^^ Awesome Write up Ketan Bhai and very nice pics...

Keep them coming..

Ketan,
Wonderful log! Thanks for your effort in posting all the wonderful events. Keep it up. I'll be waiting and reading impatiently till you finish your log.
Henry

videos and videos and videos!! That's all I would like to leave as a humble comment!

PS: Its awesome buddy, Hats off!

Nope, it was not planned at all. Our initial plan was to stay in Srinagar and visit Pahalgam, Gulmarg etc on next day.

Thanks a lot guys!

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YouTube - ‪The Incredibly Beautiful Pangong Tso‬‏

haven,t read the entire travelogue, but the few pages i read tonite was really nice.i have this dream of going leh ladakah someday .
All this trip logs that i read on xbhp make me realize my life is so boring ..

Congrats on completing the dream ride successfully!!! Waiting for the complete logs and pics

Ketan Bhau!

Awesome Pics and superb log! Waiting for more!

Thanks. I am sure your dream will come true very soon! Good luck!

Thanks a lot Manoj and Lalit bhau(). Will try to upload day 6 log by tonight.

The Video 'The Incredibly Beautiful Pangong Tso' itself speaks a lot about the trip and how beautiful the journey was. Hoping to go there soon

Excellent log ketan. I am always waiting for logs to come tourer forum.
Congrats on every achivement in your signature.
I always had i question that some where u and biru are connected, i havnt met u or him but his and ur logs r very nicely written and pictured the nature well. Even i have noticed dat u guys have a very bike reg.
Great salute to u and family members for allowing u for such nice trips. Its really difficult to convince them for a day ride.
Congrats..
Keep it coming for years together..

Yes Noor. It was an amazing experience!

Thanks a lot man. I have got the privileged of going on some rides with Biru, the one and only ultimate tourer of xBhp . That's the only connection we have. Warna Bidu ji kaha aur hum kaha... JK..!

Thanks for your wishes and hey, let's meet up someday
Ride safe!

Superb stuff Ketan. Loved the log, beautiful pictures and incredibly amazing Video's. Keep it pouring, I'm loving it!

Day 6: Pahalgam Sightseeing and Srinagar.Betaab Valley"Chandanwadi" is the starting point of the Amarnath Yatra, which takes place every year in the month of Sawan (Rain).

"Aru" is basically a vast grassland that is surrounded by a narrow valley on one side offering a Beautiful view of Conifer spread mountains, snow covered peaks.

Betaab valley is on the way to Chandanwadi and one can enjoy the view from the hill or ride all the way down to the base, near the water stream. When we visited the place, roads towards Chandanwadi were mostly in good condition and there was construction going on at some places. The place is so beautiful that you feel like stopping every 100 meters for photographs. Unfortunately we could not go all the way till Chandanwadi due to a landslide on the way. It had happened just before reached the spot and BRO workers had started clearing the road. But it was a time consuming task as the landslide was pretty big. There was already a long queue of cars taking devotees to Chandanwadi. We had no choice but to head back.

Unfortunately, Mandar had the first crash of the journey, on the way to Betaab valley. There was a hairpin turn and I was following Mandar's bike. I don't know what exactly went wrong, may be gravel on the road or something, but he crashed all of sudden while negotiating the hairpin turn. Bike fell on it's left side and his left hand glove got stuck in clutch lever while the weight of the bike was on his left leg. He could not make himself free and was trying desperately to at least free his hand. I immediately stopped my bike at a safe spot and rushed to free him. I lifted the bike with my hands and he got free from it. He sat on a rock by the side of the road and checked his hand and leg while I picked up the bike to park it next to my bike. There wasn't any damage to the bike and the biker as the crash happened at speed as low as 15-20 Kmph.

I'll let the pics do the talking......

On the way to Chandanwadi














The point from where we turned back due to Landslide


View from the above point


We had already crossed an obstacle of huge rocks and stones by riding our bikes on the sheer edge of the road but there was no road beyond this point. Totally blocked by the landslide


Beautiful Betaab Valley












YouTube - ‪Beautiful Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.‬‏

We then rode back all the way to our hotel and continued the ride in opposite direction towards Aru. Road to Aru is pretty narrow and goes through a wild life sanctuary. There were a lot of BSF officers posted all along the way to Aru. A lot of treks start in different directions from Aru but we could not do so due to shortage of time. So for us it was a quick visit to Aru, to enjoy the amazingly beautiful views on the way to Aru. Let the pics roll in..

en route Aru




View of snow covered mountain top from Aru




Dream Home










Above pic was the last pic that we clicked before rushing back to hotel as we were getting late. We also wanted to get our bikes checked at respective service stations, especially my bike as I was experiencing some loss in bike's pick up and torque. Guys at the hotel were waiting for us as we had already crossed the check out time. But they were quite friendly, being of the same age, didn't charge anything extra. We hurriedly packed our bags and left the place after thanking them for their amazing hospitality. They gave us their card and contact number to stay in touch. and trust me guys, one of them actually called us to check if things are going good or not when we were at Drass. Very nice people. At this moment I don't recollect the name of the hotel but am sure Mandar has their card. I'll post the name and contact number. If any of you visit Pahalgam, I'll definitely recommend you to stay in this hotel. You can give them our reference as 'two army officers from Mumbai'

The ride back to Anantnag was nice and swift. It was better than the night ride on the previous night as this time we could enjoy all the views and especially the raging river that runs alongside you for a long time. we did not have much food since morning that day and we decided to stop at a good restaurant after Anantnag. Mandar was following me and I was riding slow to keep an on the shops, in search of a restaurant. I saw a restaurant and hence stopped my bike. By the time I looked behind for Mandar, he was already alongside me and as he braked to stop, his bike's front tire skidded and he crashed for the second time. Again it was a slow speed crash hence no major damage to Mandar but this time bike's clutch lever had broken and the left hand side RVM had loosened due to impact.

Thankfully, Mandar had carried extra pair of levers. We got it fixed as well the mirror tightened at a near by mechanic. We lost more than 30-40 mins in this process and finally moved on. A few kms ahead we stopped to buy water for us and couple of guys standing on the road pointed towards my bike's rear tire. There was a 2-3 inch long bent iron nail in the rear tire . Damn, then began the search for a tire repairer. Since the nail was still there in the tire, it didn't leak air and we could carry on. We found a tire repairer some Kms before Srinagar and got the puncture repaired. He checked both the tires thoroughly for signs of puncture but everything was fine. But again this whole process took a lot of time and we were getting late.

Finally after reaching Srinagar, we tanked up our bikes, checked air pressure once again and moved on towards Dal gate. We had 2 options for accommodation in Srinagar - 1) Hotel Peace Palace as suggested by Vishwas sir and 2) guest houses in Srinagar 'basti'(as they call it) via Dal gate. We decided to give it a try and headed towards Dal gate. We could not find a decent accommodation under our budget and hence took a U - turn to go to Hotel Peace Palace. That's when I saw a local boy riding his Yamaha Fazer. I asked him for directions to the near by Yamaha SVC. It was a few kms away from that point so Mandar and I decided to go to SVC first and then to the hotel. The name of the SVC was Haneef Yamaha. When I told them I've ridden my Yamaha all the way from Mumbai and that we are going to Ladakh, they were totally awestruck. They gave us and my bike royal treatment. In fact they ordered Coke for us and I was charged only Rs. 100 for a lot of work that they did. They checked the oil level, cleaned the air filter, checked the brake pad condition, tightened all the screws and nut bolts, inspected the rear suspension etc. Mandar wanted to buy an extra clutch lever and that's why one of the SVC guys accompanied him to the nearest shop. They were really really some nice people and I can't thank them enough for their hospitality. They even called up a few hotels to find accommodation for us. But we had already decided to stay at Hotel Peace Palace. Before leaving we all posed for a photograph, together.



Vishwas sir had given us detailed address and contact number of Hotel Peace Palace and hence we didn't find it difficult to locate the hotel. The hotel attendant recognized Vishwas sir and we got a beautiful room at affordable rates. Thank you Sir

We then got fresh and went out on my bike just to roam around in Srinagar. Streets around Dal lake were extremely crowded and jam packed with bumper to bumper traffic. We did not take the risk of entering into the traffic.


We then roamed around for sometime and returned to the hotel area. Had dinner at a restaurant near the hotel before going back. Finally an eventful day had come to an end and we soon fell asleep.

Day 7: Srinagar - Drass

Awesome pics and beautiful narration, Ketan.

Keep it coming, I've already alloted a tab of my browser to this thread from the day you started narrating

Anyways, I'd love to see some pics of your cam mount with some detail if you don't mind. And it will be good if I get that in 2-3 days as I am planning to ride towards Manali in coming days though the dates are not decided due to busy schedule of the fellow rider. Thanks in advance

Thanks Garry. I'll pm you some pics of the camera mount
Good luck for your ride! Ride safe and have fun