Nubra Valley

After the Nagmyal visit and a few days of pure relaxation and rest, Olik and I decided to go to Nubra Valley, about 120KM North, on the way to China/Tibet. The road passes through Kardung La where we'd already gone for the whole bicycle ride back down the road to Leh. This time we were going up and crossing the pass, and then coming down on the other side into the valley. The valley itself is about the same height as Leh, around 3500 meters.

But Olik's friends from Israel had just arrived and he wasn't going anywhere soon. I met a Spanish girl named Joanna going to Nubra the same day in a jeep and we decided to meet there. After talking all night long with Olik's childhood friends I woke up early, had a coffee with Olik who insisted I wake him up before I leave for goodbyes (even though we'd be meeting in a few days), arranged a few items and took off.

I road up the Kardung La road about 15 km when all of a sudden the clutch cable broke. Great. I managed to ride the bike in third gear all the way down, stymied at a certain point when my bike sunk in fresh asphalt in a construction zone, but making it all the way to the mechanic. A nice brit let me go first so I could get going, and once the clutch cable was fixed I departed.

Made it to Kardung La in 40 minutes, and then road down to Nubra in another 3 hours. The first 5 km after the pass was the worst chunk of road I have seen yet! Enormous boulders sticking out of the road at odd angles followed by huge craters. Scary. My bike nearly toppled over when I hit a jagged rock but I saved myself in mid-air with a swift turn of the handle bar. I landed on soft sand, sunk a bit, and came out of it all with no problems. The rest of the way was cake compared to the first part, except that I had to drive carefully due to the high volume of sand on the street. Theres few things scarier then loose sand for a motorcycle rider. The ride was windy as usual, large beautiful himalayan peaks, getting a bit shorter towards the valley. There was only one tiny village along the way called Kardung where I sat and drank chai with a group of Bengalis with expensive looking bikes and all the newest motorcycle gear and branded clothing.

I arrived in Hundar, about seven Km past Diskit, the main city of Nubra, and didn't find Joanna but instead found the Austrian couple, Nicole and Mikael from the Stok Trek. We had sat together often in Leh in the javeen cafe and I was very happy to find them here. I stayed in the dormitory in their guesthouse and we ate at the Organic Garden, a large tent guesthouse with a restaurant that claims to use only organic ingredients grown on the premises. We ate with another two Italians, a very young French guy and French girl, and a Columbian girl. Very multicultural, and no Israeli's at all!

The next day I met Joanna at the Diskit Monastery in Diskit. Now I have to go.