Hello Palampur

After a 14 hour bus ride we made it to Palampur in time to see the sun rise.  The bus was an experience of its own.  If a vehicle is capable of hitting more potholes than it has tires, it was the bus we rode.  Not because the bus was special in some way, it was quite ordinary; the roads on the other hand were not so special.  The only thing that compares is being in the middle of Grand Traverse Bay with 6 ft. waves slapping against the side of the boat, I'm surprised the axles didn't break.  The rest of the time it was like riding a washboard, which was nice because at least it was consistent jolting.  At one point I tried to fall asleep with my index finger in my mouth to avoid the rattling of my teeth, or a concussion.  Despite all of this, I actually enjoyed it (perhaps my amusement for and enjoyment of turbulence on airplanes explains this).  As we got further north (I presume) we encountered some roads that were the equivalent of pavement, except they were packed dirt cut through the middle of a forest.  For those of you struggling to imagine this think I696 + Deadwood.  At this point the bus became more like a freight train amongst other heavy vehicles (which are rare because of narrow streets).  It's hard to describe, but in the middle of the forest small shops and other buildings supplied light that reminds me of the lights they would use for construction work in darkness.  This continued for 100miles or so eventually leading to pavement.  Then the bus took on the characteristics of a wooden roller coaster navigating the S shape pattern of our road as we continued north.  This bus trip beats any Greyhound experience I could conceive of.  I didn't get much sleep and am tired.  Staying awake through the next day I was reminded of my 14 consecutive hours of doing nothing and staying awake all night/day when I was home, who would have thought that was actually preparation for my eventual travel.

I don't have any pics of the bus ride, having a camera would have been a boldly stupid thing to do.  I am going to post some pics of a place called Happy Valley.  Also, I'm going to post some remaining pics of Mussoorie.