Hindustan Tibetan Highway (mum you might want to skip this post)

I have chosen to take the long way around to reach leh...not because i am a glutan for punishment...which it can be argued that i am...but because i want to ride through the Kinnaur Valley and the Spitti Valley along the route that was used to carry goods into tibet from india, pakistan etc...the road goes right into china, but of course i won't be allowed into china...now the highway is called National Highway 22 (NH 22) and i don't want to start picking fights with the indian department of transport and highways...but...well...highway????

First off it's a stretch at times to even call it a road let alone a highway...perhaps 'path' is a better definition...according to the experience i have had with roads and highways...i am reluctant to believe that a cartographer had anything to do with the publishing of the map book that i am carrying that calls this a highway...think lord of the rings when frodo and his crew are tr eking over the mountains...you now have an idea of the highway that i am riding over with a 1950's british designed indian built iron horse...and i am not kidding in the least...and really the brits haven't been known for their designing and well i won't touch the sticky subject of indian manufacturing...

OK...i haven't given you nearly enough detail here and i doubt if u really understand the hell i rode through today...so here it goes...and mum please don't worry...it's tough to explain but at no time was i worried or concerned for my life...not once did it occur to me that i could have travelled my last meter...it was as if i was surrounded by protective light...

ok where to start...well i thank god that 'shanti' (the nick name for my motorbike...which means peace) seemed to know the path and with out exception fought the highway with me as co-captian or possibly captain and i as passenger...who knows...we left Sarahan at 8:30am for what i thought and was told would be a 4hr ride...100km...to Sangla where i was told i would find woman with magical powers that can put spells on the men that they kidnap...by the by i saw no magical woman and no spells were cast in my direction and if you want to be honest then i can see why the woman would have to capture men and put spells on them...they aren't that attractive...

as i mentioned earlier so far the roads have not been great...good enough ride a stead 25km/hr on average...being that i am riding in the Himalayas one of the most beautiful areas i have seen on planet earth and difficult areas i am sure to build roads on i appreciate every km that i earn in this remote wilderness...i never expected the toll i would/could have paid today...i suppose giving my life would have been the highest toll and although there could have been or maybe should have been 100s of close calls today as i think back while writing these notes i can't think of any...not one...it's like god's hand was in my pants guiding us along...no funny ideas here...don't let this fool you to believe that this was a cake walk or the mountain air has corrupted my sense of reality...that was corrupted way back in Thailand...lol...

the hwy started off quite the same as the days before...a bit narrower in sections and a few more washed out areas...the weather was cloudy and i thought that i would hold as the clouds looked quite high...well it didn't...the rain started soon after i started...i sat out a good portion of the heavy rain in a little village...the hills are littered with little villages...i see them in the most remote locations and although i know that they have been there for generations it's sometimes hard to believe my eyes that they are there perched on some ridge without any purpose obvious to me at least...the villagers young and old wave to me as i pass...i am not the first foreigner they have seen although i don't expect too many come through here on motorbike...i earn instant respect with the villagers...riding on an indian made motorbike through the remoteness instead on taking the quick way...when i do get to chat with a villager that speaks english...there's always one...they always ask me the same questions with the last being "you travel alone?"...without exception i get asked this...it's always spoken as more of a statement than a question as they can see that i am alone...the last guy to ask me this question as i started off after waiting for the rain to stop looked into my eyes and said, "good luck my friend."...as i write this i laugh and wish his english was just a bit better so he could have describe the gauntlet that i was about to ride into...now i am sure everyone at home is giggling with fear and shaking their heads...dad included...i knew from the start that this would be an epic journey...i knew that i had to do it alone...but i don't feel that i am alone as i mentioned earlier shanti is a part of this journey and i really believe that god is with us...i am travelling through nature as god intended it in all its beauty and simplicity...which means over and through just about every substance one may think a road can be made of...i wish everyone could see this...i am sure that u would stop shaking ur heads...ok maybe not...the indians believe that this is where their gods lived and i can see why they believe this...tonight i will be sleeping in shiva's play ground...

now electrical power is a major problem in india...one that is being answered with hydro electrical dams...i rode through india's largest hydro project today...an immense undertaking i will do my best to explain...the hyw continued to be tight and curvy...it was raining so the roads were wet with a sludge like mess the kind that likes to suck ur boots off...the hwy is cut into the side of the mountain...picture a C shape being cut through a vertical mountain and yes a very steep drop on one side...steep is an understatement...the road clings with it's claws to the side of the mountain...i can hear the scrapping of it's claws at times the only thing holding the road to the mountain side...the next stop hundreds of meters to the raging river below...evidence where the hwy lost the battle with gravity is at every third or fourth turn...enough room for one vehicle perhaps to pass scraping it's side against the mountain for sure...these mountains are alive and breath and no two turns look the same...the roads aren't the only thing i contend with...cows...goats...wild pigs and of course Tata's (trucks and buses)...now this is a normal day in the life of a driver on these roads with one exception...the hydro project and all the vehicles that go with it have made this stretch of hwy a 1000 times worse...in most other countries of the world a by pass would have been built to keep private passenger vehicles out of harms way...not here...massive earth moving trucks...cement trucks...gradders...blasting machines...everything that you would expect that goes along with building a dam along 10 kms on international hwy...and so the hell began...with every turn i honk my horn hopping to grab the attention of the tata trucks or the cows or the children...my concentration on high alert...code 5...RED!!!!....the road torn up by these big trucks moving earth from one tunnel to the other side of the hill for land fill...ruts in the road large enough to hide a small animal criss cross my path...i have never seen sludgy mud so thick let alone rode through it...boot sucking mud...the kind that holds your boot and leaves u hopping around with one naked socked foot looking for where the mud has captured your boot...and often shanti and i round a bend and the dance begins....

my shoulder presses against the wet mountain...the ground soft below mine and shanti's feet...the truck slowly sews a path past us...rubbing gently against the side of my mirror and the bags tide to the back of my bike...honks from our mutual horns ensure that all is ok and we move on from the entangled mess only to round the next bend...only this time it is a pick up truck and goods carrier...the largest truck india has to offer...they are moving in opposite directions...in a stand still as the road will let only one vehicle...and there's a third truck trying it's best to back up an impossible steep section of curve...it's a hill side dance with a 500 foot drop and everyone is tense with respect for the other drivers...and shanti and i in the middle...the pick up driver motions me through the eye of this hurricane dance and i am waved to pass by the goods carrier...i nod back and with a flick of my wrist shanti kicks up the mud beneath our legs...you have to understand that these truck drivers are the life blood of these villages...without them no food or water or anything gets through...they drive night and day and through most conditions...i see the slimmest gap between the two trucks and understand this is where they want me to pass...the gap of freedom must seem like an abyss to these stranded drivers...i push shanti throttle full and clutch half in...god please don't let me stall here...slowly in the thickest of mud we push through inches at a time...we our scrapping both sides...mirrors rubbing against both vehicles...my bags rubbing too...no stopping now though...a few scratches would be a shitty excuse to turn back now and i would lose all respect from these drivers...the ground is soft and the movement is slow...and shanti is slipping...the engine starts to roar...fuck...my rear end is losing traction...milli seconds seem to last for minutes...my rear has lost traction and in a few moments which seem to last hours i and shanti will be lying under a 30 ton truck in the mud...my bag...the one on the right side has snagged the bumper of the truck stalling shanti and pulling our rear end to the right side...i beat shanti with the throttle and wrestle the rear end loose...we are free for the moment...and the moment stops and we are still sliding...if not out loud then in spirit i scream, " one day we may fall but it won't be today" as i lay on the throttle...in a professional but what some would say careless move the pickup driver turns his steering wheel and thus his bumper into shanti and i...he can see that we are moments from losing it...and as quickly as it all started we slide out the other side...the pick up driver's brave and stupid move righted shanti's rear enough to regain traction..to the grins and respect of the the tata drivers we moved on from this dance...they know that this battle is not an easy one...

i don't know how many times we wrestled with the elements and trucks on this stretch of highway...i don't know how many times i pressed my shoulders against the wet mountain...there always seemed like there's was a path to take and always with camaraderie of the tata drivers...after all it's life...i didn't lose my sneaks even though i surfed my feet several times to help stabilize the bike...i would chastised myself every time i put my feet down...it's not the right thing to do on a bike...more often cause more trouble...i doubt u even have half an idea of what is was like to ride through this hell...as i type this the shivers go down my spine...

i arrived in sangla 6 hours later...we rode through mud over 6" deep...sand...tarmach...rocks...salt...metal...i rode up streams and down streams ...i rode over just about every surface known to man...my body is sore...my hands hurt to hold this pen...we didn't go down once...rubber side down all the way through...i don't know what the road will hold for us tomorrow or the next day...however i know this...i earned the right to ride on these roads today.

rest in peace

mag