e were overloaded and undercatered; we were up high and the air was thin; it was sunny but there was snow in the shade. I had a packet of biscuits and less than a litre of water and I was getting sick.
e waited for a couple of hours and then two trucks came along. We piled into the trucksÆ open trays, and dust engulfed us as we crawled for two hours and another 20 kilometres down the road. We stopped for dinner and negotiations at the first village since Leh; the truck drivers wanted Rs200 each and we weren't in much of a bargaining position. A deal was struck with one truck for Rs100, but after money changed hands the mechanics pulled the chassis apart and started to rebuild the engine. Well, okay, it wasn't in the deal that the truck would leave today.
e paid the other truckies and got 200 metres down the road before being stopped at a checkpoint. We were told it was impossible to proceed: foreigners were not allowed to travel on private vehicles. The argument went on for an hour before we were able to continue.
