Touring Little Tibet - Swift Industries

On our recent visit to Japan, we had the pleasure of riding on Mount Fuji with Mari and Shinpei from Tokyo. They had just returned from a week of bike-touring in Ladakh, India. Shinpei just got ahold of his 35mm film, and took a second to share their adventure with you!

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Hey, we’re Shinpei and Mari from Tokyo, Japan, and these are 35mm photos  taken on a recent bike trip to Ladakh in the Kashmir region of India. It is also called Little Tibet.

For the tour, we stayed in guesthouses and temples and carried a minimal set-up!

We loaded our bicycles with a lightweight set-up.

Our packing list included:

a lightweight repair kit

6 tubes

merino wool inner and socks

ultra light down jacket

Gore-Tex outer jacket

And one extra set of clothes which we washed alternately every day while traveling.

 

Our trip took for one week from 4th of September 2017.

The altitude of Leh in a town with an airport is 3500 meters (12,000 feet).

Breathing was very hard. It was three times slower than riding at home.

It took three days to adapt to high altitude, so most days we struggled with elevation.

 

We gathered information on the first day.

First I aimed for Kardunra Pass which was our main goal for the trip.

The altitude is 5600 meters, (18,300 feet)

One half of the road is a paved road and the other half is off-road. it was maintained and it was very easy to ride.

The scenery was beautiful and there were cows and donkeys. Riding with views of the Himalayas was awesome.

 

The next goal was to stay at the temple (Gompa) to experienced a little life of the monk.

Then we made our way through towns and villages, wove through the back roads, and entered the desert area.

 

Wherever we rode, the scenery was spectacular and beautiful.

 

And everyone in Ladakk was kind and nice.

When we arrived in villages with our bicycles, the children greeted us, saying “Juley” and high five!!!. Everyone had a nice smile.

 

It was a wonderful trip. Next visit  we’ll give ourselves more time!

 

Shinpei & Mari

Follow Shinpei on instagram at @shincro130