A road trip like none other...

This happened a long time back...at a time when I couldn't afford to buy plane tickets (I was still a student and learning design in school)!

I was in Srinagar for a project to document a local craft and actually finished it a little before time...so my plan was to escape from the valley to the other part of the state - Ladakh. Flying was not an option due to high cost so had to depend on the local bus to reach there.

I was traveling alone (yes, I have been doing it for years), and just hoped to find some good company on the way. Just as we inched into Sonmarg, news came in that a bridge ahead on the river had broken down and so all traffic on the road had to stop. There was no question of returning back, as all roads on both sides of the road were jammed.

Thankfully we were close to Sonmarg, so I got out and started exploring the town. Apart from me, there were only two more people who took any interest in looking around, they were also fellow lonely travelers :) As I found out later, Christine was from Germany and Ti was from Korea. We bonded over multiple cups of India chai and a hike to a nearby glacier (that's the thing about Kashmir, all these exotic things are just a few kilometers' hike away). By the time night came, we were already thick friends. Because of the way I looked, they initially assumed that I was a local Kashmiri as well, a feeling I often got from locals as well. Anyway, the chaiwalla gave us shelter in his tea stall, while Christine stayed with a local family. My road trip had barely begun, and I already had a gang :)

The bridge was temporarily built overnight by the army and the traffic started inching forward the next morning. We decided to sit together and share stories. I think that's the best thing about such long road trips - you have so much time to talk, and without mobile phones etc, all you can do is look outside and make conversations.

The night of the second day we stayed at Kargil in a small hotel. Many men shared a room together, and slept wherever there was space available - bed, couch, floor. I slept on the floor and actually had a great sleep. The journey started again the third day and this is when you actually see Ladakh in all its glory. At last we started with everyone curious about us - 'People who travel alone, and then make a gang when find other similar types' :)

We stayed together for the next one week - days full of adventures and stories :)