Jispah

 

Heading off for Jispah from Manali. It's foggy and a light rain pesters. Visibility is 2 bikes in front, not ideal but I've rehearsed my escape moves well (commando rolls etc)

 

The road starts to wind into the country side.

 

A very small town, if you can call it that. Not sure if this is being built or destroyed.

 

Further down I come across this settlement.

 

Very small but beautiful blue flower. I guess plants and flowers don't have the resources to grow very big here. It's cold, sunlight isn't often, and there isn't a steady supply of nutrients from anywhere.

 

These guys were working on the road. Breaking big rocks apart to place into the muddy road to try and make it more passable.

 

I didn't get any pictures of it, but the road up was often covered with thick mud that a hipster male would not like to be stepping in. I stepped in it with pride and beat my chest in defiance of the mud.

All that chest beating made me hunger. Stopped at the guy-in-the-back-of-the-ute-restaurant and ordered some magic.

From this:

 

To this:

 

 

By this.

 

The chai is great. It's not that shitty powdery shit that those shit companies make to sell to cafes to sell to vulnerable beginner-chai-enthusiasts which is way too sweet and shitty. This stuff is da real deal. No self-respecting Chai Technician would ever make chai from powder. They would quite likely shoot themself in the head with a potato gun before even contemplating such a tragedy.

 

This is a horse.

 

 

Some donkeys/mini horses standing around talking about how tired they were of being mounted by tourists for photographic purposes. I'm sure there is more to life than that, even for a donkey.

 

Some other white people I saw. They have beautiful whethered faces. Why do people want to avoid wrinkles and crow's feet? They're awesome man.

 

It's very hard to fathom how tall and wide these mountains are from photos. Let's just say they are very tall and wide, look at how they poke the clouds.

 

Feel free to advertise alongside the government warning signs.

 

In the middle of nowhere but don't talk on the phone!!! There are a lot of phones in India.

 

Stopping at the border near Keylong. Lunch before we cross. This guy was "washing" up. Food Health Authority NSW would have a field day with this guy. But hey it's not NSW and we're in a pretty small area which surprisingly has banned smoking altogether.

 

Something is wrong with my camera there is some foreign thing on the left. Ignore that.

 

 

 

Rice with brown dahl-ish stuff. Yum. Top right corner was cabbage with other stuff. I'm sure it's got some brown powder mixed with salt etc.

 

 

The trucks around here and from Delhi are ornately decorated. I feel a real sense of pride in the truckies. They're pretty much the life-blood of the country and they drive through the same muddy cliff-face roads I went through. Passing a truck a 20cm gap is considered spacious.

 

Just some berries I saw on the roadside. I ate them and immediately threw up. Yes I'm joking. I did sneak some into someone else's food to see what happens but he's still walking. Guess they're safe. Berry diameter = 4.23mm.

 

Played cricket with the local kid at Keylong. I don't think he practices batting much but neither do I. Eating is more fun.

 

 

Further towards Jispah. The land is showing more signs of tectonic history as the peaks start to rise more. There is the constant sound of water flowing down from the Himalayas. It's everywhere you go.

 

More beautiful geometric marvels. I once was able to decipher the exact chronology of a rock formation. It usually starts off like a flat layered appearance. The bends and swirls come after. There is immense pressure involved in moving millions of tonnes of rocks into these shapes. It happens over gazzibillion years from tectonic plate movement.

 

Someone's home is in this picture, and also their farm. I couldn't see any point of entry really, the land was surrounded by impassible cliffs. I hypothesise they have a helicopter that lands in a hidden helipad that looks like a patch of grass but actually opens up, kinda like 007 style.

 

Another tiny dot of a house surrounded by die-if-you-try rock walls.

 

I had to cross this stream. I'm a total noob at this stuff, almost stacked it and sprained my wrist in the process. I didn't fall over though but the boys count it as a stack. I don't like how the terminology isn't defined by legislation or some other official document but whatever.

In the background you can see people washing their dirty oily cars with the water. Can you believe that? How horrible right? That would totally wreck your paint.

 

Someone's farm carved into the mountain side. I'll call him Farmer Awesome. Excuse my pathetic composition of this frame. CAN YOU DO BETTER???

 

 

Reached the hotel not long after and settled down for dinner and a campfire. Finding firewood is impossible. There aren't many trees around worth burning (unless of course it's your neighbour's tree blocking your beautiful mountain view). Campfire was my idea btw. Someone else bought fireworks from Delhi and they were a disaster, falling over and firing into tents and windows. Reminds me of YouTube fail compilations. One hit my shoe and I danced like the devil.

 

 

It's good to get away from the craziness of Delhi. Altitude here is 3500m or so. A lot thinner than at sea level but not enough to cause any major problems. Tomorrow I head for Sarchu, elevation 4235m. Ciao