No time to rest! The day after passing the blizzard, there was a big festival at a monastery called Hemis, an hour or so from Leh. It is the biggest monastery in Ladhak, quite beautiful but to packed with people for our liking. Tons of tourists and locals were crowding the central area where the masked dances would take place. The battle for the longest camera lens was on. Me and my mate Jose, a professional photographer ran around nuts with the cameras inside the monastery. We managed to elbow our ways to some prime spots "ringside", just by the allowed line, guarded by 8year old munks with bamboo sticks, hitting people like the LAPD shouting"back please, side please!!"The dances were a bit lame, but the feeling, costumes and masks were really breathtaking. It was a shame it started raining towards the end and most people ran away and didn't see the finale.
So, it was time for another Enfield experience. Jumping on the bike to drive home, I tried to kick start her and small signs of life next to nothing. Suddenly Sharon points out some smoke under the seat. Looking down I saw a fire big enough to BBQ hot dogs. Eject! Eject! I jumped off the bike faster then lightning, then got to my senses as Sharon threw water on it. The wires were totally burned away... Again, we had to roll her down as far as possible since we were high up on the mountain side. By the road we tried to fix her by cutting of the back break light wire (U never use that light anyway) and fixing it to the battery. Another start, another fire, stopped by Jose and a bottle of water. We had to stop a vehicle a get a thicker wire to connect. A nervous start again; supervised by Jose 'the fireman' ready with one hand full of sand, one with water, it finally seemed to work. The drive back to Leh was a nervous one though, with Sharon constantly looking down under the seat. During the drive I knew I had to change the whole electric system. I refuse to feel like a mafioso, waiting for the bike to explode every time I start the bike! Next day I changed the whole dodgy 8volt system to a normal Enfield 12volt. It was amazing what difference that made. Most importantly my horn now sounds like a trains and people and vehicles jump to the side as like one was coming! Now, hopefully everything is sorted with the bike. And no more Enfield Club stories!
After all of this, still Sharon has turned a liking for driving Enfields and wants to get her own. After an intense hunt for a bike for sale, we found am older model with a deep booming engine 'Bobob boboobo' So she bought him and named him 'Bob'. Now, Bob and Vaselia is going together for adventures up north, on to Zanskar Valley and further on to Kashmir and Srinigar!
So, it was time for another Enfield experience. Jumping on the bike to drive home, I tried to kick start her and small signs of life next to nothing. Suddenly Sharon points out some smoke under the seat. Looking down I saw a fire big enough to BBQ hot dogs. Eject! Eject! I jumped off the bike faster then lightning, then got to my senses as Sharon threw water on it. The wires were totally burned away... Again, we had to roll her down as far as possible since we were high up on the mountain side. By the road we tried to fix her by cutting of the back break light wire (U never use that light anyway) and fixing it to the battery. Another start, another fire, stopped by Jose and a bottle of water. We had to stop a vehicle a get a thicker wire to connect. A nervous start again; supervised by Jose 'the fireman' ready with one hand full of sand, one with water, it finally seemed to work. The drive back to Leh was a nervous one though, with Sharon constantly looking down under the seat. During the drive I knew I had to change the whole electric system. I refuse to feel like a mafioso, waiting for the bike to explode every time I start the bike! Next day I changed the whole dodgy 8volt system to a normal Enfield 12volt. It was amazing what difference that made. Most importantly my horn now sounds like a trains and people and vehicles jump to the side as like one was coming! Now, hopefully everything is sorted with the bike. And no more Enfield Club stories!
After all of this, still Sharon has turned a liking for driving Enfields and wants to get her own. After an intense hunt for a bike for sale, we found am older model with a deep booming engine 'Bobob boboobo' So she bought him and named him 'Bob'. Now, Bob and Vaselia is going together for adventures up north, on to Zanskar Valley and further on to Kashmir and Srinigar!
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