Trip Report - Ant's Himalayan Adventure

[ant]

Sunset was imminent






I had a chat to these truckies - I promised to post this photo on my Instagram tagged to the passenger


but it was still warm so we went down to the river...





These cute Mud locals were collecting cow dung whilst chatting on their Samsung Galaxies. Talking to the guys they said that the campsite is hired from the locals so it's good to know we help them out financially. A boss lady (not pictured) later told us off for collecting too much firewood for our bonfire, understandable given trees are only found next to the rivers here. All the cattle/sheep/goats here graze along the river - we were basically camped in their paddock.





As it got darker the stars were impressive - as we were in the northern hemisphere you couldn't see the whole of the Milky Way, but a fair chunk of it was visible. I also saw a meteor which confirmed to me that any bad luck must have passed over.






I snapped these nice reflections in the puddles (by accident) as I was heading off to bed. Big day, just had to survive the night in a cold tent now...

 

[ant]

Day 6 - Mud to Kaza via Karmic Village

Morning as we were breaking camp





Water pump... it works!

Also a typical steel bridge - Army maintained.



Paul takes a snap of these amazing eroded earth formations - reminded me of photos of Anatolia.





We stopped at a local landmark, a colourful Buddha statue.







Sadly the "Nature's Child's Spaceship Cafe" was closed for business so I didn't get beamed up anywhere.


As always, there were sleeping dogs which I let lie.


Another short ride to lunch, in supposedly the "Highest Restaurant in the World" which I didn't quite believe to be true.

 

[ant]

Day 6 Continued...

Of course there were more photogenic dogs.




My kind of woman - beautiful, independent and can ride.... a demonic blue yak





Paul and Ajay (Tour Lead) had a serious discussion after lunch

Then it was the World's Highest Post Office





I had an altitude headache by this point and was over the World's Highest Anything. It was also hot and dusty.



Probably the World's Highest Postcard Retail Outlet in front, I didn't go down there


Dunno who this guy was as I don't read Hindi but apparently he was a legend
You can tell I'm still unhappy about my altitude headache. The views almost made up for it though.




Then down the hill to Kaza where we'd stay the night, in a real hotel! Yay!

 

[Squizzy]

Again the geological forces that bent these rocks is unimaginable. Talking to Suresh, one of the Indian crew he told us that the Indian subcontinent had smashed into Asia and the subduction of the land mass under the tektonic plate of Asia had caused the Himalayas, a process that still continues today.

I was just thinking the same thing

 

[goodie]

Thank you so much for taking us along your trip Ant, with all those beautiful pictures and info. I am enjoying it very much

 

[Zuckerbaron]

Wow! The pics around Nako are fantastic.



Thanks for showing us these places.

 

[glitch]

Paul hit his foot on a large rock which fucked his knee (which was lacking an ACL anyway from a soccer injury) for most of the remainder of the trip! Tough bastard hung in though.. Anyway we kept ascending to Nako which turned out to be a beautiful place.

I'll give Nako its own post.

Tough orrite!
Desperately trying to catch up, those pics are mouthwatering and the comments often something to think about.

Awesome trip, awesome yarn!
BIG thanks!

 

[glitch]

Nako - elevation around 3600m, population 574 according to wikipedia. The green crops you see here on the terraces is mostly animal feed - they grow apples and apricots in the orchards.
So that's Nako! Beautiful place, dunno if I'd want to spend winter there though...

 

[glitch]

Sunset was imminent

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I had a chat to these truckies - I promised to post this photo on my Instagram tagged to the passenger
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but it was still warm so we went down to the river...

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These cute Mud locals were collecting cow dung whilst chatting on their Samsung Galaxies. Talking to the guys they said that the campsite is hired from the locals so it's good to know we help them out financially. A boss lady (not pictured) later told us off for collecting too much firewood for our bonfire, understandable given trees are only found next to the rivers here. All the cattle/sheep/goats here graze along the river - we were basically camped in their paddock.

View attachment 5873

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As it got darker the stars were impressive - as we were in the northern hemisphere you couldn't see the whole of the Milky Way, but a fair chunk of it was visible. I also saw a meteor which confirmed to me that any bad luck must have passed over.

View attachment 5875

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I snapped these nice reflections in the puddles (by accident) as I was heading off to bed. Big day, just had to survive the night in a cold tent now...

Oh man, this is getting even better from one post to the next....hope it wasn't too cold a night.

 

[ant]

Oh man, this is getting even better from one post to the next....hope it wasn't too cold a night.

It wasn't too bad... Sleeping was where think you lie awake for ages but actually you get a few hours dozing.