Ride our tandem with us over the highest road pass in the world (18,380 feet) from South Asia into Central Asia. Pedal thirteen days across The Great Himalaya Range (passes to 17,558 feet) from exotic Tibetan Ladakh in the far north. Take a train to far south India and then bicycle with us from the Arabian Sea on the west to the Bay of Bengal on the east. Stories, photos, videos and music.
but the rains have come hard, making walking the muddy, cow shit and trash strewn streets a bit of a challenge. People here take it in stride, they have to, they know the drill, keep to the less dirty narrow pavement as much as buses, trucks, cars and motos allow, wade the mud and poop when you have to, rinse your sandaled feet in the least muddy water you find, carry an umbrella at all times; it’s a hard rain that falls brother.
We’re in an area called Pallavaram, a mix of mostly low end hotels, open markets, mixed businesses, a few beggars, wandering shitting cows, mostly mud streets (the monsoon just hit) and the constant noise of all manner of vehicle horns, and a few bicycle bells.
“India, the new myth–a collective fiction in which anything was possible, a fable rivalled only by the two other mghty fantasies: money and God.” From Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie.
Claire: This is India: anything, any day. One day it may be a strike, the next it may be a holiday. Every day, we’re clueless as to why the shops, restaurants, and banks are closed today. On our way up …
As we rode in the cool morning shade of a narrow coastal road north of Alleppey, I was reminded of our riding the narrow lanes of the Mekong Delta during our Shangri La trip. This time we were riding along …
“This is grim,” I thought. We were taking shelter from the steady rain under a roadside lean-to tarp shelter and I had just added my last precious few layers of clothing, save one. Bob had nothing left to put on. …
A plaintive singing drifted through the camp; similar to the Buddhist prayer songs we had heard while staying with a family in Kham, the easternmost cultural kingdom of Tibet, on our In Search of Shangri-La journey. The singing was strangely …
We rode out of Leh, a long downhill we would pay for later, with growing excitement and more than a little trepidation. Facing us were four passes, one of them the second highest in the world, several days between 15,000 …
We’ve often said on these trips abroad that we would like to stay in one place for a while and get a feel for the place and the people. To give the locals a chance to get a good look …
We thought that sending a package from Almaty, Kazakhstan was pretty entertaining back in 2005. We’d heard it was relatively inexpensive to send from India, so yesterday we gave it a try. We waited patiently in line as people crowded …
Yikes! My armour fell apart. The steel colored shirt that I bought back in 2005 is disintegrating. This is the plain grey shirt that shows up in most photos of me while we’re on tour; it’s my second skin. Though …
Our main goal in coming to Ladakh was not to bicycle over Khardung La, but to experience the evolving culture of the western Tibetan Plateau in India. Kardung La was just sort of in the way, or better put, in …
Claire: Up early, before the alarm, I was already fretting about the day ahead. I’d ridden up 7,000 feet fully loaded in one day before, but never by starting at 11,000 something and going to well over 18,000. Would I …
We just returned to Leh from a week in the Himalayas/Karakorum range located in the disputed territory between India, Pakistan and China, protected by the most friendly Indian army. On the way we cycled over the highest motorable road in …
Mom told us a way to the Sankar Gompa, “You go up, up, up beside water, at bridge right [hear the trilled r?]; follow path on on, other way [hand gesture left] go and go little more, then get!” With …
Late morning sunshine dapples a small stone walled paddock; cottonwood fluff drifts slowly, incense infuses the warming air. A cow lows, already wanting her milking grain, otherwise silence. Zeepata’s Guest House in Leh, India, exerts a gentle hold on guests: …
Leh is a Shangri-La with a storied past and an uncertain future. Once the center of great kingdoms and a crossroads of trade routes, Leh is now the focus of rapid growth and diminishing resources. Situated at the crossroads of …
Applause, Zippy ready for India
We leave Tucson today for a few months in India. We begin in Ladakh, tight between Pakistan and China, in the Tibetan cultural, and landscape land. We start in Leh, in an 11,000 ft. valley in the Himalayas.
We’ll hang out exploring temples while we acclimatize, then test some passes, and ourselves. We’ll stay about a month in the mountains and then descend into the plains where we may take a train to avoid the most populated areas, and go to the far south. We’ll be working on stories for Desert Leaf.
We have a one-way ticket, so we don’t know where we’ll fly home from. It’s nice not to know. We don’t have a phone. We should have internet fairly often and we’ll post here.
The preparation craziness is done, so now we can allow ourselves to be excited. This is going to be fun. No doubt some physical and mental challenges along the way; hey, that’s what makes life interesting, memorable.
I expect my camera to get a workout: Ladakh is called The top of the World for good reason, with the highest motorable road, spectacular scenery, and the Tibetan people are colorful and friendly. We rode across the eastern part of Tibet on our In Search of Shangri-La trip, and want to see how the Tibetans are different here in their western-most range. We expect some differences: they are free in India, not so much in China.