please see our revised entries for day 3 and day4 as we have added new links and updated videos.
We went to bed last night more than a bit glum as the rain was relentless and we could hear it druming steadily against the tin roofs adjacent to the hotel as we tucked into bed. We were uneasy about the jury rigged tarp over the car roof and windshield. It seemed to do little to keep water from entering the interior. It was too short to provide complete coverage so we had to choose our poison; cover the front of the car to protect the dash and seats or shift it rear wards to sheild the luggage and travel stores we had packed. No good compromised here. As we lay in bed we vowed to get into Manali town the next day and find a larger tarp!
We woke this morning to find sunshine and blue sky…!!!! What a wonderful sight. Everything in sight was still dripping wet but what remained of the Typhoon Daye was finally spent against the mountains and relief from the deluge had finally arrived. We received our first lengthy from ERA HQ which spelled out our route options as well as directing all of the scattered teams to gather at a hotel ‘Sterling’ in the village of Piri, a few kilometers south of Manila.
We decided to breakfast at our hotel and go for a walk through old Manali to find a bank or ATM as cash was getting low and credit card access was going to be less and less reliable. We had grown to admire the staff of the empty hotel we had holed up in these last few days. They were always courteous and attentive and tried to help having sensed our predicament. Our waiter was a constant and unwavering companion. Being the only guest in the hotel he would appear from the some back room right on que and cheerfully offer us meals options. He tended to hover over us as we were the only ones there and seemed a bit of a curiousity to him and others in the hotel. Many of these were unintelligible and we dared not stray too far into ethnic cuisine lest we suffer the consequences. He tended to hover over us as we were the only ones there and seemed a bit of a curiousity to him and others in the hotel.
We heard from numerous locals that the storm we weathered was the worst in memory, and worse than the last flooding episode in 1995. The upper passes are blocked and the temperatures have plummeted to well below zero. Snow is now visible on the mountain peaks the the likelyhood of our traversing the Ranga pass is now remote. We hear reports the the road over the pass is blocked by collapsed roadways and rockfalls that may take weeks to clear.
We decided to take stroll into the old town and see if we could find a tarp. Although a bite late, I thought it would provide good ju-ju against the rain gods as now that we had a tarp surely we could be assured of continued dry weather. Lee found a wonderful local dress makers and had a made-to measure dress made from beautiful local hand embroidery. The negotiations took some time as the shopkeeper had to hunt down a tailor who prompty showed up and promised a finished dress in 2 hours!! After some quick measurements he ran off in a flurry. I took advantage of the time to locate a traditional local hat maker and bought a hat with a Yullu design (the town that we narrowly escaped the flooding river banks).
We caught up with the rest of the pack at the Sterling hotel in the small town of Piri, just a few kilometers south of Manali. We settled in and chatted in groups and waited for the return of the reconnaiscence parties sent out to scout the roads. We only knew at this point that we were effectively cut off. The road ahead was impassible, and the towns and roads we left behind were either blocked by rock falls and landslides or washed away.
Duct tape - the solution for everything ….except rain!!
I took the time in the sunny afternoon to open up the car and ventilate every crevice I could uncover. Every peice of equipment, all our stored supplies, were soaked. The interior of the car; leather, carpet and hood were sopping wet. With the top lifted and half opened doors and the Bentley made a great image of a pelican drying its wings.
At supper the returning scouting parties reported that there was a way to make a retreat from Manali but it would require finding a way over the swollen river. There was only one crossing open and it was a small suspension bridge designed for pedestrians an small tuk-tuks. The crew felt it was strong enough to support a solitary car and just wide enough to accomodate. It was decided that we would head out before dawn at 5:00 am in a solid convoy and get to the bridge before daily traffic began. We would each of us ‘run' the bridge, a car at a time, once over we would head to Shimla.
So we had a plan of action and it would start at 5:00 am the next morning ……….
