June 4, 2016
two restdays in Keylong turns to three: getting ready for the run to Leh
Day one
Our first restday starts with a nice large pot of coffee on the patio in front of our room. The sun is very strong, but it is cold in the shade. Rachel does our laundry, almost every item in our wardrobe, plus our sheets and pillow cases. Patrick cleans and checks his bike, the rough roads put serious wear on the brakepads. Rachel’s bike will get the same treatment tomorrow.
We spent a couple of hours in the internet place across the road from our hotel and post a couple more days on CGOAB, then each walk up and down the “mall road” where many small shops seem to sell the same articles. When you go through you see that one shop has a can of corn, the other a box of muesli or milk powder. By visiting at least a dozen shops we scrounge together our supplies for the ride to Leh. For a stretch of about 300km there are no permanent settlements, but there are several tent camps where you can get food and shelter. We do not want to completely rely on all these camps being there this year, plus having a couple of days of meals gives us the flexibility to go shorter or further and camp out. Still no sign or word from Dan.
Day two
“Guess who’s here?” Patrick says. Internet has been off all day until power came back in the evening. Patrick is in the internet office when he hears Dan’s voice. Dan met Rocio, the Spanish cyclist and knew we were here in Keylong and probably had been for a few days. He rode hard to get here, just at twilight. This was good too. We had planned to move on tomorrow, thinking Dan must be ahead of us.
The day is much the same, Patrick cleans Rachel’s bike and we do final shopping of fresh items. We pick up bananas, a cake and a dozen eggs the restaurant full boils for us. In the afternoon, a storm moves through.
After Dan gets settled in his room, we have chai in the restaurant. Dan has been sick causing his delay.
Day three
We have the breakfast that we prearranged yesterday on the patio. Dan joins us. It’s good that we have finally connected. He goes shopping for supplies and comes back and says Rocio is at an internet place down the street. She comes up and joins us for a chat. Her plan is not to stay in Keylong but to continue on today.
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