For Mom, Love Steve

Curvy, windey, fun.

The road to Taglang La (second highest motorable road 5328m.)

A bit of a challenge. Better than the rivers though.

Success again.

Tent city, Pang.

The river crossing where I got stuck. On the far side you can see where the water looks like it is forking off into another river. That is actually the road up. On the left side you can see my helmet where I thought was a better route and ended up stuck. To the left of that is the actual river path. Could have been a really bad day.

Conquered pass #2, Lachlung La 5060M

Crash #1. My headlight and spillage.

The old man who ran the little tent where I stayed in Sarchu. Amazing instant ramen soup. What a chef.

My salvation.

Crashes 2-6 were in areas like this. Black ice hid all over the place. I had to crawl on my hands and knees to 1) pick up Schwinn and 2) to chop a path up the mountain. Hated it.

Beautiful scenery though.

After a days riding with wet boots this is what you get.

The tractor and trailer that carried me back to Darcha. What a sad moment.

My chef in Darcha.

My mechanic in Darcha.

The final pass at the Rohtang La. It is taken over by the Indian tourists coming for their first taste of snow. It was a nightmare getting down and not one of the best experiences of my trip to Manali.

Anyways, here I am in Manali having spent three full days repairing Schwinn. It took a beating and it saved me so I am spending the time and money to get it put back together again. Now I will be slowly making my way over to Nepal to see what it has to offer.

After conquering the Khardung La, I stayed for two more nights in Ley, partially to rest a bit, but also to prepare for the upcoming ride to Manali. Basically, the road is 460 kilometers with about 270 kilometers of it a barren wasteland of high snow passes, crap roads, river crossings, no petrol, and only a couple of temporary tent outposts set up for the truck convoys that make there way to and from Manali/Ladakh for the five months that the passes are open.

I did keep an eye out for other riders so that possibly I could go with someone else, but I heard about one other guy who had just left. Oh well, I figured I had made it that far alone, and Schwinn was running okay, so what’s a guy to do. I had less than a month to go on my Visa and still a decent distance before getting to Nepal.
[read on]

Michael and Edith's bike. Nissan and Roni's ride. The bikes at the top. Home of the world's highest gift ... [Continue reading this entry]

The welcome gate during a Free Tibet march. The friends i met at the temple. [Continue reading this entry]

We'll start back up at the top of the Zoji La pass which was the only available road into Ladakh and my second time over. [Continue reading this entry]

One of the claims to fame that Ley has is that it is the gateway to the Nubra Valley and at the base of the mammoth drivable ... [Continue reading this entry]

After the usual top three traveler to traveler questions (1) Where are you from? 2) Where have you been? 3) How long have you been traveling?), which is quickly followed by a questionable look after ... [Continue reading this entry]

I hope you had a great Mom's Day. These are some kids that I met while checking out this old Temple (oldest in Ladakh). They took me through all these secret passage ways ... [Continue reading this entry]

Having conquered the Zoji La Pass a few days prior, which was the only way into the Himalaya lined state, I took off this time fully loaded with saddle bags and as much fuel as ... [Continue reading this entry]

I was really looking forward to this part of my trip as spending the last four months either at the beach or in the heat of central India started to wear a bit. ... [Continue reading this entry]