Day 11 - rest day

After ten days in the saddle, a rest day was a welcome reprieve. My legs needed to get out and walk around a bit.

Leh is a proper town, which after days of remote camps felt almost disorienting. It was the Day of Ashura, the Shia Muslim commemoration, and the main bazaar was transformed. Crowds in black filled the streets, Arabic banners alongside strings of Tibetan prayer flags, a white marble statue at the centre of it all. Buddhist stupas, a mosque minaret, a tattoo parlour, and a pashmina shop all in the same frame. Leh contains multitudes.

Most of the restaurants were closed for the holiday, but there was wood-fired pizza at 11,500 feet. That evening the group reconvened for Vietnamese barbecue and Kingfisher in a nearby restaurant.

The riding resumes tomorrow. Two more days to the world's highest pass.

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