Ananz

The Journey Begins...
After much contemplation on how to begin this travelogue I finally have found the best way to do it. My Love for this beautiful piece of land called India and the urge to explore every single wonder that it has to offer. Since college I have had opportunities to quench this thirst. I had been on two different Cycle Expeditions, an 800Km one and the other 1000 Km covering the length and breadth of Tamil nadu. Once out of college I had to pack that desire off and keep it hidden deep inside me for a long time. Reason: No time!!! Not enough company!!! The usual excuses. Yes u guessed it. I’m a typical software engineer who talks big, dreams big but never had the guts to venture out of his comfort zone.


All this changed the day when one of friend told me about his plan to tour ladakh. We share a similar liking for rides…. (I mean bike rides) and instantly we agreed to do it on a bike. I was still cautious as many times in the past the plans that were made have just washed away without a trace and a part of my mind kept telling me that this one being the most difficult and dangerous could suffer the same fate as well. After a couple of days my fears just came true. The guy who had proposed the tour backed off, once again leaving me stranded without a company. I tried convincing a few other friends and my roommates, but all had their own reasons for not making it. Here we go again, this it was the second reason that I had mentioned above. Not enough Company. But No! This time I didn’t want to let it go that easily. I didn’t want to give myself these silly excuses for not chasing my desires. I tried even harder for convincing my friends only this time even if they don’t agree I was prepared to do it alone. That’s when the thought of my old chaddi buddy from the school days Ram Chaitanya came to me. He works in Bangalore and is quite keen about touring. I called him up to discuss about it and voila! He gave me a nod. That led me to the next big obstacle, getting dad's permission. I had no idea how am i going to explain it to him, especially the fact that only 2 people are going to make it. I knew even my dad was quite interested about these adventure trips when he agreed to the bicycle expeditions that i did during my college days( even though it took a one hour begging and pleading session to make him agree), but this time it was different. There's no college staff to watch over us, there's not even a big group to take care of ourselves, it's just two of us. So I had to think of a strategy to get his nod this time around. Well to begin with, I just told him that nearly 5 of us are going to Manali. Then after a few days I told him we’re going to ladakh as well. Thanks to all the intrusion by the Chinese and the news channels which blew it up to a pre-war like situation, I hit my first road block. It took a long time to convince him about Ladakh. Then came the big bang. I told him we’re going on our bikes. Ta da … all hell broke loose. It was followed by days and days of more pleading and begging and finally he said yes! Hoof. Now what do I do about the count? After a few days I told him one of the member dropped out. Now the count came to four. After reaching Delhi I told him one more dropped out. Then finally I said the third guy gave us company only till Ladakh as well. I knew I made a mess of it and it was not too long before my dad figured out that only 2 of us were on the Trip. As I said he has a liking for this kind of adventure and I knew he was only happy for me. There was still one hiccup though, getting the leaves approved from our managers. Anyways I put that thought in a corner and started the preparations.My initial plan was to start the ride from my home in Mumbai. But that would take 3 more extra days for us. Since we were already sceptcal about our leaves, i droppped that plan and decided to board the bike on a train from Hyderbad to Delhi.


Well not much preparation is really needed apart from getting your bikes serviced and tuned for tougher terrains. But I wanted to make this a one hell of a trip and so we decided to camp en route whenever possible. We bought sleeping bags and since the tents were on the higher side of the price band we decided to rent them from Delhi.

All set and at the last moment even our leaves got approved. Only now I was beginning to get really excited. The thought of touring the Himalayas was just too thrilling to wait for. There was one thing that was lacking in my kit though, a proper camera. I’m on my maiden voyage and not having a good SLR camera to capture the moments was troubling me. So just the night before leaving Hyderabad I visited nearly half a dozen malls and finally bought a Canon 1000D. Now I’m finally good to go.



Friday, 18th Sep, 2009: Good Bye Hyderabad

Went to work early (10.00 A.MJ) – Left office early – Took the bike to the station early – Me and my Bike boarded the Train early. Wow! Trust me; I have never done anything more smoothly in my life before. It was a 24 hour train journey to Delhi. But I was not bored for a single minute. Throughout the journey the pictures of Kashmir and Himalayas were flashing on my mind. I could not believe that I’m actually going to go to these places that I had always dreamed of. Next day Morning 9 A.M. the train crossed Bhopal. This is officially the farthest away from home I have ever been.








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Ananz

Saturday, 19th Sep, 2009: Namaste Delhi




I reached Delhi by 6 P.M. The railway wala said it would take another 2 hours to offload the bike from the train. Since Ram would reach Delhi only at midnight, I had to find the accommodation and I had no clue where to go. Picked up an auto and he suggested a place somewhere near the Red Fort. It sounded good to me. But after reaching the place crossing a big traffic jam It was difficult to find a proper accommodation. Luckily Ram called me at the right moment and told me about the Youth Hostel http://www.yhaindia.org/ . This is a Hostel chain across the world used specially by extensive travelers. You need to be a member of this group in order to avail their facility and thankfully membership is available on the spot. I went straight to Youth Hotel @ chanakyapuri, registered myself and checked into a Dorm since rooms were not available at that time. On the way to Youth hostel I figured out that Chanakyapuri is the epicenter of Delhi. All the politicians house that I used to see in the TV were right here. The Hostel was surrounded by International Embassies. The India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan were all at a few minutes distance. Hmmm good start to the trip I thought to myself. Quickly got back to the railway station and brought my bike back. Ram reached the Hostel by 12 midnight. He had shipped his bike through the packers and movers, something which I clearly advised not to as these guys never ever deliver it on time. Anyways now is not the moment to trouble myself with these thoughts. We quickly slipped into our beds hoping to start the tour of Delhi tomorrow.


Sunday, 20th Sep, 2009: Yeh Dilli hai mere yaar


Ram and Gaurav


Gaurav, Ram’s friend was here to take us around Delhi. Gaurav brought his car along, so we couldn’t tour Delhi on our bikes yet. The first place we stopped by was Palika Bazaar. If you’re not good at bargaining then Palika Bazaar is definitely not the place for you. Unfortunately All three of us are really bad at this. I was not really hoping to buy anything here, but Ram was pretty eager to get a pair of boots for the trip. We entered a Shoe shop and spotted a boots but were quite literally shocked with the price he quoted, 3500 Rs. Even my Woodland didn’t cost that much. Since all 3 were bad at bargaining we simply got up and decided to leave the store. And this moment we found a new bargaining method without even opening your mouth. Every step that we took away from the shop, the shop keeper kept reducing the price by 500 bucks. Wow. We decided not to stop just to check on how much more he could lower the price. To our surprise he came down till 700. Phew from 3500 bucks to 700 bucks. 20 % of the original price. Lol. By then we had our share of fun and anyways didn’t want to return to the shop. We picked up a few tools that may come handy during the tour and left palika bazaar.
Next Stop; India Gate.



What a majestic structure it was. Went around the Clicking snaps for a while before we moved to the Rashtrapaty Bhavan and Parliment. It was a wonderful feeling to have finally seen the places which i always used to watch in awe for their magnificent architecture in the television. It was already noon and we still had many places left to see.



We quickly left the Raj path and decided to head to Red Fort.



Red Fort, Also known as the Blessed Fort, built by Shah Jahan and the place where Jawaharlal Nehru unveiled the Flag of Independent India on 15th August, 1947.



I kind of like visiting ancient forts and palaces and that made me spend a lot of time at the Red Fort.







By now Delhi’s heat was starting to take a toll on us and that made us rush for the restaurant inside the Red fort.



Inside the Red Fort Restaurant

Right opposite to the Red Fort was one of the most famous streets in Delhi, or perhaps in whole of India, Chandni Chowk.



Chandni Chowk would be a delight for photographers. It just has so many colors and faces to it.




Kids @ ChandniChowk











We walked on the streets of Chandni Chowk for a while and Gaurav showed us another land mark in Chandni Chowk, The Paratha wali Gali.




Gaurav suggested we treat ourselves some of the paratha delicacies of this place. I could not refuse the offer to treat my taste buds with the as they say “poori dilli mein world famous” parathas.

Soon our day came to an end. Chandni Chowk was the last place we visited in Delhi and we decided to head back to our hostel. That’s when Gaurav invited us to his home for dinner and we gladly obliged.



Our First Day of the trip was wonderful. Thanks to super cool guy Gaurav. Without him I’m sure we would have had a hell of a time figuring our way through the roads in Delhi.


Monday, 21st September, 2009

I wish this day never happened. As I feared the Transport wala did not deliver Ram’s bike on time and we were stuck in Delhi for one more day. Things got even worse as those people were not even clearly mentioning if the bike has reached Delhi or not. I was always prepared to for unexpected delays but didn’t think it would come even before the ride has started. Luckily Youth Hostel had Wi-fi in their premises which helped us pass some time. We uploaded a few pics on Facebook, chatted with few friends and I even managed to pay a few bills online.



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Ananz

Tuesday, 22nd September, 2009 : DAY 1 : Delhi to Ambala

No sign of bike yet. By afternoon we got the info that Ram’s bike has reached Gurgaon and will reach Delhi only by midnight. We were not ready to wait until midnight. So we decided to ride to Gurgaon on my bike and pick up Ram’s bike. By 2 we were back in the hostel with Ram’s Bike. We quickly pack our baggage and by 3 P.M our ride had officially beganJ.



It took nearly 30 mins to tie the baggage onto the bike for the first time.

Only now we got a taste of Delhi roads. It took us nearly 45 mins to come out of Connaught Place. At one of the signals I had borrowed Ram’s mobile to see the GPS and before I could return it back the signal went Green and we had to start. Within minutes we lost each other and I had Ram’s mobile. Another half an hour passed before we could re group. And now following the directions from the GPS we reached Qutub Road. Courtesy: Googlemaps GPS. Only after reaching there we realized it was a very long narrow market place. It took us another 1 hour to come out of Qutub Road and reach the NH1 – Grand trunk Road. So finally more than 2 hours later we were out of Delhi. I stopped at the first petrol bunk, filled my bike to its limit and hit the Highway.



What followed was one of the fastest long distance rides I ever had. By the time we left Delhi the sun was already set, the clock ticked 6 P.M and we had to cover nearly 200 kms to reach Ambala. Not many sceneries to see as it was dark, so the only thing we did was to burn some rubber. We stopped at a road side Dhaba and had a relaxed dinner. The shocker came when we saw the bill. 4 Parathas and a mutter panneer costed 300 bucks on a less than average road side Dhaba. Since he didn’t have a menu with prices we could not even argue with him. We payed the bill and got to the highway. My helmet had a black visor that made it impossible to see through at night. Since it was a high speed highway opening the visor will make it difficult to see with the winds blowing at high speed on my eyes. So most of the distance I rode behind Ram with his tail light as the only guide. If the tail light swayed to the left, I swayed to the left. If it swayed to the right, I swayed to the right. If he slowed down, I slowed down. All this at 100 kph. That was fun. To my surprise we reached Ambala by 10:30 P.M in spite of stopping for dinner and breaks in between.

Wednesday, 23rd September, 2009 – DAY 2 – Amabala to somewhere beyond Shimla.


We woke up at 8:30 A.M thanks to some intelligence I showed the previous night (I managed to switch off all the 4 alarms that Ram had set in his mobileJ). We quickly finished our morning rituals had our breakfast and checked out the room. Only when we brought the luggage to the bikes we realized the long ceremony that we did with the bike before leaving Delhi will have to be done every day morning. Anyways today was the first day that we will be riding from morning and I was pretty excited about it. With this thought in mind, we made sure the baggage was properly tied, clicked a few snaps with the fully loaded bikes and off we went. After riding for a couple of hours we touched the footsteps of the hills.



Boy O Boy wasn’t that a wonderful sight. The First view of the valley was nothing but truly magnificent. Huge mountains covered with lush green trees divided by deep gorges. I immediately stopped and put my new camera to test.



I just couldn’t stop clicking. So much so that I almost forgot that we have another 150 kms to cover.





Adding to the beauty of the valley are the smooth and curvy……. ….. RoadsJ. It was a pleasure to ride on them.



















Nice song is’nt it. Riding on the hills with the cool breeze blowing on my face, with the vistas that make you feel so close to mother nature as never before, listening to your favourite song on the ear phone…..Life was just BEAutiful.



Oops almost forgot that we were supposed to be in Shimla for lunch. It was already 2 P.M and shimla was another 70 kms away. In the hills 70 kms could take much longer than that on roads. We put a halt to the photography session and proceeded towards Shimla.


One Sweet Family

By around 4 P.M we reached Shimla. The first thing that I noticed was how beautiful the women in Shimla were. Woow. It was really hard for me to concentrate on the road. So much so that I almost forgot I was really hungry just a few minutes ago. Anyways we quickly got into nice restaurant for lunch.



We took a long time to finish our lunch and were also not sure if we should ride further today or stop in Shimla for the night. Manali is another 150 from here we couldn’t have made it today. We covered only about 100 kms for the day. We thought it was too less and decided to ride a little further and stop at the next town that comes on the way.


Near the Restaurant


Beyond Shimla, the condition of the roads started deteriorating. It became worse as we moved further. It was already dark and it made it very difficult to ride on those rocky roads. About 30 kms further we hit Darlaghat. It was a small town and there were hardly one or two hotels. We didn’t want to ride any further for today and decided to spend the night in one of the hotels there.


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Ananz

Thursday, 24rd September, 2009 – DAY 3 – Darlaghat to Manali.







Today the intent is to reach Manali. Within minutes after we took off I noticed something was wrong on my rear wheel. Luckily there was a mechanic shop nearby where I could get it checked. The issue was my chain guard was projecting out of its place and the rear wheel was grazing against it. He fixed it within minutes. I also asked him to apply some lubricant over the chain which we were supposed to carry but you know …we did not. In fact did not carry a single spare part or tool kit apart from the standard kit that comes along with the bike. A big gamble considering for miles we may not find anything at all in the next few days. But both of us we just too excited to think about all this. Back at the mechanic shop, the lubrication was done and off we went.



For some distance I was riding slow and had Ram in my rear view mirror all the time. But suddenly he disappeared. I stopped and waited for a while, he was nowhere to be seen. I sensed something was wrong and went back to check and here we go the First fall of the trip. Credits: Ram.



Apparently he went way too much towards the side of the road and skidded over the gravel. He was waiting for me to help him lift the bike up. And Only then I remember to click. Damn I thought, missed a perfect shot with the Ram and bike on the groundJ. Luckily no major wounds, so we just laughed about it and rode on.



We paused quite frequently to enjoy the view and click more snaps. We were least bothered about the timelines. We didn’t care if we could make it back on time as long as we have a good time.



We stopped at a small road side place for our breakfast at Bilaspur.



This lord was enjoying the view as well.



Nice catch Ram !!!
Below is what I was trying to capture when Ram caught me above.







We were treated with some breath taking views enroute.



As we moved further the towns that we passed by became smaller and smaller. But there was one thing that caught my eye riding in these hills in the morning. No matter how small the towns and villages were, every single one of them had schools and you could see many cute kutties (children in tamil) with their uniforms and school bags walking and dancing their way to the school. It was good to see the importance given to education even in these remote areas.



We reached Mandi. There we met two more riders Rahul and oops … sorry forgot the name of the other guy. They were from Chandigarh ans were riding till Rothang.



Chatted with them for a while and we parted our ways.





Me : O jee.. main aapka ek photo kheench saktha hoon?
She: no response..
Me : jee ..aap se hi pooch raha hoon… ek photo kheenchloon?
She: Kyun jee…
Me: Yuhin…
She: silence
Me : Han ya na. Kuch tho boliye.
She: Han.
Voila. I took a few snaps of her with the baby, thanked her and went away.



At about 4:00 we reached kulu. Time for Lunch. Our lunch break took longer than usual. Thanks to the restaurant guys who took nearly 45 minutes to preapre our order. As usual we jus clicking in the mean time.



The restaurant was housed right on the banks of a river. I could also see some rafting going on this river.







Manali was pretty close from here and was decided to stop there for the night.



Near manali



We reached manali at about 7 P.M. There were a swarm of agents trying to get tourist to their hotels. We were not quite sure which one to choose as we were too tired to check the rooms one by one. Once again Youth Hostel came to our rescue. They had a franchisee at Manali and without further hesitation we booked a room and checked in.



To our surprise they had Wi-Fi as well. For 500 bucks a night, this was quite a steal. Wow. Time to upload more pics for Family and friends.






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Ananz

Friday, 25th September, 2009 – DAY 4 – Manali to Keylong.



A view from our balcony.
As usual, we slept late and woke up late. It was around 9:30 when we left our hotel. We did some shopping at Manali and settled for breakfast. By the time we left manali it was already 12:00 in the noon. Lol. We had no clue what we were doing and where we are going today.



All we knew was we were on our way to Rothang. By now I have started seeing the snow but still could not get anywhere near it. Just two weeks ago the route to Rothang Pass was closed down because of snow. When we started the trip we had no idea if it was open, but I was not ready to cancel this no matter what may come.



Luckily everything cleared up just when we reached there. But the bad news was, it was so clear that there was not an inch of snow left anywhere on the way. Damn!! I still have to wait for my first touch of snow.



Ram was a little on the slower side. So we could not cover much ground quickly. But that did help me to stop more frequently to clicking snaps and still manage to catch up with him.



At one point of time, I was trying to catch up with Ram and suddenly on a curve; I spotted him standing with his bike in the middle of the road. Here we go. He just had his second fall. Damn!! I missed the perfect shot again. Apparently before I could reach the spot, someone helped him lift the bike up. His bike refused to start after the fall. I tried my hand on his baby and yup, my magic touch worked.



We stopped at a tent (dhaba) for some refreshment.


Bikes of the European riders

That’s when we met some Europeans who were riding till Rothang. Why only till Rothang? They had travelled from ladakh to Manali on a cab yesterday and passed through Rothang at night. Since they didn’t want to miss the beauty of Rothang, today they rented bikes and are riding till Rothang. Hmmm… Nice one.









Within minutes we got ourselves into a traffic jam. There was a landslide and the debris had blocked the road.



BRO (Borders Roads Organization) guys were already on the job.



We didn’t waste a single moment. Immediately took our cameras out and got going.



There was also Para gliding going on. Well, we didn’t have much time left, so we decided to skip that one.



We had some wonderful crowd who got out and started dancing and singing around until the jam cleared. We were stuck for more than 30 mins, but we hardly noticed the time with so much entertainment around.





Finally the traffic cleared and we headed towards Rothang.



This was the first view of Rothang.



It was a big disappointment for me. Rothang was completely out of snow. I still have to wait for the snow a bit longer.



The first thing that I did after reaching Rothang was to attend to the nature’s call. It was terribly cold and I was already shivering heavily. A sweater and a Jacket didn’t seem to be enough. My only worry now was to make sure nothing in my body freezes off while I’m taking a leak.

We sat down for some tea and Maggi. Maggi is the widely available food here as it is difficult to carry other food sources frequently at these heights. This is when we met a very Charismatic gentleman.



His name is Tenzin. He is a carpenter from Mcleodganj. He took a long sabbatical and been touring Kashmir on his bike for the past four months riding and camping anywhere and everywhere. He was on his way back from Ladakh. He says, he is self employed and that allows him to take time off whenever he wants to. Most of us would lay back and take rests during our time offs. How of us had the guts to venture out and explore what this beautiful Mother Nature has to offer? Some people just don’t rest dreaming and don’t rest to live those dreams. Tenzin was one among them. At this moment, at a corner of my heart I felt happy for what I was doing.






He gave us some useful tips about the terrain, routes and the bike. He was surprised to see us touring with almost no tools or spare parts at all. After a few minutes of conversation we bid adieu to him and moved on.





For a couple of Kilometers after Rothang, the roads were awesome. Only later I realized what I saw was just a pinch of sugar over a poison. In fact the rest of the route had no roads at all.


















Lol… How fitting those words of the famous poem was to our situation at this time. There were two roads diverging in the mountains and there were no signboards and no vehicles in the vicinity. We waited there for quite some time. No time to worry though. Our eyes were busy feasting on the awesome view.






After some time a Qualis crossed by. Got the directions and we started riding again. The lights were fading quickly and still had a long distance to cover before we could reach Keylong.


Once again we were riding through the dark. But this time it was different. It was awfully quite. No sign of people or vehicles around. I saw Ram waiting for me ahead and went close to him and asked what was wrong? What followed was one of the amazing moments I ever had in my life. We stopped our engines right in the middle of the road. It was pitch dark and silent with the moon and the stars shining high above the cliffs. The cliffs were so high that it looked like you can grab the moon from the peaks. I could see many shooting stars as well. I don’t if they were more easily visible because of this height. But the scene was just too amazing to capture it on my camera. Is this what they call Heaven? I asked myself. That moment I knew I discovered a whole new meaning for the word “peace" which not many in this world knew.

I didn’t want to start my engine and spoil the peace but I had to. After some time we reached Tandi, there was a petrol bunk which had a board “The next Petrol pump is 365 Kms ahead” By the time we reached there it was closed. But no worries for us though, we had our tanks full and had spare petrol in the cans.

The route to Keylong was too scary especially in the dark. Adding to that, my head lamp always points upwards, never on the road. I could see the hills and trees over them but not the road. Only when I go closer to the edge of the road I would know if there was a curve ahead or a deep gorge. It was very difficult to drive in these terrains. It was nearly 10:00p.m when we reached Keylong. It was a nice little town, probably the last proper town for miles and miles. We checked into a small restaurant for 300 bucks a night without Television. Anyways we were too tired to watch anything. Ram’s mobile had signal but mine didn’t. He was using Airtel and mine was Vodafone (probably the pug couldn’t follow me in the Himalayas). We had a relaxed dinner, chatted for a while and then slipped into our beds.


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Saturday, 26th September, 2009 – DAY 5 – Keylong to Sarchu.


When I came out of the room in the morning, I stood astound seeing the view from the Hotel.



View from the Hotel


Wow… what a place? Isn’t this what our dreams are made of? I couldn’t believe myself that I’m seeing all this, I’m experiencing all this.
I knew it is only going to get better from here on. With that thought in my mind we prepared ourselves for another new day ahead.




Keylong was the last place where at least Ram’s mobile had signal. For the next few days we’ll be away from the civilization entirely with no electricity and no mobile signals. Isn’t that just the icing on the cake that we need. A complete Getaway. We filled in the petrol from our cans before leaving.





Keylong was a truly a dream land. Only in the morning we realized what we had missed yesterday night. Awesome is the least appropriate word I know in English to describe this place.






The roads were also great for some distance. Again we had to stop very frequently to capture what we were experiencing. And not far away I could see snow. This time looks pretty close.



Only now for the first time I started feeling the effects of low oxygen levels at these heights. I was breathing heavily in spite of being idle. Even riding the bike on bumpy roads was too tedious.






One thing I must say here. I salute the brave and dedicated BRO (Border Roads Org) men and women for working so hard to connect this wonderland to the rest of the world. It is so difficult to even walk in these heights with such low levels of oxygen, but these guys work for days and days altogether. If there is a landslide or any other road blocks, these guys are on the spot within minutes. BRO is truly a pride of this nation.




Within no time we reached Darcha. As I said earlier, after keylong there is no proper town. So whenever we reach a place following milestones, it has only a handful of tents serving some light food. Darcha too had a few tents. We settled in one of the tents for some brunch.


The place where the few tents are located before the bridge is Darcha.



For the first time we tried one of the Tibetan delicacy, Thukpa. It was more like a chicken man chow soup in our world.
Whenever we stop for refreshment, we were always slow and relaxed as if we had all the time in the world and end up driving late in the night to make up for the time loss and most of the time would way before our planned destination. Trust me almost by now I had confirmed that I would not be able to make it back to my office in time. Lol… who cares.
After about an hour we started to ride forward. But before we could move any further the bridge that you see in the above picture in front of the tents was broken and it was being repaired. We didn’t want to wait any longer, so we decided to get our feet wet. We got down and crossed the river with our bikes.


After a while, bang in the middle of nowhere we saw this.



Really, quite a reality check. Apart from the awe and fun we had riding and living in these roads, one should not forget these are dangerous terrains and one wrong move can send you tumbling hundreds of feet down. I heard from a truck driver later in the day that all the passengers in the car that you see in the picture were dead.
With a new found caution, I rode ahead.



You can guess the state of the roads beyond this point from the above picture.



I saw this guy along with his horses coming from the opposite direction. I was wondering what these guys do in the middle of nowhere. I struck a conversation with him to know more. Well, apparently he was returning from Leh. What??? All the way from Leh?? That’s nearly 400 kms from this place. Yes. They are nomads. During the tourist season they go to Leh to do some business and during the winter they come back to low lying areas. Most of the people in the region earn during the summer time, buy tons and tons of food materials and vegetables and stack them up in their houses for the winter.





Well, after riding for a few more minutes, then came there moment that I had been waiting so long. The first touch of the white beauty, I rolled her between my palms and tossed her high above… well I was talking about the snow. What did you think?









Another wish fulfilled, and another dream realized. As I said earlier, Life was BEAutiful.
From a long distance, I had been seeing milestones for Barlachala. I thought it could be another place like Darcha, for some refreshment. But when we got there, this is what I found.



Absolutely nothing, except for the small temple that you see in the picture above. May be the milestones were for the awesome view that this place has got.



It was nearly 5:00p.m when we reached Sarchu. Another small place with a few tents.



We met two more riders at Sarchu. They both were riding on one CBZ. We had small chat and they convinced us that we can’t reach Pang which is another 70 odd kms from here. So we decided to stay here for the night. Ram suggested we put our tents which we have been carrying with great difficulty to use for the first time. That led to another perfect picture below.



I had one of my scariest nights ever on the tent that day. First it was freezing and we had no idea if the tent will hold on to the heavy cold winds, in fact we had no idea if we could hold on in these conditions. Anyways we were ready for the plunge and dug into the tents. It was pretty spacious on the inside though. We made ourselves comfortable and went to sleep. Sometime during the nights the dogs started barking near our tent. I could see the shadows of the dogs on the tent cloth just like how you see the shadow on the wall of a villain with a knife approaching a beautiful heroine. Well the dogs seem to be the villain here. But we are certainly not the heroines. But you may call us the Heroes, but little scared heroes at this point of time. They continued barking around for a few minutes and thank goodness they went away. Probably they could not find a way inside as a tent would look the same from all directions.
The heavy breathing was still troubling me and by now even my heart started to ache. We had a couple of tablets for these conditions. Took one of those and went to sleep with the hope of having another beautiful day tomorrow.


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Ananz

Sunday, 27th September, 2009 – DAY 6 – Sarchu to Leh.

We had an unexpected guest in the morning. Apparently our tent was a little less spacious for him so we couldn’t invite him in.



I was pretty excited before the ride today. There were just too many exciting places en route today. The Gata loops, Moore plains, Taglang La (2nd highest motorable road in the world): all in a day’s ride.

Bike – Check, Baggage knots – Check, Riding Gear – Check and Vroom!!!



Within minutes we hit Gata Loops.



Mouth watering isn’t it. Gata loops didn’t disappoint. It was a pleasure riding those curves. Notice the dirt tracks that crisscross the loops in the below picture. Some people seem to have had a lot of fun and I didn’t want to be left behind I took one of those routes and with great difficulty made it across. I just didn’t realize those tracks may not exactly made for a 180 cc. But somehow my 1st gear managed to hold on just enough for me to cross it. Damn! I badly wanted Ram to capture my attempt and he was nowhere to be seen.



I paused too long on the way for snaps and Ram had pulled far ahead of me. For nearly 45 mins I didn’t find him. The deal between us was not to go too far ahead of each other, because of which I used to pause every 15 to 20 minutes for him to catch up with me throughout the trip. Obviously I was a little pissed off and a little scared as well since just minutes before I saw the remains of a truck lying deep below the canyon. I was getting more worried as for a few more minutes I could not spot him.
And suddenly I saw him coming down a similar dirt track which crisscrosses the road, pushing his bike with a truck driver helping him. He was completely covered in dust and his bags were scattered around. Well, the obvious has happened. He has tried climbing one of those dirt paths which I climbed before. He almost made it but before he could finish it his RTR’s 1st gear failed him and he fell down. A truck driver who was passing by helped him pick up the bike before I could reach the spot.
Only this time I was not really amused. Few minutes before I was planning to give him a nice bashing for pulling ahead so far but now I was more than glad just to see him all right after the fall. Finally we did laugh about it when he said that the first thing he did after falling down was to take out his mobile and click a picture (below). Lol… one crazy guy… a perfect company for the trip like thisJ.





One thing was quite striking throughout the route. BRO guys seem to have an eye for wacky yet sensible advices. BRO perhaps would be the first open minded organization of our country.



Keep watching…. More to come.


Slowly and steadily earth land was turning into moon land. See the picture below and you would know how. All signs of vegetation and civilization were gone now. It was just two amateur riders in a barren landscape. There was so much dust on us and the bike that from a distance it was pretty difficult to distinguish us from the background.



We reached Pang now. We stopped here for brunch. My heart started aching even more and the breathing became even more erratic. Even a small task like getting down from the bike would hurt my heart. I was told there was a small Military camp – World’s Highest Training camp at Pang. After our brunch I went to the camp for some oxygen as they would have stocks of oxygen cylinders. But the Doctor was not available there and the soldiers advised me that the best remedy for this is to get out of this place as soon as possible. I thought to myself; that’s not going to happen any time sooner as we still have Moore plains and Taglang la to cross which are much higher than Pang. Anyways we rode on.


Beautiful

After a while i noticed a small peak which could be scaled with my bike. I sensed an opportunity for history in the making here J and I jumped on it.









Probably I’m the first one to scale this peak… probably I said. Well that was a nice moment.

Within few minutes… we hit it… finally I got to see the unbelievable Moore plains. Vast plains bang in the middle of the Himalayas. There was a road in one corner of the plain but the vehicles were all having fun making their own roads at will. Yeah you guessed, we skipped the road as well.



I could see at the far end two trucks racing each other kicking out a hurricane of dust behind them. Worst part they were approaching towards us. I was pretty far from my bike clicking snaps which made it difficult to get out of their way soon enough. Within minutes they crossed us and I was engulfed by a dust storm. Hoof. Absolutely nothing was visible and it took nearly a minute for the dust to clear off.





The plains were much bigger than what it may seem from the pictures above and it took more than 30 minutes to crossover.

Next Stop; Taglang La.

The Road to Taglang La was very very disorienting. Long pathways with absolutely no roads, no vegetation, no people around. We were riding alone for a long time with the sun shining on our face and at the same time the cold freezing our fingers. No matter how much distance we cover the landscape looked the same as if we haven’t moved. The peak was nowhere to be seen. The only thing that kept me going was the thought that I’m on my way to the Second Highest Roadways in the world on a Motorcycle. For hours I didn’t think of anything else. I was ready to experience all this hardship, after all a hard earned victory is the most satisfyingJ.





In the middle of nowhere I spotted this shepherd in the pic below watching over his sheep. I had no idea how people live in a place like this. He asked me if I had any cigarette. Both of us are non smokers and so I could not offer what he wanted. He asked me some water, I gave him my bottle and to my surprise he kept the bottle to himself. Lol…It was too dry and I was really thirsty. Luckily Ram reached me just then and I borrowed some water from him.




Ram was way too tired and was way too de motivated because of the ordeal. I kept telling him “Just think of what lies on the other side of this rocky mountain. Few more minutes and we have one more thing to add in the list that makes our life worth living.” And I also lied to him that we can have some refreshment and rest once we reach Taglang La. It was a lie because I knew absolutely nothing will be available there.

And finally, by around 4p.m here we are… Taglang La Conquered





Don’t get misled by the sun shine you’re seeing in this place. It was damn freezing. Well by now Ram figured out that absolutely nothing was here, but he was quite thankful to me for the lieJ. We met two foreign cyclists who have cycled all the way up here. Wow. If riding a bike in these terrains was difficult, I don’t know what you would say about riding a cycle. Kudos to them.

After rejoicing our achievement for a while we rode ahead. The roads were horrible for some distance but soon, it became a Paradise. One of the best stretches of road I have seen on the entire trip, and I was told it stretched all the way till Leh. Nothing could stop me now. I vroomed ahead.
Finally there was some tent houses at Rumste, next town after Taglang La. We stopped there for some rest.



To our surprise, the cyclists were not far behind. The downhill ride to Rumste and the good stretch of roads helped them catch up with us.

It was already 5:30p.m and Leh was another 90 kms from here. With these roads we can reach Leh within no time.



En route I saw this Red Hills. No idea why the soil and rock looked red on them.
Within some time we reached Upshi, another town nearly 40 kms ahead of Leh.



Another one hour, we reached Leh. Finally, the first leg of the trip has come to an end. It was a sense of accomplishment, pride, happiness to have come this far and yet still more excited and thrilled to think of what more is installed for us in the coming few days. Adding to that, I did all this along with one of my best buddies, Ram. It just couldn’t get any better.
So again Youth Hostel for the night. Tomorrow is a rest day at Leh. So no need to wake up early. What?? I can read what you’re thinking. Waking up at 8 or 9 is still early for us. In fact, except for Sarchu, we never managed to start the ride before 10:00a.m. He he. That’s what happens when two lazy bums go on an Epic Road Trip.





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Ananz

Monday, 28th September, 2009 – DAY 7 – Rest at Leh

So where were we? Yup. Just got Leh’d. Today was a buffer day at Leh, so not much travelling to do. We got up pretty late in the morning and decided to visit a few monasteries in and around Leh.
First Stop : The Dalai Lama palace, situated at a few kilometers from Leh.





Inside Dalai Lama Palace













Just outside the Palace, we saw a beautiful line of stupas.









Then we headed to the Shey Palace.




This palace had a beautiful 3 storey high statue of Buddha.





Then we headed to the Hemis Monastery, the largest Monastert in the Ladakh Region.










It was already getting dark and we were 45 kms away from Leh. We tried in vain to get back to Leh in time for the Leh Palace. Been to Leh and missed the Leh Palace. Doesn’t sound good isn’t it. That’s alright. There’s always a next time.
We spent some time in the Leh bazaar, settled down for dinner at a restaurant and headed back to the Hotel. In the Bazaar we inquired about Khardung La from quite a few people and all of them said the one does not require a permit to reach Khardung La. Only beyond Khardung La to Nubra valley the permit is required. So to save time, we decided to the skip the visit to the permit office the next day morning.

Before I close the day, didn't I give you heads up about the wacky lines of BRO. Well they were all around leh. Take a look.











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Ananz

Tuesday, 29th September, 2009 – DAY 8 – Khardung La, Mulbekh


Another D-Day. Today we will be conquering the highest motorable road in the world. Excited? Yes. But a little disappointed as well. Due to the time crunch we had to miss Pangong Tso Lake and Nubra Valley. This was a big blow to me. I was really waiting to make it to the lake and camp there. But I consoled myself for having one more reason to make it to Leh another time.
We started our ride to Khardung La at about 8:30 in the morning. We left the luggage back at the hotel and it felt really light to travel without all those bulky baggage behind you.



As usual, we had long photography breaks in between.






Khardung la was not as difficult as Tanglang La. The roads were also much better. But this may not also be true as for Khradung la, we were travelling light and fresh.



Leh is at an altitude of around 11,000 feet above sea level, while Khardung La which is 40 kms from Leh, is around 18,000 ft. Throughout the route one can feel the increase in altitude rapidly.

On the way, the guy from a check post stopped us and asked for the permit. I told him that many of the locals said that we do not require a permit to Khardung la. But he doesn’t seem to agree. He showed the permit letters of others and Khardung La was clearly mentioned in it. Damn! Skipping the visit to the permit office turned out to be a bad gamble. After nearly 15 minutes of negotiation, the guy agreed to take our pan card and driving license as proofs and decided to let us through.

Phew. But that didn’t spoil the excitement and the rush. We rode on and on and after a couple of hours, our mission was accomplished.




We met a Kiwi friend enroute and he also reached Khardung La almost at the same time.



We decided we’ll do something different at the highest pass and that thought led to Golf. Ram brought his mini golf kit and thus we had our record breaking attempt. Are the Guinness people watching?






Then came the funniest part for me and the saddest part for Ram. Our new found Kiwi friend also wanted to share the record and gave it a try. We forgot to tell him that this is not a proper metal putter. This is an executive mini golf putter made of wood. Apparently he didn’t notice that and swung hard to hit the snow ball. The ball did go high but along with it the bottom part of the putter flew. That’s 6000 bucks gone with the wind. Lol… you should see the look in Ram’s face. Poor guy.

Some rest, few snaps and we started our ride back to the hotel.



By around 2 P.M we were back in our hotel at Leh and we quickly got ready to leave Leh. Clock was against us as we planned to reach Kargil by today. And thus began our second leg of the journey from Leh back to Delhi Through Srinagar and Amristar.



I managed to click some beautiful scenery before the sun went down enroute Kargil. Soon it was dark and we were riding all alone on the muddy road to Kargil. We didn’t stop much on the way to save some time, but seemed to be not enough to reach Kargil. By the time we reached Mulbekh we were worn out and so decided to call it a day.
We stopped at the J&K tourism guest house at Mulbekh which was a pretty decent option for 300 bucks a night.






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