A beautiful morning at Diskit
Our host's flourishing vegetable garden. We ate fresh organic veggies for dinner
That garden was really rocking
I hope they sell this stuff, else they are going to get really overwhelmed with their own produce
Our host. What a sweet man
He tried to help us as much as he could
Now we are off to the other branch of the 'Y' - the Nubra valley
We follow the Shyok valley back to Khalsar, and then go up the Nubra valley - the road to Siachen glacier
Fantastic views and loops
And that road through the desert is just awesome. A straight black road with sandy desert on both sides...what a beauty!
Siachen fridge...just dip the bottles in a tub of water.
And bawa's back tyre is gone again! Actually, if you don't do a good job of the puncture, then that tyre is prone to getting punctured again and again. These mechanics here are rustic guys, more used to patching up tractor wheels than Bullet wheels - so the problem recurs
The road to Panamik
The view just makes you stand and stare
Civilians are not allowed on the Siachen road beyond Panamik, so we cross the bridge at Sasoma and ride towards Yarma gompa on the other side of the Nubra river
What a lovely experience! Nice road, amazing views and no traffic!
It was so beautiful that we kept stopping to soak in the scenery
After a point, the beautiful tar road became a kutcha road
And then the road vanished altogether!
Where's the damn road?
Roads? We don't need no roads!
We will go right through!
And we have done it! We are at Yarma gompa, the northernmost point where a civilian can go! This is further north than Turtuk
We have gone where the hand of man has never set foot!
I loved the setting of this gompa
We met the friendly monk who was in charge of the place and he showed us around
The sanctum of the temple. It's as ancient as the Potala palace in Lhasa
The iconography of a Buddhist temple is like a party! There's awesome music...
and awesome sex...
But the poor monks are celibate and poor. That's really unfair.
The monk invited us to his quarters
and made tea for us. What a nice guy.
Bawa sitting nervously on corner of bed and hoping that it doesn't break under his weight
The monk then took us to show this amazing mountain wall which is supposed to have naturally formed images of the buddha and his awatars
He pointed out a giant buddha, and an elephant and a tiger and whatnot...I nodded politely but I couldn't see anything. I suppose you need a lot of faith.
Now on our way back...this time we know that there are no roads
And bawa couldn't be happier!
This is his idea of paradise!
Woo Hoo!
This was an absolutely awesome road
I was actually sad to see the bridge which would take us back to Panamik.
