Ananz

Wednesday, 30th September, 2009 – DAY 9 – Mulbekh – Srinagar.

Good Morning Mulbekh!!! It was such a beautiful tiny little town which was shining in its full glory at dawn. Another beautiful morning to start the ride.
With Kargil on our radar we started our ride and after about an hour we had the first view of the Kargil valley.



Well, you can guess what would be the first thought on my mind. I couldn’t wait to have a glimpse of those peaks which our army bravely won back from the intruding neighbors.
We had our breakfast at Kargil and moved towards Drass where the War memorial of the Kargil was built.
Here’s something to boost you up.






Apart from feeling the beauty of the place, I was really wondering how did our army managed to fight a war in these treacherous valley, that too with the enemy sitting on top of all the peaks.
Then we reached the Drass War Memorial.



Standing there, reading those names which were carved out on the wall, made me realize how precious the land that I was standing on is. All along the way I could find the graves of brave soldiers who stood their positions while the enemy rained bullets all over them.



Really, with such an out of date weaponry that our Army posses, it was only the pure courage of our soldiers that had won this war for us.



Interesting, even in those hard times our jawans could pack a punch with their sense of humor.



Just outside the Drass War memorial






This was one of most important peaks for us, which was captured back from our intruding neighbors. The Tiger Hill.



After giving a Salute to our Heroes, we moved on towards Srinagar.



Didn’t I tell you before what a beautiful sight it was to watch all those kids going to school? Look for yourself.



Sonmarg, you’re a beauty. You can imagine how difficult it was to just ride past this beautiful heaven knowing that you can’t return for quite a long time.



These kids were playing along the road. I asked to pose for a picture and they more than excited to do so. I asked them why are they not at school today. They said it was a holiday. Can you guess the occasion? It was the last day of the month and hence the Holiday. Damn! Everything in this place is so good.


Kids@Sonmarg.


Then came the dirty, dusty and the breadth taking Zojila Pass.




Below is a common sight on the road through Srinagar – Jammu.




Damn! I wish those power cables and the posts were not there in the below picture. It would have made a great shot.









Enjoying all these beauties I almost forgot that I haven’t seen Ram for over an hour. The thing was I stopped by on the way to make a phone call to my near and dear one and apparently Ram had pulled ahead quite far away from me at that time. The icing on the cake was Ram’s mobile didn’t work anymore and we were already into Srinagar, where it is not just one straight highway, but crisscrossing city roads. After taking a detour of almost half the city, he called me from a public booth. He was waiting for me at the Dal Lake. Reason- Sometime ago I had told him about my desire to stay on a boat house at the Dal Lake. Well he had kept that in mind for so long. Quite cool, isn’t it?

View from our boat house below. We thought we pulled off a cool deal for a boat house at 500 bucks per night, but only next day we were in for a rude shock.




Riding through the paradise on earth, spending the night on a boat house over the eternal Dal Lake. Bring it on: I’m ready for more J





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Ananz

Thursday, 1st October, 2009 – DAY 10 – Srinagar - Patnitop.


This could be the one of the most beautiful mornings one will ever have. Yesterday by the time we reached Dal Lake it was pretty dark we didn’t have a good look at the lake. Next day morning I woke up, open the door of the boat house and saw this (below).



For a long time we just sat there in the balcony of our house, enjoying the time we were having.



Our Room owner had brought a boat for us to take a tour around the lake. We dressed up soon and jumped into the boat. All set to for the royal sail over the Dal.



Ahem! Let me set things straight. We’re not gay although we look like a perfect couple in the picture.

Our Boat Man



Soon we sank into the beautiful vistas that this lake had to offer. Clicked as many snaps as possible as we gorged our eyes with the surroundings.




What a romantic ride would it have been if you could take your better half on a ride like this?



Again, more school kids, cho chweet.



Another couple below.



The amazing thing about this lake is it’s not just a lake; it’s a mini village out here. People live on the lake, they have marriage halls on the lake and they also have alleys across the lake which they call as the Floating Alleys.



They also do farming in the lake. Below is something which is called the Floating Lake.






And there is a market as well.









After a while I couldn’t watch the boatman trying so hard to row us around. I tried to help him in whatever way I can.



While we were enjoying our joy ride for about two hours, something struck us. Our target destination for today is Amristar. Tan ta daaeeeennnnn…. It was already 12 P. M and there was no way that we could reach Amristar by tonight. Big deal! Almost half of the trip we were off target. Who cares! We started riding. Plan was to stop at a place at around 7 or 8 P.M.

Finally it was time to settle the bills with the room owner who also arranged us the boat tour and the shock that i mentioned about yesterday evening just hit us. The total bill was 1600 bucks for one night stay and a small boat tour in which i rowed for a considerable part We tried negotiating a bit but that didn't seem to work. It was a pretty bad way to end our beautiful visit to Srinagar. Nevermind. Move on.

Interesting name given to this point below.






Ironically we were going back through this route. So this becomes the Last view of the Beautiful Kashmir Valley. We bid adieu to Kashmir and moved towards Jammu.



Finally after all this, Disaster struck.
My rear tyre was punctured and we didn’t carry a puncture kit J. While we waited helplessly for a while, another rider stopped by for help. Sorry dude, I could not recollect your name. he had a foot ball pump J. Tried our luck with it for a while but gave up soon. I thanked him and and he was on his way. Soon I received a call from him, he spotted a puncture shop about 1 Km ahead. That was so kind of him to call me back and I was lucky too. So I rode to this puncture shop.

I saw two kids sitting in the middle of huge lorry tyres. They were full of attitude. Apparently they handle only big clients( read lorry walas) and they didn’t want to waste their time on a tiny two wheeler. After much negotiation they agreed to do just the patch work. That would mean we’ll have to remove the wheel and tyre(they didn’t agree to do the patch work with the wheel intact).
Those kids took nearly 1 and a half hour to do the patch work.


Stop posing and help me.



By the time it was over we all became good friends and they even noted down our phone numbers. We thanked them and moved towards Patnitop, the closest place to spend the night.



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Ananz

Friday, 2st October, 2009 - DAY 11 - Patnitop - Amristar.

Finally the Time was getting to us. The Flag lowering ceremony at Wagah border starts at 5 p.m. and we didn't want to miss that. So it was outright ride till Amristar from Patnitop.
The scenic smooth road did help us in our intent.



Our first and only stop was for lunch at a roadside dhaba.



Again our luck ran out. Apparently the two chottus who fixed my puncture didn't do it well enough. I again had a flat tyre.
With all these hiccups we reached Wagah only at 6 p.m. It was Gandhi jayanthi : a national Holiday. The place was jam packed. We couldn't get a proper place to sit and hence couldn't manage to get some proper shots. Infact we could not even see the ceremony. It was a disaster



The only respite was the beautiful policewomen. Trust me most of the men out there were more than happy to stare at them rather than the ceremony. Finally it was not a total disaster



This is the first time I ever came so close to Pakistan. We could clearly see the Pakistanis on the other side. There was a huge roar from either side when the flag was being lowered.



I wish they could stay as close in the hearts as well.





492 Kms, that's our target for tomorrow.



Soon the celebration came to an end and we rode to the Golden Temple.



The temple was looked so majestic. The golden temple and its reflection on the water below was glowing in the dark.



Temple Guard.



You can figure out from the picture below what state we were in at the end of each day after a long ride.



After going around the golden temple and resting there for a while, we went to our rooms and without even changing our clothes jumped into our beds.
Tomorrow is going to be a superfast day for me.



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Ananz

Saturday, 3rd October, 2009 – DAY 12 – Amristar – Delhi 450 Kms.

A beautiful sunrise greeted us on the beginning of the end of our journey.







Vroom Vroom Vroooooooommmmmm…..

0700 hrs: At Amristar. (1730 hrs: Train to Hyderabad from Delhi)

Need to reach Delhi at least by 4 p.m. in order to load the bike on the train.
Since I had to cover nearly 450 kms before evening I had to part away from Ram so that he could ride in a relaxed manner, as he is leaving Delhi only after 2 days.

So here I go. All I was doing for the next few hours was looking straight and adjusting my throttle.
I stopped thrice on the way including one extended stop for breakfast and the nature call.

1430 hrs: “Welcome to Delhi”
Wow!!! Never thought I could reach there by 2:30 in the afternoon. That’s 450 Kms in seven and a half hours including more than an hour for the breaks in between. I was so impressed. J
In fact it has given me the confidence to give the saddle sore a try.

In another 40 mins I reached the Nizamuddin station. Packed my bike, had some food. After some searching, found a Internet center to take my Ticket printout.

16:45hrs: All set to board the train. Suddenly one of the parcel guys noticed something. My train is at the New Delhi Railway station, not at the Nizamuddin. What???? .......... Ahem, i know what you must be wondering.

The thing is I had asked my sister to book my ticket and in all the adrenaline rush I had since morning, I forgot to check the railway station.

Am I the biggest stupid born around here? Hmmm….. May be.

I did manage to reach the New delhi Railway station around 5:10. But what followed was one of the worst experiences in my life caught in between the agents and the so called vasool rajas of the Station. I didn’t want to narrate that part here and give my dream trip a sad ending.
I just put everything behind me and joined Ram for the night at the Youth Hostel.



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Ananz

The Journey Ends

Two lads from one corner of the country decided to embark on a dream that would take them to the other corner. On two wheels they rode around snow covered peaks, over dense white clouds, across lush green fields, along the beautiful sparkling lakes and greeted by ever smiling beautiful faces all along. 12 days, 3000 Kms later they woke up and felt an overwhelming joy in their heart like never before as if the whole thing was real. Poor lads, they still couldn’t believe what they’ve done.


What a dream the past few days have been. Riding through the beautiful vistas one thing that kept coming back to me was the fact that this paradise on earth is unfortunately also one of the most troubled regions of the world. Isn’t that one of the best ironies that we could ever find? One thing the people here are holding on to is Hope, Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope for peace to return to the valley.






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Ananz

If you like this write up and think i can use a better pair of shoes and that jazzy yamaha jacket, do vote for me




Not sure how to vote???

Naughty VaIsH

wow ..awesome photographs ...i was just admiring the beauty that you have pulled into photographs ....dint read anything ..coz my eyes was in photos not allowing to read

__________________
Only a Biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.

Ananz

Thanks Vaish....

but please please read the write up as well... this was my first attempt to pen down something and would love to hear all you guys' feedback

-Ananth

shelton_jh

Awesome Ananz!!!!!!! Just too good..... Just the kinda ride i wanted to do and great write up with amazing photos to go with it..... I'm yet to make a trip there and i've been getting inspiration from all you guys and now after going through your post i'm just not able to sit here....... Will surley do a 'ananz' one day in terms of ride and write up!!!!! Cheers......

Ananz

Thanks shelton.... i had similar kind of a feeling when i joined this forum and read other travelogues...

Check my join date here... i joined here in July and i was so overwhelmed with all the experiences here that i could'nt wait to hit Leh and within 2 month i rode away.


-Ananth