Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Awesome write up dude. Before our Pune team leh trip reading this trip log is increasing my adrenaline for the trip. Counting days ........

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

It feels like yesterday and I badly want to join you guys.. But its too soon to have a second leh ride..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Day 9
Sunday - 14th June 2015


Woke up to a beautiful silent morning around 8 in the morning. Came out to have a glimpse of lake and it was as beautiful as it can get. One thing I really feel bad about is there were lot of clouds around when we were there. The lake looks best when the sky is clear and you can see amazing reflection of sky and surrounding mountains in the water. Not seeing reflection of clear sky into the lake, gives me one silly excuse to visit the place again in future.

I asked caretaker where can I take bath, and he looked at me as if I were alien. We had this little funny conversation there.

Me: bhaiya yeh bathroom kaha hai?
Caretaker: ooo tent ke piche..
Me: arey woh to toilet hai, mujhe nahana hai..
Caretaker: (looked at me for few seconds) kyu?
Me: arey kya kyu? nahana hai bhai..
Caretaker: Kya karoge nahake? hath mooh dho lo paani deta hoon..
Me: aap rasta bata do me naha loonga..
Caretaker: nahane ki jagah nahi hai saab, yaha koi nahi nahata..
Me: sachhi? aap kab nahaye the last time?
Caretaker: jab ghar gaye the ek hafte pehle..
Me: waah, chalo paani hi de do..

Quickly got ready and brought luggage near bike to do the daily ritual. There were few other RE bikes having MH number plates. The guys were having breakfast. They belonged to Wardha, Maharashtra. They arrived late yesterday and stayed a night here and they were about to leave. They were heading the same way as of us. I asked them the most concerning question, is Leh-Manali highway open? Everybody around was worrying about the same thing. I did not want to miss riding on this side of circuit. The only way we can get to know whether it is open or not, is to reach Upshi and enquire at check post.

I did not see any sign of Yami Gautam anywhere around, either they are staying deep inside at Spangmik or they have already left. After lading bags on bike we had breakfast - Bread butter jam and coffee. Bought two extra bottle to carry with us and settled the bill. Wardha guys had already left the place. The hardest part of moving forward is not looking back, after having last glimpse of enormous lake, we too moved forward. You just can't have enough of it.

Initially while preparing itinerary we had planned to ride further from Lukung to Spangmik - Man - Merak - Chushul - Mahe - Sumdo - Namshang La and arrive at Tso Moriri which totals up to 210 kms. But I had never heard of road conditions ahead plus there have been few times where riders were sent back from Chushul check post. We were at the farthest point of the trip today and didn't want to take chances so we dropped the plan to ride through unknown route and took the known route.

We had Upshi as target destination for today which is located on Leh-Manali Highway around 132 kms far from Pangong Tso. We left around 10 am, temperature was lower than usual. Road till Durbuk was known now so we started riding towards it. Just after riding for around 8-10 kms we faced this all of a sudden change in weather. Too much of wind and clouds around, I went cold in no time. There was desert sand on road and it was changing its shape and moving over road with wind. I felt like there is going to be thunderstorm ahead, and that’s when I saw snowfall few hundred meters ahead. People say think before you ask for something, you never know you might just get it. I thought about thunderstorm and here I see something similar heading towards me. Wind was so powerful that sand flew with it. Asked Siddhesh to stop aside and wear raincoats. I always hated wearing raincoats. It is such a difficult task to wear raincoat upon riding gear. Wind increased and that made it more difficult. I also wore extra layers of gloves inside as my hands had already went numb. Visibility had decreased because of weather and we started riding ahead slowly. Went ahead for 2-3 kms and we had this WTF moment. You know weather here is so unpredictable sometimes. It was too much windy back there and felt like it will snow like never before and I also had feeling of thunderstorm, and now suddenly all of it had disappeared. Not a single cloud around and sun shone upon us. I looked at Siddhesh and we shared this "Kaay raao asa asta ka" gesture.

Tangste and Durbuk went by in quick succession and now we were ascending the mighty Chang la.

Chang La
Chang la is high altitude mountain pass and a gateway to Changthang plateau in south east Himalayas. Chang la is said to be third highest motorable pass in the world. When it comes to actual elevation, the signs posted on each passes here doesn't actually turn to be true. Tanglang la, located on Leh-Manali highway is claimed to be second highest motorable pass in the world, but when you compare elevation of Chang la and Tanglang la, 17,590 ft. and 17,480 ft. respectively, Chang la stands taller.

Do you know who Buzz Aldrin is? You must know Neil Armstrong right, the first man to step on moon. Buzz Aldrin is the second man to step on moon. Nobody remembers the second, buzz is all about the first. Likewise nobody gives a damn about Chang la. If you ask me, I found Chang la more difficult to ride when compared to Khardung la - the highest motorable pass in the world.

Chang la is guarded by Indian army throughout the year as it is quite close to Chinese border. It is 32 kms of ride to Chang la top from Durbuk, half of which is in bad shape. Today we faced lot of oncoming traffic, as it was first half of the day and people were on their way to visit Pangong Tso.

As we came few kilometres across Durbuk, weather changed dramatically. It was too cold out there. Top of the Chang la was still not visible because of clouds and it seemed like it’s snowing heavily up there. Ride to top is beautiful, you can see serpentine roads till far away. Soon we were struck by snowfall. The snowfall that we experienced when we left Lukung continued only for few minutes, but this one continued for quite some time. I was wearing two sweaters, two pants, plus full riding gear with raincoat upon it including 3 gloves, still I was feeling cold. Snowing didn't stop instead it became worse as I kept ascending. Visor used to get foggy, I had to open it every now and then, and I couldn't keep it open while it was snowing. I also had to clear snow out of visor every few seconds. Snowfall was so heavy that I saw snow built up on my gloves, shoulders and luggage. I did not see Siddhesh around and I couldn't keep riding in that condition so I stopped at the first thing that I saw where I could get shelter. Parked the bike aside and ran inside that tiny 10x10 ft. tent kind of shelter made out of bamboo and thick clothes.











Screenshots from action cam video



You know these mountains have their own way of treating their admirers. First it gave me nice ride till Durbuk, then it gave me tough ascend, then it threw snowfall at me, I was loving all of these but when it became unbearable, it gave me shelter as well.

When I entered inside, I found a couple sitting over there with an old man - owner of that place. I was literally shivering when I ran inside, old man offered me a hot coffee and I was more than delighted. Felt much relief after having hot coffee. That young couple belonged to Karnataka, KA number plate on their Bajaj Avenger suggested. Had a little conversation about our respective rides. Couple was riding towards Leh from Pangong Tso and they were going to ride home till Karnataka on Avenger itself. Great Spirit!
I was waiting for snowfall to stop so I can start again, but old man after looking at Chang la top, advised us to start riding and not to wait for more time as weather will only worsen now. Old man promised me of better weather few kilometres from here. Since Siddhesh was already ahead, I decided to leave in that mild snowfall. There was 2 inch of fresh snow layer all over my bike, cleared all of it and started riding.

When I asked an old man about the charges for coffee, he said its 20 Rs. per serving. I paid him 30 and left. Later I felt bad about myself that I paid very nominal amount for the coffee that I had there. The old man goes through lot of struggle every day. He hardly has any visitor and when dumb people like me gets shelter plus much needed hot coffee out of nowhere, pays such a nominal amount. People here in mountains hardly make money worth living. If it isn't for them, we can never make our journeys possible. He deserved much higher amount. Please pay them for their effort, and not for the coffee.

As I went ahead for a kilometre or so, I saw Siddhesh coming back from opposite direction. He waited at some place and when he didn't see me for quite some time, he came back looking after me. A kind and generous act of him. I told him what all happened and we again started ascending. I am sure he must have gone mad at me and it is kind of frustrating as well. What impressed me was his readiness to ride back looking for me.

Madras Regiment
Few kilometres ahead we faced heavy snowfall and wind flow, and that’s when we saw two army guys standing with an umbrella outside army camp, asking us to take a halt there till snowfall stops. We don't know these guys, neither do they know us, there is no way we are connected to each other, still with big smile on their faces they greeted us like family and asked to take a halt as it was not a good to ride ahead for some time. Can you beat this? Where else do you find such good people? It was Madras Regiment, guarding this side of Chang la. They offered us warm water and hot coffee for relief and also invited us inside a big hall which had Bukhari in the middle of it. Bukhari is an oil fired room heater. It is kind of a narrow cylindrical chimney which quickly gets heated in a minute or two. Warm water, hot coffee and then Bukhari, it was great relief for me. The Wardha riders were taking rest there and all of us including army guys had some fun time sharing our experiences. A hearty salute to these army guys, who help travellers happily without expecting anything in return. As snowfall weakened, we left the camp with a hug and hope to see them again.

Ascend from here gets even more difficult. Ride to top is very steep and one has to ride very carefully. I had no confidence on my rear tyre so I was ascending very slowly. At one sharp and steep turn, I was unable to ride and had stucked in a pothole, that’s when an RE guy went pats me with a pillion. I shouted for help and they stopped. The pillion guy came running up to me, pushed my bike out of the trap and I started riding ahead. I didn't stop to thank them as I would again require their help to cover that steep climbing part, but I did signalled them with a thumbs up and they understood all my gratitude towards them. A small act of showing thumbs up, as if you are thanking someone or wishing good luck, means a lot when you are riding in the mountains, can boost up your energy level to the top.

















Screenshots from action cam video



There was lot of fresh snow on the broken road with high amount of mud and slush. This stretch is in bad shape and there are number of potholes, small and big rocks around. It was mildly snowing all the time. Reached Chang la top finally after patient, slow and careful ride.

Pass is nicely maintained by army guys. I found Chang la to be well maintained compared to other passes. View from top is beautiful. There is a refreshment centre as well, a complimentary tea/coffee is provided here to everybody. Free coffee at an altitude of 17590 ft., Humanity at its best! Clicked few pictures and quickly started descending from the top.

























This side of pass is steeper and it is in horrible shape. I had developed mild back pain by now and that made riding more difficult. There was lot of snow on this side, at one place a BRO guy stopped me and asked not to honk for next 100 meters as this is steep avalanche prone area. Honking can create turbulence and can possibly cause an avalanche. The local taxi drivers are aware of this fact, seeing MH bike he asked me to go slowly and carefully through this stretch. There is a specific way of crossing this stretch. One vehicle at a time. Once a vehicle leaves from one end of this high avalanche prone area, nobody follows it until it reaches the other end. We bikers never had to stop anywhere, neither at narrow passages of Zoji la nor at landslide prone areas of Khardung la, we used to make our way anyhow from on or off side of the vehicle. But here it was different, a little mistake, either your own or someone else's, can lead to death. What scared the hell out of me was that even local drivers were frightened to cross this difficult stretch.

Soon it was my turn, I looked at one of the local driver and he understood my state of mind and he came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder like a good friend and asked me not to worry and ride carefully. I gave him little nod and throttled up. The whole 100 meter stretch was covered in snow, mud, slush, dirt and rocks. On my right I had 8 ft. tall snow wall and on my left I had a tall mountain covered with lot of snow which was about to fall in form of an avalanche. I rode at the lowest possible speed without touching brakes, occasionally taking help of my long legs to push bike out of snow. I didn't fall here as I had learnt the trick by now. Vertical Limit is one of my favourite movie, crossing this snowbound avalanche prone stretch gave me somewhat same feeling. Siddhesh was waiting for me at the other end, upon my arrival, we left the place together.

Out of 32 kms of descending ride from Chang la to Sakti, 10 kms of stretch is in bad shape, other than that it is rideable with few broken patches here and there. Snow disappeared dramatically as descend is quite steep. I was riding at 60+ at few stretches. It was warmer - as in less cold - and less windy on this side. Siddhesh must have taken his bike for a spin since he was nowhere to be seen, I went ahead at a slower pace.

While descending I saw a man on bicycle climbing up the mighty Chang la. He was a foreigner riding bicycle wearing proper cycling helmet, having saddlebags on his carrier. He was here on his cycling expedition, later I saw many of them. It requires real courage to step out and do such a thing. Riding motorcycle, which hardly requires any effort compared to him, I was finding it difficult, I wonder how challenging task it must be to traverse in these treacherous mountains on bicycle.

Descend was about to get over and I was at the edge of mountains and plains were in front of me. I was few kilometres far from the village of Sakti. I stopped at this curve to take a water and leak break. After a long time I spotted greens around, clicked few pictures here and left the place.



















Road condition improved as soon I started riding on plain roads. It was freshly laid tarmac till Karu, 10 kilometres of amazing road. There is this beautiful monastery in the outskirts of Sakti village, known as Takthok Monastery. Surrounded by mountains, it is truly a beautiful sight to look at. Clicked few pictures from the roadside.















Reached Karu in next few minutes and found Siddhesh waving at me. It was around 2:30 in the afternoon, had lunch at nearby restaurant. Siddhesh had momos and I had paranthas with Minute maid Orange Pulpy. An old man, dressed as Tibetan monk, was sitting in front of us with his family in restaurant. Asked him about available accommodation options after crossing Upshi and he suggested Rumtse (45 kms) on Leh-Manali Highway and Chumathang (105 kms) which falls en route Tso Moriri.

Till this very moment, we had no Idea about Leh - Manali highway status. Whether it is open or not. Since the first day, each night before going to sleep I used to ask Siddhesh one question, what if Manali highway is not open? And in answer he used to say I don't want to go back via same route. The trip would be so boring if we have to return via same route. To avoid visiting same place twice, we took Shyok route instead of Wari la - Sakti - Chang la route. No way was I going to return via Srinagar. So we were standing on Leh - Manali highway itself, having no idea whether the route is open and traversable. There were around 20 riders over there having same thoughts as of us. All of them having no clue about it. Not a single vehicle came from Manali side in last one hour. Even local shop owners did not see any tourist vehicle coming from Manali side in recent days.

So all of us standing at the junction of Karu, looking for a sign of vehicle coming from Manali highway and then comes an army jeep from Manali side and all of us jumped upon it. WHERE ARE YOU COMING FROM? All of us asked the officers at once. Usually the same question is asked to us at check posts and other places, but here we were asking it to army guys. "We are coming from Manali" came the answer and all of us were more than happy to hear that, we were cheering and congratulating each others and some of us even got ready to ride, but then one of the officer bombarded us with more detailed answer.

I still remember his exact words. He said "Yes we are coming from Manali, and trust me guys it is not at all in the condition to travel. I wouldn't advice anybody to take Leh-Manali highway. I've been on great and far dangerous adventures in my days, and travelling through Leh-Manali highway at this time is not an adventure you should think of. My son, life is too precious, don't risk it by taking unnecessary chances. Return via Srinagar and see your family safely." The army guys left after dropping a nuclear bomb and we were hurt like never before.

After hearing all this, few of us took the Srinagar highway and rest of us, around 10-12 guys were having some real discussion over there. 3-4 of us had come to Leh on motorcycle for 3rd time, they overruled whatever the army guy advised and decided to ride ahead towards Manali the same moment. Now it was us and Wardha guys left at Karu, all of us decided to take a call on it after enquiring in detail at Upshi check post. They left for Upshi, I had to tank up the bike so I went 5 kms back towards Leh where there is an Indian oil petrol pump. Siddhesh had already fuelled up when he arrived here earlier.

It is true that Manali highway is not as easy as Srinagar highway, and it is also one of the most dangerous roads in India. And now since we had heard so much about Manali highway, I exploded another bomb in front of Siddhesh. I put this thought about not taking detour to Tso Moriri and continue our journey towards Manali. There is reason behind this. There would be lot of fresh snow, bad patches, unexpected weather on this 480 kms long Leh-Manali stretch, and if we have an extra buffer day with us, we won't have any problem catching train on time. Siddhesh too had same thought on his mind so we concluded on excluding Tso Moriri from our itinerary. Tso Moriri is a beautiful lake which I will surely visit this lake next time.

We went through lot of brainstorming for last 2 hours here at Karu, at around 4.30 in the evening we left for Upshi which is 13 kms far. Road from Leh till Upshi is in wonderful shape, one can fall in love with it. Few kilometres from Karu we were greeted with a beautiful long stretch, we took few memorable pictures here.





















A foreigner guy on an RE came from Upshi side, we asked him to stop but he did not and went by, and after going few hundred meters ahead, he turned back and returned up to us. He said he was out of his mind and did not notice us. Asked him about from where he is coming and about the road conditions ahead. He was coming from Tso Moriri and he said road till Tanglang la is in good condition and later it deteriorates. Thanked him, bade good bye and we too left the place.

We were stopped by an officer at check post upon reaching Upshi. I parked my bike aside, went up to him and asked few questions out of my curiosity. I asked him about the road status, whether it is officially open or not? Any communication with Manali side check post? Anybody came from Manali side? Anybody went towards Manali? Good time to start riding in the morning? He answered all of them. He said they are continuously in contact with Manali check post and Leh-Manali highway is officially open, but only handful of vehicles have come from Manali side, plus nobody has went towards Manali except 3 bikes just half an hour ago, and 6 in the morning is good time to start riding. He said we'll have to enter details in the register at check post at the time of leaving. I thanked him for all the information and told him that I'll disturb him again in the morning and left the post.

Check post officer's positive reply gave us the much needed push. I was glad to hear him because I did not want to miss on this beautiful stretch. Now when it’s clear that Leh – Manali highway is officially open, we got ourselves ready to experience a thrilling and most exciting second half of our roadtrip.

Asked the local guy about guest house and he told us that there is only one place where we can stay and it is right in front of check post. The lone guest house at Upshi is available on sharing basis. There around 15 beds in a big hall. 100 bucks a night, the cheapest accommodation that we had throughout the trip. It was decent even though it was cheap. Around 6 in the evening we had settled in guest house. 9 beds were already allocated, 6 to Wardha guys and other 3 to guys from Kolkata. All of them here for a motorcycle trip.

Our bikes had gone through some real bad ride on muddy roads of Khardung la and Chang la, and chains on it required some cleaning and lubrication done, so we came out and gave chains a glittering look. After little servicing work on our bikes, Siddhesh opted for some rest and I took my camera and came out in backyard of the guest house to have some clicks. This budget friendly guest house with Indus river flowing behind it, has got one of the finest backyard in the world.























After spending some good time in the backyard, I returned to my bed and kept all the devices - both camera batteries, both mobile phones, and power bank - on charging, who knows when I will get to charge them next? Caretaker at guest house took order for dinner well in advance, ordered paranthas with fried rice. It took him an hour to prepare food for all of us. This one hour passed in no time because I had these wonderful time-pass guys around. There was lot of Bakar going on, of all the types, from Bollywood to Hollywood, from Bicycle to Motorcycle, from Guys to Girls, from Horn to Porn, and what not. Soon the food arrived and we had it on our bed itself. I had not had a word with my family after leaving Khalsar, so called up home and informed about our return leg of journey. Had medicines as usual and went to sleep.

That night I did not worry about Leh - Manali highway status, I had bigger things to worry about. The army guy at Karu sure scared the hell out of me.


Pangong Lake - Durbuk - Chang la - Karu - Upshi
Total Distance Covered: 132 kms

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Hi Rakesh, Khup Chaan, loved the T-log every words of it.

Some helpful information about the road condition this will help me for my this year ride in May 26, 2016

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Thanks Yogesh. Good luck for your pilgrimage. Have fun. Ride safe.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Hey when are you going to update Tlog??? egger to know more abt your return journey.......

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Working on it buddy.. Will be up in a day or two..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Hello Rakesh. Phew!!What a trip...I'm talking about your chronicle and not your actual trip[emoji1] ..
I just started reading on a whim at 11 last night...Simply could'nt stop..Fantastic write up bhau...God bless..
Wish I can convince the home minister to let me go for this trip without it turning into a nasty fight[emoji14] .
You have done it bhau.You have gone ahead and found out what you were made of...
May your tribe flourish.

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH


Don't think twice before getting into that nasty fight buddy.. Nothing ever comes in between a rider and his dream destination..
Thank you for investing time in reading..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Hey rakesh.
Me and my friend Aniruddha Shinde is riding to ladakh this June .
I have one quick question. On return journey We are planning to board a train from Chandigarh for Mumbai.
There are two trains.
1. Paschim express which has last stop bandra.
2. Goa express- last stop being goa.
We are thinking of taking goa express because it stops at panvel which is near to both of us from our house but someone told me that it's not possible to get the bike down at panvel. Is it true ?

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Getting ur bike down at some intermediate station is bit difficult, it might be possible but I am not sure and haven't heard of the same so I wouldn't advice in favor of Goa express. I live in Pune, I too had the Goa express wala option but I opted to ride 150 kms to Mumbai to board the train. No point in taking unnecessary chances, take Paschim express and be at peace.

Aniruddh is in touch with me and I am glad u guys are doing the pilgrimage.

Have fun, don't litter around in Himalayas or anywhere else and Ride safe!

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Bro you should have reserved some posts on top so the reading ll be seamless.

Wish admins merge all posts or make them consecutive removing posts like mine in between

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Hehe.. I wouldn't mind if admins do so.. I will post a link of the full uninterrupted log once I am done with it.. Thank you..

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Day 10
Monday - 15th June 2015


I would call it The Most Adventurous Day of the roadtrip. The day of high altitude mountain passes.

Woke up early around 5.30 in the morning and realized that most of the other people had already woke up and got ready. Woke up Siddhesh too, quickly got ready and came out with all the luggage to perform our daily ritual. Today was the first day of return leg of our roadtrip. I had brought prayer flags from Leh market, and now when we were done with Ladakh part, when it was a moment of "Yes I got Leh'd", I thought it’s right time to tie the prayer flags on my bike as a memory. Bike had sudden glitter after tying flags on it. I too felt proud seeing flags on my bike, both of us - me and my bike - had this feeling of an achievement at this very moment.

Came out walking on the main road, had breakfast at a little shop over there, bought extra water bottles and entered our details at the check post as we were about to leave from Upshi. Returned to guest house, settled the bill. Wardha guys were all ready and were warming up the bikes. They were going to ride all the way to home, so we would cross each other multiple times till Manali. They would take some time to buckle up so we decided to leave, the caretaker came till main road to bid us good bye.

We hadn't decided on target destination for today. We kept it flexible depending upon the circumstances that we face on the way. We had Sarchu on our mind, but if something goes wrong then we might have to halt at Pang, or we might just go past Sarchu.

Around 7 am we left the guest house and we were riding towards first pass of the day Tanglang la, which is at the distance of 62 kms from Upshi. Few kilometres from Upshi, the terrain changed into sharp edge rocky mountains with mesmerizing colours on it. Mountains here looked like a vertical pile of raw marble and granite. I was wondering what natural conditions made the terrain so dangerous. 150 ft. tall cutting edge mountains, full-fledged river flowing through it as if its cutting it into two and a tiny road running alongside the river, it was truly an amazing ride.

Temperature around was lowering as we were nearing Tanglang la, I had started feeling very cold by now. We stopped near by a small locality to put on extra clothes and I also attached thermal liner to my jacket. Siddhesh too did the same thing and we started riding towards the pass. Temperature was low since morning itself but we felt the sudden chill so late because now we had entered into vast open mountains, there was lot of wind as well. I could see Tanglang la top from far away, totally covered in snow and surrounded by huge clouds. I was already cold, and I was seeing this snow covered pass from kilometres away, I knew I was going to go through some torturing ahead. We had come across Rumtse village, around 35 kms from Upshi and now we were ascending first pass of the day.

Tanglang La
Tanglang la is a high altitude mountains pass. With an altitude of 17,480 ft., it is incorrectly claimed as second highest motorable pass in the world. It is actually third highest motorable pass in the world. When you are in Ladakh, the signs and its claims hardly matters as all the passes have their own way of treating its visitors. One might let you ascend easily but it will kick your arse while descending. One might just won't let you climb on it and one might just let you go past it without any trouble. Let’s see what Tanglang la has to offer us.

It is proper tarmac road till the top of pass. Marked road with no potholes at all. Wish we had such flawless roads in Pune. There are number of sharp and steep curves here but I didn't find them difficult because of good paved roads. The only problem I had while climbing was wind-chill. It was snowing around throughout the climb and wind-chill made it more difficult to ride here. All the extra layers of clothes and gloves didn't help at all. I still had raincoat with me so we stopped and I wore raincoat. Getting off the bike, removing boots and wear a raincoat above riding jacket is hell of a task. It always took more than 10 minutes to wear a raincoat. It sure helped from cold weather but I couldn't do anything about my hands. I touched the bike engine to get some warmth. Siddhesh too did the same and we sat there touching engine for few minutes. A local truck carrying BRO workers was passing from there and I thought of putting our bikes on it and skip riding, but before I could do anything it went by. Tanglang la wanted us to ride ourselves to the top. We again got ready and started riding.













From here onwards we stopped every 5-10 minutes to get some heat from engine. I literally used to touch the hot engine with bare hands and still I couldn't feel it. I never felt so cold in my life. 5 minutes of riding and 10 minutes of heating break, that’s how we went ahead. As the distance to the top decreased, our speed too decreased, but snowing didn't go the same way, it increased heavily. It was so cold that even water flowing on the roadside had turned into ice. I also shot a video of last few kilometres of ascending ride to the top. It run chills through my body even today when I see that video wherein I was riding through the snow covered mountain pass while it was actually snowing.

























We reached the top around 9:30 am after one and half hours of riding. Even though visibility was very low, the snow white sky gave us a beautiful view. Clicked few pictures around. Asked one of the foreigner visitor to click a picture for us with the Tanglang la top sign.

























It was quite cold up there so soon we started descending. Except for 2-3 kilometres, the whole 15 kms descending ride till Debring is horrible. It was exactly opposite to the other side. Actually the whole descending stretch was prepared for paving. Maybe next year riders will find it paved, but this year we had to bear with it. There were no potholes, no big rocks or anything, but it was just loose stones and gravel on plain surface. Neither you can ride fast nor can you ride slowly. I kept descending at safe speed. It was like this till Debring and 10 kilometres beyond it.

Few kilometres before Debring, the road was totally broken and it was diverted in the desert sand around it. The landscape was plain and vast now. We took the diversion and kept riding along the road in sand. It was fun riding here, even when we saw a diversion back to road, we didn't take it. We went ahead riding off the road. We had vast plain landscape in front of us and no restrictions at all. We rode upon these landscapes at high speeds. Only thing missing here was loud, real loud heavy metal music. Soon the Debring arrived and we returned back to boring loose gravel road.











Debring is a small place where there are few tents on road side. All of them have their own little restaurant and accommodation facility. We saw few bikes here including Ninja 300, CBR 150 and REs. We skipped the place and kept riding on our way. Another 8-10 kms of bumpy ride and then we were greeted with tarmac. I was smiling when I saw plain tarmac road, we had reached Moore Plains.

Moore Plains
40 kms long plain tarmac stretch with vast mountain ranges on both the sides at an altitude of 15750 ft. What more can a rider ask from God? It’s pure blessing. Moore Plains is an attractions for bikers visiting Ladakh. As we stepped up on tarmac, Siddhesh and me, both of us looked at each other in relief and I signalled him to throttle up. For next 10 kms we raced with each other. There was lot of wind in opposite direction so couldn't touch the three digit number but it was fun. There was no population around. No houses, no trees, no human at all. It felt like we were racing on a track and mountains are spectators. Though it was fun to ride at high speeds here, we couldn't carry on for much time. It was still cold and wind made it worse, we had to stop very often to catch hold of hot engine. After riding for 10 kms on a normal day in Pune, my bike's exhaust gets heated, but here after riding at high speeds, I wasn't feeling exhaust at all. It would take some time to feel the heat of engine.







One of my favourite picture of Siddhesh.












We stopped at this beautiful place for a water and leak break. It was so silent and peaceful here. It was indeed a mesmerizing place, but one would go mad if left alone in a place like this. There is no living thing around. The silence was killing. I was clicking pictures around and I felt sunrays on my face. It felt like heaven when warm sunrays fell upon my face in such cold temperatures. It did feel good for a moment but I had to pay big time for this mistake. Sunrays are very harsh at such a high altitude. I hadn't applied sunscreen lotion today and because of which later I had developed sunburn on my nose which lasted for a week. I had taken good care till today by applying sunscreen lotion before approaching high altitude places and by wearing tinted visor all the time. Few seconds of coming under direct sunlight and I got sunburn. Damn. We came across Moore Plains after some peaceful riding and few heating breaks.

Pang
Pang is a hamlet, a small locality comprising of few tents and an army camp. The terrain changes suddenly as you approach for Pang. After 40 kms of long plain stretch, there is 4 kms of downhill road which leads to Pang. The plain landscape changes into valley. There is a river here and it has some beautiful sand and rock formations on its river bed. This 4 kms of descending stretch is narrow and scenic.

Since we took this roadtrip very early in the season, we didn't encounter much of the rush and traffic anywhere. Here at Pang also we saw only few of the tents. I have seen photographs of this place and there used to be many tents. They are yet to settle I believe. We were riding since 7 in the morning and it was around 11:30 am that we reached Pang, so we decided to take a halt here for some time.

There was only one place worth taking halt. It was a small dhaba kind of restaurant, run by a family of 3 ladies and a small kid. An old lady, 2 young daughters and a small kid who kept running around. No man at all. Old lady took orders from customers and other two prepared food in the kitchen. Quite hardworking people in such a harsh weather conditions in the middle of nowhere. Both of us ordered maggie with lot of soup in it, just to have extra liquid intake. Hot and yummy maggie plus cold and windy weather, it was a great combo. Repeated the same order as I was very hungry.

As I was gulping my maggie noodles sitting outside in the open, I saw few bikes coming and they were Wardha guys. As I said, we would cross each other every now and then till Manali. They ordered their food and were bi***ing about Tanglang la descend stretch. I finished my maggie and went inside the tent to have lemon tea and there I met few other travellers. There were few guys and girls sitting inside the tent. They all belonged to the same group, one of them was riding an RE, other was riding an FZ and rest were travelling in a car. To my surprise the guy riding an RE was Gujju. All of them belonged to Mumbai. We had some good talk and RE guy told me that his wife is from Rajkot, my hometown. Like us, even these people did not have any specific target for the day, so I invited them to ride together till Sarchu, the more the merrier you know. Bade adieu to Wardha guys and started riding towards another bad stretch.

Kamartod Raasta
It is 45 kms long broken stretch which continues till Gata loops. I named it Kamartod Raasta. This long kamartod raasta was no less than Agham - Shyok route. Siddhesh took the lead, I followed him, and then followed the Mumbai group. In no time Siddhesh zoomed off the sight, me being victim of poor traction, was riding at slower pace and don't ask about Mumbai group, I did not see them throughout the stretch. I thought all of us would have fun riding together and here it was only me riding alone. I tried to catch Siddhesh but he was nowhere to be seen, then I waited for Mumbai group but they didn't arrive for much time so I went ahead alone.

Bad rides through Jammu highway, Zoji la, Drass, Khardung la, Shyok and Chang la had helped myself consolidate to confront any kind of terrains. When I say kamartod, it is literally kamartod. First of all there is no road, you might luckily find plain patches for few meters, except that it is all broken for almost all of the 45 kms. Unlike dry Shyok route, it was all wet and muddy so had to ride with care. There were huge potholes, large rocks and lot of mud and slush throughout the stretch.

Lachung La
Lachung la or Lachulung la, or Lungalacha la, there are various names for this mountains pass. I would call it Lachung la as I read it on the sign at top. Lachung la is a high altitude mountain pass with an altitude of 16,600 ft. and it is 22 kms far from Pang. Lachung la is not that difficult compared to other passes, but broken road makes it difficult to traverse through it.

Stupidity
While ascending Lachung la, there was one short cut which hardly cuts 500 metres of uphill riding. I don't know what went into my mind and I took that shortcut which was full of mud and it was quite steep as well. The shortcut would help you skip the curve at the end of the road and take you up from midway. I learnt one thing from few of my trekking adventures that shortcuts are always risky plus it requires double the energy and it exhausts yourself. I very well knew this fact but still I went for it. I still had some grip on normal track but here I had none. It was already very steep and mud made riding on it worse. I couldn't turn back after coming half way across, I would surely fall if I attempt to return, so I carried on. I somehow reached near the cliff and that’s when my bike turned off. Even my bike refused to ride ahead. It just returned after riding on Highest Motorable Road in the World, it even came across Shyok route without any problem, and now here it becomes irresponsive. I was in unbelievable condition there. This distance cutting stretch was almost 45 degree steep, I had reached the top end of it and now I stand with my bike under my arse unable to get off it. Let me tell you something more funny, I was losing grip over there. Yes, applying both the breaks and balancing with legs didn't help. I only had to cover 2-3 metres of distance to get back on plain surface but that seemed impossible at that moment. I was continuously slipping behind inch by inch. I tried starting bike but it didn't respond. I looked back for a second and it scared the hell out of me as it was 200 ft. steep fall. I found a stone to get a grip, bike did get started after several tries and with huge amount of efforts I managed to come across that difficult part.

It was matter of just few metres and few minutes. To save some riding and bit of time, I took the shortcut which turned into a nightmare for me. It was in-total a foolish act of mine. There was no need to take unnecessary risk. There is a thin line between adventure and death. Lesson well learnt!

The Lachung la road sign appeared suddenly, Siddhesh had already reached the top and was shooting a video from his action cam and he did captured me arriving on the top in video, thanks to him that I got a picture of mine at Lachung la.

















After the trauma session I went through a while back, I wanted to cover this broken patch as soon as possible so I did not care to take pictures atop and took Siddhesh's leave and started descending. Road here onwards is little less hammering.

Though I am cursing this stretch so much, it is also true that it is one of the most beautiful stretch of the journey. Tall mountains on your right, deep valley on your left, snow-capped mountains till your eyesight reaches and landslide zones every now and then makes traversing through this stretch one of the most thrilling as well as beautiful experience.

I was having a feeling of Deja vu while I was riding here in mountains. I don't know why but many a times I felt like I have seen it all before and have been through the same exact curve and same pothole and have seen the same beautiful mountains before. Maybe because I was riding in the same kind of terrain for more than a week now.

A Lie That Brings Smile!
As I was in the foothills of Lachung la, I saw two riders coming from opposite side. I stopped them and asked about the road condition ahead and reply came negative. That broke my heart literally, though my body had already broken, but not the spirit. And then they asked me the same question. These guys were already frustrated, negative reply from my side would mean the same heart breaking condition for them too, so I tweaked my reply a bit. I told them the famous line that I heard from every local here, "bas thoda door hai, abhi pahonch jaoge". They had more distance to cover than what they had already covered out of this broken stretch. I lied to them and that’s how you keep the spirit alive, looking at their faces after riding on this stretch on thumping REs, I thought it’s better to tell a lie and help them smile.

Nakee La
Nakee la is a high altitude mountain pass with an altitude of 15,650 ft. and it is at the distance of 20 kms from Lachung la. Third mountain pass for the day came and went by in quick succession. Trust me I did not even notice the top of the pass and just rode ahead. I came to know about it when I saw a yellow colour road sign in my RVM. I stopped the bike, looked back and realised that I just came across Nakee la, but I did not care to ride back to take a pic, instead I just went ahead. Bad ride did take a toll on me, and today I regret for not having any picture at Nakee la.

I had developed a strong Cherophobia. It is a kind of fear that averts you from happiness. I was not hoping for good rideable roads now, as whenever I have got a good road to ride upon, it was snatched away and was presented by arse kicking broken stretch. WHY? I always looked up at the sky and asked this question whenever I saw broken patches at the end of butter smooth roads. And again I always looked up at the sky and thanked God a million times whenever I saw plain tarmac after riding on broken patches.

It was 2 in the afternoon when I stopped at a place to avoid saddle sore effect. It was a much needed break. Gata loops are hardly 5 kms from here. Clicked few pictures here until Siddhesh arrived.



















Gata Loops
Gata Loops, a series of 21 hairpin bends that gives you an altitude hike of around 1500 ft. A succession of 21 hairpin bends is one of the attraction on Manali - Leh highway. Ascending 8 kms long Gata loops is one hell of a difficult task for people riding to Leh via Manali. Since we were riding towards Manali from Leh, descending Gata loops was an easy and memorable ride.



































Promises Are Meant To Be Kept!
3 months before the trip, in the month of March, Discovery channel was showing an adventure documentary on Ladakh hosted by Gul Panag, the series is called "Off Road with Gul Panag". During that time I was preparing for the trip, gathering all the required stuffs and info from various sources, and this documentary was of great help. The 3 episode series was aired on Discovery for 3 weeks on Fridays. I had specifically asked my Mum to be free during the episode to watch it. Mum had no idea about the criticality of the places I was going to visit and this documentary thrilled her. In the first episode, Gul travels from Manali to Tso Kar via the same route upon which we just travelled. While ascending Gata loops, Gul takes a shortcut from one of the hairpin bend which saves some driving. Shortcut helps her eliminate few hairpin bends, but while taking this steep shortcut her Scorpio has to put lot of efforts in order to come across. It was indeed one of the most thrilling experience for her, but it scared the hell out of my Mum who was watching all this on TV. She asked me are you going to ride through this terrain? I said Yes in puny voice. It took lot of time to convince her and I promised that I will not take risk of riding through this shortcut and will go through easy usual way. When I reached Gata loops, I saw a Fortuner taking the same shortcut that Gul Panag took. Fortuner too had to put in lot of efforts to come across this steep stretch. Me and Siddhesh were seeing Fortuner taking the shortcut and that’s when Siddhesh said "I am doing it too". I told him it’s quite risky but he was all set for it. I was in no way looking forward to it because I had promised my mum that I will ride safe here, and promises are meant to be kept.







Can you locate the same Fortuner from the first picture in this second picture?




I asked Siddhesh to go ahead as I wanted to see him descending from there. It was quite far from the place I was standing so I too went ahead to find a place to have a closer look. There was no other place from where I could see him taking this shortcut, my bad. Upon meeting at Sarchu, he told me that it is way more difficult than it seems, he managed not to fall more than a few times.

Gata loops itself and 24 kms road towards Sarchu is paved except for few loose gravel patches. A river running alongside and the beautiful rock and sand formations on river bed can be seen throughout the stretch. As we descended, the landscape started to change from barren to green. After a long time I had encountered plain paved road so I throttled up to feel some air.























Sarchu
Sarchu is a small place with lot of tented accommodation. Sarchu is situated on the boundary between Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. For the past few days we were traversing in northern-most state of India and now we were entering in the beautiful state of Himachal Pradesh. Most of the tourists opt to stay a night here while travelling on this highway as it has enough of tents.

Siddhesh had already reached and when I reached he signalled me to stop. It was always the same scene. He used to reach first and I always used to reach late and when I arrive, he used to signal so that I know where he is. We then had a Lemon Ginger Honey Tea, I missed it so much after Leh.

There were few RE riders who just arrived at Sarchu from Manali side after crossing Baralacha la. All of them were cursing the mountain pass. Each of them had a different and horrifying story of their experiences with Baralacha la. I had a word with all of them separately and each one of them penetrated the fear deep inside me. One of them had difficulties riding through mountain pass, the other had AMS problem, one fell more than 5 times, one of the guy told me that he was sliding upon snow from one end to other and he had no control over it. Tail of that group didn't notice that his petrol can fell off the bike when he was riding and one of them was so cold that he broke his petrol key because he didn't feel his hand and applied extra pressure to turn the key. We had to break loose the petrol tank cap with help of local shop owner.

Soon the Wardha guys arrived in distorted groups and then followed the Mumbai group that I met at Pang. All of us sat there and were discussing about the future course of action. Few of the Wardha guys and I were voting for stay at Sarchu, while Mumbai group and Siddhesh were in favour of riding ahead and cross Baralacha la today itself.

Someone earlier had advised me against crossing a mountain pass in second half of the day. Baralacha la is 35 kms far from Sarchu, it was 4:00 pm and it would take one more hour to reach up to it. As the day advances, snow melts faster and the current of water becomes stronger and crossing those water streams becomes difficult and dangerous. I could see dark clouds above Baralacha la from distance. Things didn't seem good at all. Wardha guys decided to stay at Sarchu and that put me into difficult situation. I asked Siddhesh to take a minute and think about the risks involved, but he too had a point. He wanted to take all the hammering today itself, face whatever the nature had to offer and ride leisurely tomorrow. I for once agreed with him but on one condition that we won't ride alone. We would leave Sarchu only if we have a company. Mumbai group too finally decided to ride ahead and cross Baralacha la today itself and that gave me some strength.

Baralacha La
Baralacha la is a high altitude mountain pass with an altitude of 16,040 ft. in Zanskar mountain range. It connects Lahaul in Himachal Pradesh to Ladakh in J&K. Baralacha la is known for its nasty water streams and its unexpectedly changing weather. Baralacha la is 4th mountain pass of the day and 9th of the whole trip.

I won't disagree with the fact that I was scared. Only a guy with poor traction can understand my state of mind. Mumbai group had two bikes, RE and FZ, and an SUV. We all decided to ride in a sequence. Siddhesh will take a lead, I will follow, then RE and FZ, followed by SUV. My point behind riding in a group was to have someone at your hand to help if needed, and looking at the notorious mountain standing still in front of us surrounded by the dark clouds, I was sure that I am going to need the help.

Dhadaaaam Version 1.0
The road condition deteriorated from here onwards, tarmac turned into potholes and later it turned into loose gravel with lot of stones and rocks. From here onwards we started encountering Nallahs, small and big, many of them. Soon the ascend started and the road condition started to worsen. There was water flowing all around, water was in such a high amount that the little stones in it were moving with it. It was second half of the day and snow was melting at the fastest pace. All of us were riding together as decided and it was going good until I heard the Dhadaaaam noise from behind. I checked my RVM and found RE lying on the road with the rider under it. I stopped and ran up to him and picked up the bike so that he can get up, his leg was stucked under the bike. The guy was OK and once he was good to ride, we went ahead. He fell because of Black Ice, the same kind of hard snow that I encountered at Khardung la. Black ice is hard to be noticed.

Ascend had become difficult now and the passage was getting narrower. Black ice was not a good sign for us. Suddenly the atmosphere changed, there were 6 ft. tall snow walls on both the sides of the road, there were a foot high rocks scattered all around, with chilling water continuously flowing down the road. Temperature was freezing out there and it was decreasing every minute. It was difficult to judge the road to ride upon even when the previous rider just rode there a few seconds ago. We had to make our own way out of this snow bound stretch.

Dhadaaaam Version 2.0
It was quite difficult to ride here with numb hands and boots soaked in chilling water. Soon after coming across few huge potholes, I again heard the Dhadaaaam noise. This time I couldn't see in my RVM, because it was me who fell there. I still laugh on myself because I have no idea how the hell did I fall. Black ice was the culprit. I was riding at the slowest possible speed and suddenly I found myself lying on the road with snow and mud all over me unable to get up because the bike with all the luggage was upon me. RE guy riding behind ran up to me, picked up the bike and gave me a hand to get up. Everything around was spinning. It took some time for me to get back to senses. After witnessing the dreadful fall, I was riding very slowly by keeping both my legs close to earth so I can balance if I happen to fall again.

Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations!
There was tremendous amount of snow up there and because of which we didn't notice the top of the pass and kept riding on our way. The Baralacha la top sign was buried under the snow. I kept looking beyond the 6 ft. tall snow walls which were there for all of the Baralacha la stretch, what I could see is only snow all around and nothing else. I did not see any other colour than white, it was total whitewash up there. If you ask me to rate the most beautiful mountain pass out of all, Baralacha la is my answer. It is indeed one of the most magnificent place out of the whole trip. None of us stopped to take pictures at top, but the stunning memories of this breath taking vista will stay with me forever. Wish I had stopped and clicked few picture, I could tell you how beautiful it was. Here are few screenshots from the action cam video.









TOGETHER! That's how you ride in the difficult times.








Northern side of the pass is all broken but southern side is well paved. Descending through Baralacha la was even more beautiful. It was pleasure riding on a well paved road which is surrounded by 6 ft. tall snow walls. There were snow walls around earlier at Khardung la and Chang la but roads were all broken. Here it was bliss.

The guy riding FZ had difficulties while descending and he was tailing the group. I asked him to ride ahead and I tailed the group. FZ was facing altitude problem and it used to turn off every now and then. Thin air at top caused this problem, I had already done the carb settings on my bike at Leh so it was working fine.

Suraj Tal
Suraj Tal is a lake in the foothills of Baralacha la. It is said to be stunningly beautiful lake but it was all frozen at that time and it looked like an ice skating rink. I looked at this frozen thing for a second and I knew its Suraj Tal.

We kept riding until we reached Zingzing bar which is at the distance of 18 kms from the top. It was around 6 in the evening and there was no other living thing around. We had to look for a place to stay for a night. We had three options - Patseo at 10 kms, Darcha at 23 kms and Jispa at 30 kms - from Zingzing bar. We had no idea about any of these places so we decided to ride until we find a good place to dump ourselves.

The guys coming behind in an SUV must have clicked pictures at top, I needed those. I asked the Mumbai riders to meet up after dinner and exchange pictures. It was now plain for few kilometres so each one of us took his bike for a spin. Patseo was a small place, and since it was beginning of the season, there were no tents at Patseo, and same was the scene at Darcha.

Crazy Water Streams
Patseo to Jispa is hilly ride. There is a drop of 1500 ft. in altitude between Patseo and Jispa over 20 kms of ride. It goes through some very narrow patches, few landslide zones, and many water streams. I had heard about crazy water streams en route from various sources but until now I hadn't come across any, maybe they are at its best during monsoon. But there were still few of the water streams on this route and they were quite crazy. I came across 5 or 6 of them and 2 of them were real huge with strong current of water. I had to ride through 2 ft. of water at few places. You cannot just enter and come across. One first needs to study the stream and understand the flow and the current and then decide a place to step in. If you come in direct line of the current, it sure will make you fall off the bike and you will be all wet in already chilling temperature. All of us managed to come across all water streams safely, only after soaking our boots in chilling water.

You remember about the helmet tragedy that happened at Srinagar. The screw that holds the visor mechanism had fallen off and I had used a screw from mechanical shop as a temporary solution. After riding through Kamartod raasta and bumpy Baralacha la, the visor holding mechanism had broken and it had come loose few kilometres before Jispa. The visor was hanging with support from only one side. I couldn't ride like that so I removed the helmet and tied it with the luggage. I had to sort out the issue as I didn't want to do the remaining journey wearing visor less helmet. I would first reach the destination and look after it later.

It was total dark by the time we reached Jispa. Jispa is a small village on Manali-Leh highway with lot of accommodation options. Most of the hotels were full. There were few girls travelling with Mumbai group so they were looking for a safe and sound place so all of us scattered through the village to find a place to stay for a night. Me and Siddhesh checked few places but all of them were full and there was this one place - Padma lodge - which had tented accommodation and the last one was available. We booked it even without checking it, we had no other option. We were astonished upon entering the tent, it was real huge like a 15 x 20 bedroom with attached washroom. From inside it no way looked like a tent.

I had no idea about the other group, whether they stayed here or went ahead for Keylong. I went outside and asked the gatekeeper to keep a watch on a group with 2 motorcycles and an SUV and call me if they ever arrive. They didn't. Never saw them again. I wanted to take pictures, and more than that I wanted to have a word with them. We make friends on the way and we part ways unexpectedly without showing our gratitude. It was fun riding with them.

What better way is to relax after riding all day through chilling temperature? A good hot water bath. Had a refreshing bath and felt wonderful. Later around 9 pm we came out to have dinner. This place is quite huge and it has its own restaurant. It has around 15 tents, 2 three-storey building with rooms, huge centre garden with barbeque facility, and all this is surrounded by Himalayas. Beautiful place it is. Had food at the crowded restaurant and returned to tent. There was no network here, neither on Voda nor on Airtel so couldn't call home.

Wow, what a lovely day it was! Arctic temperature at Tanglang la, blind ride into desert sand, the Moore plains, the kamartod raasta, shortcut incidence before Lachung la, riding through Gata loops, fall before Baralacha la, beautiful snow bound mountains, frozen Suraj Tal, the crazy water streams and what not. I have never had such an adventurous day in my life.

I thanked God, for not turning the decision of coming across Baralacha la today itself, into fiasco and went to sleep romancing all the beautiful memories I made throughout the day.



Upshi - Pang - Sarchu - Jispa
Total Distance Covered: 290 kms

Re: Chronicles of LADAKH

Nice narration. Carry on!

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