July 19, 2016.

Just met Dan. Dan’s cycled all the way to Chandratal Lake – It’s 6:38 pm right now and there is a cold cold wind sweeping across the lake and its vicinity and we were returning from the lake… and he was taking his bike up to camp on the lake.

We first saw Dan yesterday at a bridge between Kaza and Losar. He was sitting by the bridge, making a peanut butter sandwich from his pack, his bike by his side. But that was yesterday and we didn’t have opportunity to talk to him then.

So I took the opportunity today.

“So where you from?”

“England. Where are you from?”

“We are from Pune.”

Then like a fool I asked him: “When did you start Cycling?”

“You mean this trip?”

“Yep”.

“Manchester.”

“You’ve cycled all the way here from Manchester?”

“Yes, do you know Manchester?”

“Yes of course. So where have you been so far?”

“Most of Europe, China, Burma, Nepal, Northeast India and now Himachal.” He shrugged.

It was getting dark so we wished each other a good trip and parted with a wish to bump into each other.

Been thinking about Dan from Manchester since then. And no, I didn’t take a photograph of Dan. Trying to figure that one out as well.