Day turns into night, night turns into day. Road leads to hotel, hotel leads to another road. The roads have begun to get winding now as we go up the Himalayas. And yet it is to sink in – this is actually happening.

In the day-to-day drives, media engagements, family visits, we don’t realise how far we have come.

If last week’s highlights were temples, this week’s highlight is universities and rope-ways.

An impressive school in Darjeeling                               Nalanda University Excavations

So, Ninni is scared of heights and was unwilling to sit on the open-bucket type, single rope-way seats at one of the spots. After a lot of convincing, she very nervously agreed.

Before                ————->                During           ————->      After

And here is “after ka after” for you – Ninni after her next ride. Our seasoned rope-way traveller has now lost all fear of height.

This week we also saw the real adventure begin. So here we are, driving along down the road from one destination to another, just another day in this road trip. And we find ourselves at the head of a very narrow bridge. Broad enough for just one car. And the bridge was long, really long. Suddenly we stopped and leaned forward. Ninni yelped. “What happened?”

“Uh oh.” I said. “Ayyo.” muttered Pushpa. “What?” asked Ninni.

“Bus.” I said, which made Ninni say, “Oh.” I’m pretty sure she still didn’t understand the situation.

A bus had shown up in the middle of the bridge – facing us. It was unpredicted and caught us all off guard. I looked behind me. From the back window I could see the vast expanse of the bridge behind with a line of vehicles on it. As if it were a competition, vehicles lined up behind the bus too. I sighed, and allowed myself to slump a little. We were going to spend a lot more than just a long time on this bridge.

Ultimately we crossed and escaped dropping down in the river by an inch or so.

Worry not, that is behind us and all ended well. But it was amusing to see a single line traffic jam.

No, no photos. Our hands were occupied biting our nails.

And now here we are 14 out of 72 days spent with nature, buildings, temples, media, family and so much more. 3,000+ out of 21,000+ kms driven through the ins and outs of North and North-Eash India. And yet, it feels like just the beginning because only 1 out of 18 countries have been visited.

We are experiencing Bhutan as we speak right now. The Himalayas are the same. The trees lush green. The rivers gurgle like they do in India too. But it still feels like a different place. Maybe because we passed this grand gate that’s called the border. Maybe because we were asked for official documents identifying the country we come from. Maybe because the soldiers wear different uniforms. Nothing takes away from how serene this place is.

Until next week, then…if you would like to receive more frequent (almost daily) updates here are the social media links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. If you would like weekly updates, please send an e-mail to badribaldawa@gmail.com.