Day 17 – Only 110 km to Jespa
The longest leg of our journey was now behind us. With over 310 km now between us and Leh, we were looking forward to only half the journey. It would only be 110 km from Sarchu to the little town of Jespa. Of course, we'd still be driving on the side of steep mountains with lorries attempting to pass us with only inches to spare, and all the while looking down 1-2 km down the side of a mountain. But hey, it sounded like cake-walk next to the 14 hour drive from Leh to Sarchu the day before.
We had a nice breakfast in the mess hall in Sarchu, and they brought a bucket of hot water to each of our tents so we could freshen up. A quick bath with a wash cloth, and a quick shave, and I was ready to face the day.
As the next few pictures demonstrate, there were numerous places along the road where a stream of melt-water would run across the road. A little nerve racking, but in time I found I didn't notice it much.
We stopped off for a bite to eat while Baru processed all of our passports at another police checkpoint in Darchu. The memory of the cold from the night before in Sarchu camp was enough to motivate me to buy a local hand-woven cap. Some local men kept staring at us, and Monica asked them if they'd like their picture taken with me. She and I took turns posing with our new Himalayan homies.
An hour or so later, we pulled into Jespa. It was quite amazing that we all noticed the change in the road. After a couple of days of bouncing around in a Toyota Quantis 4x4.2 on rocks and streams and mud and broken pavement, it's amazing what a balm a nice smooth, tar-paved road can be. There seemed to be an intake of breath in our car as the pavement became "real", and it felt like we were one inch closer to civilization. Little did we know what was in store for us the next day (Rhotang "Pile of Corpses" Pass).
We settled into our guest-house (homey hotel), enjoyed tea and biscuits, and scattered into groups to go for various explorations around this little road-side village. There wasn't much spectacular about this town. It was basically a way for us to break up the journey with some comfort. We had really only been on the road for about 4-5 hours (110 km) since Sarchu. But, we'd have a 7+ hour journey the next day.
Apparently, the BRO (Border Roads Organization) is known in India for their catchy roadside signs. This one says "After Drinking Whisky Driving is Risky". Some of my favorites include "I am curvy, go slow" and "I like you, but not so fast". If only the U.S. transportation authority had this kind of a sense of humor…
It's interesting that the milestone markers are shaped like tomb stones. I wonder if this is a dark sense of "Rhotang" humor, or just happenstance. This one showed us just how far we'd come in the two days since Leh (337 km). Of course, with our 90 km detour, our actual journey was closer to 427 km so far. But who's counting?
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