The views were amazing in all directions; desert dry mountains, carved into fantastic shapes from millennia of water erosion. Even saw some wild deer.
We started fast and kept going that way. The road was excellent, fresh black tarmac through the barren lands, looping up high, probably to about 4000m, virtually no traffic. On the down hill, our speed increased to above 60km in places, keeping a racing line through the miner twists.
When we are young, we have an innate thrill of speed and acceleration - we seek out the stomach clenching toboggan run, the home made go-kart rushing down a hill, or a funfair roller coaster leaving our hearts in our mouths. Even when we are really young, the pleasure of being tossed seems to be an essential part of growing up. This seems to die out as we get older, but today, on this road, the excitement and adrenalin was almost overwhelming.
When we hit the valley floor (still over 3000m), the road deteriorated a little, but there was a line of trees, poplars I think, their leaves yellow and fading, and a dry stone wall to make it very quaint. Several herds of sheep and goats, leathery but friendly shepherds, and a few donkeys added to the rustic charm.
Our permits were checked at an army point, and a very small man came up. 'Hello, I am introducing myself. My name is Manuell. What is your names and professions? You are christians? Where you go now?'. It was felt quite surreal to find an Indian called Manuell, and we tried hard not to giggle.
Joey had suggested we stop in Tabo, but we made the town just after mid day, so we stopped for lunch at cafe with a nice rooftop and make some plans. We decided to push on to Kaza where we could refuel, and use it as a base for day trips gomorrowtyo visit some nearby small villages.stop there. We had the option of going onto a town up in the hills called Comic, but decided that after 3 nights in villages on the edge, we would try a different experience in a town.
Met a nice Swedish couple, who were coming from that direction, and drained some fuel from Butch so they could light their Primus stove. There was also a huddle of guys playing with dice, coins and shells. It looked quite complicated, like a circular chequers, but was obviously enthralling as in the hour and a half we were there, they scarcely looked up.
The clouds were drifting overhead, looking a bit threatening, and without the sun, it was cold. We headed back to the road.
The landscape changed once again - The valley turned almost into a flood plain, a pebbly and shale floor, the river in wide lazy cirls, like it was about to empty into a high dead sea. There colours had changed to, now it was slate and battleship greys, charcoals and leads. It is difficult to describe with such a small palette of colour words, but it was stark and majestic.
The road was no longer the oily black of newly laid tarmac, but mostly gravelly. Our pace did not really slow much though. My confidence and skill on Carmen has increased a lot, over all the surfaces I have ridden on. It has become less of chore, more of a challenge, even a pleasure to test myself on these roads. It was cold, and looked like rain, so we were keen to get there as soon as possible.
I expected Kaza to be a regional town like Rekong Peo, but it is very much a tourist centre. Every other building was a hotel, homestay or restaurant. Still with a lot of character though - adobe buildings, painted white, crumbling in places, mud floors, lots of livestock wandering around. Unfortunately though, it is now really out of season, and everything was shut.
We circled the town, and eventually found a homestay right on the river, with extraordinary views of the valley.. 'Jamaica', the garrulous owner, was very used to Europeans, and was very helpful. He took us for Chai, and explained that he has a hotel in Goa too, and will shortly be heading down there for the season.
Found an internet place, and checked in with a couple of people. I do worry that everything falls apart without me there, but all was ok.
We retired back to 'Jamaica's Inn. We are having Chicken Curry tonight and apparently rum. I think we are expected to act like hard drinking hells angels, but we are too old, too cold and too middle class for that.
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