Saturday, August 29th --› Friday, September 4th
(Written Oct. 9th, 1998 in Singapore.)
Day 8, Gya --› Leh (Alt. 3500m), 95km
'The best scenery'
The first 30km of this days ride had some of the most spectacular scenery of the tour. Riding thought the foothills of the Zanskar ranges we were surrounded by green and purple rocks. At every turn the scenery changed. After 30km we rode down a straight fast road in a valley that contained little vegetation. Throughout the trip we saw many funny road signs painted on yellow slabs at the side of the road. Here I saw one of my favourites - 'If you love her divorce speed now'. It was also on this road that I unknowingly drove straight through a police check point, luckily without consequences.
We stopped 17km outside Leh at the Thikse Gompa (monastery). There was yet another breathtaking view, of the Indus Valley, from the roof of this monastery. Around 2pm we arrived in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. Leh goes back a long way in history as a town on the silk route and some of the buildings date back 1000 years. These days Ladakh is full of Tibetan people due to the oppression of Tibetans in Tibet. It is said that Ladakh is more Tibetan than Tibet. These people here were some of the most friendly I met in India. Leh itself is fairly green due to the Indus river but the surrounding mountains are barren.
Day 9, Rest day in Leh.
We did not achieve much on this day. In the evening we took the bikes up to a temple that offers a great view of the sunset across the Indus valley. The governor of the state of Kashmir also showed up and the film crew managed to get some footage with him.
Day 10, Leh --› Khardung La (Alt. 5600m!) --› Leh, 100km
'The highest road in the world'
This was the big day of the tour. For the last week we had been carefully prepared for the high altitude we would reach today.
We left the hotel at 8:30am and the first 25km to the police check point was a nice asphalt twisty mountain road. At the checkpoint we learnt that Andy had fallen off in a left hand switchback (he was fine). Mike was told that even though we had permission we could not go up as today was a 'dry day'. The film crew (Greg was not feeling well), Mr. Lal, and Rajen showed up. Rajen and Mr. Lal managed to convince the man in charge to let us go up.
It was soon obvious why the road had been closed. There were several hundred workers on the road and they were throwing rubic cube size rocks onto the road to later be flattened by a steam roller. In there un-flattened state they made for very hard riding, especially since I have little dirt riding experience. The bike kept stalling and I found myself fighting for air from the effort of riding, stalling, and then starting the bike again at such high altitude. Close to wondering if I am going to make it to the top I realized that the clutch was part of the problem and after adjusting it I faired much better. After a long section of rocks the road turned to just dirt again which gave me a much needed break. There were a few other shorter sections of workers/rocks on the way to the top. Some of the workers were throwing rocks onto the road in front of me, others were cheering me on.
I was second to reach the top after DC. We took lots of photos and video. When everyone arrived we pulled out our cards and it turned out that I had the best hand (two tens and a joker) and have won 3000 Rupees ($75). DC lent me his discman and I looked out from what seemed like the top of the world and watched two eagles chasing each other as I listened to Pink Floyd. A moment I will not forget. Greg was sick and Alam had to ride his bike back down to Leh. I had been given some coaching by Andy (sit back and hold the handlebars loosely and just gun it!) and the ride down was much easier. At one point a worker gave me a push. As I guned it through the long rocky stretch (some of which had been steam rollered) the workers cheered me on.
After the police check point the asphalt was easy compared to what we had just done. At one point I stoped to enjoy the view. DC was behind me and also admiring the view. Suddenly seeing me stopped in front of him he locked up the front brake and fell over at low speed (We later learned that on the way down Morris fell of at low speed, that makes 3 on this day). For the rest of the ride down I lead and DC follows. Everything comes together and I have my best ride so far. We flew down a great road alternating between fast sweepers and switchbacks. It was just us the bikes and the road, no-one around, no rules. We were first to arrive at the appointed restaurant and sat down and enjoyed lunch while still high from the days ride.
Day 11, Rest day in Ladakh
'The Ladakh festival'
We headed out to watch the parade on the first day of the Ladakh festival. After taking pictures of the parade we headed off to the polo grounds to watch the opening ceremony. We were allowed to stand in a reserved area. Many different groups came out in costumes or leading animals and paraded or danced. After a while I realized that some of the photographers in the thick of things were not with the press. I decided to join them to get some good photos. There were 5 or 6 very scarey looking security men around and Mike took a picture of me beside one of them. After a break back at the hotel we went back and watched some of the archery which was amusing as hardly anyone seemed to be able to hit the target.
Day 12, Leh --› Lamayuru, 120km
On this day we followed the Indus valley, home of some of the oldest civilizations know to man. After lunch we went over a pass and the scale of the scenery was amazing (I need new adjectives). A few of us just sit there in awe for a few hours. A little further down the road is a strange moon like landscape that apparently used to be a lake. At Lamayuru we put our stuff in the tents and then headed of to see a 1100 year old monastery.
Day 13, Lamayuru --› Dras --› Sonarmarg, 160km + 63km
'Mission Impossible'
We left the campsite at 8am. After 20km we rode across the Fatu La (4091m). After this the road was winding and fast with good camber. A bit further along the road was covered in oil and Andy (who I was riding with) and I slowed down. We stoped in Mulbekh for chai and when the others arrived we discovered that John had fallen off on the oil while carrying a local man on the back and Eric had come off in the same area (no one was hurt). As we headed off Mike takes the lead (usually he lagged behind with the film crew, but on this day they were not allowed to film). After Mike is DC, Eric, Andy and then me. They set a very fast pace that is a challenge for me.
We stoped in Kargil and tried to find a place for lunch but gave up and decided to go on without. Kargil is a politically sensitive area as 5km outside town the road comes very close to the line of control with Pakistan. At night the Pakistanis come up to the ridge that borders the road and shell it. All intelligence in the area made us feel comfortable that it was safe during the day (A few weeks later the road was closed as it become unsafe). On the road out of Kargil we saw the burnt out shells of a few trucks and drove by India's heavy artillery in the area. Again the pace was fast (heightened by a desire not to spend much time in the area!). Finally we pulled into Dras (the second coldest town in the world) at about 4pm.
At 5:30pm Mike told us that he had just found out that the next day was going to be a 'dry day' for the road to Srinagar. So if we did not ride the 63km to Sonarmarg that evening/night we would be stuck in Dras for another day. Mr. Lal and Rajen manage to get us permission to cross the necessary pass even though it is open one way in the other direction for a convoy of trucks. We all headed of in a hurry. Alam rode Dave's bike as he was having back problems. We had trouble getting through the first check point but once through we rode hard to get as far as we could while there was some daylight left. The road (if you want to call it that) was bad, there was no light, there were many Tata trucks, and we were often stopped by officials. After 28km we reached the beginning of the Zoji La (3529m). We were told to wait and after 45 minutes we were allowed to proceed. This pass marks the entry into Kashmir (Muslim) and if it was light we would have seen the scenery become green again. The next 25km we rode over the pass by braille. We could not stay close together as the bike in front threw up too much dust. I wanted an adventure and I got it! We finally made it into Sonarmarg and half the town came out to greet us and try and get our business. We picked a restaurant and ate a great late diner with 20 local boys watching over us and Eric's video camera. We checked into a local hotel (dump) and finally calmed down enough to realize how exhausted we were and fell asleep.
Day 14, Sonarmarg --› Srinagar, 86km
At breakfast, in between Indian songs, 'Mission Impossible' came on the stereo so we decided to make it the theme song of the night before.
This was a fairly uneventful day as we now had only 86km to cover to Srinagar. The scenery had completely changed. There was a big river and lots of trees. I had not realized how much I missed trees. We stopped just outside Srinagar to wait for everyone. For the final ride into town DC lent me his discman again. I was in my own world listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn as we jostled with the traffic. Before I knew it we were on a Shikara (small boat) heading across the Dahl lake to the house boats that would be our home for a few days. We showered, relaxed, and ate. I even got a massage.
Rupert
Bangkok