Thanks guys, its a very beautiful place,and a journey to remember for life time no matter how many times you repeat the same route,it different the very nexy second.

Next time I wish to go with a wild adventure loving group, & hope by that time i'll be an army dude

^th)
Lazy day at Leh.
The day, we took time to rejuvenate our spirits and health.
Till late evening we were all half asleep, lazy to go around and have fun.
In the evening we guys went to visit the Shanti Stupa, built by Japanese for world peace. It is said that the hill where this stupa is made had magnetic property. There is a temple also in the vicinity with a meditation hall. The ride to hill is superb, few take the steps from the bottom of the hill, few walk along the curving roads, we found a foreigner jogging all the way along the road with same pace, he went up the stupa and vanished downhill within a very short time. The stupa is a beautiful place to spend an evening, where you can view the Leh city side from a hill top view, the varying colors of horizon and a place to meditate if one wishes for that too.

Day 10(July 18^th
We reached the top after the climb, and bad patch of road in about 1 hour excluding few the time we spent shooting pics in between. By 11.30 we were at top and my DSLR wanted to capture the beauty of the place, crowded with army men, trucks, many cars n cabs, the gang of armoured men- a.k.a Bikers with protective gears.
It was a great feeling to feel the light shower and wind on your face at the same time. It was time to shoot pics, so I was busy clicking many, where as other rushed to get a hot cup of tea from the wolrds highest cafeteria. This was really a good move, same for the souvenirs shop for the tourist to collect something to remember their adventurous journey.

After the initial lot of pics, I too rushed to get myself a cup of tea and a short pee break.
All the bikers, not just my gang of four, were busy clicking pics, roaming to the sign boards, getting clicked with the army men, snow, signboards, everything they could find on the way.
Found a few people who had difficulty to breath getting aid from medical facility by army guys.
After a brie discussion we dropped of the plan to go to Nubra as the valley seemed dry and too crowded with tourists. So it was time for us to return to Leh, started of after another cup of tea.




cute kid

Chocolate toppings

On the way we stopped over to cick few more shots near a curvy end of a hill, where Mr. Maitrey tried his Air jump shots, where as I was eagerly clicking the pics. Sunny on the ther hand was tagging us all in his iphone, and he got a good shot where I was on ground clicking and maitrey in air from a good distance.
We clicked every bikers pics, then slowly took the downhill route back to leh. The rest of the day was lazing around in the hotel and cleaning up the bikes. Ot my chain cleaned and lubed, cleaned the lights, number plate, and muck from the radiator.
We wanted to go to the French restaurant in the inside gully of Upper Tukcha road, near to the guest house where our Japanese friend stayed. So we went there with our bikes, and I was so excited, so got the bike into the gully, where I forgot about the water channels and the matter that bikes dint have wings to cross them, though Honda got wings in sticker on the sides .
^th. A first we thought we were lucky to see him, but it was some other important monk or leader.

So that day we had a mix of thai & French food to memorize for ever. Again I cannot forget the place, if any one go to leh, visit this restaurant- name is Bon Appetite- NOT the one in market, this one is inside, deep inside assemble via a gully passage with water channels on the right side of Upper Tukcha road from Leh Market.


Maitrey






Day 11 July 19^th
Leh and surroundings.
Leh Royal Palace, Stock palace, Hemis monastery.
First place we visited was the Royal Leh Palace, on the road leading from the DC office.
It was a great view to see the palace standing atop a hill and the sign board by the Archeological Survey of India. The palace was getting some maintenance work at that time. We had company of few foreign tourists, and our Japanese friend also was with us.

The pictures taken from palace speak more than a thousand words about the location and beauty of it though the present condition of it is nowhere close to its glory times.
Stock Palace was our next destination, another beautiful palace with stok monastery at top of the palace. Both of them are on top of a hill, while reaching monastery was a hell of a task with almost a round around trip atop the hill and back.







Finally after a long waiting and Photo session I decided to climb atop the monastery after exploring the palace area.


The twits that take you to the monastery at the end are very beautiful due to the prayer flags and greenery around it. Hemis monastery is one of the most fabulous ones, and getting to the top takes quite a while as its placed quite high even after parking you bike. The inside courtyard area itself is very big, and the monastery looks gigantic from there. After initial photo session, we hurried to see the inside, where the colorful murals, statues and Buddhist sculptures were placed. Outside the monastery is the heritage museum which also housed many artifacts and souvenirs shop for tourists. It was disappointing to find photography was banned inside, we had to lock the camera in the lockers placed near the entry door. The collection of books and artifacts, prayer flags, Buddhist prayer charms, and much more made the interior looks so vibrant. We bought few postcards, a solar powered Buddhist prayer wheel, and few Prayer Charms.
It was getting late for us to get back to Leh, so we rushed our way back. Luckily on the way back I found the petrol bunk empty, which is a rare scene in Leh, so dint waste any time and refilled my tank to brim, Sunny also did the same and we waited for others, but they sped fast in the time we filled the fuel.
The day ends with a good dinner and a short conversation with our Japanese friend. It was almost decided to leave leh early morning, so went to say final goodbye to her n got back to hotel.
After some discussion we decided to stay a day more n explore the stuff we missed out like Leh market, the army museum near to Hemis.



sudeep


Maitrey

maiko




The monastery walls


Hemis monastery, the oldest and biggest





Day 12 July 20^th
WE got to the army museum before noon after a tough time cleaning bikes and packing all the stuff in hotel.
It was saddening to find out the museum was closed for that time and wud reopen by 4pm only, we dint have much time to spend, so rushed back to Leh and after a short lunch , we decided to explore the beauty of leh market, after going here and there, Tibetan refugee markets, we got back to hotel. At time we decided to get the essential medicines and tablets needed in the medikit, especially a cough syrup.
So Sunny and I, got ready to explore the area near to DC office and get medicines. After the medicine purchase, we were lazily roaming in the market area, found good deals for head band light. After that we decided to check out Carpets and Blankets. Though it seems weird, the quality was good and rates were compelling. As usual after negotiation and bargaining, we took a 3 bike full load of stuff from there and now it was time to search how to parcel them. Back to square one with excess luggage, we bought plastic mesh bags to pack stuff, and tried to find courier services. Found the Gati couriers, and informed them about our needs.