Nature Can Be Cruel

Kim and i are sitting here in a place called Kasol located in the beautiful Parvati Valley. The pine forests are lush and green and the Parvati river is raging right outside our room. It's so full of water from the monsoon that we have to yell at each other when we're sitting outside. We'd planned on exploring this part of India but not until late September or early October. Plans change though and here we are in early August.

We'd hoped to be up in the Himalayan town of Leh in the Ladakh region by this time but that region has been hit hard by flooding and landslides in the past week, blocking roads and devastating entire communities. 165 people have died, over 400 are injured and 400 are missing. It's an extremely sad situation. This is a region that sees an average of 300 days of sunshine a year and only 90mm of rain per year. I think that close to 50mm of rain fell in one night alone so this tragedy isn't something that anyone could have predicted. Nature can be very cruel.

So far 81 foreigners have been rescued and Kim are i are glad that the number isn't 83 as it easily could have been had we decided to head up a few days earlier. Now that the weather has cleared somewhat the Indian army is working hard to restore essential services in the area and clear the landslides that have blocked the roads. We're still hoping to get up there but the reports we're hearing from people who were on their way up and had to turn around is that kilometer long sections of road have been destroyed and entire bridges have been washed away. So, it sounds as if the damage is significant enough that the road may not even open again until next year. If that's the case Kim and i will just have to come back one day to complete our journey and do the one ride we've been looking forward to since we bought Enzo way down south!

If we do end up getting to go, finger's crossed, we want to be prepared so we've been doing some research and came across this website. I've included some of what this guy has to say below so you can get a sense of what our ride will be like if and when we get to do it. If you're interested in reading more about the ride or checking out some of his photos the website is http://www.60kph.com/.

"Every year bikers from across the globe plan to ride on what is termed as one of the best routes to ride in the world, the 475 kms long Manali-Leh Highway. The road from Manali is open from the month of June to mid October. For almost half of its length, it is over 13,000 feet. The route passes through five high altitude passes. The terrain is so high and so barren as to have no settled habitation. Infrastructural support is at a bare minimum. No repair or service stations after Keylong, no petrol pumps either. But this scenario on the Manali-Leh Highway gives the excitement of planning, adventure and bliss while riding and lifetime memories after the ride.

The Manali-Leh highway is a roller-coaster ride of high-altitude passes, bad roads, landslides, glacial melts, broken bridges and what not. So don't mistake it for 475 kms on a normal highway and a single day's ride. Manali-Leh according to me should be done in three days if not more. Remember, one also has to deal with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)."

Sounds incredible doesn't it?!