I’m
probably too late to catch up with my Blog.. so many things happened the last
days :) first of all, I’m doing great!! I just travelled to the source of the
Ganga river (well.. as far the road lead ;) To hike further up is not possible
at the moment, because there’s a lot of snow and blizzards going on. But it was
nice to get that close to it.. to 3500m.a.s.l. where it was getting really cold
in the afternoon! (glad to head towards warmer climate again ;)
Riding to Rishikesh was not exactly a pleasure, but I managed to do it and from now on, it’s not getting that crazy anymore. I stayed there for three nights.. met somebody and we went to a waterfall together and had some nice time. I gave some massage and we got a bit closer, but it was not really picking up and I got called by the road again (good decision!). Rishikesh grew a lot since I was there 11 years ago. There are many Yoga schools, but they don’t look very serious, for in the touristy vibe of the place you can’t really purify yourself I find. Then I managed to find this guy Mukesh, who makes didgeridoos for already 35 years :) I met him also the first time 11 years ago. So I played some didgeridoo, we had some chai and he helped me out with some a couple of things. Too bad there were no other foreigners, for I would have LOVED to jam with some people!!!
I still have to wait for the bike papers and everything got delayed (India), so I’m know exploring the north of Uttarakhand, what is actually still a bit early to do it, but once I’m having time and being busy afterwards, I just use this week to drive around for the sheer fun of riding!! :) so just after Rishikesh, the road starts to climb.. signs like: “license to drive not to fly” and “after whisky driving risky” are telling you to respect these roads. Well.. you’ll see some pictures.. by far the most stunning thing I’ve ever done and one have to be really careful not to miss out a curve. The whole road is basically carved (or stitched) to a steep mountain slope, where on one side you’ll always have thrilling views out through the Himmalayan Mountains! It’s incredible to ride.. I had to extend my scale from 1 to 10 (1 = pampa of Argentina, 10 = Rockies in Jasper or Andes in Ecuador) to 11 and 12, where it was alternating the whole ride through! :D
this is just incredible!!!
so then on the way to some hot springs, I met another guy travelling on an Enfield (24 years old from Australia). So we coupled up and are riding together now.. everything is more fun this way! :D well.. his bike is a bit shitty, but he’s doing well and after staying at the hot springs and meeting some girls to talk with, we drove today all the way up to Gangotri, where we got invited by a Baba for chai and food. He’s living in a cave the whole year through and teaches people Yoga and meditation. I found him extremely spiritual and more holy than many “holy” men I met. I was impressed by his being for he seems just to exist in harmony with everything! ..then we got thrown out the park by the police. They made us leave or pay a lot of bribe (didn’t want to do that). So we had to drive another hour back to the next place where we could stay.. here at least electricity, for there’s a generator running for some hours. Power lines don’t work for it takes another month to get into the tourist season. Then the place must see a lot of folks that want to hike up here.. but at the moment, these small villages are like ghost towns. It’s quite an experience being up here (out here ;) and the road to get here is probably the most incredible road I’ve ever ridden!! (only to be beaten by other roads on this trip ;)
So soon they should have finished painting the kitchen of the only place where you can get food here and we can eat have some boiled eggs and alu baratha (some chapatti with potato filling). We got invited twice food today (rice and dahl) and I’m still hungry.. must be the cold that uses up so much energy of the food I eat.
the bike by the way is doing a great job!! I figured out how to adjust the carbonator if you go up really high in the mountains :) I’ll have to get some things done though in the next days. I hope I can do it in Mussori (similar name), where we want to stay for some days. It’s gonna be warmer and hopefully suitable for a nice day hike through the hills. Hopefully there’s garage where they can put stickers on ;)
Riding to Rishikesh was not exactly a pleasure, but I managed to do it and from now on, it’s not getting that crazy anymore. I stayed there for three nights.. met somebody and we went to a waterfall together and had some nice time. I gave some massage and we got a bit closer, but it was not really picking up and I got called by the road again (good decision!). Rishikesh grew a lot since I was there 11 years ago. There are many Yoga schools, but they don’t look very serious, for in the touristy vibe of the place you can’t really purify yourself I find. Then I managed to find this guy Mukesh, who makes didgeridoos for already 35 years :) I met him also the first time 11 years ago. So I played some didgeridoo, we had some chai and he helped me out with some a couple of things. Too bad there were no other foreigners, for I would have LOVED to jam with some people!!!
I still have to wait for the bike papers and everything got delayed (India), so I’m know exploring the north of Uttarakhand, what is actually still a bit early to do it, but once I’m having time and being busy afterwards, I just use this week to drive around for the sheer fun of riding!! :) so just after Rishikesh, the road starts to climb.. signs like: “license to drive not to fly” and “after whisky driving risky” are telling you to respect these roads. Well.. you’ll see some pictures.. by far the most stunning thing I’ve ever done and one have to be really careful not to miss out a curve. The whole road is basically carved (or stitched) to a steep mountain slope, where on one side you’ll always have thrilling views out through the Himmalayan Mountains! It’s incredible to ride.. I had to extend my scale from 1 to 10 (1 = pampa of Argentina, 10 = Rockies in Jasper or Andes in Ecuador) to 11 and 12, where it was alternating the whole ride through! :D
this is just incredible!!!
so then on the way to some hot springs, I met another guy travelling on an Enfield (24 years old from Australia). So we coupled up and are riding together now.. everything is more fun this way! :D well.. his bike is a bit shitty, but he’s doing well and after staying at the hot springs and meeting some girls to talk with, we drove today all the way up to Gangotri, where we got invited by a Baba for chai and food. He’s living in a cave the whole year through and teaches people Yoga and meditation. I found him extremely spiritual and more holy than many “holy” men I met. I was impressed by his being for he seems just to exist in harmony with everything! ..then we got thrown out the park by the police. They made us leave or pay a lot of bribe (didn’t want to do that). So we had to drive another hour back to the next place where we could stay.. here at least electricity, for there’s a generator running for some hours. Power lines don’t work for it takes another month to get into the tourist season. Then the place must see a lot of folks that want to hike up here.. but at the moment, these small villages are like ghost towns. It’s quite an experience being up here (out here ;) and the road to get here is probably the most incredible road I’ve ever ridden!! (only to be beaten by other roads on this trip ;)
So soon they should have finished painting the kitchen of the only place where you can get food here and we can eat have some boiled eggs and alu baratha (some chapatti with potato filling). We got invited twice food today (rice and dahl) and I’m still hungry.. must be the cold that uses up so much energy of the food I eat.
the bike by the way is doing a great job!! I figured out how to adjust the carbonator if you go up really high in the mountains :) I’ll have to get some things done though in the next days. I hope I can do it in Mussori (similar name), where we want to stay for some days. It’s gonna be warmer and hopefully suitable for a nice day hike through the hills. Hopefully there’s garage where they can put stickers on ;)
So in the
meantime we got a bit further and brought some more ass-kicking roads behind us
;)
The next day, I got a flat tire in the morning. We couldn’t find the problem (luckily there was a tire repair man) and put some air inside. Furthermore there was some wiggling on the front wheel and the same day my chain guard broke :P ..but still we made it to a place called “Barkot”, where we had a nice evening session on the rooftop. It was much warmer than the two other nights.. won’t see that I don’t get too high too soon again ;)
the whole way driving here was spectacular and I’m really getting into it. It takes some skill, but most of all is not to pass 40km/h .. better is to be going 30. It’s amazing that there are roads leading into these high mountains, leading along steep slopes!
We stopped at the Kempty falls, that’s a very touristy place (locals only) and basically an overcrowded waterfall with a pool (and lots of people with tires floating it it ;) and hundreds of souvenir shops selling all kind of rubbish. We had a hard time to pass through that place for the chaos was perfect with having lots of cars on a narrow road. By the time we got to Mussoree, the weather was changing and we went down on the other side almost into the flatland. On the way down it started raining and Rick dropped his bike twice. I’m happy my bike is a bit lighter and has brand new tires on it! ..we stayed in Rajpur, a strange place where people do torture-yoga (sounds actually interesting) or bible reading. Well.. was OK for one night (even if a shitty hotel). Then today we got easily to Dehra Dun.. another big city where traffic is horrible during the day. But I had a couple of thing to get done on the bike and got lucky this morning, finding a place on Sunday where they could do just everything! ..was around 20 USD to fix my back tire, chain guard, make some small modifications, put the stickers and above all: fix the bearing of the front fork. Don’t know how this had so much play after it was serviced in Delhi.. but it was for sure interesting to see how they change these parts (learned something more today :).
otherwise we were hanging out, watching some movies.. eat a lot of tasty Indian food lately but will as well be happy to get some westerner food, as soon as I get back to a touristy place. This though could take a while.. first we’re going back to Mussoree and then taking the Chamba road across some more peaks :)
my papers will arrive earliest on Friday, so I got some more days to spend out here (what I don’t mind at all ;) there are some great pictures of that adventure and there will be even more when I make it to Rishikesh or Haridwar.
The next day, I got a flat tire in the morning. We couldn’t find the problem (luckily there was a tire repair man) and put some air inside. Furthermore there was some wiggling on the front wheel and the same day my chain guard broke :P ..but still we made it to a place called “Barkot”, where we had a nice evening session on the rooftop. It was much warmer than the two other nights.. won’t see that I don’t get too high too soon again ;)
the whole way driving here was spectacular and I’m really getting into it. It takes some skill, but most of all is not to pass 40km/h .. better is to be going 30. It’s amazing that there are roads leading into these high mountains, leading along steep slopes!
We stopped at the Kempty falls, that’s a very touristy place (locals only) and basically an overcrowded waterfall with a pool (and lots of people with tires floating it it ;) and hundreds of souvenir shops selling all kind of rubbish. We had a hard time to pass through that place for the chaos was perfect with having lots of cars on a narrow road. By the time we got to Mussoree, the weather was changing and we went down on the other side almost into the flatland. On the way down it started raining and Rick dropped his bike twice. I’m happy my bike is a bit lighter and has brand new tires on it! ..we stayed in Rajpur, a strange place where people do torture-yoga (sounds actually interesting) or bible reading. Well.. was OK for one night (even if a shitty hotel). Then today we got easily to Dehra Dun.. another big city where traffic is horrible during the day. But I had a couple of thing to get done on the bike and got lucky this morning, finding a place on Sunday where they could do just everything! ..was around 20 USD to fix my back tire, chain guard, make some small modifications, put the stickers and above all: fix the bearing of the front fork. Don’t know how this had so much play after it was serviced in Delhi.. but it was for sure interesting to see how they change these parts (learned something more today :).
otherwise we were hanging out, watching some movies.. eat a lot of tasty Indian food lately but will as well be happy to get some westerner food, as soon as I get back to a touristy place. This though could take a while.. first we’re going back to Mussoree and then taking the Chamba road across some more peaks :)
my papers will arrive earliest on Friday, so I got some more days to spend out here (what I don’t mind at all ;) there are some great pictures of that adventure and there will be even more when I make it to Rishikesh or Haridwar.
Days
later.. and many, many kilometres
further :) ..just trying to put the last days in words. When we started in
Dehra Dun, it was still pretty cold in the morning and it was cloudy almost all
day long. We rode to Chamba and then around Theri and the dam to a little place
on top of a mountain, where we spent the night. We always found some wicked
place to stay (it’s one of the advantages travelling on a bike ;) The next day,
after riding down the mountain (takes easily an hour up and an hour down ;)
Rick headed to Rishikesh and I headed on to Chapta, but the long way around.
After changing my bearing the bike still doesn’t behave well :P there must be
some other issue too and I let someone have a look at it in Rishikesh. I anyway
still have to wait for the bike papers.. hmm.. wish to be in Nepal already. It
was tough great to ride around in Uttarakhand.. bad ass riding out here!! :D
on the way I decided to go to Auli first and then to Chapta.. in Auli (a ski resort that is out of season at the moment ;) I met Taylor.. an American in my age that also bought a bike (the Impulse 150ccm) and we travelled together until this very moment :) it’s cool to have a riding buddy and who would have thought that this goes so easy ;) ..his 150ccm started tough struggling already at 3000m.a.s.l. ..I’m sure I’ll use the extra power my bike got!
we hiked in Auli for one day (beautiful one too) and it was another great trip ;D we almost made it to the top, but there was still snow and we got into the clouds (Auli, where earth meets heaven :)
the next day we made it to Chopta and today to Devaprayag, a nice little place where several valleys meet. We’re staying, because the day got already long and tomorrow we easily make it to Rishikesh. We in general had good weather. Was a bit hazy tough, so that pictures would turn our very well. But still.. having the experience of riding here in the Himalaya in India is totally GREAT! :D I’ve seen some white lemurians (white monkeys) and all kind of wildlife along the way. We keep meeting people without bikes and are so happy, we don’t have to wait for buses.. we just can go whenever wherever we want! :D
I finally got back to Yoga today! ..while I was driving so much, I didn’t have much time for the things I’d also like to do. Especially no massage practice :/ I’ll have to stop more along the way!! ..another thing is also the cold, that put me down at 8pm already. I think in a month it will be really nice up there, but at the moment the nights are freezing cold! (so looking forward to go back to Rishikesh, where it’s warmer (hot to be precise).
on the way I decided to go to Auli first and then to Chapta.. in Auli (a ski resort that is out of season at the moment ;) I met Taylor.. an American in my age that also bought a bike (the Impulse 150ccm) and we travelled together until this very moment :) it’s cool to have a riding buddy and who would have thought that this goes so easy ;) ..his 150ccm started tough struggling already at 3000m.a.s.l. ..I’m sure I’ll use the extra power my bike got!
we hiked in Auli for one day (beautiful one too) and it was another great trip ;D we almost made it to the top, but there was still snow and we got into the clouds (Auli, where earth meets heaven :)
the next day we made it to Chopta and today to Devaprayag, a nice little place where several valleys meet. We’re staying, because the day got already long and tomorrow we easily make it to Rishikesh. We in general had good weather. Was a bit hazy tough, so that pictures would turn our very well. But still.. having the experience of riding here in the Himalaya in India is totally GREAT! :D I’ve seen some white lemurians (white monkeys) and all kind of wildlife along the way. We keep meeting people without bikes and are so happy, we don’t have to wait for buses.. we just can go whenever wherever we want! :D
I finally got back to Yoga today! ..while I was driving so much, I didn’t have much time for the things I’d also like to do. Especially no massage practice :/ I’ll have to stop more along the way!! ..another thing is also the cold, that put me down at 8pm already. I think in a month it will be really nice up there, but at the moment the nights are freezing cold! (so looking forward to go back to Rishikesh, where it’s warmer (hot to be precise).
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