Namaste from Manali! You might ask yourself, why? Why would Allison go back to the land of lost-and-found torment? You know, the place she left only a week ago on a nightmare 20-hour Jeep ride? Wasn't she supposed to go to Srinagar next? Well my friends, plans change, and once again I am reminded that things happen for a reason.

After a few days in Ladakh, Paul, Chris and I discussed our options for moving on. Chris had heard good things about Manali and the nearby Parvati Valley. He'd heard not so good things about Srinagar, namely that the rough journey there isn't worth the few days you'd spend relaxing on a houseboat on Dal Lake, having all your meals cooked for you by a personal chef, gazing out across the lake over fields of flowers and snowy Himalayan Peaks. Uhhhh, OK, so yeah, I decided to come back to Manali with these two irresistable yahoos from San Francisco. And I can honestly say, I'm not missing a thing.

Not enticed by the uncomfortable journey I had described, Paul and Chris were determined to find another way. In a brilliant maneuver (with some coaching from the Israeli Network, North India Chapter), they set out to investigate the option of hiring a Himachal Pradesh Jeep just arriving in Leh from Manali. Thanks to an odd law that prevents out-of-state Jeeps from returning to their own state with passengers (hello! India!), drivers wait around after dropping off passengers, hoping some clever travelers will figure out they can beat the system, get a good price and more space in one of these "empty" Jeeps. (Nevermind the questionable sanity of a driver willing or able to drive this forbidable stretch of road round-trip in 40 hours.)

A crowd of HP drivers preying on an easy fare and Ladakhi drivers wanting to stop them draws around Chris and Paul before they're able to break away and cut a deal with an HP driver eager to relieve us of our 4000 rupees (about $90). The deal is sealed and our driver disappears for a few moments with our 500 rupee deposit, which he will use to bribe the appropriate authorities. (My theory is that this whole operation guarantees employment of twice as many drivers, as well as a steady supply of baksheesh into the pockets of several interested parties.)

Thanks to Chris and Paul's efforts, we spent 16 hours tracing the sharp bumpy curves of the Leh-to-Manali road sprawled out, listening to our music and talking as loudly as we wanted. I felt no remorse for our luggage, which occupied the backseat I had been relegated to on the drive up.

An unexpected side effect of this drastically improved transportation arrangement was that I felt like I was experiencing this journey for the first time. I feel dumb saying so now but I guess attitude and environment can change everything. This Leh-to-Manali road navigates through the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous scenery I have ever seen on this earth. If not for Chris and Paul's suggestion, I've have missed the trip of a lifetime.