Alexander the Great returned his eastgoing quest in the Punjab region of India a “few” years ago where he met the great challenges of the large rivers (Punjab means “the 5 rivers” and og course the unbeaten mountain ringe of the Himalayas.
The area shifts to containing sikh templets and you now very frequently meets men in their special headwear, clothing and a new way of worshipping through sacred litterature.
Punjab was split between Pakistan and India back in 1947 to claim new border Lines – which unfortunately also did split the sikh population.
We arrived in Manali after 292km in a mix of smoothie roads and pothole filled dirt roads – just following the main road and enjoying some dramatik bypassing of buses, tuctucs and trucks. We have passed beautiful landscapes and violent rivers, numerous landslides that had eroded the main road and some small vilages full of senere after flooding.
But all seem just as normal as ever and the locals (slowly) repairs the damages with whatever is available.
And then it is about the holy cows. They really are everywhere and locals do respect them. If the cow will not move for you – you just wait …
Tomorrow we will pick up the Royal Enfields – mostly the Himalaya model with 418cc engenes or around 27hp. It will be fun to experience what these biles are capable of.
