Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Good ride and great decision

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Thanks [MENTION=7123]sunilg[/MENTION] for your words of encouragement. Yes it is a bit unnerving when deciding to take a precious and close to the heart Bonneville through so much. But then it is also the one reason to do it.

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Day 12: Leh-Pangon Tso - 160 kms approx..
Highland camp, Spangmik.
Cost: Rs 1500 (tent) + Rs 300 ( snacks + lunch + dinner)
I had stayed at this very camp on my last ride here so I knew this was a good place. Also Sanchit had reaffirmed that this would be the pace to stay.
Had got an idea that the roads on this route were also bad and it was going to be a tough one for both of us.
As usual we started off early at 5.45 am. A few pics on the way.













Chang la was super cold. We had expected Khardungla to be cold but ChangLa was colder and the road was bad. So cold that it was impossible to keep the visor down. The visor just used to fog up so damn quickly that it was no use trying to keep it down. Hence had to pull the balaclava over the mouth and nose and ride with the visor open all the way. I had to touch the engine in order to feel my fingers again. We hit the Changla coffee outlet on the top and drank 3 cups of tea and coffee each. There were a lot of people taking shelter from the cold outside drinking tea and coffee. Also had a chat with a group from Satara who had come in a mini bus via Manali route.


And we reached the top..



I got an update from the group from Satara that the Manali route was hit by extreme rain and bad weather. The roads were non-existent and even cars were getting stuck at the water crossings.

We moved on afetr having warmed up a little..




We moved on towards Pangong eagerly awaiting the blue.. and finally we caught the first glimpse of it..


We stoped at Spangmik at Highland camp. It was reasonably priced, I had stayed there before and it was not at all crowded.




This is one of the best places I have ever seen. Each moment the lake shows different colours and even a 1000 pics would not be able to show all of its pictures. I got the opportunity to click some amazing photos of the lake and surroundings.. So here are some of the best ones:

The Bonneville feels right at home.


Thats what is called beautiful nature.






Thats me clicking a pic of my bike.. clicked by Sayali..


And this is also one of my favourite ones...


Day 13: Pangong Tso to Leh. And with that we set off the next morning towards Leh. Its always a sad feeling when leaving such a serene place...

While returning this happened:
There was a water crossing. Asked my wife to step down and cross it on foot. Went through the crossing successfully…slowed down on the dry surface…all the while looking in the mirror if my wife had crossed it..applied the brakes and bam! My bike was down in a split second. The stone on which the front tyre stopped gave way and the front slipped to its left and my bike tilted and fell at less than 5 kmph speed. Fortunately I had the clutch lever pulled in so it avoided the impact and did not break. But the gear shift lever was not so lucky and it broke. Did a small jugaad ( which lasted the ride till Pune J )and reached back safely.
I realized the fall was because of two reasons. 1) Applying front brakes too much after going from wet surface to dry one and 2^nd: Not paying attention on the road while stopping (was looking in the mirror). The fall had reduced my confidence for a short period of time which only time could heal. This was my first fall ever on a bike.



And we reached Leh at our hotel at around 1 pm with plenty of time to go over all the photos of the lake that we had clicked.
Day 14: The day was going to be off as we prepare and rest ourselves for the continuous return ride back to Pune.
That day we had met a group from Chandigarh who had come to Leh via Manali route in their 4x4 tata pickup and they told us that the route was pretty bad and their car/pickup had a damaged engine guard which was dangling underneath it. Also with the gear shift lever broken we did not want to risk unknown bad road and hence decided we would go back the way we came via Srinagar.
This time while returning we decided to take the following halts which we successfully did.

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Amazing photos man.. Speechless..!!

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Thanks. Its a really an amazing place. you can't get bad photos here even if you tried..

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

You have witnessed many of us falling from/with bike earlier . Congrats on your first experience. (Pun Intended).

Awesome writeup Viper .

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

lovely t-log viper!lovely clicks n concise narration!

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Hahaha. I have not forgotten the Turbhe station speed breaker. Hope you haven't either.

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Great going loved your trip

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Beautiful log buddy

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Brilliant....

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Wow amazing travelogue. Very nice pics with great narrations. Kudos to both of you.

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

awsome pics, lovely travelogue, keep it up..

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Great pics Aniruddha! Good going so far with the writeup

I stayed at the same hotel in Leh, the Zamhala Inn, and my wife too gave a thumbs up to it after considering a lot of hotels. Guess the married/engaged guys will have common preference for hotels!

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Lovely updates sir. Please proceed