Day 128 – Reaching Leh, Ladakh 🇮🇳 | Entering the Himalayas

After months of cycling across Southeast Asia, I'm finally here — standing in Leh, in the breathtaking region of Ladakh, India. And I still can't quite believe it.

This feels like the beginning of a completely new chapter. Everything has changed. The air is thinner, the silence is deeper, and the mountains surrounding me are unlike anything I've ever cycled through. After the heat and humidity of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, arriving in the Himalayas feels like stepping onto a different planet.

Leh is extraordinary. Standing beneath the giant white Buddha statue and looking out across the town — with its ancient monastery perched high on the ridge and the mountains stretching endlessly in every direction — I had one of those rare moments where you stop and simply feel grateful. Grateful for every difficult kilometre, every early morning, every mechanical failure, every kind stranger who helped me along the way.

This journey has already given me so much more than miles. It has given me people, stories, and moments that I will carry for the rest of my life.

But the road ahead is going to test me in ways I haven't experienced yet. The Himalayan mountain passes are legendary — not just for their beauty, but for their altitude, their cold, their unpredictability. The oxygen up here is a constant reminder that cycling at this elevation is a completely different physical challenge. Every pedal stroke requires more from my body. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Southeast Asia forged the foundation of this expedition. The Himalayas will forge something else entirely.

Old Trafford is still a long way away. But every stroke of the pedal through these mountains brings me one step closer to that dream. 🔴

To everyone following, sharing, and sending messages of support — thank you. Your words reach me out here on the road, and they genuinely keep me going on the hardest days. This journey belongs to all of us.

🚴 Vietnam ➜ Old Trafford continues. The Himalayan chapter has begun.