Day 18 Jispa to Sarchu 85kms

Took off for what was quite an easy ride, compared with some we have done. The roads were in reasonable condition. However there was quite are long water crossing not long after the start, we managed to negotiate it two up ok. The high light today was riding over the Baralacha La Pass. Winding high up in the mountains. It was a bit cooler with patches of snow around us. The top of the pass was 15850ft. We stopped here for a while, as you would, taking pictures. There are stones piled up all around the place, which apparantly the
Buddist do, it symbolises something but not sure what. In fact I have noticed these piles in many places now. Winding our way down a little we come to some plains, from a distance I noticed some tents, in fact when we got there,there were 3 different camps set up.
We were in the center one. I took a walk about 1km away to look at a canyon, why not. LOL. The walk to it was fine, but a head wind on the way back made it a bit of a slog. After all we are 14200ft above sea level. Not alot of air around. That night I took my doctors advice and tried the medicinal properties of the Old Monk Indian Rum he recommended. It seemed to do the trick. LOL. It was a little bit cold that night. The last picture is the kitchen. There was no cell coverage so I was unable to txt my lovely wife.
Another great day.

Day 17 Jispa Monastery Visit

Atul organised a few things today, a short ride to a 200 year old palace, we got a bit of a guide to show us around it, we got to go inside, was pretty cool, got some great pictures, inside & up on the roof. Where there was a great view. It did appear it needed a bit of TLC, both inside & out. There were kids around that were not afraid of a camera & loved playing inside the palace.
From there we were off to a monastery, which happened to be perched up on the side of a steep hill. Took a bunch of us ages to climb the path which was pretty steep & like the roads windy. It was worth it once we got there, although it was a fairly new one. Great stuff inside of it, & great views. A faster walk down as you would expect. Back for lunch, & a snooze. Later that day a bunch of us took a walk to a flying fox, more designed to take product across the river to a house that was on the other side. I took it across, was great fun with a raging river below you, Jon-Luke came across as well. Wandered back for a beer & dinner. Great day. I have so many great photos it is so hard to choose them for the blog

Day 16 Sissu to Jispa

Before we left for Jispa which is only a short ride, Atul organised a walk to the waterfall. I decided not to go but Jon-Luke did, he took the camera & took some great pictures. We took off & stopped in a place called Keylong on the way. Man it was stinking hot. Vince, Jon-Luke & myself took off from the bunch & had a look through yet another market. We stopped at a little local place for lunch. After a few communication problems we ended up with a great lunch, very yummy & not to touristy. Made a large pray wheel spin & ding, had it's own building in the main street. On the way back to the bikes we decided to take a different way through a labyrinth of alleys, in & around peoples backyards,saw a cow in a tiny backyard in a very built up area, interesting. Off to Jispa, about 20kms away, winding our way with some great roads near the end. A nice motel, with thank god power & hot water for a change. It was great, caught up on the washing to. LOL. No wifi though.

Day 15 Kaza to Sissu 160kms

A change of plan, we were supposed to stay at a place called Chandrayal, but the road had been washed out so badly nothing could get through.
To get to Sissu we had to retrace the road we took to get to Kara a few days before, up until the base of the Rotang Pass, then hang a right.
We were up early & away at 5.30 in the morning. It was a fine day, the roads were dusty. It was a great ride, as the the road seemed familiar but as we were going the other way it was different also. All the same water crossings, once again Jon-Luke only got off for two of them. I bent the crash bars on my bike when I hit a boulder through one of them. Three glaciers we saw on the way there were even better this trip as were were heading toward them. The surprise was one glacier which was huge, we never saw going to Kaza, this one was massive & truly amazing to see.
Not far from Sissu, there was massive road construction & we had to wait while a bulldozer cleared a path for us & other vehicles to get through. Onto some tar sealed roads at last, to Sissu. Here we are staying at a camp, pretty flash tents, nice beds, power, amazingly an ensuite toilet & basin. The view from the tent door is quite a large waterfall, all very pleasant. A couple of beers, then dinner, the day caught up with me & we were in bed asleep at 8.30pm knackered.
Note: This so far has been an amazing once in a lifetime trip. With still more to come. Not for the faint hearted though.

Day 14 Kaza Gomic Village, Highest Inhabited Village in Asia.

Off we go again, to the above village, the highest inhabited village at 14700ft, pretty darn good,as fairly new monastery there. Many of the other riders were feeling the affects of the altitude. I wasn't to bad, & walked around the village a bit as did Jon-Luke. With what we had seen I thought well that was ok. The best was yet to come. We went down a different road. That was ok, then low and behold we come to this piece of road, that once again had been carved out of a cliff, this time it was very narrow, one piece had broken away, so it was just wide enough for a small vehicle. So we had rocks overhanging us, the narrowest gravel rocky road, & about a 2000ft drop. Excuse the french, but I said, "oh fuckkkkk" Jon-Luke said " oh yeahhhhh". A great thrill. Back to the hotel, no power. Another night of darkness, I braved a cold shower, I swear the water had come from a glacier it was so cold, needless to say it was a very quick shower.
I had washed, well sought of washed our clothes in the basin & along with many others hung them out to dry in the motel court yard. Beautiful hot days, very slight wind, so they dried no problem. The chinese laundry thing is quite common. LOL.

Day 13 Kaza Monastery Visit

Had breakfast, some of us decided to go with Atul to visit a 700 year old Monastery up in the hills, Jon-Luke decided to stay behind with some adults who had befriended him.
Off we set, up up we go, approx 14000ft, into the carpark, then a slog up the foot path, a struggle at that height, but I made it, he he. Into a greeting room for tea, this I think was the 700 year old part, as much of this monastery had been replaced or refurbished. Pretty cool place with a great view. Saw where the Dali Lamah slept once, the prayer room, and a huge prayer wheel, with a room of it's own. Scrolls, old ones placed in all the rooms every where, like a filing cabinet. Supposedly there were 170 monks there, I only saw about 3. LOL.
From there off to the second highest village in India, approx 14300ft, as it happens there was a cafe of soughts there, I had a flash tea, took some pictures, then back to the hotel.

Still no power, there was a problem at some power station. The owner had his father die & had taken the generator home for all his guests. Just great.

Day 12 To Kaza 220kms

Well what can I say about today. We have taken a different route than previous years, due
to the monsoons. 220kms on the roads we were on made this part of the ride more of an endurance excersize. Throw in a truck broken down and a pile of vehicles either side of it as they couldn't get passed. An hour delay. We were away at 4.00am & got into Kaza at 7.00pm absolutely shattered.
The scenery on the way was breath takingly spectacular which more than out weighed the tough riding.
The first pass was Rotang Pass 12952 feet, pockets of snow around us, the road was very windy, with parts of the road washed away, there was also a village at the top, I would say to house the workers who are constantly working on the Pass. There was a very long stretch before the next Pass. This part of the road was in very very poor condition, mostly rubble, gravel & lucky dried mud. A truck had broken down on a very tight corner, so vehicles were backed up behind it & in front of it as they couldn't get past. There was just enough road for the bikes to get around. As we rode this stretch of road the scenery was truely
magnificent, with a river below & mountains on either side, we when though dozens of water crossings, some small, some large, all but two we were able to ride through two up. the two that were difficult required help from other riders & Atul's crew to help get the bikes through as the water was quite deep & moving fast, with mostly boulders under it. This is a main road to, & cars & trucks had to get through them to, amazing. You wouldn't want to buy a used car from the Northern Indian area. LOL. We stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere, & here was what would be the equivalent of  truck stop, with 4 make shift tents, quite large built over the remains of old buildings, using the stone walls as support for the roof. Maggi noddles for lunch, GOD they were good. We waited for some time for the rest of the group. About 2kms up the rode one of the more aggressive riders had fallen off through a crossing & his bike ended up about 15 feet down a bank, he seemed ok, his bike was retrieved, somehow the mechanics, got it back together & running, some panelbeating & a new set of forks which Atul had as spare. This caused us further delay on what was our
longest riding day. This was a long & very difficult part, hard on the bodies. We arrived at Kunzum La Pass, which was 14900 feet high, at the top was a Buddist Shrine. Again a very very windy road in poor condition. Off again, getting a bit tired, a few stops, next thing we are riding through a road that had been carved out of a cliff, with rock over hanging us, a quite narrow road, no barriers and thousand foot drops, wow, that was exciting, not to far from Kaza that goodness, the last 30 or 40 kms were hard work. Got to Kaza in one
piece, then bugga me the power went out.
Dinner & a few drinks by candle light, lucky they cook with gas. The power never came back on so doing things in our room was done by braille.
A great tiring day was had by all.