[shipnil]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Our Litter Policy

What is my no-litter policy on long drives?

- I do not buy packaged water, so no plastic litter

What water do you drink then? Till few years ago I used to drink any water available or given as drinking water. But somebody put it into my mind that we should be careful about what we are drinking when we are on a tour as we do not want to get sick while on vacation. Hence the bottled water started.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

We cannot reform the whole world.
We cannot carry our garbage in our car all the while.
All we can do is to reduce the garbage that we generate and dispose it off responsibly.

This too came to my mind. But in India I am not aware of any local corporation where the garbage is segregated and incinerated like in many parts of western world. Here it is simply dumped into some official dumping ground. The garbage is at one place instead of littered all over the town.

[//M]

Originally Posted by JeepCaptain

Those 20+ 5 are new members who have expressed interest for our next Adventure.

I would like to join the 2012 convoy too. I have sent you a request in FB and I will be glad to be a part of all the discussions regarding the same. I have been following HVK Sir's FB page for quite some time and really wish to be a part of his team.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by shipnil

What water do you drink then? Till few years ago I used to drink any water available or given as drinking water. But somebody put it into my mind that we should be careful about what we are drinking when we are on a tour as we do not want to get sick while on vacation. Hence the bottled water started.

The water in the hills is very good usually. But some of us do drink bottled water only and make sure that we dispose the bottles in the right place.

I remember various instances when we threw away more than 50 bottles into the available garbage bin on cleaning the cars every 5-7 days. I our case this happened at the workshops most of the time because that is the time you have to be with the car and have some free time.

BTW - we used about 250-300 bottles of water among the 4 of us over 25 days and our expense on water was about 4K (that's 1k per person) as we would buy a full carton or 2 each time and get a good price.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by shipnil

What water do you drink then? Till few years ago I used to drink any water available or given as drinking water. But somebody put it into my mind that we should be careful about what we are drinking when we are on a tour as we do not want to get sick while on vacation. Hence the bottled water started.

During all my trips, I carry 20 litres of water from my house itself. Once it runs out, I refill from local water sources, as long as it tastes OK and looks clean. Over the last 2.5 decades, I have never suffered from drinking non-bottled water. During this Ladakh trip, because we were all drinking lots of water (to avid dehydration and AMS), I had to refill more, that was mostly water from local sources.

Needless to say, this helps avoid generating more plastic waste. I carry my own bottles and these are refilled and not disposed of.

This too came to my mind. But in India I am not aware of any local corporation where the garbage is segregated and incinerated like in many parts of western world. Here it is simply dumped into some official dumping ground. The garbage is at one place instead of littered all over the town.

In the Himalayan region, plastic (and tetra pak) waste is a big issue and inconsiderate tourists dump them all over the place. There is increased awareness about the adverse effects of plastic waste in states like HP which communicate this widely through sign boards, etc. However, typical of Indian governance, there are terrible inefficiencies in waste collection and disposal, which is not only of solid waste but also of liquid waste (sewage, etc).Therefore, it is true that you are never comfortable about dumping your waste in some garbage bin because the next thing you known is that its contents will be strewn all over the mountain side. Hence, the need to reduce the waste you generate as far as possible. The unfortunate Indian attitude is to toss garbage anywhere - simply throw it out of the window - as though there is a garbage collection truck round the corner. Makes it easier to have a clean environment if it is aggregated somewhere. Maybe this is out of context but even using the wide open outdoors instead of a toilet is a better idea because of the poor quality of sewage systems and general shortage of water resources.

[hvkumar]

The ongoing discussions have triggered off a debate on what is wise and optimal use of resources and conservation of environment.

As KSM-vTEC, so much of waste is generated, and every which way one can optimise use of water resources and recycle stuff we use - cups, tissue paper, containers, etc - is an invaluable contribution.

For example, I carry towels which I prefer to use instead of tissue paper.
I do not use aluminium foil for packing ever.
I buy larger packs of food stuffs and carry plastic containers in my car to store them.
I carry my own drinking cup which I wash and resuse and do not throw away.
I hate to buy tinned drinks, although I do buy tetra pak drinks which are perhaps less wasteful and friendlier on the environment.
I use shopping bags - from previous shopping expeditions to malls - for packing up things and dumping garbage.
Needless to say, I do not throw away the plastic bag with the garbage, I try to dump the garbage and salvage the bag itself for further use.

I can think of countless such examples where we can be frugal and contain our carbon footprint.

[laluks]

Some pictures from this very trip. This is indeed a serious topic.

Bottle La


Shame on this guys!! Look how they dump their waste on the roads!! Shameless characters!!



Let us do our bit, Anyways!!
I've been telling HVK, coke, Maaza, etc.. while he was driving. Initially he did not understand, but later he realized that I am talking about left over bottles on the roads!!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by laluks

Some pictures from this very trip. This is indeed a serious topic.

Bottle La

Shame on this guys!! Look how they dump their waste on the roads!! Shameless characters!!


Let us do our bit, Anyways!!
I've been telling HVK, coke, Maaza, etc.. while he was driving. Initially he did not understand, but later he realized that I am talking about left over bottles on the roads!!

Well expressed, Lalu.

I think it is amply clear that the biggest waste generated during any trip are the following:

1. Water bottles
2. Plastic wrappers of food packets
3. Disposables like tissue paper, paper plates & cups

Hence, I generally frown upon all those buying bottled water and I NEVER ever buy them. During this Ladakh trip, however, due to the enormous consumption of water, I did buy a few bottles but a very small number. Again, let me be specific, I am talking only for myself, and in my car I generally insist that there is only one repository of water. I also do not normally buy "chivdas", "wafers: and such like, preferring to carry biscuits, dry fruits and fresh fruits, all of them come with less harmful packaging. This is all by conscious choice and not just dietary habits.

We were all quite enraged by the White Scorpio you see in the picture when we saw them stop and dump all their garbage halfway up to Baralacha la.

[mr.sinha]

On return from my first ever foreign trip outside India (Switzerland) almost 18 years ago, when I was reluctant to throw a plastic wrapper or an empty pack of cigarettes on the road, and would carry those in my pocket until I found a non-existent trash can, many of my friends used to laugh and make a lot of fun of me. So, even now, while there is still a lot of progress to be made on that front, it is heartening to note that the general awareness level for proper garbage disposal in India has increased quite significantly (notwithstanding the white Scorpio), and being the optimistic kind, I hope we can reach those Swiss benchmarks of cleanliness in the next 50 years or so.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

During all my trips, I carry 20 litres of water from my house itself. Once it runs out, I refill from local water sources, as long as it tastes OK and looks clean. Over the last 2.5 decades, I have never suffered from drinking non-bottled water.

The discussion has strayed a bit from the travelogue but one last question. I was wondering if we could manage with the 20 ltr. cans of bottled water that you can exchange, when it gets empty, for a filled up can, when you travel in that region. This way one does would not create plastic waste.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by shipnil

The discussion has strayed a bit from the travelogue but one last question. I was wondering if we could manage with the 20 ltr. cans of bottled water that you can exchange, when it gets empty, for a filled up can, when you travel in that region. This way one does would not create plastic waste.

You are lucky if you can but 1 ltr bottles of water, forget 20 litre bottles.

[laluks]

Day 10
21st August 2011
Jispa - Leh

We were already in JK and started to see witty boards from the BRO.

Be gentle on curves ...


Very true


True again


Swifty


Discovery Bolero


Beautiful views






We reached Twing Twing Bridge by 10:00AM


continued...

[laluks]

Day 10
21st August 2011
Jispa - Leh

Twing Twing Bridge








The roads and vistas ahead














continued...

[laluks]

Day 10
21st August 2011
Jispa - Leh

We passed the Brandy Bridge




We passed Whisky bridge too


Amazing Feat - Cycling in the Himalayas

Or was he there for the Whisky and Brandy....

Some vistas ahead






continued...

[laluks]

Day 10
21st August 2011
Jispa - Leh

We reached Gata Loops by 10:30AM


Gata Loops - The river and the loops


The River


The convoy seen climbing Gata Loops





HVK at Gata Loops









Discovery Bolero in one of the loops


We exited Gata loops by 10:45AM.


A distance of 10KMs+, 1500 feet climb, 15 minutes to drive following the loops. There are many a shortcuts made by Jeepers and Truckers, which are exciting and dangerous on its own accord. We did not try to be adventurous here and sticked to the main road!


continued...

[laluks]

Day 10
21st August 2011
Jispa - Leh

We moved on

En route we found a strange rock formation


HVK explaining the formation, while I focus on the formation


We stopped by to click some pictures




Swifty


continued...