Kargil-Leh

Ok let me just wrap up what happened in Kashmir and move on to Ladakh, which is where Ive been for nearly a week and a half and where a lot has happened and must must be written about.

In Kashmir we lounged about and lived life like Kings. The group of Israelis I was with were of a sort that likes to sit around and smoke pot all day long. Most of them rarely left the houseboat, maybe only to buy more "munchies."

I however, while also indulging in a form of vacation only possible to me and my fellow post-army Israelis in Kashmir, made a trip nearly everyday to the main city center.

Srinagar is a dirty, ugly city with 95% Muslim population. Many women walk around in long black burkas while the men look depressingly normal. The streets are long and windy, lacking any kind of organization, and leading easily to a state of "where the fuck am i!!!!???".

I had to take care of a few moto issues in Srinagar, including a basic checkup, since I had crossed the first 3000km by this point, and also I was to embark on a two day journey to Leh which I had to make sure my bike was ready for. A very kind Indian who actually loooks like a native american, accompanied me to the city a few times and took me to a good mechanic. I had the chain and sprocket replaced, as well as the front brakes, and some other minor repairs. I never knew about the clutch oil, now I know. I'm learning a lot about motorcycles and maintenance.

I took Olik along with me to the city a few times to the Lal Chowk district, or the main market. Here I wandered about trying to change money with my new credit card after losing my original one, and I also bought a few gifts. I made sure to purchase a few "pashminas" or shawls made of the ultra smooth hair on a goats chin. The real pashminas are 100% goat chin wool, but the ones I bought were 30% goat chin hair and 70% wool. The real pashminas start at 6000 ruppees, while mine cost about 200 ruppees each, but theyre still badass and surprisingly warm.

After two weeks of the same routine I, and some others in the group, was eager to get moving. The price of living was higher in Kashmir due to the high consumption of junk food and other uneccessary and wasteful expendistures. Some folks wanted to stay a few more days, but the majority decided to leave. Seven of us organized a jeep to Leh, Ladakh, while I organized my bike. Asher also rode his bike and took along Yossi for the ride.

I left early in the morning about two weeks ago to Kargil, a small village on the main rode between Srinagar and Leh. Leh is about 500 km east of Srinagar. The ride was certainly one of the most beautiful of this trip. Layers of hilly dessert mountains and valleys followed by green plateaus full of wild sheep and horses. It was hard to leave Kashmir and the lake and the shikaras, but now I was riding amidst the most glamorous scenery I had scene yet.

I reached the jeep a few times and overtook them, and make it to Kargil before the jeep by two hours even though I left two hours after them and took a couple long breaks in the middle of the trip. In Kargil I met the group and we took a hotel in the middle of the long barren one street village that on my road map is market as a major city, but is in fact a dirty, depressing Muslim town with out any redeeming features. Olik and Anastasia rode three-up on my motorcycle with me and tried to find a restaurant without any success. The best we found was a butcher displaying a row of sheep and goat heads still on sale from the morning; the rest of the body had already been sold.

I used the internet here and wrote about what happened two weeks before that, just like im doing now. There was also a group of enfield riders in our hotel, and I had started seeing large groups of organized bike tours on the way to Ladakh.

I set out from Kargil the following morning and rode all the way to Lamuruyu, another small village 100 km West of Leh. I found a hotel near the Buddhist monastery here and decided to stay for the night, not in any hurry to get to Leh. I ate some sketchy chow mein and slept most of the time here. I checked out the monastery and said hey to a couple monks, as well as gave a spin to the buddhist wheel, which is definitely good luck.

I continued through more majestic territory the next day and witnessed the land turn from Kashmiri green to Ladakhy desert. The mountains grew taller and taller as the road ascended to 3500 meters from Srinagars 1500. When I reached Leh I was exhausted by the glaring sun and also by the altitude difference. I ate another round of aweful thali, and spent two hours finding a obscure guesthouse listed in Lonely Planet. I finally found the Ladakh guesthouse but it was full and I took a room in Babu Guesthouse nextdoor. No shower, no hot bucket, bathroom outside, nice Tibetan innkeeper, 100 ruppees. Perfect. I still hadnt found the crew from Kashmir but I decided a few days without them would do me good.

I took a nap and then wandered through Leh. The city at first, like Srinagar was confusing, with a "new Leh" and an "old leh". I was in the old Leh, but all the internet shops and restaurants and people were in New Leh. I bought a few things I needed, like toothpaste and shaving cream, and stumbled upon Olik and anastasia in the Main Bazaar, watching a pair of photographers from England doing work for a New York Times magazine article called "faces of India." I got the British photographer to take a couple shots of Olik and I, and perhaps we'll be included in the article, though they said that from the hundreds of snapshots they will have to choose only eight.

From there we went to eat and met a older man named Moshe of about 50. A cigarette smoking machine with rough grey stubble and a good looking wife, Moshe was a reminder to me that people at 50 can still be remarkably cool. We chatted like old friends, and Moshe had no problems shooting the shit with 22, 24, and 27 yr olds. He told us about all his travels in India and the US, about his two grown kids at home who were our age. we continued to bump into Moshe and his wife in Leh until they left for Kashmir.

Leh is the capital of the state of Ladakh. Ladakhys are comprised of regular Indian citizens who are Hindu, and Tibetan Ladakhys who have refugee status. They all speak Ladakhy predominantly but most understand Hindi, Tibetan and even Kashmiri, as well as some English.

Olik and Anastasia were sharing a room in a guesthouse which was where the rest of our group was also staying. The group spirit had started to disintegrate once we left Kashmir, and it became obvious to me that I was not going to continue traveling with them. In Kashmir we shared a houseboat and lived the life of glamorous hippie stoners, which went well with the lake and mountain vibe and was awesome for two weeks. Reaching Leh, however, I decided I was bored with the whole vegetation vacation thing and I wanted to get back to some serious adventure traveling. I couldnt do this if I were to remain part of the group, as they had all continued to do in Leh what they did in Kashmir, i.e., sit in the guesthouse and smoke pot all day long. In Kashmir this was justified, since there is nothing to do but sit on teh houseboat and watch the lake and smoke. Leh, however, is a city reeling with adventure sports such as trekking, rafting, bicycle riding, mountain climbing etc, and sitting in the guesthouse smoking pot is a serious waste of time.

Olik and i had taken a liking towards each other and it naturally occurred to us to continue travelling together. He is a 24 yr old ex-army combat soldier from the "nachal" department. A gregarious traveler, he started at about the same time as me in India and will travel until December. He may buy an Enfield in Manali, which is where we are travelling to next. There is no other way to leave Leh except by travelling through Manali, where Ive already been, and from where I will head to Spiti-Kinor with Olik in a few days.

Incidentally, Olik has experience/contacts in the bar/restaurant business in Israel and we've been spending some time day dreaming about the bar we will open together in Israel. We have a few ideas and may develop a business plan, which we will then shop around to his father's wealthy investor friends. But thats a whole other story. In the next few days we planned a trek that was to change the course of our lives forever, sort of. And thats a story I will share in my next post.