WE GOT LEH-ID

August 16, the adventure of our lifetime begins. Javed and me hit the road towards Leh and enjoy the most beautiful and diverse landscapes ever. Crossing stone areas, following rivers, passing no-mans land through off road riding in the cold desert and so many passes was indeed an incredible experience. In fact, during the 2'500 kilometers that we covered in these 10 days I thought of adjectives that describe what we've gone through, come across and saw. It was BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, STUNNING, WONDERFUL, IMPRESSIVE, DIVERSE, MIND-BLOWING AND JUST INCREDIBLY AWESOME!!

Although the roads were in pretty bad conditions sometimes (in fact the roads were just washed away or there was no road at all) and not a single day passed that we didn't go to see a mechanist to have our bikes repaired, although we ate Maggie (Nestle 3min noodles) almost every day that I got sick and tired of it, we were freezing out butts off in the cold desert at nights and I had wet feet for the first three days - it was all part of the adventure - the adventure of a lifetime!
The nature and impressions that we got made it all up, was worth way more than all the hassle we went through.

It was a rally like Paris-Dakar - but much better, jejeje
It was indeed a unique experience and I can definitaly call myself a biker now!

On 5'602 meters above sea level we crossed the world's highest motorable road in Khardungla,
in Pang we passed the world's highest transit point
and overall we can definitely say that we did one of the most impressive travels.
And to have it done by bike is just the best - the adventure of a lifetime!

AWESOOOOMME
get some impressions by clicking here

JNRG
hit the road
ready for the road trip of our lifetime

about to BIKE ON THE WORLDS HIGHEST ROADS

Some facts about my upcoming trip:

Altitude of Leh-Ladakh:etween 2750 m and 3505 m

Distance:
Delhi to Manali: 570 km
Manali to Leh: 475 km
Total kilometers to be passed in 10 days: 2090 km

My bike: Hero Honda CBZ (150cc)

Why do I consider it as a unique opportunity and am I so much looking forward to this trip?!

"Soaring thousands of meters above the pollution, heat and chaos of India’s crowded cities, the Himalayas stand a world apart from any other Indian territory. Prayer flags snap in the wind on high passes and villages lie marooned amongst spectacular mountain scenery, linked by kilometers of challenging roads that have only been open to foreigners since the 1980s, Indians take pride on exploring the best biking ground on earth. Well below zero degrees Celsius on most of the places on the way gets the adrenaline pumping every time you visit.

The experience of riding on such high ground is a world apart from normal condition. Thin oxygen, the cold mountain temperature and challenging terrain combined to form the riding experience of a life time."
source: adrenalinrider

coming to an end

Although it's nothing new that time flies by way to quickly I still have to state that here - since this is definitely my impression!
Two months, zzzzht - over like that!
I cannot believe that tomorrow, Friday 14th of August is already going to be my last day at Mirabilis and my internship comes to an end!

Sure, I still have my very exciting trip to Ladakh ahead of me, and I am so much looking forward to that since I really consider it as an unique opportunity that I would not do without Javed!
But also there, the time is going to fly by - even faster I fear and then my wonderful Indian experience already comes to an end... :-(
but won't talk about that yet
Will go ahead and enjoy the moments left, living them to its maximum - just as always!

annoying processes

as almost everything in India takes so long to organize, we booked all last Sunday to get my bike organized for the upcoming trip to Leh!
but not as expected, it is not possible in Delhi, to rock up in a bike store, sign a contract, leave your credit card details and drive out with your hired bike... there is no such a thing as hiring, renting out or the way it works is that you have to put a security deposit of Rs 50,000, which is actually the price of buying a second hand bike. If you then bring the bike back within two weeks you would receive Rs 42,000 back! Which sums up to a rental cost of around US$ 200, which is alright - but what a d..stu...ma..fa... process behind it?!

New solution found is that Valentino, a U59er lends me his bike which he doesn't use anymore. Since it's been standing around unused for quite a while it needs some basic reparation - which I will take over. But again - it's not that easy to find a mechanist, and if he says it will be ready in one day it takes more then that... obviously!!

But also with my international driver license it's quite a hassle since IDL (International Driver License) totally screwed up! So, whenever you are abroad and need an international driver license, don't do it over www.idlicense.com - they don't keep their promise of having it ready for shipment within 24hours but needed some incredible 5 days to get it ready! Krascar International Travel Club is not reliable, unprofessional and my only advise is: HANDS OFF!!


Well, to make a long story short - everything is going to turn out - touch wood - and I'm basically just looking forward to us finally leaving for Ladakh - because that also means that we somehow managed it all... jejeje

Taj Mahal

as it became quite clear in my last posts, I've been working like a dog last week. Friday till 11p.m. Saturday till 0.30 a.m. Sunday till 2 a.m. And to top it all, on Wednesday till 4 a.m. So when I came back from office at 4.30 a.m. on Thursday morning, Javed my roommate was already there - and he works night shifts!! All the reason why we did that was for the client meeting we had on Thursday itself. And that meeting was so frustrating - well, frustrating for Mirabilis, since we got the feedback of being far away from what we were supposed to deliver. On the other hand it was rather a satisfaction to me, since I always claimed that points of lacking structure, a missing focus, clear goals and a clear added value in the report that we were writing. Fair enough that no one listens to the trainee from abroad. But now, after the WWF Asian Pacific Manager asked exactly for these points we have to manage the turnaround in order to make the project successful. Personally I take it as a very interesting experience out of which I can learn quite a lot. It highly fosters my cultural understanding and sense of profesional work - or better said of how not to do it. Due to the fact that I really want to have an equilibrium in my work-life balance, I took Friday off. Just to compensate all the extra hours and mostly recover and relax. Together with my U59 friends I had a great night out on Thursday, sleeping in on Friday and preparing the birthday party of my Indian brother Javed. get more of javed's birthday party pics

On Saturday we headed to Delhi where we went to see the Red Fort, Ghandi Museum and India Gate. At India Gate we were interviewed by a local Television Channel, who asked us about Indian Monuments and what we know about India Gate. So after having been on the radio in Switzerland, I'm now going to be on Indian tely as well, jejeje In the evening we went out to Baci, which was an incredible over-priced club that we left immediately after entering. So we headed to check Headquaters and Decibel out. Although there was the worst DJ ever, thanks to the party people I was with we had a great night out! The DJ changed the music style after each song! You cannot do that Mr. DJ!! You cannot put Rock after Techno and then some Rap and some Punjab music after R'n'B and expect the people to go with it. FOCUS MAN - again (even in the disco). You can never ever please everybody, less you will do so if you are too broad... Once we reached U59 at about 4 a.m. we had a quick refreshing shower, got changed and jumped into the mini bus which took us to Agra. In a group of 10 people I had the pleasure to see one of the 7 New World Wonders!

TAJ MAHAL

indeed it's true! you've seen it on so many pictures and posters, but to be physically there, standing in front of it and watching the white marmor is not comparable at all! it was soooo impressive, so beautiful, so lovely that it definitely deserves the title of LOVE MEMORIAL! once we were to enter the Taj Mahal, it softly started to rain... 15min later, by stepping outside it rained cats and dogs! Never mind, we told us and went out to dance in the rain! It was great fun and so wonderful to enjoy that natural spectacle in front of the Taj Mahal!

the fact that we got completely wet didn't bother us at all - we went to a shop, got some new dry cloths, went finally for food and did some drinking games on the ride back to the shitwhole Gurgaon. Obviously we were quite exhausted but it's been such a great weekend!

it's been so GOOOD



pics of Taj Mahal journey