Blake and I slept in till 3pm, quite to our own surprise I assure you, and of course Raveesh was busy as always, only this time he was busy taking the longest shower I've ever in my whole life known a person to take, which is actually almost 2 hours or so. Whether or not he was in the shower the entire time he was in the bathroom is irrelevant, what mattered to us was that we had to wait for him in our flat, which I have decided to call "The Cooker" When he finally managed to get out he made us wait even longer while he "freshened up" inside his room.. Patience wearing thin but still keeping our calm, we waited. He came and got us and we took a ride around Delhi in his fathers car. On our way to the mall we saw the collapsed air tram overpass that had fallen the day before, you can see it in this link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6ixAYu6hTE&p=954EFB25FAC67094&playnext=1&index=8 The Mall we went to was Gigantic, it had 5 levels of underground parking, and looked like a slightly smaller version of Agraba from the Disney version of Aladdin. All we did the entire time was walk, since it was so huge that all Raveesh wanted to do was point things out that he thought would impress us, we passed shop after shop and escalator after escalator until finally we came to the food court. We all had McDonald's chicken nuggets, "which had just came out in India by the way" They were all the rave, especially since a large majority of Indian people don't eat beef.When we got home someone was parked in front of Raveesh's parking spot and was apparently still in his car waiting for something. Raveesh got out of the car with these words to us as he left, "This man is in trouble," at the last syllable of which the door slammed shut and we got out as well. After a very brief meet and greet session with the man Raveesh began to yell at the stranger in Hindi and soon after again in English, the reason for which, might well have been for our own benefit but quite possibly could be what Raveesh always does to parade his skill of English to others as he further attempts to gain whatever high ground he can in the situations he finds himself. As Blake and I headed for the stairs we heard ever more colorful lashes of verbal nature directed at the poor fellow, "Your finished," is the last thing I heard before we turned the corner and began climbing the 5 story steps of the building, it was night and we were all tired, I'm not sure if it was out of kindness or a result of his feeling good about his recent execution of the man downstairs but Raveesh let us sleep in his room for the night. Blake had gotten Valium substitutes from the Market and we both took one for the night, the effect of which was more like dreamless, wake less sleep. Perhaps better refereed to as a "snap nap" lol.I woke up drowsy but well rested, which was a welcome change to waking up half dead all the time from heat exhaustion and the like, of course having air conditioning and a bed to sleep on didn't hurt either. As usual we waited unbelievably long for Raveesh to finish whatever it is he was doing, then we drove to the corporate headquarters of Canon, got his camera, went to yet another mall, (this one smaller than the last) had lunch and returned home. Raveesh has been getting more and more on edge of late, orders to do this or that and warnings of things to come, lies and irratations things of that sort.. it was all doom and gloom, but not for him, it was all directed at us.The next day Blake and I left Raveesh to simmer while we took the Bus into the Embassy district of town "really just a mile long stretch of Embassies from all the countries who have ties with India". Our plan was to check out the possibility of going to Pakistan but more than likely that would all depend on how much money it would cost for the Visa and everything else. As the bus came to the side of the Embassy Blake began to step out when the bus started moving again, he made good of his escape , next it was my turn but I wasn't so lucky... my legs tripped over themselves as my bodies horizontal motion from exiting the bus hit the standing still concrete, I flipped, rolled and picked myself up off the ground, a bloody hand and knee were the additional bus fee id pay that day >.< As we came to the American Embassy, bloody and limping we went through the motions and finally got inside.. It's amazing how hard it is to get inside your own embassy in a foreign country, then again I suppose it could have been a precaution against bludgeoned zombies as I must have resembled.After an hour long wait, I was finally able to acquire two things, A. a, as in a singular band-aid for my 2 blood gushing wounds, and B. The embassy pretty much retold again what we've heard on numerous occasions before, "Don't go to Pakistan". In addition to those two bits of encouragement, we were told that Visas to Pakistan were 40 dollars or roughly 2000 rupees each, but before we could even apply for a visa we both required sets of papers to get into the Pakistani embassy, which were themselves $30 each... needless to say we didn't have 10,000 rupees to spend on a journey through a place no one suggested we go, never mind the cost of food and transportation, or the possibility of violence and the like.. so we basically decided to skip that little plan. Upon returning to Raveesh's we got to use his computer, which all things considered was a damn good gaming machine, we played Crisis, the most advanced graphics title of the year and one hell of a fun game!
Chapter 24: Return of the White Guys
The first thing anyone will notice after arriving in Delhi is without a doubt the heat... It's hot here ladies and gents, and the humidity isn't at all like relaxing in a scented sauna, it's more like bathing in your own juices as your being buried alive within a dust storm. Besides that Delhi is quite a charming little mega city of a mere 18,000,000 residence, and here we both are again... I wake up Blake as we gently brake a good mile or so before coming to a complete stop at the New Delhi train station. As we get off there are armies of men and women waiting to board the rustic train we had patronized the last 13 hours, no doubt that same train goes thousands of miles every week, simply being kept in use constantly and always. We step off the platform and weed our way through the crowed and put our bags down at the local cafe that overlooks the station. Blake thinks it wise to buy a "German chocolate cake, some ones clueless attempt at making a Black Forest Cake" at the counter and in so doing spends a hefty 2 dollars.. a fortune really, considering our budget lol. Against my better judgment I called Raveesh, it was 5 in the morning and I called Raveesh.. It rang and rang and then finally a chipper voice, all fresh and clean as though trying to satisfy the curiosity of some Gestapo officer fishing for lies in the ghetto, answered the other end. "Ohh hello Daniel, ohh yes I am just fine, couldn't be better," He said. He goes into some long spiel about whether or not we can come over and then eventually when my time on the phone is about to run out he agrees to let us stay with him again. We take a tuk tuk to his house and have boiled eggs, omelets and toast for breakfast. After which, speaking for both of us, Id say we had the best showers of our natural born lives. As you'll remember me explaining, Raveesh has quite a nice little casa for him and his family, and we intended to make full use of his facilities as they were made available to us. There's nothing like a cool shower in a nice setting while surrounded by the gates of hell.Raveesh had some "important business" to take care of so he left us across the way in his parents spare flat, now when I say spare I mean uncleaned and unused for 6 months, and when I say flat I mean just that, a single flat surface surrounded by walls and a high ceiling without much ventilation. I don't know what large open spaces in your house look like after being neglected for 6 months but this place could have been the testing site for the new "Mr. Clean can clean any fucking thing" commercial. Seven hours later, after having laid on our sleeping mats below the ceiling fan at maximum speed and miraculously falling asleep, Raveesh returned and upon his arrival we went out for mutton burgers at a hole in the wall franchise I can only compare to places I patronized in South Korea, something of a McDonald's subway hybrid with a restaurant style menu, just flat out strange. The burger itself is unexplainable, or in so far as I wish to recount it isn't worth explaining. Back at Raveesh's house now, having Mango Ice cream, time for bed.It's morning now, somehow Raveesh's leg is paralyzed and he can't move, so Blake and I go into town for some good old fashioned shopping. The market places are full of people, and as we've come to expect and almost enjoy, the constant horde of peddlers and dealers, beggars and thieves in multitudes of 10 surround us at every angle. We jest of course, that just as any noise your constantly exposed to, eventually fades and disappears altogether in the end. Blake tries on some jeans and we hang out in an air conditioned shop, both upstairs and down for a time then continue on looking around. We didn't actually buy anything during the 4 hours we spent there, but it wasn't a total waist of time, we did see some cute Indian girls and a lot of interesting people. The best part though was when we found the movie theater, it was a funny looking place both inside and out, from the street it looks like some sort of administration building and on the inside it looks like a 60 year old remodeling job for any number of Nazi architectural types. We bought tickets to See the newly released Star Trek and went in. The seats in the raised balcony were the cheapest a satisfying price of 125 rupees, something like 2 dollars and 66 cents, which will undoubtedly be the lowest price I ever pay to see a movie, all chances of visiting another 3rd world country and walking into a cheaper movie theater or hyper inflation and deflation in the US aside, id say that's a reasonable assumption. What really gets me though is the fact that the best seats in the house in India are the ones closest to the screen, while in the United States it's the middle or far back, so for us having the best seats in the house also be the cheapest was a big bonus, plus Star Trek was an awesome movie and I'll always remember where I was and what I was doing the day I saw it lol.On our way home the tuk tuk driver we got tried and tried again to repeatedly screw us over, Blake and I however weren't having it and we flat out got out of the vehicle and started walking away in some random direction we hoped would lead us home. He followed behind us ranting and raving, "you damn Americans this and you damn tourists that," It was quite a show for the few spectators watching from their land line telephone shops and the laying alongside the road trying to get some rest. Eventually Blake just got in his face and told him.. "listen, you either take us home for the price we agreed on or fuck off, We know your trying to screw us and I ain't paying you shit!" After another few exchanges of this sort between the three of us he throws his hands in the air and tells me to call Raveesh and ask him to tell us how far away we really are. So I did and Raveesh's mom answers, they talk for a while and then he gives the phone to me, she tells me the man is right, I tell her I was sorry to bother her and hang up. The sheik Tuk Tuk driver thinks he's won, but I know he lied to her about where we were, "even though they were speaking in Hindi" Blake looked at me and I at him, I shrugged he shrugged and we both walked away simultaneously. At this point the driver seemed lost, he must have thought for sure that the phone call had been his decisive victory. Now however he was in a state of bewilderment as he watched us walk away. I turned my head back to see what his facial expression was and as I did he seemed to snap back to reality, he jumped in his tuk tuk pulled right in front of us and shook his head in denial while motioning with his arms for us to get in. He dropped us off 5 minutes later outside the gate of Raveesh's gated community apartments. We paid him what our original agreement was of 60 rupees, or $1.20 and went up to the room. Raveesh came home and we ordered delivery Afghani chicken, "which was awesome", and fell straight asleep. Thinking back on it now, it wasn't even the money that got us, it was the principle of the agreement we had all made. All that for a mere dollar and twenty cents... pfft, maybe we are those damn American tourists he claimed us to be? Nah... were just a bunch of principled adventurers on a budget, alone on the other side of the world...
Chapter 23: The Golden Temple of Amritzer
The train was nice and we slept the whole way there. Vinay had acquired our positions on the train through his own questionable yet sly and admirable means, although we didn't have actual tickets our places were secured and never in question. When we reached Amritzer however a ticket guard was waiting. Vinay, clever cat that he was had made friends quickly, easily and very conveniently with the entire section of our train. they in turn helped us sneak past the guard and out through a back entrance to the train station. A tuk tuk driver was already there to meet us and we drove away into the cover of night unblemished. It took us a few stops between one hotel or another until we finally decided on the one both cheapest and nicest in the area.The night was hot and again we felt the unmistakable layer of humidity ever present upon our body and soul. Since leaving Srinigar the weather had become much hotter and humid. Humidity is the kind of thing that never leaves you once you've felt it's presence long enough to consume you, it never sleeps or weakens and always leaves a bad taste in your mouth. For a fair portion of the night, much as Josh and I had done in South East Asia, we tried to get the AC to work, while we were successful, unfortunately we were only able to turn it on at 33 degrees which being of no use to us we simple left it off and dealt with our plight in simple caveman grunts, sniffles and the cliche tossing and turning in bed, as if some nightmare or thoughts of love, past present or future haunted our thoughts, as the night stretched on and on.In the morning we left for the Golden Temple. The market place was full to the brim and beyond with people of all shades and colors, dress and formality. From the Seeks to the Commoner coming far and wide from every corner of India for blessing, this was a place of religion in it's truest sense, one to bask in and present oneself to for the cleansing of the heart, body and mind, soul and spirit, flesh and blood, whichever you placed faith, pain and burden within, here all was washed away and only the shell of who and what you were remained.I went back to the hotel for my SOA hat because it was law that no uncovered head may enter the temple, a strange custom to be sure but one we all obeyed happily to step inside the temple. When I got back Blake, Vinay and Nilma were all posted up at a Coca Cola stand with a big sign that read soda -5, they were selling Coke, Sprite, limeca, apple Fanta and others for 5 rupees, the equivalent of which is 10 cents American. Granted they were in 300 mil bottles but a pleasure to be treasured in this heat non the less. Blake had already had 2 Cokes and when I got there I decided on Fanta and a Coke as well. The food and drink of the temple were subsidized by the temple itself, this is how they were able to be so cheap.Inside the temple walls was the Golden Temple Itself, there surrounded by water on all sides with a single walkway extending to it that had electric fans cooling the attendees as they walked the sacred path into and out of the shrine at center of the pool. People all around bathed within the waters of the shrine, of course women could bath as well but instead of doing so with the men they had small lodge like buildings connected to the edges of the shrine so that they too may bath and be cleansed in the holy waters.Before entering even the inner wall everyone must be barefoot and surrender their shoes at the many gates leading in and out of the structure. You must also wash your feet before entering. People giggled at us the whole time as they normally did only now with even more amusement and curiosity as they watched the only white people in the temple observe their costumes and enter their temple, they wanted to take pictures of and with us and we happily let them.
When Blake and I got inside the temple we quickly stood and observed the constant ceremony being practiced at the bottom level of the temple looked at the spiraling staircases at either side of the room then back at each other, we simultaneously took the exits closest to our side of the room and met each other racing past the people on the stairs at level 2 and again at level 3 when we existed out of the spiral and out on to the roof of the shrine. There we looked out against the even higher walls of the temple and at all the barefoot and hooded peoples of the holy promenade. We jostled and joked about whether or not wed be able to make it to the water safely from the roof then existed the shrine in time to meet the other waiting for us at the exit.We left the temple and watched Nimla and Vinay eat their lunch, we were hungry to of course but both Blake and I were rather broke at this point. So Blake and I decided to leave and meet them back at the hotel, but on the way back our clever sense of direction took us on a city wide tour before we finally found our way back to the room.We had climbed the vast and chilly mountain peeks of Surkundi, Faced the proud and wicked drug dealing descendants of Alexander the Greats Army, driven the treacherous road to Leh in the dead of night and powered our way to the highest road on earth and much much more together but now it was time at last to say goodbye to our last remaining compatriots and set off for the train station. A self pronounced Roman Catholic Indian man who was staying at our hotel gave us directions and information needed to get there and we were on our way, but not before getting some more coke! We went back to the Temple and got some semi cold cokes when a group of men gathered around two other men at the center of the square entering the temple.They were berating them with shouts and then with blows from fists and sticks, a boy next to us explained that the man and his accomplice were thief's, he then handed me a coke, which I accepted thankfully, and he smiled brightly while looking up at me as though nothing out of the ordinary was taking place. Blake came back a second later with our cokes and not to be rude I chugged the coke I got from the boy and the one blake had gotten for me all at once. So basically I chugged 2 warmish cokes in the span of 3 minutes, after which I wasn't feeling all that great.Then we left and found a group of tuk tuk drivers to bargain with on the price to get to the train station. After a good 10 minutes of bargaining, then walking away, being chased and hassled by them, then walking away again we finally found a driver willing to drive us for 40 rupees (The price of which we had gotten from the Roman Catholic dude at the Hotel) =D.At the station behind the ticket counter were these three guys, they said there were no tickets at first then told us to come in the booth, we did and then they offered us chewing masala, I wanted to know what it was and they assured us it wasn't tobacco or anything bad. (I would later learn it was actually the Indian Version of chewing tobacco >.<) After putting it in my mouth I soon began feeling light headed and soon after that terribly sick.They felt sorry and wished us well our "impossible" yet made "possible.. somehow" railway tickets. Once on the train we met many interesting characters including an IT hardware techy and a Math professor and his granddaughter whom later would share his dinner with us. I tried to sleep but was restless with the thoughts of the future and so stood watch over us as we journeyed further and further back into the depths of the heat and humidity of the South. Now we are alone without the help of Raveesh or Vinay, once again at the mercy of our wits and the ability of our character, I watched the bright full moon between the bars of the train carriage and thought of this and of all the things we had set out to do on our journey, I went over and over my life and what I had wanted it to amount to, where I had been and where I might be going, I thought and wondered all the night through as Blake slept soundly in his rocking bunk.
Chapter 22: Srinigar The City On The Lake
When we arrived it was hotter than any weather we'd seen in weeks, the hotel owners and tuk tuk drivers were however still very much on our heels, and it took a great many "no's" and "not gunna happens" to get a moments reprieve from their constant pestering. At the onset we could tell we were back in the bustling and hustling parts of India, for unlike Leh, Srinigar was a much more lively and industrial city, full of opportunity and ripe with the kind of mental attitude that breeds hatred and resentment, the whole aura of the city was tainted by the confrontation between the Muslims and the police force, all fueled by the rape and murder of the two Muslim women. Had we been in Srinigar at any other time our stay would have likely been of a different flavor, or so I was led to believe by both the local people and Vinay's portrayal of it all prior to our arrival.The girls went to stay with a friend of theirs and we hired a few tuk tuks and got ourselves a hotel on the lake. It wasn't until we were paddled into the many canals of the lake that were surrounded by boat houses on all sides that I truly grasped the scale and proportions of this "city on the lake", 20 minutes after leaving shore we pulled into what would be our hotel for the night. As we docked chickens could be seen fluttering about on a small slip of land that bridged a column of boats and ducks swam in rows beneath scaffolding constructed upon the land and between the boats. The water was murky and quite dirty, not at all pleasant to look at up close, but as with most things viewed from a distance the sight as a whole is what we may define as beautiful.We dropped our bags and headed back out into the city, the owner of our house boat told us the situation going in around the city and that it was highly advisable to travel in the direction away from the police station, so as we landed back on solid ground we made a left and sought to circumnavigate the entire lake before it got dark, nine kilometers later we gave up and took a tuk tuk back to the main part of the city but on the way we saw a cars window bashed out by rocks and a man bleeding in the back seat and the riot police out in force blocking the way of what we could only assume were the rioters by the sound of their chanting and banging of sticks and twisted metal against street posts and other cars. Vinay was in no hurry to meet that situation head on, Blake was all gung ho and I was more hungry and tired of walking than interested in joining a scuffle with the police and rioters.We had dinner in a much too expensive restaurant and regretted it even before we left, at least I did, my food was terrible and I didn't feel any better for it after. Just as we were leaving the power went out across the city and darkness blanketed the lake for an instant. Moments later little lights spread out evenly around the city and soon after that it began to rain. A light breeze swept the City on the lake and we watched from our little skiff heading towards the house boat as massive bolts of lighting pierced the sky all around us.For the first time since we left home I woke up and immediately after regretted having to get out of bed, not because I was groggy or in need of better and a greater quantity of sleep but because I was well rested, comfortable and in need of more time to enjoy it all. We got sprites and kinleys (A kind of soda) waited for Nilma and Vashra to meet us at the bus station and prepared ourselves for yet another days journey across India. Vashra would be taking a plane home, so we said our farewells and see you laters then headed for Jammu, 11 hours later we reached Jammu had dinner then hoped a train to Amritzer where the Golden Temple Awaited us.
Chapter 21: The Pits of Dispair & The Cliffs of Insanity
My eyes opened in the fashion they normally do when I'm cold, tired and otherwise unhappy with waking up to a gloomy day, but today wasn't gloomy, in fact it was a new and exciting day, because today were heading out once again on our ever escalating journey of madness. It was too early to talk about what time it was, even Vinay seemed parched for sleep, and Blake and I... well we just kept our heads down and our feet moving, that always seemed to work for us.
Our next destination was Srinagar the capital city of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of India, this is really the only other destination we could choose, because there was no way in hell we were going back the way we came, and although Varsha, Nilma and Vinay wanted to stay a bit longer in Leh, they decided on leaving with us after a short (convincing) made with sad faces, heart warming eyes and a bit of whatever guilt ridden bad scenario babbling that we were able to imagine up, needless to say we were happy they reconsidered.
Breakfast was held back at the German Bakery and we all had hearty meals, from there we headed for the bus station. When we got there it was packed with people running around, to us it seemed the perfect time to be leaving, for those around us it was the perfect time to arrive, so it all worked out. Before we left I found myself in need of using the facilities, and ohh man... I found a facility alright, as I walked between two buildings at the far end of the station I passed a time tested, weather hardened Indian women, possibly in her mid 70's, with a cynical look on her face that read rather impressively as "You Are NOT prepared!" as I passed her I looked back to make sure she wasn't a delusion or mirage caused by the thin air and the high altitude, and sure enough there she was, walking off into some other plane of existence I will likely never know. The putrid smell of human excrement violently snapped me back to reality as I drew within 20 meters of the plateaued rectangular building that stood before me.If you asked me now I couldn't tell you why I just didn't piss on the fence to the left of the building where no one would have seen me nor would anyone have cared, but for some... lets call it "ridiculous" reason I went in. I was convinced that there could be no more vile a stench, no more ghastly an odor than that of the one outside the door I was standing in front of, that was of course until I opened the door and went inside, there waiting for anyone bat shit crazy enough to enter was what I have come to call a "presence" a presence that was born from the finality of a thousand finalities, and caused by the passing and massing of endless darkness, "literally" within us all.I immediately stepped outside and swear to this day, had anyone been there to see me I must have been green as the grass, or blue as the ocean, either way I was in bad shape. At this point any reasonable person with the slightest comprehension of right/wrong decision making would have easily gone with plan B and pissed on the fence, but I was determined, that old women wasn't going to win, I wasn't going to let her laugh all the way to the bank at my expense, so I mustered all the will power I could and breathed in as deep as humanly possible, for the next minute could very well be my last.I stormed in with every intention of making it inn and out with a single breath, but after 10 seconds the fact that I had greatly underestimated the power I was up against, became all too clear, halfway through I started to exhale and consequently inhale, this combined with my bodies greater need for oxygen at 11,483 feet made the remainder of my experience within the walls of that radical outhouse an unpleasant one. There was no need to violently run out at max speed, in hopes of saving myself from (more) pain, It was obviously too late, I was already infected... I walked out of the door down the alley and took 3 deep breaths as soon as I felt a far enough distance had been placed between me and whatever I just experienced could be called. Ironically I was standing right next to the garbage pit for the bus station when I took those deep breaths, but even that smell seemed like daisy's in the summer breeze next to the true terror of the pits of despair.My struggle unbeknownst to the others, I walked morosely back to our seats at the station, with my head and my shoulders down, Blake could feel my gloomy presence from a mile away and gave me a heavy stare then asked me what was up? I lifted my head and sure enough the devils grin scared my face "You are Not prepared!" I said, now with a feeling of actual excitement to go along with my smile, I led him back to the pit. We took one step into the room together and the next step promptly out, "I hate you Danny" he said, "me too Blake, me too"Shortly there after the Bus started up, we got on and the endless cycle of buses, trains, taxis and planes went on. No matter how long we traveled and the bus went, the scenery wouldn't change, mountains is all there was, that is what I though for the first 9 hours, of which 2 and a half had been spent broken down. Blake, myself and a man from Sweden were the only foreigners on the bus and as such we were required to be taken outside to check in at every military outpost and meet face to face with the Commanding Officer present, there were 4 such outposts and each one was more dismal and hopeless than the last, for every time we stopped it drew closer and closer to the dead of night, where the temperature drops dramatically.You can imagine how we felt, being the only people on the bus required to leave our warm sleeping bags and chance of sleep over and over, just so that a face could go along with our passports. I understand the need for the security, seeing as how at this point were within shooting range of Pakistan, and the relations between them and India is just as cold as the ice on road and the chill in the air, that said I suppose it made the experience more interesting for us than for the rest of the people on the bus. We got to shake the officers hands and see the soldiers sleeping on the floor of the very old wooden cottage, with the fire lit furnace at the center of the room.At 3 in the morning I thought our bus had broken down for the third time, but this would actually be our midway resting area until we set off again in the morning, after all no one wanted to see the driver go 24 hours without sleep, especially on the roads we were on, although he would gladly do it for the right price, an all too common mind set here in India. Just as everyone was settling down and starting to sleep a voice blasted out across some invisible loud speaker, it wasn't so close that you could tell which direction it was coming from but it was definitely close enough. The area we were in was all Muslim and as such obeys all laws of the faith, which apparently includes a man chanting prayers at 3 am every night across the whole valley.I did my best to sleep, but his sharp high and low chanting was hard to block out of my mind, especially after 9 hours of nothing to listen to but the rickety bouncing and knocking around of the bus. Morning came and I wasn't so much waking up as I was coming too, the start of the engine was what really helped me open my eyes. Learning from our experiences from Minali to Leh we quickly grabbed the seats at the middle of this and every other mod of transportation we used, and we were all to happy with the results. It was another super early morning start as we set off again for Srinigar, but at 5 in the morning we came to what will likely forever be the craziest traffic jam of my life.I find it hard to describe what happened because there's no example to compare it with, so imagine this, a mixture of over 100 buses, gasoline tankers, semi's, trucks and other very large and very dangerous vehicles are back to back on a dirt road "with no railing or protective guard" around a super windy, curving road, like you see in those enterprise car commercials only to the extreme, then Imagine over 100 more trucks and semi's coming from the opposite direction all on some insane deadline (speculative) to reach their destinations. All this and now imagine the road is muddy, icy and barely 20 feet across at it's (widest) point, it was basically a one way road, the kind you might drive on while in Europe somewhere.It all came to a grinding halt the second one of the trucks went on too high a grain and spilt his solid steel beams across the narrowest corner in the hillside, the whole time I was watching the event, the theme song to apocalypse now played on loop in my mind. Watching all this unfold and seeing the Indians scurry about feverishly trying to get the blood of the great beast moving again. I dumbfoundedly watched in awe as nothing I could do or say would pay even the slightest appreciation to this experience, an hour later movement once again beneath our feet, and so we went, passed the blockade of the cliffs of insanity and down the mountain side, into the valley of grass and snow until finally we stopped again, only an hour from Srinigar.This time it was the military and the police, what we eventually found out was that a type of marshal law had been declared and curfew set in place because 2 Muslim women had been raped and killed in Srinigar and the police or military, unclear which group, was accused of the crime. Luckily for us one of the Muslim guys on our bus was some hotshot vip so instead of 6 hours of wait it was more like 2, during which time Blake and I ate Penut butter and dried apricots then passed out with our heads to our packs on the roof of the bus. I heard my name being called and Blake holding out his hand to help me up, 5 minutes later the bus started up and within an hour we arrived in Srinigar and got our first glimpse of the city on the lake...Chapter 20: Lake Pangong and the Holy Calzone
We woke up early and headed straight for Pangong lake, a gem like body of water that separates Tibet from India, we met up with our driver and set out across the plains of Leh. After passing several checkpoints (ones required by law, and strictly enforced by the Police due to the Tibet/Chinese confrontation both nationally and internationally) we finally started our ascent of the mountains to the east of leh. Once again I was stuck in the very back of the truck =( Only this time I wasn't even in a seat, I was in the equipment area, lol what? Well it wasn't comfortable to say the least, but It was a good view of the mountains and the valley below us. From where I was sitting you could see thousands of feet down the cliff side with a grand overview of the village that seemed to have sprung from the space opening from between the mountains, a magical like setting that you might see in the high alps of South America where the survivors of the Spanish slaughter of the Incas build Machu Picchu.When we finally arrived at the lake, I had to stand back in awe and try and take it all in. From where we parked the car until the horizon it spread out on all sides, it covered a massive distance, I can't be sure but I think our guide said something to the effect of 200 or so miles in length. It had to be one of the grandest lakes on earth, out of sheer beauty and awesome scale, of course I really haven't been to many lakes in my time but in any case it truly was one of those primal Man vs Nature moments.We busted out the stove and made several hopeless attempts to light it and open the can of tune we brought with us, but in the end the truth of our ineptitude became painfully obvious. Out of nowhere though our driver came down the hill, lights up the stove and effortlessly cuts the tuna can open, all in a matter of seconds, almost as if it was something he did every day. We all looked at each other for a moment and silently nodded to ourselves in resigned acceptance, this is why old people are the greatest I said to myself. At some point I simple walked off alone and headed down the road that edged along the water. As the temperature began to drop (more so than it already had, almost freezing) we picked up our things and began our ride back down to Leh.On the way back a Military jeep carrying a bunch of laughing idiots and some military personnel kept us from passing them, they were obviously having a good time with it, finally we passed them and a few painful hours later arrived back in the city, from there we set out for our dinner, and while walking around we ran into this total kook Aussie character, he simply walked in front of us cheerfully and starting chatting away about how "epic and holy" the Calzones were at the restaurant ahead of us. He looked us all deep in the eyes and said "you won't regret lads, I guarantee it!" and somewhat absentmindedly walked off towards whatever place he had come from. Unfortunatly the girls hadn't been there to witness this madman rave about his beloved Calzone, but we convincingly re-enacted the event quite well I thought.We walked around for a little while but obviously we couldn't live down the opportunity to test those calzones for ourselves, so we walked right back to the pizza oven the mad Aussie had told us about and took a table by the kitchen. Blake and I ordered the Cheese and Spinach Calzones while Vinay ordered some Rice dish I think. Our Meals came and went while Vinay waited for his to come, but by the time we finished ours his patience had run out and he had a talk with the waiter. Once his meal came the girls, who had been doing (girl stuff) whatever that means, up until now met back up with us at the pizza oven. They ordered chicken... but whatever they were served was definitely not chicken, so we all got up and went back to the Hotel, so much for the sworn divinity of the Calzone... Blake and I considered them mediocre at best. We got to our room and as always bundled up in our Sleeping bags, talked nonsense and fell rapidly asleep.
Chapter 19: Highway to Heaven
I woke up facing the wall next to me, after 10 or so minutes of aimlessly staring at it I turned to face Blake, evidently he too was facing the wall closest to him. There's no reason for this to be strange or even funny in a comical sense and yet I had to giggle a little to myself, if only to wake myself up a bit. I've noticed that I've been getting up later and later all the time, which is definitely due to the fact that were not on the 6am bed tea time from Sk 23 anymore, lol. I didn't think much about anything while I laid in bed staring at Blake stare at the wall, I just kind of let my mind drift and drift pointlessly in the conscious void I had created that morning. Sometime after I was spurred awake by a knocking at the door, it was Vinay coming to ask us about breakfast, of course by this time in our journey the little pleasures such as a good meal were savored and cherished whenever they came about, so we all thought really hard about what exactly we wanted to fill our bellies with, this went on for a long time or at least it seemed to, most likely because it was so much fun to do. All we knew or cared to think about was having good food, so we threw on our clothes and headed for town.After walking a fair distance we came upon the Cafe Himalayas, it was a big and fancy looking place so we decided to check it out, but boy oh boy what a huge mistake that turned out to be. The food and service were subhuman at best, basically they chose to make our vegetarian meals with meat, our chocolate shake with powdered plastic and not even bother with the simplest order we gave, which was a vegy sandwhich that could have easily been thrown together in a 40-45 seconds. My Hunan chicken noodles were really the only bright side of the whole ordeal, oh and Blake never got his toast, butter, tea or jam. We paid half the bill and stormed out, screaming behind us they said they would have everything ready in 40 minutes... which would have made the total waiting time of our rediculous breakfast 2 hours, "fuck that" was our unanimous response. We knew Nilma was having her breakfast at some German Bakery so we headed that way in hopes of making our gloomy morning a much brighter one.Sitting down enjoying her coffee and in the utterly relaxing mood of the German Bakery sat Nilma, her hair was wild yet tamed as it always was and her complextion fair and pleasing to the eye, she was so into the tender air of her situation that she barely noticed we were all standing around her, in utter disbelief or childish contempt we starred down at her as she smiled back with her obviously satisfied self. "Good morning" we all said, in low and somewhat hissing tones (the same way the children of the corn kids talk to the people there about to rip apart) obviously we weren't to happy about our morning and Nilma wasn't helping, even so we came to our senses and sat down to enjoy what was left of it. By the time we all left the Bakery that day the bad memories of the Cafe Himalayas were all but behind us, and we walked back to the hotel with the same smile and satisfaction that Nilma had enjoyed so innocently that morning.When we got back to the Hotel we decided to rent some motorcycles and go for a ride, which was really a grand idea because apparently Leh is home to the highest motorway on earth! We rented 2 bikes, one for Vinay and Nilma and the other for Blake and I, unfortunately no matter how much we pleaded and prodded Varsha to come with us she just wouldn't come, which really was a big shame because I mean how often do you get to ride a motorcycle... and then on top of that how often do you get to ride a motorcycle on the highest motorway on Earth? Well obviously the answer to the first is not often and the answer to the second is probably only once in a lifetime, so we were bummed about that but in all honestly totally psyched about going.On our practice runs Blake went first, and after a good 20 minutes he finally came back, apparently he had gotten lost ^.^ Vinay did his practice run and I did mine, Nilma didn't want to drive so she didn't try, after all that we finally set out for the mountain. Everything was great, we were riding through down town Leh with the wind in our hair and smiles on our faces, when the next thing I know were skidding on the ground at 20 miles an hour about to get hit by a truck. I broke the fall as best I could, thankfully both Blake and I weren't seriously injured. What led to Blake laying down the bike was a classic example of all the right coincidences at exactly the right time for an accident, and as we would later discover it didn't help that the motorcycles breaks didn't even work >.< As we were riding the motorcycle a car pulled in front of us, as Blake was trying to stop the bike (without usable breaks) we slid on the gravel that was "coincidentally" only at that small part of the street. The bike tipped we fell and skidded along the gravel with it for a good 16 feet, when we finally got out from under the Bike a bunch of Indian officers rushed over to us to check if we were alright, the whole situation was exasperated by the fact that a conveniently spilled blotch of oil on the ground next to us made it look like one of our heads had been cracked open. The officers were all screaming and yelling at us and everyone around the scene, checking our heads and repeatedly asking if we were alright. As it became clear that we were fine and no critical damage had been done one of the officers took me aside and suggested we leave before the captain arrived. I could sense his concern for us more than for anything else so I took his suggestion, I picked up the bike and even though it didn't run we got on it and drifted onwards down the long and whindy road.Eventually we stopped in the middle of an intersection while traffic continued to poor in from all sides, seeing as how the ground was level at this point we knew we couldn't just coast the bike anymore, so a few attempts to start the bike later it finally came back to life, just seconds after our light had already turned green. We road around for a bit and somehow met back up with Vinay, Nilma and our guide, whom had rather mysteriously disappeared long before the accident. This is the point in which we discovered that the breaks didn't work, we made a good show of it and told the story to Vinay, nilma and most importantly our guide, if he didn't get the point of the story we might actually have to pay for the damage, thankfully he got the picture and a little while later a new bike was there to replace the old one. This time I thought it was best for me to drive, so once again we set off into the wild streets of Leh. One of the craziest intersections I've ever seen let alone driven a motorcycle through was the one we passed on the way to the mountains, it was a huge 8 street intersection with 2 lanes coming in from each direction around a large circle at the center all converging at impossibly dangerous 30 second intervals. Once we stopped for gas and a quick fix (and otherwise mechanical inspection) of our bikes, we road off into the frosty mountains of Leh.It took as a good 20 minutes before we had cleared the city and outer city limits of Leh, at that point our guide explained what we should do in case of this or that and left us to enjoy the ride on our own. We drove for was seemed like hours through the whindy road up those mighty ridges and valleys that had stood unchanged for millenia. As we finally got to the point in where the "road" was more dirt than anything else, Blake and I switched places and he took control of the motorcycle, of course I teased him "not gunna crash this one too are you?" "I hope not" he replied, inside my mind I really hoped he wouldn't either, because at the edge of this road there was nothing but death waiting for anyone unlucky enough to make a single if not minuscule mistake. On the way up we stopped and waited for Vinay and Nilma, during which time an army officer got out of his car and asked if we would take pictures of him and his sons with us, of course we were happy to do so, and by the time we were finished it was time once again to set off.The air was getting very thin now, and the temperature seemed to drop every corner we turned, even shifting your weight at this altitude seemed to drain you of energy, it was a good thing we had our glasses on, otherwise even our eyeballs would have frozen over from the cold and lack of oxygen. As time went on we weren't even driving on dirt anymore, just ice mixed with gravel and soon after it came to ice with water flowing above and beneath it, needless to say it had us all on the edge of our seats... literally. At long last we came to the top of the mountain and the end of our journey towards the heavens. We were at 18,380 feet, the highest road that any motor vehicle can go, without special and outlandishly expensive means anyways ^.^ We took pictures and talked about the trip up, all the while gasping for any air that we could get. When it was time to go we let Nilma and Vinay go ahead, I took out my fathers ashes gave an impromptu but beautiful speech, dedicating my trip and whatever adventures lay ahead to him and his memory, then spread his ashes to the wind. I had done this before, in my travels abroad, and as long as there is his ash to spread I will travel the world and carry him with me always. We got on the bike, and I drove us down the mountain in careful fashion, but with an all knowing and yet carefree look on my face, just the same as my dad always had wherever and whatever he did.RIP. Dad, we all love and miss you...As we rode down and when we finally got to civilization again, Blake took over and let me navigate our course home. The first thing I did as navigator was get us hopelessly lost in some backwater little town with streets only wide enough for children to walk through comfortably. At one point I had us stuck in just one of those little narrow streets, it took us a good 20 minutes to back up and walk the bike back up the hill, we only managed to escape with the help of the little local kids and their grandfather who pulled us out of the rut we were in, we gave our humble thanks and waved goodbye as we drove away back into the mountains. This time I was driving and Blake was navigating, which worked out a little better, only this time as we entered the city and got into traffic I was riding to close to the truck infront of us and crashed the bike... once again neither of us were badly injured but Blake was quick to get back at me with an endless barage of "oh guess who crashed the bike this time" and "at least I didn't crash a bike that actually had breaks" even so I was just happy to get back on the bike and get us home, which due to our clever if not totally wrong sense of direction took us all the way around Leh until finally we got back to the hotel. I was worried they would make us pay for the damage to the bike, which although not very bad was still going to cost something to repair. Of course we weren't going to point anything of that nature out to them so we merely thanked them for their service and quickly returned to our rooms. Thankfully they never asked us about the damage and we were Scott free once again.That night we went back to the Leh View Resturant and had 5 pizzas, a satisfying meal to say the least, Yum =D. Then we went for a little walk around Leh in the moonlight, which was nice after a long day of nearly getting killed. When everyone went to bed I stayed out, checked my mail and updated my blog. It was such a funny feeling, being there in that tiny little internet cafe, typing on those barbaric if not totally useless computers, even so I was content with myself and my situation, nothing was more pure and real than being alive and living free the way we had that day. I walked home after finishing the blog, slowly and purposely I went, taking each step in both mentally and physically, the air was icy and the mood a solem one, as I finally came to the little alley that led to our hotel I stopped and shook the magic and mystery from my head and walked facing forward into the darkness of yet another unknown.
Chapter 18: City in The Clouds
The morning was cold and there was no way in hell that either of us were getting out of our sleeping bags until necessary, which for us meant the building being on fire ^.^ lol. After 2 hours of just laughing and talking about stupid shit I finally decided to get up and check on the others. Vinay was dead asleep when I got to their room, but the girls were lively and doing what girls normally do in the morning, which if you didn't already know is locking down the bathroom as if its of the utmost military importance. While they took turns doing that Vinay finally woke up and we talked a little about what today's plans were (which I must admit I couldn't even comprehend) afterwords I decided to go on a walk through Leh, which to my great surprise had shifted from the reality I thought it to be in the night, to a shimmering city of an entirely different sort.As I walked from the hotel down a narrow alley I could barely make out the sounds and smells of what lied ahead, as I drew closer a group of kids passed me playing soccer in the alley giggling and running after one another, it was then that a strange nostalgia came over me, I'm not sure of exactly which part of my life it had taken me back to but I did know that it made me feel connected, like I had only just been watching the river pass by until just at this moment, I had stepped within the water now and was apart of it. Closer and closer I drew to the street ahead and then... the motorcycles zoomed past, the streets were lively, commerce and gossiping men and women could be seen everywhere, as well as kids of all sizes and ages in school uniforms on their way to learn.In the night on our way into Leh I could barely make out the gigantic spires of earth and ice that tower above, and all around, the Valley that Leh resided in, but in the brilliance of the morning light these titans of ancient history stood immortal, nothing could be both as real and unreal as those mountains were at that moment. Awe and respect were all I could feel for them, for not to would be truly foolish. Covering the ground that surrounded Leh was a thick haze, almost like clouds, with shapes and contours and yet static and free like fog, it came right up to the foot of the mountains but never came more than a mile away from the city limits. It seemed to shroud the city from the world and yet after 11 in the morning no trace of it remained. It reminded me of the city in the clouds of Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back, the only thing missing was Lando Calrissian and Chubaca =DLeh is the Capital city of Ladakh the northernmost state of India, it's people are a mixture of Chinese, Tibetan and Indian blood and take cultural aspects from all 3 areas. They are kind and probably the most down to earth and (life realistic) people I've come across, which is to say they know the difference between bs, maybes, yes's and no's when it comes to everyday life, of course they have dreams and aspirations just as everyone else, it just seemed as though they could take one look at you and see what you could and couldn't accomplish with your life.Leh rests at an impressive 3505 meters or 11,499 feet above sea level and is surrounded by mountains and desert on all sides, the terrain is much like that of Afghanistan and the climate cold and unforgiving for nearly the entire year, half of which it spends in total isolation from the outside world due to snow and ice blocking all routes in or out, including the airport.I went back to the hotel and by that time everyone was awake and ready to go. We met up with our driver and headed out to see some of the many temples and monasteries that riddled the region. As we came to our first monastery, which happened to be the oldest one in the region Blake and I sat at the edge of the high walls which rose some 100 feet above the ground and talked like mystics debating the reasoning's of human existence and the future of all things to come. The guy at the temple jacked us for 20 rupees for entering the holy room and we begrudgingly gave him the money.Our next stop was yet another temple, this one much.. much bigger than the last, and this one had a 50 rupee entree fee, which needless to say Blake and I weren't willing to shell out, which is really ridiculous seeing as how its barely a dollar and 7 cents, even so money was tight and we would rather use it for food ^.^ The decision not to go in really was the best one to make though, because while waiting outside we wondered into the cafe area and met a Swiss couple whom had traveled all the way from Europe to India via Turkey Pakistan and Iran with their BMW Motorcycle. They said that Americans were welcomed as heroes and that bush was a saint to the Iranians, which was all good news to me because I had really wanted to to the same thing only back to Europe. They did however warn us against travel to Pakistan, citing feelings of fear and being watched and followed as their reasons.I thanked them for their information and waited excitedly for Vinay and the girls to return. At our next temple destination Blake and I once again decided not to enter, not out of lack of money but of interest, as you might have guessed already, temples and the like aren't exactly our cup of tea. This decision again played out well for me, for while waiting for them to return and while waiting for Blake to finish using the bathroom a Monk escorting a family from Finland gave me his hard boiled eggs and snacks to eat, seeing as how we hadn't eaten breakfast and were practically starving I was happy to accept his offering.When everyone came back they too had food waiting for them (since they had ordered it from the cafe I was at) and we all left satisfied. We came back and Blake instantly passed out when we got to the room, apparently he was more tired than he was letting on, which for Blake is a bit unusual. So the rest of us went out for some Yak cheese Pizza for dinner which had much more flavor and kick than I expected from a plain cheese pizza, I also had a Cappuccino for the first time in my entire life, too be honest I was really let down, I was expecting coffee to be much more than this after all I had heard people say about it, perhaps.. I thought to myself, its an acquired addiction... like smoking or stinky cheese. In any case I wasn't thrilled or energetic I was merely tired and ready to hit the hay, and so I did.