Travels 2004
Arrived in Delhi at
the begining of June. Cycled around Kinnaur and Spiti, hugging the
Chinese/Tibetan border before joining the awesome and legendary Leh
Manali road passing over two 5000m+ passes including the Taglang La, the
worlds second highest motorable road at 5328m abv sea level on the way
to Leh.
Stayed a few days in touristy Leh, a Himalayan town at 3500m above sea
level before cycling the Khardung La at 5602m, the highest motorable
road in the world.
From Leh I headed westward to the green and fertile but also troublesome Kashmir and holed up in Srinagar for a few weeks to rest and to try to put on some weight after losing 10kg.
Then headed south by bus through the very hot and busy Kashmir Valley to Amritsar, the home of the Sikhs.
From Amritsar I headed into Pakistan to Lahore and then to the amazing
border city of Peshawar, the Kyber Pass and the staggering gun workshops
of Darra Adem Khel, after which I headed northwards to Chitral over the
Lawori Pass, then eastwards over the Shandoor pass to Gilgit, a
nondescript town with one of the best chillouut gusethouses on the
travelscene.
From here northwards the scenery is simply stunning as the KKH winds
it's way through 7000m mountains and glaciers almost touching the road.
The Pakis like to call the KKH the eigth wonder of the world and it
seems a fair enough claim?
Cycled to the magnificent glacier and basecamp of Rakoposhi, probably
the first ascent by bicycle, then onwards to the tourist centre piece in
the Northern Areas, Karimabad.
North from Karimabad the mountains soar upwards taking ones breath away.
At the border town of Sost I headed west to the newly opened to tourism Chapursan Valley and the Pakistan/Afghanistan border and this vallet remains the highlight of my trip.
Finally I made it to the Khunjerab marking the border with China.
I saw this point as the final challange before heading downhill back to
Gilgit where I sold my bike and enjoyed the easy but boring life of bus
tourism.
On my way back to India I checked out the spectacle of the flag lowering
ceromony on the Indian/Pak border before making my way to Delhi then
Bangkok before heading back to England for a few weeks visit.
If all goes well I'll post a travel log as I go including plenty of photos, so please keep calling back for a look.
Me chillin out at the river Qwai
I'd
travelled several times before during the preceding years. I'd had some very
good times, met many incredible people, saw heaps of awesome places, came down with the most miserable and yet incredible tropical diseases, lost 16Kg, but one
thing was missing...ADVENTURE.
OK, so
when I first started to travel everything was an adventure, the sights, the
smells, the less than impressive hotels and the awful hygiene were often very
confronting. Then after a while it all kinda turns normal and one forgets to appreciate
the life that’s around oneself. I knew it was happening, it happens to everyone
eventually when one spends enough time in any culture.
I’d
actually become a different person on my previous travels. I’d learnt many things
about myself, about others and about the world and I didn’t want it to stop. My
travel style needed to change to allow for me to learn more about myself
and I had to get off the beaten track to meet a different kind of local. No
more busses, no more timetables, no more searching for the cosiest guesthouse and no more choosing the
cleanest restaurant. I will take what I can find and I will learn to appreciate
it.
And so
here I am in Thailand killing a few days while my recently purchased MTB from
cash converters makes its way to Delhi. Thinking about the task ahead of me and if I'll be able to pull it off or if it's all too out of my depth. I'd seen many a foreigner riding his bike through the Himalaya and it seemed a most natural way to go about things. If they can do it then so can I....
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