Day 4
September 10th, 2014
Jispa (3255m) – Zing Zing Bar (4067m)

Bad Altitude
It was about this time that Heather began expressing concerns about the high altitudes we would be soon hitting. We were already at 3200m and we would be soon camping above 4,000m. Heather has been a medic on a few high altitude ventures and has had to manage folks who had succumb to high altitude sickness. And as she voiced her concerns to me, I remembered my own brushes with altitude sickness on the Annapurna circuit and in Tibet. Altitude sickness is NOT fun and I was admittedly naive about it on this journey. Heather talked and I listened. She had a very valid point that being at a high altitude for at least a couple of days posed dangers. Once up there… the way to safety meant that either way we could have to go up before we went down to a lower altitude …and safety.

Despite this creeping doubt, we pushed on, though giving ourselves the grace of bailing out if either of us even began having even little symptoms of AMS. Neither of us wanted to be carted down to Leh in some bumpy bus ride sick as dogs!

We had a day to think about it. Zing Zing Bar at 4,067 metres was coming up and beyond that we would not drop below 4,500 metres for at least a couple of days. Our concern of what to do grew but it didn’t ruin the days ride!

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The days ride ended in Zing Zing Bar at a place that offered tent accomodation. For 800 rupees we snagged a very cute and comfortable canvas tent with raised beds. We opted against the tent with the attached bathroom. Heather was not too keen on having a toilet that obviously just dumped into the ground so near to where we slept! Good point. Saved a little money on account of that which is what I liked!

Darren & Heather’s cosy tent…

Vs Trek Bulls. We win!

Luxury is Relative
We were treated to the best meal yet over the entire four days travelled. It was simply beans and rice, but oh my god!!! Soooo delicious! It’s interesting how one’s standards of luxury change given circumstance. Here we were 4067 metres on a lonely highway and bagging a cosy tent with raised beds and a hot rice and bean dinner felt so five star!!!!

The night was very cold but cozy thanks to the extra blankets that supplemented the warmth provided by our sleeping bags. We talked a little about the impending altitude dilemma, but decided to just keep carrying on and keep a close eye on how each of us was doing. So far neither of us were showing signs of altitude sickness. Only the side effects of the diamox we were taking to counteract the effects of altitude sickness… i.e. lots of peeing!!

The next day we would tackle Baralacha La, a pass at 4890 metres was almost 1,000 metres higher than Rohtang. I slept with anxious anticipation of a difficult climb and a need to pee but not wanting to leave my cozy bed for the outhouse!

Day 5
Zing Zing Bar (4067m) – Sarchu (4408m) via Baralacha La (4890m)
September 11th, 2014

My anxiousness about cycling Baralacha La proved to be pointless. As I guess any anxiety does! Baralacha La was a dream! Tarmac pretty much the whole way up and okay, not so much tarmac on the way down, but it was down so it didn’t really matter. We had the weather …bright sunny day and there was no headwind. All in all it was a fantastic ride!

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More Luxury
We arrived in Sarchu early and after bargaining, we settled into our luxury tent complete with Western toilet and running water. We had bargained the owner down to 1,000 rupees but after experiencing the luxury and the delicious dinner and breakfast, we offered him another 200 rupees. Well worth the money!! Heather wasn’t bothered so much by the attached toilet as there was no perceptible smell!

Here we also had the opportunity to talk with members of a motorcycle tour who were also staying at the luxury camp. We passed many motorcyclists on our way from Manali. So many! I was beginning to wonder if for the predominantly male, Indian tourists travelling the Manali-Leh highway by Royal Enfeild, it was some kind of rite of passage?

The following gallery kinda speaks to my Royal Enfield obsession. Indulge me!

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The Royal Enfield is formerly an English brand motorcycle whose rights were sold to a manufacturer in India and now has become something of a status symbol in India and is even being exported back to England. The distinctive grumble of the engine ensures that a Royal Enfield will never sneak up on anyone! The style of it hasn’t changed much in hmmmm decades, though this unintentional retro look is part of it’s charm! I was charmed by these bikes and even rode one for an afternoon in Manali! It was great fun until I dumped it while at a stand still on a slope that along with gravity, pulled the bike over. It’s okay I wasn’t hurt! But I did break the break lever and had to pay 500 rupees for damages! After the fall, I was done with wanting to ride something with an engine! Happy to return to my bicycle!

Without fail, every single Enfield driver and passenger who passed us would greeting us with a thumbs up! It was a nice to feel that two wheel commarodary. I always did my best to thumbs up back… given road conditions of course!

It was good meeting and talking to the group of motorcyclists at the camp. This group all hailed from Western countries and all had very interesting stories and reasons for tackling one of the most difficult, highest and remotest highways on the planet. One couple even brought their daughter along! Another couple from Germany were on a three month oddysy that took them across Central Asia on much the same route that I took. It was great to talk with them and swap stories!
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The Question Of Altitude
It was here in Sarchu that the rolling conversation Heather and I engaged in about altitude hit a fever pitch. We agonized over what to do. The next day was there was no turning back, we would be above 4500 metres for at least three days. We even considered just packing it in and taking a bus to Leh… which was actually enticing because it would give us more time to spend hanging out in and around Leh, a city that has been on my bucket list forever!

I’m glad we decided not to do this option. Despite the dangers of AMS, I was still kind of attached on making it the whole way to Leh on my bicycle. Continuing to ride gave us the chance of this happening. We actually arrived at this conclusion the next morning after breakfast so I had a restless sleep wondering what to do. Not to mention that I decided to test how warm my sleeping bag was and declined extra blankets. I wanted to know if it was warm enough for the next night, camping at 4,850 metres at Whiskey Nahla. It wasn’t warm enough and my little experiment had me freezing the whole night which added to my lousy sleep.

Day 6
September 12th, 2014
Sarchu(44080 – Whiskey Nahla(4850m)
via The Infamous Gata Loops (4190) and Nakee La (4740)

Onward Ho!
After a great hardy buffet breakfast and more interesting chats with the motorcyclists, we coordinated with Trek Bulls about the next stop and off we went. They once again were more than happy to take our bags and they continued to be a big part of our trip. Despite Heather and I spending a lot of time on our own, we were becoming friends with the whole contingent of the Trek Bulls group. I still coveted my independence from the group as this is just my style of travel. Though because we were travelling at about the same speed and spent evenings at the same settlements there was lots of interaction between all of us. They were becoming friends!

Oh and so yeah… Heather and I decided to carry on! Despite my restless freezing cold sleep, I did have some clarity in the night about what to do. I didn’t want to take a bus and both Heather and I were feeling healthy. My though in the night was to travel with Trek Bulls for the safety and support that travelling with a group and support vehicle offered. This felt like the best choice to both of us.

I worried that we would get too integrated with Trek Bulls and in doing so lose some of then solo spirit of our adventure, though as it was, we had fine companions to share this journey with and that they were graciously carrying the majority of our gear meant that it was actually possible to cycle the whole way! I had since conceded that the amount of stuff I had brought along would have either prevented me from cycling the whole route, or made me a very grumpy cyclist!

So, cleared of doubt, off we went on a bright yet cool September day. Today’s challenge would be the Gata Loops… The valley we had been travelling in came to an abrupt end and in order to continue, a series of switchbacks had been dug into the side of the mountain to allow traffic to reach the Nakee La pass. Twenty One loops! It was slow going, though kinda fun to count down the loops! At the top of the loops, the Trek Bulls support crew had steaming hot Maggie noodles waiting for us. I was resisting taking advantage of their kindness… but hot noodles at the top of a cold, cold pass? I couldn’t resist! And randomly on a table in the Kiosk situated at the top of the loops, I saw some graffiti of a pair of cyclists I had met up with on my trip across Central Asia!

The top of the loops was not the top of the pass, we still had 10 km of hard slogging to go and we carried on and then enjoyed a nice downhill ride into our next sleep destination – Whiskey Nulah.

At 4802 metres, this would be our highest sleep. Heather and I scouted every inch of the little settlement for the best place to stay. There wasn’t much to choose from. A few sad yurts made out of the cloth of WWII era parachutes as much of the huts along this route were. Inside the yurts were some mattresses on the ground and blankets. It was sad and kind of disgusting to the point where we thought that maybe it would be better to finally break out the tent.

The main parachute yurt, where food was cooked and served by the smiliest woman I had met on the entire route was another possibility. It had raised beds made of rock covered in mattresses that doubled as seats during meal times. This was the best choice and we took it for 200 rupees each per night.

We gambled that there wouldn’t be too many customers that night and that the warmth of the fire would give us some respite from the bitter cold outside. As we had prepared to camp, we each had brought our sleeping bags and sleeping pads. On the ill covered rock beds this was a godsend. The mattress pads mad sleep possible on the hard rock beds and the sleeping bags gave us some warmth and also some protection from the filthy dust infused blankets that we needed to stay remotely warm in the night. It was rough, rough sleeping arrangments. Yet we both agreed it was better than setting up tent and sleeping on the cold ground!

Ahhh yes! Rock beds, dirty blankets in the luxury of a parachute tent restaurant!! Does it get any better?

Our proprietress. One very happy lady!

Parachute tents at Whiskey Nulah. Scariest accommodation on the entire trip! Love it!

It was by far the most interesting and random night of our adventure. In the early evening, several waves of truckers came in for tea, curious of the two strangers bedding down in this ramshackle high altitude restaurant! And it turned out that the woman cooking and her aged mother also slept in the yurt and so we shared space with them and woke up the next morning to the mother doing her Buddhist chanting and spinning her prayer wheel. The fire that was sure to keep us warm had long since gone out, yet the headache I got from the kerosene used to fuel it remained. Or was that the altitude that made my head hurt? Or the diesel from the idling TATA trucks parked just outside the door? Either way, I was glad when morning came and I could get some fresh air. As we set off, we watched as the mother took the one cow, which had been penned up since we arrived earlier in the evening, out to pasture and most likely to collect dried dung for the fire. Such a simple existence.