“He is taken a bike on rent for 2 days from 24 to 25 of sep.” -from motorbike rental receipt
After our summit of Stok Kangri, we were back in Leh and taking on calories. A breakfast fellow, the older german whom I’d first met along the shores of briny Tso Moriri, pointing out “these shrimp look like a species from Star Trek”, was delighted that we’d survived and stoked to see the pictures. In our absence, he’d visited Lamayuru, about 130 km northeast of Leh toward Kargil, by local bus as planned. He enjoyed it immensely though he cited his initial concern with the young driver who’d given his age as “16”. “When I first saw him and handed him my luggage I assumed he was a helper. Then he climbed behind the wheel and took off”. Admittedly, “he was an excellent driver”, contented the older german.
The condition of the road to Lamayuru was excellent, he reported. I was gauging the possibility of hiring a motorbike and traveling out that way for an overnight trip to see the storied ‘moonscape’ and cliff-perched monastery. The two South Indians from Kerala had also said that the scenery along the way was spellbinding. “It should have taken no more than 4 hours, even in the winding mountain roads, but we stopped to take pictures constantly” one had smirked. They’d left Leh in early morning, reaching Lamayuru nearly at dark.
