Sarchu

More barren but beautiful land. Photos cannot capture it's beauty. The problem I face when I take these photos is I'll often put the camera away when I realise that I just can't get capture the essence of what I see.

 

This rather dapper guy walking his white mini-horse. I'd love to put this up on Sartorialist and read all the comments people come up with "oh i love how he's coordinated his sandal colour with the mini-horse's hoof colour", "oh but you can't wear sandals with jeans!!". Get stuffed bitches. Kmart all the way.

 

 

An army post. There were no enemies in sight.

 

Camouflage needs work.

 

 

Rest break. More real chai.

 

 

Not sure who sleeps here.

 

 

Thank heavens it's the edible kind.

 

 

Chef is making noodles for someone. Presence of unsanitary conditions only adds to the flavour.

 

 

Came across these rock formations. Didn't learn about these in school. Possibly man-made. The main one pictured is about 32.17cm high.

 

 

Didn't want to feel left out so made my own. Height = 4cm. What!? it's not a competition god!!

 

Whoever made this is a show-off. Nobody likes them so I kicked it over when nobody was around. (jest jokin)

 

Riding along and this

 

 

Becomes this

 

Roadblock suspect (you can see his evil grin):

 

 

I contemplated long and hard about abducting one lamb for dinner, so he could accompany me while I ate. Due to not having any room in the tent for him I reconsidered.

 

These flag thingies are to wish us safe passage. We added ours.

 

 

I signed a rock. I have many aliases. Misty, Coco, and Night-shadow are some of them. Mohammed Dib is another.

 

 

Another rock formation. I know nobody likes show-offs but you can't just put flat rocks on-top of flat rocks. How boring. Go play bingo!

 

 

This is me putting my hands out to the side and standing in front of the colourful stuff. I would much prefer to just put my arms by my side but someone blasted me for being 'boring'. So here it is; I look like I'm practising crucifixion.

 

 

There was an ice thingy just along the road, it was about 25 degrees in the air yet this thing wasn't really melting.

 

I immediately thought to harvest some and make a slurpee but upon closer inspection the quality was pretty C-grade. I prefer my slurpee without dirt and rocks.

 

Stopping for food. I love stack-stone walls, they're awesome and abundant here. Not recommended for structural walls though. Hasn't stopped these guys.

 

A stack-stone outdoor toilet. Does it get any better?!?!?!

 

Quite spotless actually.

 

 

The view when you pee. HELL YEA. Better than advertisements for pillow cases or glow-in-the-dark things.

 

 

Lunch box: foil balls and squares. Tasty. The popper was an orange juice drink with superman on the front. I don't know how they are related. Someone in graphic design needs to be fired.

 

 

Jack is unimpressed with eating foil so he scoops out apple chunks with a spoon and mixes it with rice. That's a new one, even for us rice-eaters.

 

 

She owns a shop nearby. Happy to pose for photos but gets nervous when you stick the lens in her face. Oops. Zoom next time.

 

 

Bridge crossing. Bridges here are mostly like this. They built a nice frame and then just get lazy with the surface covering. I'd really like a nice floral print or maybe moons and cows etc. I've drafted a letter to the government of India, just waiting for the next post box.

 

This is what the bridge bridges. DANGEROUS WATER.

 

First I thought this was a tombstone for a guy named Sarchu who died at 17 but then someone told me that's where we were headed. Killjoy!

 

 

Reached camp. That's my tent. My lone boot is out front drying. I went through a nice river crossing and got drenched. Poor boot.

 

View from afar. Next two photos were taken from the same spot. There's a big rubbish dumping ground round the back. This is the impact humans have on our environment. It's ironic that we come to see beauty but we destroy it in the process.

 

More native fauna. Tiny little flowers. Probably the flowers Stuart Little would pick to give to a special someone.

 

 

These were even smaller, they were no bigger than the head of a matchstick. I accidentally uprooted the whole plant trying to pluck one off.... What I'm not a botanist!!!