Acclimatising in Leh

A bit of catchup - internet in Leh was too slow to get anything posted, then we moved down the valley back in the direction of Srinigar to start riding the bikes, but that put us close enough to Kashmir that all internet and email, including data on cell phones, was cut off.

August 12 - just after midnight the non-stop Air Canada flight to Delhi. Fourteen hours, then three hours to get bags through immigration and catch the Air India flight to Leh. Although all the bags are checked through to Leh, Air India insists that paying for the bikes in Canada doesn't mean that they've been paid for in India; it only gets them to Delhi. They have us over a barrel... either pay up or miss the flight to Leh. We paid and were the last people to board the flight.

Leh from the air as we arrived

 Arrived Leh on Tuesday the 13th and were happy to see the bike boxes arrive in good shape.

Flights arrive in the morning in Leh. The runway is oriented NE-SW. Landings are to the NE, up hill. Afternoon winds seem to get stronger from the southwest - presumably that's the reason for morning arrivals to avoid the tailwind for landing. Higher ground to the northeast precludes take-offs in that direction so take-offs are downhill to the SW. Field elevation is 3500 metres / 11,500 feet, so you can't expect airplanes to perform like they do at sea level.

We went straight to the hotel for a bit of breakfast and a bit of catching up on sleep before walking into the central part of town (about 20 minute walk). The TDA crew was already there and A few others of our group arrived that morning, most of them in other hotels from us. 

breakfast

One of two pedestrian-only streets in the central area.
The banner was for August 25th Independence Day celebrations. The region was only last week declared its own union territory, no longer part of Jammu and Kashmir

 

The following days we spent looking around with no particular urgency. 

Old Leh Palace

The Shanti Stupa built by Japan as a gift to the Ladakh buddhists

565 steps to the Stupa, Ursula counted them

Monastery on the other hill

Cows have free reign in the streets, not that there are that many of them - this one must be waiting for happy hour

Saturday was the appointed day for bike assembly with organizational meeting on the Sunday. We got on the bikes for a 60 km ride in the vicinity of Leh on Monday, then Tuesday got in vans to go back down the valley in the direction of Srinigar to the village of Mulbekh. Wednesday would be a free day in Mulbekh and then start the formal riding on what would have been riding day number five on Thursday August 22nd. More on that in the next post. We just want to get this up so you don't think we're missing in action. Further posts will be highly dependent on the internet service. 

Getting ready to head to the heights

TDA Trans-Himalaya... Kashmir to Kathmandu on our bikes.

Friday August 9th, we're in the last throes of getting ready to depart late on Sunday for close to two months of cycling in the Himalayas. It was supposed to start in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir, but that all got changed less than a week ago when India revoked the special status of Kashmir.

Kashmir sits up at the north of India. Since India and Pakistan gained their independence in 1947, wars have been fought over its status. Without getting into detail that I'd get all wrong, India, Pakistan and China all lay claim to bits of the combined area of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh, the Indian part of which was until last week administered as 'Jammu and Kashmir' (in yellow in the ma below).

 As of last week, India has revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and they have also partitioned it so that Ladakh is now its own 'union territory'. Note that the ethnic makeup of Ladakh is different from that of Jammu and Kashmir and security there does not seem to be an issue, in fact there are indications that the local population has wanted that change for some time. 

The uncertain situation in Kashmir led to TDA deciding it was best to change the start to Leh in Ladakh. So a few phone calls and emails etc later, and of course a few extra dollars, and the travel arrangements are changed. The change basically means that we all meet up in Leh at the same time as we would have met in Srinagar. Instead of the first four days of riding, we'll acclimatise to the altitude (3500 m) at Leh, then pick up the original schedule on the fifth riding day.

Stay posted... This is it at least until we get to Leh - we aren't going to bug you with emails every time we post something, but if you want that, you can sign up by entering your email in the 'follow by email' block on the right or at the bottom of the post... Ursula and Rae