The Mahindra Monastery Escape 2016 is a one-of-its-kind road trip through some of India's toughest and picturesque terrain.
Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera made an 11-day road voyage across some of South Asia's most deserted, challenging, terrain, always under the gaze of the sacred, dazzling Himalaya.
After a few exciting days in Nepal, a land of alluring stupas, Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera, on a tri-nation drive, heads east via India into mysterious Bhutan.
Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera takes in the best of Bhutan, a beautiful little kingdom that has bundles and bundles of goodness to offer.
'As the convoy crawled towards Manali, the night got darker with no street lights to guide us. The road ahead too got narrower and rocky.'
'There is a point near the hill where you kill the engine and park your vehicle in neutral.' 'The vehicle automatically slides a few inches, which the locals believe is due to the magnetic power of the hill.'
'All those photographs I had seen before about Ladakh were not photoshopped.' 'Ladakh, truly, was nature's masterpiece.'
'As the night wore on, we could hear insects, see fireflies and slowly, the stars took over the naked sky.' 'For those of us who spend the largest part of our lives in a cement jungle and wake up to machine sounds, this was music.'
