The Road Across the Top of the World

I love the way small towns work. Majid puts out the word at the taxi station that we want a ride to Srinagar. Ten minutes later, while we are having breakfast, here comes a guy who's driving back to Srinagar, and will take us for 6500 rupees, about $150 for both of us. He's got a nice 4 wheel SUV, a Scorpion, and we would be alone with him in the car, not riding with anyone else. And....we get to leave a 1:00 pm, instead of 4:00pm. I'm thinking this is a good idea, as I can see the mountains. Usually, when a car fills up, they leave around 4:00, and drive the 12-13 hours straight through. Buses usually stop in Kargil, a small town halfway there. The distance is about 300 miles. The first 3-4 hours aren't so bad, as we are climbing, climbing, climbing, going very slow around hairpin curves and crawling up the mountain, then on to another mountain. There's lots of activity on the road, roadwork, Army comings and goings, and scattered small villages. All the time we are at 13,000- 15,000 feet of altitude. I'm sitting in the back, and all of a sudden I'm starting to feel a bit seasick. My face is getting hot, and my head aches slightly. I try laying down, that's even worse. Finally, we stop the car, and I pitch my breakfast and lunch, and I want to lie down on the road and die. But.... I feel better with an empty stomach, and as luck would have it, we are about 10 minutes to the halfway point, Kargil. Thank God, we stop, and I'm in bed at the hotel at 8:00 pm, sick. This could have been a serious problem if we had passengers, or if we had taken the bus. We are up at 5:00 am and on the road. It's a fairly good ride coming down from the heights. The road is bad, unfinished in parts, crowded with Army convoys, and really, really narrow. It's funny how we adjust to just about anything. I can look down 5000 feet without a guard rail and feel nothing. Finally, around 11:00am, we come into Sonamarg, a tourist resort close to Srinagar. The white knuckle, bone jarring, spine crushing, teeth grinding ride is over. I believe that's my last time on that highway. Before you go, you can have no idea of what it's going to be like. It feels like being on a roller coaster ride for 7 hours straight. If you are prone to altitude sickness and/or motion sickness, I would suggest taking the airplane. It's about the same amount of money. Well, now I can say, "been there, done that, ain't going back." There are some interesting things along the way. More monasteries, pretty square houses with lots of potted annual flowers--cosmos, dahlias, marigolds in all sizes and colors. I like that. Very few guardrails. There are great roadsigns along the way to help keep you awake. "Peep Peep, Stay Awake," "You sleep, your family weeps." "Do not mix drink and driving." "Better to be Mr. Late than late Mr." "Alert, Aware, Attention, Alive." The list goes on. Most were original, but some were repeated. The mountains are enormous and awe inspiring, but even that gets old and familiar after awhile. Lots of it feels like moonscape. There was a bus turned over where 8 Bihari people died. They come here in the summer to do all the roadwork, and live in these god-awful camps along the way. They were being transported to another road site, and the bus flipped. Bihar is one of the poorest states in India, and they supply lots of cheap labor for the government. If safety were as great an issue as it is for the USA, these roads in the mountains would never get built. As it is, I'm very impressed with the mere existence of the road. They say it is the highest road in the world. It closes for about 6 months during the winter because of snow and ice. Our driver knows every step of the road--where the best tea stops are, what to buy in the villages, previous accidents...he is a plethora of information. I find that impressive, as it is a long way between Srinagar and Leh. He is unusual in that he owns his own car. When you hire a driver, you have to be sure they are not drinking. You can imagine the results if they are. Anyway, thank God we have arrived and we are safe...jerked and jolted, but safe.