Hey, great log & breathtaking pics. I am hooked to this thread right from the day this started. Really, great achievement Ketan, Sahich re mitra. Waiting for the rest.

Haha.. Yeah man. It was fun...!

Thanks a lot guys!

LOL..those camels were in deed DIRTY
Next time sath mein jayenge Even we couldn't visit places like Turtuk, Panamik etc.

Thank you Amit saheb. Will update soon.....

Regarding Permits

Ketan can you explain me abt the Permits??
how many permits needed? where from we can get?
i expect detailed information abt required permits..

That's just one of his ride(s) that been published in the media

Balaji, I will PM you all the details I know about permits.

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‪Chang La pass, 17,586 feet - Part 1‬‏ - YouTube

Bike Service!

Ketan i wanted to ask regarding bike service!
how many times you service you bike entire journey? where from you got serviced you bike? did you planned for you bike service?

I didn't service my during the journey, proper service i.e. Only cleaned the air filter twice, first at Srinagar and then at Leh. No oil change, nothing! Lubed the chain only once during the entire journey i.e at Drass.

Mandar got his bike serviced at Leh(oil change, air filter clean up, chain lubrication etc.)

Yeah! His BunBurner 2500K ride also been published in the same news paper 'Sakal'. Ketan, please correct me if I am wrong..

Yes Lalit, you are right.

‪Chang La pass, 17,586 feet Part 2‬‏ - YouTube

Day 11: Diskit - Khardung La - Leh

On Day 10, we had informed hotel owner that we'll be leaving early the next day so that she could prepare breakfast on time. She said not a problem. She anyway wakes up at 5 in the morning, even on holidays.

Cell phone alarm woke us up and we quickly started wrapping up all the stuff. As usual I woke up first, got ready by packing bags and went downstairs for breakfast. I had my breakfast while Mandar was busy getting fresh. Breakfast included Ladakhi bread(that's what she said, it's their local bread), tea, butter and Jam.



By the time I finished by breakfast, Mandar came down with his luggage. There was a beautiful garden in the hotel verandah and most of the trees had blossomed. I used the free time to click some pics in the garden.















That's the hotel building


We thanked the lady for the hospitality after completing the check-out formalities. We left the place with a big 'Juley'..!

Road was familiar and hence we had no trouble cruising at high speeds. I was tad faster than Mandar as he preferred riding at moderate speeds. When I reached this particular spot, it reminded me of our optional plan - the Agham Shakti route. I couldn't resist stopping and clicking a pic here. Even Mandar could catch up with me that way.



From this place onwards we road non stop till North pullu. We stopped once again at the restaurant but this time not for having food but to use it's toilet That particular restaurant has a properly built up toilet. One has to pay Rs. 5/- to use it. Temperature was quite low and using that ice cold water was really painful But there was another advantage of this break. Our bikes got the deserved rest before climbing the worst section of Khardung la, from North Pullu to K Top. Surprisingly no one was there to check our permits. So after the break we carried on towards K-Top. We realized that ascending this section was easier than what we experienced while descending the previous day. We were on top of the world once again by 11.15 am, 3 hours after leaving Diskit.

K-top was comparatively less crowded but much much colder than the previous day. We carefully parked our bikes and climbed on the wall. I had picked up a nice wooden stick at North pullu to use it for the flag. Families went crazy after seeing the national flag and everyone asked us to give them the flag for photograph, especially those families with kids. We couldn't deny and they took lot of time posing with it. I asked each n everyone of them to be careful with the flag and not to disrespect it. Finally everyone was done and we got the chance to fulfill my dream - to get a photograph with national flag at the top of the world! That was something really special!







Taking the gloves off to click pictures was very difficult as it was extremely cold up there. We could experience snow fall there. Not much, just a little bit. This time, without fail we went to the souvenir shop. But again we were disappointed. All the souvenirs were out of stock except some t-shirts which we didn't like. Mandar and I really really wanted those coffee mugs but we had no choice. We even spoke to the army officer who runs the shop. He said it's been 3-4 days since the items are out of stock. We asked him if he can courier the mugs to our Mumbai address once the stock arrives. If not Mumbai address then at least the Leh hotel address. But nothing worked and we had to leave the place with slight disappointment.

Ride on the other side of K-Top was comparatively easier. Moderate speeds till South Pullu and then rip fest all the way till the base. I waited for around 10-12 minutes for Mandar to catch up at the base. Mr. Raj Kumar had reserved the same room for us at Hotel Dreamland. We had reached our day's destination well in time. So we took some rest, got fresh and went out for a walk in Leh market. We searched plenty of electronic shops to find a charging cable for Mandar's camera. We had already missed recorded some beautiful landscapes and roads. We searched a lot but could not find the original or even a duplicate cable. Finally at one shop we got this universal battery charger called as Magic charger with disco lights in it. Heck, we cares. It was doing the job and that's what we wanted. It cost us Rs. 150/-

We then got back to the hotel and sat at the reception watching TV. Receptionist was watching the movie Taqdeerwala WTF!

Later in the night, we left all the electronic devices in the room for charging and went out for dinner. We had dinner at the same North Indian restaurant where we had food on Day 9. Finally we came back to hotel and discussed few things. The Manali - Leh highway, the spiti plan etc. Made a few phone calls inquiring about the condition of Manali - Leh highway and the closed Spiti route. Day ended as we fell asleep late in the night.

Day 12: Leh - Pangong Tso
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Good goin bro...the feeling of achieving somehting that we have always craved for cannot be expressed in words....

btw when you returned back to mumbai, did u get adjusted to the weather change...

Awesome trip log Ketan. Congratulations on completing the dream journey. Have recently joined the community and guess will stay here for long.

I had a question: what was the average speed when ascending and descending Khardungla.

ketan sir nicely written log. Eagerly waiting for next part...

Thanks a lot. There wasn't any problem with weather acclimatization. We returned via Manali highway and till Rohtang pass weather was pretty cold but as you go southwards towards Mandi and later Delhi, climate gradually becomes hot. But the change is not so sudden to be worried about.

Thanks Pratesh and welcome to xBhp

I can't exactly comment on average speed because it totally depends on road condition. As I mentioned road from K-top to North Pullu & South Pullu are in bad condition so speed used to be pretty slow, not just to avoid a fall but to avoid tire punctures and cone set damage. Beyond those points roads are in good condition so one can maintain decent cruising speeds but one has to be extremely careful. Because unlike ghats in Maharashtra or other states there is not safety barricade in Ladakh. So one slight mistake at high/moderate speed and you can easily end up in several thousand feet deep valley.

Bhagwaan ji ka ashirwad aur Lonely rider ki kripra... Bas isi pe sab chal raha hai ji..

Part 1 & 2 of on-board videos recorded during descending Gata loops on Manali Leh highway, Ladakh. Gata loops is a sequence of 21 hair pin turns - loops that bring you down from 15,302 ft to 13,780 ft. Enjoy the riding and the music ;-)