The guest house manager and arranger of my ticket back to civilization.

Breakfast on "main-street" in the sunshine at 9,000 ft.

In Nako village in the morning

Putting the dead beast in the jeep

Desolate roads all the way back to Recong Peo

Previous Entry | Next Entry

2003-05-18/19 - Nako Lake -> Rampur -> Shimla (Day 33-34)

The sun is shining in and there has been banging around in the guest house for more then an hour now so whatever time it is, I guess its time to get up. It turns out to be 7:20am, but the world is already fully awake. I open the room door and step out on the balcony and do find it to be a truly lovely morning - in the most desolate and remote place I can think of being in that is.

Up into the reception / restaurant / only room, I sit and order some breakfast - there isn't a need for a menu as there is only one option - what ever the cook is making which I'm told is invariably the same thing every day. I move out into a chair on the side of the main road and eat the breakfast from my lap while I sit in what is basically the main thoroughfare of town and watch the village get the morning stuff out of the way. Peter is already up having had his morning walk and we are soon joined by an Austrian couple, the only other foreigners in town who are mapping early Himalayan architecture for an Austrian University. One does meet the most interesting people while traveling! The four of us, sit in our plastic lawn chairs and soak in the sun. However, after about an hour of that, Peter starts saying his initial thought of 3 days at Nako may well be changed to - "If I can get out of here this afternoon, I will...." and I am thinking that ANY way out will do for me as well.

The guy who had picked me up the day before for the 50 rupee ride back to get my luggage had agreed to show up at 9am to discuss the ride to the mechanic or Shimla. Funny thing is he's up using the jeep to haul things around for villagers before 8am and I recognize him as he passes us, but he gives no sign of recognition of me - yeah, right, like one of the only 3 white guys in town sitting on the side of the road is going to be missed. This does not sit well. By 9:10 I've had about an hour and a half of the village and since the chap hasn't showed up yet, I'm looking for other escape routes - its clear in my mind that I do not want to be here and the very last thing I want to do is go BACK across those roads. I'm seriously weighing the option of simply dumping the bike here, going back to Delhi by bus and telling Lalli he can send someone to get the bike.

I talk to the Guest House owner and ask if he can arrange a jeep to Shimla for me and he says can do. Is more expensive then the other chap asked for, with them requesting 5,500 rupees for the taxi ride which is about 120 US$. Its a lot but seriously - riding back on those roads, even assuming the bike gets fixed by the local mechanic is simply too horrific to contemplate. I'm in the mood to pay whatever it takes to simply avoid that thought. I know that riding back will mean back across all those stones, several sections of washed out roads, the hydro-electric plant construction, etc. and the picture as a whole just makes me shudder. Nope, if these guys can get me out of here and out of here quick - I'm gone.

The one thing to question is going to Tabo which is only about 60km away now and the first of the monasteries I really wanted to see. The Delhi Lama is even going to be there next week and I'm sure the 1000 year old monastery would be wonderful for photos - but, truthfully - this is just too desolate a place and I'd rather just be out of here. I guess this city boy has gone TOO far out into the country.

I spend the hour the jeep guys take to get ready wandering around the village and finish the whole thing off in an hour. (Feeling a little let down by the Lonely Planet write up at this point - there isn't much here.) That at least gives me something out of that last horrible day of travel besides the memory of THAT day. The owner of the towns general store - attached to the hotel - is going to be my driver and make the 3 day trip to Shimla and back, which puts into perspective the worth of120 dollars minus gas and expenses.

We set off and the first thing that comes to my mind is - what am I crazy taking a bike on these roads as the Jeep 4x4 has to slowly work its way down over the bumps and rocks in just the 2 km to my bike. We pile my bike up into the truck which is really to small for it and it gets scratched and dented in the process but as a measure of my reluctance to ride back, I simply don't care. The Austrian couple has joined in for the first couple of hours and will ride back to Pooh. This turns out to be a real boon as they give me 1,000 rupees making the trip equal to the price I'd originally offered the other chap. As he loved his loud Indian music, I'm sure that would have been a very long 2 days - this guy on the other had has a radio that doesn't work as well as being a ultra conservative driver who insists on long horn blows at every turn which might have bothered me in other countries but here, well I think he's just a wonderful driver - long horn blasts, ultra slow...hey, this this just right for here.

As we go back I am amazed by how bad the road really is. Having the chance to take it all in without concentrating on individual sand piles and rocks in the road its even worse then I had thought. I take about 30 pictures of road hazards in just the first hour or so just so I'll be able to show the people back home. I completely lose my guilt at taking a taxi back instead of riding and begin to think it may have been the only sane thing I've done in a while.

We spend the day working the first 180 km of the trip back to the bus-stop town of Rampur. On the way I see two while guys with all their packs on and Enfield just where the road starts to get bad. Its late and I think of all the pain they are in for but I wasn't watching the oncoming traffic and only see them when its too late to flag them down and warn them. Poor guys, they don't know what they are in for.

Well I finally get to sleep with someone after being in India for 5 weeks - the lovely 32 year old driver who snores like a freight train. He asked if it would be ok to share a room and knowing that just the room price is an expense to be concerned about, I say sure. Doesn't matter to me, well, that was until he started snoring. Ah well, I work on cleaning up the day's pictures and then am tired enough to go on to sleep, snoring and all.

The next day passes without too much happening. Before leaving the hotel I meet another couple on an Enfield going up to Tabo and tell them of my experiences and hopefully for them, they will listen and change their plans. Up to Recong Peo is ok, the roads aren't the best but its doable, especially if the rides are short, but beyond that, its simply not any fun, and not worth the risk.

We make it into Shimla and again find ourselves in a traffic jam for an hour. Lovely. So much for being back in civilization, I'm already ready to leave and I haven't even arrived yet! These diesel busses, the soot, people stopping in the middle of the road.... ugh.... The hotel manager tells me he only has one room for one day and I can't stay and though I'd planned to spend a couple of days resting up here, perhaps just moving on isn't a bad deal.

I get the bike to the shop here and they keep saying there isn't any problem. They do the basic adjustments, clean the carburetor, change the filters, spark plug, etc. and then send me on a test ride. The bike promptly conks out and I coast it back down the hill and back to the shop with the engine off. The manager takes it out for a ride, he's back and everything comes apart again. They end of changing the carburetor jet and the bike gives heavy black smoke for a few minutes then clears up and its actually starts sounding and running like a "real" bike, which is something I haven't experienced with the Enfield to this point. They give me an outrageous bill and I'm sure I'm getting totally ripped off by these guys, but there isn't any point arguing about it as the work is done and I can't argue in a language they understand. I will take the bill back to Lalli though and check my suspicions. If it is as bad as I guess which is 50-60% overcharge, I'll put a note here for other riders later on.

Well, its back to civilization. I get the web site updated since I haven't been able to get online since leaving Shimla last time - the is no internet connection in Narkanda, and Recong Peo. Narkanda has a shop but it was down when I was there and the one in Recong Peo has closed.

Tomorrow looks like its off to the fabled towns of Dharmsala and Manali, hope the bike keeps running!

Previous Entry | Next Entry