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**zawarester1** · 07-11-2014, 03:49 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Apologies guys not having much time now a days but the content is ready and will be posted soon.

**krishna77** · 07-20-2014, 08:32 AM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Nice write-up man. Nice pics too!

**zawarester1** · 10-30-2014, 07:21 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

How All got in shape

LADAKH

These particular words were always a head turner for me wherein i use to hear someone conversing about it.
Being a vivid biker for roughly around 7 years now weekend rides were just part and parcel of every month.

It had been 8 months since i got my New Yamaha R15 and June was 4 months away, within those times i rode with xBhp Mumbai riders for a Tri- State G2G(get together) to Velneshwar .We were around 60 riders from Mumbai-Gujrat-Andra pradesh -Karnataka . After 2 days when i was back in my office the first thing i did was to check the route plan to Ladakh and learned about the terrain.

While talking with people about Ladakh everyone told me its very tough and riding in sub Zero temperatures is not an easy job, along with that approx 20 days leave and finances .
After Making up my mind i started talking with +nitin manore , @Rohit upadhyay and @rachit kohli .

While having an email conversation i learned that rachit works in the same office as i do and the very next day we meet over coffee. And discussed about my road trip . Rachit had been to ladakh in 2009 and 2011 and i had been reading his blog. And did find his plan very suitable. Soon i had Ramky's Maps, an excel working for 2009 road trip done by Rachit and loads of work to do starting from planning the route, Halts, looking for fuel pumps post srinagar and for-most finalising the dates .

There seem to be one Flaw within the planning that everyone had done. Rachit and Nitin both started their travel from Chandigarh respectively. But i am not exactly sure till date as to what was tickling in my mind at that time, Coz i wanted to start riding all the way from Mumbai and back. Somehow putting this mean machine in train was an idea which was just not sinking in my brains.

After much dilema on whose plan to start with from Rachit kohli and DK aka nitin manore. Finally I started my route planning from Rachit's and rest itinerary from Dk's, Just a random post facebook and i got response from ankit mishra and Dr.Suresh Gaikwad that they are willing to accompany me.

A DAY BEFORE D DAY

My bike was handed over to mechanic for routine service and rear tyre change. was stuck in office till 2pm that day and was finally able to leave. Headed directly to mechanic collected bike and with precise decision from rohit upadhyay changed rear tyre to Pirelli Sports Demon and i was all set to leave. I was gonna be away from my family and my love from 2 weeks. Meet my soulmate and after some discussion we parted for 2 weeks with a Hug and sentences of Take care , ride safe and don't come back without completing your dream..

Camera, Laptop, clothes, riding gear and bike all was ready to go.
got in touch with doc and ankit and they were all set to leave.
It was decided to meet at 4.00 on 8th June 2014....

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Day 1 - Mumbai - Ahmedabad (SP Ring Road)

Just one Line that i would like to emphasis on before i start writing about my experiences while completing this run "Planning never works when it comes to road, bikes and riders"

I had a hard time to get sleep last night coz it was a dream that was lined up with tomorrow mornings sunrise.

Got up at 3, tried calling Doc and Ankit and all were getting ready, decided to reach the rendezvous point at 4.00, evidently i managed to reach there by 4.15 and doc after 15 Min. Doc was really surprised to see my mom and dad standing with me .

Yes! that right, my mom and my dad came to see us off at 4.00 in the morning, i truly envy their support because without them and my soul mate this would have not been possible .

Finally it was 4.45 and we took blessings from mom dad and started our bikes. Within an hour we were crossing Fountain hotel and enroute NH8 which is known to be best riding roads in Mumbai.

We crossed talasari and were stuck with huge traffic jam for roughly 10Km just prior Maharashtra Gujarat state border. We crossed Surat and decided to break for breakfast.

Breakfast was just a dosa and sandwich, approximately after an hour we were back on road, we got the first feel of what we gonna expect ahead because it was boiling hot at 11.somehow i felt damn sleepy and it was impossible for me to ride and i was leading the way. I asked ankit and doc to move ahead and i decided to take a but break under a tree shadow. Well that butt break was important but didn't make lot of difference and i was back on road but rest of the ride was interesting because i wasn't feeling sleepy as i was more worried about catching up with these guys.

Swami Narayan Temple at Bharuch

Got a call from doc and he said they are halting on a dhaba for me and have parked the bikes outside on the road, i kept on riding some 20 km trying to meet them, i finally entered into Bharuch and decided to stop and call them . It was 1pm after brief conversation with doc we all learned that they are 15km behind me, gave them co-ordinates of my location which was road side restaurant where i decided to wait coz i was hungry.

After waiting for some time we all gathered up at this place and decided to break for lunch and further plan was discussed whether we will be able to meet the benchmark of Jaipur today. it looked pretty much feasible on papers but stroking Gujarat heat got us in dilemma whether to get back on road or just sit and relax at this restaurant.

We ended up talking to a restaurant manager and getting an AC room up in the hotel for some 800 bucks and took some good amount of rest till 4.30 and were back on road. Soon we were in Ahmedabad city. There is in intersection just before Anand (name of the city) from where expressway starts where bikes are not allowed. Cops guided us to take another route which was going through the city as per Gmaps and we had ankit come in saying he is aware of another route which directly gets us to Modasa and its a 4 lane highway.

After filling up at anand we started following ankit and he was following gmaps . Evidently it was a major setback. Finally all 3 of us stopped at an intersection at 9PM and decided to halt in Ahmedabad as it was dark and doesn't make any sense heading up to udaipur in pitch dark.

We spent these 3 hours riding through single lane roads passing through small villages and when asked people about it they have never heard name of place (Modasa) which was just 60Km from that location as per Gmaps.

Standing at the intersection on a 4 lane road wherein left leads to 40Km in Ahmedabad city and right 170 to udaipur and all 3 unanimously opted for Ahmedabad. i was good with riding in the night probably with experience and R15's Dual Led Headlamps were add-on help. Some 10 Km outside the city we were stopped in a police check post, the cop told us that he received a wireless message that 3 dhoom bikes are racing on the highway.

Cop checked our saddle, bikes registrations and our Id's we were able to convince him that we arent racing and need to get to the city so we can get in to a hotel and eat something. The cop's line was "ye modi ki jagah hai tumhare mumbai ke jaisa yaha nahi chalta, hamare yaha sharab allowed hi nahi hai and agar kuch hai toh abhi yahin chod do" (This is modi's state which is not like your mumbai and liquor is completely banned here and if you carrying something, you gotta drop it here and leave.)
The cop himself was super drunk and we were not able to stand close to him due to the foul liquor smell

Left from there searched for a hotel, got some dinner and called it a day with detailed planning for the next day.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Day 2 - Ahmedabad (SP Ring Road) - Jaipur

we missed our target for day 1 and we wanted to cover those missed kilometres, we were all on our toes since morning and wanted to check out from the hotel as soon as possible in the early hours.
with early morning sip of tea, advised the hotel owner to open the shutter of an empty where our bikes were locked parked in the night,

View from the hotel with morning sip of tea

Bikes out of the parking and all saddled up

Started Gps and headed outside the company and were riding on modasa highway, soon passed a sign board which i had seen i many pics and braked from 120+, doc came furious on me like dude are you crazy we were going in such a good manner why you have to stop now. Started riding on the wrong side of the road and stopped at the sign board and doc appreciated the fact that we halted there.

Continued riding ahead and took a much required fuel stop. Duke proved a real fuel eater in the entire trip and had to be fuelled more frequently .

Fuel stop on Modasa Highway

I guess the only pic we have together on this entire ride.

Some excited local youngsters wanted to pose with the Bikes

Heat started to rise and eventually started to make riding conditions worst hour by hour, eventually we decided of a strategy to ride by taking small break's, hydrate ourselves properly and then continue riding . We reached Udaipur at sharp 11.30 and I was heeling heat strokes and soon we pulled over and took hotel where we had lunch and took rest till 4.30 to resume back riding.
25Km was a mess after leaving Udaipur due to heavy truck traffic, we took a right turn for Jaipur and we could see a 4 lane road with green mountains and perfectly paved Asphalt. We kept on riding 130Km without a butt break and without complaints

Crossed chittorgarh and decided to wait for tea . Break hai toh photo toh banta hai na doston.

2 Best in class bikes for Indian markets

Trying my hands of some tricks on photography

We were pretty much riding the whole day with not much fun but the only satisfaction of covering the length on the road.

With 9.45 in the clock we reached kishangarh which is 30 Km ahead of Ajmer, yet 70Km to complete for Jaipur. Apparently Doc and Ankit was not in favour of riding in the night and we called it a day at Saffron Hotel on GVK Expressway.

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Day 3 - Kishanghar - Ludhiana

Left Saffron hotel with a sole intention of reaching Ludhiana by the end of day. The sole purpose of us emphasising on reaching jammu asap was to avoid wasting unnecessary time on straight roads with temp rising up to 43 Degrees.

Our Hotel on kishangarh highway

Crossed Jaipur within 2 hours and continued riding straight on the road heading to Ambala, Thanks to rigorous planning done months prior I didn't have problems manoeuvring on the road directions wise.

After crossing manapura we got on to a 6 lane highway, we changed our riding modes and were riding at 130ss but we soon realised its Rajasthan , tremendous heat blast, riding gear this all leads to only one thing that was Dehydration, A very funny thing that i noticed for the first time was camel humps on the road made of tarmac and hell they were actually big, I bumped into them quite a lot of times and then we were riding in middle of some desert and saw sand dunes on both sides of the road.

Disturbed with Rajasthan's heat in middle of nowhere

We were on a road to Rewari (Haryana), Doc needed fuel and we wanted to get to fuel pump which excepts credit cards. Unknowingly we got off the NH and were strolling in the city , after enquiring with locals we were told there are 2 petrol pumps and 1 will at least except a card. We were also told that any bike that looks fancy and different from usual bikes are at a risk in Haryana,(nothing against the people residing in Haryana), but did come through an incident where a person tried to hijack Ankits bike.

While searching for petrol pumps we were riding through small lanes in Rewari and soon were at the Station. we asked for directions a hawker, nearby person overheard me and directly sat on Ankit's bike coz my bike was saddled up the bugger was just not willing to get down. Thanks to ankit that he used his typical delhi accent and we rushed out of there, On the next intersection I started using google maps and got on the highway. cops told us not to get back on the highway that we came from cuz later it turns into state highway and it was about to get dark.

Took this pic while riding on Rewari - Delhi Stretch

We took left from rewari intersection and next 80Km was one of the best 4 lanes roads i have ridden on, amazing asphalt, less traffic and great greenery on both sides of roads. we reached an intersection and took left and we were riding on GT Road(Grand Truck Road) this roads runs from Delhi to Jammu . We faced pathetic traffic on an 8 lane highway while heading towards Ambala, that’s when ankit told us welcome to Delhi brothers.

It was dark and we were tired because of heat, traffic and fatigue, We were 80 Km from Ambala and took a small butt break, Ankit suggested we break in Ambala for the night.

Ambala - Ludhiana is a 110 km ride ankit was facing issues riding in the night and he was tired too and was not willing to push a bit more to reach Ludhiana.

We were standing outside Ambala station at 10.30 in the night, when ankit decided to stay back at his friends place, doc and me decided to ride ahead and only break in Ludhiana as we were missing the targets from last 2 days and today we were definitely not in a mood of that. Moreover we were feeling fresh to ride ahead.

It was 2.30 when we reached Ludhiana and took an hotel next to the station . We had our dinner on the way, after a long and rigorous riding day all we needed was AC room and Bed. Hence we called it a day.

**rpmboy** · 10-30-2014, 07:34 PM

Re: Mumbai Leh Mumbai 20 days of Extreme Adventures with R15

Nice log ...bring it more

**krishna77** · 10-30-2014, 08:22 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Very good clicks and log!

**princesirohi** · 10-30-2014, 08:38 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Nice tlog and good pics

Sent from my A210 using Tapatalk 2

**zawarester1** · 10-30-2014, 11:44 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Day 4 - Ludhiana - Doda(Patnitop)

Though we were super tired when we reached to the hotel last night at 2.30am we managed to wake up at 6.30 already saddled up and ready to leave. We had a different level of satisfaction about us being back on track plan and distance wise.

Our Hotel in Ludhiana

View from our Hotel

Started riding out of the city, man i must say punjabis are the best to gel with and girls are super beautiful. Continued riding on GT Road approx 70 Km outside Ludhiana and waited for at a spot which looked much familiar form the Tv Commercials. It was Lovely Professional University (The best and renowned university in India) some water, pics and we were back on saddle, when doc realised he had left his phone in the hotel at Ludhiana. And i was like what the hell we will have to ride back 70km in city traffic now. Luckily a guy named Akshay Das was staying in Ludhiana from last 2 days as he was going to join us for the ride but after ankit decided to part ways in Ambala, Akshay and Ankit were gonna ride together ahead. Quick call to akshay and send him coordinates of the hotel and asked him to collect the phone and give it to us in Leh .We were not connected to NH1A the only highway that connects Kashmir valley to the outer world.

We were under the impression that heat will subside as we move closer to Jammu but hell NO, it was the same or I could say even worst. I was experiencing some problems with the headlight assembly of my bike, probably because bike was bumped into camel humps in Rajasthan quiet frequently. Finally we were in Jammu,

Below are some pic's taken enroute.

Located a Yamaha showroom on the way to Udhampur to get the headlight assembly fixed, though it was a nightmare, which i will explain a bit later. Meanwhile Doc checked with the Yamaha guys about a KTM showroom around so he could get a quick check and service done. I had to change the entire headlight assembly coz as per the mechanics the clamps were broken, which evidently he showed it to me, I was out of options and had to purchase it for 1500 Bucks. Meet two others guys there Daya and Ankush both were localites from Jammu and got there FZ for a service, well they were actually a bit furious on me coz mechanics left there bike in Mid service and started working on my Bike

..

About an hour and we were all set to leave. A road from Jammu to udhampur is a complete hilly area with huge trucks trying to overtake each other so we had to be very careful riding wise. After riding for 2 hours we were in udhampur, this is the place where I saw huge army arrangements and only military all around in the area.

while riding we faced a sand storm a really strong one out of nowhere and was impossible to ride, we pulled over to a dhaba on road for some tea so the storm can surpass but it took well over an hour. My helmet was kept on the bike with jacket and gloves, went inside the dhaba to grab some water and all my stuff was over the road. I had to run and catch the helmet to avoid it falling into a nearby valley.

We encountered heavy traffic while ascending patnitop as there is some road construction work under process the entire way. it was getting dark, and the scenery was mind blowing. I was informed by locals about avoid staying in Patnitop as its very expensive and only 2 hotels, we descend from patnitop to Doda and found an ugly hotel after asking 3 others hotel owners as all were booked.

This place was huge, but no water, pathetic food and no proper bedding these places get real chilly in the night. After some good discussion with doc we both were off to sleep with Sonmarg in mind tomorrow.

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Day 5 - Doda(Patnitop) - Sonmarg

It could get pretty cold in the night especially in the mountains, regardless of the heat we experience in June. And a night before was actually like that.

View from the Hotel

Got up at 6am got ready and today was going to be Srinagar, roads were still the same mountain climbs and small roads. we both knew that its going to be hell of a day as lot many Km to be covered with narrow roads and handling R15 loaded on such roads is one hell of a challenge.

Left the hotel just bottle of water. the hotel guys were sleeping and no one was ready to make up any tea or breakfast. Short ride for some 40 odd km, saw a super amazing point for a foto and decided to stop. In excitement of looking at the point I ended up getting into the wrong lane of a single lane road and a big truck braking hard coz if he would have touched my bike like a inch i would have been flying from the cliff down below for good 15,000 Ft. and immediately i heard doc yelling on top of his voice and hammering me for this stupidest mistake. I apologised to doc and the truck driver and asked doc to look at the point i was talking about and doc was Quiet.

I almost died taking this damn Pic.

The marvellous Pancham Wangdu Dam the biggest hydroelectricity project in India .

Majestic Mountains that we were waiting to cover

First view of the Srinagar Valley

It was a majestic experience to visit places that we have only dreamt of and seen in pics. Like the beautiful Dal lake which was an eye catcher from movie (Mission Kashmir), However the weather is Srinagar disappointed me the most as it was the same as it was in Gujarat or Mumbai just lesser humidity.. By now I was just desperate to visit snow-capped mountains and feel the cold breeze and air in snow.

Halted at Ghat no.22 on Dal Lake for some pics, it was 3.30 by the time we wrapped up everything in Srinagar and we were damn hungry. While we were taking pics an awkward situation happened which forced me to get the hell out of Srinagar asap. I was capturing some nice pics at the lake when 4 guys stopped on their bike with J&K number plate and told us this is not India that you are taking Pics this is our Pakistan, get the hell out of here or else we will burn you down. And we were like what the **** is this. They gave us some 10 min to wrap stuff and leave. Pretty disturbed with the moment we hit back on the road. Taking directions to sonmarg we stopped on an intersection with a fuel pump on it. Doc needed to tank up and we saw 4 Bulleteers with ladakh carriers all packed up with chhattisgarh number plated. While having conversation we learned they started riding from chandigarh and are 4 close friends. We bid goodbyes to them and moved on, though fate had a different story for us which you guys will know ahead. Doc was hungry and desperate to eat lunch as it was 4.30 in the evening.

One of the best frames that I captured

pics at the Dal Lake (Srinagar)

After some 35 min saw a punjabi dhaba and pulled over. It was a best decision pertaining to the view we had from that dhaba, It was river side dhaba with great looking mountains standing ahead of us and cold chilly river flowing near our table.

[/MENTION] tiwari [MENTION=6039]abhinav[/MENTION] chanderkar [MENTION=11419]nishi[/MENTION]r Jethi +VIKASH KUMAR PAL .
We settled with them in the hotel. Was fun with them, like minded people, close friends and more over riders.

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Day 6 - Sonmarg - Nimmu

Our Hotel Owner gave us specific instructions to be ready at 7 in the morning so we can pass ahead of traffic towards the Zoji La Pass while the rest of the traffic is allowed only after 2pm.

View from our Hotel Room

Soon got ready with a very light breakfast and for the first time I tasted the famous Kashmiri Drink (Kaba) I guess i pronounced it right. And trust me man it was real refreshing.

All saddled up and ready to leave.

We started riding from our hotel to the security check post towards Zoji La. Approximately 50 vehicles were lined up and a Duke, R15 and 4 500CC bullets were roaring from the small town of Sonmarg. We were stopped at the security check post but the main Army D.O got a call and we were asked to pass by... yippee we all were like on top of the world.

Started the ascend of ZojiLA pass and for the first time in life I got to know what are the next 15 days gonna be like.

Enroute Zoji La

After 5 hairpin bends while ascending, we saw 3 army jawans all top loaded with rifles and we all were asked to pull over. They told us we will have to stop for some time as Army Convoy is coming from other end and we might face problems if we continue riding now till the convoy passes.

Jawan Posing with the impossible Stead THE R15

Amarnath Yatra Camp (From here the foot pilgrim starts for 14km while amarnath yatra)

For the first time atleast I was on land with just snow everywhere. We all were on 7th cloud with our excitement. Doc tried calling everyone at his place to send them pic's of where he is standing coz all his friends said its gonna be an impossible.

Mr.Amit Mandi was riding with others when he meets with an accident with a cow suddenly rushing on the road. He broke his wrists and a shoulder.(All these 4 guys cancelled their plan to ride till Leh But it was mandi who asked them to ride till Leh at least for HIM.)

We continued riding and we were riding through some of the most scenic roads i have even been on.

Each turn we were talking on NH1A was opening up new vistas of amazing beauty, huge snow-capped mountains and lush green surroundings around a perfectly paved NH1A.

Snow capped Mountains

The Amazing Vista's I was talking about

Tololing Range where Kargil War was Fought

We spent some good amount of time at the Kargil War Memorial.

Just one line I would like to emphasise on talking about this place. We all were stunned and quiet the entire time while we were in the premises of kargil War Memorial.

Requested this jawan to pose for me with the Tri Colour

I was completely stunned and speachless

kargil to Lamayuru was another exciting ride of lifetime. We were to ride across FotuLa Pass. And If I am not gessing it wrong, this is the only mountain pass which has top notch roads from bottom to the top and back down the other side. We were riding past a lamayuru road at 2 in the afternoon and it was chilling.

This was the time when i was riding completely solo

Decided to halt for some light food was damn hungry

This view is a refreshment that a tired biker needs

I guess this is the 3rd and the only photo of me(And the guy clicking was shaking)

Pirelli Sports Demon( Tyre's first and only puncture in the entire ladakh Ride)

This is how Ascend to Fotu la Looks like

The Famous Ladakhi Prayer Wheel.

Our Actual Plan was to stay put at the Lamayuru monastery for the night , but since we reached there pretty early and Leh city was approx 70 kms we all decided to ride ahead after a short visit to the monastery

Lamayuru Monastery entrance

Main entrance with the longest ladakhi prayer flag in all monasteries

Inside the Monastery

Riding from Moonland Rocks post Lamayuru

Butt break at MoonLands

Resting on the cold Moonland Rocks

It was getting cold and was getting close to dark, like I said in my earlier post days are longer in ladakh region so we have proper visible sunlight till 7Pm in the evening. So our riding times were high at day times.

After a bit of a monotonous ride this is what I saw and I was stunned at the height of 3700Mts above sea level. And I was like hell I love this place

15kms Prior to Nimmu town before Leh at the distance of 34Kms.

All 4 were lined up on the left and I was wondering what have we stopped coz we just took a butt break and all good to roll. Thats when Nishir told me we have a flat tyre for Vikash's bullet and we are trying to fill air in it with inflator.

Some captures while others were trying to fill air in the big beast.

After trying to pump air for good 25 min we realised that tyre pressure has not increased even a bit and learned there was some malfunction with the brand new tyre inflator.

It was getting darker hence we decided to unload the bike and put the luggage equally on other bikes and ride slowly till Nimmu where we might have an guy who will fix the punctures.
Evidently it took us lot of time and we reached nimmu at 8.30 and after me almost pleading the puncture guy to keep his shop open for just 10 min so others could arrive to the spot we got the puncture fixed.

Nimmu is a small town with major army influence and while roaming around we all heard loud trance and rock music being played at a restaurant. Can't remember the guy's name but it was real hard to pronounce and we removed our saddles there and decided to stay for the night as it doesn't make any sense riding in the night with less visibility and extreme cold.

The hotel guy was very helpful and this is how the night was spent at his den.

**krishna77** · 10-31-2014, 06:14 AM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Awesome log and set of pictures!

**chaosaddict** · 10-31-2014, 01:15 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

mast hain Amit bhao..... awaiting the next.

**zawarester1** · 10-31-2014, 03:58 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Day 7 - Nimmu - LeH and around

After a cold night with bonfire cozy bed with proper ladakhi wooden set rooms . Night went great and was woken up by doc at 8.30 stating we gotta leave soon so hurry up . My eyes were still kinda closed .

Last night doc Wasn't feeling too good health wise so he took his medications and was off to sleep early. After looking at doc I realised that he was doing pretty okayish this morning

Rest of the folks were ready and waiting for me and doc in the garden outside when we all read the board river-rafting.
All 4 of us gave a clean yes nod but wanted to know if doc's gonna join us .
And as usual without dither adieu doc said a yes . All the bullets were unloaded again and we 5 with 2 bullets and a duke headed to the river rafting point.

I forgot to mention this earlier I guess but shashank's co-worker did a major blunder in office and shashank's CEO called in and asked him to search for an Internet cafe and get online ASAP. So Shashank did halt at kargil while rest of is headed to Nimmu . Due to communication issues and no cell phone coverage Shashank headed directly to LeH city the same night we halted at Nimmu . So it was 5 of us

The guy quoted 1200 bucks each for river rafting on a 14km long stretch for each person and there will be 10 people in one raft .

We started our journey to the point from where we will start our rafting. We 5 other 4 ladies from mumbai and our guide . We reached the 14 km point on tht zanskar river and were briefed about safety and what needs to be done when the situation arises. We were told that if at all the raft flips over there will be a safety kayaker who will rescue 2 of us and rest all should stay near the raft .

We had to leave the camera with our stuff at the finish point . We started our journey . Water was shit cold and muddy we were flowing from the zanskar river , rocks were pointed and water currents were high .

We came across 2 points where the guide gave us a gist of what river rafting is by purposely getting the raft inside a current . But his worst choice was doing that for the 3rd time .

He gave us a command of paddling fast forward and suddenly lean down but before we could lean down raft was completely stuck inside the water current and it flipped over . Everyone of is was inside heavy water current of chilling zanskar.

Talking about my personal experience when I was under water I was somehow trying to get to the surface so I can breath . I did make to the surface but that was inside the flipped raft. Took a small breath and was back under the water pushed my self towards the left and finally I was breathing . For a minute it two I thought its the end and I am not gonna live . You guys might feel what's a big deal it's just damn river rafting but hell it's river rafting and specially when the raft flips over in the first attempt it's hell scary.

When I was back on the surface I could see some ladies and rest of the guys hanging to the flipped over raft. The water flow was real heavy and I was pushing me away from the raft and swimming in the opposite direction in those currents was completely impossible. The only thing I could do is just let loose and started floating in the river coz I was exhausted an I saw the kayaker turning around towards the flipped over raft . I held on to he kayak like instructed but one of the auties also came near the kayak flowing in those heavy currents . We both were hanging on the kayak and a kayaker can only save 2 people at a time . He looked back and the guide successful turned the flipped over raft up side down and was pulling people back I the raft . Slowly they came near us and we were back in the raft too.

Guide said they are about to close the rafting season due to heavy water flow but this was the first incident in this entire 3. Months season that the raft has flipped over . After roughly 3 hours of adventure we were back to the closing point changed our clothes we all were hungry so bada quick brunch of maggie and were back to the hotel in Nimmu .

Shashank was waiting for us In leH so we rushed with our packing an back on the road . Our next destination was riding towards Leh as soon as possible.

It was approximately 3 in the evening and we wanted to reach Leh somehow coz we were tired with the river rafting chilling session. Took darshan at the Sri Pathar Sahab Gurudwara and off we were to Leh.

Soon we started to reach near Leh, we started noticing heavy military convoys Moving in and out of the city. Lot of military presence and locals too.

The last pic talks about our joy and sheer excitement telling each other. Bro We Finally Did it. And yes we did it. Mumbai to a small town city situated completely top North. From humid atmosphere of Mumbai to snow chilling temperatures of Leh.

**Lone Wanderer** · 10-31-2014, 09:09 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

how the hell did i think its year 2015 going on as when i saw the date i thought man its an year old blog,,,,,,,, lolz,,,,,, btw.,,,,, the moment i saw u used R15 v2 for this ultra long journey i wanted to ask man do u got an iron butt,,,,,,, but guess that towel saved ur ass ,,lolz,,,,

amazing log man,, and breath taking pictures,,,, loved every one of it thoroughly,,,, u completely deleted whatever doubt i had regarding taking mine V2 up high of course with a towel on,,,,

absolutely fantastic blog waiting super duper eagerly man,,,,,

**zawarester1** · 10-31-2014, 09:13 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Thanks Man, Appreciate your precious words.

Lot of people have asked me about riding difficulties on a R15 may it be back, wrist, neck .. But honestly i never felt any. And yes idea for a towel was given by my dad, coz he always use to do that in his times of riding.

Lot more coming up stay tunned.

**Lone Wanderer** · 10-31-2014, 09:35 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

initially i felt strain on back wrist and neck,, but dude after riding about 1000kms all those things are gone guess body became used to it,,,,, but the BUTT,,,,, it really does hurt ,,,,,,,, anyway bring it on man,,,, post some more stuff u r online if u r not busy doing other things,,,,

**zawarester1** · 10-31-2014, 09:56 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Yep sure bro . i am actually writing the blog now. as soon as its completed it will be posted on my Web and soon on xBhp

**krishna77** · 10-31-2014, 10:21 PM

Re: Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

Simply amazing shots!

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Ladakh '14- Dreams to reality on R15

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