Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

Congrats Dude....

We are also planning from last two yrs ride to leh..... & now we are planning do the ride in this year..... I just want to know Which Season is suitable for Ride.

Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

awesomeeeeeeeeeeee man!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i wanna experience dis.....

Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

wow superb... awesome bro...

Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

ahaaa finally First Log of the season....thanks to my laziness that i was dreaming to post my travelogue first.....keep it coming bro...want to experience the goosebumps

Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

Ahh.. wonderful a Dream come true.. all the best guys keep posting pictures and share you experience ....

cheers

Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

Great Pics.. eager to see more with itinerary. Thanks

Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

Waah Manoj -- Great Pics... Post the rest.. ...

Day 1 - June 1 2013 - Gurgaon - Ambala - 240 kms

Route Map -http://goo.gl/maps/elcNK

After 3 months of planning on the routes, things to carry for the trip, preparing our bikes, acquiring the tools, spares and medicines, finally the day has come June 1^st
We were back on roads and with one more stop for tea we reached Ambala . Found a decent hotel to stay which was closer to the highway. Had a good dinner and went to bed.

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Thanks!


Yup the bike celebrates 5th birthday this August


Thanks!


Thanks Sir!


Thanks! Those were the slush that a car threw upon us during rains. I didn't wash the bike during the ride so it remained like that until the next rains


Thanks!
Thanks!

More pics on the way


Thanks ! Will try my best to complete the trip log

Thanks!


Thanks and All the best for your ride!

The bike is 5 years old. That pic was taken at stand still. Bike performed flawlessly. Post your bike related queries in the ownership experience thread .


Thanks!

Thanks! The weather there is unpredictable but best season would be Aug - Sep. Last 2 weeks of Sep should be with good roads and less crowd. June- July is usually crowded but you get to see a lot of snow.


Thanks!


Thanks!


Thanks! Haha I was lazy too to start with the travelogue . But I had to pen down the experience before my memory fades away.


Thanks!


Thanks!

Thanks boss Nice to see you here .

Re: Day 1 - June 1 2013 - Gurgaon - Ambala - 240 kms

[MENTION=11212]M@n()J[/MENTION]

Nice pics mate.

You said it
Now I'll fcking cry and can't eat for 2 days.

Already I'm pissed of from Mumbai food & no paratha.
And you clearly mentioned Sukh Dev Dhaba.

We use to do fun ride 60-65 km from my home to there for Paratha's

So you missed the Awesome Aalo Paratha + thick butter and Lassi. :/
Sad, very sad

Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

Great Captures and Great Effort

Re: Ladakh - Living a dream !

it,s an fi right ?

http://goo.gl/maps/HMNVp


We had an early start to beat the heat and were munching miles at a good pace. First stop was usual was for a chai at 60 kms away from Ambala, by now we have entered Punjab.


After riding for a couple of hours, we stopped at a good dhaba for the breakfast. Hot paranthas and lassi gave us energy and we rode on.


Soon we pass through the cities of Ludhiana and Jalandhar and stopped for lunch after crossing Pathankot. The heat was taking a toll on us as we lose energy at a faster pace. We decided to take rest at the dhaba till the heat subsides. This was a huge junction and was crowded with truck traffic. J&K border was just a few kms from here. While taking rest noticed a TN registered truck standing in the queue of trucks. Immediately went nearby and engaged in a chat with the driver. He was very happy to see us Tamil speaking guys there. He said he is a regular to Srinagar and they bring matchsticks from a town near Madurai in TN and deliver it at Srinagar and take apples on the return. He said he does Madurai to Srinagar in 10 days on the truck!!! The cleaner was going to cook lunch for us too but we told them that we just had our lunch.




After this conversation we moved on, soon entered the state of J&K. After the border crossing, the roads turned out to be very empty and the heat was getting more.
We couldn’t just continue to ride in that heat. We pulled over and stopped for rest under a tree. Both of us slept for 20 minutes on the boulders kept there.




The power nap and a couple of snicker bars helped us. We were back on roads by the time the heat was also lesser. Throughout the trip daylight was there until around 8PM in the Northern States, so we had the advantage of riding under daylight for a longer duration every day.


We took a diversion at Samba get off the NH A1 to skip Jammu and reach Udhampur. At this diversion we sipped two glasses of sugarcane juice to keep us hydrated, advice was from the truck driver we met earlier. Samba – Udhampur section was a hill climb. So from now we will be riding on the hills for the rest of the trip.


I was excited as the hill sections started. But we had to be careful as the roads aren’t good throughout and we were riding at high altitude cliffs. So with caution we carried on and reached Udhampur by dusk.

http://goo.gl/maps/MG2SA


We start the day with rains. So both of us had to wear our rain gears and luggage was covered with tarpaulin. It took almost half an hour to saddle up the luggage first then to wrap it up with the tarpaulin. This being the first time we took some time to cover it properly and secure it. We had a tea while we were packing it up. We moved at a slower pace due to the rains. But the views were getting better and better every kilometer we covered. Lots of traffic in this section and being on bikes, we were exposed to all the slush and muck that the trucks, buses and four wheelers had to throw on us. One rear tyre flap less car had thrown some muck on my bike and it left few spots that you can see in the pics. Those remained like that until the bikes were washed in next rains.


The presence of Armed Forces was also increasing as we get closer to Kashmir. Rains subsided by the time we stopped for breakfast some 40 kms from Udhampur. At this stop I noticed a lot of Indian oil tankers. These tankers gave company to us till Leh. I even noticed one particular truck that did till Leh with our same pace. Hats off to those truckies!




Now the roads started to worsen and the traffic started to increase. We were getting the feel of the mountains as the views were becoming fantastic. At one place I could see a snow capped mountain. I was so excited to see such a view in real life. We stopped there to have a good view of it though it was very very far away. At this place a police Inspector who was doing a routine check of the tourist vehicles commanded us to come nearby, sitting in his gypsy. He started asking us about the trip and our whereabouts. He wished us luck and asked what bikes we were riding. We said that we were on Pulsar 220 and Thunderbird, he was surprisingly asking us was that thin rear tyre, a RE bike. He was thinking that RE bikes had fat rear tyres! He also mentioned looking at my 220’s rear tyre that its not going to do Ladakh in that state. But in reality it did the entire circuit without a single puncture! My bikes tyres were around 10-12 k kms old. They held well throughout the trip.




At this particular spot we saw a BRO board that read "Kashmir to Kanyakumari India is one" . We had to stop there with our TN plate bikes and click a pic. While we were doing so , an Army truck stopped by and parked begin that boar under the shade of the tree. The Army jawan courteously asked us to move the bikes aside so that the truck can be parked and asked us to park the bikes in front of the truck so that the bikes are in the shade from truck. They wanted us to have lunch with them as they were about to cook. But he explained them about our schedule and had to move on with just filling the bottles with water from the truck. This was our first experience with the Army in this trip and it made an impression. These guys are so hospitable!




After sometime we entered the famous Jawahar Tunnel, 2.5 kms long tunnel that bridges Jammu to the Kashmir Valley. Listening to the roar of the motorcycles exhaust note when inside a tunnel is music to any biker’s ears.




As soon as we exit out of the tunnel we were stunned by the beauty of the hills. It drastically changed as we entered Kashmir Valley. We stopped for few pictures at the customary titanic view point and moved on.




Had lunch at one of the small dhabas en route.






After many kms we were riding on plain lands, it was a surprise for me after all the hilly section. Nearing Srinagar the traffic got worse with traffic jams becoming common.




Somehow managed to navigate through the traffic jams and reached Srinagar by evening. Managed to find a hotel with decent parking, unpacked our stuff from the bikes, freshened up and we headed to the market. Vignesh had to tighten the rear tail lamps of his bike as a bolt securing it had loosened. Luckily there was a RE mechanic nearby. While fixing it we met a few guys who said they were from Odisha, were on hired bikes from Manali and are on the same circuit as us. These guys would come again later in our log. It was dark by the time we headed out side to the market, so we decided to go to Dal Lake the next morning before leaving to Kargil.