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**SKSy_Biker** · 10-08-2011, 08:50 AM

Travelogue approved

**Incubus** · 10-08-2011, 06:43 PM

Originally posted by SKSy_Biker View Post

Travelogue approved

Thank you for your approval

Cheers!

**eliksir** · 10-08-2011, 09:46 PM

waiting for the rest

**Incubus** · 10-08-2011, 09:55 PM

Week 1 (4th July to 9th July 2011)

Day 1: 4th July 2011- Pune to Vadodara (630Kms)

Day 2: 5th July 2011- Rest day at Vadodara

Day 3: 6th July 2011- Vadodara to Jaipur (800 Kms)

Day 4: 7th July 2011- Jaipur to Delhi (260 Kms)

Day 5: 8th July 2011- My stay in Delhi

Day 6: 9th July 2011: Delhi to Pathankot (500kms)

**revvhard** · 10-08-2011, 11:34 PM

Amazing log Royd...
its great to see someone from pune travel all the way to delhi for a trip to leh,givs us lazy fools some motivation to get off our asses and on the saddle

**ridermax** · 10-09-2011, 12:14 PM

HA! Finally Royd, the thread i up ! Was wondering whats holding you up (?). Looking forward to the rest.

Cheers !

**harikeshpk** · 10-09-2011, 05:14 PM

good story and good going. waiting for the rest

**Incubus** · 10-10-2011, 01:52 AM

Week 2 (10th to 16th July)

Day 7: 10th July 2011- Pathankot to Ramban (260Kms)

The group was ready in the morning to leave towards Ramban. I was all excited to see winding roads and the same was felt with fellow bikers on the Fazer and the Fz16. For some unknown reason some of the group had got lost and we had halted at Jammu to re group. We headed to Ramban via Udhampur, lots of traffic was experienced. JK drivers have some nerve and skill to maneuver the sharp bends at high speeds even with oncoming traffic. How on earth do they manage to do that? Sunny was as usual at his best on his P220 having the skill of taking on the curves with pace.

One of our fellow bullet riders had a minor mishap as he took the bike off the road while negotiating a bend. One moment I saw him all fine riding at a decent pace and within seconds saw him flat on the side of the road in my rear view mirror. Sunny and I turned and went back to help get the bike of him. Luckily there were no major injuries besides a few cuts and bruises. The fall had damaged his mirror and headlight and there was nothing major to worry about.

We continued with a speed to stay together as a group, although there was an occasional burst of speed with the sporty Yam’s to enjoy the handling of the bikes on bends. The river Chenab was in full flow and we could hear the rumble of the water from a distance indicating that the force of the water was high. We reached Ramban pretty late evening and were in a discussion to decide either to move ahead or stay the night in Ramban. We later decided to stay put and only found one hotel with rooms available. We shacked in and went to the river bank; there is a beautiful temple right on the bank and some hutments around it.

Sometimes I wish we had gone ahead and taken a chance to get accommodation some other place as the electricity in the hotel went off by 10PM and there were a lot of mosquitoes due to its location being near a river. We had found a dhaba to have dinner, little did we realize how famished we were. We had consumed more than 50 rotis with dal and Sabji. I later enjoyed the evening with a couple of vodka shots and retired for the day. The start time the following day was an early one at 5.30AM, we all retired without second thoughts.

Day 8: 11th July 2011- Ramban to Drass (300 Kms)

Starting early in the morning seemed to become a routine, nevertheless there were no complaints considering what we were here for. After a quick briefing by Vasant we headed out towards the famous Jawahar Tunnel, for those who are unaware the tunnel is 2194.56 meters above sea level, Jawahar tunnel, situated between Banihal and Qazigund, has been operational since 22 December 1956 - built with the help of German engineers, at that time it was the longest in Asia.

This 2.5 kilometer long tunnel, dug through a mountain of Pir Panjal range, is the main link that connects Kashmir to the rest of the country. In fact, it's not a single tunnel; "Jawahar Tunnel" is a set of two long wet tubes, each 2825 meter long, dug inside the mountain range!

Apparently Sunny and I were playing the role of a “Sweep” and were to stay behind to ensure no one gets left behind. We clicked some pics outside the tunnel entrance and enjoyed covering the tunnel at a brisk pace. We soon came upon an amazing view of the Kashmir valley, a point named “Titanic View Point”. It was then I realized the importance of having a DSLR with a wide angle lenses as I was unable to capture the entire valley with my camera.

We had halted for breakfast at the point itself. 13 bikes lined up in two rows did attract a lot of attention. The place was small and there was an elderly gentleman manning the outlet. To save up on time, few of us invaded his space with good intensions to help him out make omelets with almost 30 eggs and loads of namkeen consumed. Wit fuel in our belly we headed out towards Srinagar.

Traffic in Srinagar was a terrible mess and to add to it we had to stop to withdraw cash. Apparently one of the bikes got lost and we waited for the bullet to meet us where we were waiting.

We rode around the Dal Lake in formation and halted a short while to capture some pics. I was happy to see that there was some cleaning work going on, hope the lake stays clean post the effort put in.

I was feeling like as if I was having a dream within a dream. The surroundings were so picturesque that one would just feel like living with nature.

We headed out towards Drass and reached the beautiful town of Sonamarg which is a tourist attraction just before Zoji La pass.

The place was quite crowded due to the Amarnath yatra. We thought we had enough time to reach Drass as there was enough daylight, we were wrong. The moment we reached the corridors of Zoji La we were greeted by a serpentine queue of vehicles stuck due to overloaded trucks trying to climb the massive ascend round the mountain. We tried to navigate the trucks from the left, from the right- where we could slide down back from where we came rather quickly as there were no safety barriers. Either ways seeing the number of landslides throughout the journey it did not make sense as the debris would not be able to be cleared easily if there were barriers. There was a point when we had even turned back to head towards Sonamarg in frustration as it would be scary to be stuck on the Zoji La pass without food and shelter, the pass is also known as the “pass of death”. We had hardly traveled 500 meters when were stopped by some trucker who showed us that the traffic had begun to move from above. Delighted with the prospect of pushing forward towards our destination we headed towards the “pass of death” pushing our steeds to the limit on the dusty track. As we climbed higher and higher, my head began to spin. There were a large number of tents camped in the valley below where the pilgrims were put up. The higher we went the smaller the tents looked, to a point where there were like stationary multicolor ants.

I finally got my first encounter with snow on this ride and it was a delightful achievement to scale the “pass of Death” situated at a height of 3530 meters.

After we clicked some pics we traveled towards Drass. The roads were quite bumpy with craters all over the place. Daylight was about to end and I was already getting the jitters of traveling in the dark. There was an eerie silence around and all that I could hear was the thump of the bullets and the soft growl of the Fazer. The route seemed deserted with and the occasional trucker that came by. We came upon an army outpost and tried to request them for accommodation for the night. It was rather obvious they would refuse as they would not be able to accommodate us, however told us that we would get accommodation at Drass which was around 40 odd kms away. To add to our misery one of the bullets had refused to start and Sunny was behind helping to tow the bike. Seemed like there was some problem with the clutch cable, I am not sure of the intricacies of a bullet. Somehow these guys made it through. It was pitch black now, with the only visibility coming from the headlights of the bikes. We started to rev with the intent to reach Drass as soon as possible. The consistent jerks had begun to make my shoulders and back ache. The Fazer is strictly not meant for off-roading and here I was pushing the bike at 60Kms/hr. The chill was becoming unbearable, the terrain- good enough to rattle your teeth. With grim determination we reached Drass and went directly to the JKDC guest house. Vasant had been here before and said it was one of the best accommodations available in the small town. Drass is the second coldest inhabited place in the world with a min temperature of 40 degrees! We ordered for food to be prepared from a restaurant across the street and unpacked and changed. The thought of having a shower vanished when I opened the tap to splash water on my face. It was ice cold and my fingers began to numb if I kept my hands more than a minute under the running tap. After making a couple of calls back home I headed for the restaurant for dinner. We actually dint realize that we were so famished that we consumed more than 90 rotis and 4 chickens amongst 13 of us. The food was excellent, every penny worth and we headed back and crashed. As there were only 3 rooms available we stacked up 3 in a room. Here is where I got to use the sleeping bag and I pulled up the zipper of the bag and was dead asleep.

Day 9: 12th July 2011- Drass to Leh (200Kms)

I woke up with the chill in the air even before my alarm went off, the cold water made my teeth rattle, it felt like as if there was ice kept in my mouth and my teeth wanted to dislodge and run away. Somehow I managed the ordeal. The moment I went out of the room for a stroll I could feel the chill and wonder how people survive out here. Since most of the blokes were still sleeping I decided to stretch my legs a little and captured a few pics of Tiger Hill, a mosque near the guest house and the guest house as well.

The road from Drass was in a bad condition and I had already accepted the fact that it would be the same from here onwards.
We reached Kargil by mid day and stopped for brunch. A couple of bullets underwent some minor repair work and one of them required a change of clutch plates which could only be taken care of at Leh. Post the repairs, fuel and food we reached Mulbekh which had giant status of a deity carved on the slope of a hill. Post a few pics we crossed Namikala which was at a height of 12198 Feet and reached the Fotula Pass, the highest point on the Srinagar- Leh highway.

It was quite windy, and the only sound that could be heard in that area was the loud thump of the bullets. There were plenty of prayer flags around, which signified a place of importance.
With the frequent stops for pics, the condition of the roads and the wind pushing us both ways we headed towards the famous village called Lamayuru.

The approach to the village itself was stunning. Winding roads, the towering structure of the monastery situated against a hill was a feast for the eyes.

We decided to shack up here instead of traveling directly to Leh. We tried for accommodation at a small guest house right next to the monastery. It was futile as there were no rooms available. Getting accommodation was quite a task with the few guest houses asking for a large sum per room. We had actually spent a couple of hours hunting for a room rather than using that time to travel towards Leh. In all the stay was worth it. There were only a couple of charging points in the room and I managed to charge three appliances with one adaptor. We had a decent meal and crashed off. The itinerary for the next day was quite simple and straight forward. We were to visit the monastery, spend some time and then head to Leh.

Day 10: 13th July 2011 Lamayuru to Leh (100Kms)

The habit of ignoring the alarm to wake up had now changed to waking up without the alarm. I was up early and got ready quickly as the gear was required to be loaded onto the bike. I used up the remaining Motul chain clean and used some of the Yamaha Lube as it was very evident that the chain was taking a beating in the dusty conditions which we had traveled in.
Lamayuru is one of the largest and oldest monasteries in Ladakh, with a population of around 150 permanent monk’s resident. The oldest surviving building at the monastery is a temple called Seng-ge-sgang, at the southern end of the Lamayuru rock, which is attributed to the famous builder-monk Rinchen Zangpo. While we explored the monastery we enjoyed the view from the height we were at. Some of the little monks seemed to like our steeds and wanted to have some pics clicked with it.

One of them enjoyed to sit on my bike and even posed with dark glasses borrowed from a fellow biker. He was one cool dude with lots of attitude!

We left Lamayuru by noon after having breakfast and made a dash for Leh. The roads turned butter smooth and encouraged us to ride as fast as possible. We reached Nimmu in no time. We reached the famous “magnetic hill” where we stopped to experience the natural phenomena but we could not feel anything on two wheels. There were boxes drawn on the road and we were supposed to keep the bikes within the boxes. We were told its better experienced in a four wheeler. A couple of the blokes on bullets did feel something; I tried a couple of times and then gave up. A small army convoy was passing by and we had to get off the road to let them pass.
The road was as flat as a runway, a straight stretch of tarmac right up to Leh.

Sunny and I were delighted and opened up the throttle. The Fazer seemed to choke after crossing 80 km/hr apparently it seemed due to the density of air which was low at high altitudes. I had read about this in travel logs written by bikers on XBHP suggesting a remedy for this. We reached a point where there was a sign board which indicated were a mere 10 kms from Leh.

Everyone was jubilant and celebrations began. It was a first trip for all of us with the exception of Vasant who had been here before. I had to pinch myself to believe that I am not dreaming. This is not even a dream within a dream and I made it! We headed on to Leh, one of Vasant’s colleagues had arranged accommodation in a cozy guest house and we began to seek directions to locate it. With a lot of assistance from the locals we managed to find it and shacked in. The agent who was arranging our permits gave us sad news that there was a delay in obtaining them which meant that we would not be able to proceed without them. Rather than wasting our time in the guest house we planned to visit the tourist attractions in and around Leh the following day. Once settled in we headed to tend to the needs of our steeds. There was a mechanic who was specialized only with bullets and everyone tried to get their bike fixed. Sunny and I decided to chill out, make some calls to near and dear ones and check out the cyber cafes around Leh market.
We had missed out on dinner so our buddies packed some food for us which we gratefully accepted. Post dinner we crashed out.

Day 11: 14th July 2011 Sightseeing in Leh (50 Kms Approx)

We woke up early and headed out to tend to our steeds post which we had a decent breakfast at a roadside shack. We headed towards the famous Shey palace which was located 15km to the south of Leh on the Leh-Manali highway. The 3 storey palace is perched on a hillock overlooking the beautiful Shey village. 'Shey' loosely translated into Ladakhi means mirror (or maybe reflection) and it is the reflection of the palace on the still waters of the lake below which gave origin to its name. Shey used to be the capital and the home for Ladakh's royal family. The Shey palace is situated at a strategic location overlooking the entire heartland of Ladakh.
There are 2 statues of Sakyamuni in the palace complex. The first one located inside palace is made of gilded copper and is about 3 storeys tall. The other statue is in a temple outside the palace, nearby a group of white chortens. This seated statue of Sakyamuni is about 7.5m tall, made of copper and brass plated with gold and studded with gems and other precious stones. At the foothills of the palace there were handmade souvenirs and also prayer flags which we all purchased to carry with us back home as a memento.

We moved on further down the road to Thiksey Monastery.
Thiksey Monastery, an outstanding specimen of Ladakhi architecture, is a glorious Buddhist monastery located nearby Leh in Jammu and Kashmir. The monastery is located at an altitude of 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) in the Indus valley. Thiksey Monastery is the part of Gelukpa order in Buddhism and is beautifully located in the picturesque top of a hillock. It encloses numerous stupas, Thangkas, statues, swords, wonderful wall paintings and a large pillar carved with Buddha’s ideas and preaching, all in a mammoth 12 storied building complex. A marvelous Buddha statue in the seated position is adorning the main prayer hall.

We were mostly engrossed with clicking pics and admiring the architecture that would only be found here and not where we come from. With most of our day consumed we headed back towards Leh. I had taken the liberty of riding a Bullet Machismo 500 and was delighted with the feel of the bike. En-route we passed through Chuglamsar, a district in Leh which was destroyed in the cloud burst which occurred in August 2010. It was heartening to see that people were back on track with their lives and most of the houses were re built. Upon our return to the guest house in Leh we were informed that our permits had been delivered and were all excited to ride to Khardung La Pass. A last minute decision made me take out the fazer and head over to a mechanic to do some adjustments to the carburetor to reduce the fuel flow by inserting a thin copper wire in the Carburetor jet. At high altitudes due to lack of oxygen there is a reduction in the combustion of fuel leading to the engine choking with excess fuel being wasted. This technique was mentioned in a couple of write up’s by fellow bikers who had previously scaled Khardung La and shared their inputs. After getting the small modifications done I headed to the Leh market where we had dinner and retired to the guest house for the night.

Day 12: 15th July 2011 Leh to Hundar (120 Kms)

I woke up at my regular time at 5.AM without any assistance with an alarm. I was rather surprised that this was becoming a routine for me and I was able to do a pretty good job of getting up without being dragged from bed.
Daylight was already out; the clear blue sky’s now had menacing clouds which were covering most of the mountain range. Vasant confirmed that we would need to carry change of clothes for a day so that we can travel to Nubra Valley spend the night there and travel back the following day to Leh after visiting the adjoining places. I carried my backpack tied with a couple of bungee cords to the pillion seat of the Fazer.

We had hardly covered about 15 kms when the road began to ascend in a winding fashion which began to strain most of the bikes. The chill in the air began to increase. Even with the thermal DSG gloves I was feeling my finger tips were getting numb. The higher we went the more resistance we felt with our bikes negotiating the climb in the first and second gear. It was rare that we even touched the third gear. One of the Fazers began to stall; no matter what we did it was becoming difficult for the bike to climb. The bloke had even confirmed that he had done the carburetor modifications the previous day. We reached a place called North Pullu where we were required to submit a copy of our passes to move ahead. I was actually having boiling hot tea like one would drink water. My hands were almost frozen and I had to keep rubbing them together to get some life back into them. After having almost 3 rounds of tea we found that the Fazer was still having problems. Rather surprised I tried to remove the air filter of the bike to allow more air to be absorbed. It worked for a few Kms then again stopped. Somehow all of us managed to reach “Khardung La”, the world’s highest motor able road at 18380 Feet. It was a moment to cherish for all of us who had overcome arduous terrain.

For me it was still a dream for which I had traveled all the way from Pune to realize it. It was rather soon I began to feel early signs of Altitude Mountain Sickness; the same became evident in the group as well. I gorged on some piping hot Maggie with tea and rejoined the group clicking pictures to capture the emotions of overcoming the obstacles faced during our journey. All of a sudden I felt a chill in the wind and it began to rain snowflakes. Though the flakes were really tiny but you could feel it. It was an unusual scenario where you had the sun burning your skin, the wind blowing icy cold and snow flakes falling around you. What more can one as for?

With one of the Fazers in trouble there was initial talk of turning around and after some discussion the group split up with 6 of the riders deciding to go ahead and the remaining to return back to Leh to get their bikes fixed. We headed on towards the famous Nubra Sand dunes. The roads were at their curvaceous best, the only drawback being a narrow two lane road with mud at the corners which could be fatal at high speed maneuvers.

This was never going to deter us from enjoying descending almost 8000 feet and we made the best of it. We stopped by the Khardung village for a quick bite and headed towards Diskit. There was an Indian Oil pump which was deserted and as we passed by we keep looking at our fuel gauges. It was an awesome sight to see the Shyok River running alongside the sand dunes.

There were some mind blowing designs created on the river bed. Although the river was not in its peak flow I could imagine the furry it could unleash when the snow caps melt off. We reached Hunder by 4PM and began our customary hunt for accommodation.

Here the group split up with a couple of lads going ahead to hunt for accommodation and the rest of us enjoying hot tea. We later shacked into a lovely guest house and unpacked our stuff. Not wanting to waste time we ventured out towards the dunes to get a glimpse of the famous two-humped, Bactrian camels. By the time we had reached the spot, it was already 6 PM.

Sunny had another disaster in store when he found that the handle of his P220 was broken. Although we did a temporary fix, there was going to be an element of risk for him. It was one of those days where luck did not favor us; we were late by 15 minutes and did not get to ride the camel. We headed back to the guest house and enjoyed a sumptuous meal where no one had any left over’s. Exhausted with the long day we wanted to crash off and before we did, the electricity went off and we were told that the current would return only in the morning. The batteries for our cameras were almost drained; luckily I was carrying a spare one.

Day 13: 16th July 2011 Hundar to Turtok to Leh (280 Kms)

We woke up early in the morning to head towards Panamik, however after talking to the care taker of the guest house we decided to ride to Turtok and our passes had it mentioned as the last place we could go up to. Sunny and I went on the Fazer as we dint want to risk too much with riding a P 220 with a broken handle. Although Bajaj comes up with these mean machines they sometimes tend to ignore the little tit bits that probably makes them lose the edge compared with the likes of the Japanese. The roads were sometimes non existent with some covered in streams of water. The presence of the army was increasing with almost every kilometer we covered. When we reached Turtok we realized why there was such a dominating presence of the Indian army. We were so close to the Pakistan border, it was just a small mountain range and then it was Pakistan. I could not say “Hi!” to those folks on the other side as they were too far. Not too far though to be shelled as one of the sentries cautioned us. At the stall where we hand some Maggie and omelets we were told that the locals have a special pass which had to be carried with them at all times. Hats off to their courage to live at a location which experiences shelling during troubled times. There wasn’t much to do at Turtok so we started our journey back to Hundar to collect our stuff and Sunny’s bike. By the time we had reached Hundar it was nearing 2PM. We were beginning to have disturbed thoughts of crossing Khardung La pass and reaching Leh before nightfall. On mutual agreements Sunny and I blazed off in a jiffy. The climb once again began and I could feel the need of another 5-7 BHP where the Fazer lets you down, nevertheless the handling on bikes like the Fazer and the R15 are unmatched. We reached the same joint at Khardung village and stopped by for a quick cup of tea. Sunny’s temporary adjustment of the handle was working fine for him and he was doing really well with the bike. On the way we passed by a gorgeous 35 meter statue of Maitreya Buddha facing down the Shyok River towards Pakistan.

I stopped for a quick couple of snaps as we did not have the liberty of having a closer look. We reached Khardung La pass and the Fazer began to get breathless just as I was running out of breath due to the high altitude. Sunny and I took a few snaps and headed towards Leh. By the time we reached the city it was becoming dark. We needed to first get Sunny’s bike fixed up and fuel up, the following day we were to leave for Pangong Tso Lake early in the morning. The mechanic was intelligent enough to get the handle heated to remove the broken screw and fix it with a fresh one.

Although we spent an hour getting it fixed it was worth the effort. We were greeted by the group that returned to Leh the previous day to get their bikes fixed. In all it was an action packed day of ridding almost 300 Kms in the hilly terrain and the next day was going to be even tougher. Without wasting much time we grabbed something to eat and crashed off.

**Incubus** · 10-10-2011, 01:53 AM

Originally posted by revvhard View Post

Amazing log Royd...
its great to see someone from pune travel all the way to delhi for a trip to leh,givs us lazy fools some motivation to get off our asses and on the saddle

Thanks Buddy

**Incubus** · 10-10-2011, 01:56 AM

Originally posted by ridermax View Post

HA! Finally Royd, the thread i up ! Was wondering whats holding you up (?). Looking forward to the rest.

Cheers !

Yeah bro

It tool a while to write 17 pages and consolidate 850 Pics with work and rides on weekends

Stay Tuned

**Incubus** · 10-10-2011, 03:25 AM

Week 2- 17th to 23rd July 2011

Day 14: 17th July 2011 Leh to Pangong Tso Lake to Leh (400 Kms)Day 15: 18th July 2011 Stay in Leh (Rest Day)

I was fuming with rage for my misadventure of having a cold shower which I was not used to. I could already feel miserable with the weakness that was creeping in and riding to Tso moriri seemed to be an impossible task. The distance was around 240 Kms from Leh and there were concerned looks around deterring me from riding solo to the lake. I decided against riding and slept off. By the time I woke up it was noon, hungry as I had missed breakfast I grabbed a bite of junk food available. I was beginning to feel better. Sunny and I decided to look around the market for some merchandise to carry back with us as a memento. We spent a lot of time deciding which T- Shirts to pick up and I ended up ordering a special one of a cruiser. We had to pick it up after midnight so we headed back to the guest house to laze around. The following day we were to begin our return journey via Manali and were keeping our fingers crossed for the rain gods to hold on till we reach Manali. Sunny and I headed back to the market post midnight, picked up our merchandise and returned to the guest house to rest.

Day 16: 19th July 2011 Leh to Sarchu (280 Kms) Day 18: 21st July 2011 Manali to Ghaziabad (570 Kms) Day 19: 22nd July 2011 Stay in Ghaziabad Day 20: 23rd July 2011 Stay in Ghaziabad

As I was not going to ride today I slept off and woke up at my own sweet time. It was such a good feeling of waking up without anything on you mind, something that was quite different back home. The feeling of being unemployed even for a day is so delightful. All I did was rest and more rest. In the evening we had a wonderful dinner and I crashed early. The next day was going to be a long one as I had planned to ride straight to Varodra. As usual plans made are never successful which I was to figure out.

**dreamseller** · 10-10-2011, 03:52 AM

Lovely pics and an engrossing log..!!

Rohtang is always covered in slush I guess.

**rachitkohli** · 10-10-2011, 12:58 PM

So finally your log Incubus..!!!
Beautiful it is..!! The narration was super crisp & quick..!!

And yeah.. It was nice meeting you up there at Leh, at the magical mechanics place

So how did your bike performed after that..!!?

**smoker n doper** · 10-10-2011, 03:01 PM

You did not catch me red handed Royd

my lower thermals were already pulled up when i saw you on your bike approaching me

and btw what do you expect ... There were no proper washrooms in Sarchu and after hogging on meat and rice one is supposed to freshen up if he hasnt since morning

It feels good to have an offroading tire in such crunch situations

PS : Lovely short and crisp write up with some cool pictures clicked by me

lol

Ride Safe.

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