Scenes from Around Leh

The scenes from around the mountain town of Leh had no shortage of things to see and do...

But of course after our little trip, the bikes needed a little TLC first (that and I really needed a rear brake).


First up, was a walk to the stupa forest.


Not sure what the cans exactly do. Snow measurements? Keep them growing straight? Protection from dogs/people/cows peeing? Multi-purpose I'm sure.


Next was a climb up to one of the many gompas (monastery) overlooking town. Although the climb couldn't have been more than a 100 meters or so, it wasn't too easy at elevation.



Looking up-


Looking down-


Next to the gompa-


The scenery at sunset was surreal. Definitely a moment to enjoy and where you know that this is the reason I like to travel.

Leh

I took this photo of Leh on July 1. A little more than a month later, parts of Leh and its surrounding areas were completely obliterated by flooding and mudslides during a freakish downpour in the middle of the night. 165 are dead with hundreds injured and scores still "missing".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/165-dead-in-Leh-flash-floods-81-foreigners-rescued/articleshow/6286099.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Leh-now-battles-food-water-shortage/articleshow/6284908.cms

Looking at some of the photos of places around town that we recently visited and is now destroyed is disturbing. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Leh-now-battles-food-water-shortage/articleshow/6284908.cms (warning, some photos are very graphic) They're upsetting not so much that we could have been there while the mudslides happened, but also knowing how kind, friendly, and sweet the people of Leh are.

While natural disasters may be unavoidable, tragedies such as this are not necessarily so. I have to wonder what difference it would have made if Leh and its surrounding regions had better infrastructure (I can speak from firsthand experience about the poor roads and drainage) and had a greater investment in development. Poverty and tragedy from disasters are always intertwined- the current floods in Pakistan and China, the recent earthquake in Haiti are examples as is Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans.

While the Indian army and several large NGOs are responding to the crisis http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health1/ngo-seeks-public-help-in-leh-relief-work_100409069.html

http://www.savethechildren.in/component/content/article/49-newsflash/328-a-public-appeal-to-support-relief-efforts-in-leh.html
, their immediate relief, while absolutely critical, are still no substitute for longterm development efforts. Avoiding such future tragedies in Leh (or anywhere else in the world) requires not only a substantial investment in financial, social and human capital but vision as well.

Traversing the Manali-Leh Highway (4)

Day 5: Sarchu to Upsi

The morning starts off with a typical boring scene along the Manali-Leh highway...


Lachulangla- at 16,600', the 3rd highest motorable pass in the world


Pang is one of the temporary tent "cities" where you can get basic supplies and a bed if need be. We stopped to grab lunch at one of the many tent dhabas along the way.



We actually stopped off at the same dhaba for food on the way back. I recognized one of the dhaba owners from her photo in a book, so we cut out her page and gave it to her.


Her name is Dora and has 2 kids that she sees only once a year. She only makes about $1000 a season. She was so happy to see her page that she gave us some candy when we left, I felt like I 6 years old again, hah!


Morey Plains-


As much as I love the Royal Enfields, I'm not the biggest fan of any part but the engine on this bike. After I heard a clinking sound of metal hitting asphalt, I just knew that it couldn't have been good...

Yep, that's my rear brake. Never thought to bring an extra one of those, doh!

Ordinary if this was New Delhi or any other major city this wouldn't have been too bad, but it's still nearly 200kms from Leh! I still had to go through such Manali-Leh highway sights such as...

Tagalangla- at 17,500', the 2nd highest motorable pass in the world.



Going up without a rear brake wasn't too bad, going down was a different story. Let's just say it took awhile...

Finally, we're starting to see stupas and prayer wheels! After 487kms, several stops for attention-needy PEG, lots of magi (ramen), momos (potstickers), and thukpa (noodle soup) at tent dhabas, and 6 scenic, yet grinding, days, next stop Leh!

Traversing the Manali-Leh Highway (3)

Day 4: Keylong to Sarchu

The day begin as usual, pack the bags, load the bikes, struggle starting them up cold... PEG must have be a bad influence on Meeraj's bike.
http://flic.kr/p/8nWH5j


The scenery is nothing really to write about.


A few of the switchbacks heading up to the high altitude passes (after the first 20 I lost track...)-


We finally reach Baralachala at 16,500'. The mountain mountains finally begin.


It's as cold as it looks, but we're too distracted by the scenery to really care.


Baralachala is one of the (many) passes that we were a little concerned with before leaving New Delhi. On a Manali-Leh Highway touring Internet forum, stranded bikers posted updates like-

"I was riding with bikers who have done the manali-leh route almost 4-5 times and they could swear on their bikes that this was the scariest experience of all and they have never seen so much water and snow before."

Yep, not too much of a confidence builder, and the posted photos and videos also made Baralachala look umm... a bit "challenging" thanks to a recent avalanche.

Photo/Video a few days before we got there-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oAbqofWsPw&feature=player_embedded


Snow is one thing, but snow+bright sun results in water. Lots of it. Hard to believe it's not a river.


Crossing the Baralachala nallahs with PEG, the 400 pound she-beast of a bike-



I actually made it through the Baralachala nallahs in one piece without falling, but unfortunately I wasn't so lucky at crossings earlier in the day. At one point PEG was underwater for 5 minutes, but surprisingly started right away without any problems. My psycho ex-girlfriend definitely has a split personality. Nothing is quite so tiring as getting thrown off into snow melt/rivers and having to pick your 400 pound bike back up. Ugh! Manali-Leh Highway: 6, Me: 2.
Meeraj's Baralachala crossing video (be sure to watch the last 2 seconds, hah!).


After a long and exhausting day, we finally arrive at Sarchu, tent city.

The mountain scenery is almost like a painting which makes it all worthwhile.

Traversing the Manali-Leh Highway (2)

Day 2: Khoksar to Keylong

The morning ride though gets off to great start, it's absolutely gorgeous out and the road is well maintained and follows along the Indus river.

Peaks and valleys-


We even reach our first "nallah" crossing. Snow melt is supposed to be one of the more difficult things about riding the Manali-Leh highway. Ordinarily it wouldn't be such an issue this late in the year, but thanks to global warming, it's still snowing on some of the passes. We're pretty excited to test out our gaitors and the waterproofing of our boots though, woo-hoo!

First nallah crossing-


Although her clutch plates have been replaced, my Psycho Ex-Girlfriend (PEG) isn't too happy about it and decides to throw a fit (guess she doesn't like strangers fooling with her innards) and plays this game where she shifts into neutral randomly. Of course this just so happens to coincide exactly at the time when I need power (like crossing a nallah or going over a small bump), and I end up getting wet, bruised, and scratched up when I get thrown off. For those of you keeping score-Manali-Leh Highway: 3, Me: 0.

After the ride to Keylong, nothing's better than Tibetan comfort food.
Steaming thukpa-


And of course PEG goes right back to the local mechanic for a little pep talk and tune up.
Yogi's repairshop-

Spare bike parts-


At times, I could swear the scooters and bikes outside the repairshop take on a human personality.

Almost human-


Scrapyard outside the repairshop-


Keylong is a gorgeous and surprisingly large mountain town. We end up staying for 2 days for repairs and ended up exploring a nearby monastery.

Monastery arches-

Traversing the Manali-Leh Highway

As if riding around in rural Jaipur for a weekend wasn't challenging enough, we decided to tackle the epic Manali-Leh highway. "Highway" is waaaaay too optimistic of a descriptive term. It's 479 kms of bone-jarring rough Himalayan road with the occasional stretch of asphalt here and there- all at some of the highest elevations in the world (at least for a "motorable" road). That's all part of the fun of India, nothing comes easy. But hey, after our Jaipur trial run, we're (mostly) totally well-prepared.



Introducing the Royal Enfield
Touring the classic Manali-Leh highway deserves a classic bike. Every year, the Royal Enfield group actually sponsors an official tour of the Manali-Leh highway. Somehow though, it's just not too appealing to ride there in a group of 60+ guys, most of them on some sort of midlife crisis, which umm... is not what I am on.

Royal Enfield bikes have been in existence since the 19th century and have been in India since the 1940's. India is the only place that still manufactures them, and to this day, there is still high demand for them. It's easy to see why, they just look, sound, and feel how a motorcycle should be like. Their distinctive thump-thump-thump sound is almost primal, and Royal Enfields should get dirty and be taken off-road.




Although their official name is "Royal Enfield", they probably should be called the Royal-Pain-in-the-Ass instead because they often breakdown (see below). They basically have WWII-era technology in a 400 pound bike. In fact, we decided to name them after our ex-girlfriends 'cause although they might look really good, they're high maintenance, always need attention, and a bit crazy, hah! Over the weeks we rode them we thought up of a lot of other analogies, but umm... since probably some of my exes might be reading this I better not go into detail (but don't worry, it's not you, it's all the other ex-girlfriends, really... hah!).

Day 1: Manali to Keylong (err... make that Khoksar).
Well, Day 1 didn't get off to the greatest of starts. We went 12km in the wrong direction, and of course my "psycho ex-girlfriend" (PEG) immediately is tired of touring and decides to get a flat tire.


On the way up to Rohtang Pass, plenty of vendors renting out brightly colored jumpsuits and fur coats for the snow.


First taste of the mountains!



Fur wearing tourists riding the tiny ponies-


After the first pass of our trip, PEG decides she's done for the day and decides to blow her clutch plates in the town of Khoksar. Meeraj has to play "Lassie" again and rides 3 hours round trip to buy some new ones from the mechanic the next town over to repair PEG with.

Repairs by lightbulb-


Like all the other stops along the Manali-Leh highway, Khoksar is a really photogenic place.


Enjoying her coke-