Wow! That is a long one... will read in a while.

Approved

I still remember my Spiti ride last year. How I wish I could atleast participate.

@Gaurav: I will wait for the photograph to show up.

Ken that have just begun .

It was very painful to format it in the forums so I just uploaded day one. You know my heart skipped a beat when I saw pending for approval, I thought since its not complete I might get it trashed.

Its long, and you have been warned oh I will be uploading the rest in day or two.

@Aryan I can understand, don't worry you will have plenty to read here he he. I have some interesting pics share which I will upload after the article pics.

Day2

28 Aug 2009 | Manali - Rohtang Pass - Chandra Taal

5:10 AM: Leaving Late
I was well awake and procrastinating when the alarm rang. With some effort I got off the bed. Moving towards bath room I glanced at this almost 6 foot frame (Manish) diagonally spread over the bed. Curious, I nudged him; his eyes opened and closed in same motion almost mechanically. Bah! Laziness... It was time for action. I started with banging the door of other rooms; and there was some motion, nice!. I had almost finished packing the saddle bags onto the bike, when I saw our hotel broker. He smiled back and proclaimed with an air of confidence - “Didn't I tell you! That you will not be able to leave early here? Ha... ha! Nobody does!!” By the time we left it was 7:10 AM already, so he was right.



First thing we did was to refill the petrol as the next petrol pump was in Kaza about 200 Kms away. Jatin was on his ‘Enfield’ (aka the gas guzzler). I offered him two empty cans for reserve petrol, which he took and adjusted in his bag leaving the bottles thirsty. Sid (on Enfield again) didn’t top up the tank, a heinous crime for which he was going to pay later

Finally, we left for Rohtang pass. Sudi and I were behind the pack. We stopped for some photographs. We caught up with rest, who were waiting for us at a scenic location. They were waiting for the ‘Orkut’ photo shoot, I relented gladly.

11:10 AM: Of Parantha’s and Rohtang Pass
The road inclined, narrowed and curved as we went up. The fog had started to cover the hills. About 30 Kms have passed when we saw a small valley with a small lake in it. There was a bridge type formation through it. But our road went around the lake to Marhi - A small little place full of Dhaba's. Jatin, Sid and Lovey were not to be seen and it was decided that we refuel ourselves here. According to the intel Manish and Sudi had we will not encounter any eatery further up until we reach our final destination: ‘Chandra Taal’. We ordered Parantha’s, butter, omelettes and of course tea to gulp it down.



Rohtang Pass was about 18 Kms from here and we thought we will have an easy ride from here on. Wrong we were so very wrong; the road we passed was broken, littered with sharp stones, and slippery wet mud. Heavy vehicles had permanently indented the road.

We braved the road and came towards a large opening just as we reached on top of that hill. A fluff of fog has broken over the place; we stopped as we saw familiar faces resting on their bikes. Sid asked “you should have waited at Marhi! Are you not feeling hungry?” They replied “we have already eaten”. I scanned the area immediately and could make out a few shops and people nearby in the fog. “We should move on to Rohtang pass” someone among us suggested. “You are standing on it” pat come the reply. That is it? This was the often talked about Rohtang Pass? I remember people telling lore’s over this! Either I was too confident or my previous solo trip had prepared me better, . We took some photographs and left.





12:50 AM: Keylong route, Spiti Valley
Current altitude was about 13,000 feet. It reminded me about the things we were to carry on our trip, things that are important, things like Dimox tablets. I braked after watching the guys rest on a small turn. Our next destination was a diversion to Spiti valley about 5 Kms ahead of Rohtang pass en-route to Keylong. I recalled Jatin speaking of the route the other night as he laid out the plans. I was not paying attention then as I had come on the trip with no reservations, only planned route I had was of Dehradun-Chandigarh.

I am writing in simplest words as I understood Jatin’s plan. Here goes, the route was linearly approachable, it had two parts good one and the bad one, so either we do the bad route first or later it was our choice, we had chosen the bad first. It was the route to Lahaul & Spiti Valley and making a break at Chandra Taal en-route to Shimla.

Several photographs later we left. This time I got on to the bike early and went ahead first, a simple strategy I had evolved to minimize time waste. It was totally kuccha sadak, that means slow and careful driving but I wanted to be ahead this time remember? And so I did - till mister Lovey the Pulsar riding junky overtook me within a few Kms :E ah well. So much for saving time . Route was pretty engaging, it was about a Maruti or two wide, downhill like Mussorie -Landour hillside and totally made up of dust and stones, stones both inside the road and over it.

1:45 PM: The uninvited adventure!
Upon reaching a turn I could see Lovey crossing a water stream, he stopped and I thought probably he’s stuck, within few moments he moved on to cross it. Less than a minute later I confronted the same stream. It looked easy from far but upon facing the force of water and noise that it made, I decided to slowdown. Cautiously scanning the bed of stones underneath and the water flow, I down shifted to power gear and went straight into the stream, the stream full of dirty tricks for the careless. I had to keep my feet off bike or on the stones for balance. I crossed it nicely but not before wetting my feet in the cold mountain water.

I heard Lovey saying “well done Mama”, smile broke over my face. As it usually happens in these scenarios the heartbeat raced from joy of the experience most wonderful. I felt half breath… I was tired. Wait a minute!! Raised heartbeat notwithstanding, why on earth should I get tired? Was it that I am getting too old for this? Or was there something more sinister at this place?

I parked my bike, got out and removed my camera from the bag to capture moments of nomads in shock, awe or whatever was about to unfold depending on who crosses it. Manish was approaching very cautiously; he went into the stream only to stop abruptly then placing himself on one side of road. Just then I heard a hum… from background, it was a foreigners filled Toyota Innova, I moved over to create space, the driver was experienced, he crossed it easily, and now it was Manish’s turn.

Just when he was about to move Jatin came thumping in with an authority of ‘Make way for Enfield’. Manish was taken aback from the sudden assault; he stopped to let him pass. Jatin entered swaying to left and right, halting in between, clearing it rather easily. Lovey cheered, Jatin’s face was beaming with glory. Manish ka number aiya but not before another tourist infested Toyota Innova made him stop again. Manish’s crossing was rather uneventful, no tricks he just gets the job done.



Sid was waiting long for his turn, he felt a little jittery over the stones initially, he was not keeping any reserve power and was a tad too slow for this manoeuvre, like Jatin he too swayed a few times but crossed it comfortably in the end. All of us cheered it was our first water crossing. We took time to settle our nerves and everyone let their feet dry excluding me. As for me I somehow felt that it is not the end of the wet feet we were going to get.



This road paved way for the gorgeous Chandra valley, the road ahead seems to meet up straight with the river bed. One of the draw backs of being a photographer is that you are the last one to leave. By the time I packed they had already touched the valley. I caught up to find Lovey & Sudi dozing off yet again, and another photography session ensued.







2:40 PM: Photography and scouting in Chandra Valley
By 3 PM we still had to cover approx 60Kms on a route where no nomad had ever gone before . Up ahead there was a division, one bridge which crossed the river and a small town which I think was Batal a place to halt for trekkers. Sudi went ahead to figure out whic route to take. In the mean time it was decided that no more breaks will be taken till we reach Chandra Taal. Someone amongst us quipped “its 50 odd Kms we will do it in 3 hours (by 6pm)", “You know even a man can walk about 10Km/Hr”, “What?” Someone else broke the calm: “A man can comfortably manage about 4-5Km/hr”. I nodded and we all looked at each other.

I said “the sun sets at around 5:30PM our average speed was around 10Kms, even the most generous approximation will put us up with almost 6 hours of driving and that means around 9PM”. Logic placed in front of youngsters is usually met with the same reply “OK so, let’s drive fast and as fast as we can” while they were discussing this I pushed the ignition button and moved on.

We treaded the rough,
We braved the stones,
We fought the torrents,
We cleared the river beds,
We crossed few foreigners,
We saw Raid de Himalaya guys scouting,
We came to win,
We are the _NOMADS_.

The above extremely poetic lines are condensed, and possibly cannot describe the incredible nature of adventurous drive we lived through. So instead of going over each I have penned down the ones that gave some shaking nerves to nomads.

Accounts that are unforgettable

1. The Almighty ‘Gaadi Bandh’
There was this monstrous water flow (lovingly nicked ‘Gaadi Bandh’ by yours truly) called ‘Gaadi Bandh’. Its surroundings were made up of big boulders which hid it out of sight from the unsuspecting traveller. You just make a turn right into the water and by the time you realize any foul play it’s too late. The path itself has rocks as big as Maruti tyres at most places, as if that is not enough the water flows diagonally over the so called path. Did I mention the path actually inclines towards the water source where it is at extreme? Oh and just at the point of maximum flow the path turns right finally clearing off the ‘Gaadi Bandh’. The sun was setting on that desolated place and we were desperate, a perfect time for the ‘Gaadi Bandh’ to strike.


I have no clue as to how other guys managed it but when I entered the lair of his awesomeness ‘Gaadi Bandh’ I was taken aback by the surprise, there was someone stopped in the water (Gaadi Bandh strike 1), frankly I didn't wanted to stop & look as I realised to stop now was asking for trouble, the chilly water was a little over the ankles already. Down shifting to power gear I pressed hard to get past ‘Mr. someone’ avoiding the boulder wall he was about to tackle head on. Just a little ahead at the inevitable khadda wall created by uneven placement of stones as big as Maruti tyres (Am I repeating myself? ) my bike halted crying loud for more power. Gaadi Bandh had a real chance of striking but before it could manage any trick I pushed my feet on the stones below revved hard and muscled out, I kept up the power till I successfully crossed to safety. As soon as I was out and relieved, I felt that I didn’t have energy left to park the bike on a clear location so I just parked it next to Sudi’s on the road .

I turned back to check my accomplishment only to realise that ‘Mr. someone’ was actually Sid and upon watching my heroics he went in and played right into the hands of mighty ‘Gaadi Band’ where he was now stuck. Four of us, came running into the torrent. He was about to fall. Jatin and I held his bike; he revved his bike only to have it completely shut off. 'Gaadi band' had struck twice. I sensed a little despair in his manners as if he was about to give up, but our constant shouts suddenly brought him back. He started kicking the starter only to get no reaction; his exhaust pipe was submerged, fortunately just inline to the water flow. He tried again and suddenly the engine coughed and came alive. With his new found vigour and a strong push from nomads he crossed over.

I was told later that our super Sudi had already fallen prey to almighty Gaadi Bandh.


2. Will the real Chandra Valley please stand up?
After our encounter with ‘Gaadi Band’ we held our nerve and kept driving for as long as I can remember; to be honest what transpired during that time cannot be explained by mere words anyway we finally reached a place where there were few cottages and a dhabha, or so it appeared.

3. Manish hates Enfield
While we were stopping I was at the back. God I hate that! . Ahead of me was Manish and ahead of him was Sid on his shiny new Enfield Bullet. Manish hates bullets, but Sid didn’t know that and he stopped. Whoop! Thud! Sid was shocked, god knows how he came out of that horrendous shock and when he did he saw his bike flat under him. Like someone had replaced a comfy cushion with cushion full of hospital syringes. He could stand but could not sit!

Manish had made his intentions very clear he had struck right where it hurts an enfieldiendian the most at the newly installed baggage rack. Sid turned to Manish and the usual “Saale! theek se break maar', then to us “yaar mein subah se dekh raha huon, pata nahi kaise break mar raha hai”. Break! Surprised dear reader! Well truth be told Manish had been breaking very strangely the whole day, to come to final halt he used his shoes leaving foot off the rear brakes… nice!.

Meanwhile we were told by the locals that there will be no food until us reach Chandra Taal and that too if we are lucky. The only way to stay alive at Chandra Taal was to get your own tent or the ones which an adventurous entrepreneur named Harish have set up there. We hurried as light kept fading fast; Chandra Taal was about 14 Kms from there.

The road we were about to travel was completely desolated, from one side it faced a very long and deep slope of gravel down to the Chandra river. The path itself was about a Maruti or so wide just enough for most four wheelers which have dents wherever the soil was soft often making them tricky to drive on. Next to us was hill full of small broken rocks, fallen on road or protruding out of hill.

4. Joy for nothing!
I often reflect back to that drive and still get goose pimples over it. Back then I had not fully realised the dangerous nature of the drive. We had not eaten anything since breakfast and had been driving almost 8 hours straight and we still had a long way to go over a terrain which demanded stringent measures. With each passing moment the enthusiasm began to fade away leading our minds to despair. For a change I was at front, negotiating the tricky road unwittingly driving fast. I recall a few slips that could have ended my otherwise glorious life . Thankfully that didn’t happen and I am all the wiser for it.

After an hour or so we felt the path was finally descending into the valley and I could see a lake further up. With exuberance and reserved energy I signalled victory to the pack as I touched the river bed. All of them actually took it seriously, stupid nomads . Just then I realise that we were heading the wrong way almost immediately again I signalled trailers to branch off to the right path that I had skipped earlier. Looking at the various paths that were there I was sure that we were not the first to be misguided by our senses.

Sudi and Jatin had followed me but and Sudi was the one to take the corrective path leaving me at third place. All that hard work for nothing! Sob... sob. Sudi chose a route worthy of dirt biking as he jumped up almost 2 feet on a 15feet inclined, apparently a shortcut towards what appears to be a right path! So did Jatin and me. That jump was a great balm for our despaired souls - a morale booster if you will.

The road looked like it would never end. It had now transformed into a hilly path, dusty and heavily inclined, testing bikes to fullest. A strange yellow streak in the rear view mirror caught my attention. I turned my head back and was awestruck; it was a snowy mountain peak gleaming gold in sunset light. I wanted to stop but my body didn’t a sudden bump and my head turned to front.

I had just run over a big stone, damn!, I was just lucky to be still on the path I cursed myself for losing attention. But bad habits die hard don't they? After a turn I carefully looked at rear view mirror only to watch Sid falling off his bike. I had to stop! With some effort I got off the bike, I could hear my heart pounding as I felt very tired, ignoring it I thought: “I now can take a snap of the mountain I saw a minute before”. I didn’t even try to take off my helmet or my gloves, stuck the camera in front of helmet, judged and shot few photographs. The sunlight had gone down a lot in those few moments...



5. Chandra Taal and birthday bash
Jatin had been telling us that this was going to be his best birthday ever. It would be for any one I would say, a great landscape, open sky and sleeping besides none other than legendary lake. It was around 8pm when we finally made it to the parking space at Chandra Taal, but it seems ‘finally’ had some other meanings that day as we learned that we still had to walk with our baggage for about an kilometre(in reality it was no more than 500mt), completely tired as we were, this was a shocker.

But ‘मरता क्या न करता’, we un-bagged our bikes and trekked on. We were at the back, (yeah I know ) were completely out of breath so we stopped. I began to think that this tiredness was probably due to lack of energy. But there was an error in that thought as I am in very good shape, have been playing Badminton for more than a year now. Ok, given it was treacherous journey, but something inside me was not convinced. There was something really sinisterly weird.

I was about to find that out. For all the good 'fortune trophies' I have accumulated over the years this one takes the cake we got two vacant tents that night. Now if you have ever slept out in open on a very cold night, wet feet, completely exhausted and at altitude of approximately 4000 Meters successfully, you must be one superman. We were not and we so loved those smelly Kambal's and Rajai's that day.

Lovey & Sudi had already occupied the two people tent and I was left out sitting on the plastic chair pitched outside, the first thing I did was to remove the shoes and socks, search my baggage for those nice dry chappals and a spare pair of warm socks. I was ready to deal with the elements till Harish prepares us warm dinner. I went over to the big tent in the middle it housed a small dhabha; few folks were inside it chatting. I asked if I could sit, they said yes please do. I realised this was the place where food will be served. Great! I sat into a nice place and took out my netbook and started uploading the photographs.

11:00 PM: Mountain sickness here come the nomads
Within a few minutes rest of the pack came in, a bottle of Rum out. I am non-drinker but I thought a sip or two will insulate me from the cold. As I was about to sip, I remembered reading about the effects of rum at high altitudes. I jerked the idea by thinking “those effects were for others” , by that time I had no headache. We had a noisy driver with us in the tent who was drunk, a loudmouth he was. He kept talking till the food was served. The guys didn’t drink much that day as they were having headaches anyway.

Everyone cheered for Jatin's birthday before dinner and went back to sleep. Sleep that never came! Lovey kept whining about pain and loss of breath. Sudi tried hard to sleep and I was stuffed in between those two with almost no room for movement, if that was not enough my feet were out of the tent.

Rum asks for water if it’s inside you, I learned that fact that day, we have no water with us and I knew those two fiends will not budge even if they were thirsty as hell, which they were. So at 11:20pm I went outside in cold, located an empty bottle of soda, got up to the freezing stream of Chandra Taal and filled it. Water was very cold but I sipped it as that is what my body wanted. The bottle was then duly filled for two kings back at the tent. I cannot recount how many times Lovey whined, but during that time sleep was scarce and I started to feel a slight thumping headache.
Back at tent all those events that had me feel weaker unfolded again in front of my eyes like a flash back movie. The first water crossing, to crossing almighty ‘Gaadi Bandh’, to driving over ravines near Chandra Taal and the final trek. Shit we are ‘Mountain Sickened’ I was laughing within myself. I thought it would be better if I don’t mention it to ‘Whiny’ Lovey. So I started talking about thinning of air at higher altitudes and picked out Vicks Vaporub to apply on my back which was aching a bit. Asked Lovey to do the same, he stopped whining after that, now all I wanted was few hours of sleep.

12:00 PM: Karahat and Barking
We were still working on our sleep when we overheard that Jatin was not feeling well, a while later it appeared that he ventured outside for water. After a while he puked, that confirmed it. All of us had been affected by AMS, fondly called as ‘Altitude Mountain Sickness’. To counter it we should have been carrying Dimox but of course we are 'the nomads' so we didn’t. I was a little worried about Jatin as he was definitely in bad shape, none the less I congratulated him for his birthday and we broke into laughter congratulating and taunting him on his one fine birthday at Chandra Taal.
A dog barked for a while, it was annoying! ‘I will meet that dog and ask about the history of Chandra Taal’ hey I started to dream! After a while, I do not know when, but I did sleep, it was not a full long sleep, broken it might be but it was joyful. Happy Birthday! Jatin

Stats: Distance covered – 130 Kms | Time taken 15 Hrs | 6 Stops | Refuelling 300Rs

Good second part there. And lovely to read that you managed to reach Chandratal! But, WHERE are the pics of Chandratal. Could you please post a few, as I would really LOVE to have a look at it.

Day3

Aug 2009 | Chandra Taal - Kunjum Pass - Lusar - Kaja - Spiti Valley

4:30 AM: Morning do’s and Photography
I had woken up countless times, at around 4:30am I decide to get out and check if it’s any better outside, but valley was drenched in darkness. I don't know how long I was awake but when I woke up it was 5:20am. First things first I got up and looked around for toilet. There wasn't any on our side of the tent. I turned back and what I saw engrossed my wits to no end. I was witnessing nature’s incredible engineering. We were at the base of an enormous mountain. It was as long eye could see and higher than you can imagine . Its elevation might confuse an adventurous observer as a challenging posture, but clearly trekking on it seems rather impossible. The mountain was dusky brown, constituted of loose stones and heaps of fallen gravel and big boulders making up rest of the terrain. I clearly recall myself thinking about the ego destroying effect it had on me.

Recovering from the spiritual bolt I tried to keep my mind focused at the urgent task at hand so I continued my search for toilet and it struck to me that those huge boulders further definitely have something to do with it, especially at a place like this. Determined to 'just do it' I acquired a water bottle and some paper soap. Note to readers: It was my first in wilderness .

After all was done and dealt with I picked up my trusty camera. The morning breeze has still some moisture left which made the morning cooler than it was. Arriving so late at Chandra Taal yesterday had dented my plans for scouting best locations for photography. The 'ego destroyer' mountain was like a huge wall, it blocked early sunlight. Upon inquiry I was told that sunlight will be blocked till 8am. Armed with the fact I retraced a short path towards the snow peak I saw yesterday, trekking over a small hillock on its way.

I am accustomed to mountains, but not today. AMS was working against me. At 4300Mtrs, up from 2000 Metres just in two days is too short time to get acclimatized with the drop in air pressure and oxygen density. What I really mean is that I had hard time climbing that small hillock I could run over normally. I was out of breath just walking to the top. I could see two more humps before I could reach at workable location. Already 6:10am. I was losing time, I tried synchronizing my feet movements with breathing and I managed to reach a decent point but not before the sunlight broke on that mountain. I couldn't see the same dramatic effect, not in this light. Unfortunately the sun was well above the horizon. I took some photographs that I felt were interesting.







Satisfied with what I managed I turned my attention towards Chandra Taal. Interestingly I had not entertained the idea that 'I AM here at awesome Chandra Taal!' since the time we arrived here. With spring in my steps I walked towards the legendary Lake, stopping midway for photographing a beautiful scene.

6:30 AM: Awesome Chandra Taal (Moon Lake)
Chandra Taal was a big serene lake almost as big as I had envisioned it . From my vantage point there was a small hill that blocked my view of the whole lake. I had enough fuel in me to go to the other side but I decided to keep an upper limit of 45 minutes as I had no idea when nomads will wake up, at least it won’t be 7am I thought. I started to trek down to reach a small path encircling the banks of Chandra Taal. The path is about 5-6 Kms long, a great way to soak in the history of the Lake and live it.


It was about 6:40am when I finally touched the path. I stood still watching the serenity of Chandra Taal; pristine pure water, colourless and freezing. I had an urge to swim, considering the cold water, absence of sunlight coupled with the day’s driving ahead, and I figured that it was not a good idea. But this is something I fully intend to do when I return for a trek. I spent some time walking around the lake took a couple of photographs then decided to wait for sun to come out over the valley. It will boost colours and contrast for the photographs.


I approached the tents to find the nomads sleeping; I went to kitchen for a well deserved cup of tea. A big wolf like dog approached, he looked very content with himself. Harish (Owner of the kitchen & tents) gave me few details about it. His name was Sheandi and he is a local cattle dog. I offered a pack of biscuit to him which he ate diligently, with no air of thanks. I guess he was not the emotional type. I patted him and he did seem to enjoy that. Now a big pup appeared from behind the tent. I was perplexed for a moment, he was actually a grown up dog, not as much as Sheandi but most certainly not a pup as his cute looks suggested. Of course he got his share of biscuits (for the emotional readers .




Finally nomads have risen to the morning sun. The air was filled with talks of Jatin's fantabulous birthday experience the previous night; he was obviously not in shape.



A few more of the pics at Chandra Taal






It was 7:50Am I went back to the lake. Sudi and Sid followed and after half an hour or so later we came back for breakfast. We finally managed to leave Chandra Taal: ‘The great and awesome Lake’ at around 11am. Sheandi was accompanying us, so the big dog is emotional after all. He followed us all the way to our bikes and was decent enough to pose with the nomads, as he might have done to so many who showered little bit of genuine warmth on him.



11:30 AM: Return paths are easier
We had to backtrack 14 Kms to reach the point where road left towards Kunzum La. The glaring dangers of that path were evident in the day light. We drove fast on this in evening light? Wow we must be good .



14 Kms ended quickly and we started to ascend towards Kunzum La. It was marginally better in shape but a lot wider, about two Maruti wide to be exact: P. The road all the way up to Kunzum La was desolate and barren.
Jatin was a little edgy today, and he kept stopping passing vehicles for directions, inquiring about telephone lines and asking for spare petrol. I was amused as most of the time we were on one way path. Frankly at one point I was completely annoyed at his petrol hunger, to keep my mind off it I thought if we have to stop every passing vehicle why not ask for Dimox tablets which fortunately we got from one.

12:30 AM: The halt at Kunzum La
Road was climbing rapidly on one side of the mountain so it was zigzag back and forth. We gained height rapidly to reach wider mountains at the top and kept moving till we reached a place which had temple type architecture with lots of coloured flags encircling it. I stopped near a pack of sign boards at a intersection till my eyes fixate on one peculiarly suggesting passerby to go around the Gompa before onward travel. Just in time my extremely rich repertoire of memory suggested that this ritual was a way of worship at Kunzum La that means we have reached the 'Kunzum La Pass'.



With new found faith I drove towards the monastery up further the road travelled round past the place of worship. I think Sudi parked next to me and he didn't understand my sudden path breaking move I signalled a turning circle and pointed towards the board, others who were just arriving followed me to their quota of prayers.
One annoying problem with this group was that none of the guys wanted to keep spare of anything, not even drinking water. The two bottles that we had bought were finished already, the sun was out in all its harshness and we still had lots of ground to cover. Of course we can manage but why not do it while we are perfectly hydrated? Come on guys?



We all had the headache following us the whole morning. Lovey I think was probably hiding it but I could sense it in the way he took to rest. I figured it was best to use those borrowed Dimoxes right away. Jatin tried to dissuade me knowing we had only four pops. But I was adamant and made him take one. The rest of us except Sid took our share. I kept his just in case. I was relaxed after reaching here at about 4510 meters the maximum height of our trip, as from now on we were only going to lose height.

12:40AM: Jatin's Buster Keaton act
Jatin now showed more signs of weirdness. I mean, if he wasn't being weird then why on earth does he have to open up the carburettor now? I thought helping him with this thing will take his mind off other things. As if that was meant to happen! I lost one of the screws which went straight inside the chamber near the engine.

Act 1) Jatin jumps in pain
He asked me to hold the bike and brought up two big stones and instructed me to tilt the bike on one side of the bike stand. He placed one stone below the raised part. I understood that he wanted to raise the height of bike. Sid came in to help. We pushed the bike over that stone and I was about to warn Jatin to get his foot clear of the stand as a precautionary measure. Suddenly, the stand skid over the stone and landed square on Jatin's left foot. Ouch. We managed to free his foot luckily with only minor injuries.

Act 2) Jatin manages to squeeze his finger
As if that was not enough, I asked him to move the chain slowly just to check if the bolt is stuck in the grease on the chain. I was thinking he had to do something really stupid now, and he complied, instead of turning the tyre with his hand he kept his finger on the chain which followed the motion straight into the chain wheel. Owe came the noise. Damn, what on the earth does this boy wants to do today! It was very hard, but somehow I managed not to break into laughter.



Gods, to which he just prayed, kept his index finger and foot out of harm’s way. After all this drama, one would have assumed that Jatin would now move, but no, not him, he kept hunting for the pesky bolt. Sid joined him in his search. I had enough of it, so I screwed the rest of the bolts in place. At least three can hold the damned carburettor long enough to reach a repair shop! So I said "no problem just fix the other bolts tight and let’s move, we have lots of ground to cover". Finally he did move and we all left Kunzum La with funny memory.

12:50 PM: Losar registering



Moving out from Kunzum la we left for the barren Spiti valley towards Losar which was about 18 Kms. We lost height almost in a similar manner as we had just gained. We were driving on the banks of a dry river bed from which the name Spiti Valley originated. The landscape was full of impressive mountains, dry, muscular and full of erosive gravel. After about an hour we reached a small town which resembled Himachal towns more than Tibetan. To our constant surprise, in the entire Lahaul & Spiti region the people we met were efficient in Hindi, probably much more than we are now days.


We halted at Losar; Jatin was now patrolling for petrol in town. In the mean time we located a small house just ahead of the police station which served food. We ate the best food here since the start of our journey. Delicious Kaadi, Chawal, Daal and Sabji. Every passerby (non local) has to register his vehicle, license number and name at the Losar police station.

Jatin checked his tank; it appeared his bike never lost petrol in any worrisome quantity however it was actually Mr. Sid who was looking at the bottom of his tank. I had managed to convince a local builder for petrol but I have no idea how these guys managed him to change his mind otherwise . Anyway we had about 60 Kms to reach Kaza. I had about half tank full, enough to reach 250+ Kms, so we decided to move on and I was to backup Sid in a case of eventuality.

4:00 PM: Spiti Valley & Best drivable road on earth
The scenic splendour we experienced ahead constituted mostly of barren mountains, various ridge formations, which one could often mistook for sculpture. Yet sculptures they were, sculptures of nature's elemental master stroke. The road ahead was one of the best we have ever driven on along with the scenic beauty. The road extended as far as one could see, straight, curved and at up and down like some extremely long speed breakers. We crossed a bridge over the Spiti River and reached a very wide open space. The road went straight ahead; it was 'banta hai' moment for us. We halted and the cameras were out.





5:05 PM: Did you ring home?
Jatin was constantly reminding his Boy Scout nomads, how bad 'Lagegi' today. Since they had not relayed their parents about their whereabouts for over two days now, they were expecting major backlash from them as soon as they managed to get in contact. So the Boy Scout nomads wanted to get in touch before it’s too late. Fortunately for them they stopped at a small town where BSNL network signals were available. A truck driver provided his mobile; kind fellow had only 2Rs left in it. He suggested us to be stationed at a particular place in town to receive signals. It was very amusing watching grown up men like Jatin, Sid, Lovey, Sudi and Manish taking turns as a human dish to talk to their parents. Apparently Lovey have a mobile with BSNL connection so I also washed my hands in the flowing river and I thought at least I be able to talk to my dear mom.

• Apparently Sid's parents had activated their contacts about their missing son last seen at Manali
• Jatin's sis wanted to know his well being before he could manage to say 'hello'.
• Sudi was cool customer as always, apparently his dad had already visited this place.
• Lovey got on with almost same as Sudi.
• I have no I idea about Manish he is always talking on phone without sounding like one .
• I rang home only to be answered by Dad; of course he was more interested in the scene and the location.

After consoling their parents, they all promised to call back after they reach Kaza which was but 1hrs from here. We drove through mountains which had some river or a tributary flowing in the valley. Just as we crossed a bridge and probably would have gone a few hundred meters, I saw Sid slowing down, the inevitable had happened. Sid was now paying for a crime he committed two days before, not filling up Enfield . Lucky for him Bajaj Avengers have this petrol tube fitted in such a way; it seems to be ergonomically designed for stealing petrol. Sid had a can with him and Sudi milked my bike for about 2 litres of petrol.

The road ahead had freshly laid tarmac and we were zipping through. I was flying on this part of the stretch, touching 80 at places, overtook one Innova and reached a place I remembered reading about on the Internet. It was the Ki monastery on the opposite bank, bathing in the evening sun. I wanted to go there but considering that tomorrow we needed to drive over 230Kms on hilly road to reach Shimla, I managed simply by cursing my luck.





Stats : Distance covered – 120 Kms | Time taken 8 Hrs | 4 Stops | Refuelling 0Rs

Thanks Aryan, I have uploaded few pics(panoramas) but now that I see it photobucket have reduced them. Sorry for keeping you long but as soon as I am done with posting the blog here I will upload hirerez pics of Chandrataal.

magnificent pics and logs...pure desktop wallpaper material...

excellent pics and log...

wow


one of the best set of pics i have ever seen on xbhp.

congratulations man.

Awesome pics bro.....Great ride

Lovely text and some good shots there. But you are STILL to share the photographs of Chandratal (except for that almost unseen panorama)!

P.S: What equipment do you use for photography?

Day by day I Just get more and more excited , seeing people visiting leh -ladak .

Great Photography and write up

I have my doubts but thanks for the compliment
BTW Loved your avtar pic.

sandeep_141, Yeshu_hyd Thanks for appreciation.

Aryan :P I have slightly bigger uploads of those panorama at panoramio if they please you go here Panoramio - Photos by gauravnawani