Friday 13 August 2010

Leh in the Himalayas

Caught in the crazy floods in Leh and surrounding villages, last few days we have been helping clear the local houses and infrastructure of mud, so many people died up here, we were camping in the tent the night the storm burst its buttons, we were forced to pack our stuff and head for higher ground. we camped the next 5 days in the back of a truck as the bridges had been washed out either side of us. the chaos hit Leh and only the hard core travelers stayed to help out with the clean up. Amazing time, but now while we help we wait till the road to Srinagar is open. Nicci C has headed south but Brould it stayed on!!! The moon riders have some new members to join the crew and a German on my Africa twin! I'm loving this traveling and crazy adventures, ill extend my visa soon to get an extra 15 days to cross the Himalayas to Nepal. Were all safe and happy and look forward to more wild adventures ahead. Much love!!!

Monday 2 August 2010

A slice of death

Wow, absolutely incredible, North India definitely is a place one must go to in their lives. We have made it to Leh crossing some of the highest passes in the world, and what a crazy adventure it has been, Nick and Brould have been chucked right in the deep end learning how to ride in the Himalayas on some of the craziest roads Ive ever been on. The passes, landslides, river crossings, mud baths and old enfields traversing across this landscape has been more than mission, but in India anything is possible. The Himalayas are mind blowing and as of tomorrow we get our permits to get up into the Nubra Valley. I just had breakfast with the world record holder for reaching the highest point on land on his motorbike, he also has a record for riding his bike from the very south of India to Leh in 5 days. his a gun and creates such amazing doco's for National Geographic and so on. A true adventurer!!! Apart from the never ending running bowls we all survived the ride with little damage but the ignition coil on one of the bikes failed due to a fall in a river crossing. Im not going to go into the nitty gritty of the many stories along the way because certain people will kill me, but its all good fun and all part of the experience.

I'm starting to think where to from India as my visa runs out on the 22 of August, but an idea is to now head across the Himalayas by foot, hitching or riding on local buses (getting rid of all my motorbike gear) to the Garwhal areas and Kumaon region and then across to Varanasi, then noth into Nepal, get into Tibet and cross China, then to find the Mekong River and get a local canoe and ride the river vibes all the way down South East Asia to Cambodia. A little research to do but ill just let it happen organically.