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"Leh = the land of gigantic landscapes" with unbelievable visual grandeur. 
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HH Karizma (Current) || CBF Stunner PGM-FI || Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler
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Two ZMAs, 9 Days in Western Ghats -
Pics of Umba valley are beyond imagination!! Makes you forget everything else!!
Awesome!!Comment
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Day 5 Panikhar to Penjila and Back to Rangdum 31 May 2102 125 Kms Contd................
I am currently at Rangdum village and time is around Noon.Feeling tired and hungry after a bumpy and slow ride in typical Zanskar valley roads,i mean no road.
Few taxis are parked in fron of the small dhaba and passengers are busy chatting and eating.Rangdum is exactly halfway between Kargil-Padum.It is also the place where police register the details of travlers,so almost all vehicles halt here and sometime this tiny silent hemlet becomes a buzzing place full of people,vehicles.
I lied down over a rock after removing my helmet and instantly went into a deep sleep and kept sleeping for few minutes lying on the rocks.Got out of my slumber and orderd a maggi and tea and regain my stamina to another tough haul ahead me.
Penji la... 30 kms away.
Time is around 1 Pm and mountain passes are always unpredictable and volatile around afternoon.I was little worried and could see dark clouds hovering over the penji la side.
Somehow gathered my strength and rode towards Penji La.My dream to see my scooter parked on Penji la was just 30 kms away.Lets go,what the hell are you waiting for,Isaid to myself.
My scooter was running towards Penji La and within few minutes when I was near Rangdum Gompa,sky was full of dark dense clouds and tiny snow flakes started falling.
Crossed Rangdum gompa,crossed a village and found myself totally alone in those wilderness.No human soul was seen.An overcast sky with a terrible weather,broken road with lots of waterholes and slow scooter and remote Zanskar valley.Not an ideal scenerio.These are moments when you pray to god,your hands tremble,your knees become weak,your throat dries and you recall your ill deeds.
Suddenly appeared a big water streams bang in the middle of the road,instantly recognized this particular water stream.The same stream where a Tata pik up was stuck last year and I had to face a tough time taking my Swift to lower off road driving my poor car on those pumpkin sized boulders.
फोटो तो बनता है एक यहाँ........
Ascent to Penji La starts after few kilometers and Scooter showed a sign of power loss.Heart beat got faster.
Somehow reached labour hut enacted near penji la but my destination was Penji La top where prayer flags flutter and a blue board says"Penji La,highest point on Kargil-Padum Road.
Kept driving to Penji La top and reached flat surface,a sigh that top is very near but I was still few kms short of Penji La and unthinkable happened....Nightmare became reality.
Guess what???????????????
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Day 5 Panikhar to Penjila and Back to Rangdum 31 May 2012 125 kms contd.....
No,nooooo,no.It was not puncture,it was not breakdown.....nothing sort of this.
This nightmare was made of flesh and blood......
This horrible nightmare braked my scooter,almost made me take an U Turn.
My dream destination of Penji La had turned into a hell for me.
All alone,badly tired,a slow powerless scooter,no sign of any human help fro miles,could not run on such high altitude and cold bad weather.
साँस अटकी हुई थी गले में
हनुमान चालीसा भी याद नहीं था
And three pairs of Jaws and Claws were staring at me few hundreds meters away right at the top of Penji La,the Penji La,the so called parking lot for my Scooter..
Snow wolves...a pack of three snow wolves,very social animal,which hunt in a group,in a very syncronized style.....gray white colored and must be looking for a prey...
I braked and stayed put and waited for few moments for their reactions,one of them moved upwards and other two followed,leader of the pack again halted and stared towards me and disappeared in the white snow leaving behind me totally sweated with goose bumps.
A soliloquy was on my lips,"Should I move ahead or back track????
Same soliloquy replied,"Move ahead whatever the consequences.
Jo hoga dekha jayega.
Fully frightened,reached at the top of Penji La and scooter stopped.My heart also stopped.
What happened to scooter.Tried to start it but in vain.Suddenly came a lightning thought,why not check the petrol????
Hurriedly opened the tank lid...voila......It was empty.Thank god.Refilled and pull the choke and pressed the kick,scooter was alive again.
Took some self shots and sped towards another parking lot for my Scooter ..hehehehe.
Drang Drung Glacier doston.....
Parked my scooter,placed the camera on nearby rock and posed for few(3-4) different angels and swiftly retreated back towards Rangdum village.
After a while reached Rangdum Gompa and made a call to home from STD phone in Gompa and made final dash towards Rangdum village.
As soon as I entered in the village,I saw that ground was covered with fresh snow.Entered in a dhaba and instantly ordered a tea,then another tea.After gulping down two cups of tea,regained my composure.
A young lady was also inside the dhaba and she asked me about my night stay.I replied I will be staying in JK bUNGALOW if caretaker allows me.She said,I am the caretaker.
I was surprised to hear that.She further said that actual caretaker is her uncle and he is off to Kargil and currently she is in charge of the GH.
We came to GH and she opened a room for me and asked me about dinner.I replied,I will have my dinner in the dhaba.She said she is also the owner of the dhaba.
During dinner ,we chatted for some time and after settling the bill I came to GH and dozed off....But before sleep,a big thank to God.....
Attachment 278632
Day6 Rangdum to Kargil 1st June 130 Kms
Yesterday was very significant.Finally I parked my scooter at Penji La and near Drang Drung glacier.I was filled with a sense of satisfaction.
Yesterday was day of fatigue,fear and snowfall.
Today,when I woke up at 4.30 AM and came outside of my room and found deposits of mild snowfall on the ground.It was very cold outside.Fingers
were numb but my photographic thirst compelled me to take out gloves and and shoot the serene Rangdum valley surrounded by tall snow covered mountain.
I was the only one awake in the village at that time.Sun was still behind the hills and was rising slowly and I was expecting some good morning shots like
my last earlier trip when I captured some reflection shots here in Rangdum.But this year pond has shrunk to a very small size and a layer of ice had rendered the water surface opaque resulting in a lost opportunity of having some reflection shots.
You all must have remembered mention of power loss in my scooter when I was at Penji La yesterday.I discussed this problem with GH lady and she asked her husband( a car mechanic at Leh) to inspect the scooter.He opened the scooter cover and cleaned the carb and assured me scooter is fine now.I also purchased some 4 STROKE engine oil from dhaba owner as he owns a bike.
When scooter repair was going on,some lama students from nearby houses came and start asking lots of questions.I patiently satisfied all their queries.They were happy go kids studying in Rangdum gompa.The JK Guest House lady was also a teacher at gompa and his mechanic husband was responsible for ferrying students to school and back to home.
They had an Ecco van for this purpose.Each summer,mechanic returnes to Rangdum for working as a school driver.Rangdum gompa school is functional only in summer months.In winter months,he returned back to Leh to his car mechanic job.
All this scooter job delayed me and I could only start my return ride only after 8.30 AM.After paying 100 rs to mechanic and thanking everyone I started my ride back to Kargil.But within few minutes,I felt the same power loss in scooter.So I decided to drive very slowly and gently so I could reach Kargil without any breakdown.Kept rididing and after a six hours of slow ride reached Kargil and straightway went to Niyaz automobiles(near DZozila hotel) to get the scooter checked and repaired.Two mechanic took over my scooter and found a almost worn out acclerrator wire(just one shred was holding it).They also oil washed air filter.Meanwhile shop owner Niyaz and I had a long conversation and Niyaz told me he,along with family migrated to Delhi during winter months as life during winter is a very hard here in Kargil.One needs at least 30 quintal of firewood for cooking and to keep house warm.No gas cylinder.Meat sold at 500 rs per kg etc.If any emergency occurs,only option is to fly out but flight are always full.Govt has a small airstrip at Kargil and provide subsidized air tickets to local residents.Meanwhile Niyaz ordered tea for me and entire staff and we kept talking on various topics.It was a very meaningful interaction.Mechanical job lasted 3 hours and because of this I had to stay at Kargil instead of Mulbek.
I tried JK Tourism Bungalow but all the rooms were pre booked.The caretaker directed me towards Paradise Guesthouse on hospital road,opposite Govt Hospital.I rented a room for 400 bucks.There was also a shopping complex under Guest house.I found a small chai shop cum dhaba inside this complex run by a Dehradun man.His chai shop is locally know as "UP Hotel" in Kargil.It is perfect place for having veg food at very cheap price.He charged me just 30 rs for Subji-Roti.
The owner,Dehradun guy used to work as a truck driver in his youth and drove his truck all the remote locations of Ladakh.Once he delivered army ammunition at Chalunka post near Turtuk.This post is know as CP pOST.He also told me Indian army was greatly assisted by local Turtuk villagers during 1971 war and helped recaptured Turtukfrom enemy.Locals helped Army jawans in finding shortest way,making foods for them and carrying their heavy ammunitions and other war related material.It was because of this help form villagers that our army could regain a portion of our lost land.
After this coversation,I call it a day and returned to my room
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Awesome brother, pls continue..GuRpReEt SiNgH
Ninja goes to Spiti 2011: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/1...oes-spiti.html
Ninja goes to Leh 2012: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/2...-goes-leh.htmlComment
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Awesome and funtabulous pics,,, Specially that first rays of sun, it was just wowwwwwww. loved it
umba and prkachik village are also nice places, and the cricket match at sonmarg was just looked cool.....
really a nice experiance...........
Keep comingLast edited by Satishrajdev; 11-22-2012, 12:27 PM.If you ride like there's no tomorrow... Don't worry there won't be !!!!
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I m RTR Addicted...... Sat
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Originally posted by GuRpReEt SiNgH View PostThanks a lot guys....Originally posted by Satishrajdev View PostAwesome and funtabulous pics,,, Specially that first rays of sun, it was just wowwwwwww. loved it
umba and prkachik village are also nice places, and the cricket match at sonmarg was just looked cool.....
really a nice experiance...........
Keep coming
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masterji everytime I go through this log dil garden garden ho jata hein...... hats off to you
Save the Earth - We are the one who are running out of time, as Earth will take it own time to heal but that time may not be enough for us.
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I dont just ride my bikes, I live with them.
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GIRed 2012Comment
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awesome ride and amazing pics, to even thing ofdoing a LEH trip on a scooter itself is unimaginable
bring on the restComment
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Just one word I can say after to saw the effort and pictures "Incredible".........hatts off to you....KTM RC390 - Current
Yamaha R15 v2 - Sold
Hero Hunk - Sold
An IT Engineer by profession and a rider by soul.
Delhi to Sach Pass - http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/3...h-ka-darr.html
Delhi to Mana - http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/2...xperience.html
Delhi to Munsyari - http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/2...ttrakhand.html
Spiti circuit - http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/3...cuit-solo.html
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Thanks a lot Shivanshu....Originally posted by Shivanshu View Postmasterji everytime I go through this log dil garden garden ho jata hein...... hats off to you
Thanks a lot buddy...Originally posted by mansuryayas View Post
Thanks a ton for kind words...Originally posted by itsmevini123 View Post
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Day6 Rangdum to Kargil 1st June 130 Kms part 2
A pictorial Update between Rangdum Village and Parkachik village.This road section is the worst I faced.
Day6 Rangdum to Kargil contd.....
Last images from Suru valley.Next part Kargil-Leh highway.
Day7 Kargil-Lamayuru-Leh 2-3nd June 2012 230 kms
This is the day of riding on Kargil-Leh Highway.Today,I was a bit relieved as I had completed Zanskar ride successfully.
With wilderness of zanskar valley left behind,i was back in the mad mean world of civilization.Leh was just 235 kms away.No worry of snowfalls,
wolves,water streams on this road.After leaving my Paradise goest house,it was time to have a round of tea at UP Hotel.Tea rechargs my battery.
Left Kargil and drove towards Mulbek and with in no time I was in Mulbek,thanks to good road.Meanwhile spotted a dhaba which was serving thankfully
serving Parantha.This dhaba was ,I guess,near Hinsikot.A JK Tourism Bungalow was also in this place bang on the road.You cant miss this.Next time i will try to book this Hinsikot bungalow.
Ride on this Leh-Kargil was uneventful,road had a very thin traffic due to early June.Very few tourist vehicles and once in a while bikers.
Nakeela came and go,then came the highest point on Srinagar-Leh highway,Fotula.AfTER Photu LA,It is all downhill till Khaltse.When I was near Lamayuru,suddenly scooter stopped and refused to start.I kept rolling down till Lamayuru and stopped near a shop cum dhaba.Open the scooter cover and cleaned the spark plug brought back my scooter to life again.
I found this place a perfect place for having a light lunch and tea to refresh and to relax.Entered in the shop and ordered a bowl of noodles.A french couple was also sitting there.Had a very long chat with them.During conversation,rain started.
Dhaba owner,a lady,advised me to stay in her homestay.I agreed.She whispered me in my ear that please dont disclose the room rent with those french couple as she had charged them more than double.I assured her not to worry.I requested her for a bucket of hot water and after one week,I had a bath.My soul was contended after this hot shower and made me cheerful.Roam around in Lamayuru to kill the time and around 7.30 pm,homestay lady invited us to her kitchen for dinner.Meanwhile a young foreign couple had also checked in the homestay and we had a good round of conversation during dinner and it was nice experience having food in typical Ladakhi Kitchen.After dinner I had a very good sound sleep thanks to hot bath,good food and cozy room just for a 350 rs,all included.
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Hi Narender, Nice one yaar ur superup u hve the guts to go to Ladakh on a Scooter hat's of to you. Nice pic's as well. One of my friends and me are planning to go to ladakh on our bikes on 11-May, Please can you advise if that would be a good time to go ? and what are the preparations needs to be done before leaving.Comment
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Re: Redemption of A Restless Rider-Solo Scooter ride to Zanskar-Ladakh 2012
Narender ji,
Great Redemption
No One Can Match YouComment
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Re: Redemption of A Restless Rider-Solo Scooter ride to Zanskar-Ladakh 2012
As usual I was running through the Tourer section & I tumbled upon this gem of a tLog & I must say, I am left dumbstruck.
Mind blowing/boggling pictures, spectacular, amazing...... Sorry to have run out of words
. Immense respect to your praiseworthy accomplishment, Sir!
A trusty scoot., a cam., a place like ladakh & lotsa fun-time - owww!! you made my day, Sir!!
BENEATH THE REMAINS.........
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