In the Alps of India
SRINAGAR to PATHANKOT
Distance - 496KM Beauty ruined |
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After standard bike prep and our goodbyes to the hotelier we were on the road at about 9am. A few days ago a bloke had told us there was a glacier we could walk on, so the plan was to go and have a look at that. The glacier was apparently in Palangrah - about 2 hours ride from Srinagar. My bike was still running pretty bad, which for now I told myself must just be the elevation (we are between 1,500 and 2,500m up here).
This region is called by some - the Alps of India, and I can see why - it was very beautiful, but it was sad to see the amount of litter and rubbish dumped into the beautiful glacier-fed streams. We made our way to Pahalgam, stopping shortly to hide from the rain. It was very cold up here and I didn’t see the need to be both cold and wet. See, I haven’t really prepared for wet or cold weather riding yet, figuring I will just buy the appropriate gear at the last minute, maybe in France or the UK, or the Turkish mountains if it gets cold enough. That way I am not carrying a bulky jacket for 20,000km before I need to use it. I have just been using a $40 Gumtree jacket which has proved fine so far - as long as it doesn’t rain. If it does, I just get wet and try to stay in a hotel latter to dry off. When it gets cold I just put all my shirts on underneath. When it is wet and cold, I get wet and cold. That’s the system.
Back to Pahalgam. It was another beautiful town that was ruined by people just hassling us incessantly. The plan was to find a hotel restaurant so we could use Wi-Fi to check if our numbers where ready (to apply for Iranian visas in Lahore). As we rode up the main street a bloke walked onto the road waving his arms and I had to ride around him. 2km later we found a restaurant with a parking compound and Wi-Fi so we went in to eat. While we were sitting down at lunch the same bloke came over and insisted we stay at his restaurant and asking if he could sit down (he had followed us up the street and into the restaurant). Anyway, after politely trying to explain that we were only on a day trip and where not staying in town, old mate insisted that we had to stay in town that night, in his hotel - there was apparently no other way. After about 5 minutes of hassling he left. I went downstairs to use better Wi-Fi to use the opportunity to call my wife. Downstairs one of the restaurant workers approached me and asked for a tip (for nothing? just give him money basically) which I refused. After lunch I went to get the bike ready and was hassled continually again by the hotel guy from down the street. Right in my face, insisting I stay at his hotel down the road (while touching all my bike gear). This went for about 10 minutes before I started losing my cool, I had counted the times I said no and I was up to 16 times before I started to get pissed off. This guy spoke perfect English, he knew what no meant- he was just incessant. I eventually just had to get out of there and solve the problem with a handful of throttle. But the hassle experienced soured the town for me to the extent I would not recommend it to anyone.
India is the first country where people I had just met ask ‘how much did your bike cost’? ‘How much did your phone cost’? ‘How much do you make a year’? It does frustrate me a little, especially when people look at my USD$2,000 bike and think I’m loaded, but don’t look twice at the guy in the USD$15,000 Corolla behind me. I mean, my bike cost less than the local Enfields here. I think Dan summed it up best today when I heard him say to himself - you got a f*cking bike and mobile phone too, mate, what are ya staring at?
I told someone asking me for money that I had none today; they just looked at me with a confused look as if all tourists or foreigners have a magic bag of unlimited money that I could just dip into.
We got out of town, met a few friendly local farmers at a toilet stop (we have found people that don’t rely on the tourism industry are much more genuine and friendly). Unfortunately, due to a communication error I think I declined an invite for tea in a local farmers home (which I would of loved and am kicking myself for). Instead we stumbled across a cheap local hotel that was a model of mixed use development - it was a house for about 5 people, restaurant on the lower level with an arcade for shops on the ground floor. , We had some local meats and the young chef was stoked we thought it was 'very tasty meal'.
This region is called by some - the Alps of India, and I can see why - it was very beautiful, but it was sad to see the amount of litter and rubbish dumped into the beautiful glacier-fed streams. We made our way to Pahalgam, stopping shortly to hide from the rain. It was very cold up here and I didn’t see the need to be both cold and wet. See, I haven’t really prepared for wet or cold weather riding yet, figuring I will just buy the appropriate gear at the last minute, maybe in France or the UK, or the Turkish mountains if it gets cold enough. That way I am not carrying a bulky jacket for 20,000km before I need to use it. I have just been using a $40 Gumtree jacket which has proved fine so far - as long as it doesn’t rain. If it does, I just get wet and try to stay in a hotel latter to dry off. When it gets cold I just put all my shirts on underneath. When it is wet and cold, I get wet and cold. That’s the system.
Back to Pahalgam. It was another beautiful town that was ruined by people just hassling us incessantly. The plan was to find a hotel restaurant so we could use Wi-Fi to check if our numbers where ready (to apply for Iranian visas in Lahore). As we rode up the main street a bloke walked onto the road waving his arms and I had to ride around him. 2km later we found a restaurant with a parking compound and Wi-Fi so we went in to eat. While we were sitting down at lunch the same bloke came over and insisted we stay at his restaurant and asking if he could sit down (he had followed us up the street and into the restaurant). Anyway, after politely trying to explain that we were only on a day trip and where not staying in town, old mate insisted that we had to stay in town that night, in his hotel - there was apparently no other way. After about 5 minutes of hassling he left. I went downstairs to use better Wi-Fi to use the opportunity to call my wife. Downstairs one of the restaurant workers approached me and asked for a tip (for nothing? just give him money basically) which I refused. After lunch I went to get the bike ready and was hassled continually again by the hotel guy from down the street. Right in my face, insisting I stay at his hotel down the road (while touching all my bike gear). This went for about 10 minutes before I started losing my cool, I had counted the times I said no and I was up to 16 times before I started to get pissed off. This guy spoke perfect English, he knew what no meant- he was just incessant. I eventually just had to get out of there and solve the problem with a handful of throttle. But the hassle experienced soured the town for me to the extent I would not recommend it to anyone.
India is the first country where people I had just met ask ‘how much did your bike cost’? ‘How much did your phone cost’? ‘How much do you make a year’? It does frustrate me a little, especially when people look at my USD$2,000 bike and think I’m loaded, but don’t look twice at the guy in the USD$15,000 Corolla behind me. I mean, my bike cost less than the local Enfields here. I think Dan summed it up best today when I heard him say to himself - you got a f*cking bike and mobile phone too, mate, what are ya staring at?
I told someone asking me for money that I had none today; they just looked at me with a confused look as if all tourists or foreigners have a magic bag of unlimited money that I could just dip into.
We got out of town, met a few friendly local farmers at a toilet stop (we have found people that don’t rely on the tourism industry are much more genuine and friendly). Unfortunately, due to a communication error I think I declined an invite for tea in a local farmers home (which I would of loved and am kicking myself for). Instead we stumbled across a cheap local hotel that was a model of mixed use development - it was a house for about 5 people, restaurant on the lower level with an arcade for shops on the ground floor. , We had some local meats and the young chef was stoked we thought it was 'very tasty meal'.
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