Congrats to both of u..

congrats to all the leh riders... nice teasers... waiting for the travelogue...

Congrats to you all.., waiting for Trip log make it soon guys

Thanks a lot guys...

Sorry to keep you guys waiting - I am drafting a travelogue for each day ,please bear with me .

In the mean time these are some statistics:

Riders Ride
Sanjoy Banerjee -CBZ Xtreme
Rajesh R -Pulsar 180
Lijo K -Apache 180
Sreejth -Honda Dazzler
Anand S -Avenger 220

Total Kms covered ~3800 km
Started 1st Sept Morning
End 19th Sept Morning
Breakup:

Delhi - Amritsar - Udhampur - Srinagar (3 days)

Srinagar - Kargil (1 day)
Srinagar - Sonamarg (85 kms),Sonamarg - Drass (62 kms),Drass - Kargil (58 kms)
Distance: 205 kms
Staying at Kargil

Kargil - Suru & Zanskar Valley - Kargil (3 days)
Kargil – Panikhar (Suru Valley) (68 kms),Panikhar – Rangdum (Suru Valley) (62 kms),Rangdum – Pensi La (Zanskar Valley) (25km)
Distance : 310 km round trip
Staying at Kargil & Rangdum

Kargil - Leh (1 day)
Kargil - Lamayuru (110 kms),Lamayuru - Leh (125 kms)
Distance: 235kms
Staying at Kargil&Leh

Stay at Leh and look for permits and nearby(1 day)

Leh – Khardung La – Nubra Valley - LEh (2 days)
Leh – Phyang – Khardung La (40 kms),Khardung La – Khalsar (58 kms),Khalsar – Diskit (20 kms),Diskit – Hunder (8 kms),Hunder – Sumur (40 kms),
Sumur – Panamik (20 kms),
Distance: 375 km round trip covering Diskit, Hunder, Sumur and Panamik.
Staying at Leh & Diskit

Leh – Pangong Tso - Marsimek La- Leh (3 days)
Leh – Karu (45 kms),Karu – Chang La (35 kms),Chang La – Tanksey (58 kms),Tanksey – Spangmik (Pangong Tso) (32 kms),Spangmik – Marsimek La (42 kms)
Distance: 170kms (340 round trip)
Staying at LEh & Spangmik

Leh – Tso Moriri - Sarchu ( 2days)
Leh – Upshi (55 kms),Upshi – Chumathang (95 kms),Chumathang – Tso Moriri (Korzok) (60kms),
Tso Moriri (Korzok) – Tso Kar, Tso Kar - Moore Plains , Moore Plains - Sarchu
Distance: 210 kms + 155+ kms
Staying at Korzok & Sarchu

Sarchu - Manali ( 1 days)
Sarchu - Darcha (84kms),Darcha - Keylong (28kms),Keylong - Tandi (9kms),Tandi - Kokhsar (38kms),Kokhsar - Rohtang La (19kms), Rohtang La - Manali (52kms)
Distance ( 230kms )
Staying at Manali

Manali - Delhi ( 1 day)

One teaser

congrats and well done.may be tour report on xbhp would be great.

@All - thanks for all your wishes. I will put up my travelogue also in this same thread.
Lijo, Anand ,Sreejith , Rajesh - Kindly feel free to add or correct anything tht you feel like.

I was planning to do a Leh trip from God knows when but because of various precommitments and also a ligament tear I had to postpone it. Initially I had planned with 2 very close friends of mine who were also very intereseted. But then early this year one shifted jobs and moved to Kolkata and the other gradually lost interest . But I was still stern and was doing constant research on the various hindrances that could come along and how to overcome them .

Come this year and I also shifted jobs and was waiting for my probation o get over and the roads to open. At one point I became so aggresive that I planned to go alone after reading Sumit Pannalal's thread . But my wife and father simply refused the proposal point-blank.

Finally I planned to start on September (which AFAIK is the best season for LEh) .I started looking in xbhp and bcmtouring. BCMT is a wonderful site for LEh probables.I got people there (in BCMT) but the main problem was date and plan mismatch.And eventually I saw a post from Lijo that he is also planning for the same and it matched 90%. PMed him ,got along and also got Rajesh from Bangalore and Anand and Sreejith from Kerala. Lijo created a group on FB with these people (along with Praveen from Kerala and Abhinav from Delhi who couldnot come because of leave issues).

So we started sharing the plan and the necessary updates in FB. I added Suru & Zanskar valley (Rangdum,Padum) in the plan which people were hesitant initially but thanked me later. The valleys occupied a soft corner in our heart .I started buying and readying my bike for the ride.

Initially I had plans to going for a new bike but finances wont permit .Call me purist but I keep my bikes stock and this being my 2nd owned bike its the same. Before the trip I changed my tires to Michelin Sirac street both front and back on stock sizes and am more than satisfied. Ok I forgot I ride a 2007 CBZ extreme around 29k done before the ride.

But just 2 weeks before my ride my mechanic told me that my bike's bore & pistons are damaged and needs some serious engine work to make it Ladakhable. I told him to do the same ASAP . The whole last week I did the runin of my bike and then changed the oil to Shell Fully Synthetic.

Lijo,Sreejith & Anand left Kerala on 29th Aug and had parcelled the bikes beforehand to Nizamuddin station. We(me & Rajesh) did it on 28th and Rajesh left B'lore on 29th on Sampark Kranti .I was the last one to leave on 31st Aug early morning and reached Delhi by flight. Soon after reaching Delhi -took a cab to Nizamuddin station - picked up a half litre bottle with petrol - called up Rajesh and Lijo to ask their whereabouts. Rajesh reached Nizamuddin first and we both were dead tired because of the journey and heat of Delhi (Bangloreans you see lol). But I somehow mastered the courage to drag our luggages and collect the bikes with all the khilana-pilana. While moving ours we could see Lijo's Apache with KL registration and Xbhp sticker and Anand's in front. So informed the same to them since they were still in train.

The plan was to pickup the bikes and look for an accomodation somewhere in Karolbagh but mannn the afternoon Delhi heat and tired body was refusing. Anyway we couldnt get a hotel in our budget with parking so I called up my friend and colleague who stays in Gurgaon for help. He gave me an address of his cousins "Tadka Hotel " in Pahargunj in Nehru market and the owner Rishabh arranged a decent hotel nearby.

Pics of the hotel and 5 of us on 31st July evening courtesy Lijo.Left -> Right(Sreejith,Anand,Me,Rajesh,Lijo)






Tomorrow I mean 1st September we started from Delhi so stay tuned.

1st sept Delhi - Amritsar

Come 1st sept and we started early from Delhi so as to beat the heat and mad-traffic . We had put up all the saddle bags on our bikes and dressed up like aliens ( I mean with all the riding-gears). We took some time to get out of the city but once we reached the outskirts, the roads were 4laned,butter smooth & boring. We stopped at "70 Mile" dhaba which was 70kms from Delhi and then at "Midway Dhaba" which was exactly midway Delhi & Amritsar for Breakfast & lunch respectively .The scorching sun was dehydrating us fast but we were taking necessary water and pee breaks. Here I would like to mention about Quechua water back-pack and Gatorade sashes which saved my life - well recomended.


The road from Delhi to Amritsar was mainly 4-laned with small deviations (because of work going on) but the stretch after Jallandhar became a bit messy.
We reached Amritsar by around 7:00 and started searchin for a hotel. A person took us to "P.G. House" near to Golden temple and Jalianwalabagh which had warm water,parking & decent air-cooler .We were so tired to dislike it and instantly took off our luggages. Then after we planned to cover Golden Temple and Jalian walabagh that night and Wagah Border next day morning.But Jalianwalabagh gets closed early and we spent the rest of the night in Golden Temple didnt have much of dinner because of heavy lunch and crashed for the day.
Some Photos of the beautiful Golden temple and not to mention - very well maintained.

Day 1 pics


Room full of stuff!!


As soon as we hit the NH1 to Amritsar


Breakfast as 70 Milestone Dhaba


Glory of the Golden Temple. Yeah!!

Since by now you would have already understood that I am a sucker at writing let me share the pictures and let them do the talking.

So 2nd Sept :
Amristar - Wagah & Itari border ,Jalianwalabagh and then moving to Udhampur via Pathankot







Lucky enough to see this bus crossing when we were there


Welcome to India LOL!!!




By the time we started from Amritsar it was around 12 noon and the traffic was something I have never seen before and over and above that the heat was killing us .I took us a lot of time to get out of the city because of one way confusions and peak,unruly traffic but the people were the best part of the city - humble and helping.

We reached Udhampur by around 7pm and started looking for a bargain accommodation and finally got the cheapest one of the trip .