Santa

I was about to ask the same question

would be nice to make the trip with u, any plans for the next riding season?

It was 20:30 at that time

Yepp , the roads are closed now on , read in todays paper .

Will plan to head next year

Where did u guys pack n move ur bike n how much for that ?

Planning for next year, I might join you guys too.

@ Pranay, Darth & Praful: Fantastic teaser pics guys, glad that you completed the trip without any problems. You guys finally got Leh'd. I wish I could've done it this year. Next year I must do it, it's a Pilgrimage Bikers shouldn't miss. Keep the photos rolling.

CHEERS,
G D

Finally, the thread is up. Congratulations to you all for successfully completing the Leh trip. It was lovely to meet you all at the dhaba that evening. Waiting for some stunning photographs from your newest acquisition Praful.

Navigation:-
0. Teaser
1. Prologue
2. The Riders

Day (-2)

Friday, 18-September: The twisties were flowing by, the mountain scenery was too magically beautiful. It was just me, my bike and the hills of Ladakh. Oh! what a bliss. As I approached this long winding left hander turn, I could hear someone shout out my name. I wondered who could it be who knows me in this part of the world. I thought I was imagining things and just gun the throttle and keep at it. But then I heard it again, it was completely coherent. The mysterious voice said, "Close all your tickets before you leave for the day!"....Huh??

SNAP!!!.....I was day dreaming yet again in office. I see the smiling face of my manager in front who knew I'd been acting lost since morning.

This was the day we were to start the journey, the day we fly to Delhi. Getting through the day from 8AM till 3PM was a wait that seemed like an eternity. As I picked up my haversack and bid everyone from my team farewell, they all wished me luck. I could various moods reflecting on peoples faces, some felt I would never return from this trip, some were as excited I was and some thought i was just plain crazy.

As I sat alone in the volvo that would take me out from the city's madness to the airport outside the city, my mind was running countless checks to ensure no stone is left unturned. Soon I was at the airport and met up with Pranay and Veda. The three of us though not outwardly visible, were bursting with excitement from within. A funny incident happened at the airport, me and Veda were asked to remove our shoes and pass it through the x-ray scanner because of the steel toe present in it. The flight thereon was uneventful, only once when we were over Delhi we were amazed at how well laid out and lit up the roads of the city were. We even clicked a few pics of the awesome Delhi roads.


As we landed in Delhi, the first thing we came across was the heat even at this late hour of the night. Our initial plans of staying over at a friends place fell through due to some last minute logistical hassles. So we decided to stay put in Gurgaon for the night as it was the closest place to the airport. We found a decently priced hotel with a ridiculously overpriced food menu. But everything was pardoned, we were getting Leh'd and all these trivialities did not matter one bit and thus we hit the sack for the day.

Day (-1)

Saturday, 19-September: Today was an important day for us, we had to tie up all loose ends, do all our last minute shopping and most importantly collect our bikes. I called up Rohit and Dipankar who not only provided us with loads of inputs but also helped us HUGELY by accompanying us almost everywhere. No amount of THANK YOU's will be enough to convey our regards to them.

A long taxi drive, a sweaty walk and life risking cycle rickshaw ride is what it took us to reach the depot of the packers and movers where our bikes were kept. Soon enough bikes and their master were united. And we were joined here with Rohit, Dipankar(RX100.7050), SunilG & Nitin (L.P.)


All this while the heat had taken its toll on Veda, and when we reached our new hotel for today in Karol Bagh, he just fell flat on the bed. It took about idlies to revive him back to life. Me and Pranay got ourselves new front tyres in Karol Bagh, I had this arranged well in advance with the help of Rohit. Then the earlier part of the evening was spent in Palika bazaar where I got myself a memory card and camera bag for a cam that would be picking up from a friend in Amritsar. And finally the later part of the evening we were able to meet a few more from the Delhi gang at the famous Dhaba meeting point and got to feast on some 'real' parathas. After gulping down I don't remember how manay parathas and 'makkhan' a quick glance at my watch showed me that we were approaching our 'bed time'. As we bid farewell to our friends, they all wished us luck for the trip.

Kamal, another member from Delhi was to be our GPS to take us back from the dhaba back to our hotel in Karol Bagh. I still had one more thing to be done and that was preparing my medicine and first-aid kit. So whilst the other went back to the room, me and Kamal went out medical shop hunting at 10.30PM. By the time I retired back to the room it was nearing mid night. And by the time I retired to bed after packing up all of my stuff I could see the hour hand of the clock hovering between 1 and 2. I just had to call it day then.

I had to catch as much sleep as possible, my journey of a lifetime was hardly a few hours away. We had scheduled ourselves for a 5.30-6 AM start from Delhi, but that was not be and such would be the trend for the remaining part of the ride.....

More on this Later!

Navigation :

4. Day 1 : Delhi - Amritsar
5. Day 2 : Amritsar - Jammu
6. Day 3 : Jammu - Srinagar
7. Day 4 : Srinagar - Drass
8. Day 5 : Drass - Leh
9. Day 6 : Leh
10. Day 7 : Leh-Diskit
11. Day 8 : Diskit-Panamik-Leh
12. Day 9 : Leh-Pangong Tso
13. Day 10 : Pangong Tso - Marismek La - Leh

Fantastic pics praful... loved the write up ..
Tasting the "Leh Dessert" just makes crave for it every single year..

Also were the bikes safely transported without any damage.. inspite of the good packing, evident from the pic..

Reading..drooling..and waiting for the rest!!

Waiting for more...
Plz provide some details on Cost involved in bike transportation and how safe it is for bike?All bike survived transportation without any damages?

Damn u dude..... Why shud u end the daily log on a suspense note like some saas-bahu serial ??

We are glued to ur thread no matter what!

how the hell i missed this thread??? Anyways, i'm glued to this now and waiting for more praful!!! Bring on....

Apologies with the delay in putting up the log + pics guys, have been having a overloaded week at work... :|

But worry not, I have a 3 day long weekend coming up. I will surely find more time to devote towards this....so bear with me for a little more time...

Here's something to drool at in the mean time

I've been watching this thread and waiting for the "real" pictures too! Man, the picture of you guys with the Himalayas in the back drop is just awesome!

+1 Agreed.

Chuck the apologies and the formalities...treat us with some real stuff...

You lucky bugger.

Wow! This amazing pic has made me realise what I'm missing as a biker..
Ladakh - I'm riding to you soon..

Can't seem to wait for the real content now..

PS: Loved the way you have linked each of the short logs, with links to previous, & future mini-logs..