This is the most exciting day for me....
Today,I would be riding my scooter along the bank of Pangong lake.People say,roads doesnt exist here.
It is completely no-road area..People say Pangong-Chushul section is rocky and sandy and no habitation for miles.
But riding along the legendary Pangong for miles was producing Adrenaline in my stomach.
Pangong for me means only Lukung village.I could not see area beyond Lukung in my 2011 trip.

But where is Sumit???
He must be found before starting onward journey,so I asked Aman to search for Sumit's bike parked nearby tents.Aman went and viola....Sumit's TBTS was spotted at the same tents where our beds were booked and we were supposed to stay.Sumit had spent his night in the same tent after reaching late in the night.
Sumit told that he got his bike repaired at Leh and inexperienced mechenic screwed his bike big time and bike's rear brakes were not working and he had to ride with only front brakes resulting his late arrival.
But good thing was that now we are again reunited and our group has increased from three to Five members..More the merrier.

Later Sumit told us that Tentwala had lied to us and his all beds were occupied by foreigneres and no bed went empty.But good thing was that Sumnit was found nearby and he also got permits for Chushul and Hanle.

Waking up in the morning at Pangong Tso is always a refreshing and different thing.When I open my eyes and peek out of my bed to a calm lake with hills,it feels like God is very kind and gifted these peaceful moments to me.Today's morning is cold,dark,overcast and it is raining at Pangong and my Mark II is hanging around my neck uselessly.My Mark II is very angery.The photographer in me is very angery,he is feeling frustrated and sufficated..His fingers are itching to press the shutter button.But there is no light,there are no colours.Only gray gloomy hazy horizon is seen....An opportunity lost...and I repeat my oath again....Agli baar September mein Ladakh aaoonga...

Bills were settled,bade good bye to Punit and friends,luggage were tied and bikes were warmed up for next few gruelling hours in a land where only few bikes have been but A scooter has never been there.Our party of five rolled out of the Lukung village and dashed towards Spangmik village.Road is made of tire marks on sandy
soil and multiple tracks are created to confuse us further but we sticked to the shore of Pangong and kept going ahead.Our vehicles got stucked in loose sands and we had to push them manually.Soon we reached Spangmik village,a village quite big and there were a huge colony of Camps of all.Some tents were quite close to Pangong lake.

After Spangmik,it is all deseerted area and overcast sky has covered whole distant horizon was giving the whole place a "Sleepy Hollow" movie effect.We kept riding on those tire marks occassionaly stopping for photo breaks.A bunch of houses comes,it is Maan village.We passed thru it and soon reached Merak village.Road to Chushul passes thru this village.Few villagers were standing outside,I asked them the direction for Chushul and one woman among the villagers asked for our
Permits.We said,"We are carrying permits and vroomed ahead and found a tented police post of JK police.Cops was not there.The woman came to us and asked us to deposit our permits with her.The villagers were collecting permits on behalf of JK cop.We wrote down the details of our vehicles at backside of permits and woman gave us go ahead.

After Merak village,it is a no man country for miles and journey became exciting and adventrerous.White sandy tracks,scattered bushes here and there,no sunlight,very cold wind with fast speed and a very vast Ladakhi landscape lies in front of me.All in all,an exhiliatring experience.A herd of shy Kiangs was also spotted at distance.

4 hours after Pangong,we finally reached at the outskirts of Chushul village,the Chushul...the village which stands witness to the most fierce battle ever,the place which stand witness to the vellore of Indian soldiers,the place which was indunated by Army of Chinese invaders,the village which stand witness to the ultimate grit and braveryof soldiers of Charlie Company of 13 Kumaun Regiment,the village which stand witness to the bravery of Major Shaitan Singh.As soon as we entered in the village,few kid lama students came running to us and circled around us.They were very happy to some outsiders and we beacme source of their entertainment.Chushul was a big village with hundreds of houses.We found a small shop but it had only Maggie and ommlette.I used this stop over to gather some info about the whole area.I came to know that Chushul residents generally use Erath road to reach Tangaste and then Leh and most of the supply of essential items is recived thru this route however a weekly bus service is till Merak village.While all this interactin was going on,two cops arrived and asked for permits.Permits were handed over to them and cop dropped an Atom bomb on our head....

He said,"Aapko aage jana allowed nahi hai"(You are not allowed to go any further).

Those few words coming out of cop's mouth bewildered me,confused me,puzzeled me.I poilitely asked the reason.

He replied,"Permit par Tsaga post ka naaam nahi hai".(Tsaga post is not mentioned on our permits).

I pleaded him,showed him my Govt employee card,also showed Sumit's Govt bank ID card and asked his permission to let us go ahead.He said you can go on your own risk and he will take any responsibility and would decalare us all absconders if anything bad happened later or Army asked him why he had let us pass beyond Chushul.This situation was critical.We were very close to Indian-Chinese border and this permit thing had created a sense of
fear among us.A villager advised us not to take left side track and keep going on right side track.Left would take us to Chinaside.Anyway we left Chushul and reached Chushul war memoria and stopped for a brief photo session.Indian army bunkers atright side of us were clearly visible.We crossed a huge army post named "Rohit Post"but there was no sign of Tsaga post.Few kilimeters after Rohit Post,we stopped on a huge water crossing but still no sign of Tsaga Post.I asked Amit and Amanto go ahead and do a recce and find the location of Tsaga post.They went ahead and Lakshya,Sumit and Me waited at crossing with anxiety on our face.After half an hour Aman came back alone and our faces lit with hope.He said that there is no post for next 7-8 kilometers and Amit went little further to a village.We kept waiting and finally saw Amit coming back withthe news that there is Tsaga village 10 kilometrs ahead and ITBP post is here and the jawan is only registering the
details and not asking for any permits.This was a good news and we all crossed water crossing and reached Tsaga La pass named after Tsaga village.A very huge army post named "Tara Post" could be seen from Tsaga La.We reached Tsaga La psot and registered our details.It was 6.35 PM and we our destination Hanle was very far and soon darkness wwould be all over horizon.But good thing was thet road was super smooth tarred and speed could be maintained easily.Qucikly reached Loma Check post and showed our permits.Cops asked to surrender our Camera with them.We all requested and senior official were called for further instructions and polite senior officer allowed our cameras provide we showed them our memory cards in return journey and with a stricT warning not no take any sensitive photo.Time was around 8 pm and pitch dark nighthad descended,Hanle was still 50 kms and all of us tired,each bones were aching.Hardly any energy left in us.We started for Hanle.This was the most exciting time in entire trip.A pitch dark place in remote Ladakh,distant sound of barking dogs and a super smooth road eliminated by our headlights and hopping rabbits crossing the roads.Around 10 in the night,we reached at Hanle and settled in the very first home stay at the begining of village.Hanle,the pleace known for its most clear sky was covered in thick cloud cover and not a single star was visible and my desire for Star Trail photography remain unfulfilled..The extra battery,the remote switch for bulb mode,the tripod and all the tutorials in my head became useless and went in vain...What a bad luck for photographer inside me.

Within 5 minutes of entering the home stay,I was deep in my sleep with riding jacket still on my body.
Hanle a bitter cold high altitude village.
Good Night.....

We had reached Hanle after a very hard off road ride through Maan,Merak,Chushul,Tsaga ,Loma and finally landed at Hanle
around 10 pm in the pitch dark night and immidietly settled in the first homestay we found.

Today,at 7 AM,it is snowing outside and weather is heavily overcast.

Sumit is down with severe AMS and had buried himself in quilts and blankets.I have plan for doing Photi La,but outside
weather is posing a great challenge.It is snowing mildly and very cold outside.Lady owner prepared Aloo-Poori for
breakfast.After breakfast,Amit,Aman,Lakshya and Me left for Photi La which was 27 kms from our homestay.

As soon as we reached at the outskirts of Hanle,road worsen due to ongoing construction works and bikes stalled in sands
.During one of this off roading attempts,Aman's bike was stuck in sand he decided to head back to homestay and left midway.

We continue our ride towards Photi La,afetr some kilometers we found a decent road and gained height.This area was totally
a deserted area and no one was there and snowfall was gaining speed as we gained heights.We had covered 21 kms and only
6 kms were before Photil La Top,heavy snowfall deposit on the road stopped us.We pushed our bikes in soft snow but sheer
heights of Photi La was suffocating our lungs.Wheels were spinning in soft snow and there was grave risk of clutch plates
burning .Our vehicles were falling frequently,hands were numb,breathing was difficult.Photil La was impossible in
such a worst condition.Unanimousaly we decided to abort our Photil La attempts and returned back to Hanle..

Of course tired,frustrated and disappionted.

Can you believe this????Umba La failed,Agham-Shyok failed and now Photi La too failed and remain elusive.
And the sole reason behind all this aborted missions was Nature...

At Umba La,snow stopped me.

At Shyok section,raging river stopped me.

And again at Photi La,snowfall showed me a middle finger.

My photography too suffered a big loss due to Nature.

Furious Nature was common in all.

It appeared Nature and its forces had conspired against me and they were hell bent on testing me.
I will come back...I promised to myself.

The love for Mother Nature would bring me back again and hopefully next time Mother Nature would be in a good mood and blessed me with her affection.

We returned back to Hanle and found Sumit's health improved and in a very cold overcast weather we resumed our journey towards Nyoma and settled in govt GH
without asking for permission as caretaker was not present there.He returned back and angry to see us wrapped in blankets and all our biking stuffs lying around in
entire guest house.Soon a govt employee probably from IB came and collected our permits.We requested caretaker to let us stay and he agreed after some cajoling and prepared tea for all of us.

I have only two pics from my Photi La attepmt.Rest of the pics are with Aman and Sumit.

Snowfall Just six kilometers from Photi La Top

Day 13 of my ride and we are currently in Nyoma town,the main town of Changthang region,a big miltary base to secure Tibet
border.Surprisingly,there is hardly any stay options in Nymao apart from a sole Govt Guest House.

I woke up to a very cold morning in Nyoma Guest house and was shcoked to see a moderate live snowfall outside.Everyone
in the group was tired of cold and snow for last few days.This bad weather had caused a lots of pain in fingers and it
felt like needles piercing thru my skin.Between Hanle and Nyoma yesterday,I had to constantly warm my fingers by
touching the hot engine of bike after each 5/6 kilometres.Due to this painful cold weather,ride was very slow and
frustrating.

Snowfall is going on in front of our eyes and we are discussing our ride plan for today.Few members were not in mood to
bear this punishing cold any longer and suggested we abndon our Tso Moriri plan and instead head for home means Tso Kar
and Debring.I accepted their suggestion and we decided Sarchu as our destination for today i.e. 13th day of trip.

Starting bikes in cold was a long ritual we had to follow each day.My gloves were wet and causing a lots of needle
piercing pain in my fingers and riding with wet gloves was a horrible experience.Luckily found a shop open in Nyoma and
saw some rubber and wolllen gloves hanging in the shop.Everone purchased rubber gloves and wore them.Some members felt
less cold after wearing them,some complaint of zero effect.I personally found a reduced pain in my hands and found rubber
gloves useful for some extent.

After purchaisng gloves,we started our ride towards Mahe,snowfall was still strong.Gloomy and deserted road were our
companion and hardly anyone seen around.we kept riding and reached Mahe bridge.A checkpost is there,two shops are
also there.Amit had a tea there and cop asked our permits,which we willlingly presented.We spent around half an hour at
Mahe bridge and after some time reached Sumdo village.A diversion is there.Here at this diversion,you ahve option to
either go to Tso Moriri or go to Tso Kar,Debring,Moorey Planes and Manali.

We opted for Tso Kar and reached in Sumdo village and asked for Petrol.A tibetan refugee guy opened his shop and we
purchased petrol from him for 108 rs per litre.This shop is in Lower Sumdo village and located on the way to Tso Kar.

After Sumdo,road worsen and rocky tracks appear and ride become painful and slow.After a very bumpy ride,we reached
Polongak La and had some foto session.Sumit was feeling some discomfort due to constipation and acidity.I was
carrying few pouches of ENO and gave it Sumit bang on Polonganlk La.
Downhill begins after this pass and stones are everywhere on the road.Speed reduced to bad roads and suddenly we found
ourselves riding inside a very big flat landscape and Tso Kar is visible on our left side.But road is still bad and
snowfall is making matters worse hardly any scope of photography.I am very depressed inside.Imagine,you are right
at one of the remotest and prettiest places and you are not able to take picture.

Snowfall and grey coloured horizon was everywhere near Tso Kar and we were cruising towards Debring.Reached Debring and
stopped in a Dhaba for rest and some hot tea.I was happy to found a place bang in the Moorey Planes to stay and relax.
Moorey Planes have always fascinated me and spending some moments is always an exciting for me.After spending some time
at Debring dhaba,it was time to move towrads Pang.Found a freshly laid thick black road and also found bumpy road made
my buldozers.Within on time,we were at Pang and ordered some Paranthas and replinshed our water supply for journey.
Reaced Sarchu,75 kms from Pang without any issue.Journey between Pang and Sarchu was eventless and we only stopped for
photos at Lachung La and Nakeela. Once we reached Sarchu around 7 in the evening,we hired an entire tin shed for our stay
and dumped our luggage.We settled in our tin shed wrapped in the quilts and decided to have a booze party and procured a
bottle of Bacardi and some packed juice to mix with rum.Since Sarchu is an AMS triggering place,I kept a close watch on
the quantity of rum and drank only a very mild amount of it.Also cautioned everyone of side effects of alcohol at such a
high altitude.

After a dinner of Alo-Sabji at Nepali copule dhaba,we retired for the night and next morning at 5 am I found entire Sarchu
whitewashed with a snowfall.Each vehicle parked was covered with snow.Dhaba owner informed told us that some trucks have
stuck at Baralacha top and cops are not allowing vehicles beyond Sarchu check post.We had to spend entire day at Sarchu
doing nothing.

Next morning we went to cops and asked for their permission and they allowed us to pass and once we reached
at Baralacha top we had to stop due a truck which refused to start due to its drained battery and somehow truck driver
borrowed a battery from another truck and started it.This drama consumed 2/3 hrs and there was a huge trafic pile up for
few kilometeres at both side up of top.

We took advantage of small size of our bikes and kept moving slowly.As I was criss crossing thru traffic,I heard a loud
voice calling,"masterji,masterji" from an SUV.I got puzzled looked at SUV and pleasanly surprised to see my friend
Vicky in his Mercedes ML SUV with his family.He was leading a group of SUVs to Ladakh.I stopped my scooter and talked to
him for few seconds.While I was busy taliking to Vicky a group of bulleeters kept honking so i could not talked to him
for long but i was able to greet him.It was wonderful meeting Vicky at the top of Baralacha.He could recognize me due
to my Scooter.

We left traffic Jam and reached Zingzing Bar.Ladakh was left behind and I was in Lahaul.Aman was already at Dhaba waiting
for me.He told that Dhaba has Mutton-Chawal.Without giving a second thought,I ordered a plate of Mutton-Chawal.Last
10 days in Ladakh were pathetic food wise and Mutton-Chawal gave me a much needed relief.I finished a very big plate
in no time.Mutton was damn tasty,I must say.

Darcha,Jispa,Keylong came and go.It was a relief to see greenery after 10 days of continuous barrend mountains of Ladakh.
Reached khoksar around 6 pm and started our difficult and slow ascent towards Rohtang top and thankfully there was no
traffic and we found an empty Rohtang,Top was totally desereted dut to removal of shops,Marhi was also deserted and each
shop was closed.Reached Manali around 10 PM and hired a room in Nehru Kund area and settled for night.Tommorrow i will be
riding for home,at last.

Next morning on 16th day of ride,Me and Aman choose to go to home and everyone decided to stay behind to explore Manali.
We settled our all money matters and said final good bye to each othet and made a dash towards Home.It is gonna be long
ride,a very long ride to home.But thankfully it was towards home.

After 19 hrs at 3-4 AM,I finally entered in my housing society and my daughter,son and wife came down from our 3rd
flower home to welcome me and found a Sun burned Me with heavily soiled clothes,red eyes due to dust,my grey hair
were clearly visible due to absence of any hair colour for last two weeks and a grey beared had grown al over my face.
This is what a Ladakh ride do to you.It completly transforms you,internally and externally.

Scootering at Hanle Observatory

Aman towards Sumdo