Re: Project K-Top



Sent from my HM NOTE 1LTE using Tapatalk

Re: Project K-Top

Some more pictorial representation of what we had around


The Leh city









$id
ride hard, ride safe

Re: Project K-Top

And some more


There was a small storm @ Khardungla when we were there.














Relaxing after an exhaustive ride.

$id
ride hard, ride safe

Re: Project K-Top

Great going!

Re: Project K-Top

Hi Sid,

Did you guys carry a DSLR? These pics are from your cell phones?

Re: Project K-Top

Thank you [MENTION=57323]krishna77[/MENTION].
Yes, [MENTION=36750]itsmevini123[/MENTION], we did carry DSLRs and the above pics are from DSLR and the next few at Pangong Tso lake would be too.

$id
ride hard, ride safe

Re: Project K-Top

Ok, And I was thinking may be you guys were using an I-phone with some fancy app.

BTW - You were so lucky and completed the Leh just before they blocked this imaginary part for private vehicle including Bikes Don't know what I'll do now

Re: Project K-Top

Yeah, we did use iPhone and MI Note 4 and Moto G2 for clicking 80% of our pics. DSLRs were used for only 20%

Yes, were lucky enough to complete the circuit before the climate got worse. Earlier I was planning for July as well, but after speaking to a lot of leh-returned freinds I decided to pre-pone the trip. [emoji1] [emoji1]

If it would have been in july, God knows what would have been the situation. Don't worry, I would suggest keep your plan ready and an eye on the conditions. As soon as things fall in place, leave.

$id
ride hard, ride safe

Re: Project K-Top

Day 9 : Pangong Tso

Though Khardungla wasn't very far from Leh but the way up and down was in bad shape which tired us out when we finally reached our room in Leh at 4 pm.The rest of the day we spent discussing the ride so far and other talks and relaxing. The ride plan for next day was simple - start early, reach Pangong Tso asap, check in and then go out to enjoy the natural beauty.

Today our target was to reach Pangong Tso, the famous river which is partly said to be in India and partly in China. It was too difficult, we had been informed by the locals that the roads to the lake was wonderful and smooth. Until now in the whole journey from Delhi to Leh, we had got a lot of info from a lot of people about the road conditions. We had learnt that irrespective of what info we got, we should be happy about the good news and information and at the same time we should also be mentally prepared for any sudden unforeseen event.



But before we could reach the beautiful Pangong Tso, we had to cross Chang La pass. The locals told us that Chang La is at a greater altitude than Pangong Tso and so we should be careful enough. Also because this pass was surrounded by snow all around and therefore could be chilling out there.









We started early from Leh, around 7 am so that we have ample time to take as many photography stops as we wanted and still reach our destination on time. The roads conditions were a mix of good and bad roads. At the good stretches we were doing good speeds which compensated for the time lost in covering the bad patch.




Thats a nice cafe at Changla pass for the travellers to recharge themselves.

We reached Pangong Tso lake by noon. Nothing much to discuss about route to Pangong Tso. The roads were in great shape and therefore we covered the distance in good time. But the beauty of the lake is worth description. The water in the lake was so clear that it was reflecting the blue color of the sky so clearly that it seemed the water was blue.




The above two pics were clicked by Ankush.

We checked in into our tents just at the bank of the lake and relaxed for sometime. Our tent was almost 7 kms away from the actual view point of the lake.



So all three of us went to the view point in the evening around 6 pm. It was so calm out there, the sun was going down and with that the color of the lake and the surrounding mountains changed again. We stayed there by 7 pm before getting back to our tent. We got back to our tent by 8 pm.













Dinner was already ready, so we decided to go to bed early after having dinner as we had plans of leaving early the next day. So we had our dinner and were inside our respective quilts by 10 pm. And the day ends here.

There are a few more pics which I will share before we get on to our return journey.

$id
ride hard, ride safe

Re: Project K-Top

Some more pics...















$id
ride hard, ride safe

Re: Project K-Top

Day 10 - The return leg begins : Pangong Tso to Sarchu

As we have been doing from the beginning of the ride, we woke up early by around 5 am. The reason were - we wanted to capture the beautiful hue of the sunrise and we had a plan to leave early.





As soon as we came out of our tent, the view in front was mesmerising. It was so beautiful that you have to actually see it live and no photo will describe its beauty. Out came our cameras to click the beautiful view. I have tried my best to capture it as it was. After a little bit of photography we started our return leg of the trip. Our way back to Delhi.











Today's agenda was quit clear, we had to travel from Pangong Tso to Karu( approximately 80 kms), re-fuel our bikes at Karu, have breakfast and then move on to Sarchu( approximately 180 kms). But fate had something else in store for us. We reached Karu only to learn that the one and only petrol pump there was out of petrol. The nearest petrol station was 35 kms back at Leh. Now we had two options - either we take risk and move forward hoping that we get some petrol pump within 150 kms or we go back to Leh and re-fuel our bikes, then move ahead. We lost almost half an hour in discussion and then we decided rather than getting stranded at a lonely place without fuel, let's get back to Leh, get refueled and move on. Also the local truckers informed us that we won't find any fuel station before Keylong ( after crossing Sarchu) on that route. So its better we get refueled at Leh and also carry atleast 8-10 ltrs of fuel. So the fuel run began. Leh was 35 kms from Karu and the roads were super smooth, so we could get there in half an hour. There at the fuel station we discussed what to do and we decided to carry some fuel. So I went out to the nearest market to get a can. I got back with can of 15 ltrs. It was more than enough fuel to carry. Shiwan was already carrying 2 bottles of 2 ltrs each. So, we refueled our bikes till brim and carried 16 litres of fuel(12+2+2). We had lost almost 3 hours in all this and we reached Karu almost around 12 noon. Our plan of reaching our destination before sunset had failed. Still we tried to make it up as much as possible. I realised only if we had bought carried fuel the same day when we left for Pangong Tso, we would have been able to visit Tso Moriri as well. It is another beautiful lake 100 kms away from Pangong Tso. We had decided to skip it since we weren't carrying fuel with us and that route had no fuel stations. Anyways we were doing good speeds with a few breaks in between. The road from Karu to Sarchu was a mix of good roads and " no roads ". There was no option of bad roads [emoji14] we were almost 100 kms from Sarchu when we had reached a desert in the middle of the mountains. It wasn't cold that ways but the wind was chilly. I was feeling hot so I took off the jacket but could not stay without jacket even for 2 mins. We had some tea and snacks there and moved on. The roads thereafter smoothened out and we reached Pang around 4 pm. It was almost 80 kms away from Sarchu. The riders coming from Sarchu said we could manage to reach Sarchu before it gets dark. So we decided to take a break at Pang and have some " Maggie "

We started from Pang at around 4:30 pm and then what a ride it was till Sarchu. Almost 40kms from Pang was offroad which had gravel, steep climbs, a little bit of slush and to top it up it was chilly. It was already around 7 pm when we got some good roads, about 30 kms to Sarchu. Now we were doing good speeds. There were lot of hairpin bends, I didn't realise were in the Gata loops unless I saw a board which said "Gata loops ends here". I always had a wish to actually see how this loop looked like but missed the chance. Anyways, as we came nearer to Sarchu, we were getting impatient as we were all tired badly and needed rest. The good roads helped us reach Sarchu by 8 pm. It was totally dark by then. Luckily we managed to get the only available tent out there at the camping site. By the time we unloaded the bikes, it was about 9 pm. Chilly winds started flowing across. I had been to over 18000 ft a few days back but even then I didn't feel as cold as I did in Sarchu. The winds made all the difference. Anyways, it was already dinner time so we went to main big tent to have food. The food there was plain & simple yet tasty. There we also met a group of people who had come from Punjab and were heading towards Leh.

As usual, we went to bed early, just after dinner, like obedient kids.

$id
ride hard, ride safe

Re: Project K-Top

Day 11 : Sarchu to Manali

The morning was a bright sunny one, we woke up by 7 am with a mindset to get on the road by 8. There we met an German guy who landed up at Manali a few days back and was riding a RE to Leh. It was nice chatting with him discussing various topics, starting from the road conditions from Manali to his employment back in Germany to his plans for the trip. This guy was a freelance engineer who worked on contracts. He finished up with his latest assignment recently and touched down India to have some leisure time. Again a new project was waiting for him when he would return after 2 weeks. We had our breakfast started getting ready for the journey.

The camp owner said, we needed to reach Keylong as soon as possible, probably before 12. After 12, he said the traffic increases at Rohtang. Now, we decided we were at the last leg of our journey. We were supposed to take a day off at Manali before heading back to Delhi and also we had 3-4 days in hand. So we decided, let's carry on at a pace which we can and try to make it till Manali the same day.

So the ride began. Roads from Sarchu to Manali are again in mixed shape. Some distance it was good, then a patch of bad roads and then good. We reached Baralacha La in good time.







To our surprise, the roads were in good condition, we didn't have to face any nallahs on our way. There was a slight traffic jam at the pass. Nothing serious. We got off the pass and continued riding. It was hot that day and we were getting tired soon. So we had to take a lot of short breaks. We reached Tanlang La by almost 1 pm.





The roads at the ascend was awesome. Smooth tarmac with no potholes, so we could maintain a decent pace and also we had a few opportunities to sharpen our cornering skills.

We stopped at Tanglang La, clicked a few pictures and selfies and got back on the saddle soon enough. Now that Manali was not far enough, we were getting a little impatient. We kept on riding and riding. We reached Rohtang pass by 3 pm.




We had a plan to take a break at Rohtang to have some tea and if possible, Maggie. But what we saw there was horrible. The whole place was messed up. The ice had blackened due to the exhaust gasses of the ATVs out there and roads looked like the slums in Delhi. The garbage lying around and polluting the place. We moved on and found a place where they we re paragliding. We stopped there for a break. Had some snacks there, clicked some pictures and went on.Manali from there was around 40 kms. As we were nearing Manali we got more and more impatient. Finally we entered Manali at around 5 pm. We witnessed a long que of cars to enter Manali. There were cars from Delhi, Gurgaon and other parts of Punjab. Since we were on 2 wheels, we could sqeeze through the gaps an find our way.

We finally found ourselves a room to crash in. It was almost 5 pm by the time we checked in. We checked in and relaxed a bit. After some time, we went out to chillax at the famous Mall road of Manali. But what I saw there was unbelievable. Though the climate was good but there was too much crowd out there. And I thought Delhi was crowded. We roamed about the place, ate some snacks, enjoyed the climate. We had completed our dream ride, we had conquered Khardungla and the our happiness had no boundaries. We decided to celebrate and you people know how do boys celebrate an achievement Yes, we got drunk that night reliving the days spent in the lap of mother nature. Next day it was a rest day for us before we get back on the saddle on the last leg of the ride to get back to home.

$id
ride hard, ride safe

Re: Project K-Top

It's been a long log so far. But due to your dedication and skills in putting them, seems refreshing every time!

Re: Project K-Top

Nice.
One question: How did you get TaglangLa between Sarchu and Manali? If I remember correctly it is between Sarchu and Leh (after Debring)

Re: Project K-Top

Thanks brother, just trying to write my heart out [emoji6] [emoji6]
We stopped over at Sarchu while returning from Leh. Starting from Sarchu we crossed Baralacha La first, then Tanglang La and then Rohtang to finally reach Manali.