Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Amazing write-up and mesmerizing shots. This travelogue for me is like a Bible for leh riders. The details and insights of your experience of this ride would definitely very helpful to others.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thank you [MENTION=73377]coldfire20[/MENTION]

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Great going!

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Working on next chapter.. Thank you..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Amazing Travelogue . Loved every bit of it, Felt like a video documentary that i am going through .
Waiting for the rest of it .

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thank you..
We got video log of the whole trip too.. But need to work on it..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Superb,, great travelogue.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thank you..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Day 8
Saturday - 13th June 2015



Woke up around 9 in the morning. Siddhesh was still in deep sleep. Woke him up and told him that it’s been 16 hours of sleep now. Longest period for which I have slept. Another achievement you know. Quickly got ready and came out of the cage type room to have breakfast. Ordered the same usual thing, parantha and 2 maggie noodles with lot of soup in it, soup only to have extra intake of water, and Minute maid Orange Pulpy. It’s 8th day today, almost half way mark of the trip, that is when I started taking hydration seriously. Bought extra bottles of water and mixed it with electral powder and carried with myself. I followed the same routine for upcoming days, though Siddhesh was doing it since day one, I started today. Der aaye durust aaye.

Checked mobile to find if there is a network coverage but only to disappoint myself. Only BSNL network was available at this place. I wanted to call home as there won't be any network, not even BSNL, once I leave Khalsar. Asked the guesthouse owner if he had phone and he handed me his mobile phone happily. Called up mom and informed about our whereabouts and also told her that I'll be off the grid for next 36 hours until I reach Upshi. I felt sudden boost in my energy after talking to my family, isn't it strange? I just had parantha and maggie and lot of liquid but only to fill my stomach, had few words with my mom and I was at top of my form.

The majestic and breath taking Pangong Lake, 135 kilometres from Khalsar is our target destination for today. I had changed engine oil before leaving from Pune, and I was also carrying 800 ml of spare engine oil with me to top up whenever required. We were riding for more than 1000 kilometres now and it was time to top-up the engine oil, did so and left the place.

There are two routes to reach Pangong Tso from Nubra Valley

1] Khalsar - Agham - Wari la - Sakti - Chang la - Durbuk - Tangste - Pangong Tso = 194 kms
Very scenic and goes through two high altitude mountain passes, good roads (proper paved road as heard from people).

2] Khalsar - Agham - Shyok - Durbuk - Tangste - Pangong Tso = 132 kms
Scenic but recommended only for 4x4 vehicles with high ground clearance, 47 kms of off-roading stretch runs along the Shyok river.


We had already decided to take the second one. The difficult one. The most miserable one. Today's ride turned a real bone breaking ride for us. There is a purpose for recommending 4x4 vehicle for this route but still we dared to ride through it. So after about 5 kilometre of riding we took this diversion towards Agham which is 25 kilometres far.

Khalsar to Agham ride was amazing. First few kilometres it runs through mountains and after descending it you are greeted with dead straight tarmac road. You can rip the way you want. There were only two people, two bikes, and not a single living thing around. Ride till Agham was amazing, then we took halt at a place where roads for Sakti and Shyok separates.














We stopped nearby a river. My stomach was feeling uneasy and I wanted to put things at rest so I went down the bridge to relax myself while enjoying nature at its best. River flowing alongside and cool breeze around, no better way to sort out things. Water was unbelievably cold and it ran chills through my body. Siddhesh took a small power nap till the time I returned. There were 4 bikes and two SUVs with us now, all of us taking the Shyok route.


A ship is safe in harbour, but that is not what a ship is built for!
I had read a lot about this 47 kilometres of long off-roading stretch. I was also advised to not to take this route since it’s my first time in Leh, but I was not here to play safe. We had an option to return if we felt it unsafe and now when we had co-travellers with us, I was more excited to take the risk, the "calculated risk" with backup plan.

All the other people went ahead of us since I took some time in wearing Poshakh (As Siddhesh once described the riding gear, our elaborated attire, in Hindi). Soon we all - two SUVs, 4 bikes from other group and us - were riding together through that narrow road which was washed out because of landslides. After few kilometres the road ultimately landed in river which was mostly dry. From here onwards till Shyok, the whole stretch is made up of rocks, there is no sign of tarmac at all. Forget about tarmac, you won't even find gravel here. There are only stones as far as your eyesight reaches.










The other group of bikers, all of them on REs, were slow moving and SUVs were taking multiple halts for pictures so we went ahead. Again Siddhesh was riding ahead of me and soon he was out of my sight. Better grip and more power below your arse can make you win the race. I was slow moving as I knew a little mistake could mean falling off the bike. No speeding - No braking was my mantra. I was riding on 2nd gear most of the time and had to downshift as and when needed.

This route runs along the Shyok river and it crosses the river few times. I have heard stories from people who had to cross the flowing river through 3-4 ft. of dirt water. I found myself lucky to be visiting this place early in the season before monsoon arrived. The terrain was rough, still, silent and peaceful. Felt like God has muted this place. The mountains were parched by sun and it had turned into grey.

I saw an iron bridge over the river at one place. I believe this bridge and the road around it was recently constructed as it seemed in good condition. Thank God there was this bridge, otherwise it could be difficult to cross the river. I wonder how this place must be in the monsoon.














After about an hour of troublesome arse kicking ride, I landed at a place where I was totally bewildered. I had no clue where to go now. Till now there was some path, tyre marks, that I followed, but here I found only big rocks everywhere. I found Siddhesh 100 meters far on the other side and I had no idea how he reached there. I signalled Siddhesh to keep riding.








It was very difficult to locate the path. I followed this curvy path which went through lot of small and big rocks lying here and there with water flowing around. I drifted few times but managed to stand still. There were hurdles made up of wet slippery rocks as high as 1 ft. which I had to cross by pushing bike myself. It must have taken more than 20 minutes to come across this 100 meters stretch. Had a huge sigh of relief later.

The town of Shyok was not far, hardly 18 kilometres away. And from here onwards the roads were rideable, no tarmac though. I was desperately waiting for tarmac road. Only a thirsty man knows the importance of water, likewise I had been riding on stones, rocks, through rivers and what not, and now I not only wanted, but needed proper paved roads. I was unable to take any extra pain.

I hit tarmac around 5 kms before Shyok. That feeling when you see the tarmac after doing numerous kilometres of off-roading. WOW! I just wanted to get off my bike and kiss the plain smooth tarmac.

Here are few screenshots from videos that Siddhesh shot on his action camera.





























Shyok is located in the vicinity of Shyok river. There is lot of vegetation around this little town. The town came and went by in quick succession. 16 kms of ride from Shyok to Durbuk is really beautiful. It takes you through dry, cutting edge rocky mountains. Lot of sharp twists and turns alongside the river, reminded me of Moonland at Lamayuru.

Now we were riding in Changthang. Changthang is a high altitude Northern Tibetan Plateau which extends into south-eastern Ladakh. Durbuk is small town with large army camps around it. Tangste is around 10 kms far from Durbuk and we decided to take a halt for lunch at Tangste. Reached Tangste around 2 pm and felt kind of relief after getting off the bike. There were few dhaba kind of restaurants, one of them had huge "PURE VEG" mark below its name and we entered the same one. The restaurant did serve eggs, so there is no pure veg kind of concept here. The only available options here were maggie and noodles. We ordered noodles with coffee and biscuits.

This place was managed by an old lady and a young son of her. She used to cook food and the guy used to take care of customers. The guy is in army and he is part of Snow Warriors, nickname of infantry regiment Ladakh Scouts. He exchanged dialogues in English with customers and also helped her mother cooking food. He was so generous to return 100 bucks that one of the customer paid him extra by mistake, even when they have business only for these 3-4 months of the year. I haven't seen such generosity at lower altitudes.




















Saw number of clouds around heading towards us. It even rained for few minutes but then the sky was clear like summer. Weather here is so unpredictable. We left for Lukung around 2:45 pm, our destination for today which is 35 kilometres far from Tangste. Lukung is a small place located on the lake shore of Pangong Tso, having few tents and eco huts for accommodation. This stretch is mostly plain with lovely curves and nicely paved roads running alongside the river with huge mountains around. This stretch becomes very colourful in monsoon because of flora and fauna and lot of vegetation, but at this time, the river was dry and there was very limited greenery around. We kept burning rubber until we encountered with this cute Marmot.

















Marmots are quite shy animals, but they are human friendly. We maintained safe distance so that it doesn't feel unsafe, in return of which it also posed for the camera and gave me few beautiful shots. Left the place saying bye to a new little friend.

There used to be a dreadful water stream here known as "The Crazy Stream", but now there is a bridge constructed to cross it. It used to be a fun filled adventure for riders to cross the water stream but now BRO has constructed a bridge for greater good of travellers. Ladakh is also called as Cold Desert, and at few places on this stretch you can find desert sand on the road. It makes riding difficult over it.









4 kilometres before the beautiful lake, we were greeted by its first view with this famous road sign saying "First view of world famous Pangong Lake". It looked beautiful even from that distance. As I was clicking picture of this road sign with lake behind it, a guy who had already reached there with his family, came up to us and asked if we need favour of clicking picture for us. I happily handed over the camera to him and we then posed with road sign and the lake behind us. We were not going to take picture of ourselves at this place, but if it wasn't for this guy who did the favour, we wouldn’t have had this beautiful picture of us as memory. We often hesitate to lend a hand. Thanked the guy for picture and had a little conversation of our respective trips. He also told us that Yami Gautam, Vicky Donor fame, is staying around Pangong Lake for a movie shoot, he got this info from locals. Though she is damn hot and beautiful, I was less interested to see her, because I had this most beautiful thing in front of me, Pangong Tso. No offense, Yami.

Lovely weather, awesome roads surrounded by beautiful mountains to ride as fast as you can - the perfect backdrop for a typical Bollywood movie shot. I felt as if I am the hero of a story, running towards my love, like SRK ran towards Kajol.

Pangong Tso
Tso is a local language word for Lake. Pangong Tso is situated at an altitude of 14,270 ft., it is the highest salt water lake. Pangong Tso sprawls over an area of 134 kms across the borders of two countries in India and Tibet, a region controlled by China. One third of the lake lies in India and remaining part lies in Tibet. It is a disputed territory as the Line of Actual Control passes through the lake. The lake has seen 1962 Sino-Indian War.
















Do you remember: Anushka Sharma's bikini scene from Jab Tak Hai Jaan? Smooching scene from 3 Idiots? Dil Haara song from the Tashan? Banjarey song from Fugly? Satrangi Re from Dil se? All of them are shot here. This beautiful lake has always reserved its place in Bollywood films.


The tranquil and charismatic lake is a symbol of nature's craftsmanship. Crystal clear blue water produces different effects of colour as sunlight falls upon it. It is truly a most beautiful sight to look at. The lake freezes completely in winter and one can even walk on it. I have seen pictures of people riding car over frozen lake. There is no aquatic life since it’s a salt water lake, but one can find variety of ducks and gulls over it. A local man told us that this lake is home to bird named Pangong and that is why this lake is called Pangong Lake.

Lukung is a first place you encounter on the Pangong lake road which runs along the lake. There is a locality called Spangmik at the distance of 12 kms from Lukung, Man at 20 kms, Merak at 30 kms. @Mik from xBhp forum had insisted me to visit Man Merak villages as they hold the real beauty of lake and it is also an adventure to ride along the lake. After troublesome ride in first half of the day, we were in no condition to ride further. Reached Lukung and searched for the accommodation. There are few accommodation options available ranging from 4000 bucks room, 2500 bucks eco hut and 200-500 bucks tent on sharing basis. Checked out all the options in detail and decided to book a tent since it was budget friendly plus it was right in front of the lake. Where could you get a nomadic living experience with beautiful scenery for such a little amount? We got into a large tent on a condition to let other people let in if they arrive. The tent had capacity of accommodating 6 people, and to add to our luck, no one ever arrived to bug us, so we had lot of space to use. Settled all the luggage and riding gear inside tent and came out to have a lifetime experience.

The location where Pia kissed Phunsukh Wangdu, was right in front of our tent. Walked up to the place and clicked few pictures here.












































It was too cold and windy outside so Siddhesh went back to tent and I followed him in some time after having few clicks. Cold outside forced me to get back in tent but I just couldn't resist myself from exploring the lovely lady sleeping naked in front me. Put on the jacket, picked up the camera, started the bike and took it for the most memorable ride of the whole trip. Asked Siddhesh to join but he was damn tired so I myself went alone.

The town of Man and Merak was far so started riding for Spangmik, but had to stop after 4-5 kilometres since weather didn't seem good ahead. The place I stopped was beautiful. The road had good height of more than 10 ft. from the lake shore and descending it was difficult task so I sat there on roadside facing the lake.

Wanna experience heaven? This is the place. I cannot forget this 10 minutes that I passed sitting here. The lake is so graceful, peaceful, charming, alluring, captivating, enthralling and relaxing. I just can’t stop praising the place. I had my love standing beside me, and her Sautan lying in front me. I sat over there for quite some time staring at the lake and had a silent conversation with myself. You have to experience it to understand it! Sun was about to set and daylight was escaping from the sky. Far away in the east, there was this mountain which still had light upon it, which created a beautiful scene. Clicked few pictures here.

















Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.






I passed about half an hour here in serenity. Later I saw large group of black clouds heading towards me from behind the mountain and that worried me bit. The weather was already cold but it became chilling now. I bade adieu to the lake and started riding back towards Lukung.

In excitement I left helmet and gloves behind in the tent while coming out for this ride, had to pay big time for this mistake. While riding back to the tent, I faced snowfall and wind chill, a perfect recipe for hypothermia. I went crazy upon reaching the tent, my face and hands went numb and it took half an hour to get back to normal. There was high possibility of getting caught by frostbite but thank God nothing happened and I returned safe. All in all it was one good short and sexy ride. Worth the shot!

Returned to tent around 8 pm and found Siddhesh enjoying music on his phone. I was damn cold so I preferred to be inside 3 layers of thick blanket. The caretaker handed over the menu card and asked to place an order as he would require half an hour to prepare the food. Ordered sabji, roti, daal rice and asked him to deliver hot coffee as soon as possible. Felt good after having cup of hot coffee.

Soon the food arrived and we had it while being in blankets only. Food was hot when the guy brought it and it went cold till the time it was served. There was lot of wind outside and temperature too had reduced by now and it was going to fall further in the night. Quickly had food, took medicines - as in Diamox as general practice and Benadryl for my throat, and again got inside the blankets. Asked the caretaker to seal the tent from outside so that no wind can trouble in the night. I didn't know sealing tent from outside could as well trouble me later.

Every night before sleeping, I used to think about the whole day, ups and downs we had, and also plan for the next day. Though this place is known for its calmness and quietness, it was blowing up my mind at that time. Wind flow speed outside was at its best and I was feeling like the tent will be flown away by powerful wind, but the tent did hold on well till morning plus no wind seeped in and we were safe inside. After going through awful first half and delightful second half today, I was into deep sleep in no time.

There is no electricity here. The respective tent owners put on their generators for the period of 3-4 hours, from 8 pm till 12 pm. I remember it was around 1:30 am when my sleep broke because I felt sudden urge to answer nature's call. Now it was midnight, there was harsh wind flow outside like there is no tomorrow, and the tent was sealed from outside. The caretaker had zipped off the tent and kept a huge piece of rock so it doesn't move. I tried to just ignore the call but I couldn't, I had to answer it soon. I pushed the rock away from inside and opened the tent and went outside and here I was, in total dark and pitch black environment, I couldn't see anything except twinkling of stars and bit of moonlight behind the mountains. Put on the rock again so Siddhesh doesn't get disturbed and found my way to backyard using tiny flash that I have on my phone. It was horribly cold and so windy that I was unable to walk properly. I managed to tinkle and returned to tent in dusk. I looked up at beautiful stars in total astonishment and felt like to stare at them for whole night, and if I had done that, I would have become one of them, so quickly went inside, zipped off the tent and went to sleep. Taking a leak in the midnight at Pangong Tso, is one big challenging task!


Khalsar - Agham - Shyok - Durbuk - Pangong Lake
Total Distance Covered: 135 kms

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Hi,
I just went through the entire travelogue and I must say that it was one amazing journey you experienced.
Even better pictures. I did honestly feel this laptop was just a window through which I could view everything you
saw. Great trip.
Keep travelling
Planning on Ladakh in the coming few months, this triplogue did help me estimate my journey ahead.
Thank you

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thank you for the kind words Anand.. "Travelogues" were the only way I learnt and prepared for my trip.. Feels good when your experiences comes handy to other riders..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

WOW!! Amazing journey, man. Leh-Ladakh is a dream trip for any serious rider. Could you spare some details about the overall cost of the trip? I want to plan a trip too so i am looking for estimates. Starting from Pune itself.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Starting from Pune? We can catch up anytime. PM me with details.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Awe inspiring journey, breathtaking pictures and mesmerising narrative. Glued to your travelogue from page 1. Congratulations on your journey and thanks for sharing it so beautifully.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thank you [MENTION=81750]Sabrewielder[/MENTION]