On a side trip to the Chinese border, we came across this truck stop. It was an unexpected treat to… be able to sit indoors, out of the wind. There we polished off some ‘real food’ instead of having to resort to our cache of ramen noodles.
Murgab market first appeared bleak and deserted. Then the shops, built from refurbished shipping containers, opened. Out spilled bright colored… clothes, Chinese plastic, and fruits from Osh, Kyrgyzstan.
The Pamir plateau in Tajikistan is so enormous that even when we saw the town of Karakul in the distance… it took us the whole day to reach it.
Upon meeting Indonesian school kids it was, “Hello!, where you going?” “To the moon!” we laughed while pointing up to… the .
The scenery alongside the Trans-Sumatra highway gave us a new definition of the word ‘green’. Green is overwhelming, multi-hued and… Tropical. So it’s also dreaming of a cool shower at the end of a long, hot day.
The photography theme ‘Little Red Cyclist’ shows what it feels like to be a small, humble bicyclist pedaling through the enormous, overpowering landscapes of the American Southwest. Download the free Little Red Cyclist e-book full of images from around the globe.
After heading down the switchbacks of Mineral Canyon, we spotted the entrance sign to Canyonlands National Park. “Entrance to another… planet is more like it,” remarked Paul as we struggled to pedal (and push!) our bicycles through the sand. Dwarfed by this landscape of immense rock, we realized why the White Rim Trail has become a classic mountain bike route.
A panoramic view over the Leh valley from the roof of Thiksey Monastery. This Buddhist monstery in the Indian Himalaya…
A photo gallery of relics inside of Hemis Monastery in the Indian Himalayas. A Buddhist monk gave us a tour… of Hemis Monastery which contains a spectacular collection of ancient Tibetan relics and manuscripts.
We felt we had stepped back in time as we viewed the dust-covered statues and faded murals.
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.
Arriving in Samode, the townspeople directed us towards a palace. At the entrance, a doorman invited Paul inside while Grace… stayed with the bikes. A couple of minutes later Paul returned. “It’s not just a palace; it’s also our hotel for the night.”
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.”
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.
