I am glued to the log and you stopped Keep them coming bro .. Wanna see it all .. Love the pics .. you guys are an inspiration

Cool.. So you must have encountered many water crossings, being in August.. We where just standing & moving at a tiny pace for 10 hrs at Rohtang.
The pix are just mind blowing.. Please keep them coming.. As you said, its about the journey more then the destination.. Manali-Leh is a must experienced journey

Thanks guys...

Ya there were many water crossings but nothing major... dint face any problem except for our feets getting wet repeatedly... my shoes dried only after reaching Leh...
10 hours at Rohtang must have been really grueling... where did u guys reach at the end of the day??

Thanks... more pics on the way

What an experience I must say.
Huh! I will wait for my turn to visit this paradise on earth...
Waiting for more ...

Our aim was to make it till Darcha.. But running out of options & even riding in mountains in pitch dark we could make it till Keylong
Next night we could make it till Zing Zing bar, then Pang & then Leh

Really beautiful pics, Calibre.

How I wish there was one of Pang. As a Captain then, I had commanded the Army detachment there for 2 months in July -Aug 1996 to cater to the annual winter stocking convoys which used to come from Chandigarh/Pathankot. We used to sell fuel to bikers as per orders. To keep fit for the impending Siachen tenure, I used to go for a small run of about 2 kms till the small bridge south of the main camping area and had made lots of friends, mainly foreigners.

One late evening, I received 3 scientists from Bangalore. They had ridden up in rain and were more dead than alive. My doctor tended to them and we had to make a jawan sleep in their hut to monitor their health thru the night.

So many stories of that time and such wonderful memories...

@Calibre Awesome glued to this thread, first time I am reading a LEh travelogue
@Rachit Side by side I read yours too

Both of them keep the log and pics coming...Inspiring stuff really

@Icemang Sir, you should probably start a new thread to share your biking experience high up there

why dont you take ur chances this year?? all you need are few days and a bike

Ya it was pitch dark when we were driving down from Rohtang. With not even a single soul near us, it was a hell of an experience.
Even we wanted to make it till Keylong but we it was really dark and was almost 9.00 PM... so dint venture further...

Thanks sir... Had clicked few pics at Pang n Moore also, coming up in the next post...
You have had some great experiences there...
And did people ride in bikes during winters??



Thanks for reading... more pics n log on the way...

Which way bro .. Its almost 3 am waiting for them

Sorry for keeping u waiting...
they pics are very large and is taking time to upload... dont hav the patience to reduce the size of each pic...
will update day 5 by tonite...

Day 5: Enter the LEH

Day 5 began at almost the same time as our other days had begun. We woke up at around 6 and started to get ready. There was no question of taking bath one coz there was no place for that and second that was not the climate also to take bath . There was however a make shift toilet that was good for that place thou. Breakfast time and the caretaker had only tea and bread for us. After the first three had their share, I went in to the eat only to find one piece of bread left. The caretaker had none left and I had to adjust with that.Even the others dint eat much as it was only 7 in the morning. After paying the caretaker we made entry at the checkpost which was just outside our tents.

It was the official start of our days ride. Hoping to cover all the way till Leh we started at a steady speed. The tarmac was well laid and we sailing smooth. Right ahead of us were the Gata loops, we had read about them but it was a good first hand experience of those loops. Man those seemed to be never ending, one after one they just kept rolling in front of us. After every loop we thought this is the last one, this is the last one but they never ended. We kept ascending up and up we went, and alast there was relief. It was the end of the Gata loops. The view from the top was awesome. We could see the Sarchu plains below us. It was a great view. After a quick stop and a few clicks we were riding again on our way. The road kept ascending and the oxygen level dropping.


It was a hot day out there with just mountains and rocks around us. The tarmac had almost disappeared and it was all gravel now. The sun was over our head and my stomach had started making sounds due to hunger. After few kilometeres it was getting difficult to drive with the almost empty stomach. One of us was left behind and then I decide to take a halt. I thought I was alone but during the stop I found that all of us very hungry. After some digging I finally took out the treasure from the bag, 2 packets of biscuits . Not some ordinary biscuits, they were nutrichoice digestives. I dont know why in the world my brother had got them as none of liked those. But we were hungry and the taste just dint matter at that point of time. After the quick snack we moved ahead. We were just waiting to reach Pang. And the road was not getting any better to help us reach there sooner.


In few hours in the hot sun we were at Pang. Gopal went ahead without stopping. We screamed at the top of our voices to call him back. On his way back he tried to take a shortcut instread of the road. It was a small, very steep downhill patch. After struggling for the few few meters he slipped just before coming down. It was hilarious. He was riding very slowly so nothing happended to him or the bike but the whole scene was really funny. Similar to all other places along the route, Pang also had few dhabas by the road side. We got into one of the dhabas run by an old lady and her daughter. We ordered for few parathas and some rice. The lunch ended with some mazaa and coke. The food was good but I dont know why for some starange reason in the past few days the parathas had tasted the same to me at every place. Everywhere we ate they tasted the same and even looked the same. Anyways after paying we were out of the dhaba and back under the hot afternoon sun. There were few more bikers making lunch stop like us and also a group of around 10 photographers from various places in a mini van. One guy from that group started talking to us and was asking about how the bike trip was going. He had a Canon Mark II and another cam which I dint care about after seeing the Mark . More supprised awaited me when he opened his bag of lens. Man! he was carrying some 4-5 lenses:O:O. He carried more camera baggage than other stuff :P. And to add on top of that he wasnt even a proffesional photographer. He was a businessman from Nagpur and photography was just his hobby.


After our small chat we were back on our bikes and ready to roll. Next on the menu was the Moore plains . After few kilometers of uphill riding there we were at the spectacular Moore plains. First thing to do was take some pics. We stopped for few minutes, clicked and started again at high speeds. The roads had just been laid. We were travelling as fast as our bikes could take us. There was no one around except for workers here and there who were laying the road. After few kilometers came the bad patches. From here on there was no road at all. We switched to off-roading mode . There were few places where the bikes got stuck in the sand. We had to push them out of it few times to continue ahead. At the fag end of the plains there was a good patch of road followed by a place where the road was just being put. We had to ride on either sides of that road. On one side it was completly sand and the other had patches of green grass. While the three took on to the sandy side I headed towards the grass thinking that grass would give me better grip and I can ride faster there. But little did I know that I was getting into deeper s***. The sand on this side seemed to be deeper and I was finding it hard to ride. After a long struggle I crossed this trecharous stretch and joined the others who were waiting for me and laughing watching me struggle. We had come to the end of the plains and it was a steep ascend ahead. There was no sign of tarmac and it was just rocks. We were riding slowly with me riding behind the others.


We were ascending towards Tanglangla on a non-existent road. It was a continuous ascend with lot of traffic. There were lots of Army trucks passing at that time due to which we were all brown. It was dust all around and our eyes were getting filled with that dust. Also it was getting difficult to drive in such a condition. There were more than some 20 trucks which passed us along with some other four wheelers.
Just one kilometer short of Tanglangla was when one unexpected tragedy struck me. The bike refused to climb due to low air density. I tried to somehow make it climb but it dint seem to budge. The mechanic had already asked me to remove the air filter in Manali itself but I felt that was not a good idea to just remove it. However, I had thought of removing it in case of a problem on the way. So now was the time to remove the filter. In FZ the filter is under the seat. I stopped by the side of the road and tried to remove the seat but to add to my worries, the seat was jammed. Due to the mud and dust for the past few days, the seat lock had jammed. I struggled with it for a long time but without any luck. I started again, clocking pathetic speeds of not more than 5-7 km. After some time I again stopped to remove the seat but again failed to do so. Others had gone a long distance and they couldnt see me due to the oncoming trucks. And even when they found me I told them to continue and wait at the pass. I was riding at dead slow speeds and the bike refused to climb. One of the army truck driver offered me help and told me to load the bike if its not climbing. But I decided to take my chances as I could see the pass just around the corner. After nearly half an hour and at dead slow speed I reached Tanglangla. This is the first time when my bike had refused to do something which I had asked it for. But nonetheless we had reached the summit of the second highest motorable pass and it felt good. There were snow covered peaks around and a tea shop run by the BRO. We had tea there and took rest for few minutes after taking some pics.


It was starting to get dark and we were few more hours short of Leh. So just after some ten minutes we were ready to descend from the pass. The road downwards was really good and had recently been laid. It dint take us much time to come down. The FZ dint have any problem getting down now. After the descend we were crossing few small villages and riding along a mountain which had mysterious sand color of red and almost green. The road again was really good for most of the parts. We dint stop anywhere as we were in a hurry to reach Leh. After riding for nearly an hour we reached Karu and it was almost sunset. We passed thru the military base in Karu and since I was ahead of the others I stopped for few minutes for the others. After a short wait we all assembled and rode together. The road was straight and again in awesome condition.


We reached Leh at around 7.30 PM and it was pretty dark by then. The next task was to find accommodation for the night. We enquired and many many guest houses and hotels. At the end we settled for a small guest house behind the old market. The land lady showed us a room, big enough to accommodate all 4 of us. It had a double bed and she agreed to provide two more beds. It was an old house converted into a guest house where that family also stayed. There were two floors excluding the ground floor and there was ample space inside the gate to park all the four bikes. We were ready to pay 400 for the room but she said 300 will do for all 4 of us. We couldnt ask for more for the price we were paying. We freshened up and went out to explore the town and in search of dinner. After roaming for sometime we sat down to eat at a restaurant and got into a fight at that place which I would elaborate in the next post.
So for now the destination had been reached after an awesome five days of journey.

The Restaurant Fight

We left our bags at the guest house were out on the road looking for a good restaurant for dinner. After having ate in a hurry all our meals for the past few days, we wanted to relax and have a good meal. The guest house lady suggested we check out the German Bakery or Wonderland which were just behind the guest house. So as suggested we headed out and entered Wonderland since it had a roof top. Two of them went to make phone calls while me and Abhinav took seats and started to scan the menu at the restaurant.
The whole place was filled with foriegners with very few tables occupied by Indians. First of all no one came to take order for nearly 10 mins. Finally a guy came but he said since he was not felling well another guy will come and take the order. We let the guy go and even after another 10 mins no one came to take our order. Finally after calling many times an old guy came and took our order. We ordered momos since they would be ready to be served. Another 15 mins passed but our order did not come. We were patient until we saw that the first guy who was sick was still serving other tables with foreigners. We called that guy and asked if he was fine now and that how happily he was serving the goras but dint bother to take order from Indians. After asking the status of our order he said it will take 10 more minutes and if we wanted we could leave. We got really furious after this and decided to leave.
We informed the lady at the billing counter and left the place. As we were going down the stairs the old guy started shouting at us asking us to come back. But we were determined to leave and dint said no. He started using foul language and also said "How we Indians came and ordered but left before the order comes?". After hearing the words used by that guy Abhinav couldnt control his anger and caught the guy with his collar and was about to hit him but other people at the scene stopped him from hitting. The other 2 were just entering the place and asked us what was happening. The manager also came running. We questioned him about the abusive language of his employees and also asked how come he can talk like this being an Indian himself. The manager just started to apologize. We also asked him how come goras who came after us were being served but we were being neglected. He apologized and even asked the other guy to apologize. He asked us to sit and said he will serve the food immediately. But we were in no mood to talk any further with those guy nor we wanted to eat in such a place. Many people has assembled there and a big scene was created. We stormed out of that place.
Being in India these people talk bad about Indians. Such people should not be allowed to do business here. Since the goras stay in Leh for months together and bring good business to them, they do not care about others.
We looked for another restaurant nearby and had our dinner there before heading to the guest house. We crashed on our beds for a good nights sleep.
The lesson learnt was that our road side eateries are far better than such idiotic restaurants.

What a thread to read after long gap on Tourer section.

Awesome trip log and lovely pictures.

Subscribed to this.

Nice lines with awsome pictures...Generally I am A silent reader on xbhp but this time I can not stop myself from writing...I am reading you post till the time I logged in the office today morning and yet to start the work

Kudos to your effort bro !! Glued to this thread.. Keep bringing