Trip to The Valley of Flowers (July 13-16)

So for the last 4 days of absence, I was up north in the Himalayas visiting a place called The Valley of Flowers. Well actually I only spent 2 days in the mountains themselves, and on the 13th and 16th I was just cramped in the bus trying to reach my destination. But don’t get me wrong; though each trip took 10 strenuous long hours, these bus rides were far from any ordinary bumpy ride in a cage on wheels. These were the scariest bus rides ever! They even got me nautious at times. The whole adventure was so very demanding for the body. But lets just start from the beginning.

On the 13 I caught a bus from Rishikesh at 4:30AM bound for Govindghat, which is the city at the base of the mountain of the Valley of Flowers. From there you had to walk 13KM uphill to the town of Govinddham before you can reach the Valley of Flowers which was another 4KM away. So I was expecting a long and boring ride on the bus where I could catch up on the sleep that I missed on the night before. But the beautiful scenery and the death defying ride just kept me awake the whole time.
The bus was travelling on roads coasting the sides of the mountains which jus climbed higher and higher in altitude. If you look outside of the bus, you can see that the ledge jus cuts straight down to your iminent death... Also, all along the roads, there were clear evidence that there were landslides and rockslides that occured frequently. At every twist and turn you had the feeling that the bus would tip over and tumble down the mountain. I later found out that there were incidents where some busses never made it. The lanes were so narrow that the bus always had to yield for incomming traffic. But when you look away at the distance, you can see the beautiful valleys, waterfalls, towns in the mountains, rice fields and the river which was the calming and soothing part of the ride. So 13 hours later I finally reached Govindghat.

I'll update this later on my part 2