+100 on that.... Mazza aagaya....
Red complete log in a single day... Too Good....
Thank You guys for this wonderful log....

Re: Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...


Note: All pictures are clickable for higher resolution images

Thursday 1st October : This was it, the final night the lap of the himalayas, It was exciting and sad at the same time. The previous night over dinner were in the company of two cyclists from Pune and solo woman cyclist who had come cycling all the way from Iran, all of a sudden our puffed chests lost all air, for what that lady had done was far far greater than what had just done over the last two weeks and probably would ever do. The night before had also been one of the coldest we had seen far, probably because all we had for protection was the tin shed of a roof over our heads. It was so cold at that the dew had frozen over on our seats. Worried about Pranay's battery having issues again, we asked our hosts to boil some water to heat up the crankcase so the battery does not need to pushed too much. Veda seeing all this decided that he too wants to warm his bike up before starting as we had some trouble starting his bike in Pangong. Me with the oldest and most unreliable bike in the lot should have joined in, but I had faith in my old buddy. As Pranay and Veda splashed their crankcases with hot water, it still took 2-3 cranks for them to get their bikes started, surprisingly mine started in the first crank and settled down into a low idle warming all the lines up on its own.


We had breakfast of piping hot maggi and bid adieu to the two cyclists from Pune, we were surprised to hear that the Iranian lady had already left earlier this morning. Helmets off to her courage and spirit of adventure. As geared up and loaded our bikes with luggage, I realised that the bikes had cooled down again so when we started I started quite slowly and rolled along the slope of the road in low gear. Our man Veda saw this is an opportunity to take the lead and gunned his throttle, the moment he passed me a single glaring though in my head, "Idiot". As pulled off into the distance. I could see that the road was wet with snow melted water, the first thought was that it was black ice. It did not take long to confirm my fears, exactly 10 seconds after Veda had pulled away I saw him hit the wet patch, only slip and fall on his backside. Both me and Pranay stopped our bikes before the patch of black ice started, to have a moment to laugh at our friends misery as we saw him hopelessly fall on his butt again and again as he tried getting up. Both of us walked over the black ice, helped him get up and pushed his bike across the patch. Both of us then gingerly made our way across pushing the bikes over black ice.

Once the black ice episode was over, the ride was typical Ladakh landscapes with snow capped mountains flanking both sides. We stopped at Bharatpur is short but these mesmerising landscapes had bewitched the amateur photographer in my and much to the annoyance of Veda and Pranay, we ended up taking many photo breaks. For the first time in this ride we actually had the experience of riding on a snow capped mount up to Baralacha La.


As we stopped on the famous Baralacha La, I told the boys to ride ahead as I intended to take quite a few photo breaks today and did not want to kill the ride for them. We decided to sync up at major points for the sake of safety, however none of that was to happen. After Baralacha La I met them only once, but more on that later. However, no regrets for letting the boys ride ahead while I slowly rode down from Baralacha La, the landscapes were more beautiful than I could ever imagine. Starting from Suraj Tal to Zing Zing Bar to Darcha the valleys opening up in front of my eyes had me in rapture I did not know whether to keep my eyes on the road or get lost in the beauty of nature.



Somewhere before Darcha the road descended into a valley right on a river bed with two bridges to cross the dried up river bed. However after the first bridge I saw a sign board saying I must get onto the river bed, with no clear path to be see ahead I just followed a cab ahead of me to if this was indeed the path. I could see a fairly large stream of water up ahead and the car struggled to make it across, and it was in knee deep water. As I sat there on my bike thinking about what to do, I could hear a bike behind me with two locals ride over the second bridge. To hell with this icy cold water crossing I turned around and rode my bike over the second bridge, my guess at that time was to that the bridge was out of bounds for heavy vehicles. As I made my up along the mountain side road after the bridge, I could see Pranay and Veda had parked their bikes along the side of road and were sitting barefoot. The moment I stopped next to them, they started shouting 'cheater' 'cheater' . Clearly, they had a hard time trying to cross the stream and ended up getting both their feet wet. By this time it was almost noon, and we still had quite some distance to go. I bid adieu to my friends as I wanted to ride ahead as I was still clicking pictures. This would be the last time I would be seeing them both this day, though it was decided that we will be meeting for lunch at Keylong.



The mesmerising views continued to captivate me and kept obliging by stopping here and there for clicking pictures. There were numerous water crossings along the way as the sun was melting snow on the mountain tops, but nothing very extreme, I managed crossing them without getting my shoes even slightly wet. As Keylong got close, I started looking our for Pranay and Veda, but did not find them anywhere. As I reached Keylong, I entered the small village to see if they have stopped at any place to eat. Unfortunately, I did not find them anywhere and none of the shops seemed to have seen any bikers enter. This got me worried as there was no way these guys will seeing bikers, especially because there isn't practically anyone else on the road as the season for Ladakh had ended. I did not have any cellphone reception either to reach out to check their co-ordinates. After spending almost 20 minutes riding in and out of town and back, I did not see them. By this time I was really worried as we had decided to meet for lunch at Keylong. With no choice left I pushed forward, alternating between riding fast and riding slow to see if I spot them anywhere at all. I was already beginning to fear the worst, unfortunately that is how the human works sometimes. With half hope that they had pushed on, I kept riding ahead towards Tandi in hopes of seeing them there. With all this panic, I had stopped enjoying the riding or even clicking pictures. As I pulled into Tandi, I checked my fuel levels and it seemed enough to make across Rohtang and into Manali, I did not want to fill in Tandi as I had heard stories about adulterated fuel and at these extreme altitudes I did not want the bike to be drinking some desi concoction of petrol. But I decided to fill in 2 litres just to avoid any "more" panic causing situations. At the fuel bunk I asked the guy if he had seen two bikes exactly like mine in in Silver and Blue, he nodded in affirmation. Huge sigh of relief as I knew they had passed through, but on asking how long back my heart sank again as they had filled fuel almost 45 minutes earlier and there was no way I was going to catch up with them. So I decided to keep riding and switch back to enjoying the view.


The stretch here was straight out of the sets of Lord of the Rings, it was crazy how beautiful these valleys are. I kept riding till I reached Gramphoo, I could clearly see the road ahead going deep into the Spiti valley. How I wished I had unlimited holidays and money to spend another week heading down that path. My path took up uphill again all the way too Rohtang pass. As I reached on top, I could see behind me the beautiful mountains of the Lahaul & Spiti and in front of me lay what urbanisation and tourism have done to this beautiful mountain. It was quite disappointing to see so many tourists about doing all sorts of stupid antics from dressing up in local's clothes to riding ponies. It seemed so pointless, but then I made my peace with it as I was glad to have seen what I saw in the past two weeks.



It was almost 5pm by the time I reached Rohtang top, and with Pranay and Veda nowhere to be in sight I was quite sure they have pushed on to Manali and there was no way I was going to catch up as I was already riding slower than them and I had lost quite a lot of time looking for them between Keylong and Tandi. I was partially happy after Tandi to know that they were still alive, I was filled more rage than happiness . As I descended from Rohtang, I could see that this was not going to be great experience, the road ahead was slushy, and there was a lot of traffic and the icing on the cake was the fading day light but the fact that after two weeks I was really pissed with my group. The last picture I took that day was where a truck climbing up had caused a huge traffic jam as its clutch was nearly burnt and it was struggling to climb up and ended up blocking the path for everyone.



Soon, it was dark but luckily for me tarmac had start and the road was no longer slushy. It was quite a fast ride down from here, as I was riding on anger more than anything else at this point. Somewhere on the outskirts of Manali I stopped to check if I had cellphone reception, and I called Veda and Pranay, finally got hold of them on the second ring. I was quite angry and ended up venting my entire anger on the phone, but at the same time I was relieved to know they had made it back safely. Took me sometime to find the hotel, but when I reached there it looked like my anger hadn't been vented completely yet , it took a few more abuses to calm me down. It was quite fatiguing to realise the trip had almost ended and we were back to civilisation. I hated the noises, the lights, the crowd, but heck there was good food

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Yes, go ahead kill me for waking up a seven year old thread which has not been updated for the last 4 years.

But I had made a promise (I think somewhere on this thread itself), that I will complete this thread before my next himalayan adventure.

Phew!!! I am glad to say that its almost done now. There is a small part about Manali to Delhi ride left, however that is quite small and don't have any pictures.

Re: Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...



Note: All pictures are clickable for larger resolution images

Friday, 2nd October: Needless to say all three of us slept like logs the night before. The fatigue of the ride was only catching up now after nearly 3000 kms of riding. We woke up to a rainy morning in Manali, we decided to packup and leave as early as our tired bodies would allow us, because Delhi was almost 600 kms away and half the distance was thought twisties. We managed to hit the road only around 9AM after tanking up our bikes for the long haul. The ride out of Manali was quite peaceful and serene in fact, as there wasn't much traffic on the road and the weather was quote comfortable. But in about an hour of riding, we were quite hungry and stopped to have some warm parathas.



The ride was largely uneventful going forward, it got considerably warmer as we dropped altitude through the twisties. During the ride down from the hill, we caught up with another group of about 6-7 bikers who were probably returning from the Ladakh/Spiti circuit themselves. As they were a larger group of different displacements, we quite quickly overtook them as we were just three of us and all three were on 220's which in 2009 were still one of the faster bikes around. We stopped somewhere around Bharatpur for lunch, and thats when the same group caught up with us again but they kept riding. I was aware that Oldfox sir was also riding up this route from Delhi, as he had mentioned this when I met him in Delhi. So before leaving this morning I had left him a message. He responding by saying that we will probably meet somewhere on the road. As luck would have it, we did spot him and pulled over to have a quick chat with him. Its only then we realised that the group of bikers was Born2Lead and company. Had we known about this, we could have stopped for a chat with them too.



The twisties ended somewhere before Kiratpur Sahib, and boring plains began. Somewhere a few kilometres before touching the main highway to Chandigarh, we were riding through a road which had the green farms of Punjab on both sides. I saw one of the most unique sights in my life then, on one side I could see the sun setting in the horizon and on the diametrically opposite side of the horizon I could see the moon rising, I haven't ever seen a similar sight ever again (yes 7 years on, that is still a unique experience). We spent sometime getting lost in the beautiful roads of Chandigarh, but finally we were on the long straight highway to Delhi. Nightfall had set in when we entered Chandigarh, not wanting to waste any time we kept riding quite quickly. And again we met the same group of bikers on the road on the way, since I knew who they were, I gave a cursory thumbs up sign as we overtook them. I think they took this as an invitation to race, not wanting to escalate the matter further we ripped ahead of them, but unfortunately even though we had faster bikes, ours were carrying much more luggage then theirs so they ended up tailing us for quite a distance. However, I think better sense prevailed and they slowed down for the sake of their slower group members. I cannot write anything signifiant about the rest of the trip we entered Delhi past mid-night, and finally reached our place of stay in Gurgaon around 1AM.


The next day was spent relaxing and watching a movie in one of Gurgaon's multiplexes. The next day was spent returning the bike for loading and transport at New Delhi station, and that followed the unfortunate experience of walking through the red light district unknowingly. It was a hilarious experience in retrospect, but at that moment it was quite horrifying. The following day we flew back to Bangalore to resume our normal lives of going to work, doing all the mundane things that we do.




Even though this trip was in the pipeline for almost 3 years, when it was finally over the only feeling I was left with was to go back what we had left behind. Because there was much that was still left to be done. This ride had many firsts for me and Pranay and Veda as well, it was the first time we were on the road for two weeks, it was the first time we had done almost 3500 kms in a single ride, it was the first time we rode in such cold temperatures, it was the first time we rode in places where roads didn't largely exist. Ladakh had a strange effect on me, it made me hate this urban chaos, I looked for rear view mirrors in my office desktop for a few days after the ride. I just wanted to get away from it all and be back on the road again. The sense of accomplishment did not exist as we realised that "doing" Ladakh is not something to be achieved, it is an experience to be taken away.

As I write this epilogue more than 7 years later, I can only say that I am yet to go back to do what I left behind. Having seen how Ladakh has changed over the years, I fear that the once untouched beauty will no longer have that charm it had back then. I wish to go back sooner than later to see all of Ladakh's glory once again, before its lost to urbanisation, capitalism and all the devils of modern society. I am partly pained to see what it has become today and also glad that I saw it before the ruin began. I hope and pray that Ladakh remains as elusive as it as has been all these years.

To all the future riders and travellers to Ladakh, please respect its nature and people. Please don't turn them into greedy, money driven lands where tourism has more negative effects than positive. Please ensure that you do your bit to respect the cultures and tradition of the Ladakhi people, and remain sensitive to the presence of the Indian Army in the region, allow them to guard our borders. Because that is something you and I cannot do!!!

Re: Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...

Finally.....

I read all these after we met in ooty. Superrr

Marsimik La was the best part

Re: Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...

@Praful : It is always pleasure & fun to read your trip logs. The writing was nice and fresh as you just finished this trip this year. I know to fact that this is most awaited trip log for most of the people in forum . Thanks for such a nice travel log which actually let me pass a day in my cubical( I am on Bench Dude ).

I have being waiting for Marsimik la pic of yours to refresh my memory of it. It was the same struggle when I did this Route in 2014. The biggest irony was that ,I "was not allowed to take camera from Phobrang Army Post & were asked to deposit all cams & phones". when So I didn't have any pictures but yes memories to live with.

The irony is even bigger that when my school friend(Asst. Commandant ,GREF) took my name at Phobrag Post while collecting camera & phone. He was lazy in morning 6:00 AM to come out of his Quit and told me who comes so early and to this place. So with his permission granted, I could have taken my camera. Anyways that pic is still pending with me & though this year I didn't get the time to go Marsimikla Pass .

Yes , Ladakh City looks has changed which you have not seen since your last ride. But , trust me LAdakai people are still sweet ,good ,helpful.

I would recommend you to do : Shakti,Wari-la,Aghum-Shyok,pangong,chusul,hanle,Tsomori,Mahe.This is all together a different game..
Thanks for Nice Log. Keep travelling & keep Riding @LoneWolf which not the case now.. (aaoo,aaoo,aaooooo)

Re: Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...

Thanks Maulik!!

Marismek La was crazy tough, felt quite pointless at the end of it actually. Will I do it again? Only if I have a more 'ADV' capable bike

Thanks bud!!

In a way its good they are not allowing cameras, if its "really" a matter of national safety then I wouldn't mind at all. In fact throughout this trip we made a conscious effort not to take pictures of any military bases or installations of any sort.

Wari La, Hanle, Tso Moriri was something we left behind for next time, but it looks like that "next time" will have to wait as I will be doing this stretch 2 up next year. *fingers crossed*

PS: Quit that job man, you shouldn't be waiting time on bench !!

Re: Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...

I am probably going Leh next year. Please let me know would be a pleasure to ride along with you :P

Re: Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...

No it won't be , riding with wife in tow. So there would be lots of breaks and slow riding

I would recommend that you have other solo riders for company, honestly if I was in you place it would be more interesting to ride solo or with other solo riders.

Re: Ladakh: A Journey that Dreams are made of...



Well then, Solo seems the option for me as no-one is in for now.