The Himalayans

So the drive from Bilaspur to Manali today took about 5 hours. The most interesting part of the drive was entering the Himalayans. We are in a part of the Himalayans called the Inner Himalayans after driving through the Outer Himalayans. The Outer Himalayans are basically the foothills. Tomorow we drive into the Greater Himalayans and over the Rohtang Pass. Ravi, the group leader and organizer told us that Rohtang means corpse. It has this name because for 4-7 months of the year this pass is not passable. Everyone on the other side is completely isolated from supplies, medicines, etc. People trying to get across during the winter season would die and there body's would literally accumulate during the winter. Once the pass defrosted body's would be seen all along the journey. This is also funny because the popular brand of bottled water around here is called Rohtang... I wonder if they know what it means?

It is about 10:30 here and I am getting ready for bed. I have tried to give you guys a call but I haven't had much luck figuring it out. Apparently I can't buy a calling card here and I don't know the correct number so dial to make things work. If I am able to figure that out I will try to give you a call before leaving civilization.