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Re: Leh Ladakh 2018
Day 10
We woke up early. This morning was the most beautiful thing I had witnessed in a long time. One thing I observed was dead silence, breaking it was howling wind. Sun was trying to come out but clouds were struggling hard to keep it in shades. It was brisk, cloudy and windy. Got ready, packed our luggage and left the cottage by 07:30AM. We stopped for breakfast at Durbuk, and for lunch at Karu. We didn’t faces any difficulties as were on downwards slopes. We again reached yesterday’s danger zone. It was very easy to cross it this time as gravity was pulling our bike (Not my engine, I would never trust this engine on this type of inclination). We did some good kms in lesser time. After lunch, we joined Leh Manali highway and from this point, till Pang, roads were good. We pushed the speed and we were at pang by 05:30PM. We decided that we can extend till Sarchu and without further ado, we moved again. From Pang, some serious off-roading welcomed us. With a groan, we complied. When we reached Gata loops, it was dark. Driving in Gata loops in complete darkness, man it was scary, you never know, a small wrong turn can result in death. But we drove, it was getting cold, Dutta was having AMS/Low blood pressure, so we had to reach Sarchu. We stopped for tea break before Gata loops. It was already darkening. We were there by 09:00PM. We looked for tents, and got one. This one had two different rooms with 5 beds each. For both the rooms, there was a toilet where there was no privacy. Looking at Dutta’s conditions, we decided to book it. It was extremely cold outside, wind howling like madness. We shut ourselves inside, barring the gate, had some chitchat and went to sleep as tomorrow was also a tough ride.
Day 11
We woke up late, by 08:00AM. Found the “no privacy bathroom” crammed with other tourists. In the meantime we prepped our rides, loaded the fuel and luggage. Tonight our target was Manali. We somehow did the morning rituals and left from Sarchu by 09:00AM. From Sarchu, we rode hard. We again faced some very bad roads. Had our breakfast in ZingZing bar. From there, roads were good. Our speed increased as we descended. We again encountered green and beautiful mountains. (Now this calls for some explanation. All the mountains are beautiful. In lower altitudes we find mountains laden with greenery and in higher altitude nothing grows so mountains are barren. Greenery is beautiful but it is common as you find it everywhere but barren mountains are of different level. To encounter this, you need to drive longer and harder in high altitudes. So in my view, barren mountains are more beautiful as it comes at higher cost.) We had our lunch at Keylong. The roads were more populated around here, mountains were green and breathing was getting normal. We started descending again and reached Rohtang pass. By this time, very black clouds were hovering around the top and we guessed it was raining. Wind was howling and it was chilly. For getting back to Rohtang pass, we again faced all kind of terrains, mud, water, dust, rain, clouds and heavy traffic. On the top, it was not raining but we had drive through clouds. We put on our rain gears and moved forward. Visibility was zero, small droplets were falling on us. But we kept driving. After Rohtang, when we entered Manali town, the situation was same with addition of extreme traffic jam. When the traffic is not moving, you have to keep your feet on the ground, but it was raining and below us was mud and water. We were dirty and feeling cold. It took us around 2 hours to cross the jam. Went directly to our hotel, changed our clothes and we left to explore town again. It was our last night in hills as we were descending again tomorrow towards delhi. We wanted to save maximum memories of this place. After coming from market, we chatted for some bit, shared our personal experiences and went to sleep. Tomorrow we were planning for Chandigarh and we had to drive again in heavily populated hilly roads of Himachal.
Day 10
We woke up early. This morning was the most beautiful thing I had witnessed in a long time. One thing I observed was dead silence, breaking it was howling wind. Sun was trying to come out but clouds were struggling hard to keep it in shades. It was brisk, cloudy and windy. Got ready, packed our luggage and left the cottage by 07:30AM. We stopped for breakfast at Durbuk, and for lunch at Karu. We didn’t faces any difficulties as were on downwards slopes. We again reached yesterday’s danger zone. It was very easy to cross it this time as gravity was pulling our bike (Not my engine, I would never trust this engine on this type of inclination). We did some good kms in lesser time. After lunch, we joined Leh Manali highway and from this point, till Pang, roads were good. We pushed the speed and we were at pang by 05:30PM. We decided that we can extend till Sarchu and without further ado, we moved again. From Pang, some serious off-roading welcomed us. With a groan, we complied. When we reached Gata loops, it was dark. Driving in Gata loops in complete darkness, man it was scary, you never know, a small wrong turn can result in death. But we drove, it was getting cold, Dutta was having AMS/Low blood pressure, so we had to reach Sarchu. We stopped for tea break before Gata loops. It was already darkening. We were there by 09:00PM. We looked for tents, and got one. This one had two different rooms with 5 beds each. For both the rooms, there was a toilet where there was no privacy. Looking at Dutta’s conditions, we decided to book it. It was extremely cold outside, wind howling like madness. We shut ourselves inside, barring the gate, had some chitchat and went to sleep as tomorrow was also a tough ride.
Day 11
We woke up late, by 08:00AM. Found the “no privacy bathroom” crammed with other tourists. In the meantime we prepped our rides, loaded the fuel and luggage. Tonight our target was Manali. We somehow did the morning rituals and left from Sarchu by 09:00AM. From Sarchu, we rode hard. We again faced some very bad roads. Had our breakfast in ZingZing bar. From there, roads were good. Our speed increased as we descended. We again encountered green and beautiful mountains. (Now this calls for some explanation. All the mountains are beautiful. In lower altitudes we find mountains laden with greenery and in higher altitude nothing grows so mountains are barren. Greenery is beautiful but it is common as you find it everywhere but barren mountains are of different level. To encounter this, you need to drive longer and harder in high altitudes. So in my view, barren mountains are more beautiful as it comes at higher cost.) We had our lunch at Keylong. The roads were more populated around here, mountains were green and breathing was getting normal. We started descending again and reached Rohtang pass. By this time, very black clouds were hovering around the top and we guessed it was raining. Wind was howling and it was chilly. For getting back to Rohtang pass, we again faced all kind of terrains, mud, water, dust, rain, clouds and heavy traffic. On the top, it was not raining but we had drive through clouds. We put on our rain gears and moved forward. Visibility was zero, small droplets were falling on us. But we kept driving. After Rohtang, when we entered Manali town, the situation was same with addition of extreme traffic jam. When the traffic is not moving, you have to keep your feet on the ground, but it was raining and below us was mud and water. We were dirty and feeling cold. It took us around 2 hours to cross the jam. Went directly to our hotel, changed our clothes and we left to explore town again. It was our last night in hills as we were descending again tomorrow towards delhi. We wanted to save maximum memories of this place. After coming from market, we chatted for some bit, shared our personal experiences and went to sleep. Tomorrow we were planning for Chandigarh and we had to drive again in heavily populated hilly roads of Himachal.
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