Roads and transportation

This particular style of auto tuk-tuk we saw only around Jammu. They all looked like something out of "Mad Max"!

A pedestrian width bridge over the Ganges in Rishikesh . It was used by motorcycles - beeping of course- cows who languidly made their way across, thieving monkeys, and metal wheel carts loaded down with goods. Sunset watching was the best time.

Look closely on the right, that's the dusty mountain road we're traveling on. By road really is the only way to get to some of these places. For years these routes were just Yak trails - andyou can see why. The mountain sides are really raw, with rock slides a common occurrence. The road crews sometime have equipment, but many people are breaking rock by hand. Many of these workers seem to come from the south of India and are poorly equipped  for the cold weather. They live in tent camps along the road - very basic conditions. We had about 3 high narrow passes to cross on this leg from Leh to Shrinagar, and our driver want to get through them before 6pm, since he knew we were going to be running into a military truck caravan coming the opposite way.

I'll be adding to this page - I've got more great traffic shots and stories, but the upload speed in this cyber cafe just got really slow....

One of the few road signs to let you know of an upcoming hairpin turn. Actually there are some very humorous signs all along the road with saying such as, "If you're married, divorce speed", "I'm curvacious, go slow", etc. I've been trying to catch photos, but I think I'll have to write more of these down

Traffic jam, India style! We were sitting here for a couple hours, as some narrow section of the road was slowing traffic to one way. We were passed by several herds of goats and sheep, as well as nomadic families with their ponies. The commercial trucks are all decorated like this blue/green one, as each driver feels inspired.