Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

Travelogue Approved​

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

The teaser pic is promising!! Keep'em coming... So it was SHAHRUKH KHAN who finally pushed you, huh!, a bit filmy to my likes. Be it photos or real, Leh-Ladakh is always a treat to the eyes.

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

the Leh 'bug' bites each and every biker
good to see your bug bit you hard
waiting for the rest..

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

bring on the rest mate

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

Waiting bro!
Bring the main course now!!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

20th May'13

The countdown began, my heart could not refrain from keeping it in and I'd tell everyone and anyone about the plan, show them the pictures of where we are going and what have we purchased
in short, SHOW OFF

27th May'13(DELHI-AJMER)
The beginning of the dream, 40 days of leave and I was a free bird!(those included the backlog exam leaves as well)
all the bags were packed and morning just couldn't wait to show up, 0500 hrs the cab was there and I just jumped out of the bed, within 10 min I was ready to roll (one of the fastest sprints from bed to gate till date)
The winds were different, it was the air of freedom and the only thing I did was breathe sticking the head out of the window. The feeling it was!(I bunked office for that day, the joy was absolutely different)
Boarded the train and with those saddle bags I was carrying(almost dragging them), everybody would stare at me...? may be I looked too weird carrying two saddle bags and a backpack!
after much struggle, managed to push the bags up in the aisle and settled down.
Still there were people looking as if I was a terrorist n I'd stare back, LIKE A BOSS
Reached home, unpacked my bags and the drawing room by now had become a general store!
Rest of the day was spent in planning and only useless planning.

28th May'13

Time now to get the ride serviced n clutch plates replaced, 0900hrs I was standing inside the service center (punctuality was suddenly flowing in my veins)
called the supervisor guy as everything had to be perfect, so told him to check each and everything carefully since I'd be riding more than 3000kms.
By 1500hrs, bike was all set and the engine grunt was enough to tell, "we are ready to roll, baby"

29th May'13


Chauhan was to come from Jaipur, collect his saddle and other stuff to leave for Pali and come back the next day, everything was in the planned progression and Chauhan was home on 30th morning.
The night was sheer anticipation, restless I was. The dream ride was too close to execute so excitement, fear, doubt and a lot of emotions I went to sleep with that night.


30th May'13


The ride begins
we are all loaded, papers check, cash check, luggage check, gear check!
and the heavenly salute for a safe and wonderful journey ahead.

..and we left Ajmer at 1100hrs, it was hot but less humid than what we expected. First break came shortly after 25kms and a quick photo session




We reached Jaipur by 1500hrs and landed at Bhavya's place, the day was spent in chilling and more chilling


31st May'13
Chauhan had his leg-guard disoriented at a toll while coming to Jaipur and other minor issues including the spares he had to look for today. Left Bhavya's place in the morning around 900hrs and got the spares and PUC for my bike. Fortunately we got an 18-55mm lens as well which we were desperately looking for. All set now Headed back and packed up for the day, ready to roll again by 1500hrs. The plan was to leave early morning but we plan more and accomplish less as always. Reaching Delhi by 2200hrs was the target and we took the bypass (took a lot of effort to find out the opening of the overhead bypass but we finally were back on smooth tarmac).
We had enough fuel for the day so we casually stopped at a pump just to get in the groove of the highway.


After riding through heavy traffic and bumpy roads for the last 50kms we finally stopped at a pump near Dharuhera and thankfully found a water cooler, quenched ourselves and topped up our water bottles as well, tiredness and frustration were soaring as the night was closing in.



Eventually at 2200 hrs we gave in to hunger and stopped at a flashy dhaba, 2 Audis, A4 n Q5 parked outside gave us an impression that they might have some good food in there. We were regretting later for the baansi daal makhni and rubber like naan we had.
Reached Gurgaon toll and post that kept cruising at 80km/h since we were already late. 0000hrs spotted a petrol pump as chauhan was almost out of fuel and i too was about to hit reserve. The pump guy had mistaken us for army jawans and a quick conversation followed after we tanked up.

"pump guy: Sir aap army se ho?
me: haan yar!!! (I was frustrated for i barely knew the roads from Gurgaon to Noida and was tired of using google maps for the past 1 hr)
PG: sir salute hai aapko, bahut mehnat karke aap desh ki raksha karte ho
me: (sigh) haan yar karna padta hai
PG: motorcycle pe kaise aur kahan ja rahe ho?
me: aise hi yar Leh ladakh
PG: duty pe?
me: ha yar, china walo ne pareshan kar rakha hai, abi fon aya tha shaam ko to bas jaldi me nikale hain
PG: sir humari duaaein aapke sath hain, saalon ko bhaga k aana achhe se
(and he literally saluted us as we left) "

And we both could not stop laughing for the next 2-3 km. Finally managed to hit the ashram road and as soon as we entered Noida, a UP police check post was very much ready to welcome something alien like us, and two of the THULLAs stopped us n directed their DANDA to park the bikes.
They kept on checking all the documents for almost 20 minutes, we had more than we required
After a series of questions they knew they cant pull off any bucks from us
Now they asked me to show my gloves, and one of them started asking "yo itna sara taam jhaam kyu le rakha hai, aise na chala sakte kya motorcycle?"
And I was " sir jee aage sardi hai, thand na lag jaaye isliye le rakha hai"
and a few minutes more of some bakwas conversation and they let us go.
Reached home (I put up with my masi) at 0100hrs and parked the bikes. Took out the bare minimum things for the morning and off to bed like zombies.

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

Day-1
DELHI-AMRITSAR




1st June'13
Down at 0100hrs last nyt, we still had the guts to wake up at 600hrs and hence we already started pushing ourselves
on Day 1 of the actual ride.To cut on our expenses and number of days we decided to skip shorter distances and Amritsar
was the target tonight (we were solely relying on the ETR on google maps, so average speed and all that calculation, later we realised the disadvantage of doing too much math). 0730hrs we
left Noida and encountered no traffic at all till Kashmere Gate but after that it took me good one hour to realise that the bike has a 5th
gear as well. As the traffic went moderate by murthal we decided to munch on the famous paranthas and take a deep breath for surviving through
the Dilli traffic. Stopped at the Pehelwan dhaba(not really sure about the name), found a table a table and as we were getting rid of the jacket and gloves
we realised a lot of people were looking at us leaving their paranthas aside
We greeted back with a mild smile :P




Aloo parantha, paneer parantha and Chauhan sir wanted IDLI SAMBHAR as well. Sexy-dhuendaar parathas were shortly served and the home-made like butter was
a bliss, what taste oi hoi!!!
We were in no hurry as we we were unaware of what lies ahead and kept enjoying our first highway breakfast. Recharged and full, back to the roads and 80km/h was easily attainable on a 6 lane.




Butt break at panipat bridge, water was being consumed @ half a bottle/stop/person. We figured out stopping on petrol pumps was a better option as they had water coolers and filtration units as well. Somewhere before Ambala we were thinking to stop at a Punjabi dhaba but suddenly Mc donalds was spotted out of those empty roads and "khushi ka thikana hi nahi raha) as we were hungry and sweating like anything, we just rushed inside and ordered two full meals. As we stuffed ourselves we noticed all the staff were Sardars which was a different sight for us and most of the crowd sitting there were either punjabi or Sardars (we were being stared at again and we were getting used to it now)

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

Amritsar was still some 200 odd kms so back on track and stopped after an hour to have this awesome sugarcane juice
This one was different from I've had in Rajasthan and UP.



As we moved ahead Spotted a Tota wheeling a safari, the feel of Punjab *.*
Riding through Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Phagwara gave that authentic Punjabi scent that you can't tell while sitting in the car
We stopped at Lovely Professional University just because of the ads to see what's so great about it...


Post sunset we were extremely tired and thought of giving up and staying at Jalandhar but since we had the accommodation booked in Amritsar
We kept pushing ourselves after Jalandhar, from Kartarpur the road was barely two lane and not in a very good shape
Now was the time my back and particulary butt had started giving up, ticking 450 Kms already gave a sense of achievement but I was highly irrirated
It seemed somebody is just stretching the highway and it seemed never-ending. Ater Beas it was pitch dark and only lights were of the headlamps
Finally we were about to reach and stopped in the outskirts to check maps where is that we have to go exactly but could not find on maps, called up the guy and asked the directions.
A long bridge to enter the city of Golden Temple and then a round about overflowing with traffic at 2200hrs. I lost Chauhan at the at that point stopped at a place where the traffic was minimum, called him up to find where
he is but he could'nt tell and i couldn't understand what to do(I'm particularly bad with remembering directions) so it took me good half an hour to reach back at the round about where I lost him and then started together to find the place
finally at 2330hrs we managed to reach the crpf camp where we were supposed to stay. The sigh of relief 500+ kms in a single and the rashes I got after that!!!
The place was not very good but comfort was too bottom on the list to bother about, had our dinner and went off to bed and slept like we never did.(bole to ekdum behosh)




DAY 2 Amritsar and Wagah border


2nd June'13




Up at 0700hrs we planned to visit The Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh and leave AMRITSAR ASAP but later the plan was changed because the Wagah border ceremony starts at 1700hrs.
Left for Temple on Chauhan's bike and as we were asking directions to hall-gate a guy stopped by and started asking, "kahan se ho, bike pe kaise agae itna door?" and we were like bhai koi nahi chill and throttled up ahead smiling.
The streets were charged with crowd and rickshaws all over (we were warned of not to visit on a Sunday) but toofani karna to banta hai :P
Reached GT and the parking was not less than a nightmare, it took us 25 minutes to park a two wheeler down in the basement.
submitted the footwear at the entrance and headed towards the temple, they weren't letting us in with the tripod...and sadly we moved in.
I was very much fascinated with the idea of doing proper photo shot in the temple but never mind, the ultimate purpose lied 5 days ahead.
It was almost impossible to reach inside the temple standing in that square que all around the sarovar, so we dropped the idea getting to the centre point and just click the pictures around the sarovar and leave for Jallianwala bagh.


Jallianwala bagh was crowded too and the humid hot weather worsened the scenario. Had a quick stroll of the Bagh and left it ASAP
Now the hunt for food began, kept on looking for some good dhaba but could not find anything worth. Got the engine oil from an automobile shop and started searching for a dhaba, stopped and asked a traffic police personnel about something authentic and the conversation went n like this




"me: sir jee koi behtareen sa dhaba pata hai aapko punjabi khaane ka?
TP: kaithho aae ho?
me: Jee Rajasthan se.
TP: oho ae lo(and pulled out his wallet and gave me a visiting card) Kesar da Dhaba! and directed how to get there."
The hospitality was awesome! i started comparing Our "thullas" and their thullas.


After much :mashakkat: we found the dhaba which was located deeeeeep inside the narrow streets of the city where you can't take a four wheeler, somewhat like Chandni Chowk.
And i believe again we were the only foreign particle and others all looked and sounded locals (offcourse we did a lot of mehnat to find the dhaba which normally we would not bother to do but Punjab me khaana nai kahay to kya kia )
Ordered a lachha parantha and then aloo ka paratha along with lassi.





The Glass was huge and ghee was dripping from the parathas. They were mind blowing, my taste buds were dancing on and on. We could barely finish the parathas as they were too heavy and left back for the room.
Pass for Border ceremony was ready by 1400hrs and we decided to take a nap for two hours.
Left for wagah at 1630hrs and reached within 45min. The ceremony took time to start and we were deep-fried and boiled and the same time with DSG nero jacket sucking all the water out of me.

The parade and the feel was patriotic with all those songs they played there, a different experience to see the scene of how soldiers at both the end revert each other's actions with great pride and Josh.
Left for the day but on the way back Chauhan insisted on watching Jawani Deewani and collected the tickets for night show and back to the room.
Had dinner and "signature" :P and Chauhan was high, he was flying his classic350 like a typical JAT. Reached the Alpha mall and did some Tota-watch
Movie was good but the overhead vents gave me a terrible headache, maybe they had adjusted the temp. keeping in mind that most of the men had turban on their head .
I didn't quite understand the trend of big Honda stickers on those ACTIVAs and Apple Adidas and Nike stickers on most of the bikes, specially bullets.(Noticed this the whole day)
Back to the room and off for the day.

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

YES just the initial push, later xbhp and lots of travelogues read here were the fuel to do the outrageous

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

Day-3
AMRITSAR-PATNITOP-BATOTE



3rd June'13

The morning was not a very pleasant one, we were sweating as soon as we woke up. Secondly we were not very sure of what our next destination would be so we were sort of sadly-confused but that notion was shortly fused with the desire to be a traveller, to expect the unexpected. Having discovered the HVK forum last night gave a sense of direction and security but still we were dwindling on our options expecting to reach Ramban or Anantnag (we stayed at Batote later: courtesy HVK).

( in Amritsar)
We left the campus at 0700hrs and fueled up as soon as we left Amritsar. I came out of the pump and Chauhan was getting the air pressure checked when two boys on splendor stopped by and asked me " Aap Rajasthan se motorcycle par aae ho?"
I replied "Haan bhai"
They kept on asking various questions curiosly and I was answering like a preacher, Chauhan had left and I too throttled shortly to follow up. Children waiting for school buses were looking at us amused and we would revert back by just turning our heads slightly towards them.
Roads were pathetic and only added more pain to the butt, we had no choice whatsoever so "no if no butt only jatt".
Soon we stopped for breakfast at a secluded dhaba to savour the last meal of Punjab and ordered aloo paratha and chaai, stuffed ourselves and as we were having tea an Innova bearing MH registration stopped and 4 men stepped out of whom one was noticing our bikes curiously. Then he came towards us and asked Ladakh? and we nodded our heads like we commuted daily on those terrains. The man told us they too were headed there and we stroke a conversation on routes and our respective plans. Shashi, Mark, Roney and 4th one I forgot the name of.


Shashi boosted our spirits for carrying bare minimum stuff, the idea of adventure behind an unplanned stay, not carrying a puncture repair kit and said "we shall have a drink if we catch up ahead with you". (I least expected them to later meet us at Zojila hotel, Kargil and Shashi kept his word)
We rolled slowly on those narrow roads and a wind storm confronted us with light showers, it was a scene to watch. A railway crossing where we were stuck in a long snarl and later separated due to our different overtaking habits (i do it RIGHT and chauhan does it left). Signboards were difficult to read and milestones were impossible to find

Finally we met after almost an hour, stopped in Gurdaspur to buy spare tubes but abandoned the puncture repair kit (again the budget constraints)
The small towns have this unavoidable traffic that annoyed me to extents but anyways we did not start on a luxury note so "all ij well".
Soon we were back on good four lane highway that took us to the gates of heaven, J&K.


Now the joy of ride was shooting up and so did the adrenaline. An Air Force officer stopped by and asked chauhan whether he is from army and he said "nahi bas aise hi" as the officer was looking at his army cargo (later he advised to be careful ahead and we shouldn't wear these).
We decided to skip Jammu and take the Samba route. As soon as we took the turn to Udhampur, the roads were silent, absolutely no traffic. Chauhan stopped and changed his cargo at the first bush in the jungle
Road was in a bad shape but the experience of riding through a jungle was making up for it. We stopped at a pump to fill up the empty bottles (heat and humidity were still tailing us). Finally we came across what we were longing for, PAHAAD :P

A magnificent one and we stopped to have the first feel of it and kept on shouting "hoooo haaa koii haiiiiiiiii" because of the way our voices echoed.
For the lunch we found a secluded dhaba-resto type structure and had two pathetic maggis and left for the day.


Good tarmac roads started shortly and the feeling was awesome, Udhampur it was. We stopped and looked up, army jawans jumping out of a chopper. The scene it was, I stood there spellbound watching them from opening there chutes to landing at the ground.


As we crossed Udhampur the narrow roads started alongwith River Tawi and evening was falling in. I tried resisting (time constraint) but there was a cut down the road and there we go, enjoyed the feel of the river, jumping over the stones to get these shots

It took time riding those roads uphill so reaching Patnitop took longer than what we expected. We kept on riding in the dark ascending up and 2000hrs Kud. We had missed the beauty of Patnitop as it was already dark when the actual valleys came into the frame. Lesson 1 revision: no riding after darkness for the beauty we miss and the risk we kiss.
Soon we reached Patnitop but looked like everything had closed down, no people no shops open!
JKTDC guest house was where we had been advised to stay but no luck, no room. Batote 10-20 kms down was our last option as were tired like hell and all we needed was a bed and food. The descend from Patnitop to Batote was in pitch dark, like horror movies. The only light was from the headlamps of our bikes and on the top of it I was drowsy, I almost missed a turn and was about to go straight and down in those valleys thanks to disc brakes (repercussions of forgetting lesson 1).
Reached Batote by 2200hrs and finally managed to get a room at JKTDC for 700 bucks and dragged our saddles up to the room (parking was much lower than the guest house so it was a mission to unpack and reach the room).
Decent room with wooden interiors but yes it was spooky I did click a picture but could not find it later(may be the ghosts were really there).
Had Rajma-Chawal in the dinner served by KHAN-kaka (bloody 270 bucks for pathetic rajma chawal) and off to bed, drop-dead!
end of the day

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction


DAY 4
BATOTE-SRINAGAR



4th June'13
The day was a beautiful one, the view was stonking. Left the guest house around 0900hrs, lazy rabbits crib later. Chauhan stopped at a mechanic shop to get the oil changed but 50 bucks the guy was asking for and we just moved on :P (50 rupaye oil change k? bhaiya massage bhi karoge kya? )
Breakfast time, oily paranthas and a nice cup of tea.

Here Chauhan checked the oil again and found it to be ok so we decided to carry on the without having it changed. Curvey roads, sexy valleys and the day was getting awesome and so was the mausam



CRPF jawans were moving in a huge flock of buses, trucks and jeeps and that did drove us crazy as they were hopelessly slow and we were running short of time. Finally we managed to overtake them and a butt break at Ramban didn't hurt. Clicked some pictures and moved ahead towards Banihal, it was kind of a different culture, the way people were dressed, children moving around, the aura was not very pleasing so we just kept on moving. Step farms were a sight to watch and it was green all over.
chauhan enjoying the solitude


Moving ahead I knew Jawahar Tunnel is close and just 20 kms before we found a traffic jam out of nowhere, truck accident!
But army jawans let us go and we zoomed leaving the traffic behind and there we were at the opening of Jawahar tunnel.
It was a goose bumpy feeling to enter and no lights inside so had to switch-on ours. The sound of the engine felt in dolby digital 5.1
I was singing "zindagi ek safar hai suhana" at the top of my voice and blowing horn in between. Felt like we were playing NFS underground :P
took good 10 minutes to cross the tunnel and there we are at the titanic view point JANNAT!!!

Tourists had already flooded this point so we moved ahead ASA we had the pictures clicked. Now the traffic was coming out of god knows where and such pathetic taxi drivers I could barely enjoy the ride ahead. 95% of the traffic were tourists in cabs or taxis.
Beauty was not enough to get us going, we were dying of hunger now. Stopped at a fruitshop and purchased half a dozen bananas. The shopkeeper was so intrested in us he kept on asking "kaha se kaise kyu and what not" and then he offered us to come inside his house. I was already skeptical about people in J&K
I just said "shukria par humara safar lamba hai, chalte hain".
Stopped and stuffed ourselves, the happiness was out of the world, as you can see.

Roads were not very good as we approached Srinagar, had a tiff with person who was riding a ZMR. I was moving ahead in traffic and gave an indicator as well and that guy wasn't probably much into following traffic rules I cud tell from the registration plate and not wearing a helmet confirmed that. My take was, he suffered inferiority complex having encountered a fully loaded biker and from another state! and I let go saying "sorry bhaiya" and he moved ahead.
Not a very good experience with people already had me thinking to leave Srinagar ASAP. Entered Srinagar, ARMY was in abundance there so we thought of asking directions from an army personnel. Later we regretted that as he had sent us back 10 kms and we were another 15 kms from where we were supposed to stay at Rambagh CRPF campus.
trailed on Baramullah highway and again stopped by two army jawans, instead of directing they had us answer atleast 10 nonsense questions and on the 11th I said "Bhaisaab shukria, rehne do aap".
My patience was exhausted and so was I. Kept on moving slowly as we were in time today good one hour was still there before the sunset.
Spotted two CRPF jawans filling up a water tanker and with less hope I asked him the directions, vaguely he pointed in that direction and I also started walking back then he asked "KYU jaana hai" i replied "Waha theherna hai" then he called me back and verified my identity and then he gave clear directions for another 4-5 minutes as to which street and which turn precisely.
Finally we were there and the security was top-notch, entering inside the campus gave a sense of relief.
Unpacked, rooms were ready and this time we had two jawans carry our luggage so not-dragging part was deeply cherished
Took a shower, headed towards the mess and ate like we hadn't had anything for ages.

Perfect end to a tiring day!
Back to the room and plan for the next day was decided, Bike service pehle and ghumna phirna baad me!
And lights off for the day.

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

DAY 5
SRINAGAR AND ONLY SRINAGAR




5th June '13

We woke up late in the morning as showrooms and service centers open by 1000hrs. A quick shower, tea and used these bunjee cords to their maximum potential

Asked the directions for Hero and Royal Enfield and headed towards Lal Chowk to find RE. Traffic was hopeless, took us 5 minutes to cross a single red light. At Lal Chowk asked the directions again and here we came to know the place that we're headed to is named as "Habba Qaatil" ( I was kind of hesitant now) and asked Chauhan, is it really worth it
I mean we could get some other mechanic and have them change the oil and general check up?
Chauhan was adamant and we finally reached there. The RE Showroom guy was cordial and the response was good, asking about where were we staying, he advised us to move low profile and not to tell anybody that we stayed at CRPF campus(I was scared now).
The guy offered us tea and these breads

Chauhan gettin rid of the 3 Lts. oil-can that he carried till Leh.



I kept on waiting for sometime before having the tea (doubtful as I was), so unless I was sure everyone is having the same tea I didn't touch it
Took 2 hours to get the bike serviced and we left to have lunch. We found a super-market on our way back so I just hopped in shopped for thermals, chocolates, gums, noodles like we're going for an expedition
Reached back and had pathetic chhole bhature and samosa at a halwai shop (for lunch you have to tell them in advance so we wouldn't get a meal in the mess inside).
Back to the hunt, Hero showroom was at the extreme end of the city, reached there and found a long queue (one of the many disadvantages of owning a desh ki dhadkan bike, wtf)
Took me 30 minutes to convince them that I was in a hurry and need to get the bike serviced ASAP, and that worked. I was standing along as the guy was doing all the check-up, wobbling problem however was never rectified but the guy did a wonderful job compared to the mechanics here in Rajasthan and Delhi and I gave him a pack of cigarettes as a gesture of thanks.
Rock and Rolla we are in business, time now for some shikara and Kashmir ki kali
Went to Dal lake, flooded with shikaras and tourists. We stopped at the later ghats where the price for a ride would be less. A crpf jawan was there so had him convince one of the shikara guys for 200 bucks and enjoyed the lake for good one hour.

Clicked a few pictures and we still had some time left before the sunset so went up to one of the many gardens that had some breathtaking views of Srinagar.
The weather was pleasant and the fun to ride on those roads to chashm-e-shahi and pari mahal was unmatched.


On our way back to the room we finally stopped at a medical store which we have been postponing for no apparent reason and got all the necessary tabs including diamox, all set now.
Dinner was waiting and we had it like the last meal of our journey
The firni was one of the best culinary pleasures I've ever had in my life, the taste made me forget the best desserts till date.
Back to the room and pack up, we wanted to leave early as always so that we can reach Kargil in time and enjoy the morning view of Dal Lake as well, Par ye ho na saka .
Lights off, dreams on!

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

DAY 6
SRINAGAR-DRASS-KARGIL


6th June'13

Up at 0600hrs and left at 0730hrs. No traffic at all and circling Dal lake at the point of time was the best part about Srinagar and we said alvida.
Highway 1D (Srinagar-Ladakh) was barely a highway, lots of curves, two lane and too narrow and lots of trucks as soon as we left Srinagar.
After two hours we stopped at a dhaba near this river bank(not sure if its a river) for breakfast and paid 90 bucks for two of the worst paranthas during our journey


We were keeping close as chauhan's phone was not working and it was difficult to catch up once separated, there were instances when we had encountered this problem but we managed through.
Now the visual temptations started falling in, I had to resist myself to just watch and let go and not capturing it(time constraint).
We only clicked pictures during butt breaks. Lesson 2: Not carrying a tank bag is sheer foolishness, specially when you want to click a lot of pictures.


So even after carrying a DSLR and a tripod I was heavily relying on my cellphone and 60% pictures were captured from phone.
Sonmarg came early around 1100hrs but the thrill was yet to come, so 2-3 minutes of butt break, a quick click and throttled up.

The cattle blocked the road for 2-3 times and finally we decided to stop instead of rushing through and have some awesome experiences like this:

We had to give him a cigarette for having this picture clicked
Suddenly out of nowhere we encountered a long jam but the army jawan directed us to go ahead and stop in front of the first car
The feeling it was

Later we came to know that it was a landslide and ahead lies the mighty Zojilla Pass, the first landslide that we encountered
Meanwhile people started coming out of their vehicles and in no time a cluster was there. Everybody would first take a look at us and then at the road condition ahead, we felt over-dressed and yeah let me admit,

Then we were suddenly celebrities, encircled by some 10-15 people and they were shooting questions like an AK-47
"kaha se aaye ho? Rajasthan se?..ohhho! Bike se aaye ho? (no we came walking all the way and they were following us)
ye bike kitna horse power ka hai (a bengali uncle asked with utter curiosity)
permission kaun dia tumko? (bengali uncle's friend asked in surprise)
Family from the safari bearing a RJ-19 reg plate which is just behind our bikes interrupted later and we shared a long conversation about the trip plans and all.
Then they had a photo session with our bikes saying that their children are insisting (which obviously was not the case) I could see , aunty jee was too excited to ride a bike alongwith uncle but the they soon realized that I was not liking it (The bond you share with your bike was very obvious here) so they left. Chauhan was taking up Indo-Pak-China issues with a gentleman and an army jawan far at the landslide point while I was still answering those curious people for last 2 hours and saving our bikes from becoming any further objects of exhibition.(I was irritated now)
Chauhan was back and shortly the pass was open
Marched ahead and again after a few minutes pass was blocked for some reason, Could not stand my hunger now

Started moving again after a few minutes and here I had my first fall yes, first fall.
The terrain was hopelessly and unexpectedly rough, I was barely able to sustain the bumps and inclination and adding to the that my saddle lost balance and bang!!! bike was 30 degrees tilted to the left and finally it touched the ground. I tried my best to lift it up but it was too heavy with the saddles and 3/4 tank full. Petrol was leaking and now I was in a state of shock, could not think of anything. Chauhan was nowhere in the sight and no one around! after 3-4 minutes a TATA sumo stopped by and a guy came out whom we met back at the Baltal landslide point and he helped me up with my bike and I was back on wheel. Chauhan was waiting for me a few hundred meters ahead and I stopped by and told him what had happened, re-arranged the sadldes and bungee. Now was the time when I first felt the puff of a cigarette, I had tried but nothing I could differentiate (annoying smoke that's it), probably because I never took the smoke to the lungs.
But this time I was breathing heavily and in a state of shock so I puffed and deep into the lungs felt a punch, merely 30-40 seconds later my senses were back and it seemed the smoke took away all that shocked shit.
The feeling was awesome
Five star added to the happy hormones and I'm back to life.

Down there where vehicles are emerging was where I had the fall.

Started moving again and after some 20kms found this place where we first put our hands and feet in snow Played for some 15 minutes



and then we unwillingly had to roll back as our bikes were parked across the stream and people started photo sessions like a swarm of flies. I felt annoyed and took out the frustration on a couple in the end to whom I waved from a distance to not to sit on the bike and kept buzzing the central lock as well, finally I had to come and teach them how to behave with bikes, specially when the bike's owner is not around.
Having lost so much time already now we were bucking up, took minimum breaks and quick clicks for at least 3 hours until we were completely exhausted

Reached drass by 1700hrs but found the place to be a little weird and deserted, no cellphone coverage since morning and still no sign of communication and then finally we found a STD booth and called up home. JKTDC was more like a bhoot-bangla and no one was there at the reception so no luck and we came out.

We were planning to stay but somehow did not feel it was a right thing to do, still had two hours before the sunset and knew that road from Drass to Kargil is OK. Butts on fire and here we go again burning the tyre !
Road indeed was good and the lens could not stop to see, click and capture

These were the last pictures for the day as we were running too late, Chauhan did not stop whatsoever and so did I except for nature's call
Last 20-30 kms had few of the very amazing views but again the time barrier, the mountains and fierce flow of river was creating a symphony, in fact that was the only sound that could be heard there, I felt engine-less.
We had to miss Kargil war memorial due to time at hand.
We were still riding after the sun-set (ground rule again violated: no riding post sunset)
There were instances when I was about to slip but thankfully did not! as the last few kms were really pathetic, I'm wondering now that I did not then "k agar puncture ho jaata to beta kya karte ?"
As we were entering the Kargil a group of 4 bullets from opposite direction zoomed by and that thumbs up which later we realized is the biker-thing.
Kargil it was, congested streets, weird and uneasy environment. As we stopped asking for directions to JKTDC I was looking at every person in sheer suspicion don't know why...?
JKTDC was full, only choice left was Zojilla hotel (being towards the end of Kargil, I did not want to go back in town again).
Checked in, got ourselves a decent room for two, 1200 bucks (yes that did hurt but we had no choice the way were exhausted)
Here we again met the gentlemen from Amritsar dhaaba and as promised we people sat together and had a drink with a long conversation.
Dinner and then off to bed, plan for the next day : UNCERTAIN!

Re: A happy beginning to a great addiction

Beautiful pics Gaurav. Keep them rolling.