Day 126 - July 12 - Padam to Rangdum

July12 at EveryTrail

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110 KMs Trip Meter 16621

Get up feeling good. Load up the bike and get rolling by 9 am. Feeling light today. the bike because lot of fuel from both the cans have been dumped into the tank and me too cos now there is no thinking and no choice and just have to do it. So at the end of the road i take the offroad with positive mind. It seems my riding has improved and after an hour realize i am averaging at around 18 kmph! 4 kms is a plus too. Guess one always improves working on something continuously. I peak at the mountains more frequently and take more breaks. Sit and enjoy the beauty around. Make it to the tea stall by 12 and earlier then i took from the tea stall to padam the previous day. Have food here cos there is pretty much nothing till Rangdum. Spend quite some time there too. Get going and with a free mind things around looks more beautiful.

Take more breaks and enjoy the wide open isolation. With music in ears even do a jig. Felt euforic and really enjoying the days ride. Do off with the plains and ascend towards panzila. Then is see a bullet coming down. Its Gail from france and one tough guy cos he said "Its a bit rough but ok"!! With a small chat we bid adieu and i climb up a couple of switch backs and Dirang durung glaciar looks even bettor this time as there are no clouds above. Some clicking and posing. I ride up to another point where we can see the cravecses at the end of the glacier. As i am pulling out the cam i see a cyclist approach and stop for a chat. Its Ciril from Switzerland. Its the same guy i had passed by when i started from kargil. He is just taking two days for my one day's bike ride. We stop for a long chat. He is traveling with lil info and much on hear say. He did Manali Leh and Nubra but missed Pangong Tso cos he simply did not know! Its already 2.30 and the next settlement is 30 kms away for him to get any kinda stay. Boy is is traveling light! Has plans to put the cycle on pony and trek up to dracha and then do spiti as he heard about it only late! Now this is a real tough guy. Dunno what drives these people to do such things! Travelers meet and move on! so do we. Now its the long grueling decent down Panzila. I pass by the Zanskar board and now i can say that i rode Zanskar valley but i still have the long suru valley ahead of me.

Now that i am riding back i should have seen all that there is to be in this route. But i am missing the colors that lured me here. But yogesh says that those colors are available only in September. Hmmm... Any way it was now or dunno when for me. But this is a good ride as well. Getting to see the greenar zanskar and see lot of birds, flowers and huge fluffy yellowish brown squiril kinda animals scamper across the road ever so often,

Rest of the day's ride is mostly negotiating the decent from panzila. Get to the the flats and now have to do couple of water crossing. Though not big but still need to concentrate. Were nothing while going. Well come evening all the water crossings swell. Reach Rangdum by good 3.30. I get waved by a person at the entrance. i know its basically to invite to stay them in their house. But i just waved back and went straight to Dorji's house. I am welcomed for the home stay and the huge room with a panoramic view of mountains around is all mine again. Its quite windy on the colder side so did not stroll out and was dead tired. Had a Maggie and dozed off only to be waken up for dinner. Then i crash for the day thinking about the impending water crossing tomm.


Bike J&K tourist Bungalow in padam....


My room there... It was badly maintained as it was dusty...


The petrol cans secured like this....


The trick is to let the rear foot peg take all the weight... the fastening is just to keep the can in place....


The kharshar monastery which i did not visit....


Leaving padam....





Not long before the end of road...


Have to get out of the way of these dust monsters...


An early break in the ride...


Biscuit break...


Flowers again...


Its not a cow and a calf but a calf and a sheep!


Some narrow path....


Some bad roading!


Cute donkey calf...


At the police checkpost tea stall.... Thats my slice bottle btw


Bike there....





See a lot of these guys... here is the head....


and the rest of the body!


Approaching panzila climb...


Another break... No 1 around... the whole place just for me!


A straight dash before the climb...


The glacier again....


This is Gail from france. Tough guy cos he said 'Road is bit rough but ok'!!


Gail riding away...


More pix of Dhirang Dhurung....


Now posing with bike pointed the other way


Ciril the adventure cyclist from switzerland....


Long time to go if not way!


I stay away from the short cuts....





The mountain with quite a pattern... Rangdum is right on the other side of that mountain!





Trucks taking the short cut....





Finally approaching Rangdum....


Go straight to Dorji's home...


Those are Dorji's kids fiddling with my things....


Zimbo dung bricke!!


Mountains all around Rangdum...











The house look tatched but great inside...


Vertical travel for the day...

Me too... the best way to is to see it

Glad to kindle the spirit gautam, cos the truth is out there



Will try

Your guess is right mike

Thanks for the wishes

Thanks

Guess it will be out everywhere soon.

The red alerts are BS man, just travel

Glad you liked it arijit

West part of it is posted now

its still on so yet to see what changes it has done to me

Thanks man

Some of it are up

Thanks moeed

I have no intention of going there even if allowed

Thanks for the wishes

Thanks pranay

We shall definetly catch up sidhu. I kinda dont want to pursuade others into taking up biking due to the risks involved. Did that once and the guy crashed in the ride and should have seen the look on their parents towards me! People will ride out if they really like it, without being pushed.

Thanks Devilish

wow your quest still continues and its more than 16k km's now....
I wonder how you are able to withstand such intense climatic conditions through out your travel

One Personal question bro: Have you ever felt anyday in this trip that "Shall I return home today?"

Taking sufficiant rest helps i guess. Plus i have had enough to save me from cold till now. lets see how it goes ahead.

I did ask myself that and then also asked 'go home and do what?' din have clear answer so moved on

at last the page loaded.how are you uploading these things on the move?which connection are you using in your E66? now i think have to take a faster net connection

Great going praveen.and waiting for your leh trip log and pics.
20 more days to go

Amazing journey Praveen....

And beyond amazing is the fact that you still maintain such eye for detail and a heart for experience even after months of travel, something that would desensitize most to novelty. Even change can become a habit to lesser minds you know. The dung bricks, the critters clicked patiently, the humble admiration for fellow travellers and your consistent posting on the forum come what may.

Just one question since you're using the ZMA. Any issues with the engine misfiring at altitude. I mean you've been above tree-line ever since you left Sonamarg. I've had and seen others suffer through severe mis-firing of the ZMA engine anywhere above 10,000 ft. How has it been for you?

Keep riding and inspiring....

OF

Nabendu: Leh is a place of white people and where there are white people the net is pretty fast there still have back log of 3 days. hope to do it today not before checking out the leh palace.

old_fox: thats the thing with travel, where new things and experiances tickle your senses. i dunno my zma had been doing fine till now. guess the tuning was done nicely. it did not misfire even at 17k feet. the other day i was ripping to leh at 120 and the bike gasped only upwards of 7.5k rpms till then it was ok. Lets see how long it keeps me going.

Really true Sandeep Sir. It is really amazing how he keeps up all these days.

Hey! Great to know, and surprizing too, that Zma is not misfiring even at 17000 feet. Did you specially tune it for hight altitudes?

Ravi: I dunno may be the tuning i good by coincidence. Will get to know more ahead how it will fare



Day 127 - July 13 - Rangdum to Kargil

July13 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Trail Maps

Must say i had a nice cozy sleep in the home stay. Middle of the night i heard some water dripping into the room! Too lazy to check where as it was not dripping on me! 5 am when i had to go to the loo noticed the water had dripped allover the place except where i was sleeping and my luggage. Lucky! But i guessed it was not rain cos if it were then lot more water should have come it. So i guessed it might have snowed last night. And i was right. It had actually. It was pretty cold in the morning. Every thing around was damp as the light snow fall had melted away. All the bare mountains around Rangdum are now draped in light white color. Time to move on. Now i shudder thinking about the water crossing 5 kms away. But have to try it any way.

Pack up and leave by 7.30 am. Hoping that the water level would be less. It was a lot less and in fact it was clear and i could see the bottom. Though not much height, the water had force and it was very uneven in the bottom, premeditated i took the now right lane and tried to manuver in a narrow path and before i know the front tire dives in a few inches and i am stuck. There is 5-6 inches concrete ahead and the rear wheel is on gravel and is wheel spinning. And no way i am can man handle and pull it out. To add to it when i look at the left lane, boy it would have been just a ride through! sheeet! felt really stupid. Now i wait like 10 mins for any vehicle to arrive but not 1 does. Try to honk at the people in the village nearby and i guess they dont here it. Now i was running out of patience and some how pulled and pushed and moved the front wheel to the left a bit and now if i had to go ahead the front wheel had to climb the 5-6 inches concrete almost parallel with lil angle! Without thinking much, rev and let go the clutch and michelins did it. Propelled out of the mess before i realized! Phew! Took a couple of pix and moved on. In 5 mins i see not 1 but 3 sumos approaching! where's a sumo when u need one! with the killer behind me now i can really enjoy the ride ahead. The path in suru if not bettor atleast does not have loose stones and gravel as much. A sense of euphoria hits me and i take frequent breaks. Increased avg speeds also helps. Its very pleasant all around seems just perfect. Found a nice place for long break where there was a stone by the path like a recliner! Just enjoyed my cake looking around the whole ambiance sharing with none.

See lot of wild horses this time. time flew and now i was hungry. The last time i had made this stretch i had skipped meal to save time. But not i want food, no skipping and all! As i passed over parkachik town saw a nice looking road going through the town below and there was a pretty building in the middle. well since i was hungry assumed it was a hotel! Rode ahead and turned back into the path going to the town and the building turned out to be a school! The residents kinda seemed surprised to see an outsider as well. Its a kashmiri village and guess for privacy sake a bypass path was made above the town. Any was looks will have stay hungry for some time as i had finished my cake. After a few kms i see the deviation to J&K tourist bungalow of Tangole. Thought of trying my luck there and yes fresh food is available there. what a relief. It was a very nice place with mountains all around. Food any time by the care takers. The rooms were pretty neatly maintained just for 200 bux! Very much tempted to stay there but have to call up my dad by evening. This was a communication blackout zone. It was run by a kasmiri family where on the elder kid daughter knew hindi and boy was she enterprising. Any way got my roti and vegetables and i had my fill. Bid byes and rode on. As i pass the path work area i thought i had missed the nunkun glacier. No worries i have had an eyefull once. But after a few kms there it was. Now just another reason for break.

As i get lower trees spring up from no where and in not time i am riding in forest! pass a few villages and as i near Sanko i have do some murky water crossing! Well it was evening and all the streams swell by the evening. It did not even register when i crossed it in the morning before and it was kinda surprise. Any way, after sanko some stone path for few kms and then it was all smooth tarmac with bad patches. Well i will take it. After all seeing black top after hundreds of kms! Make it to Kargil by like 5 and wanted to fill fuel the same day just in case. Its a hard work to get fuel in kargil as one has to ride up to the Kargil leh highway few kms and its all stones and dust due to road work. Manage it and just crash at the room. Cant believe managed Suru and zanskar alone. Good to be back in kinda civilization. Will be getting to Leh the next day. Yest LEH! Think of starting a lil easy.


Mountains draped in white in the morning due to the light snow fall in the night...








I see sparrows here, there is extinct in Bangalore!


Now i ride back....





Look back one last time before i turn away....





There my bike is stuck in the fast flowing water....


Managed to pull the bike out of the mess....


Does not look much in the photo graph but its a nasty one...





This is cheating, where is blue water and yellow red grass?!!


Another creature, the name i am ignorant of....





Was a fantastic place to take a break. Looks like it rained a couple of days its sure is lot greener then i passed before....





A big herd of wild horses....


Me digging in from my biscuits and cake!


What luxury!


The river in the valley....


Some bad patches....


Raging waters below....


There it is the NunKun glacier again....


Some part is blue too....


Once more me with it....


The parkachik village below....


Piknik for local people....





Parkachik Tourist bungalow located nicely....


What looked like a hotel to my hungry self from above was actually a school!


Pretty looking village....


Trying my luck at Tangole Tourist bungalow for food....


Thats the care taker's kids AminaBanu and Zakhara Battur....


Cute Zakhara...


Plenty of parking space here....


Some macro...


Pretty good room for 200 bux ehh....?


This shot was directed by Amina, holding the teapot!


The slush monsters kinda going to sleep so did not trouble me much....


More flowers on the way....


Residents of Tangole village...


The pretty Tangole village...


Now who did this? there are not tire marks so i am the first one after this was done!


Flowers and flowers all the way....


Suddenly i am in a forest!





The teaser tarmac....





A bird! dunno the name...








Last look at the mountain which was showing it self the whole day. Basically u head straight to it and ride around it and then straight to get to Rangdum!


Go to fill up the fuel in the Kargil and see a Polo match happening below...

Day 128 - July 14 - Kargil to Leh

July14 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Trip Sharing with Google Maps

Ditched the alarm and took it pretty slow. The light from window did not look great as well. Had much needed shower and lazy break fast. The restaurant was empty where as it was full last night. I was told that who ever was heading to Leh had early breakfast and left as the roads are pretty bad. Hmmm... Looks like a relaxed a bit too early. It was depressing weather outside and its all cloudy will stay like that for the rest of the day. Takes me like 10.30 to start moving and soon i realized that avg speeds are going to be a problem. The road construction work is going to take a toll. Boy why do the want to scrape of entire stretches of highway before laying tarmac. Just ride on hoping to make it as far as possible. Just calculating the time i will start seeing bikers from opposite direction assuming they left at like 6am. Guess around 2 pm when i have done like 80 kms. Happened something like that as well.

Kinda not a interesting weather to ride and brings out the laziness in me. Of all the times i take a Tea break! And kinda just not my day i get gripped my small irritations like, something going into my eye, shoe lace getting undone, tankbag getting loose, etc etc making me stop frequently and of course the pix. See a couple of bikers wave and they wave me to stop. It was sumit and mishit and first ones to recognize me on the road. It was great meeting them. Havent met many fellow bikers on this trip. They had their share of hardships and looks like Manali Leh highway has started giving trouble to ppl. They said i can make it to Leh easily though i was skeptical looking at my progress. Wish luck and continue. There was one section with just untouched one lane road and could do like 60 and thought will make up but in no time climb to Namik la starts and its the dreaded first layer of road construction! For KMs on. The landscape on either side changed suddenly to just monochromatic brown color! Things around are changing fast. It looks crazy and more and more crazy. I have been kind going into the Himalayan belt from east to west and i still get surprises every new place. People wonder dont i get bored just seeing the same mountains!!

Any way how i wished i had more time and weather was good. well things does not always work our way and have to take what we get. Getting down from Namik La less of the original road is scraped out and soon untouched. One worry gone and now it looks like it will rain! More stop for getting into rain gear. It gets windy. it was kinda freaky! More so on Fatu La top. Just as soon as i start the decent things calm down and no sigh of rain! I see this loops below and a jet black scribble starts some switch backs down. Ok some nice roads for some time. I get down and is a brand new fresh two laned road. The thing with new road is that it can end any time! But enjoy my ride now. Break in a hurry for some pix as well. Naively i assumed it was like this till Leh and started calculating avgs etc. See Lamayuru below and there were some stones put on the road at a fork and a local happily sleeping there. Directs to the small narrow road saying road work going on! Ohh many its already 3.30 and i am just about going to cover half the distance! I take the narrow road and going gets slow. It was sheer dropoff from one side and boy was it mind blowing. The landscape changes sooner then i can digest. The mountains and the rock formations look very strange. I even see a green mountain! None of the pix give the true color of the depth. After a few kms i see two bulleters on a break and i just stopped. It was like 5 hours with no long breaks and some chat and a break as well. It was Jagan and Manjeet and were looking down at something. Well well what do we have here. Lot of loops! Never see photographs of these on the net before. Click my share and while away some time with them. Even they say i can make it by 8 and i still got 110 kms starting at 4.30 pm. The loops as pretty as they looked from above were bad roads and some times nasty.

Then it gives way to the stone layer for the road and its a dust path for few kms till Khaltsi. See a restaurant and now i have to have food. Decide to ride out to leh even if it gets late. A few kms after that place is new two laned road and and back to one and kinda playing with emotions you know Reached Nimmo and Leh 35 kms and its like 7.15, but still lot of light around. Lil did i anticipate what awaited me. The road now two laned looked old so must be all the way to Leh and just out of Nimmo its a ride on another planet! Cant really explain and not the pictures show the true ambiance. Just amazed and awed. How i wished i had more time to spend at place. I am having to stop ever few hundred meters for a pic. There is this constant fight to rip to leh and stop for a gaze and a pic. At one point it was like a plain desert road in rajasthan just out of now where. Reached the point of the Board 'Magnetic Hill' The box that is said on the board is gone under the new road and did not know what to do there. The road looking like going up did not pull me up and the other side road going down could roll down! It happens every where! At like 7.40 pm there was sunrise! Yes cos it came out of cloudes just above the horizon and the glow it gave to the mountains and the place around was just unbelievable. Guess my time did good to see it.

After a some pix session and a few more stops for sunset pix, many did not come well, it was like 25 kms to Leh at 8 pm. With the fading light i start ripping and get a straight road to and what do you know bike does a 120 kmph and gasps only at 7.5k rpm. Couple of pix welcoming to leh and get into the city with light rain drops. Like Yogesh had said went straight to Changspa area and soon found a hotel with parking for the bike and settled in. I got LEH'd!!


What a start to the day's ride!!


The Kargil town below...





A village kinda ghostly...





This kinda road will do...


Riding to the browner side...


Tea beak....


Weather looking bad....


Wildly guessing that these rocks were under the sea and were pushed out to the air when indian tectonic plate pushed into the asian tectonic plate!!


Still lot of greenery....


Not any more....


The horrible climb to NamikLa


Small gravel on solid floor, just what the bikers dont like!


The path i came up....


Looks ordinary in the pic but the place was fantastic...





At NamikLa top...


11376 feet says my fone!!


The cam is just not able to capture the true perspective...


Thats Sumit and Mishith, who waved me to stop. They recognized me!


This is Harry and Aries from Holland and they are riding all the way to padam - Zanskaar!! Check out how light they are travelling and how old they are!!


A village in between...


Road work....





Things getting bettor and bettor...


Climb up to Fatu La....


At the top...


The other side...


Quite some loops and looks like new road below....


Awesome! what can i say....


High altitude twisties!





Lamayuru below..


The Lamayuru Monastery...


The narrow road from there, pink stones?....


The cam not capturing the depth....





Crazy crazy mountains...


Can we call this Fatu loops???


Met Manjeet and Jagan there...


Green mountain!!!


Lot of loops i must say....


Some bad road before good ones...


Leh getting nearer...











The landscape keeps me interested...


Looks like ride in another planet...


Where did the plains come from???


Village houses ....


Strange rock formations ...


The road just outside nimmo and its green again... whats happening?





Back to brown...


Magnetic hill? guess it does not work with the new road laid!


Again did it come from under the sea?


Sunrise at 7.40 Pm glowing the mountains....


Self portrait!


The lighting of the sinking sun was just great....





The halo....


There was no jeep when i set the timer!!


The sun has to set...


120kmph road to Leh!


Last rays of the sun...


Yeppie made it to Leh...





Vertical travel for the day... the first two spikes are NamikLa and Fatu La

Day 130 - July 15 - In Leh

Supposed to my rest day so after like a week did not set the alarm and woke up lazily. Took my own time and went to for a stroll to meet simi at his place. We had met when waiting at Zogila.

The Changspa road.. not really crowded and kinda nice...





A Tibetan market...


Pretty much the setup where Europeans and Americans visit more...


Must be some ancient touring bullets! also check out the saddle bags!


Flower macros at Simi's place...





The Shanti stupa of Leh...


See the long climb... should i go or not? ok i go...


Nice view getting up and this was supposed to be my rest day!


The Leh palace...


Me with the Stupa...


Nice view of the mountains around...


Climb down...


Leh main town area with the palace...





I sea white mountains today....


A restaurant on top...


Spent rest of the day blogging. Phew i am very busy these days!

at last you also got Leh'd in succesion to a number of xbhp ians..kudos to you man....
it would be nice to see this log again after some years...the longest log with maximum possible number of pictures and pure spirit of touring...

the sunset pic took my breath away !!!

congrts man !... happy to know u had made it to leh safely and happily..!
howz your butt? :P ....
i wish u travel to nubra/tso moriri/tso kar/chushul too

and changthang too..if time permits..n i guess u have enuf..lucky biker ! n dedicated too..

all the best mate..

Praveen mate, For people who want to tour to Leh, Ladakh it is like a saga and it looks like you will end this like a simple episode . Hmmmmmmm...... How is the reaction of the local people on and near Srinagar,I have heard that those are a bit hostile regions for us.....I mean is it OK to Go on Srinagar Leh Road without much fear?