Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Day 4
Tuesday - 9th June 2015


As per the plan, we were to reach Srinagar on very first day of riding and take rest the next day. Now when we took 2 days to reach here, we decided not to take rest at Srinagar and just go ahead. So we were back on schedule today. From today onwards, we had limited and doable distance to be covered every day. Today's target is Drass, same as yesterday, 140 kilometres from here. We decided to take it easy today, so woke up "aaram se" around 8:30 am. We had Shikara Ride on our To Do list today. Quickly got ready and started with the rituals, that is to wear the whole riding gear and settle all the luggage on bike. I noticed scratch marks on the fairing below pillion seat due to continues scratching of saddlebags upon fairing. Yesterday's bumpy ride took a toll on bike as well. Kept a newspaper below the bags to avoid scratching and this trick worked for the whole trip and saved fairing from getting any extra love bites. Settled the hotel bill and went to Dal Lake for the ultimate Shikara Ride.

Shikara Ride at Dal Lake
Parked bikes around the shores with luggage on it and asked one of many Shikara guys there to quickly take us in and around Dal Lake. He owned a beautiful and well maintained Shikara. We stepped into it and asked him to keep the ride “Short and Sweet” and get us back here soon as we had to reach Drass before evening. He politely asked us to enjoy the Shikara ride and forget about everything else as Shikara ride is one of the main tourist attraction in Srinagar. He had a point. One should forget everything and enjoy the beauty. Dal Lake is also known as Jewel of Srinagar. It is surrounded by scenic views of snow cladded mountains. There are number of beautiful house boats in Dal Lake. Temperature in winter sometimes reaches to such a low extent that it freezes the lake. I would love to be here in winters sometime.





Beautiful, isn't it?








Ice-cream waley uncle who has his own floating ice-cream shop







Shikara guy took us through the narrow alleys and all of sudden we were right in the middle of lake. The view from here was truly incredible. He described about various things like floating gardens, house and party boats, floating markets etc. Asked him not to go far away and return from here itself. A guy came up to us with his boat selling ice-creams. It was floating ice-cream shop. I asked for the best ice-cream he had and he served Gulkand ice-cream, which indeed was best ice-cream I've ever had. I also saw a floating jewellery shop.























Got back to the same place we started from, thanked the Shikara guy for wonderful ride and went to the same dhaba as of last night to have breakfast.

Ordered Paranthas and lassi to have good breakfast as there are very less chances of getting a good place to eat before reaching the target destination. One shouldn't have lassi out of Punjab. After having Gyan di Lassi two days back, lassi here tasted so bad. It actually was that bad. I am sure if we had ordered butter milk, he would have served us the same thing.

It was 11:30 am by now, we left the place and headed towards Sonmarg. Sonmarg is 85 kilometres from Srinagar. Soon we were on nice open roads after tackling city's traffic. Tanked up and also checked the air pressure to be on safer side at the first petrol pump I saw. Today weather was lovely. Cool breeze, open roads with occasional traffic, tall trees and landscapes alongside the road made riding more exciting. I saw a road sign somewhere en route saying "Cherish forever the wonderland of Kashmir, snow-capped mountains, sunny gardens, romantic houseboats, you will never want to go back.", so true it was.







Pictures from Siddhesh's action cam




There were many riders around today, some riding in same direction and some coming back from Leh. All the traffic, crowd, trucks and all the nuisance I had left behind. I was wandering in the mountains now. After around an hour of riding, we were riding along side of Sind river, a tributary to Jhelum River. Ride to Sonmarg was beautiful but quite uneventful. But that’s what makes it beautiful. No stopping anywhere, just keep riding besides the river. I could see snowy mountains now and they were nearing me with every curve I passed. That beautiful sound of flowing river, view of green landscapes and snowy mountains through visor, and mild firing of your bike, what else would one need? It’s like Roti, Kapda and Makan to a rider.




















On the way to Sonmarg



Sonmarg
Amazing ride came to halt when we reached Sonmarg. Had no plan to stop here but spectacular view here didn't let us go. Sonmarg is also known as "Meadow of Gold", it has snowy mountains and clear sky as its backdrop. Main attraction here is a Thajiwas Glacier which is 5 minutes ride from the main road. Locals here insisted us to take a pony ride till glacier, which they said you shouldn't miss, I had brought my own pony from Pune itself so I thanked them and rode towards the glacier.

A security guard at security cabin right before glacier stopped us and asked to pay some kind of fees. I don't know for what purpose. He stopped us only because we were riding non J&K vehicle. He didn't stop any local vehicle. He asked us to pay 200 rupees, me and Siddhesh looked at him, then looked at each other, and laughed. It was funny. "Okay pay 100 rupees and go" said the guard there. I parked my bike aside, took off my helmet, removed balaclava and gloves, and walked up to the cabin to see what’s inside. There were two more guys inside cabin, few empty beer bottles and other stuff. I asked for the reason for charging us, to which he said its entrance fee and you get a receipt for that. It was a dummy receipt book but then I thought of not wasting much time and paid him 50 rupees. Getting off the bike and walking up to him saved us 150 bucks.

To reach actual glacier you still have to walk for a mile. I was in no mood to walk for a mile to see snow. I am going to get lot of it in coming days. Parked bikes near a shop to take rest for a while and to have some food. River flows just behind that shop. One can pass whole day clicking pictures here and still wouldn't get enough of it. Camera was again deep inside the saddlebag. I should have brought tank bag with me, could have been lot easier to handle the camera. Clicked few pictures in this beautiful alpine valley, ate Halwa kind of sweet thing, and at around 3:30 in the afternoon we left the place to have deadly encounter with Zoji la.














Poser no. 1


Poser no. 2


and Poser no. 3






















Zoji La
The Mighty Zoji La. The place I've always wondered about ever since I was planning this ride. La means High Altitude Mountain Pass. It is also known as Zoji Pass. Zoji la is the first high altitude mountain pass you encounter on Srinagar-Leh highway at the height of around 12,000 ft. It is the shortest mountain pass yet one of the most difficult mountain pass of the whole roadtrip. You will hear La multiple times from here onwards.





The Mighty Zoji La



Zoji la had been seized by Pakistani raiders in 1948 during Indo-Pakistani War in their campaign to capture Ladakh. The pass, town of Drass and Kargil district were captured by Indian forces in a daring assault, code named Operation Bison. The pass is often closed during winter because of high amount of snow, avalanches and landslides. Border Roads Organisation (BRO) maintains the pass throughout the year and their work is really commendable. If it’s not for them, we travellers could never see other side of the Kashmir valley.

Zoji la is tough, Zoji la is unforgiving, Zoji la is very difficult and risky, this is what I've heard about Zoji la. Not a single praising word about it. This place is not meant for soft hearted people. Loose gravel, mud and slush, melting glaciers, water streams, landslide zones, avalanche prone zones and what not? You get to see multiple faces of this terrain. I was going to experience all of it within some time.

Zoji la is hardly 15-20 kilometres from Sonmarg. Roads till Sonmarg and few kilometres after it are in wonderful condition, but once you cross Baltal - the base camp for Amarnath yatra, the road condition starts to get deteriorate. It turns from good to bad and as you start climbing Zoji la it turns worse. It started drizzling after Baltal which led us to wear raincoat for the first time. The weather ahead didn't seem good. It felt like there is a thunderstorm on other side of the pass. The fear of Zoji la was already there in my mind and here comes bad weather to spice it up.

There were hundreds of vehicles stucked in traffic along with huge army convoy. There is always an advantage of travelling on a bike that you don't have to wait for traffic to open. Roads are always open for bikers. While climbing there was lot of loose gravel around which made riding bit difficult and as I was nearing the top, loose gravel turned into mud and slush. There was this huge line of stucked vehicles but thank god there was no upcoming traffic which helped us keep moving. We also came across few nallah type huge water crossings, which surely was an adventurous thing. I had 11000 kilometres old stock MRF ZAPPER on my rear, which made riding even more difficult. Having no grip at all even on good roads, I was on my own here.












The First Fall
At one such place, I had to cross a 10 meter long stretch full of mud with big rocks around, after collecting all my courage together, I started riding slowly and carefully. It was quite difficult as it was my first experience to ride through such a terrain. I had my boots drenched in mud, I was pushing my bike ahead as it was not moving at all even after accelerating it to full because of loose grip. I was trying hard to move forward and when I was right in the middle of it, tried pushing bike further and in that attempt I fell on my right side. Dhadaaaam. First fall of the ride. Climbing Zoji la and coming through water streams had already exhausted all of my energy, I somehow got up but was unable to pick up my bike. It was laden with all of my luggage. There were number of vehicles behind me, and after looking at few of my failed attempts, one guy from the four wheeler behind me came to help me pick up the bike. Later it refused to start, Pulsar 180 being kick less, made me worry a bit. I tried pushing bike out of the way so that the vehicles behind me could pass, but again was unable to do so. Called the same guy again and asked him to push it for some distance. He was a local taxi driver and was happy to help. He asked me not to worry and take it easy. It started in a swift later and I was relieved. I don't know how did I fall but because of falling, the rear brake lever had bent. One of those big rocks must be the culprit. It just had bent, and thank God it wasn't broken.

There were many of such stretches, some of them full of mud and slush and some of them full of chilling water coming out of melting glaciers. Though it is claimed to be one of the most dangerous roads in the world, you cannot miss on the beauty that it holds. Took a halt somewhere after crossing top most place of the pass to click pictures. There came two riders from Leh side, asked them to click a picture for me and also asked them about the road conditions ahead. One of them said Zoji la is nothing compared to Khardung la and Chang la. I was already feeling an adrenaline rush and I was looking forward to an ultimate adventure.

























Few points to be taken care of:
• To ride on this terrain, you must have supreme confidence in your vehicle and your riding skills.
• Make sure tyres are in good condition to get a good grip.
• Be mentally prepared to tackle whatever situation may come along.
• Don't stress and take it easy.
• Enjoy the beauty around but don't ride on the cliffside as it is really a life taking danger.
• Zoji la surely make us realise how precious the life is.


I had already crossed the top most place of this pass and now I was descending. When I say there are water crossings, they are usually there because of melting glaciers around it. On the other side of Zoji la, there was lot of snow around and there were many of such melting glaciers but thankfully there were no water crossings as the roads were comparatively good and plain on this side so there was only water flowing on the road and no large streams. The weather on this side changed dramatically. It was sunny on the other side and here it was so chilling and was about to rain. Siddhesh was riding ahead of me throughout the pass, with newly installed CEAT VERTIGO on his rear he must not have had any problem riding through this difficult terrain, I hope.









Descending Zoji la




A Blessing in Disguise - Zero Point
As you descend the pass, you are greeted by a place called Zero Point. I was awestruck after seeing this place from far. Saw Siddhesh waving at me in the middle of traffic and we had a halt here. The whole place was covered in snow. I had never heard of this place and it came as a surprise. It was a real treat after such a dangerous ride. I am not sure why this place is called Zero Point. A local guy here told us that this place separates Kashmir valley and Ladakh region. Everything here was covered in snow except the narrow road that runs through this mountain range. We parked our bikes, and got off the road in snow and clicked few pictures. It was the first time in my life that I had been so close to snow. There were so many people out there playing with snow, skiing and snow biking. It was real fun destination.









Making friends on the go












Temperature had dropped drastically and I was feeling cold. Had Kahwah here which kept us warm for some time. Kahwah is a traditional Kashmiri green tea. One shouldn't miss this drink while travelling in Kashmir. It started snowing and it was quite a time we were here, so we decided to ride ahead.

Drass was still around 40 kilometres far. Left the place when it was snowing and as we crossed around 5 kilometres it started raining heavily. It was so badly raining that I was unable to see anything. Temperature was quite cold, now there was rain with wind, my fingers went numb in no time. I wasn't feeling them. There was no point in stopping anywhere in this heavy rain so we kept riding. There were few other riders with us. All of us were riding together in the same direction. There was no traffic here as people only come to visit Zero Point and return from there itself. So other than few trucks, there was nothing at all. This stretch had huge potholes, reminded me of Jammu highway. There is this problem with me that I just can't follow any vehicle. There was this overloaded truck in front of me, plus heavy rain, and narrow roads. I couldn't keep my visor open because of rain and wind, and I couldn't see anything clearly when closed because it was tinted visor. When I had a lone chance to overtake this truck, again the same thing happened, I ended up in a huge pothole filled with water. I couldn't make out that there is this pothole as there was too much of water flowing on the road. I directed rider behind me to take care of this hole and now I was in no mood to overtake. I asked one of the other rider to go ahead and I followed him as he overtook the slow moving truck. The rain came to a halt and we too were out of ghat section and now there was this plain long stretch in front of us. The other group of 3 people, riding CBR150R, Apache and an RE went ahead and we took a halt here for pictures.
















We had entered in Drass valley and it was a very beautiful mountain range. It was too much windy here because of plain landscapes. Raced against the wind in this long stretch and as soon as this long stretch came to an end, our excitement too came to an end. Now started this no tarmac road. There was loose gravel, potholes and small rocks everywhere. This continued for almost 15-20 kilometres. Can you imagine? I thought there can be nothing bad compared to Jammu-Srinagar highway, but when I faced this stretch, I was praising the highway. One will ride carefully tackling all the rocks and potholes and also will manage to not to fall because of loose gravel, but for how long? A kilometre? Two? Maybe 5 kilometres? After 10 kilometres of tackling the rocks and holes, I gave up. I did not see on the road and just kept riding. Whether it’s a rock or a pothole or whatever, I did not care. There is limit to anybody's patience, and I had already crossed it. Same was the case with others. Now we had caught up with that other group. They too were riding at normal speed without caring what’s down there. The RE guy was the best. He managed to ride at the speed of 20 and was constantly ahead of all of us.

I was desperately waiting for Drass, but this bumpy stretch was not coming to an end. It was one and half hour long bumpy ride. It was so bumpy that your arse is not at rest even for a second. If there were nut and bolts on human body, I am sure all of them must have fallen by this time. I just can’t forget this stretch. I can traverse Zoji la 100 times but this stretch one more time, I am not game.

Soon I saw a locality far in the mountains and a milestone indicating 7 kilometres left for Drass and I was so happy to see that. We reached Drass at around 7 in the evening and stopped at this famous welcome sign.












Drass
Drass is a small town in Kargil district. Drass is also known as "The Gateway to Ladakh". The town of Drass witnessed shelling by Pakistani army during 1999 Kargil war. Located at the height of 11,000 ft., Drass is the coldest inhabited place in India, second in the world after Siberia. The signboard here proudly says "Drass - The second coldest inhabited place in the world". Temperature here can get as low as -45 degree Celsius during peak of winter. Without looking any further we settled in the first hotel that had a room available for two. Hotel City View, possibly the only hotel with parking facility. The room was on 2nd floor, I hated climbing up wearing all the riding gear and carrying all the luggage at once. It was a blackout day in Drass. 2 days of load shedding after every two days, so it was today and tomorrow. Daylight was there till 8 pm so we had no problem in settling in the room.

We were very hungry so came out in the town for dinner. This small town has Muslim majority so finding a pure vegetarian hotel was a difficult task. After enquiring here and there, a guy directed us to a small shady place along the road who can cook pure veg food. Asked the Chinese looking Indian girls there to prepare noodles for us that too without onion. It was only noodles that I could trust that night. There was no network in this town, not even BSNL. There was this lone STD booth in this small town, thank God there is at least a wired phone, called up brother and informed about our whereabouts. It was total dark out there because of load shedding, somehow managed to get back to our room.

We wanted to visit Kargil War Memorial on the way tomorrow, so with thought of getting up early we went to sleep.


Srinagar - Sonmarg - Drass
Total Distance Covered: 140 kms

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Superb write up ... Just waiting for the complete MEAL......congrats guys ....

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Glued to your thread Bhai. The preparation, the narration and the photos...oh man. Simply wonderful!!! This will be my black book while going up there.

The funny thing is despite multiple falls while you were riding, the riding pant didn't get a scratch from you and the day u bought it back, the very next week on a ride with NW i got a nice big hole after falling at just 60kmph/-. Talk about bad luck .

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thank you!
I am in the kitchen right now.. preparing the meal..

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

Thank you for the kind words Auro. I will feel honored if any part of this writing comes handy for your trip.

And about riding pants, I was wearing raincoat above it, which saved pants from scratches, ask me about raincoat - it got number of scratches and is torn off.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Lage Rahio Munna Bhai.....

The book brought back all the memories once again...and this blog and pics are refreshing in their own way.
Feels like it was just yesterday we had been there ... Just Awesome !!

THOK-DA-RAHA

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thok-Da-Raha.. Hehehe.. I just cant forget that song..

Thank you for the compliments.. Glad you liked it..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Day 5
Wednesday - 10th June 2015



Drass being second coldest inhabited place in the world had shown its effects last night. I was unable to sleep all through the night. There was a huge glass window by my side of bed. Maybe it was too much of wind all night that blew my mind or it was Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), I wasn't sure. Don't know what time it was but somewhere in the middle of night, I was staring outside of the window, it was pitch-black night and there was this tiny bulb kind of thing far far away at which I kept staring. Not sure in what state of mind I was, neither I was able to sleep nor I wanted to wake up. I was waiting for the dawn.

Woke up around 6 in the morning, asked the hotel guy to deliver a hot water bucket. Temperature out there was so low, hot water bucket that the guy brought, went cold within minutes. Soon we got ready and came out of hotel and tied all the luggage onto our bikes.

The other three people who were riding with us yesterday also stayed in the same hotel and were getting ready to leave. Had breakfast at a little shop on the other side of road and left the place.

Drass is surely a beautiful place, and also serve as a base to many treks and hikes, but for us it was just a stopover for a night on our Roadtrip to Ladakh.











Kargil War Memorial
Kargil War Memorial, built by the Indian army following the war with Pakistan in 1999. The Memorial is located about 5 km from Drass across the Tiger hill and in the foothills of Tololing hill. It is built in the memory of soldiers of the Indian army who laid their lives during the conflict between India and Pakistan. Visit to Kargil War Memorial was very emotional to me. Entered the place with warm welcome from soldiers, they were more than happy to see us, same was the case with me. As we entered the place, on right-side there is this helipad and a helicopter was about to take off, and within minutes it did take off and lost in the mountains. It was indeed one of the most exciting thing I have seen. Then we headed towards the Sandstone wall which has names of all the Indian army personnel who laid their lives during Kargil war. Then there is a gallery named after Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey, which houses pictures of soldiers during war time. A giant national flag hoisted at the memorial has in its backdrop the beautiful peaks that the Indian army captured back from Pakistan.











































An Indian army personnel described the whole chain of events one after another for almost 15 minutes without taking a break. He described the whole history with all the tiny details with dates by pointing towards the places where it occurred.















There is this one thing I would like to point out about Indian army. We all know how bravely our soldiers fought and brought victory to India. But there is also this untold story about Kargil war which surely make us very proud of our soldiers. There is a picture of Pakistani officer Karnal Sher Khan in Captain Manoj Pandey War Gallery. There is a story behind it. During the war, Indian army was so impressed with brave Pakistani officer Karnal Sher Khan who died while serving his country, that our soldiers asked Pakistan to honour him with "Nishan-e-Haider" which is the highest military award in Pakistan. Indian soldiers being tough, smart and brave, are sweet at heart too.

I read this road sign somewhere on the way which said "When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today". I just did a bit of it.

After around an hour, we left the memorial thanking soldiers for everything that they do for us. Today’s target destination is Leh which is 280 kilometres far from Drass. All the bad roads and potholes troubles you only till Drass. Once you cross Drass, you are greeted with properly marked freshly laid two lane tarmac road which continues till you reach Leh. It was around 10 in the morning that we left the memorial and started riding on our way to Leh. The terrain and mountains here were so beautiful that I couldn't resist myself from stopping at every corner. I asked Siddhesh to ride ahead and I shall follow him taking pictures. Snow-capped mountains far in the background, barren mountains in the foreground, clear blue sky on the top and these lovely curvy roads, man I fell in love with it. After Siddhesh zoomed out of sight, I was riding alone at this particular place where I stopped for pictures. I was alone and there was nobody around for kilometres. No vehicles as well. It was just me, river and mountains. It was truly a pin drop silence there. I could hear my heartbeats. I clicked few pictures and just stood still for some time to feel beauty of the place.

















I pinched myself to make it sure that it’s really me traversing through NH1D. At few places NH1D runs along the LOC and passes through extremely treacherous terrain. With Indus River continuously flowing along the highway, it provides a beautiful scenic view of Himalayan mountain range. I have read online and heard from people that places on other side of the LOC are quite beautiful. Wish there were no borders for travellers.

Even in the mountains there were few stretches where I managed to see the three digit number on my speedometer. Drass-Kargil stretch have some beautiful curves. I am not into stunts and all, but at such curvy roads, everyone gets into racing mode. I tried cornering at few curves and managed to lean a little, not much though, but with saddlebags tied behind I found it risky to do such a thing. Stunts while on Roadtrip? Not advisable! Roads here with curves are so good that you would fall in love with them. I did not notice a beautiful Kashmiri girl when I was riding through one of the curve, just to tell you how good the roads here are. My mind fought a battle between "curves on the lady" and "curves on the road" and of course the latter won the battle.



















The town of Kargil is located 60 kilometres far from the memorial. The whole stretch runs along the Indus River and it takes you through series of beautiful barren mountains. Ride from Drass to Kargil is really a memorable one. Soon I reached outskirts of Kargil and found Siddhesh sleeping alongside the road, waiting for me. I was indulged in nature so much that I forgot that Siddhesh was riding ahead of me and must be waiting for me. Woke him up and answered nature's call that was on hold since long. Also fuelled up here to be safe. Kargil is quite a large and populated town. Many people chooses Kargil for a night stay, but as we had to visit the memorial, we stayed at Drass.

















Till Kargil you still find some greenery around, but as you come across Kargil, it turns dry and barren. There is this few kilometres of stretch between Kargil and the town of Mulbekh which is still under construction, other than that, the whole stretch from Drass to Leh is in wonderful shape. Ride to Mulbekh took us an hour and in the name of photography I gave my arse some rest.













Till Kargil it is all Muslim majority area, and from Mulbekh onwards it is all Buddhist majority area. This change in domination can clearly be noticed. Looking at people and locality you suddenly feel like you have entered in Tibet. You start to see monasteries and prayer wheels in every town. We were now riding in Zanskar mountain range which separates Ladakh from Jammu & Kashmir and Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh. At the distance of 15 kilometres from Mulbekh lies Namika la.


Namika La
Namika la is a high altitude mountain pass at the height of 12,198 ft. in the Zanskar range of Himalaya. In no time we reached Namika la. It was very windy up there so clicked few pictures and left the place. Ride to Namika la was quick. Freshly laid tarmac made climbing up quite easy.









Then comes Fotu la which is at the distance of 36 kilometres from Namika la. These two mountain passes used to scare the hell out of riders until two years back, but now when both of them are nicely paved, they have become the easiest mountain passes out of all. I had started feeling cold after crossing Namika la. The weather was windy and it had hit me in the head. I was feeling unconscious and was not able to concentrate on riding. Siddhesh was far ahead of me and there was no way I could contact him. I took a stop in the middle of nowhere while ascending Fotu la. I was feeling cold because I was wearing only a shirt inside the jacket. Wore a sweater and attached rain liner to jacket, rain liner that came with my jacket works as thermal liner as well. Was feeling better after wearing extra layers. Clicked few pictures here and started climbing up for Fotu la.















Fotu La
Fotu la is again a high mountain pass at the height of 13,479 ft. Fotu la is the highest point on NH1D. Met few Gujju and Marathi travellers up there who were also on their way to Ladakh by car. Asked one of them to click a picture for me and I returned the favour by clicking picture for them.





















I did not see Siddhesh up here. It was so windy that one wouldn't stay at top for more than 10 minutes. As I was descending I saw this little moving dot far away in the mountains. Not sure if it’s him I kept riding. Lamayuru village is located 15 kilometres from Fotu la. Lamayuru monastery is main attraction of this little village. It is one of the oldest and largest monasteries in Ladakh. Though it is a small village, it can be seen from far distance and it looks spectacular. Ride from Fotu la to Lamayuru was fabulous. Amazing roads with magnificent view of the Ladakhi mountains and Lamayuru monastery in the middle of it.















But for me it was not that appealing as I was not feeling good and wanted to get some sleep. Soon I descended and found Siddhesh waiting for me. It was 3 in the afternoon, had come across 170 kilometres since morning and we still had 110 kilometres to be covered before EOD. But my condition at this time didn't seem good. High altitude was showing its effects. I was cold, had severe headache and was feeling sleepy as well. Took a much needed break at a restaurant in Lamayuru. Ordered hot green tea first and also had parantha and maggie later. Hot maggie felt so good that I ordered it once again. I was back to my senses after having food.

Met a Maharashtrian family here. The guy is in army and was posted in Ladakh itself. He knows the region very well and assured us of an exciting ride ahead. It was good half an hour's break and once I was good to be back on road, we left the place to witness one of the most beautiful place that Ladakh holds within.


Moonland
Ever been to Moon? No? I have. As you come across the beautiful town of Lamayuru, you are welcomed by picturesque Moonland. Formation of golden yellow granite hills provides a stunning view and you feel like you are onto some other planet. This place is actually called as Moonland because of its moon like soil. Roads here are nicely maintained with beautiful curves as you descend the hill and at some stretches even the tarmac has turned into golden yellow and red to match the surrounding hills. After the AMS stroke that I had a while back, I wanted to reach the destination soon, and in that "Run for Leh" ride I unfortunately did not click any pictures of this place.

Pictures cannot justify the actual beauty that it holds and you can only experience it if you traverse through it. Ride through Moonland was indeed a treat for the eyes.
















Few pictures on the go from Siddhesh's action cam. Notice the kind of terrains? Notice stones in between road? Notice co-travellers from Pune?



Soon after descending and a quick run through mountains and towns like Khaltse and Alchi, I reached Basgo Plains. One will worship the dead straight roads that Basgo Plains has to offer after riding in hills all day long. I have seen this place many times on internet and wanted to click few pictures here but Siddhesh was far ahead of me. One would surely get into racing mode after seeing such plains and that’s what he did. He was riding at his top speed, and I had to catch him. I had to follow him for almost 5 kilometres to stop him. Once I had his attention, I asked him to ride back to click few pictures. At first it seemed weird to ride back for 5 kilometres only to click pictures, but today when I and Siddhesh take a look back, seems like it was worth the ride.













Met a guy from Kerala here. He was in Leh from last few days and had come to visit Lamayuru monastery and met us on his way back. The Kerala guy told us that a huge avalanche happened a day before at Khardung La and that made us worry a little. We also asked him about Manali highway status but he had no idea about it. While Siddhesh was having a conversation with him, I was busy clicking random pictures here.


















Magnetic Hills
After quite a lengthy photo-shoot break, we opened throttle to feel the wind. It was an awesome feeling to ride on such a plain road for so long. There was too much of wind blast so couldn't ride at the top speed. In short time I reached the famous Magnetic Hills, but just like Basgo Plains it was only me there, Siddhesh was nowhere around. Clicking random pictures at Basgo Plains had cost me big time. There was no electricity in Drass last night so both the camera batteries had drained by now. I would have clicked selfies here if my phone had any juice left so there was no chance for that as well. I was all alone at Magnetic Hills. Sadly no pictures for rest of the day. I stopped at the road sign here which says "MAGNETIC HILL: THE PHENOMENON THAT DEFIES GRAVITY - PARK YOUR VEHICLE IN THE BOX MARKED WITH WHITE PAINT ON THE ROAD". As it says, the parked vehicle drifts upward defying gravity. Unbelievable isn't it? This place has its own charm and I wouldn't ruin the fun behind the gravity effect so I won't get into details.

Left the hills to catch Siddhesh and again it took me around 8 kilometres to catch-up with him. Upon reaching him we had this little conversation.

Me : Kaay re thambla nahi ka?
Sid : Kuthe?
Me : Magnetic Hills la re..
Sid : Are ajun kuthe aalay.. Yeu tari de..
Me : Kadhich gela te maage..
Sid : Kaay mhanto? Kharach? Jaycha mag parat?
Me : Kaay karnar jaun? Battery sampliye camera chi, Marude chyayla..
Sid : Marude chyayla..

We kept riding ahead and arrived at Gurudwara Pathar Sahib which is located around 25 kilometres before from Leh. It’s a beautiful place well maintained by Indian army throughout the year. We took small breathing break here, skipped visiting Gurudwara as there were many people inside and would have taken a lot of time so had a glimpse from outside itself and left for Leh.

Mistake that could abort the roadtrip or even worse
Right after Gurudwara, within a kilometres or two, we were riding at 70-80 kmph and after a little curve I saw one RE rider on the roadside waving at me asking for help. As he was standing right after the turn and came to my attention suddenly, I braked my bike in a sudden without any indication and did not even care to take my bike little aside. One of the biggest mistake. Thank God Siddhesh had his eyes on me and was following 2 seconds gap rule and he somehow managed to escape, otherwise he would have bumped into me only because of my silly mistake. His alertness on the road while riding saved us from a big accident. I still feel sorry for myself for being so careless at that time. I apologized to Siddhesh with a gesture that it was my mistake and asked him to carry on. Asked RE guy about the issue and he said his bike is not responding at all, he tried everything but all went in vain. I told him that there is a group of 5-6 RE guys coming behind us and as they are riding the same bikes, they can help you out. RE is out of my syllabus.

Best of the Beast
We were in the outskirts of Leh and that feeling itself was very intensifying. Gurudwara to Leh stretch is mostly plain. The max speed that I've done on my P180 is 127 kmph that too on the first day of this trip itself. While riding towards Leh, I had this long uninterrupted stretch in front of me and I was so excited that I let loose myself and took my bike for a spin. I touched the number of ONE THIRTY SEVEN KILOMETRES PER HOUR. Unbelievable, at least for me. 137 kmph is the highest speed I ever did. I could easily cross 140 but I did not have enough passage in front of me so I had to let loose the throttle. I never knew Pulsar 180 could fly at such a freaking speed. It was quite difficult to manage bike at that speed and it took lot of efforts to carefully get it back to safe speed before hitting the apex of next curve. An experienced biker would find it funny because touching the number of 120 kmph on 180 cc bike is quite difficult and when I talk about 137, sure it is unbelievable. At that altitude, with plain stretch for kilometres, there was too much of wind as well. Luckily that day wind flow was in the same direction as of mine. On a normal sunny day wind speed here in mountains is around 15-20 kmph and it wasn't one of those normal days where wind flows normally. The maximum recorded wind speed here in Leh is 93 kmph. Though I had great support of wind to achieve that speed, I wouldn't underestimate the power of common man's bike. There was a big smile on my face now.

Around 7 in the evening we arrived at Leh, came across the Airport and entered in the market area. Asked few people about budget hotels and they directed us towards Shanti Stupa road. After around half an hour of search operation, we landed at Hotel Dreamland. Lot of bargaining helped us get a good room at cheap rates. Two side open room with Khardung La in the background, Double bed, TV and a Geyser, what else do you want? Quickly settled in the room, got fresh and came out in the market to have dinner.

Leh enjoys daylight until 8 pm. I again was not feeling well so visited the medical shop and the guy asked me to take Diamox before sleeping and not to worry. We had pizza in the dinner at some "Good by look - Bad by taste" shady restaurant and took a walk through market. Siddhesh wanted to get himself a T-shirt printed from Leh for memories. While he was searching through different shops, I bought myself a woollen cap and woollen gloves for upcoming days. Thank God that I bought these things, they were of great help ahead. Once done with shopping part we returned to the room. The weather had turned chilling dramatically. It was unbearable or maybe it was my health condition that made me feel so. I had developed bit of cough since afternoon so had a spoon of Benadryl with Diamox. This time Siddhesh asked me the same question, What if Manali highway isn't open? Just hope it opens, I answered and went to sleep worrying about the same.

Next day was a rest day so did not care to wake up early. What an eventful day it was!


Drass - Kargil - Mulbekh - Lamayuru - Leh
Total Distance Covered: 280 kms

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

You have made me stick to this thread with your eventful stories and beautiful captures. Hats off and keep it up.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Day 6
Thursday - 11th June 2015


Leh
Across Peaks & Passes, lies a beautiful town
For beauty that it beholds, sure it is India's crownShanti Stupa
I woke up around 5 in the afternoon and then we headed towards Shanti stupa, one of the highlights of Leh. Situated on the top of Changspa hill, it is 5 kilometres ride from the main market. Being the top most site of the city, it provides beautiful panoramic view of whole of the Leh city and surrounding snow-capped mountains. One can have magnificent view of Shanti stupa at sunrise and sunset as it becomes even more beautiful when it is illuminated with lights. Running through tiny roads we reached Shanti stupa and had some quiet time here overlooking all of Leh.






















Mighty Khardung la (as seen from Shanti stupa)


Road leading to Khardung la through snow covered mountains, we will be riding on it tomorrow (as seen from Shanti stupa)



There is a small tea shop for refreshments at Shanti stupa. The shop is famous for the variety of tea it offers. Built on the cliff, one can have beautiful view of whole city through its windows while having sip of tea. We ordered Lemon Ginger Honey TeaAMSLeh local sight seeing
Total Distance Covered: 40 kms

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Thank you!

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thank you very much for the information on AMS. It was very important and helpful for the novice riders like me.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

The very purpose of the log is to help other riders with your experiences, and it feels good to know that the info provided in it is useful.. Thank you..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Glued, taking notes, This is helpful for me for doing this ride....
Keep it coming

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

@raakeshchauhan,

Awesome ride you have done there, I know your riding buddy in person Siddhesh P, glad to see your blog here.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thank you!
Lemme know if I can be of any help for your ride.


Thank you [MENTION=71810]SachinDesai[/MENTION]
Glad to see friends of friends liking this write-up..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Day 7
Friday - 12th June 2015



We had planned to start early morning but neither Siddhesh nor I woke up early. Got ready around 9:30 am and laded saddlebags onto the bikes. Settled the hotel bills and returned to the same restaurant to have breakfast. It was quite cold today. If it is so cold in Leh, imagine how it must be at K-Top. Applied bit of sunscreen lotion to save myself from sunburn and left the town of Leh to encounter the HIGHEST MOTORABLE ROAD IN THE WORLD.

Khardung La
Khardung la is again a high altitude mountain pass. There are various beliefs about its actual height. The signs here says that its elevation is 18,380 ft. but there are numerous sources on internet which claims that its actual elevation is 17,582 ft. Sources also claim that Khardung la is not the highest motorable road in the world. Mana pass in Uttarakhand and Mersimik la just few kilometres west of Actual Line of Control, which are located at higher altitude. Khardung la is gateway to Nubra valley which parts way to Siachen Glacier. The pass is well maintained by BRO as it is used to carry supplies to the Siachen base camp. Khardung la is a 40 kilometres ride from Leh and ascend starts from Leh itself. 15 kilometres of road on both the sides of Khardung la is in bad shape even as of today, and it is going to be the same in future as well. These stretches are made up of loose gravel, loose rock, dirt and lot of snow. These stretches fall into the line of avalanches and landslides. Traffic block due to washout of road or avalanches is normal here. Almighty Khardung la stands still in the harshest of weather conditions throughout the year.

As we started our ride towards the K-Top, again the rise in altitude started showing its effects. Siddhesh's Cramster K2K riding jacket is a wonderful all weather jacket. Mine being partly mesh riding jacket, I started feeling cold. We stopped few kilometres before South Pullu and I wore an extra layer of sweater inside and also zipped thermal liner to my jacket. My fingers had went numb by now so I wore three layer of gloves as well, first Surgical gloves that I bought from medical, then woollen gloves to fight wind-chill and then leather riding gloves. None of them could save my hands from turning blue.

Started riding towards top through nicely paved roads till South Pullu. There are these check posts at the distance of 15 kilometres on both the sides of pass, named South Pullu and North Pullu. South Pullu is located on Leh side and North Pullu is located on Nubra valley side. We reached South Pullu around 12 in the afternoon and found 2 kilometres long queue. Somehow managed to overtake the long traffic queue again got stuck few metres before the check post with lot of other bikers. An avalanche happened few kilometres ahead and that’s why all the traffic was blocked here. It’s been 2 hours these people were waiting. As we reached the traffic block, few army vehicles came from behind, it was a VIP caravan, the guys at check post allowed the caravan to go ahead and we took advantage of it and all the bikers went behind them and soon overtook them. The snow was cleared but still some work was going on so traffic was blocked.








Screenshots from the video that Siddhesh took while stuck in traffic at South Pullu


Ride from check post till top is total off-roading, and would require lot of skill and high level of concentration. I had mounted my cell phone on the handlebar and have shot the whole ride till the top. High amount of snow and melted water makes riding difficult on already broken patches. Ride to K-Top is not that steep, but bad condition of roads make it difficult. Heard of Ferrari making up to K-Top? Even Ferrari had to change tyres to ride these 15 kilometres. Siddhesh was nowhere in sight, actually there was nobody around. There were number of bikers at South Pullu but they must have taken a halt for pictures. Siddhesh was riding far ahead of me so I kept riding slowly. I was running on stock tyres, not suitable for such rides, I was having quite a difficult time managing my bike at few places. I was riding at the speed of 5-10 kmph, letting other riders go ahead. The views around were so wonderful but I was not able to take my eyes away because of continues potholes everywhere on the road. When I see the video today, I realise what I missed while tackling the potholes. Wish I had halted few times and taken pictures.






























All of the above pictures are screenshots taken from videos shot while climbing Khardung la



Found an Avenger rider hugging his bike and sleeping on the road full of ice and mud. He was unable to pick himself up. He fell because of Black Ice. Black ice is a thin coating of ice over surface which is hardly visible. I stopped to give him a helping hand and found myself standing right upon black ice. I managed to stand still there till he managed to get up and pick up his bike. Somehow I rode out of black ice without falling and headed towards the top. Number of times I was about to fall but did not fall because of my long legs which helped me balance myself at right time. These 15 kilometres felt like 50 because of mud and slush with lot of snow around.
















Soon I reached the top and found Siddhesh waiting for me. It feels great to be on top of the world. I don't care what sources have to say about actual elevation of Khardung la, the important thing is, I have never been to such a height, and for that very moment I felt above all. Being at the height of 18380 ft., is truly an achievement for me. When Siddhesh asked me how you feel about this achievement, "I Feel Good" was my answer to him with that big smile.































All the traffic that was blocked at South Pullu had arrived and there was chaotic situation at top. We were done with photographs so we started riding towards Nubra valley.

Descend from Khardung la was even miserable for me. I found high amount of snow on this side of the pass, like there was a feet high layer of snow on the roads at few places. I could easily descend on neutral but that could turn dangerous at few steep stretches so I was riding on 1st gear, that provided engine some braking and controlled my descend speed. It was difficult for me to ride through snow because of stock tyres. MRF Zapper on my rear provided ZERO traction. My bike slipped few times but managed to not fall. When a huge vehicle like a truck with two rear tyre passes, it forms a 6 inches tall snow wall in between their tyres throughout the road. At one place I was riding on the opposite side of road and had to change lane, and to do that I had to cross this snow hurdle, and while doing that, I lost control and the bike slid upon snow, I tried balancing but it was of no use. Black ice made me slid further and I fell on my left side. I picked up my bike and revved up a bit but it didn't move at all. Rear tyre kept spinning in its place. There was no traffic on this side of the pass and Siddhesh was far ahead of me, so I was riding alone at this stretch. Tried pushing bike but all the efforts went in vain. High amount of snow, mud and rocks did not let the bike move.

I stood there waiting for help for quite some time, and that’s when two BRO's road maintenance guys turned up from far away. I signalled them that I am stucked here I need help and they came running up to me. They asked me to get on the bike and just balance it while they pushed it out of that 20 ft. long horrible patch. I prayed for the help and it appeared the next second. I told myself "Aaj tu kuch aur bhi mangta to woh bhi mil jata". I thanked them million times and before I could talk to them further they left the place. This help was a big deal for me, but for them it was like their daily routine. They left me smiling with a thought that how selfless these people are, always at your help without expecting anything in return, if it wasn't for these workers, we riders could never be up here.

I started descending with utmost care and soon rode out of an avalanche prone area. Siddhesh and few other riders were waiting here and that gave me a chance to answer the nature's call, probably they too halted for the same thing.

North Pullu was in sight now and I could see proper paved roads after the check post. I believe Nubra valley starts from here itself. North side is more beautiful than south side of the pass. You start locating greenery and lot of vegetation around. Our today’s target destination was Diskit, 120 kilometres from Leh and 60 kilometres from North Pullu. Kept descending through narrow but nice curvy roads and arrived at Khardung village at around 2:30 in the afternoon. There was a small dhaba type restaurant on road side, we decided have some food here. Ordered hot coffee and fried rice as there was nothing worth eating here. It took half an hour to prepare the food and till that time I was playing with the camera taking random pictures.

Food arrived and found Siddhesh literally sleeping. Woke him up and asked if everything’s alright and he said he is damn tired and same was the case with me. Low oxygen at top gave us mild headache and made him sleep. Had the food, settled the bills, and started riding. It was bright sunny day with lot of wind, valley on our right with lot of greenery and rocky mountains on our left.

Khalsar
We kept riding in this beautiful valley until we reached Khalsar village. Khalsar is a tiny village with not so many homes, but it has this huge army camp along the river bed. Siddhesh stopped here as he was not feeling good. Asked a local guy here about Diskit and he said it is 20 kilometres from here. Asked Siddhesh whether he can make it and reply came negative.

Diskit is a capital of Nubra valley, and Hunder is 11 kilometres from Diskit. Near Diskit, the valley bifurcates into two, Nubra and Shyok. Nubra river originates from Siachen glacier, flows into Indus river. Shyok river, known as "River of Death", also flows into Indus river after crossing into Pakistan. It is said that the great K2, second highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest, can be seen from Turtuk village which is located far deep inside Shyok valley near LOC. The world famous Sand Dunes and rare double humped camels can be found at Hunder.

We had no interest in camel ride, and tomorrow we had to ride back from here only so we decided to halt at Khalsar itself. Settled in first guesthouse that we saw that had double bed and nothing else. No TV, no attached bathroom and nothing at all, only a bed.

There is no electricity during day, power comes late in the evening and disappears early in the morning. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon, we decided to take some rest and later get out in the town when there is electricity and have dinner.

My sleep broke when I heard some cracking sound outside. Some parts of the wall were made of wood and there was too much of wind blowing outside and that made that noise. I checked my phone and it was 12:30 in the night. Damn. I slept for 7-8 hours at a stretch. Siddhesh too was in deep sleep, I didn’t bother him and let him take rest.

I didn’t want to discontinue the course of medicine for AMS, and to have medicine I should eat something first. Thank God I had some sweets with me that I brought from home. Had few pieces of it with Diamox, Benadryl and Crosin, and again went to sleep. That’s how the day ended dramatically.


Leh - Khardung la - Khalsar
Total Distance Covered: 100 kms