September 5, 2023 to September 10, 2023
The Zanskar Valley - a Hidden High Altitude Gem
Itching from last nights bed bug infestation we set off with the wind, heading into an increasingly dramatic landscape on surprisingly good roads. This was our first taste of Ladakh and the stunning scenery soon distracted us from our itching bodies.
We stopped for the night in a guesthouse with our host Mohammad and his family, they prepared us a delicious spicy curry and lots of curd and learnt more about life here, isolated in the mountains.
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This would also bethe last Muslim region we would be in since Kazakhstan, and for the first time on the trip we would be heading into a Buddhist region. We were greeted here by a large beautiful stupa which was also the perfect shelter for a lunch stop to take in the views of the Nun Kun mountain massif. By this point the asphalt stopped and we were onto dusty dirt tracks.
A lot of the road through the Zanskar valley was under construction which was actually a blessing for us because even though there were occasional slow sections of dusty dirt track, the roads were almost completely empty. We had no trucks to worry about and could enjoy the brand new road through the incredible mountains.
Many workers came from Nepal and other poorer regions of India for the heavy manual labour tasks required for the construction of the road. It was common to see women and their children on the side of the road, moving rocks by hand and being paid next to nothing. Moreover they were usually living in small shelters on site shelters and left there until they were transported in the back of trucks. It was pretty horrible seeing the poor conditions that people lived in just to get by, yet they never failed to smile and wave as we cycled by with our relative levels of luxury.
Ginormous snow-capped mountains towered over us in a gorgeous green valley. I saw a cricket match being played in a field between the workers and I felt a strong urge to join in. When else in life would I be able to play cricket above 4000m? The workers welcomed me in and a Nepali man offered me the ball for a couple of overs. The small run up to bowl was exhausting and I soon found myself panting after just a few bowls. It was incredibly fun though and I was happy to get a catch after years of not playing. I tried to explain the rules to Seb but ended up giving in and asking him to take photos instead. It was beautiful to see everyone brought together to play with just a couple of bats, a ball and some sticks and I could tell that there was a close bond between the workers here.
Not far from the makeshift cricket pitch we passed an old Buddhist monastery stood bold on the top of a hill with prayer flags swaying in the wind below the golden sun. With little time in the day we didn't stay long and continued towards the bottom of the pass along the gravel track. I watched as a car suddenly sped past us on a turn and flew down into a ditch, narrowly avoiding us. The group of guys stumbled out with only a few bloody noses but they were totally shocked by the situation, as were we. We sat around and flagged down another passing car who could help them out luckily and we thought about our close escape as we cycled on into the dark. It was harder than we thought to find a camping spot and we ended up cycling on another hour in the dark until coming to a flat patch of grass in the valley, however it was already taken by a group of workers. Having no other option we asked if we could camp with them and they warmly accepted, offering us food and to join them in their tent. We declined their offer as it was late and we didn't want to intrude when we had our own food to eat. We took rest as the night became too cold and windy to stay outside and thought about the long and intense day we had just had.
The next morning we continued the slow slug up the pass until we were blessed with a lake at 4500m, it is tradition that we must swim in high altitude lakes we come across, the higher the better, and this was no exception. The freezing water stung my skin and left me gasping at the thin air, but the sun was strong and reviving. A man who we recognised from the previous evening warning us about lions, suddenly appeared with a gleaming wide smile and sat next to us by the lake. I noticed my sunglasses had disappeared from my bag and had somehow appeared on his giggling face. He spurred on Seb to jump in the lake and sat around to keep us company whilst we cooked up the remainder of our food from the bottom of the pannier; fried potatoes and onions with tomato paste and spices - a surprisingly good meal!
The ride downhill was breathtaking, I couldn't believe we had these whole roads to ourselves, hard to make progress when stopping every 5 minutes to take photos though. Further down the valley we bumped into Davide, an incredible man who carries a paraglider on the back on his bike and makes awesome videos throwing himself off mountainsides. Amazingly, Seb had already met him previously in Uzbekistan whilst I was away with Ilaria and had been gifted Davide's old brooks saddle. It was great to meet him but unfortunately we were going opposite directions as always and had to carry on.
Days before on the ride from Kargil, we had met a young woman outside a teahouse called Nilza. We spoke over a delicious bowl of soup and she told us of her yearly journey from her university in southern India up to her home in Ladakh. It had taken her days of trains and buses bur she was almost home and happily invited us to pass by her village on our way to Padum. By this time we were close and decided to take her up on the offer. Our Sim card didn't work in the Zanskar valley though so we resorted to asking around saying her name and the place she was studying. To our luck the first person we asked happened to be her neighbour and called her over. She was helping her family in the field and raced out to see us and invite us in to her family home. We felt guilty that we had dragged her away from work but she assured us that she was almost finished. It was the first time we were invited into someone's home in Ladakh and it felt like a glimpse into a past into this region and Tibet also. The large living room was covered in traditional rugs, criss-crossing over each other, we sat down at one on one of the many small tables around the perimeter. We were served butter tea, something which I still struggled to stomach and learnt about Nilza and her family over the noisy distraction of an overly dramatic Chinese TV show. She comes back here once she has finished her studies for the year and helps her family for the busy harvest, she is studying nursing and hopes to move to a different city or country for better wages. Her mum returned from the harvest soon and although spoke no English, spoke a lot with her weather beaten face and chuckles of laughter. By this time it was eight o'clock and Nilza recommended we made momos, traditional Tibetan dumplings, we happily agreed and helped to roll out the dough and prepare the filling, I struggled a lot with the forming of the dumpling (can you tell which ones are mine in the picture below?). By the time we ate it was 10 and Nilsa's mum had fallen asleep on the floor and soon after eating the delicious steamed dumplings we had too.
The next day we rode to Padum, the main city in the Zanskar valley, it was a bustling town with many shops and restaurants on the side of the road. Excited to see a variety of food we stuffed our faces in a bakery and made our way to the monastery on the hill where we were once again immersed in the impressive Tibetan architecture. With our bags filled with fresh veg and our bellies filled once again by rice and dhal with two extra refills (unlimited refills are standard in most places in India), we set off again with a pleasant tailwind, making the ride through the valley effortless.
I was stopped by a group of young girls who jumped out onto the road and chased me, their playfulness and innocence filled my heart with joy. Once Seb stared to catch up they ran back to him to run alongside him too. They giggled endlessly at everything we did and loved posing for photos. They especially loved Antonio, my little toy penguin on the front of my bike, also the air horn which they soon deflated.
The next day the valley closed in on us and we found ourselves in a gorge with a small road carved out into the cliff side, occasional cars and trucks drove past, blowing up dust into the air, making it hard to see and breath. Of course this was the time where I had a puncture and had to squeeze onto the small section on the side of the road to repair it.
By early afternoon we started the slow climb up another pass, the wind was strong, which was an advantage on 50% of the hairpin bends and a disadvantage on the rest. An audiobook made the pass fly by though and we were soon on the descent and into a town where we stayed for the cold night behind a stone wall with the view of yet another incredible night sky.
The pass continued the next day, this time up to it was the highest point we had been to yet, Singe La pass (5091m). I was happy with how we were adjusting to the high altitude and my fears about the future passes dissipated, knowing that if we could manage this we could manage anything. Further down the pass there was a stall selling omelettes, we met an 70 year old motor biker who was inspired by our trip and wanted to try cycling himself, I was impressed with how energetic he was at his age and his eagerness to see the world.
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We pushed on to complete the Sirsir-La pass (4565m) reaching the top at sunset and happy with our achievement. It was an exhausting day and we still had to make it down to a suitable altitude to be able to have enough oxygen to sleep well. It was over another hour in the dark, going slow down the steep gravel track when we found a finally found a small but ideal spot elevated next to the road. A standard meal of soy chunks and noodles under another perfect nights sky and we were out like a light after completing two huge passes in one long day and finishing the Zanskar Valley!
Today's ride: 410 km (255 miles)
Total: 410 km (255 miles)
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