August 24, 2023 to September 4, 2023
Sensory Overload in Delhi and Kashmir
Entering into New Delhi from Kazakhstan was a shock to the senses to say the least, especially in the district Laxmi Nagar, where we decided to stay in the cheap and cheerful Joey's hostel. First, the humid heat hit me hard, and after walking 10 minutes in the street my clothes were soaked with sweat, the heated rubbish and raw sewage was persistent in the air, and the constant noise of honking and the shear amount of people, vehicles and beggars almost sent me into a panic attack. I started to question why I wanted to come here so badly why I would even attempt to cycle on these chaotic roads.
After an hour or so walking around I soon accepted the chaos and embraced it, starting to appreciate the more positive sides, starting with the incredible food! Our bellies were starving after the flight and we couldn’t wait to feast on some real Indian food, which has always been my favourite (although probably not at the time of writing after 5 months in India eating mainly curry). We found a local dabbah 5 minutes from the hostel and ordered buttery chickpea masala and vegetable curry with naan and a thick mango lassie on the side. It was a delight to the senses and filled a lot of cravings with buttery and creamy sauce exploding with flavour from the fresh spices. After finishing one round we instantly ordered a new dish and ate until we couldn’t eat anymore, all this for only £2 total! This dabbah would become our go to local place for the next week here.
The first afternoon and night here we took part in a group tour around the city with a nice group from the hostel and led by Kabir, a warm hearted and sociable guy who escaped from his family and moved to Delhi when he was young. The tour started with a metro ride where I was shocked with how pleasant the experience was, it was quiet, clean, efficient, not crowded and air conditioned! We got out and back into the mayhem at the Red Fort to see the beautiful architecture and learn about the history of Delhi. We then ventured around the streets and saw many sellers on the street selling anything you could think of before Kabir took us to a Halal dabbah, renowned for its mutton kebabs. Night came and we visited the huge spice markets, the airborne chili powder got a little too much however so we escaped to a secret rooftop entrance to watch over Delhi and see monkeys for the first time. I was pretty surprised to find out that Kabir knew all the right people to bring all of us into exclusive clubs in 5 star hotels, not once but three times, with plenty of Bollywood dancing and unlimited free drinks too!
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Whilst we were in Delhi we felt obliged to see the Taj Mahal so we were easily convinced to join a group from the hostel on the next train to Agra. I'll leave the scene in the Delhi train station to your imagination, but once on the train it was relatively comfortable and we could enjoy watching out the window to a totally new landscape, one that was exactly how I imagined India to be. The Taj Mahal was stunning in the early morning with the grand white marble mausoleum reflecting the golden sun.
Nabil landed one week after us so I now felt slightly accustomed to the ways here and showed him around what I loved so far. The spice markets, new fruits, incredible street food and some of the unique architecture. Having parents from Bangladesh, he was able to go incognito and not be bothered by people and people often thought that he was our guide. Still, He was still let into another fancy night club wearing dirty hiking boots and his iconic ripped cycling shirt.
Not fancying cycling out of Delhi in August we opted to take public transport up Jammu and then to Kashmir which was an adventure in itself. The first problem was getting the bikes to the coach stop, we gave it an hour to get to the station and ordered an XL cab, the first one showed up and wouldn’t accept the bike boxes, second the same and before we knew it we had already missed the bus and wasted the money. The next day we successfully ordered a van to take our boxes, we were dropped off at the location provided and then contacted again saying that the location was wrong, there was a tuk-tuk conveniently waiting at the point provided by the coach company for a high price which felt like a huge scam. Somehow we fit three bicycle boxes on top and three of us in the tiny electric auto and arrived to the coach which wouldn’t leave for another hour anyway. Seb and I were crammed into a small box room and Nabil shared with a stranger, It was clear they are not designed with tall Europeans in mind so the next 16 hour drive was a little cramped.
Arriving into Jammu we jumped into the back of a tuk-tuk who "got lost" and tried to charge us double. We stayed here with the Warmshowers host Naveen and another guest Madeline who cycled all the way from Germany alone, recently crossing the border from Pakistan. Naveen works as a heart surgeon during the day but still manages to find time to host travellers, provide incredible food and even wait with us for hours at the sim card shop. We were blessed to meet such a friendly and kind man and loved spending the evening together hearing about his motorbike adventures and Madeline's crazy stories of cycling through Pakistan.
Still half asleep at 4am, Naveen drove us with all of our bike in his tiny car to the taxi stand, where we were all crammed into the back seat; even at this early hour we were uncomfortably covered in sweat waiting for an hour for the taxi to leave.
The taxi ride, although tiring, was very exciting with the mountainous landscapes coming into view. We climbed up in altitude to cooler temperatures and stopped with the rest of the lovely people in the car who were very keen to offer us Kashmiri sweets and other local foods. Two full days of travelling from Delhi and we were relieved to have finally arrived in Srinagar.
Although our initial hostel didn’t exist we found a cheap room nearby to Dal lake and set up our still in-tact bikes, thankful to be able to finally ditch the boxes. Srinagar was wonderful with cooler temperatures, less people and a welcome break from Delhi, however, we were still hassled to rent a house boat or buy Marijuana every 50 meters. There was also a military presence but far less than expected and it felt safe nonetheless.
I made a friend with Junaid who thought I was a youtuber when I was taking portraits of strangers. We chatted for a while and he seemed trustworthy so I accepted his invitation to borrow his scooter to drive around Dal lake. We stopped to eat pakora together and talk more, it was great to meet an interesting local who could show me around teach me about the troubled history of Kashmir. Junaid is a Muslim like the majority of people here and welcomed me inside the large mosque where he pointed out writings on the wall of people begging for good grades in school; he had contempt for these kinds of wishes and thinks it is degrading Allah to make wishes like this.
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Nabil rushed off before we knew it which was a shame, I was looking forward to cycling together but he seemed to want to get through India fast. Seb and I stayed another day before setting off North, towards Kargil, buying some new shirts on the side of the road to protect us from the high altitude sun awaiting us.
Cycling in a new region is always exciting and Kashmir didn't fail to disappoint. The lush green mountain views made the mostly uphill ride fly by, as did people stopping me, giving fruit or suggesting to marry their daughter. Food was delicious and we were still over the moon with being able to eat curry 3 times a day for dirt cheap. Unfortunately camping wasn't that easy here as there were people everywhere but we always found a room where we could haggle down the price to a couple of pounds each and pitch the tents inside to escape from the bedbugs.
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One thing which was a little frightening were the trucks which sped past us leaving little room, playing a startling tune with the horn as if we couldn't already hear them coming. They are also the spectacle to look at, often decorated heavily with bright colours and religious nick-nacks.
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We arrived in Kargil after 2 days riding and soon met with another traveller from southern India who was hiking in northern India with no money, he had an long story which we couldnt quite understand with the language barrier, we had hoped to meet later but unfortunately we never saw him again. We were a little overwhelmed with all the people around in our search to find a room for the night. We walked into a place with a big sign saying 'hotel' on a busy street but were told that it wasn't a hotel at all. Eventually on a smaller street we found a humble place where we agreed on 500 rupees (£5) for the room with the rock solid beds (which I much prefer anyways). I liked Kargil, it had a lively charm to it, although their war stricken past, people were busy and happy. People of all ages wandered the market and interacted with us as we passed though, stocking up on nuts and apricots and feasting on grilled meat for dinner.
Today's ride: 200 km (124 miles)
Total: 610 km (379 miles)
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3 weeks ago