Gateway’s supermarket-café specializes in greasy hamburgers with extra ketchup. But after a week of granola bars, they were heaven! Sadly… the store’s shelves were empty. So the next morning we set off with hotdogs from the restaurant as we headed up towards the La Sal Mountains.
“I don’t suppose you guys have snow tires for those bikes?” asked a hunter. We just laughed.
That night a… storm hit and the next morning, we woke up to a ‘winter wonderland.’ We tried to pack the tent away but even without stakes, it stood frozen in place. So we crawled back into our sleeping bags for a day of card games and listening to country music.
A panoramic view of descending into the Spiti Valley. This valley in the Indian Himalayas is sparsely populated with a… few settlements
A panoramic view of wild camping near the bottom of Kunzum La Pass. This has to be our favorite camping… spot in the Indian Himalayas.
A panoramic view of cycling through the Chandra River Valley. This himalayan valley is one of the most impressive in… the
A panoramic view of wild camping near the Tsarap river. We arrived at the river after descending the Gata loops…
A panoramic view over the Leh valley from the roof of Thiksey Monastery. This Buddhist monstery in the Indian Himalaya…
A photo gallery of Thiksey Monastery in the Indian Himalayas. Thiksey is the largest monastery in Ladakh and houses a… 49 ft. high statue of Maitreya Buddha.
An interactive map of the Leh – Manali – Spiti highway. It shows a variety of landscapes that the road… passes through; from the high deserts of Ladakh all the way to Rampur’s lush green valleys.
The Sambhar circuit house was built by the British in the 1880’s. Portraits of earlier occupants and former Indian leaders… grace its walls. The house is now run by Sambhar Salts Ltd. Yet the elderly caretaker still can recall preparing food for Captain and Mrs. Bunting.
The monkey clamored over our bikes then stopped to stare at his image in the mirror. We tried to scare… him away, but with no success. Instead, he managed to break off Paul’s mirror and run off with it. Paul gave chase and was able to get it back. “You’re a lucky man,” said the hotel manager. “Monkeys are fascinated by seeing their reflection. We have a parking lot guard whose job it is to scare the monkeys away from car mirrors. Yet he can’t run as fast as you.”
In India, shrines are everywhere. We came across elephants who bestow blessings, Hanuman statues carved in rock faces, termite mounds… draped in gold cloth and even Ganesh’s face painted on tree trunks.
A photo gallery of South Indian bicycle culture. Here bikes are a prized possession which help you earn money. Rickshaw… rider, ice cream vendor, coffee salesman, you see bikes everywhere.
A photo gallery of cycling through India. India’s diverse religions, landscapes, and cultures make it a fascinating country to pedal… through.
Traveling through the painted towns, we gaped at the opulent murals. Nowadays many houses are abandoned, with only caretakers to… look after them.
