Less Angst, More Work....and Adventure

Leh, Ladakh

So, a friend sent a note saying he noticed less angst in my posts from India than those from Europe and the States. Well, that comes down to a couple simple things: 1) Cost and 2) Difficulty of Travel. As for the cost issue, Tami and I were spending somewhere around $110-$120 a day or so in Europe. You might think that's cheap, and, it is. You'd have a hard time getting by for less money for two people. You could, but you'd see no sights, drink no Rioja and self-cater every meal in your room. We actually did plenty of self-catering but that was more out of choice than necessity. As vegitarians, we are better able to make food we like than most restaurants.

No matter how cheaply we were getting by in Euroland, our savings still dropped precipitously. That's not the case here in India. Costs for the two of us per day are somewhere just under $25. We could easily scrimp down further but....that's not why we came. Too much scrimping = angst. Bad.

Difference #2 comes from the quality of the days you spend; not the overall quality but certain components. As we walked the streets of Madrid, Granada, Barcelona or Paris; the the other tourists out seeing the sights were almost exclusivly either retirees or student-aged. For all the fun we had there, touring Europe felt a little too safe and easy. It's never far from my thoughts that Tami and I are in our prime earning years. Being on the road for an extended period as we are comes with a steep opportunity cost. If we're going to forego gainful employment (and being with friends and family) we want some serious memories out of the deal.

Unless you have a host to show you life beneath the typical tourist existence, Europe can feel pre-packaged and infused with a sense of denouement. Everyone knows what you're supposed to see when you go to a European city. You visit the museums and cathedrals. You stroll the famous parks. You search out the best, fresh almond croissants or sample the tapas and wine. All that said, as excellent as the Euro-nooks and crannies we found were, we sought something more intense.

To get to where we are now, a person needs to be willing to sacrafice a fair amount of comfort. From San Francisco, to get to the Nubra Valley where we were a couple days ago, would take at least four days, and that's assuming no problems with connecting flights, jeep rides, etc. It wouldn't matter how much money you could throw at the problem. It would take that long.

If you came overland, as we did, it would take you over a week, best-case, easily two. Anyone willing to come this far must have a pretty compelling interest in the area and probably plans to stay for a while. It doesn't cost only time either. The final three full days through the mountains in a rickety bus take you over the three highest motorable passes in the world (and several lower ones). The highest, is over 18,000 feet. Altitude sickness is almost impossible for a human to avoid unless you live in mountains like this. The outsides of the buses under the windows all carry the scythe-shape splatters of peoples' nausea. It might not be a necessity but it helps a hell of a lot if you're fit. Everyone is sore and exhausted at the end of a trip like that. The payoff comes in the form of some superlative scenery. I've spent a lot of time in mountains and still rode in awe for hours as the peaks and glaciers moved past. (One caveat to the above: Leh has an airport with direct flights from New Delhi. In the past week the package tour people have arrived en masse. Leh and its immediate environs have been overrun.)

Another advantage of traveling here vs. the West is that you're not marketed to nearly as much. A great deal of what you see here comes as a surprise. You can see mountains or waterfalls or monasteries that are breathtaking but, because they are so far off the beaten track and so plentiful, they don't get much or any hype. You have a feeling of discovery and the farther you get off the main routes, the greater and more inspiring that sense.

All this is to say that, once you're in a place like this, you know you're nowhere near Kansas anymore.