Route Maps
I will carry 2 maps with me covering almost my whole route: Nelles Northern India and Gecko Maps Himalaya - Tibet. Plus, I have downloaded Tibet pages from a China Road Atlas (in Chinese only, accurate distances and useful when asking locals for directions) and high resolution satellite images, courtesy of Res Blum, of the highway 219 in Tibet. I don’t think they will be needed. Although, the satellite images are certainly nice to look at;) Re. other navigational info, I will carry the Mapping the Tibetan World book, discussed here, with great city layout sketches/maps and probably local Lonely Planet and/or Trailblazer Guides, depending on needs.The first one I have used when visiting Ladakh in 2003: Nelles Northern India (1:1,500,000 & 1:650,000), made by Nelles Maps, a German publisher. The larger map effectively covers India north of Delhi. The smaller, more detailed one shows Ladakh and Zanskar. Plus, there are also city maps of Delhi, Agra and Srinigar included. You can see one here (Just scroll down).
The second one was recommended by Andy Hessberg and Waltraud Schulze, two German fellas traveling on bikes to faraway places as a ‘Mountainbike Expedition Team‘. The map is produced by a Swiss company Gecko Maps and is called Himalaya - Tibet (1:1,600,000). They reckon that it’s very accurate. It covers the larger Tibetan region, a.k.a. Ethnic Tibet, and its surrounding areas. The best thing about the map is that it includes 95% of my trip area (just missing a few segments in Pakistan). It is huuuge!!! Therefore, I just cut out the relevant portion and waterproof-ed it with clear tape.
PS: There is an excellent website where you can find probably any map ever made, tailored to independent travelers: Maps 2 Anywhere. Worth a look;)
