motorcycles, his Royal Enfield, and the best place to make a sale was Manali as many backpackers purchase bikes to make the arduous mountain trek north to the high altitude destinations of Leh and Ladakh.  Matthew presented us the option to take the two bikes to Manali instead of the bus.  It sounded like a good option so we decided to go for it.

We didn’t have the earliest start even though we were up at 6:30am.  We bid Thomas goodbye and hit the road around 10am, me on the Bajaj bike with my paraglider strapped on the seat behind me and the other two guys on the bike 500cc Royal Enfield with all of the rest of the gear. 

Matthew's house:

The view from Matthew's deck where we had our breakfast:

Packing the bikes:

Final checks:

The initial riding was fantastic, beginning with a 2-3 kilometre engineless ride down a smooth and slightly sloped road to the highway.  In fact the road all the way to the next city, Mandi, was a fun up and down curvy road with great views of the mountains on the left and the valley on the right.  The only trouble was that even before hitting Mandi (only 45 kilometres from Bir) we had to stop a few times for the Enfield to cool down.  No wonder Matthew wants to sell it in Manali...just a question of whether we’ll get there or not.

Trying to catch up to the boys:

Matthew and Garth gassing up:

I might as well do the same:

Still behind...

After a few more overheating episodes we decided that it would be best to alleviate some weight from the big bike so I exchanged my paraglider for Garth so Matthew would have all of the gear but would be a bit lighter.  Today was already going to be my longest day on a motorbike in my very short history as a rider...and now we’re putting an innocent human being on the back.  Hmm...  “Hang on Garth!”  I could tell he wasn’t over the moon about the situation either but surprisingly my motorcycle resume is longer than his.

Hmm...would you like to ride with this guy?

Or this guy?

Is that an island?

Crossing a bridge:

A bridge near where we stopped for a brief lunch break..can't remember the name of the place:

We continued to limp along towards Manali, stopping every half an hour or so to rest not only the overheating bike but our sore butts.  Some sections of this “national highway” wouldn’t be considered a secondary road back in Canada.  However I fully enjoyed the views, well, actually “fully” would be an overstatement as I had to keep my eye on the road and more so on the honking idiot drivers around me (I wasn’t using “honking” as a replacement for an expletive deletive there....they were just blowing their car horns alot...as I’ve mentioned before, Indians seem to think that the horn is as crucial a component of their vehicle as brakes are). 

Matthew suiting up after a break:

A hydro dam we crossed over:

Checking out Matthew behind us: 

Occasionally I would feel the clench of Garth’s legs around my hips as I could sense he felt we were in immediate danger and well, I have to admit that a couple of those squeezings were warranted...

Heading by a crazy temple on the other side of the river:

Cruising:

Driving through along tunnel (5 km long) and I felt like I had a monster chasing me...but it was just the grumble of Matthew's Royal Enfield Motorcyle:

I'm glad I know this guy!

We thought this was a bridge to an island but it was connected to the other side of the river:

Occasionally I would feel the clench of Garth’s legs around my hips as I could sense he felt we were in immediate danger and well, I have to admit that a couple of those squeezings were warranted...

Working on my passing, I think Garth was clenching here:

Now my turn to get passed:

We rolled into Manali around 6pm.  Wow, 10 hours to travel 175 kilometres...now that’s tending to the “Need for Speed”!

We were warmly welcomed in the Purnima Guesthouse, owned by my good friends Manu and Panna, the brothers that run the Olive Garden Restaurant in Goa.  After a much needed shower to wash off the remnants of the road on our faces, our arms and in our ears...we headed to the other Olive Garden restaurant that these guys run in Manali.  Some of the usual suspects of the wait and kitchen staff (Ram, Ramesh, Inder, Sanju, Rishi) also greeted us with hugs as I introduced them to Garth and Matthew.   A real pleasant surprise was to find Robin there, the German guy that I was playing chess with in Goa back in April before I left.  He finally got out of Arambol!  I’m shocked.

Garth and Ram:

Garth, Robin and Matthew at dinner at the Manali Olive Garden:

It’s always nice to receive a warm welcome in a foreign place after a long day of travelling.  Manali, the next few weeks are going to be good!