Day 9 - The roughest road

June 14th, 2022

I woke up early again and slowly started to pack things up this morning.  It was very cold out still, so I actually pulled out and sat on my clothes for a bit to transfer some body heat before I changed into them.

Everything was packed up into the correct bags, riding gear put on and then took the bags out to drop off at support truck and strap down on the bike.  Also started the bike up and let it run for a few minutes to warm up the engine some as it had been a very cold night.  (There was frost on the bikes this morning).

Breakfast was at 7:30 a.m. and then everyone finished up with packing stuff on the bikes and getting ready to leave.

I got the Unicorn strapped onto the front fender so it could hopefully survive the ride today and I could then pass it on to another rider tonight.

The Unicorn!

The sun was starting to come up over the mountains and was warming up nicely now.  We had a quick morning briefing about the days ride (something we actually did everyday but I just have not mentioned before) and then we all started to head up to the road.

The first challenge of the day was to again get up this steep, rough, loose sandy hill side.  After waiting for a few cars and a small mini-bus (who made everyone get out and walk up the hill first) get up the hill (barely) we started our groups attempts.

I made it up today without crashing, mostly by just keeping the throttle on and letting the bike bounce around some and only keeping it from going too far off course.  Also picked a better line today that probably helped.

We then headed back down the same road we came in on, which of course meant we all had to cross that same water crossing again today (and doubtful the rate of flow had changed any).

The views were again amazing on the ride back down the valley and we made steady progress, only stopping a few times for photos.  Also continued to warm up some and was at least comfortable out now.

At the water crossing things were a bit less congested today since it was still early.  So we all got to pick a much better line through the water (and the lead rider was standing on some rocks along the waterfall edge so he had a good view of the underwater layout and was pointing along a route that would present less trouble hopefully.)  I picked my line and was able to get through without any issues this time.  (Mostly did not have any bad luck with rocks and was able to maintain better speed with the full road open to me).

I made it across!
 (Photo clipped from a video by Scott)

We continued down till we reached the main road again and then turned westward to continue down it.  The road actually managed to get worse at this time.  While a "major" highway, this road was little more than a dirt track through very rough and rocky terrain following along the river.

Roads through the valley.

The road was very rocky, uneven and had quite large ruts in parts of it.  Some spots were again that soft, sandy, silt like stuff which is always such a joy to ride on.  Was hard to even get out of 1st gear many times as you could not get enough speed to allow 2nd gear to work and would just bog down (to be honest though, 2nd gear on these bikes is horrible in so many ways).  If you could get into 2nd, you were now going fast enough that the roughness was taking its toll on the body, and while standing helped, it did not fully relieve things (though it was the only way to pass as you really needed the speed to get around cars on these narrow roads and usually had to take a rough route along the edge).

Traffic was of course the other issue.  Since it was a main route through this region, there are far more cars and trucks/busses than we had seen on other roads.  Even had a guy on a bicycle working his way down this road! (Russian guy, he caught up to us later that day at lunch).

Another fun thing now was the herds of animals were getting larger, and were being lead along the roadways since there was not much other space to move them down easily.

In our earlier days of riding we would see cattle just roaming around, and occasionally a small heard of goats.  Now we were seeing large herds of goats or sheep being lead along by maybe 1 or 2 guys walking beside them.  Would also see some groups of tethered donkeys with full loads being lead along the road way as well, probably heading to some remote village that had no roads to it that was back off the road up some valley.

2nd water crossing of the day, much easier.

But even with all that, the views were still incredible along the route, and made more than a few photos stops along the way.

Views along the road.

We stopped for lunch in a village called Chhatru and also took an extended rest here as well.

Chhatru lunch stop.

We then got back on the bikes and continued the run down the roughness till we finally reached a paved road.  This was the old paved section of the Manali-Leh highway that would go up and over Rohtang Pass.  A new tunnel has been built that bypasses this and most traffic now uses it, but still some going up over the pass as well.

Tarmac how I missed you!

It was nice to be back on tarmac again, my body was just beat from that last few hours of near off-road like terrain.  It was of course not perfect tarmac, still plenty of pot holes and wavy surfaces, but still felt like bliss at this point!


We soon reach the new road that comes from the tunnel and turned onto it.  This road was much nicer condition, but also very heavily trafficked.

We took another 15-20 minutes to reach the town of Sissu where we would stay for the night at a hotel (Hotel Plm Dhara).

Hotel in Sissu

This was a larger place, and not too bad, but of course still had it's things that drive you nuts.  One nice thing was having hot water for a change.  But the water pipes in our bathroom were leaking and floor was always wet.  (figured it was leaking about 5 gallons of water an hour, crazy!)  Of course since the shower is just the main room, the floor gets soaked anyway, so probably would have been wet for much of the time we were there just from that alone.

Room in Sissu

Did the usual routine now of unpacking, cleaning up, doing laundry and hanging it to dry and then getting batteries and charge packs charging up from the wall socket.  I am again sharing a room tonight, this time with Dick.  I had been lucky the first 6 nights, but for some reason the group numbers had changed enough that I was now being grouped up with another person, just like the night before.  The joy of this night was there was only a single bed in the room (pretty uncommon for hotels to have 2 beds I guess).  While I have no problem sharing the room, which is actually pretty common on tours where they will bunk you up with another, the sharing a bed with someone is still a bit strange, though seems to be normal in India.

I took about an hour nap in the chair I had been sitting in (not intentional, I just fell asleep!) and then when I woke I went downstairs to the hotel veranda for the nightly snack time.  Just like other nights, the group would hang out and talk while waiting for dinner and when possible doing internet updates (we did have internet tonight at least).

While waiting for dinner we had the experience of watching hundreds of sheep be lead up the main highway just as if it was any old animal trail.  Kind of hilarious.


Dinner was the usual Indian fare, and while it looked and smelled good, I just cannot risk eating it anymore as my stomach was finally getting back to normal and had made the trip slightly less comfortable, so guess I am on a bread and rice diet till other options present themselves.

Later in the evening it was time to pass on the Unicorn.  Probably was not the fairest pass, but since I as usual was riding mostly alone again, I did not see if anyone else had crashed or did anything stupid, so had to rely on input from other riders.  For some reason there was this conspiracy to make sure Milos ended up with the Unicorn because he really did not want it.  So I ended up giving it to him for something that actually had occurred on the ride the day before (and even that was contested as to whether it actually occurred or not).  Since I did not see it could not comment, but rest of the group was having such a great time seeing the whole thing go down and when I told Milos his kids back home would love to see this on his bike and he agreed they would, I said well, here you go then.  :)  It was all in good fun, and not like the stuffed animal caused any issues (and by now it had been noticed that anyone riding with the Unicorn on the bike had NO issues that day, so was kind of a good luck charm I guess?)

Once that was done, I came back up to the room to get the journal caught up and check on the laundry that was still drying.  Humidity was a bit higher here again, so things were drying slowly.  Not sure when Dick will come back to room as he usually has a few drinks with some of the guys first.

Tomorrow we will start the main route up to Leh.  This is a 2 day trip with only small primitive villages along they way once we get past the first large pass.  These mainly exist just to serve the truck traffic and traveler's along the route, some are not even occupied year round.

We will camp in the area around Sarchu which is probably the largest group of stops along the route.  We will go over one large pass, BaralanchaLa.  Most of the route is paved, but still not sure on condition or what road construction will do to the route.  Also likely to have more traffic, especially larger busses and trucks, so could still be a bit of a challenge.

So think it is time to get some sleep now!

Ride Route (78km/48 miles)

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Day 8 - Water crossing and crashes.

June 13th, 2022

Woke up this morning earlier than normal and could not fall back to sleep, so just got up and packed up everything and got ready for the day.  Checked my drying laundry which was not dry yet (mainly the socks) but only just lightly damp, so again just put them in top section of camp bag that would be on truck.

After using the toilet, I got all my riding gear on and then took the bag down to the truck to be loaded.  I then went back for the camera bag so I could get it secured to the bike. Then put on the tank bag and verified it was good.  Then had to make another restroom stop before heading to breakfast.

After eating, we all got together and chipped into a tip pool to give the kitchen/camp staff who will be leaving us tomorrow and not going all the way to Leh with the team.  We all put in 1000 rupee (roughly $13).

I went back up to the room then to check that I got everything and attempt one more toilet visit just in case.  Then went down to the bike and waited with the rest.

We finally got on the road and retraced our route back to the main highway.  Then we took a 15 minute run down the highway till we reached the turn off to head up the hill to Key Monastery which was sitting up on the hillside overlooking the valley.

Key Monastery (taken from hotel night before)
[300mm zoom]

This 1,100 year old facility is an active site with dozens of monks living and working onsite.  We had to walk up a long hill side road and then several steps to get to the main buildings, which took a bit out of me.

Once inside, got some great views and photos of the valley.  Then explored the courtyard and peeked in several of the doorways to see what was inside them.  Had to remove shoes to be in this part of the complex, so made walking on the hard surfaces interesting as it was exposed to the outside and covered in dust and dirt in places.

View from Key Monastery

Walked up to the entrance to the main temple, which was a newer addition to the complex.  A large group of monks were currently in a prayer session in this hall.  It was pretty interesting to watch and hear.  I was going to walk the route around the outer part of the room, but the incense burning in the room was very strong and my congestion from my allergies was just not going to deal with that, so changed my mind.

As I was walking out a monk outside pointed to another doorway and said the old temple was up there.  This section was really cool.  Very old construction, was dark inside, narrow halls and very short doorways that I had to duck quite a bit to get through.  Several meditation rooms and other temple spots to view.  Outside the main temple space they were making and offering tea to visitors, which was a nice way to warm up and get the morning going.

After standing in the temple for a bit I went back out and thanked them for the tea and left a 10 rupee donation in the jar.  Then I went back out to the main entrance and put my boots back on and walked back down to the bikes.  Sadly they did not allow photography inside, so only have the memories of this visit.


Once we had everyone back at the bikes we got back onto the road back down the hill, but instead of going back to the main highway we took a turn off to follow a back route that would wind around in the mountains for awhile before coming back to the highway.  The main reason for this route was to travel over the Chicham bridge which is supposedly the highest suspension bridge in all of Asia and ride through the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary area.  This section was nearly all rough dirt roads.

Chicham Bridge

The views along the Spiti River valley from the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary roads were amazing.  Some of the most surreal and fantastic scenery I have seen yet.


Views along Spiti River


We eventually reached the main highway again to continue on our way to go over Kunzum pass and then on up to Chandrataal (Moonlake) where we would be camping tonight.

Much of this route was following along higher elevations around the valleys giving some great views.  The highway was again paved, and not in too bad of condition.


We stopped in a small village (Losar) for lunch at another café where I had a simple lunch of an Indian staple, the bread omelet (basically an egg served on toast, seems to be sold everywhere up here).  Also had a coke to give me some caffeine to perk me up.

Serchu Cafe in Losar - Lunch stop

We then got back onto the road and moved even higher up as we moved toward the pass which we reached eventually.

Kunzum pass is (according to my GPS) at 4550m (14,928 feet).

A local custom in the region is to drive or walk clockwise around a shrine at certain locations to pay respect to the gods/spirits of the region to ensure safe travels.  At Kunzum they have a nicely paved road that runs over to the area and around it.  We stopped along the route and took some photos while there as well.

At Kunzum Pass

The road then continues down the other side and we soon reached the turn off to go up to Chandrataal.

Coming down from Kunzum Pass

This route was just brutal!  It was rough, narrow, loose rocks and dirt in many spots, and heavy traffic as well which always makes things interesting.

Road up to Chandratal.

At one point we had to cross a fairly large water crossing where water coming off the higher regions runs over the road in a river like fashion, and in this case immediately spilled over the edge in a short waterfall to continue on its way to the valley floor below.  The water was probably about 1 foot deep (30cm) at the center point and was flowing at a fair pace.

So to make this interesting, a car was currently stuck in the middle of it all, backing traffic up several dozen cars in both directions.  We of course could filter through the mess and get up to the edge of the crossing, but no way to get across until that car was moved.

After a few minutes a truck pulled up behind the car and hooked up a tow strap and then pulled him back out of the water.  After taking off the strap, the driver then made another attempt (was still blocking road for the most part) and this time got enough speed and better line and made it through (though I had to quickly start and move my bike as I was right in his exit path and would likely have been hit if I had not moved or he would have gotten stuck again slowing and turning to avoid me.)

Now that the crossing was cleared we could start moving across ourselves.  Since all of us bikes had crowded to the front and I was pretty close to the edge, I was one of the first few bikes to make the attempt.  I made it most of the way across, but on the other end the truck that had helped tow the other car was still parked on the waters edge blocking much of the exit space, so had to move over to the far left side (near the water fall edge).  As I was moving into the last few feet of the crossing my back tire rolled a rock underneath and tipped sideways.  I was moving too slow to balance via motion, and gunning the engine was out as the roll had also turned the bike a bit and I was now pointing toward the waterfall edge.  So just stopped and laid the bike down as I stepped off into the water.

A few guys jumped over to help get it up again and straight and I was then able to ride it the final distance out of the water.  Though the exit space was so narrow that I ended up having to put my hand out and push off on the truck to keep bike from leaning into it as I exited (in a odd twist as I pulled my hand away I somehow caught and opened the door!)

I got up the road a bit and pulled over to the side to clear the route so others could get through and to check out the bike.  No damage visible, my backpack with rain gear was wet, but not badly and I did not even get water in my boots since I was able to just step off the bike.

The rest of the group were crossing and going on now so I got back on and continued up the road.  We soon reached the camp site area with the Swiss tents in several groupings and was pointed down a large hill to get to ours.  We rode down this rough, and loose sandy hill and parked at the site.  We were then told that the actual lake was another 3km (about 2 miles) up the road.  So most of us started bikes back up and went to go back up the hill again to the road.  On my way up I hit a rut that pushed me off sideways a bit and I made the critical mistake of slowing down, which then just started me leaning over and when I then tried to throttle out I was not pointing in good direction and went up a large bank along side and just became unbalanced and bike went over.  I ended up on my side then rolled off a bit onto my back and my head smacked the dirt as well, but not too hard.  Why we wear helmets!

After a few of the guys helped get the bike up again on the incline I was able to get on it while they held it and then ride it rest of the way up the hillside to the road.  I then continued on up till I arrived at the parking lot for the lake hike.  (Lake was another 5km hike back into the valley, which did not sound too exciting to me at this point).

Of course why let a bad day just stay bad, lets make it even worse.  I pulled off my gloves and removed my glasses to get my helmet off.  And of course they immediately fell off the tank bag onto the ground.  I laid the helmet on the tank bag/handle bars so I could bend over to get my glasses before I stepped on them and must have leaned the bike a bit as the helmet then falls off and crashes to the ground on the face part.  When I picked it up the padding was loose on the helmet and dangling some.  Then the gloves blow off the bike in a gust of wind, so I laid the helmet back down, and went to grab gloves and of course the helmet shifts and falls to the ground again!  Now most of the stuff in the front face of this modular helmet is dangling loose.

So once I managed to get off the damn bike and all my stuff put somewhere it will not fall or blow off, I examined the helmet.  The dangling stuff was the interior plastic and the chin air guard, both which were designed to come loose, so would be easy to put back on, however, the thin small spots of impact foam in the helmet face cover had some small cracks and looked like some plastic inside around the latch might have been broken, though it was still latching and unlatching correctly and without issue.  So my 2 month old, $800 helmet is now damaged, and technically might not even be safe now, though only appears to have impacted the face module, not the main helmet.  I will of course have to use it rest of the trip, and will examine it more when I get back home.  I put it back together (which was not easy, might be made to come apart, but who ever designed it needs to be beat over the head with the helmet).  Hopefully it will hold together rest of the trip now.

So I now started the 5km hike up to the lake by myself as the others had all just gone on.  About half way I was just exhausted and short of breath (I should mention that we are over 15,000 feet here) and said screw it, no lake is worth this.  I was tired, frustrated and frankly had no patience or energy left.  The only thing so far that was nice were the amazing views from here.

View from the hike to lake.

About then Andy came back down the path and showed me a few photos he had taken and I was satisfied that the views were not worth the effort and went back to the bike and then rode back down to the camp area (Samsong Chandratal Camps)

Now started the usual unpacking and sorting process, changing out of riding gear into camp clothes and a quick bucket bath in very cold water (thankfully it was still warm outside and in the tent).  I am sharing this tent with Jerry, one of the other Americans, but at least we have separate beds in the tent.  So we both had a fair amount of gear laying around, but could still move around at least.

Tent at Chandratal.

I then hung up the still damp clothes from last nights laundry in the screened area in front of the tent to take advantage of the warm wind blowing at a pretty good speed.  Also put my solar charging light outside to charge it back up (not sure how much power it had left, but figured it would not hurt)  I then laid down and fell asleep for about an hour.

After I woke back up I finished sorting stuff, got some batteries on the charging packs and put on the extra layers as it was cooling off now.  I then went out to admire the mountain views and take photos, then talked with some of the others for a bit.  Then we had to get the campsite staff to look at the tent, we could not get the door to zip shut, seems they had the tent stretched too tight in that area.  They managed to get it so you could zip it, but still a major pain and not simple to do.

Dinner was soon ready, so went to the dining tent and ate a simple meal.  At this point we had the camp staff come in and presented our tip pool to them and we all thanked them for the great job setting up the camps and great meals they had prepared along the way.

We next handed off the Unicorn (This stuffed pink Unicorn was something Jerry introduced to the trip, awarded each day to the rider who messed up the most the previous day.  The winner got to strap it to the bike for the following day, and then that person got to choose the next recipient.)

I of course earned the Unicorn for my attempt to use the bike as a submarine earlier in the day, and of course most of the group was there to watch it happen, so could not deny it occurred LOL.

At this point I was ready for bed, as were most of us.  So returned to the tent, finished the journal up and then crashed into the bed.  Expecting a cold evening as the camp is at 4100m (13,451 feet) See you in the morning.

Ride Route (98km/61 miles)

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Day 7 - Highest Village

June 12th, 2022

I woke up several times last night to use the toilet.  My stomach is still not happy.  Thankfully the moon was near full, so made the 150 foot (45m) trek to the pit toilet a bit less difficult to navigate, but I still wore my headlamp to assist.

Wind had stopped blowing and it was not that bad temperature wise.  I would not want to spend a long time standing around, but for the 10 minutes or so to do what I needed was quite nice.  It was actually colder inside the tent to be honest.  I had on the long thermal underwear (top and bottom), my pants, shirt, socks, light jacket, balaclava and was inside my thermal insert and the sleeping bag on the sleeping mat and it was still chilled inside.

So with the numerous wake ups and cold temps I was not feeling too energetic this morning and of course my stomach was still uneasy.

I packed up my stuff and got it all ready to load on the bike.  Took the camp bag over to the support truck and was going to ride the bike over to the tent to make it easier to load without lugging it all across the campsite.  But when I got to the bike the key was missing.  They had taken key the night before to fuel up the bikes and for some reason it was not returned to me or left in the bike.  Took them 10 minutes to track it down, but they did ride the bike over to my tent for me (I had informed them that was what I was looking to do when I noticed the missing key).  That would have sucked if they had not found it!

Put all the bags on the bike and used a better tie down strap that Simon lent me to see if I could stop the camera bag from getting lose and sliding around and hanging off the sides.  (It had done it twice the day before).  I think it should provide the extra stability I need.

We finally headed out of camp and since I was delayed with trying to find the key and getting the new strap setup, I was the last bike to leave the camp.

The ride was back out the way we came in, so same rough road, and for some reason seemed worse this morning, probably due to my being tired still.

The road out of Pin Valley.
It took a bit over an hour to reach the main road again, then we took a quick 20 minute ride down the highway to near Kaza.

We will actually be spending the night in Kaza at a hotel, but before that we will take a trip up into the mountains to visit Komic village.  But first a quick stop to top off the fuel tanks. (They only partially filled them from the cans in camp, just enough to get us to this fuel station.)


Highway to Kaza.

Komic Village is supposedly the highest inhabited village in India, sitting at 4587m (15,050 feet).  It also boasts what is supposed to be the highest Post Office in the world.  There is a stop along the road near the lower part of the village (where the post office is located) where people take photos with a sign and buy tourist trap stuff.  There is a second location further up the road where the monastery is located and the supposed highest restaurant in the world.  Though seemed more like a simple tea house, but still serving food and drink at this high altitude.

View on road to Komic.

We took some photos and videos around the restaurant area as the views were incredible.  Then a quick visit to the toilet again.  So this might sound crude, but I can now say I took a crap at over 15,000 feet in an actual restroom, not just behind a bush!


Had a cup of green tea and then we all prepared to head out.  Rode back down the hill to the road side stop which we had just passed by on the way up.  Here we hiked down the hill to see this Post Office and for a few people to mail a post card from.  What a waste of time!  First of all the small stop on the road created a massive traffic entanglement with all the buses and cars and bikes trying to park where there is no parking so they can take selfies with a sign.  Then the hike down to the actual building is about 200-300 feet down a steep incline covered in loose soil.

Once down the incline, all the buildings are the same basically, simple mud brick construction with thatched roofs mostly.  The Post Office was only marked with a painted wooden sign and was not even open, which greatly annoyed those looking to mail post cards.  (Though some did manage to mail them, so assuming the place up by the road would do it for you as well??)

Once back up to the bikes, we took a turn off from this point that would take us further back into the mountains to the village of Langza to see the 35 foot (10m) Buddha statue which sits at 4358m (14,300 feet).

Langza Buddha

We were supposed to have lunch here at a small café (Spaceship), but most of us were ready to head back down since the temperatures were cooling off, wind was blowing and roads were rough, and we were all tired at this point.  I think a few of the guys did stay long enough to have a tea or coffee, but the bulk of us hit the road.

The route down was a bit rougher than the one we came up.  It was also a bit more on the crazy road side of things with some steep, sharp switch backs and such, but was amazing to be on.  At one point we had to stop and wait a few minutes for a road construction crew to re-open the road as they were blocking it to move some material around.

We then continued down the route with a few photo stops and I also had to stop a few times because my bungee cords holding the tank bag on kept coming loose for some reason (been an issue last 2 days, wonder if they are stretching out?)

Views on the way down from Komic

At another point the road was blocked with traffic just sitting there, at first I though perhaps an accident, but then I noticed all the cameras pointing at the hills and saw the mountain sheep that were standing on the steep incline just above the road.  So of course I got out my own camera and took a few shots, then was able to weave the bike through the traffic to keep heading down.

Mountain sheep on the hillside

The last event on the route down was more an annoyance.  An oncoming car that refused to make room and I had no where to go as the cliff wall and drainage ditch on my side of the road were not going to let a bike in them. I moved to the edge of the pavement far as I could go and the asshole just stayed right in the middle of the road and maybe even more towards my side.  Damn chicken shit driver too afraid to drive near the edge on his side (which was a drop off, but still had plenty of room and was a nicely paved section of road).  Well, as he and I passed the very tip of my handle bar nicked the mirror on his car.  Was not even enough to make the bike move, I just heard it was all.  Probably left a nice chip in his paint!  I just kept going, was not going to stop since he was the problem, and neither did he, so guess he did not care either.

Once at the bottom of the hills, we regrouped and then headed off on the short ride into Kaza to our hotel.  Most of the route was paved roads until the very end when we had to run down some dirt trail across a field to get to the hotel (Spiti Sarai Resort)

We unloaded our bikes and went up to our rooms.  I was on the 2nd floor (of 4) and again had the room to myself.  Changed out of my riding gear, had a quick bucket shower and then put on my camp clothes.  For some reason there was no power to the building, so just sorted stuff in bags and then zoned out staring out the window.

The room in Kaza.

A bit later I did some laundry in the sink, then opened up the windows to hang stuff to dry.  A nice wind was blowing and was not too cold yet.  Again seemed warmer outside than inside, at least till the sun starting going down.

I then wandered around the hotel taking some photos, and then updated things online as the guys had setup the hotspot again.  Then when the power came back on, I got all my batteries and chargers setup to recharge.  Then I went through all my memory cards for the GoPro as I had lost track of which were used and which were empty, so needed to figure that out and sort them in the case again.

Sunset view behind hotel from my room.

I thought about taking a nap around 5:00 p.m., but needed to get the journal caught up so I could avoid having to do it all right before I was ready for bed.  Once done I can then check the batteries and then lay down till dinner which is typically around 8:00 p.m.  I hope to be in bed by 9:00 p.m. tonight unless something interesting is going on.

About an hour before dinner they announced the typical pre-dinner snack session, usually something small and some tea.  We met on the 5th floor which was a lounge and shrine to honor the Dali Lama and another more local monk if I understood it all correctly.

The lounge shrine area.

Shortly after that, we walked to the restaurant in the next building for dinner.  Tonight we are having Chinese food.  I decided to try eating something tonight even though my stomach was still not feeling too good, see what my body does with it.

Once done with dinner I went back to the room to turn in for an early night to get some rest hopefully.  It was a long day today and sounds like tomorrow will be similar with more rough road and even more technical riding.  We will also be camping again near the destination lake in Swiss tents, so might not be as nice a place and also likely going to be higher up, so probably colder temperatures.

So with that, it is off to sleep!

Ride Route (97km/60 miles)

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Day 6 - Temple and Monastery

June 11th, 2022

Woke up to the alarm at 7:00 a.m. Had been up twice during the night to visit the toilet and was not sleeping well.  The cold and some very noisy farm animals next door did not help much (barking dogs and very vocal donkey).

So I felt like crap this morning.  Body ached from the hard bed (was not bad if I stayed on my back, but if I rolled onto side then my arms were numbed and sore), had a mild headache (mostly from neck pain, but the altitude may have been poking me a bit now) and of course a small war going on in my gut.

Took a few moments to wash face to wake up, and had to skip the shower as there were no towels, probably no hot water (I never checked) and did not want to bother trying to get towels since we were going to leave soon enough anyway.

Packed up my stuff and got everything ready to ride again.  Took the camp bag down to the support truck and then went up to restaurant to have breakfast.  Thankfully there is always toast available and today even had eggs with vegetables.  Maybe my stomach will accept this food.

Once finished eating, grabbed remaining bags from the room and went down to load up the bike.  I then visited the toilet one last time, put on the rest of the riding gear and went down to warm up the engine on the bike since it was still quite cold out.

We were soon off on another 150km (93 mile) day.  Got out of Nako village and then picked up the same highway which started taking us up higher right away.  We then started a slow decent back towards the river far below.  This was a rough, narrow and dusty route with a lot of road construction and heavy truck traffic.

Along the highway.

Finally reached some nicer roads with pavement which took us up to the next checkpoint where we reached our closest point to the Chinese border which was only about 3 miles over the nearby ridges.  At this point we actually were inside the contested border region that India controls now, but China claims is theirs.

Once past this checkpoint the road improved until we reached a turn off to go up another valley to visit  the Gue Mummy Lama Temple.



Gue Temple

The temple was cool looking, but a mostly modern construction I think.  It also had a small shrine next door to it that holds the Sanga Tanzin mummy.  This mummy of a Buddhist monk was discovered in 1981 in the ruins of several stupa nearby that had been destroyed in a 1975 earthquake as they were digging for a new police bunker in the area.  A scientific team dated the mummy in 2002 via carbon-14 method and determined a date of 1430 for the burial.  The mummy appears to be a natural mummification as well with no chemical processes used.

Sanga Tanzin

Arrival at Gue Temple (0:58)

I climbed a set of steps built in behind the temple to reach the 2nd level balcony.  Then went up a very sketchy looking metal spiral stair to reach the upper level balcony.  The views were a bit nicer up there.  The temple itself was not open to the public.


Once we finished our visit to the temple we rode back down the same valley and back to the main highway.  The highway was still in good condition along here so we could cruise along at a nice pace.  We also moved back into regions that were firmly in India and no longer in contested lands.  We reached our next stop, the Tabo monastery which sits just off the highway in a small village.

The grounds of the monastery contained a few stupa and several newer constructed buildings, but the original 1000+ year old building was still there and in use.  The monastery was founded in 996 and is the oldest continuously functioning Buddhist building in India.  The exterior is not that fancy, simple construction similar to the adobe style of the American southwest.

Tabo Monastery courtyard.

The interior contains some amazing examples of early Buddhist art in amazing story telling panels.  Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside to preserve the very fragile paintings.  There are not even lights inside, only a few small sky lights letting in some light and you use small flashlights to view the wall paintings along the outer wall of the main temple space.

Once done seeing the monastery I walked back to where we parked the bikes to check on the gear and then went over to the restaurant across the road where we would be having lunch.  I just had rice and naan as my stomach was still not happy and the rest of the food just looked like a recipe for discomfort (though some of it sure smelled good).

Once done with lunch I retrieved my roll of toilet paper I had liberated from the hotel and used the restaurant facilities.  Then as I stood up to flush, I knocked the roll (roughly half a roll) into a water filled bucket next to the toilet (used to catch water from spigot used for those non-paper using guests).  Well that was a huge damn waste.

Still have the partial roll in my camp bag on the truck, but will need to try finding more at some point, though might be difficult as there are few places to go shopping in these remote parts.

We got back on the bikes for the 2.5 hour ride to our camp site for the night.  We stayed on the highway again for about half that ride, then turned off onto a backroad that quickly became a rough and dusty track heading back into another remote valley.  This was the entrance to Pin Valley National Park and we would be camping just outside the park in the small village of Mud.


Road into Pin Valley.

Did not make as many photo stops along here, but still had to stop a few times to fix the straps on the camera gear bag on back of the bike due to the really rough ride.  I had them attached in such a way to not risk losing the bag, but it could still fall over and hang off the side of the bike which could quickly unbalance things and not end well for me or the bike.

Had quite a few traction issues on this road with the wheels getting loose on me and the bike getting wobbly.  Some were a bit scary.  Also had some close calls with oncoming cars due to the loose dirt along side of road.  One time I pulled off to the side on what appeared to be solid ground, but was a very soft spot of dirt and the front wheel jerked to the side and the bike started to tip.  I managed to stop it from going over, but nearly laid it on its side before I did that.

I will say that overall, I am happy with my riding abilities so far on this trip.  I had been a bit concerned as I had never ridden off pavement before this trip.  I have been riding for only 4 years now and only had a bit over 6,400km (4,000 miles) under my belt, all of that on city streets and a few really good highways (though with much higher speeds).  I also had not ridden more than 3-4 hours at a time prior to this and now I was doing 5-8 hour days on the bike with only short rest stops now and then during the day.  But I adjusted quickly to the road conditions (narrow road ways, rough pavement, rough dirt roads, crazy traffic, completely unsigned and sudden lane closures and construction usually on the far side of a blind curve, and do not forget having to drive on the left side of the road instead of the right as we do back home!)  I also picked up the off pavement skills pretty well, but can tell I still lack ability here and do not trust the bike or myself and ride slower on the dirt (which to be honest is probably a smart thing to do anyway).  Hopefully will continue to improve and learn as I go (many of the other riders are very experienced, so watching some of what they do has helped me quite a bit.)

We reached the camp site in a large valley and were camped right next to a fast flowing river.  We were camped at 3730m (12,237 feet) tonight.  As I was again the last person to arrive at camp it was completely setup when I got in.  I ended up with the last empty tent on the far side of the camp, but again was on my own at least.

My room tonight.

I got bags into tent and changed out of riding gear.  It was still pretty warm out, but the wind was blowing quite hard, hopefully it will calm down when the sun goes down.  I figured it would probably get a bit cold tonight, so I went ahead and put on the long underwear tonight as well.

I hung my still damp shirts and other items on a line from the tent to get the wind drying effect for them (they were close to being dry, but figured the wind should finish the job).  I put the wet socks out on a rock to get wind, sun and the heat of the rock to dry them as they were probably the most damp items.  I then took the few items I had been wearing that day down to the river and washed them and hung them, hoping the wind would help dry them faster as well (will leave them out overnight to be sure).

Everything was dry about an hour later, even the stuff I just washed was only damp now.  Went over to the dining tent to have some hot Masala tea and ate a samosa as a snack before dinner.  Heard while in the dining tent that one of the riders had a bit of a crash today when he had to take to the ditch to avoid a small boulder rolling off the hill in front of him.  Guess he went down a good embankment and then laid the bike over.  But no damage to him or the bike.  Some others stopped and they got bike up and it rode up the embankment and on towards camp.  Not sure on what road this occurred, but crazy stuff.

I next walked around taking photos of this incredible valley and the river.  Made a few videos and even walked through the camp with the GoPro 360.



I then went back to tent to do the daily bag organization and get batteries on the charger packs.  I then pulled out the water proof case for the GoPro Hero 9 and installed the camera into it.  It was absolutely caked in dust by time we got to camp, and figured that was not a good thing, so hopefully this will help keep it cleaner as the trip progresses and since we will see increased chances of rain as we get higher, probably a good idea as well for that.

They are refueling the bikes tonight from fuel brought with us on the truck as we do not see any fuel stops for awhile yet.  I took some time to catch up the journal while waiting for dinner.

After finishing the journal I went over to the pit toilet to use it and then walked around to keep blood flowing as it was starting to cool off.  Getting to the toilet involved crossing some uneven terrain and climbing over a small stone wall about a foot high, so that will be fun if it is needed in the middle of the night!

I took some more photos, including some shots of the moon rising over the mountain peaks around us, then I laid down to rest a bit.  They came around all the tents to let us know dinner was ready, so wandered over to the dining tent.

Moonrise over the peaks.

Today was a pleasant surprise as we were not having Indian food for once.  They had cooked what I would call Italian food (pasta and such with western style sauces), also had a really good tomato soup and some mashed potatoes.  For first time in days I had a good full meal.  They then went further and brought us a pizza to pass around, so we all got a slice (they actually were making a 2nd one too, as the oven was not very large).  For desert we had some kind of donut ball in a thick sugary syrup.

We then sat around talking for a bit till we all started to wander back to our tents.  Took a pain pill as I was hurting a bit from the rough ride today, caught up the journal and then decided to head to bed about 9:00 p.m. and thankfully the wind had calmed down and it was actually a bit warmer now too.

Ride Route (142km/88 miles)

******More Day 6 Photos******


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Day 5 - Highways and Permits

June 10th, 2022

I awoke feeling much better today.  Did a quick bucket shower/wash then packed up the bags and put on the riding gear.  Put everything out on the patio of my tent and then sat down and played with the local resident puppy a bit who was going from tent to tent looking for attention (or food?).

Puppy wants to say Hi!

Went over to the main building and had breakfast at 7:30 a.m., then put the camp bag over by the support truck and loaded the rest onto my bike.  I then took some photos while others were getting ready so we could depart for the days ride.



Escape Adventure Camp - Rakchham

Today I will be helping Milos with some filming.  My bike has a GoPro mount still attached to the rear fender from some previous person, so he wants to mount his camera and then ride behind me to get some footage of him riding.  So we got the camera mounted and then when most others had made the ride out we started down the rough trail with him riding behind.

Once we reached the bridge over the river we stopped and took the camera off.  Then I took some photos and then got back on the bike and up to the main road which will take us back down to the highway.

Going back down the cliff road.

Once on the highway it was smooth, high speed running for an hour when we reached the turn off to go up the mountain to Nakla (which is at 3626m or 11,896 feet) where we had to apply for our Inner Line Permits that are required for foreign visitors as we would be getting close to the regions along the Chinese border that are contested between the two countries.  I think similar permits are needed for getting close to the Pakistan borders as well, though we will never get within 100 miles of that one.  But for China we will come within just a few miles a few times.

The drive up was a steep, narrow road that was very busy with cars and trucks.  Nakla is a good sized town.  We reached the permit office, parked where we could find a spot along the road and went inside where we were given a blank form to fill out.  Then we had to turn in the completed form and our passports to the official on duty.

When he had everyone's paperwork he then copied much of the data by hand into a log book, then he walked us over to another building about a city block away.  Took about 30 minutes to get to this point.

At this building we were called in one at a time to get our photo taken, then they returned our passports back to us.  The permits would be given to the tour leaders as they would present them at the checkpoints along the way for us.  This process took another 30-40 minutes.

As we each finished up, many of us walked back to the first building where we had left much of our gear and was also more shaded as it as quite warm out today.  One of the tour team members had stayed there to keep watch over it.  We had to remove all gear from the bikes as the bikes were not in a single spot and not easily watched and I guess theft was an issue here.  We all just sat and read, or looked at photos or just rested until will were all back together as a group.

Once we all had arrived, we walked up the road about a quarter mile to eat at a local restaurant serving the by now familiar Indian foods.  After lunch we came back to the permit office and loaded up the bikes as our permits were now done and in the tour leaders possession.  Time to get back down to the highway.

Panoramic view from Nakla street

We got back onto the main highway and headed east toward our destination of Nako where we would spend the night.  The highway here is amazing.  A two lane ribbon winding along the river canyon clinging to the walls in places and slowly switch-backing up the hill sides to ever higher elevations.  Other than the 2 checkpoints to verify our permits we also made several stops along the way for photographs as long as we could find room to pull off the road a bit. (Though at times we were just parked along the road edge.  Seems partially or fully blocking a highway lane is not a big deal around here).









We arrived in Nako in the mid-afternoon.  I was the last rider in since I was making quite a few photo stops and typically am near the back of the pack anyway, though I do ride faster on the paved sections as I trusted the bike more on those surfaces.  I ended up getting lost in the village as they were no longer sitting at the turn off in the village to let us know where to go, so I stayed on the main route instead of turning down what was little more than an alleyway that would become a rough trail before reaching the hotel.  Thankfully the sweep rider knew where to go and he got my attention a few hundred feet down the road so I could turn around and follow him back to the correct turn and on to the hotel (Lake View Hotel)

Lakeview Hotel in Nako

Once at the hotel and assigned my room (I again got my own room) I took the bags off the bike and up to the room (on the 2nd floor).  I then got to spend 30 minutes in and out of the bathroom as my stomach was again on the warpath.  I ended up using up all the toilet paper I had in my bag (very important to bring with you, they do not supply it in many places unless asked for, or in this case they had not yet stocked the rooms.  In many public restrooms you actually have squat toilets and no toilet paper at all, so bring a few rolls along!)  So I finally got to experience the non-paper method of cleaning after a bathroom visit, will just leave it at that!

Room at Nako

My bag on the support truck had another roll of toilet paper, but was not yet here, so I hoped things would stay calm for awhile now.  I sorted stuff in my bags some and got the batteries and charging blocks onto the power outlet in the room.

The truck arrived soon after and I was able to get my bag, and then of course about that same time the hotel staff came long and gave me the toilet paper for the room.  A bit later as I was doing laundry in the sink they knocked on the door again and offered me a beer (charged to the room of course) which I turned down, but interesting service.


I continued with laundry as I was now out of clean shirts and underwear.  I left the shirt on I wore during the day so that I could wear it tomorrow if the others were not yet dry.  I knew the underwear would dry fast and still had 1 pair of clean socks to go, so was not worried about them and if need I still had the long underwear if I had too, it was starting to get cooler, so would not hurt to wear them, but still a bit humid.

Once I had everything washed and hung to dry (much of it in the open windows to get some breeze) I went outside to get an altitude reading with the GPS (3620 meters or 11,877 feet).  Also got the journal caught up at this time.  I then found the hot spot wireless had been setup again since the hotel did not have any available.  Spent some time doing online stuff.

Dinner was served in the hotel restaurant area.  It consisted of some vegetable soup, rice and I tried the dal as well (mainly black beans and spices).  Will see if that bothers my stomach or not, still not sure if it is the food that is getting me or if I picked up something along the way from the tap water I drank in the hotel in Delhi or something in the food at some place.  Things really started going badly after having lunch on top of Jalori pass a few days back, but most of us ate the same food at same place, so not sure.  If need I will just eat the nuts and berries in my emergency food if I keep having issues.  I had already been snacking on the bag of cashews and almonds I had in the tank bag on the bike.  Will just keep trying to eat less risky foods and keep taking the Pepto tablets.

Tonight at 9:00 p.m. the hotel had arranged for a local cultural event nearby, so will be sure to check that out when the time comes.

After dinner I went outside and walked around a bit to see where things were and where the event might be, but could not find any indication of anything and it was dark and getting pretty cold out, so just went back to the hotel to grab my balaclava to keep my head warm as I was standing around outside.

As I was back out walking up the nearby road to just look at things and take some night time photos I saw all these women in traditional dress come walking down the roadway followed by a truck with a few more in it.  I think this was our cultural event.

They were actually going to use the large patio space on the 3rd floor of the hotel (I was not aware of this space till now) so I went up there while they were gathering and walked around getting views of the village from a higher vantage point.  It was here that I saw my only kitty cat in all of India sneaking along the back walk ways and eventually jumped up on a wall behind the hotel.

Kitty!

Soon after I heard the locals were going to hold the event in the 2nd floor restaurant space (after moving most the tables against back wall), probably due to the cold.

Quite a few of our group showed up as well as another riding group (all of them from Germany or Austria) that was staying at the same hotel along with much of the hotel staff.

The display was a traditional song/dance thing, though no one gave any background on if there was any special meaning to the song or movements.  I did record much of it on the GoPro 360, so will see how that turns out later when I get around to editing the video.

The local performers.

Once they were done I talked a bit with a few of the other riders still around, then went back to my room.  I checked on the laundry which was still damp as I feared, but it was drying some.  I moved it all into the bathroom to hang as I needed to close the windows now due to the cold.

My stomach was again starting to feel unhappy.  I checked on the batteries and swapped out charged ones for uncharged ones.  I then played around with various ideas for mounting the GoPro 360 to my helmet, but could not find any method that would give good results or be secure enough for me to trust it while riding.  So far had not found any good method of using this camera while on the bike.

The internet hot spot was off now, so figured it was a sign that I should just go to bed after I finished up the journal.  So good night.

Ride Route (145km/90 miles)

******More day 5 Photos******


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