CORONAVIRUS

I flew into Delhi and went straight to the Slidell of Delhi, Rohtak.  I spent 5 days there, which is a story on its own: Holi festival, group bicycle rides, a one eyed pug named Eli etc. etc.  

After originally thinking i might do a bit of a loop through Punjab and Rajasthan before heading to Nepal, i decided i was ready to just head straight there (about 6 days) taking the scenic route through the Indian Himalayas.  Plus India shut its border, so i thought Nepal might follow suite, and I'd rather be stuck there.  Two days of riding later, and I was being hosted by a nice family when i checked my Facebook messages and found out Nepal shut its borders.  

Fuck. So i decided to just continue up towards the Himalayas.  I was planning on doing the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, so now I'll just find a different hike.   I scrambled to find information about hiking in India, sent out a bunch of couchsurfing requests in Haridwar and Rishikesh to people who talked about trekking in their profiles.  No luck.  I got a cheap hotel in Haridwar for two nights.  I saw a bit of this holy town on the Ganges river, but mostly just stayed in my room and for the first time since i got off the plane felt a sense of privacy and relaxation.   I got room service.

I struggled to find information online about long distance hikes.  I really wanted to get my head straight and take a nice long trip away from towns and people and questions and formalities.   I found Rupin Pass, and after getting a couple confirmations frim couch surfers that it was what i was looking for, I started riding towards the start.  I was hoping for two things when i got there: some hash to bring with me, and, more importantly,  somewhere safe I could leave my bike and panniers.   I met a friendly guy just outside of town and after talking, I asked about hash, and he said he could hook it up in a few hours.  I went off to find a place for my bike with no luck. After talking some more with the guy, I agreed to go to his house for a tea.  The route to his house was pretty crazy, and when it turned into a foot path down to a rickety bridge over the river i said i can only go to your house if you can store my bicycle.  Koy decat nay (no problem).

It was great,  nice guy, nice family,  tea, food, great spot for my bike.  Gave everyone a coin from America and a Mardi Gras mask magnet.  Got a ride on the motorcycle back to town to get some food for the hike, then after some confusion was brought back to the road where i started walking towards the trail.  No hash, not even an attempt.  He said he could hook it up when i come back from the hike. oh well, classic India.  I slept at a beautiful spot along the river, then in the morning caught a bus to the end of the road.  I got off at Nadiwar, the in between town (thinking it was the end of the line) and started walking on the road, noticing a nice looking trail on the other side of the river.  I passed someone who told me Rupin Pass is closed this time of year.  Not exactly what i wanted to hear, but i just said "I'll go until its closed then ill come back" while thinking ill probably just do it, they'll never know.  After about a half an hour the same bus pulled next to me and they told me to get in.  I didn't resist much.  I got off at the actual end of the line and took the footbridge to Dhaula, which is actually where my internet article (but not my trail map) said the hike starts.  I was told again by multiple people that rupin pass is closed, but i could hike to the last town,  Jakha, and maybe to a waterfall past it, then come back.  Definitely good vibes there.  I stopped for food, and a dude got some hash, we smoked, i asked if i could buy some to take with me, he said sure.  We hung for a while and had a good time, but then when i was actually trying to go he said i can just get more hash in the next village.   Oh well.

The hiking was absolutely beautiful and it was kinda cool sharing the trail with horses and donkeys and villagers with grass or wood or a tv tied to their backs.  I made it to several small unnamed villages that i thought were Sewa, and then i made it to Sewa, where theres a cool wooden temple and the internet tour group itinerary suggests to sleep.  I kept going down to the river, wanting to camp away from people.  The villagers were definitely not friendly here,  but not hostile and mostly polite.

I got down to the river, about ready to find a campsite,  when i ran into a group of people (locals,  everyone is locals).  One of them i had met briefly at the first town, Dhaula, and he spoke a bit of English.  A quick back and forth and then i continued on.  About 10 minutes later i was walking off the trail to have a snack when a couple of guys from that group caught up with me and told me i cant go there.  I was like... yeah... whats going on... i cant go sit on this random rock by the river to eat a snack.   No.  I cant.  And where am i going?   Jakha.  No, you cant, hindi hindi hindi, Coronavirus,  hindi hindi.  Turn back!  Im like... yo... im pretty sure im allowed to keep going.   The educated and cool english speaking guy i met already catches up and calms things down.  We sit, we talk, he says its fine, you can go, ill come with you, itll be great.  Im not really feeling like hiking with this guy, even though he's pretty cool, id rather be alone, but it seems like i could use the backup.  As we walk we pass some of the people from the angry group.  We sit and they politely argue in Hindi with Coronavirus being the most common word, and the only word i understand.   Afterwards my friend says ok, and we continue.   At this point I'm bummed.  I don't want to be somewhere im not welcome.   I figured id make the best of it, and my friend assured me they're just uneducated villagers and scared. We'll first go register with the police and then ill show you around,  itll be great, nothing to worry about, sleep at my house.   He was genuinely a nice guy, not looking for money, and it could have been fun, but after another 30 minutes or so of hiking we climbed a long steep scramble to a plateau.  As soon as i stepped up, still out of breath,  i saw a large group of people, mostly older men wearing city clothes i hadn't seen before.  Immediately i was told to stop, and questioned by a police(ish) guy.   I showed them my passport, they talked, and told me i had to go.  My friend didn't say a word, he knew it was useless.   All the reasons why i don't have Corona didn't matter, and i wasn't about to fight over it.  I took my passport and told them "youre letting fear prevail over logic" and turned around.  Im feeling pretty pissed.  I make it back to the river, and technically into a different state, and find a still functioning but very old school water mill and sleep in there.  Im really hoping to not be seen.  Turns out those old stone roofs, although beautiful, aren't so warerproof, but i slept pretty well anyway. 

The next day, as im hiking back, there is a noticeable difference in villagers attitudes.   Way less friendly,  demanding i answer questions i dont understand, or just stareing silently.  Multiple times i was held up and made to wait for some official or something to tell me i have to go back, only for me to tell them i AM going back,  except spread that conversation out over 10 minutes and add lots of mentions of Coronavirus.   Its still amazingly beautiful,  but every time I see someone im preparing for a shitty conversation.   At one point i take a different trail with the hopes of bypassing a village.  Its going up really high, which is a bonus to me.   I only saw a few people, one was a nice lady who i gave some sweets to, although i figured out later she was asking me for medicine.   Its really rare for any woman to talk to me at all, so this was nice.  She told me (without any english) the trail I'm on isn't going to take me where I'm going.  But i was close to the top so i said ill just go to the top and have a look, then turn around, which she approved of.  At the top was another small village,  so i just immediately took a pic and turned around.  But it was too late, i got a few hundred feet back down the trail and then a guy whistled and beckoned me back up.  He was speaking in hindi and making no effort to use his hands or anything.   I just said the name of the town i was heading, Dhaula, and pointed down.  I sort of asked if i could go there by continuing up this current trail and they made really vague responses.   Eventually i said ok and started walking into the village as i pointed and said Dhaula?  They nodded but then a minute later yelled at me and told me to go back... just like i was doing when they first whistled at me.  So i got back to the main trail and 20 minutes later went through the village i was trying to avoid,  people were looking at me like i was a ghost.   I said hello and waved to blank stares.  Eventually someone told me to stop and pointed to a man walking my way in the distance.  Im so annoyed.  He comes, says who are you, where are you  going, you cant be trekking now, you have to go back, corona corona corona.  i say i am going back in every way i possibly can and continue.   Not much interactions between then and Dhaula,  but it definitely put a damper on my mood.

I got back to Dhaula and the people there were once again super chill.  I learned that in the past 48 hours the number of Coronavirus cases nearly doubled to 300, and Modi declared today, for one day, everyone everywhere stay home.  No busses, no cars, not even bikes on the road.  We smoked a bunch of hash in a session that would make a travel montage video cut... old guys,  young guys, very friendly smoking nice hash.  I got legit high.  I ate some food, and I told them my plan to hike back to Mori (where my bike is) and there was some heated discussion as to whether i should cross the foot bridge and walk on the road,  or if i could take the footpath on this side of the river.  I had seen the footpath on my way here and i was really wanting to do it.  The old guy was very adamant i take the road but in the end the young guy understood what i wanted and said it was fine and walked me there himself.   The trail was beautiful and i was feeling good again.  And then maybe the craziest interaction I've ever had happened:

I rounded the first bend and a saw an old lady haulung a bundle of sticks coming up the trail.  Conveniently the trail kind of split around a boulder so i took the less trodden way so as to be courteous and also to hopefully avoid contact.   I dont think she saw me until i came around the boulder, my trail forking with hers (the main path).  She looked up at me, and let out the most terrifying, guttural, scream ive ever heard.  She had an old grizzled face and a lazy eye, and she looked like she was staring at death, or maybe someone was actively stabbing her in the back.  She wasn't saying anything, just Ahhhhh.  I just said what i could and started walking away down the trail.  She just kept screaming at me.  I thought at one point she was in trouble and needed my help maybe.  She was sort of gesturing as if she wanted food.  I was about 20 ft away at this point (past her) and i just made calming  noises and started taking my backpack off, gesturing that i have food, and fully ready to give her all my sweets.  She seemed slightly calmed down, or maybe out of breath, but still screaming,  and she just walked away...  im definitely glad it was only hash i was high on.  I continued down this trail, past a few horses and eventually there were some pretty sketchy washed out trail sections and it just seemed like i was more alone.   I hadn't seen anyone since the crazy lady (who may very well have had mental problems) because the road was the safer place to walk and there weren't any villages here.  The rest of the day was rediculous beautiful hiking and i felt pretty good.  At one point i crossed some kind of settlement next to a bridge.  I attempted to bushwack my way up and around  but ended up at sheer cliffs and had to go back through the settlement and bridge.  A guy saw me and came over and watched as i walked by.  I was ready for anything,  but we just exchanged namaste and i continued.   There was another bridge to cross the main river to the road but i kept on the beautiful and well maintained trail.  It was great,  and i really got into it.

Now, as i type this, i made it all the way deep and high into the woods, away from the river (although i still think it'll join back up) and found the first piece of flat ground ive seen since i left the river.  I hiked up a bit to see whats ahead and there is a small settlement not too far.  Im not sure if the guy saw me or not, but i went back down, where im not visible,  and set up my tent.  The dogs here aren't normally barkers or territorial,  but i think the dogs know im here because they're barking.  And hours later, after setting my shit up, and re-reading this they're STILL barking.   I'm actually kind of nervous to hike past them in the morning.  If all goes well ill make it to Natiwar tomorrow afternoon (the in between  town the bus stopped at) and then get a ride to where my bike is and sleep there.  If it doesn't go well then maybe there wlll be a p.s. at the end of this added tomorrow. 

After Dhaula the hike has been ridiculously beautiful.  Actually the entire thing has, but after the crazy lady incident ive actually felt alone in the woods.  It looks like the American west, with big pine trees, snow capped peaks in the distance,  and a lot of open area since it looks like there was a healthy forest fire recently.   The higher parts,  above Dhaula, were really different, and really epic Himalayan landscapes,  and the villages and farms and orchards were gorgeous, but the interactions with people was mostly not great, and pretty much constant.  While i was hiking i realized  i wish i WAS hiking in California or Colorado.... or at least i wish Coronavirus fever would end... because people here are  freaking me out.

Im not sure what's next after this. After i get my bike i could do a loop deeper into the Himalayas,  over the divide onto the dry side, then maybe il find something cool,  and maybe I'll go back to Rishikesh where i have some good contacts now and try to wait this out, or maybe ill just come home and do a hike in America. 

So... P.S.  After looking more at my saved satellite image i was torn between continuing up on the trail i was on, past the dogs, or turn back and look for another trail that hugs the river.   In the morning i decided to continue, but before the trail went straight into the settlement with the dogs I veered left around a ridge.  I thought i might hook back up with the trail, but the trail continued away from my destination towards another little village (I thought this might happen, but i went for it anyway).  It looked like if I could just make it to the top of the ridge there was a well defined trail back to Natiwar (where the bus stopped).  Plus, the dogs didn't hear me, but i thought going back the other way would have been even harder to explain if the dogs heard me and someone came and talked to me.  So i decided to go up the ridge.  It was super steep, with no trail, and i was really huffing and puffing,  but eventually i made it to an idyllic plateau surrounded by steep slopes and snow capped peaks in the distance. 

I felt like the hard part was over,  so i ate the rest of my (limited) food.  I thought maybe i would go down to Natiwar, get some more food and water, and then come back and camp here.  Before heading down i explored the other directions and saw the town that my trail probably went to, and saw that the trail continued to the far end of this narrow plateau and then continued in the direction of where my bike is (i think).  Maybe i could go down to town, get food, and then camp here and in the morning hike to my bike.  I started going down the plateau to the narrow ridge i saw on the satellite which looked like a well defined path, but a path never materialized.   There was naturally a gap in the trees at the peak of the ridge, but no trail.  I just started going down anyways, knowing that at some point it might just get to sheer cliff and i would have to go all the way back up and join up with the trail that goes in (hopefully)  the direction of where my bike is.  It got steeper and steeper.  At one point i almost decided to go back up, but my lack of food and water helped me decide to keep trying to find a way down.  I never made any move that i didn't feel completely confident about, but i was damn close.  Many times i was face to the wall, down climbing.   My rock climbing experience definitely gave me a boost.  Eventually the hard part gave way to just a simple steep slope, and then shortly after that a TRAIL emerged!  Up until then the route was so sketchy i was just trying to get down, and had no intention of trying to come back up and camp and all that.  But now that i know there's a trail... maybe this could be the good hiking trip i was looking for.  I already know i won't run into anyone...  i just need to get some food and get back without getting stopped.  

I took one last rest on the trail, peaceful,  in the woods, with the river rushing underneath and then got ready for... people... i crossed the first bridge over the rupin river and the first building i saw looked like i could maybe buy some food there.  I asked, but they were just demabding i answer questions in hindi,  and it looked like they only sold chips and raw eggs anyway, so i continued on with their semi-aproval.  I crossed the other bridge into the main part of town through blank stares and unmoving people.  I was making my way up the steep steps to the main road, where the bus stopped, and where i knew there was businesses, when someone whistled and beckoned me to come back down.  I was like 5 steps from the top... now he wants me to come back down like 50 steps...  I just pointed and said Mori (where i guess im going now, since returning to the woods seems unlikely).  Not enough.  They were serious.  They were from the forest department or something.  They made me sit in a corner of the small grass yard while they radioed the president or something.   I typed some stuff into Google translate and let them read it.  This involved me holding the phone with the text zoomed to the max and scrolling at a pace i thought was reasonable while they stood like 5 feet away.  They said i needed to wait here for a health screening.   So yeah, nothing i can do. They weren't hostile, just not interested in hearing me out at all.  One guy got me some food.  After an hour and a half of waiting, and starting to type out this P.S. i was told to go. Get up and go to Mori.   They will do the health check there.  Ok... even though where my bike is is actually before Mori.  I thought they were letting me walk.  Then they pointed to a car and said, your transportation.   Ok, so i thought i was being brought.  The car just had some official in it who checked my passport, and my printed e-visa, AND my drivers license.   And the  said wait here an ambulance will come and get you.  He spoke some English, so i asked him if he or someone could call my friend in Mori, the one with my bike.  He said no problem, one of them will help you, referring to the crew assembled at the forest department building, who had migrated to watch the whole situation unfold.  They did not help me.  I have been without all internet and phone service for 4 days now.  I continued typing the previous few sentences and then i tried harder to get someone to call my friend.   I scratched his number into the dirt and pointed at it, then the guys, then made a telephone with my hands.  They totally understood,  and the main guy, took out his phone and said it didn't work and pointed to another guy, who then pointed at me to sit down.   Agh.

Then the ambulance came.  Dirty and pretty much just a plain van with a swivel chair and a bed bolted down.  Bumpy ride down, then they stopped near the rickety bridge towards my friends house and my bike.  I clapped and they stopped and actually listened to me and understood my bike was there and then explained that the cellphone tower was down,  so nobody has any service.   Except some people were talking on their phones,  so yeah...  India! I got confirmation that i was being taken to Mori, not further,  and after the health check i could get my bike or whatever.   By the time we got down to the hospital (dont picture what you think a hospital looks like) it was dark.  3 hours after i got off the trail.  

The first topic of conversation was not about Coronavirus,  but the fact that i (unknowingly) entered the national park without registering yada yada yada.  But then they let me off the ambulance and i sat down with the first sane and educated person I've met in the last few days, and only the second person the whole trip i would consider fluent in English.  After asking me a few basic questions he didn't seem concerned at all about me having the virus, he was more concerned that i wasn't safe from the panicking villagers.   The guys talking about my registration problems with the national park disappeared and i was able to have a good and frank discussion about what to do.  I told him i totally understand how people who have extremely limited access to news and information,  and have no education  could hear that foreigners ate bringing a plague of death to India,  and then see me, and be scared shitless.  Turns out nearly the whole country is on lockdown, which happened in this state the day i left for the hike.   Travel is not allowed between districts,  and basically I'm trapped here.  He's worried for my safety with the anti-foreigner fears people have,  but i think he's being overly cautious.   For at least tonight i will camp out next to his house, and hook up to his wifi and catch up on the world.  I mentioned that my ideal quarantine situation was to take a bunch of food back to that beautiful plateau and just stay there.  Its a long shot, but they might actually let me do it.   Anyway i think the story is pretty  much wrapped up now.  I'm going to sleep.

Update:  I woke up the next day and was told i was being moved to a slightly larger hospital in a slightly larger town about 35km away.   I put my bike in the back of the ambulance with a few women,  one injured, who were also being brought to the hospital.  It was a crazy ride through switchbacks,  and the whole time i kinda had to cough,  but i was not gunna let that happen.  We got to the hospital and opened the back door and one of them had puked in a bucket which was not surprising at all.  In fact almost every bus i saw while i was riding in these mountains had someone puking out the window.  I immediately got brought to a hospital room, where i told the short version of my story.  They made me hold my breath as long as i could, which i did, but only after  being confused as to when i should start, so i actually held my breath twice back to back with only the second one counting.  I passed the test though.  Since then (7 days and counting) I've been staying in a unused conference room.

There has been a lot if confusion, and originally i was going to be staying in the isolation ward, but i refused.   I found out the hard way that nothing really gets done unless you actually watch someone do it.  Long story short i got the embassy to help me find a hotel in rishikesh like 5 days ago, and have been expecting to be transported there every day since then, only for more people to get involved,  causing more documents and permissions needed.  But anyway ice gotten pretty comfortable here, so i stopped trying, which means for sure they did too.  Apparently to tomorrow transportation is opening for one day, so ill probably go there tomorrow.   But people have been very nice to me here, so I'm a bit torn,  since i doubt itll be as friendly in rishikesh.  Although i do know some people there. 

Right now, i just found out there are a few commercial flight options to go home, and the chartered flight the embassy has been working on will probably also happen this week.  But right now i think my best option is to stay here.  India has relatively few cases (although not nearly enough testing,  just like the USA).  The nationwide lockdown is being strictly enforced and so far seems to he working.  Flying home means having to figure out transportation to the airport,  and potentially a layover in a foreign country, and figuring out how to get to either upstate NY or NOLA, which could be difficult if i fly to Chicago for example.   And what do i do with my bike?  And also the USA is pretty fucked right now especially NY and NOLA.  Right now I'm thinking i wait it out here and if things get better maybe go back to enjoying myself when lockdown ends April 15.  Maybe i can even go to Nepal if they're borders open as planned April 30.  If things start getting worse then ill try to get a flight home, and by then maybe things will be starting to get better in the USA...  feel free to try convince me otherwise...