Looking back
Looking back
I have had a memorable journey. We managed to complete successfully one of the toughest motorbiking challenges in India. And in the altitude-wise this trip was like a rehearsal for a Kashmir tour in 5000 plus meters high mountains in the near future. The nature of India has surprised me once again. The variety of the landscapes in Himalayas is just crazy. I’ve fallen in love with mountains, the minimalistic flora in high altitude and the hospitality of the mountain nations. These people have lived here for thousands of years and somehow manage to cope with the extremes in terms of temperatures and remoteness. Many of the villages are cut off from access to towns during winters, actually the roads are open only from July till September. The concept of the road being not open struck me when I saw the 3-4 meters of glacier ice shield cutting off the road. These people have figured out how to live in isolation without internet and phone coverage most of the year. And they are not poor people in correlation to other states of India. They own flocks of sheep, coats and yaks as well as farming and harvesting apples. Respect.
A couple times I was very sceptical of our schedule, but eventually everything worked out just perfectly. The critical point was to arrive to Manali on time, otherwise I would have missed my flight to Europe. I was happy to have full range of accommodations, although sleeping in a tent or in a crowded dormitory always reduced the quality of sleep hours. Laura and Henrik were on the budget mode and therefor I had relatively low costs of accommodation and food. And travelling with Danish is always cheap because somehow I will get the local price and not the touristic one. My accommodations were most expensive when I travelled alone. This adventure showed me something new in India. I will come back soon, most likely within this year.
What I remembered most
- Spiti valley’s richness of cultural heritage and natural variety
- Challenge to conquer the toughest route in India for the first time this season. The feeling of brotherhood of bikers. Everybody helped and relied on each other.
- The camping at 4000 meters and the amazing night sky
- Chandra Taal lakes and road to the national park
- Key monastery and playing cricket with monk dudes
- Our international team and how we helped each other. Very extraordinary people.
- Danish was super in socialising. Was this caused by altitude sickness somehow? Because in usual settings he is very shy.