Day-XII (25th July ‘09)

Another beautiful day and nothing to say more about the ride, let the pictures speak.





































Met Aswin, Vinal and Rahul few kilometers before Baralachala, Om noticed their bikes with xBhp stickers in front of a dhaba and no one was around. On enquiring we got to know that they are resting inside. There I found 3 guys laying and on asking about one guy (Rahul) showed his fingure towards another guy and he turned out to be our very own Aswin (Rockyy). I knew him from his posts in xBhp and Flickr. The feeling was really great and we both were equally excited as we were meeting an old friend after a long gap. We discussed for some time and I almost forgot that we need to reach Kaylong same day until Aswin remembered me the same and told that they took quite long as they also started from Kaylong.
A quick capture and we bid them goodbye.

With Rocky and Group… (L-R -- me, rahul, aswin, vinal & om)


Then we only stopped at Baralachala and Suraj Tal to capture the magnificent nature and then we hurried for Kaylong with very less photobraeks. My 1000D also started showing Error 99, so it was another task to remove the battery every time to capture a photograph.

Baralachala…




Sural Tal…










Deepak Tal…








Reached Kaylong at around 7.00 PM. The HPTDC rest house was full so opted for a hotel for 350 bucks. It was a Saturday. Do remember that the whole market remains closed on Sunday so it may difficult to find any necessary stuff and even telephone booths. My Idea was showing Limited service there. Only BSNL and Airtel works here.


Route – Pang-Keylong
Total distance covered - ___ Kilometers
Road condition – Mix (road widening in progress, BRO is making a double lane road for the ease movement of traffic mainly army)
Event of the day – Meeting Aswin, Vinal and Rahul
Important places -
Tourist interest points – Enjoy the nature around you, you will lost in it.
Precautions – Be careful at the water crossings. I got stock at Kanglajal as I wanted to act smart and tried to ride on loose graven instead of water. I’ll advice to stop at every crossing and to remove your shoes to keep them dry if you feel that you can’t cross without putting your leg down or you don’t have a waterproof high ankle shoe.

wow very nice only brave can think of going leh... awesome pics bro...

Oh sad... do u remember sept '07!!! which claimed 50+ lives because of unexpected snow fall. so i can see no hopes for me as i was thinking for Oct...

and Thanks bro, finally I posted the last set of photographs...

thanks man, glad you liked them.

Keylong is the district headquarters of Lahul & Spiti, quite a big area and every facility is available except petrol. For petrol you need to go to Tandi, 7-8 kilometers towards Manali. I personally loved the Keylong-Manali route. This route shows so many varieties of roads that I really enjoyed it.
Riding Rohtang La was another experience and the worst roads with slush added some more fun to it. It was quite foggy and visibility was dropped sharply. From Rohtang onwards we got sprinkles of showers continuously. From Rohatang the hoch-poch of tourist started.
The road was excellent after Marhi but still there were some bad stretches near Gulaba. Nothing special to say about Manali, only had to spend a night there and had to buy tarpaulin sheets to cover the luggage because I got one of bad quality from Srinagar. We both were in no mood to go to market in that evening and it also started pouring. So complete rest time. Though, we got it next morning.




























RouteTotal distance covered - 117 Kilometers
Road condition - Bad
Event of the day - Rohtang
Important places Tourist interest pointsPrecautions

The beautiful stuff continues...Thanks Archi.

thanks bro, but the photofeature ends here

RouteTotal distance covered - ___ Kilometers
Road conditionEvent of the day -
Important places -
Tourist interest pointsPrecautions

Nothing much to tell about this day too, woke up late and started from Chandigarh at around 2.00 PM. And then it was a non stop ride to Delhi except a lunch break at Karnal. Rain god was king enough throughout the trip until we entered Delhi border. But it started pouring heavily after crossing the border. We got ourselves covered with rain wear after lunch so there was nothing to worry.
And finally reached home at 6.45 PM and the trip came to end. First I thanked God for making the trip hassle free and without any incident after parking the bike. And then thanked Uni for being with us once again. Om was happy like anything and was yet to believe that we did Ladakh in the way we dreamed some two years before.

In the lift we stared at each other,


RouteTotal distance coveredRoad conditionEvent of the dayImportant placesTourist interest pointsPrecautionsAND HERE THE TRIP LOG COMES TO AND, WILL POST THE STATISTICS ASAP.

I was the pillion of this ride and no words can describe the experience. And it was my first ride after my crash and till now 'm unable to ride, it may take one more year for me to get back on the saddle. so for the time being 'm shifted to UK for my masters

The log is already well described by siku/archi. so just sharing some captures from the poor SX 100. At times it was not possible to stop or to get the SLR out, so you may find some unseen places when compared to the main log...

Delhi-Srinagar

Trip 2 Ladakh

Hey arch,amazing tour u have done n the photographs are awesome.I have read the whole thread.
Iam also planning for a bike ride to ladakh in the next month diwali holidays.Please guide me as to how should i go about the tour as i want to complete the tour in 4-5 days.
Also tell me what are the total expenses that have occured during your whole trip and what all you needed for such a long bike ride.

Thanks!

@Archi: Superb shots man! I just spent a good part of the last hour reading your log from start to end. Now I can really imagine what you've seen and done. Truly amazing, and good to see that you had an amazing relaxed ride wherein you had enough time to stop at the monasteries and gompa's.

The landscape looks quite different now, in just a few weeks how things can change in this place is trully amazing.

I'd actually say you are lucky to face rain and snow through you journey!

Looks like you guys din't have too many truck to pass on Zozila, else the flowing dust is a pain in the you know where. And you were lucky to get walls on both side in Baralacha La, we just a itsy bitsy 2 feet one sided wall!

Great job with the details in the log and needless to say stunning captures!

@Om: Damn good pics from you too, and kudos to you for being a patient pillion through this tough ride!

@archi-Finally I also got time to go through all the 15 day logs and pictures.Beautifully done and presented and the best thing is that you covered many places which are generally left out by most.

@praful-Aapke thread ka darshan kab milega sirjee?

Jab aapke thread(s) ke darshan honge tab....

amazing pictures !

hey thanks. 'm really sorry for replying late, it is actually too late . You managed to do Leh!!! then only i 'll tell somthing :P

he he he...
Thanks bro. But after seeing your photographs i think i was there in wrong time.... to be true i want to be there in December and to roam around Leh with my cam :P

Thanks MG, glad you liked them.
ye, my ride was mostly relaxed and i skipped most of the Leh trademark places

Bhai, ab to update karo...

Thanks bro, but your captures are brilliant...

Hi archi,
wel i was not able to do a bike ride to ladakh but managed to go till rohtang pass on a cab.Seeing those harsh roads i wonder how have u managed to do a bike ride till ladakh,must had beeen soo tiring i suppose n at the same time adventurous tooo.
So please tell me the technical details of ur trip..,hw to go about it n when to go..
Thanks