Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Superb photography and Tlog Pranav. One of the best!
We from Nashik completed Jammu to Manali via Leh in August this year. We had Avenger, Pulsar 150 and Impulse.
Impulse was the worst bike except for slush and water streams. I was riding Avenger with my friend as pillion.

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TRAVELOGUE I HAVE EVER READ. Read every single word. Awesome dude. Excellent top notch work with your travelogue. Anxiously waiting for your next post and also in real........Getting Leh'd .

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

WOW...Awesome narration and even more awesome pictures.

Thought I'm surprised that some of the riders are just wearing sports shoes in some snaps..

Anyways....keep the pictures coming.

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Its Ladakh. What can I say more. Naam hi kafi hai!!!! Every Indian bikers dream destination..

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Thanks for such a Fabulous Tlog, certainly a treat for eyes !
Ladakh is on my list too, don't know when will this dream come true !

Just curious, how was P200 NS holding up in high altitudes ? Any issues ?

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

its an awesome ride and a visual treat I must say., happy riding !

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Great ride. I can feel it coming straight from the heart. Loved the pics. Keep pouring the details

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Day 6:
20 June 2013
Pang - Leh 185 km


Finally, today I ride to Leh.. This idea alone was enough to revitalize me for today.. Since everyone was tired after last day's exhaustive ride, there were no alarm clocks set today.. The distance covered yesterday was just 145 km.. But we had crossed Baralach la, Gata loops, Lachulung la in a single day.. The constant gain and collapse in the altitude had taken toll on our bodies.. However, I still woke up at around 5 in the morning.. I crawled out of the blankets and went outside.. There was broad daylight already.. If I were alone, I would have started the ride without a moment's delay.. I went to check my bike and found something really interesting.. There were dew drops all over the bike and they had condensed into small ice crystals due to the temperature.. It looked as if the bike had a really soft semi transparent blanket.. It looked beautiful.. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me.. Even though there was sunlight, the weather was still cold.. I returned back to the tent and slipped inside the blanket, waiting for others to get up..

The place where we stayed


Around 7, I left the tent to bring back the cameras and my laptop from the army transit camp.. It was a 10 minute walk from the tents.. The clear weather coupled with cool morning breeze was pleasing.. I collected all the electronics and returned to the tents after around 45 minutes.. I was glad to see everyone was up and getting ready.. Pang is at 15000 ft and there are no trees anywhere.. The lack of oxygen was evident.. Packing bags and loading the luggage on the bikes took a lot of time.. Breakfast as usual was maggi noodles and tea.. By the time everyone got on the bikes and I settled the bills, it was 9 45.. I was bit irritated as nobody was moving fast.. Leh was still a long way from here..

Everything fully stocked up.. At 15000 ft MSL, no refrigerators required..


Till everyone got ready, a proof that we camped at 15000 ft MSL


Couldn't agree more


The ride started with a steep climb..


The cold engine and high altitude were affecting the bike's performance a bit.. But that was fine.. I could still climb in my normal riding style.. Barely 15 minutes of climbing and we were on the Moore plains.. This is again a natural wonder.. There are small hills on your sides, but when you look ahead, the road is dead straight.. There are no elevations, just plain straight road disappearing into the horizon.. I had been in the mountains for the past few days.. This road was a treat to the eyes.. Plain road for 40 km at an altitude of 15000 ft, who would have guessed..

The beginning of the plains..


The beautiful valley and river through it in the backdrop, locals said it floods when the snow melts..


A closer look at the rock formations.. Pang sure would be a paradise for geologists..


Awestruck by the rock formations, we were trying to figure out how those shapes occurred.. Neither of us had the slightest knowledge about rocks, geology or even geography for that matter..


Others left ahead, i took a video, few clicks and followed on..


The road was a sudden improvement.. Not a single bump.. All right then, its time to rip it.. I was maintaining 70-75 kmph quite comfortably.. That wasn't enough.. I wanted more.. Its not everyday you get such roads where there is nobody else but you.. I turned my wrist.. 90 kmph.. No, still not enough.. I need a little more.. 95 kmph.. If felt good.. But still I wasn't fully sastisfied.. 100 kmph.. Now I was content.. It took me more time than usual to get into triple digits, but I was happy nonetheless.. I had fallen behind from the group as I was taking my time to shoot videos.. The road went on straight.. The hills to my sides were now different.. They were no longer rocky as they were near Pang.. They seemed to be made of just sand.. They were no longer right next to the road.. They were far away from us.. I was awestruck staring at the amount of empty space everywhere.. There was absolutely nothing there.. Just plain surface with small hills in the distance.. A treeless, desolate landscape..

A straight empty road and a motorbike, sometimes, that's all a biker needs!!


Nobody but us..






A click while riding..


After a while, we went off the road on to the actual plains..


And then began an amateur photo shoot..






For all the pulsar lovers..




Me.. The sun and heat showing the effects.. Tired, but fully satisfied..


All the steeds lined up..


We rode together for over 20 days, and yet this remains the only picture which has all of us with the bikes..


Halfway across the Moore plains, the good road faded into a bumpy road which eventually disappeared.. The riding speed now dropped down to mere 25 kmph.. At first, I was frustrated.. But having travelled much worse roads before, this was not a challenge.. After a while, I spotted a road going towards my right to Tso Kar.. This was on my list initially, but everything does not always work out.. Nevermind, I'll visit it some other time.. The plains came to an end and the road started climbing up once again.. This was the climb for Taglang la, world's second highest pass.. The road improved and I was surprised to see that the bike was climbing up without a hitch.. But as they say, all good things must come to an end.. The tar road ended abruptly.. The road work was going on and there was just loose gravel on the road.. This is the part I hate.. I am no stranger to bad roads and offroading.. I dont mind potholes, steep roads, slush, water crossings, sand.. Everything except gravel is fine.. I have a phobia of riding bike on gravel.. I dont know the reason behind this, maybe its because I had dropped my bike once on way to Rajmachi while riding on gravel.. Carefully, I reduced my speed.. I had no intentions of repeating the crash..

The "road"..




On the way up, we came across 2 riders.. One of them was positively frustrated and was angry with his bike.. In a series of abuses he tried to explain us why Pulsar 200 NS is a worthless bike which cannot climb up heights.. And the fact that my Apache 160 could climb up quite comfortably only seemed to aggravate his frustration.. We had a Pulsar 200 NS in our group which faced absolutely no problems.. I guess it all comes down to one simple thing, "treat your bike well and she'll give you what you need.."

Some pics on the way..




Kudos to BRO


Slowly but steadily, I made my way up to Taglang la top.. I was greeted by the board "Taglang la, altitude 17582 ft, You are passing through the second highest pass of the world.." All of us clicked pictures with the board one by one.. The view from the top was spectacular.. I could see the Moore plains long into the horizon.. The other side however had more mountains.. These mountains were still barren with snow to cover their tops.. And it wasn't a single range of mountains.. There were moutnains everywhere my vision could reach..

World's second highest pass..


The other side of Taglang la..


The descent from Taglang la was extremely enjoyable.. From 17500 feet, we had to get down to 11000 feet.. And the best part was the roads were freshly laid.. Butter smooth tarmac.. Speeding down the straight roads and leaning into the corners, I descended Taglang la in no time..






After a rapid descent..


Around 2 45 pm, we reached Upshi.. The first proper human settlement after Manali or Keylong.. Lunch again was Omlette and soup.. The terrain again started changing.. The mountains were no longer snow clad.. There were only rocks, bit similar to Pang.. But the strange thing about these mountains was their colour.. They had different shades.. A shade of yellowish brown to magenta, yes magenta.. It was hard to believe that it was all natural.. As the roads were in good condition and the altitude was decreasing, riding was no longer difficult..

Some pics after completing the Taglang la descent..












These pics can easily resemble an alien planet in any hollywood science fiction movie..




Around 4 pm, we were greeted by another board.. Welcome to Leh.. Finally, this was it.. Months of planning, weeks of preparation and days of riding had brought us to this place..


There were now small villages alongside the road as we proceeded.. Small huts located in the hearts of the mountains.. All this is delightful to the eyes only when you are a tourist and you visit such places for a few days.. But I could imagine the ardous lifestyle of these people.. A few kms after the "welcome to Leh" board, I stopped alongside another.. "First view of Indus river and Ladakh valley" is said.. I could just see some trees in front of me.. No river, nothing..


The road turned and what I saw was unbelievable.. The terrain had changed completely.. It was green.. I could see grass and trees.. A river flowing through fields.. The mountains were still present, but the valleys were no longer rocky and barren..




The Indus river was now towards my left.. Leh was just some 40 km from here.. There were few locations which were perfect for photographs.. But I had lost my interest in everything else now.. My dream destination wasn't far and I was not going to stop till then..


At 6 pm, I reached Leh.. The feeling of having taken my bike to the mecca of all bikers was ecstatic..


The first thing I did after reaching there was start my cellphone.. I called up Mom and told her that I had reached Leh.. "Thank god", was her first response.. She was relieved to hear that I was safe and sound.. I assured her that we were all fine and the weather was also good.. After searching for a while, we found ourselves a good place for staying.. The dinner that night was something worth eating after a long time.. After dinner, we returned to our guest house at 10 30.. I no longer cared how the weather was or what time I had to wake up tomorrow.. I had tested my physical and mental resilience for the past few days.. But it was all worth it.. I was in Leh.. No definite plans for the next day, no alarms set, tonight, I will sleep in peace..

Cheers,
Pranav

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Rejuvenating, mate! Pictures worth the wait.

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Thanks a lot bro..
Congratulations on getting Leh'd.. The Impulse we had faced serious power loss while climbing Gata Loops, Lachulung la, Taglang la..
In Leh, we got the wire in carb modification done to avoid problems for the ride to Khardung la..

Thanks a lot..
Hope you get there soon..

Thanks..
Everyone had all the riding gear except for the shoes.. Those will come pretty soon, hopefully by the time of the next big ride.. :P

You said it man.. Truly a dream destination..

Thank you varun..
Hope you get there soon enough..

P200 NS was absolutely perfect for the entire ride.. No problems while climbing or on bad roads..
However, we did come across another P200 NS rider who was struggling to climb Taglang la.. But as long as the bike is in a good condition, I don't think there will be any problems..

Thanks a lot..

Thank you so much..
I had really wanted to do this ride since the day I got my bike..
I am now reading your ladakh ride.. I wish I had made plans for Zanskar..

Thank you for the kind words..

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

I was the Impulse rider and I found it extremely comfortable to handle in slush, gravel and bad roads.. However, the bike struggled to climb at places.. Some proper tuning would help solve the problems if anyone is interested in taking the impulse up there..

Pranav, good going bro.. Keep updating the thread..

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Day 7:
21 June 2013
Leh sightseeing

I had the comfort of a proper bed in a proper room for the night.. The "reach leh" mantra that I set had got me to this place in spite of all the odds.. But now that I was in Leh, the effects were starting to show up.. I woke up at 9 am.. For the first time in the trip, I didn't feel like getting up.. The warmth of the bed was more appealing to me than the entire city of Leh that was waiting to be explored.. My body was a bit stiff and I wasn't feeling well.. Nothing serious, but I wasn't as energetic as I had been the entire trip.. I got up and went to the washroom.. In the mirror, I saw myself clearly for the first time in the trip.. I wasn't myself.. Half the people who know me wouldn't have recognized me.. My skin was much darker with a slight red tinge.. There were wrinkles all over my forehead as if I had aged 70 years in the past 7 days.. My lips had few cuts due to extreme dryness.. There were sunburns on my nose.. Add messy hair and slightly swollen eyes to it.. To summarize, the reflection in the mirror was quite scary..

I had a long hot water shower.. All the sweat and dirt was finally washed away.. I felt much better.. By the time I got ready, it was already 11.. As it was too late for the breakfast, I decided to wait for a while and have lunch directly..

The place where we stayed in Leh




Half of the group had gone out already in the morning while some were still getting ready.. I had nothing to do.. I decided to sleep for some more time till everyone was back.. After breakfast, others returned back to the hotel around 11 30.. After everyone was back, we decided to go out for lunch and explore the Leh market.. The market was at a walking distance from where we were staying in Leh.. The walk in the scorching sun wasn't good.. We decided to cancel the market and directly decided to look for a good place to eat.. I had been eating noodles and omlettes for the past few days.. I needed something good today.. After roaming the streets for a while, we came across a hotel named "Chaska Maska and Dosa".. Interesting name.. I was used to ordering a maggi or an omlette for the past few days.. Today, I asked for the menu card.. It was good to see a variety.. I ordered a sizzler.. The lunch was delicious.. After lunch, I dropped some of my clothes at a nearby laundry and returned back to the guest house.. In the meantime, Aniket and Rohit went to the DC office and got the required permits of Khardung la and Pangong.. Today we had decided to visit the Leh palace and the shanti stupa.. Even though we were all back after lunch by 4, we decided to spend some more time at the hotel instead of heading out immediately.. The sun was still high in the sky and we had no intentions of going out again..

We left the hotel at 6.. The first spot was the palace.. Situated high on the mountain, it was clearly visible from a long distance.. It is nothing like a palace that one generally imagines.. It is a simple structure made of stone and wood.. But in no way that had reduced the grandeur of the place.. It was a magnificent structure overlooking the city..








I went inside the dark hallways of the palace.. The palace had hundreds of passages and rooms, each one leading into another room or a passage.. It was so easy to get lost in there.. From an outward glimpse, nobody would have imagined the this place contained so many rooms and passages.. Most of the rooms were dark and nobody dared to go inside.. This place was a perfect location for an occult story movie..




Some rooms were converted into museums.. There were old paintings and scriptures.. Being alien to the Ladakh and Tibet history, the pictures didn't really fascinate me.. But it was beautiful nonetheless..


There was a temple inside the palace that I was just in time to visit before they closed it.. It was a tall dimly lit room.. A huge statue of Buddha in front of me.. There was no electricity here.. The only source of lights were few small oil lamps.. On the sides, there were hundreds of old books.. No, not old, they were ancient.. The covers of the books were made of stone or hard wood.. The pages were also handmade and written on in some ancient scripts.. The books were covered in dust and the writing had faded at some places.. But combine the ambience of that place with some ancient script on such books, the place had a charm of its own.. A monk came to the temple and asked me to leave at it was the closing time.. I was lucky to get a nice view before I was asked to leave..






From the top of the palace, I had the panoramic view of the entire city cradled in the arms of the Himalayas..








At the top..




The next destination was the shanti stupa.. The stupa is situated at a good height from where you can get a good view of the city.. It is nice decorative sample of architecture.. The sun had set and it was getting dark..




There were light effects on the stupa which added to its beauty..






The view from the shanti stupa just before the sunset of the longest day of the year..


There were some tibetian religious chants played in the background.. After clicking pictures at the shanti stupa, I went to the meditation room near the stupa.. The meditation room had a strange aura.. I sat down.. I closed my eyes.. I was thinking of the journey till now.. I was then listening to the chants which were played on the speakers.. Didn't understand any of it, but it had a nice soothing effect on me.. Someoen called my name outside and I opened my eyes.. It had been almost half an hour that I was sitting there.. It was like I was in a trance..


Others were waiting for me at cafe nearby.. The cafe was perched on the edge of the hill overlooking the city.. There were atleast 20 types of teas available.. We all had tea at the place.. We all sat there chatting for a long time.. The longest day of the year spent in Leh, i'd always remember that.. Finally it was too late and we decided to call it a day..

For all the tea lovers..


Even a coffee lover like me was tempted to try quite a few varieties..


Tomorrow, we ride to Khardung la, world's highest motorable road..

Cheers,
Pranav

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

Hi Pranav...Eagerly waiting for the rest of the log....Bring it on...!!!

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

bike pics in the snow are awesome, pics itself bring this much joy wonder how it actually feel in real
was showing this log to my mom now even she wants to go their

Re: Ladakh 2013, a dream come true

All your pics are treat to eyes... Stupa pics are just awesome............ Can you tell that in which tool you edited this pics.....