Markha Valley

Eating & Sleeping

Eating:
Northern India subsists on rice and dahl (curried lentils in gravy), mopped up with chapathi and washed down with chai (tea leaves brewed up with milk and sugar). Welcome additions are sabzi (curried boiled veg), dahin (yoghurt) and channa masala (spicy chickpeas). Paranthas (chapathis fried in clarified butter and maybe stuffed with spicy potato) and omelettes are a standard breakfast, mid-day roadside snacks are samosas dipped in chilli sauce, and pakhora (deep fried bits of veg). CocaCola, Pepsi and their local offspring, Thums Up, are available everywhere. Buddhist / Tibetan areas are a particular treat for carbo-happy cyclists. Favourite dishes are steamed or fried momos (moneybag-shaped parcels of dough stuffed with chopped veg or mutton), and thukpa, a broth made of chunky noodles and veg. Chowmein is also ubiquitous, fried with whatever veg is at hand and improved by tomato sauce. Tsampa (ground barley flour) is the ultimate Tibetan snackfood which finds its way into everything - tea, porridge, chang (barley beer), butter or scooped into the palm and tossed dry into the mouth (which takes practice). In both Spiti and Ladakh you will frequently be offered butter tea – usually made from fresh butter (if not, then rancid) mixed with salt and milk, then churned in a gurgur and brewed up with tea leaves. It gets an awful press, but I liked it. Maybe I got the fresh stuff. Sometimes it's pink, which can be a little disconcerting.
Medium sized towns upwards will serve Western-style food in restaurants - but don't expect things to taste the same as they do at home. They're also more likely to make you ill than local food. Travellers hangouts such as Manali, Leh and Dharamsala do a better job, and you'll also find Israeli dishes and wonderful bakeries where you can happily regain weight in plum pies, carrot cakes and chocolate banana croissants.

Sleeping:
Finding a bed for the night is usually straightforward. Where there aren't guesthouses, a family house will usually take you in. Always fix the price when you arrive - and if the answer is 'as you like', then count on $1 each. Travelling in groups works out much cheaper - as three we'd get a room for 100-150rs a night, alone I'd pay 70-100rs. Where there isn't a settlement, sooner or later there'll be a dhaba (roadside stall selling chai and basic food) or parachute tent where you can sleep on the rugs for 50rs. On remoter stretches, especially on the Manali-Leh Hway, roadcrew camps and army posts may also provide shelter - though women alone should avoid them if possible.

Spiti Valley

Manali-Leh