“The greatest part of life is to go to places you’ve never been before, and to live dangerously.”
As I was sitting outside a cafe chatting with friends, two motorbike touring fellows I had briefly met on the way to Turktuk ask me if I wanted to ride up part of the pass with them in order to watch the sunset above the city. Motorcycle ride and a sunset, of course!
“The most poetical thing in the world is not being sick.”
In addition to my lovely pounding headache and fever, I have now acquired a very swollen sore throat and a pretty intense ear ache. After lying in bed withering every time my pain meds started to run low, I figured it was time to check out the Ladakhi medical system. Though the “senior doctor” was out, I was able to see his “junior”, whatever that entitles. In any case, he was a sixty year old manwho knew how to put the batteries in the apparatus to look down my throat, and see that my tonsils were extremely enflamed with white bumps covering them. He proceeded to prescribe me an antibiotic (amoxicillin) and told me not to eat hard foods (even swallowing water at this point is very painful so I will definitely be heeding this piece of advice).
“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is not cure for cuiosity.”
As I am curled up under my down sleeping bag sick in bed, I have decided to share with you some of the funny or unusual things I have encountered here in India.
“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”
Well unfortunately my cycling had been postponed a few days because the morning I was set to leave, I came down with a fever. At first I was frustrated, I wanted to be on my bike again, camping, out of the city of Leh which is such a tourist hub. I realized though, that attempting to cycle up a pass with a pounding headache and fever is just about impossible. My health is crucial to this trip as I am relying on myself, and only myself, to get me from place to place, and with three years of open road ahead, I guess taking a few extra days off really isn’t that bad. So I decided to look on the bright side and spend a few solid days reading great books, and listening to interesting podcasts. For the first few days it was nice, like a little vacation in a vacation. I thought I would have ample time to read everyday throughout this trip, but bike touring has turned out to be a full time job (in the best way possible) so it was nice to have a few days to get some reading in. By day three though, I was sick of always being too hot or cold due to my fever, and I wanted nothing more than to get rid of my constant pounding head ache.
“And then I realized, adventure was the best way to learn.”
Though I could spend months exploring the mountains and valleys in Ladakh, unfortunately it is time for me to start heading south in order to beat the snow which typically starts near the end of September. To do so, I will be taking the one road that leads down, the Leh to Manali highway (the same road I drove on to get up here), and I will be adding on a large loop detour in order to explore two beautiful lakes. All in all it will be over 700km, and I’m guessing it will take me close to three weeks. I will not have internet (seeing as I will literally be in the middle of nowhere, there is not even electricity or permanent civilization in most parts), so I will continue to write blog entries and post them in a few weeks once I have reached the town of Manali.
“The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.”
Take a look around you. Whether you are at the store, at school, or in the library, chances are, most of the people around you have their phones out. Or maybe you just got your phone out, in the middle of a meeting, because it vibrated when an email with this post was delivered to your virtual mailbox, and you just couldn’t resist taking a peek.
“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
The lady who ran my guest house (and her baby cow).
“And then there are times when it doesn’t need to make sense. It just simply is, and it is all you need to believe in.”
Instead of cycling the 200km back to Leh along the same route we had just accomplished, my British cycling buddy and I decided to try our luck at hitchhiking. After two hours without cars, a few army trucks passed where we were waiting and graciously picked us up. As we hopped into the back of one of the massive trucks, we were greeted by a dozen very friendly Seek Indian army men. They all had dark green turbans and goggles, and smiled and laughed at us as we joined them for a ride until the next army base camp. From there, the driver hooked us up with another truck who was going another 50km farther, but not before shaking our hands and handing us each a bar of delicious chocolate. Our second ride of the day took place amongst many boxes and gear, with two other soldiers, in the back of an equally massive truck. During both of these rides, each time we passed through a village the children would run after the trucks with their arms out wide asking for candy. I have never wished I had a bag of lollipops to hand out more than whilst in those trucks.
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.”
After climbing up and over the highest pass, the English lad I had adopted along for this four day adventure and I rode into what is referred to as Numbra Valley. Because this road approaches both China and Pakistan, the military presence is very heavy, though there are not many other inhabitants. There are few villages between Leh and Tukturk (200km), and Tukturk is the end of the road (unless you are Indian military) north into the Indian Himalayas. Since most of the valley is no higher than 3,300m, there are animals, such as donkeys and large yaks, who roam freely along the river, and where there are people, there are trees and a bit of refreshing green. The rest of the landscape is barren rock with a few sand dunes between the high peaks.
“I doubt if anyone would claim to enjoy life at high altitudes- enjoy, that is, in the ordinary sense of the word.”
I just cycled over the highest motorable pass in the world. I never imagined that someday I would cycle up to 5,602m, and I definitely never imagined I would actually enjoy it. I started out late in the morning and had planned to camp at a village about 15km from the top in order to summit the next day. When I arrived, I realized it was a military base with a few tents of soldiers, and a few other tents with Indian men. After sitting in the “village” reading for an hour I realized I did not feel comfortable sleeping there. The guys stared rudely, and the military men kept coming up and taking my picture. Lucky for me, earlier in the day I had met an English fellow who was biking up the pass as well so I decided to ride down with him. Though I turned around before the top that time, it had been an amazing day. The cycling up had been surprisingly fun, and cycling down at 50km an hour while the sun was setting was absolutely unbelievable.
The Wandering Nomads 