Friday 25th July, 2014.

Lots of tarmac and still spectacular views as Brian and I headed towards Keylong. But the magic of Spiti was missing. More traffic and hot but that wasn’t the reason. Spiti is special. I get the feeling that a lot of this traffic is going all the way to Ladakh so I’m fairly happy with my plan to head off directly to Srinagar through Killar and Kishtwar.

The section down to Tandi and then up to Keylong was under construction: dusty, sandy and windy.

Brian and I managed to miss each other on the entrance to town but eventually reconnected and found a place to stay.

45.2 km, 11.3 kph, 905 km to date.

A few days in Keylong…

I decided to rest up for a few days. And to try to recover from my kidney or bruising problem.

After a couple of days, Brian headed on to Leh. I met up with Vortex, a friend I’d met in Darjeeling almost two years ago, and we had a chance to catch up.

Vortex hasn’t been back to his home in Cape Town since I first met him; he has a long term lease on a house in Koh Phayam (in Thailand). I learned a lot from Vortex about varied topics such as the profession of a tactical sniper in the French Foreign Legion, how to protect yourself from wild animals and reptiles when sleeping out in the desert (or on my proposed route to Kishtwar…), commercial diving, …

After a period of recovery from personal tragedy involving his wife and daughter, he seems to be doing pretty well. It was great to see him again.

Welcome to Keylong!

Time for a clean up:

There is plenty of construction under way in Keylong:

Time for a little refreshment:

Gaily painted trucks:

Sweet shop:

My blood problem doesn’t seem to be fixing itself so I went down to the hospital to visit a doctor. I was prescribed a couple of courses of antibiotics to either cure an infection or to prevent one, I’m not quite sure.

I’m not sure what this hospital sign is saying…

(Thanks to ‘thewanderliz’ who explains the message in the comment below: ‘Do not abort the female foetus.’ A powerful graphic.)