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Another dream came true. I (Willem-Jan) visited India for the third time, this time for a 3 week journey (2 - 24 september) on an Indian Enfield through the Himalayas.
Click on a day image to go to the photo album of that day (not for day 1, 3 and 23).
On a Sunday in September around 7.30am I was picked up in Burgerveen by Robert, our travelleader from Travel2Explore, and his wife Gerda. Together we drove to Schiphol Airport, where we met our fellow Dutch travellers, Carola, Henk (Robert's father), Hans en Henri. After a two hour flight with Austrian Airlines we landed in Vienna to catch the flight to New Delhi in India. At the airport the group was completed by the Belgium travellers who had flown in from Brussels, David, Kathy, Ronny (David's father), Michael, Luc and Ronny. Here you can find more info on the gang and the crew. Together we boarded a pretty old Boeing with an outdated entertainment system of Austrian Airlines. The food was however good. After more than a seven hour flight we landed around midnight at Delhi airport where we were picked up by a bus. The bus drove us through a dark and empty city to our hotel, Delhi Pride in Karol Bagh, a popular district among travellers.
After the mosque we dove into the narrow and crowded streets of Old Delhi. We made a deal with 2 rickshaw drivers to drive us around and to the Spice market. The tour gave us a good sight of the streetlife in this part of the city. Even in a rickshaw it was very difficult to get around. We ended up in a traffic jam and doubled back into another direction. After an hour or so we decided to end the tour and after some hassle about paying the rickshaw drivers more money, the tour had lasted much longer than was agreed, we went for a nice Indian lunch. Ater the lunch we headed back to the hotel, still tired from the flight and the first day in India. The district of Karol Bagh is also famous for its shops and open air markets. After dark the place comes really alive with hundreds of street and foodstalls and people just everywhere.
We travelled past the slums of Delhi and through the countryside. This trainride gave us a good sight of rural Northern India with its sugarcane fields and lowland forests. Finally we saw the mountains coming into sight. We could not wait to get on the bikes to explore the mountains! Around one o'clock we arrived in Dehradun where we were met by the local organization. With three cars, one was driving crazier and faster than the other, we were brought to our hotel. Here we met the guys who would accompany us for the next three weeks on our trip through the Himalayas, roadcaptain Gailson from Ladakh, roadmanager Biki from Nepal, road engineer Mr. Khan from India, driver Namgyl from Ladakh and master helper Nono from Ladakh. The bikes were already lined up and after lunch we went for a short ride to get used to the bike. The Indian Royal Enfields (500cc) were the latest ones, with the European clutch, gear and brake system. They rode excellent!
Dehradun was soon left behind us as we entered the Sub Himalayas. The roads varied from good tarred roads to bumpy dirt roads and everything in between. But hey, this is Asia, adventure and it is still a long way to the real mountains. Gailson took the lead and led us through green landscapes, forests, ricefields and always the mountains were within view, just simply amazing. There was plenty time to stop for another nice photograph. We passed small villages and always there were schoolkids waving at us. The real first hill station we passed was Mussoorie. Just outside Mussoorie we stopped for a drink stop. This was going to be our rhythmn for the next weeks. Drive for a hour or so with lots of photostops, then Gailson gave the sign for a drink and pee stop. This would repeat itself for a couple of times and then it was time for lunch in a small village. The afternoon went the same way as the morning. No one was in a hurry and everyone was having a good time, enjoying the scenery and the life on the road. 15 km from Mussoorie were the beautiful Kempty Falls, a popular tourist place for a picknick or a swim. After a long day of riding through green forests over small roads we finally arrived in Barkot, a little mountain village.
Just before Rohru we hit the main road and it was under construction. For the next 10 kilometers we drove in a traffic jam with cars, trucks and motorbikes riding everywhere and in all directions. It had not rain for days so the ride was hot and very dusty. But finally we reached our hotel, a nice one, just off the dusty main road. Robert made during dinner a nice remark about our various ways of driving through the traffic jam that afternoon, overtaking whenever it was posibble, driving left or right wherever there was room. But that was not the way he wanted to see us drive. Traffic in India is really special and you should be careful in what you are doing, so only overtaking on the right hand side and always use your horn when overtaking.
It was apple harvest time and everywhere we saw people carrying big bags of apples on their backs to the nearest collection place. We had a tea stop in a small village on a low mountain pass, just a few houses annex local pub/restaurant, a street stall and a nice little temple. Soon we gathered a small group of curious children around us, watching everyting we did. The elder people kept their distance, but were just as curious as the children. After a nice descend we followed the Satluj river until we reached the turnoff for Sarahan. The road went up again, along military compounds where Sikh soldiers were watching us. Military slogans were written on the walls that surrounded the compounds. Finally we reached Sarahan, famous for its Shri Bhima Kali temple. where we stayed in a nice hotel with views on the snowcapped mountains from the balcony.
The main road to the Jalori Pass was closed due to a landslide, so we took the bypass and what an adventure that was! Twenty kilometers of dirt, stony and muddy roads. It was amazing how people can make a road out of slate stones, all stacked on top of one another. The bikes were having a really tough time conquering those stones and so did we. Just to make it any better or worse, depending on how you looked at it, some stretches were really muddy. Just before the top we entered the woods where a really nice muddy road was waiting for us. A few got stuck or fell in the mud, while others went through the woods and got stuck between the trees. We all helped each other pulling the bikes through the mud and with the help of about ten bikers even the backup car got through the mud. It had taken us more than an hour to get us all through this muddy part and at that altitude, just under 3000 meters, it was really hard work. The tea stop at the Jalori Pass, a few small buildings and the Ma Kali temple, was very welcome. After a good rest we found our way carefully down the steep forest road back to the main road that led to Sjoha. Just before Sjoha, we spent the night in a very nice lodge in Banjar, where the friendly owner gave us a very nice dinner with lots of beer. We were now mountain proof!
We arrived in Manali in the early afternoon and rode through the town to our hotel, a few kilometers from the centre of the town. We stayed in the luxurious hotel Highland, with big rooms, nice beds and hot showers. After a very copious lunch in one of the many Tibetan restaurants we explored Manali until the rain drove us back to the hotel.
The Rohtang Pass was pretty touristy with lots of souvenirstalls, foodshops, tourists in four wheel drive cars and a small temple. After lunch we descended from the pass and found ourselves in a different part of the Himalayas. The forests were gone and it was much drier now. The air was clear, cool and felt good. Halfway down the pass roadworks blocked the way. It took a while before they cleared the road and over lots of rocks and stones we bounced further down the road into the small village of Gramphu, the junction for the Spiti and Lahaul valleys. We went left and followed the Chandra river towards Keylong, where we would stay for a day in Drilbu Retreat to acclimatize, to wash, to relax or visit monasteries.
In the late afternoon we reached Sarchu, just a fixed tent camp in the middle of nowhere on the Manali - Leh highway. We spent the night at an altitude of 4200 meters. And we really felt it. It was very exhausting just to do a simple move like getting up from your bed to go to the toilet. We also suffered from light pressures in our head and light headaches. Sleeping was uncomfortable with these headaches. I even got it so bad that I had to be hooked onto a oxygen flask. I had not drunk enough water that day. Robert and Gailson had warned us to drink at least two liters of water everyday and also all the tea and other drinks at every stop, just to get the blood flowing through your body. Well, I did not and paid the price for it. My dinner was three bowls of garlic soup and 1 bowl of tomato soup and fresh oxygen, but luckily I did not get the altitude sickness, which would have meant the end of the trip. Until this day we had had some minor accidents, like falling of bikes at low speed or almost colliding with cats and horses on roads, but Henk, Robert's father, made this day a really nasty fall and hurt his foot badly.
The dusty dirt road with dozens of hairspins took us over the first two passes of over 5000 meters, the Nakee La and the Lachulung La. The descend was through a majestic and narrow gorge. Lunch stop was next to the road where a few tents stood waiting for passers by. The waitresses were friendly and gave us lots of tea and cookies. We were more or less self supporting now for our lunches. In these remote areas, with almost no villages and thus no shops, you had to bring your own food and soft drinks. Our lunch were sandwiches with cheese and a few slices of cucumber or lettuce, a candy bar or other sweets and a egg, simple but nourishing. The food stalls provided tea and noodle and garlic soup. Sometimes we could eat our lunch at those road side stalls, other times we just ate lunch next to the road, in the middle of nowhere, but always with great views. Dinner in the fixed camps were always good, rice with lentils, pasta, meat and vegetables. Life can be simple! We slept again in a fixed tent camp with a very cold shower and toilets at the side of the camp, on the high plains near Lake Kar (Tsokar), a salt lake, at an altitude of 4600 meters. Nearby the camp were a few chortens, the Tibetan version of a stupa, in the shape of a white upside down clock and often containing Buddhist relics. The temperatures during the day are comfortable in these high mountains, but during the night they drop to just above five degrees and for sleeping in those tents you need a lot of blankets or a good sleeping bag.
The dirt road through the plains and over the Tanglang La (5359m) was beautiful, the descend along the Gya river was even more beautiful. In Upshi the Gya river joined the famous Indus river. If you turned right here the road would take you into China, but we turned left and followed the Indus river towards Leh. It was a nice and good road through the Indus valley, with spectacular views on the mountains with it strange colors and rock formations. We passed little villages and saw more and more trees. Slowly we were riding back into civilization. Just before Leh we hit more traffic and saw the first monasteries around Leh, such as the Stok and Thiksey monasteries. Our hotel was in Choglamsar, a small village about ten kilometers before Leh. It had nice rooms with hot showers and a Tibetan atmosphere. Henry and Luc visited a small clinic in Leh to check out their injuries. They came back with nice stories about Ladakhi hospitals.
Both monasteries were a nice place to visit, with beautifully decorated walls, prayer wheels and bells, doors and small temples. From the top of the monasteries we had nice views over the airport of Leh, the surrounding villages and the Indus valley. Leh was an easy going city with an abundance of tourist places, like souvenirs shops, Tibetan markets, restaurants and bars. The main shopping street was lined with local women selling fruits and vegetables. I wondered how Leh had looked like thirty years ago when I wanted to visit Ladakh from Kashmir where I was in april 1982. At that time the roads were still closed because of the snow and I had decided to travel further east through the lower parts of the Himalayas, with places like Dharamasala and Shimla. But never mind I was here now and it was still a nice place.
Needless to say that it was again a beautiful ride, with amazing mountain views and steep hairpins. On the top of the Chang La was the Baba temple and a teahouse where we could warm ourselves. It was getting cold now! As with all passes we had driven sofar and also the ones still to come the first kilometers were good and the last part to the top and the first part after the top were the most difficult with muddy roads, rocks and sometimes wet snow. Chang La was no exception. The descent was hard with a very difficult stretch dotted with rocks and stones. We took this stretch one by one without too many problems. We were getting more and more experienced to ride the Ladakhi mountain roads. Lunch was at a teastall at a very beautiful location on the Changthang plateau. We were not the only visitors to admire the peace and the views. Near Durbuk we had to stop at a checkpoint where police officers checked our permits. We all had to write our names and addresses in a big book. We spent the night at Tangtse, in a nice little guesthouse with a couple of bungalows where for the first time our hired cooks served diner to us. Nearby was the recently built Tangtse Monastery with its bright coloured walls and doors. Robert and I spent the night in the main house itself, because the old bungalows were too dirty and the new ones did not have room for all of us. A very nice experience, no shower and the toilet was just a hole in the floor. The living rooms had nice colourful carpets and the bedrooms had enough thick blankets to keep us warm. In the morning cows were walking through the courtyard.
After a few cups of tea we climbed on our motorbikes and rode the same way back, again over the Chang La where it was lightly snowing. This night we stayed in real tents with our sleeping bags on farmer's land in Chemre (Chemdey). Cows, yaks and horses roamed freely between the trees. The toilet was a square tent with a hole in the ground and you could wash yourself in a cold stream behind the tents. The diner and campfire made everything worthwile and after a lot of beers all sorts of national songs were sung.
The descent into the famous Nubra Valley was another amazing ride. The Nubra valley with the meandering Shyok river is at places very wide and there we could ride over a very good and flat road. Sometimes we could speed up to 80 kilometers an hour, but not for long, because you never knew where the road would turn bad again. At other places we went higher up the sides of the valley where you had to be careful of rocks behind the corner. And as always the views were amazing, all those colours and rockformations never got bored. At times riding through this valley I felt free, proud and glad that I was able to undertake such a journey. I have travelled a lot during the last 30 years and seen amazing places on 5 continents, but this valley really got me impressed by its beauty. Just before Hunder, our nightstop in a fixed camp, was a camelcamp in the sanddunes. It was a touristy place, but it was fun to play and ride with the camels. These camels were descendants from the camels used on the famous Silk Road to China.
We had heard that the pass was closed the day before due to heavy snowfall. We did not know what to expect. The first part was again beautiful with some nice gorges. We passed the little village of North Pullu and during one last stop we put on some warmer clothes. Now the real work started, as usual the last fifteen or so kilometers were the worst and it was really bad today. The snow had alreay melted and left us a road that was covered with mud, wet snow and icy patches. Slipping and sliding we fought in our way the road and finally we all reached the Khardung La without problems. An emotional outburst followed. Above the little Shiva temple lots of prayer flags were waving in the cold wind. I climbed to the top to put up a prayer flag that I had bought in the Kardang Monastery near Keylong. It was a very emotional moment for me to be up there so high, thinking of my parents, they both had passed away the year before. And as Robert later so tactfully said "this is the closest you can get to them". Thanks mate! The descent to Leh was quite an easy one and with a last stop with a nice view of Leh in the far distance we rode into Leh, taking some smaller roads into the center and to our hotel, the Pangong Hotel. Wow, we had made it. It was really tragic that Henk and Luc, due to injuries, did not finish the trip on motorbike, but at least they were with us all the time. And I must say that we had been very lucky with the good weather all these weeks. Lots of sun, no rain during the day and nice temperatures.
That evening we shared our last meal with the crew and we thanked them heartfully. Without them we just would not have been here, they were always present, ready and helpful with everything from beer to lucky charms and cookies and always in a good mood. Shukriya! A few of us had to pay off the damage on their bike, such as a damaged headlight, ranging from five to forty euro's, a bargain if you had seen what they had endured these three weeks.
After a short rest Hans and I took a rickshaw to visit the Red Fort in Old Delhi. On our first day this beautiful fort was closed. We wandered around for a few hours, looking at the buildings and the Indian visitors. Nice place! In the chaos of Delhi traffic we took another rickshaw back to our hotel. After a few mechanic problems the rickshaw finally gave up. The driver flagged down another one, gave him some rupees for the rest of the ride to the hotel. Once there he wanted of course more rupees, but we had made already a price with the other guy and he should go back to him if the price was not fair. That evening we had a sort of farewell diner, because Michael was flying home the next day, while the rest of the group was going to Agra. Robert had prepared a little speech for everyone. In a few sentences he was able to point out what that particular person had gone through these three weeks. Simply amazing how good he was at analyzing the lot of us, just by watching and talking.
We unpacked our things and after a quick rest and freshup we visited the Agra Fort. For these two days in Agra we had a guide and bus with driver, very classy. Agra Fort was similar to the Red Fort in Delhi, but with a guide explaining all the stories about the emperor, his wives and the buildings and structures it came more alive then when you were walking around by yourself. From the Fort, situated on the banks of the holy river Yamuna, we could see the Taj Mahal, which we would visit the next morning. After visiting the Fort we went back to the hotel for a lunch, which took ages, because the restaurant employees looked like they were trained to do only one thing at the time and for every task another employee was needed. All of this was watched by a fat Indian chief, sitting behind his desk. Finally we had finished the meal and had to agree that the food was really good. Most of the group retired to their rooms. The guide took the rest of us on a tour around Agra and we visited the Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb, better known under the touristy name of Baby Taj. From the banks of the river Yamuna we got another glimpse of the Taj Mahal. After a few hours the guide did not feel like any more sightseeing so we went back to the hotel. I did not want to sit in my hotel room for the rest of the afternoon so I decided to walk to the Taj Mahal, a three kilometer walk from our hotel. I passed a lot of souvenirs shops and little restaurants. Buses, cars and horse carriages filled with tourists were driving up and down the long road. The Taj Mahal was enclosed within huge red walls, so I could not see anything of the mausoleum. After a bit more walking around I headed back to the hotel.
After breakfast the guide took us to some souvenir shops where we were explained how the marble tables and other objects were made. Quite interesting though and some really nice objects like tables, elephants, chess boards and other touristy things were on display in the shop. The other shop had jewelry, carpets, clothes and musical instruments for sale, but I was not interested. In the afternoon we had to persuade the driver to bring a few of us to the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri, an hour's drive from Agra. The guide had already dismissed himself. He obviously had no more plans of guiding us around and that happens when people get paid in advance. The ride through the country side was nice and the visit to Fatehpur Sikri with a local guide was also worthwile. The buildings were made of the same red stone as the forts in Agra and Delhi. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to visit the whole place. We had to be back in time for dinner and for the train back to Delhi for our last and short night in India.
Alas, all good things come to an end and after an early rise, yes again, we drove through a dark and quiet Delhi to the airport where we boarded a Lufthansa airbus, a very luxurious plane with toilets downstairs, never seen that before. Eight hours later we landed in Frankfurt, Germany, where we said goodbye to the Belgium gang. We continued our flight to Amsterdam and just before rush hour we were back in rainy and grey Holland. At the airport we had a farewell drink and said goodbye to each other. Robert and Gerda dropped me off in Burgerveen and I was back home. It was a really nice holiday with lots of nice adventures, sightseeings, very high mountains, a nice bunch of motorriders and a good crew. Thanks everyone and India: I'll be back! Here are two blogs (in Dutch) by Robert and Luc about our holiday: Robert's Motorwereld and Himalaya 2012.
Places visited in India, go to the roadmap for the route from Dehradun through the Himalayas to Leh.
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