INCREDIBLE !NDIA - How I get LEH'd

[Leh was the capital of the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh, now it belongs to Jammu & Kashmir. Leh(Altitude 11562 ft) is connected with Srinagar via 434Km stretch of NH1D. Srinagar-Leh road typically remains open for traffic from June to November. Since 1987 the 473 Km Manali-Leh road has been serving as the 2^nd land approach to Ladakh which is described by many as a biker’s paradise.

Leh-Manali Road opens for traffic from June to October.]

Day-1 (18^th June 2010) NCR to Ropar

6 Bulls 8 Devils - The Journey begins………..

The journey of a life time started on a usual note- Waiting

Scorching heat of Delhi summer and I was waiting for Sanju & his friends on Karnal bypass. My wrist watch clocking 13:20. I reached at Karnal By-Pass well before time as we planned to meet there at half past one. As always I reached before time because of my awful habit of punctuality. After waiting for 10-15 minutes I called  Sanju and according to him they were just there and will reach within 10 minutes.

I parked my bike under a bushy tree and rested on it. I was thinking about our last year plans of a bike trip to Leh which got cancelled because of my official trip to Seoul. And I have to bare all the scoldings of my friends because their dream trip has been destroyed because of me; anyways this time I am on the way to fulfill my dream. This time also we were planning for this 13 day trip from last one month and from 15 member’s team in starting we ended up to 8 only.

Coming out of thinking cycle I looked at the watch, Sanju’s 10 minutes has equaled 70. I called him again and he still needed 10 minutes to reach there. In that mean time I made a new friend there a helmet seller, who’s rehri is just beside little tree under whose shadow I was cooling down myself in this peak June summer. I was surprised to see that he was selling even those torn out helmets for 40-50 bucks which we through out in dustbin.

At last my wait got over at 1450 hrs 4 bikes circled me around. I knew only one person among them Sanju, rest all were his friends. So, Sanju introduced me to all of them.

1. Devender (Pillion to Sanju, he didn’t even know bike riding) Delhi
2. Darshan (Pulsar 200CC, 2 years back he planned a Solo ride to Leh, but could not materialize it) Guajarat
3. Adrian (Pulsar 180 CC, a passionate biker & Pro- Photographer, do check his clicks) Aurangabad
4. Sumanta (Unicorn 150CC, senior most among us) Bengal

5. Sandesh (Pillion with Sumanta, has good driving skills, which he showed later on) Aurangabad and last

6. Sanju (My friend from TU on his Pulsar 180 CC) Punjab

We started from Karnal Bypass at around 1500 hrs towards our first night stay ‘Ropar’. I was the slowest one among all the bikers the reason might be, because after coming out from Delhi traffic, it’s really so enjoyable to drive on highway or I was just enjoying my Bullet ride. All other have racer bikes so, they are enjoying racing speeds and I was cruising along the highway. We took our first halt at Nilokheri for drinks. We 1^st stopped at Karnal Haveli but because of some parking problems and one irritating drunken guy (who bumped into us at the parking) we moved ahead to Nilokheri. There we soothed our dried up throats with Batta (Lemon drinks) and moved ahead.

Then via Ambala we traveled towards Chandigarh. On the way to Chandigarh I got first jolt of my trip, a passerby said something while pointing a finger on my rear wheel. I didn't understand him but stopped to check and noticed that it was not for my bike tire but my tool box lock has blown off and it was swinging freely. I had lost my tool kit and my bike papers with it, which I always kept with my tool kit regardless of many warnings by my friends. I was confused and started dialing my mate’s cell in a hope if anybody driving behind me has seen it, but nobody picked my call. Adrian stopped by my side when I was busy on my cell and to my good luck he had my tool kit and papers in his hand. I put them in my tool box and sealed the box with tape.

We crossed Chandigarh at around 2100 hrs and reached ‘Ropar’ at 2200 hrs. Till the time we reached ‘Ropar’ we were all hungry and torned by 7 hrs long drive, to our surprise ‘Ropar’ city had only 3 hotels & a youth hostel and all were packed because of some exhibition in the city. After an hour long fight we found one guest house on outskirts of the city.  That too was possible only because of Hemant’s local friend otherwise we might also had enjoyed the bare sky sleep that night.

7. Hemant Aka ANNA (Bullet 500 CC, our 8^th partner) South

From outside the guest house looked good but from inside it was more like a hunting house than a hotel. In first 15 minutes I lost myself three times because of confusing stairs and long dark balconies. The strange sounds of birds and wind blowing through thin passages of the building were taking our breath away. On the dinner table I had a small chat with the waiter and He told me that this guest house is used more for other illegal things like prostitution than this usual hotel business. Anyways we were on our beds past mid night. At the bed I was thinking if the starting of this trip is like this and that to in my well known Punjab region how would it be from tomorrow onward.

But, your dream of a life time is worth anything.

Day-2 (19^th June 2010) Ropar to Manali

Not so happening one…………

After previous days hectic drive it was not easy to wake up early (as we had planned). But still we managed to start our day at 0630 hrs. I woke up with the click sounds of Sanju’s Digi-Cam. The view around our hunted guest house was so beautiful, just along the highway in between the green fields I stood at the top of the building looking around the lush green landscapes of Punjab feeded by the hard working farmers. It was so pictorial & calls for heavy clicks. All the tiredness of last days drive was gone with the good sleep & now this beautiful morning.

We quickly had bath and breakfast because we did not want to get late for our dream ride. As we were getting ready to roll on, one more bikers group reached there. One good thing in their group was that they had two hot chicks with them. We were thinking of going along with them for the remaining journey but they will be leaving from there in the evening. So our eye job was just finished there only and we bounced on the roads at around 0800 hrs after saying lovely good bye to the lovely group.

The drive was not that enjoyable because of heavy traffic and bad road condition. We took drinks break after every hour or so and many of the halts were just for capturing the nature’s beauty through our lenses. Still we managed to reach kullu at around 1600hrs, out of 6 bikes only 4 reached there together, Darshan aka SHASTRI and ANNA were very slow and both didn’t had experience of hill driving and moreover its ANNA’s 1st bike trip. We had our lunch from the road side dhaba and waited for them for around an hour and from there onwards we decided to drive in a group.

We reached manali around 1830 hrs. It was peak time for the mall road outing in Manali, So it was full of hot chicks and I was enjoying it fully with the thump sound of my bullet. It was my dream to gerri on Mall Road on my bullet with a hot girl on my pillion. The 2^nd part of the dream was still to be fulfilled but anyways I was enjoying the 1^st part fully. And there I got another jolt to my dreams, in last 8 years from the day I bought my Bullet till today this was my first tire puncture that too in the middle of the Mall road. For my good fortune the puncture vala was just around, I stood there for more than an hour to get it all set. Meanwhile my mates went ahead on Manali Rohtang road to find some place for the night.

We choose to stay on Manali-Rohtang road so that next day we can easily skip the morning traffic of Manali city. On weekends Manali Rohtang road is always buzzing with tourist’s traffic and for our good fortune we were there on weekend. We got a good accommodation along the river and that too very inexpensive. After getting fresh we enjoyed Mall Road outing at night and got our bikes checked for the torturous ride of days ahead and that too without any mechanic on the way from Manali to Leh.

We bought some beer canes and enjoyed them on the river bank with the thundering sound of the river. At dinner we enjoyed the company of beautiful girls who were staying in the same guest house. The dinner was like a buffet under an open tent in the garden with a light music with the river sound on the backdrop. We enjoyed our dinner with cool breeze and hot chicks because we knew that from tomorrow till the time we reach Leh, we are not going to see any girl on the way because tomorrow will be the 1st day of the Rohtang-Leh road opening for public and also general public don’t prefer this route because of torturous terrain, only the tough guys do.

Day-3 (20 June 2010) Manali to Darcha
Real Adventure Begins………….

I was the first one to wakeup in the morning because I didn’t want to miss my bath today as we knew that we will not be able to take bath for the next two days as we will be staying in the make shift tents and we will not get warm water for bathing and we were not that brave to take bath in the chilly river stream. We planned to start early but we lacked commitment and also because of some problem in Adrian’s bike, finally we started at 0615 hrs. As we were sure we will find too much traffic on the way, so it took us more than three hours to complete 55Kms stretch from Manali to Rohtang.

Around 1000hrs we reached Rohtang La. At 13050 feet Rohtang Pass was all white covered with snow and sharp chilly winds were freezing our bones. Thanks to god for the sunny weather, that was calming the things down a bit. Rohtang pass was thronged by tourists; we thought we were among the firsts who reached there on that day. But for our amazement hundreds of tourists were already there and were enjoying the snow games. It was a happy moment for all of us, that finally it feels like that we are on the biggest and memorable trip of our lives. We didn't waste much time there and continued our dream journey as we knew ‘long to go before we sleep’. When we crossed Rohtang La the whole environment was different, it was all calm and silent everywhere. Our was the only group moving in that direction. Not even a single human being till the limits of our sight.

Within few kilometers the road started giving us the hints of the tough times ahead. At one place I just took a U turn and saw a pond of mud in front of me. We stood silently looking at it, one side rocky mountain other side a deep valley in between a lake of mud, we couldn't even guess how deep & how thick that mud was? We tried to know the depth by throwing stones in to the mud but that mud was too thick for that. Luckily a Millitary Truck came from the other side with its terrain we guessed the way through it. It was almost 2 feet deep, some how we managed to cross it with our shoes drenched in mud all bikes fully dirt glued. But soon after that we found a waterfall where we cleaned ourselves.

It was past 1100 hrs and we all were tired and hungry. As I said god was kind to us along the whole path, we found a local dhaba around and we ate till our tummy’s cry. A group of Riders crossed us when we were stuffing ourselves with aloo paratha’s and soup Noodles. All the members of that group were foreigners riding brand new 500CC Enfield Motorcycles and a luggage jeep was following them with a mechanic and all the required stuff. At that time we were cursing them because of their rich wallets. We were carrying all the stuff on our backs and we were the only mechanics to cure our ailing bikes if we would get any such trouble. So now we were not the only one on this route and not the first ones, they were ahead of us. After few miles we overtook that foreigner group while they were having tea break at a dhaba. Yahooooooo we were again the front runners on this dangerous but  a dream run.

We were cruising on the flat but not so clear road near Sissu village when Ana’s bullet got punctured. I was following him. As we stood there in-between the barren road inspecting the tire Samantha reached us from behind. To our surprise puncture kit was with sanju who was ahead of us. I rushed to him through the pebble filled road, saving my bike from getting punctured. Finally I caught him after almost 10 miles and sent him back to Ana and I went ahead to catch Adrian who is far more ahead. Finally I catch up with Adrian who was playing with his lens along a sandy mountain having beautiful natural sand sculptures. Tandi filling station was nearby, so me & Adrian moved ahead to that and waited for others to reach.

Tandi was the only gas filling station between Manali & Leh. From there on till Leh (375Kms) there was no filling station. We had already planned to gather there and move ahead in a group. Unfortunately we had to stay there for more than an hour to wait for others to reach, after curing Ana’s bullet. Till this time we did not see anybody coming from Leh side, so we didn’t know whether the road ahead was clear or still blocked.

Manali Leh Road was opened around two weeks before our trip but because of heavy snow it was closed again for a week and today was the 1^st day of its 2^nd opening and we were on it. As we were waiting for our friends we met a foreigner bikers group, who were claiming that they were the first riders coming from Leh, that gave us a relieving breath. In the mean time Sanju & others joined us.

After filling our bikes to full tank and taking some reserve oil in canes we moved towards our day’s destination Sarchu and next day direct to Leh. Local people there advised us to stay at Keylong or Jispa because those were the only places where one can find hotel accommodation, but who the hell wants to stay in hotel rooms, so we moved ahead. We managed to reach darcha around 1730 hrs, here we got a halt at police check post. The guard over there suggested us to stay there only because from there onwards Baralacha pass will be fully covered with snow and it will be difficult to cross it, moreover we will miss the beauty of the way in the darkness of a night.

As suggested by the locals we stayed there only and took a tent accommodation. We had a good fun time there, went to river side to give a bath treat to our dirty bikes. We met a Punjabi group there and 2 guys from Bangalore joined us later on. We had a long chat session and went to sleep in our cozy quilts at around 2200hrs. But I got a hard sleep that night because of thundering sound of river along our tents.

Day-4 (21 june2010) Darcha to Pang
Toughest part of the journey

Early to bed & early to rise is always considered a good habit but this time it was the biggest mistake by us to start early. We started from Darcha at around 0600hrs, till ‘Zing Zing’ bar everything was ok the only thing which made us worry was chilly breeze, it was around –ve 10 degree Celsius and we were in the open all surrounded by snow covered hills. We were moving easily at speeds of 30-40 KMs/H on smooth roads of Baralacha region.

As we crossed the Zing Zing bar I received the 1^st solid blow of this trip. Due to high altitude it was not easy to accelerate so we were maintaining slow speed only. I didn’t notice when suddenly my bike slipped because of the ice on the road, my bullet slipped from the left side of the road and stopped at the right edge of the road the sight from there was so scary. If I had not stopped for few more inches the only way from there was down and to hell or heaven only god knows. Samantha and Sanju followed me in same fashion. I thought I was the 1^st victim but when we were recuperating from the condition Adrian & Ana came from behind and told us that Ana has met the same fate few KMs back. We by chance spared from there but at this place whole of the road was covered with ice and it was behaving like a glass. We crossed that 20m stretch in half an hour that too after breaking the ice sheet with stones because it was impossible even to stand stood on ice left aside driving a bike.

Till the time we reached Baralacha La top every one of us has tasted snow on the road at least once, for me it was 2^nd turn at Baralacha Top. I slipped again on ice and got hurt badly, I got burnt mark at right leg by my bullet silencer. But the view around had fazed all my pain, we were awestruck by the beauty of snow covered region. It was like every inch of land has got a white quilt. Only snow and snow until miles

Coming down from the Baralacha pass was very tough. The entire path was covered by snow, at some places we have to drive in 2-3 feet deep snow. It was very hard for me because my bullet did not have self start option. It was the toughest and most adventurous ride of my life time driving through 2 feet snow and water, before entering in it we didn’t even know the depth and not even the correct path, because all around what we can see is only snow.

Till the time we reached Sarchu at around 1330 hrs we were all drenched. We planned to reach here yesterday, at this point & in this condition we all were thankful to the person who stopped us in Darcha only. If we had continued our journey yesterday then definitely we would have missed all the beauty and might have lost our way. We had a good lunch there and rested for a while to let our clothes dry. Afterwards we crossed Gata loops. Gata Loops are zig zag road section, from the top loop if you see down you can see the last section of the loops. The whole view of these loops was very pictorial.

At around 1600hrs we reached pagal naala about which we had heard that till noon it stays calm but afternoon it becomes mad & violent because of plenty snow melt at hill peaks and because of this it got this name ‘Pagal Naala’.Sanju will remember Pagal Naala till eternity. Me, Ana & Adrian crossed it slowly but safely, Sanju was following us suddenly his bike slipped and went towards downhill side in 5 feet deep water. He fell in dangerously flowing water; somehow he managed to take guard of a big stone to protect himself from flowing with the river. His bike was 80% inside water. It took more than 30 minutes to 4 of us to pull his bike out. Water has entered in its silencer, so it was not taking self. For Sanju’s good fate the way from there to Pang is down hill, so he just rolled down his bike towards Pang in off engine mode. Somehow after few Miles it started.

We reached Pang at around 1730hrs most of us were not feeling well so we planned to stop there only & shifted to a tent. The view around the place was so beautiful; it was like a cold dessert Sandy Mountains with beautiful natural sculptures all around. Here I came to know what AMS (Acute Mountain Syndrome) is? Five among 8 of us were suffering from it. Only I, Adrian & Devendra had dinner that night others were sleeping with headache or stomach problems. Shastri even visited Military camp hospital and had some oxygen punches. They all missed the tasty food made by the aunty who was the owner of that tent. The interesting fact about this trip is that we got home cooked food all along the way and that too very tasty and healthy contrary to what we had thought off.

Day-5 (June 22 2010) Pang to Leh
Just Wooowwwwwww…………….

This was the best morning of the journey till now. We knew we were close to Leh so there was no urgency in disrupting our sleep. But still we woke up at 0700hrs because of yesterdays early to bed activity. I noticed ice layers on our bike seats formed by freezed dew, temperature outside were below zero but still it didn’t feel so because the sun was in full mood. We enjoyed our breakfast under the sun and left for Leh at around 0830hrs.

As I mentioned earlier Pang area was awesome, so beautiful. Just few kilometers drive from Pang & we have entered Mori plans. The scenic beauty there was breathtaking. I admired god’s creation thousands times in those few hours of passing through Mori plans. It was like river of sand, concrete & wild bushes. No roads just plane area between bare hills along your sides 500 to 1000 meters wide. There were no limits you can drive in any direction you just have to move forward in which ever way you like or I should say which ever way you are forced to drive by the terrain. The sand and concrete layer is around a foot deep and in some places our tire’s were deep struck in wild bushes.

I was the slowest driver in Mori planes region, the reason may be my heavy bike and luggage load on it or I was scared of slipping tires in sand concrete. But I was literally angry and hated that last position of mine. But soon I was happy about that when I found Samantha and then Shastri licking sand on ground. We stopped at around every couple of miles in that 45 KMs stretch to sooth our eyes and admire nature’s beauty. We met lot of bikers at Tanglang-la, they were coming from Leh.

Finally we landed on plane roads, crossed through ‘Rumptse’. I can’t explain that feeling when I got the 1^st view of Leh from the high road. The whole city was visible from there and for me it was like I reached to Heaven a long awaited destination. We reached Leh around 1700hrs and stopped at a petrol pump just at the entry of Leh to let the other ones catch us. After everyone reached there we started our search for accommodation. In around one hour we were in our rooms of Kamal Guest house. Entry to the Guest house was so beautiful, it’s like an old haveli, and it was marvelous from rooms to washrooms from lawns to scenic beauty through windows. Everything about that guest house was so wonderful. Guest house owner introduced us to a travel agent Mr. Parvez M/sLadakh Eco-Adventures who arranged permits for us for Khardungla pass & Pangong. Actually every tourist needs permits to visit Pangong Lake & K-Top because of security reasons because these places are very near to China Border.

We had our dinner at Summer Harvest restaurant, one of the famous local food spots. We tried local dishes there but I didn’t like the ‘Thupka’ the most favorite local dish of Leh. After dinner we roamed around a bit for catching initial glimpse of Leh. After all day torturous long drive we were still on the roads of Leh instead of cozy rooms. I think the feeling of fulfilling our dreams of visiting Leh kept us going.

At around 2300hrs I was on my bed, thinking about all the good and bad experiences of last three days. I will say the way from Baralacha to Leh is my favorite, it was all filled with nature’s beauty. From snow Peak Mountains to deep valleys, from vigorously flowing water to cold dessert mountains everyplace was so mesmerizing. I bet you will stop every few meters on the way to see and admire God’s creation and every time your mouth will open just for wowwwww…….

Day-6 (June 23 2010) Khardungla Pass
Day of mixed feelings…………….

First thing in the morning was, we directly headed towards Mechanic market. Our bikes got checked by the best mechanic in the market. All the light bikes got their engine oils replaced. My bullet was perfect even after last 2 days torture, just a minor clutch issue. We all were on high spirits to drive on the world’s highest motorable road Khardungla pass (18,380 feet, Built in 1976, K-Top opened to motor vehicles in 1988). The Marsimikla Pass (18632 feet), in eastern Ladakh has missed the top spot as it allows for only some kind of four wheelers across it.

When we reached Mr. Parvez for the passes he told us, due to land sliding K-top was closed. With the blue mood we had our brunch on a roof top coffee-bar and planned to visit local sites and move to K-Top next day. But till the time we finished our food, we came to know that K-top road is now clear.

We jumped in joy and headed straight towards K-Top. K-Top was just 54 KMS from Leh. As we left Leh, roads were smooth like glass and the view all around was so wonderful, but as we moved up the road condition deteriorated a lot that it took around three hours to reach K-Top. More than 50 percent of the path was damaged by melting snow. The world’s highest motorable road belongs to India and the feeling of driving my bullet on that road is too good.

We met few English guys riding bicycles all the way up and down. As we reached K-Top we just completely lost in the beauty of nature so much that it took one & half hour to realize that Anna had still not reached there. We asked few bikers also, who came after us, and even they didn’t know anything. Finally he reached there in a miffed manner, and he was too red hot face in such chilled weather. Everybody asked him what happened and we were shocked on his explanation.

Front disc brakes of Anna’s bullet were jammed without any pressure on lever by Anna. He fell down 3-4 times due to automatic operation of brakes. We wanted to laugh on the situation but Anna’s expressions stopped us of doing that. We all thought he must have applied brakes, because we all know about his height phobia. Then Adrian drove his bike and the puzzle solved. Actually Anna drove all the way with his handle lock on, three of the four bolts of the lock were blown off and the lock was operating just because of one bolt. Whenever he tilted the handle that lock struck in and locks the handle, but because of loose bolting on straight road it works smooth. So on 23^rd June Anna made a history of driving world’s highest road on his Bullet 500 with side lock on.

We then continued our fun sports. We met a jolly family from Rajpura on K-Top. Those guys were very funny and the girls with them were beautiful, we had a good time with them playing around K-Top bumping snow balls on each other. But the oxygen level there was too low so we got tired very soon and the sun was also diminishing so we started our journey back to Leh so that we reach Leh before the sun set. Following night we had our dinner in Sunrise Café. The ambience was too good there with foreigner chicks and beer bottles all around. Then one more rocking day slipped into the warm quilts.

Day-7 (June 24 2010) Pangong Lake
Surprised …………….

 
We had planned to drive 150 KMS to Pangong and then back to Leh in one day so we started early at 0600 hrs from guest house. We had travelled 35 KMS back to Karu on the Leh –

Manali Road

. We had our breakfast at Punjabi Dhaba (Sanjha Chulla) at Karu. After a span of one week we had the taste of real Punjabi alloo parathas.

At Karu the road divides in two, one to Manali & other to Pangong. We showed our papers at Karu check post & moved on to Pangong. After few miles we crossed beautiful Shakti village. After crossing Zingral when our bikes were thumping hard on steep hills of Chang-La, Shastri’s AMS problem increased again. Actually from the day one of this trip Shastri was the medically weakest link of our group. At Pang also he took oxygen from Military camp. Here also Military post came to his rescue. We were thinking about Shastri’s problem on road side when a Scorpio came from downhill and brushed with the hill beside us. That Scorpio was also feeling AMS like Shastri. There were 6 Haryanvi guys in it, after quirling with each other about whose fault is this for bringing such a bad car on this track they decided to go downhill without seeing Pangong. And we saw the solution to problem, we sent Shastri with them and decided that they will drop him in Military camp & we will pick him up while coming back from Pangong.

From the day we stepped on this route of Manali-Leh, everyday the scenic beauty is increasing exponentially and here on this route of Leh-Pangong same theorem continues. After crossing the steep Changla pass we met so many water bodies along the road side and in between them small islands of sand and bushes. After crossing Tangtse all of sudden all the landscape changes into Rocky Mountains and sand all around. It was like crossing through the lake of white Sand.

   

Pangong Lake is world’s highest saline lake (14,270 feet) and spread in 134 KMS, 1/3rd of it is in India and rest is in Tibet which is under China’s rule. I had not heard much about it before the release of 3 Idiots movie. Till June 24th 2010 1430hrs all I know was that there is a beautiful lake near Leh called Pangong Lake. After this day I am at loss of words to describe that beauty. Multi colored crystal clear water dotted with sea hawks, Sea Hawks are beautiful birds mainly found in coastal regions. The whole view was so mesmerizing that we all silently admired that beauty and it was only after few minutes that we realized that we are there in that heaven.

Pangong Lake is one of those places where you don’t get bored sitting ideal, the lake itself make sure you are kept happy and contented. The lake keeps changing its shade as the day progresses from deep blue when the sun is high, with a turquoise shade near the bank and deeper hues toward the middle. It looses colour later in the day and turns dull.

All of a sudden that sunny afternoon converted into dark cloudy weather. Adrian had already planed for night stay at Pangong for clicking night scenes & rest of us were forced by the weather to stay there. But Sumantha & Sandesh moved on with the plan because they have to reach office on time on Monday. So our group split in two parts there, Sumantha & Sandesh took shastri with them and moved on and went to Srinagar next day and then to Delhi. Rest of us stayed at Pangong that night.

After having our lunch we took some rest in the make shift tent. In the mean time weather got cleared and after putting our small luggage in room we moved forward to see the last village till where the civilians are allowed to go, after that only military movement is allowed till the Indo-China border. But as we moved a mile and it started raining so we get back to our room.

In the evening Sanju & Devendra were not feeling well because of AMS. But I & Adrian again tried to go to Spangmik, Adrian wants to click some snaps and I just wanted to explore all the places around. But because of fast paced dark and no road way at all to that village we managed to reach only close to Spangmik not exactly there. We had some clicks on the lake side there and then returned back to our tents. We had our dinner with some Rum shots to calm the chilly shiver down and said good night to Pangong. But Adrian stayed awake all night to have those beautiful clicks of Pangong in moon light which we cherish & will cherish all life long.

Day-8 (June 25 2010) Back to Leh

So Thrilling……………..

Finally it was a sunny day at lake. We bought some Souvenirs from Pengong Military shop and started our back journey around 0800 hrs. As we were reaching TCP before Chang-La it started raining, so we stopped at TCP. The army men there invited us to their camp area and we had a dry fruit party there and sip some hot tea to overcome the chill outside. We made some good friends from army in this trip and I noticed that almost all the army men are very cool & fun loving. Meanwhile outside snowfall has started and our army friends advised us to move forward because if the snow fall gets heavy then it will be difficult for us.

We drive all the way till shakti in drizzling snow, it was too dangerous because we were not able to see beyond 10 feet, all the left and right was occupied by dark clouds and snow and that reduced the visibility only to couple of meters. At the time we reached back to Karu the weather was all clear. But at Karu TCP I noticed that I forget my bag at Chang-La TCP. From Karu TCP we then made a call to Chang-La TCP and our good army friends there recognized us, they sent our bag through one English biker who was coming down from Pangong to Leh, but we have to wait for him for almost 3 hours.

In the mean time we had a good chat session with the Army personnel & got to know many details about life in LEH.  When we reached Leh, we moved to Shanti Stupa and then too Zorawar Fort. We had a good clicking session there. In the evening we searched the local market for shopping and to give some relaxed treat to our tiring eyes and body with beautiful babes around and Beer in hands.

Day-9 (June 26 2010) Leh to Kargil
Departing souls …………….

We had planned to leave early in the morning from Leh. But the feeling of leaving our dream place was not letting us move ahead with our plans. So it took us 3 hours to be ready for the back journey. We woke up at 0700hrs but left Leh around 1000hrs with the feeling of departing souls. After having Breakfast in a restaurant on the Leh outskirts we pulled our bikes on the highway again. The Leh Srinagar highway was just awesome, rubber like roads with beautiful curves gave us the feeling of F1 track.

Our 1^st halt was at Pathar Sahib Gurudwara about 30KMS from Leh. Gurudwara Pathar Sahib is a historical place; Shri Guru Nanak Dev had visited this place during one of his Udassi’s.  At Pathar Sahib Adrian realized that his bike’s engine was leaking and engine oil was below minimum level. There was no workshop or mechanic nearby so he went back to Leh for it and we moved forward on Srinagar highway and planned to meet Adrian on the way only. Because we know Adrian is the fastest rider among us so he will soon catch us.

Then we witnessed the not so magnetic effect of Magnetic hill on the way. We had a tea break at Saspal and in the mean time Adrian also reached to us. We continued driving through the rough patches of the road and through the beautiful valleys and along the river side all day long and reached Kargil at around 1745hrs.

Me, Adrian & Sanju gathered at the Entry Bridge of Kargil, then Sanju & Devender went ahead to search for the hotel & we 2 waited for Anna there only. But for our fate all the hotels were packed to full capacity because of some religious ceremony in the town. At last Sanju got the room and our wait ended after almost 2 hours at that jam packed bridge. We were happy only till the time we reached in our room. The room we got for the night was very dirty and the bathroom was just cherry on the top, but we had no other option so after having Thupka in dinner we wished good night to the dullest & most tiring day of the trip.

Day-10 (June 27 2010)  Kargil to Srinagar
Jai Jawan ………

After witnessing the dullest day of the trip, today we started our journey in a hope of some good ride. We started at around 0700 hrs from kargil and our 1^st stop was kargil war memorial in Drass sector. It was the 1^st time in my life when I got the strong feeling of being an Indian & having a so good neighbor PAKISTAN. The Army men there told almost everything about the kargil war from the Paki invasion till the Indian victory.

Till today I just know that Paki invaders were on the Indian ground but today I could see how close they were, just 500 Mtrs from the National highway & could see the 32KMS stretch of highway from the Tololing hill where they sat their closest camp. We gave our tribute to the martyrs of Kargil and left for Srinagar after having breakfast of Samosas & Sandwitches.

 
Then we crossed Zojila pass which was not too tough as we heard about from lot many people on the way. Then we saw Amarnath Yatra’s base camp at Baltal, which looked so beautiful from the top thousands of colorful tents in rows inviting us for clicks. Then we hit the good road which lead towards Sonamarg, we had lunch out there. This time too ANNA was late and we had to wait for him for more than 1.5 HRS.

Local people out there told us that Srinagar city is still under curfew, and suggested us not to stay in there. This shattered our dreams of visiting the jewel of the country ‘Srinagar’ and playing on the lush green fields of Soanmarag. So we planned to go by-pass Srinagar and stay at Qazigund near Jawahar Tunnel that night. As we traveled through Srinagar bypass we found same problem what we heard about, so much military all around the highway.

We crossed Srinagar and had Kashmiri Kahwa for tea break on a road side dhabha (Kashmiri Kahwa is a Kashmiri green tea and flavoured with cardamom is what helps you relieve headache and maintain fluid levels too). There we met few army men who shared their experiences of Kashmir trouble with us. Through which I noticed that the Kashmir trouble is only because of some extremists and bad politicians Indian government or Army or Local public is not responsible for it.

We reached Qazigund at around 1800hrs and shifted to so called hotel. Qazigund is a small town so we didn’t get a good hotel and we didn’t have that much will and time to search for a good hotel. So we went ahead with whatever we got. But it was worst than we thought of Bad room, worse beddings and worst bathroom.

Day-11 (June 28 2010)  Back to

Den
Drive

Drive &

More Drive

………

We started from ‘Qazigung’ around 0700 hrs and stopped at Titanic view point, from where one can have the last view of the beautiful Kashmir valley. There we met a British guy who was in India from last 6 months traveling all the way from south to North tip of India on a Bullet. I really admire this ability of these white people, to travel around the world all alone. Then we crossed through the marvelous Jawahar tunnel, This 2.5 kilometer long tunnel which is the only road connection of the valley with rest of India. . That’s why it got a Z+ security. 2194.56 meters above sea level, Jawahar tunnel, situated between Banihal and Qazigund, has been operational since 22 December 1956.

Then via Patnitop, we reached Udhampur at 1330 hrs, as NH1D was single and we met a lot of amaranth yatris on the way it took long to reach Udhampur. Here again we had to wait for ANNA for about an hour. We asked local people if there is any short cut, one rehri vala suggested us to take left from Udhampur and straight from Dhar road, and we can hit kathua directly.

We headed towards the direction told by the rehri vala and it was hardly 70 kms and whole Jammu city is bypassed. Driving along the Ranjit sagar dam we reached Pathankot. Just on the entry of Pathankot I fell again because of a puppy. Thank god I managed to control my bike and didn’t hit the road to hard and I survived that without any injury.

Then we had our lunch in Punjabi style at Kehar Singh da dhaba at around 1500hrs. There we all planned our destinations to reach. Sanju will stay at Jalandhar as it is his home town. Me & Anna will head to Patiala and Adrian & Deveder will stay anywhere on the way where they can reach before it’s too dark because it is not possible for them to reach Delhi directly.

At around 1630 hrs we left from there but because of poor road condition and heavy traffic we only managed to reach Jalandhar at 2130hrs, so I dropped the plan to go to Patiala the same day. Sanju & Devender moved to Sanju’s home and we 3 took stay at Jalandhar bypass. We had a good long sleep in AC room of a good 4 star hotel and early morning left for our destinations. Finally I reached Patiala at around 1130hrs and my dream journey has come to an end. Rest whole day I slept in my cozy bedroom thinking about last 10 days of shear fun & adventure.

At the end I really want to thank God for creating such wonderful landscapes on earth & giving me the opportunity to visit those places. Another thanks to god for the wonderful weather during the entire trip. And big thanks to all the mates and to their good photography skills (all the pictures above are from their lenses, you can check more at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.428293051011.206998.589536011&type=1). It was really the best time of my life.

‘MOTHER NATURE IS AWESOME’