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**Sunny** · 10-14-2009, 06:04 AM

Topic Approved

Aahh!

**sherry_unicornlover** · 10-14-2009, 08:20 AM

Awesome teaser.
Waiting for the complete ride report.

**chicane1879** · 10-14-2009, 08:59 AM

Wow...Finally its up.

Keep em flowing.Waiting for the full extravaganza!!

**samschenker** · 10-14-2009, 10:54 AM

awesome teaser praful.....
waiting for the next update....10.5 hrs & counting......

**niks_devil666** · 10-14-2009, 10:59 AM

hmm , U have been teasing with pics on fb too , come now , chop chop , post the pics and logs

**tourer_kashif** · 10-14-2009, 11:20 AM

Wow Praful !!!

Nice to see that you did Ladakh.

**ketan_r15** · 10-14-2009, 11:39 AM

Awesome awesome..
Mera number kam ayega..

I so wanna go to Ladakh.. but I can't...

Waiting for the rest of the pics and details..

**burnoutz** · 10-14-2009, 12:26 PM

wow ! I loved the caption there ! waiting for more !

**archistar** · 10-14-2009, 12:38 PM

So finally the thread is up.... gr8

the teaser one is super.
And you already have taken your time so bring all ASAP

**Praful** · 10-14-2009, 12:57 PM

Apologies solicited!

You guys can kill my manager, he's assigned me some top priority tasks.

So the 12 hours wait might turn into a 18 hours wat

**vas** · 10-14-2009, 01:02 PM

Originally posted by prafultripathy View Post

manager, 18 hours

**yatishankar** · 10-14-2009, 05:46 PM

Praful sir, this is absolutely stunning.....eagerly waiting for ur log....

congrats again for what you all have achieved.....

Bring it on sir jee...fast

**Praful** · 10-14-2009, 07:50 PM

Previous Navigation:

0. Teaser

Prologue

The Beginning: It was the winter of 06, and I was staring in disbelief at my computer terminal. I was looking at pictures from a travelogue to Ladakh, and the beauty captured in the pictures had me staring at my computer screen for most part of my not so productive work day. Never before I knew that hills of Ladakh are motor able let alone beautiful. To me it was just a scraggy mountain side to which only the natives and the Indian Army had access to.

It was from that moment on, I knew that have to ride there someday. And thus began the itch with no cure, the itch to ‘Ride to Ladakh’. Since that day on I would jump to gulp down any Ladakh travelogue that I came across, such was deep rooted interest in being there that by the end one year I had almost memorized all names of places and objects of interest in the areas surrounding it. The year 2007 was a turning point; I had finally got myself a bike in November and was already planning my ride to the mountains, but it was another year lost since my quest for Ladakh began. 2008 did not turn out to be any different, a mix of personal and official commitments meant me not being able to take time during the ‘season’ that roads were open, and thus I saw another year just fly by me with my dream still just remaining a dream.

Then came 2009, I knew at the start of this year that this was going to be the year I will convert my dream into reality. And with a stroke of luck my good old biking pals from Chennai were planning the same thing. With things looking up for us, we started planning things full steam ahead. But Murphy’s Law had to show its ugly face, my life personally had fallen into disarray due to a multitude of things and I had to put myself on hold for the trip. As the days passed things went from bad to worse and I had lost all hope of making it to Ladakh. With a heavy heart I had to withdraw myself from the ride and had given up all hope visiting my dream destination even this year.

And thus my friends left to get “Leh’d”, a few days into their ride one of them calls me up just to give an update about where they were and what all had seen and felt till then. A few things changed for me in those few minutes that I spoke to my friend. For one, I decided that personal chaos be damned, I just have to ride to Ladakh this year. I presented my idea of Ladakh to Pranay & Veda, and they immediately agreed. Good for me, it was a second chance at getting “Leh’d”. But it was not to be, soon enough the sadistic Mr. Murphy peeped in once again, and this time in the form of a mandatory 1 week shut down of the company in the month of August. This meant one thing and one thing alone, I do not get my two weeks leave for the month of September. For the second time again, I had to call of the Ladakh ride only to be rescued by another fellow biker who wanted to go to Ladakh in the time period of my company was to shutdown. Things fell into place and I was back to planning and executing mode, by now I was used to the necessary checklists, etc that would be created for planning a ride of this scale. Oh don’t get happy just yet, Murphy’s law came into place yet again and this time the form of family commitments which led to canceling my third Ladakh plan of the year.

By this time I was convinced that ‘Ladakh’ and ‘Me’ can fit in one sentence only if the word ‘Jinx’ fits in it. I will cut a long story short and just say that I revived my old plan with Pranay & Veda. Only difference this time around was that the planning and execution required was minimal as I had already done most of spade work.

The Preparations: As mentioned before the preparations were minimal, we just had two areas of focus i.e. bikes & protection from the weather. We carried the basic spares and since the three bikes were the same basic bike most spares and tools could be shared across. We had the route plan in place, a basic idea of the places to stop over for the night, approximate fuel stops and burning desire to ride in the mountains.

The Start: We were transporting our bikes, saddle bags, riding gear via train. Three days before our scheduled departure, all these items were nicely packed up and loaded onto the train. There was huge mess at my house where in I was frantically trying to pack everything, trying not to forget anything important.

The mess that was wrapped into one little saddle bag

I have a tendency to pack more than necessary, I am not sure if it’s a good thing or not. But I throughout the trip I did not fall short of anything that I needed.

With the bikes and additional luggage shipped out to Delhi, all I had to do was twiddle my thumbs for the next two days till the time I got onto the Bangalore – Delhi non-stop flight.

And hence the Journey begins….

Next Navigation:-

2. The Riders
3. Day (-2) & Day (-1)
4. Day 1 : Delhi - Amritsar
5. Day 2 : Amritsar - Jammu
6. Day 3 : Jammu - Srinagar
7. Day 4 : Srinagar - Drass
8. Day 5 : Drass - Leh
9. Day 6 : Leh
10. Day 7 : Leh-Diskit
11. Day 8 : Diskit-Panamik-Leh
12. Day 9 : Leh-Pangong Tso
13. Day 10 : Pangong Tso - Marismek La - Leh

**Aparajith** · 10-14-2009, 08:01 PM

Bring 'em on buddy. It just seems like yesterday that we were standing at Tanglang-La sulking, feeling dizzy and drained on that cold barren landscape! Ah, those good memories......

Finally u did it!!

Originally posted by prafultripathy View Post

I have a tendency to pack more than necessary, I am not sure if it’s a good thing or not.

Well, ur not alone!

When I saw ur bike with that saddlebag+trekking bag stacked on the rear with a backpack on u, I just cud not stop laughing!!!

Announcement

Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...

Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...

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