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**krUnIzZlE** · 06-03-2010, 12:36 PM

Wow, Waiting for more man!

**sheelpriye** · 06-03-2010, 06:52 PM

@black-- could you please edit your posts and make the literature in regular/normal font?
Thanks

**black17BHP** · 06-03-2010, 07:10 PM

@sheelpriye Will do the same sir

@Sunil -- I would be dead after 722

@krUnIzZlE & @dineshsamtani -- Thanks Man... will post Day 2 once done

**rpmboy** · 06-03-2010, 07:17 PM

@sheel-how r ya buddy, I recently bought AGV,awsome fit man!!!

@black--gr8 !! guys , i m from Malda, thank god the roads were gd for you. the stretch is too much infested by trucks and is an very vital route. Malda has some decent hotels o rest and staying back in malda was an really gd decision indeed. I will keep the thread by watch as u guys are going to Sikkim where I had been 2 times earlier.
Enjoy the ride !!!

**black17BHP** · 06-03-2010, 07:30 PM

@rpmboy - Man NH34 may be in good condition but its very narrow and the way heavy vehicles drive is scary to say the least, we all had problems with traffic from Morgram(we took NH34) to Dalkhola(NH34 ends here)

@sheel - Man i am not able to edit the size will keep in mind for the next logs.

**sheelpriye** · 06-03-2010, 11:56 PM

Originally posted by black17BHP View Post

@rpmboy - Man NH34 may be in good condition but its very narrow and the way heavy vehicles drive is scary to say the least, we all had problems with traffic from Morgram(we took NH34) to Dalkhola(NH34 ends here)

I too have had my scares in this route and during Great Indian road trip, some one shall remember this road always

@sheel - Man i am not able to edit the size will keep in mind for the next logs.

Why so, it should be easy

Originally posted by rpmboy View Post

@sheel-how r ya buddy, I recently bought AGV,awsome fit man!!!

Good!

**black17BHP** · 06-05-2010, 12:19 AM

Day 2 Destination Gangtok

The amount of Adrenaline pumping in the veins is inversely proportional to distance between you and your dream destination, and the distance which was going to get shorter with every turn of the wheel.

With dreams in our eyes, and plans to reach Siliguri by noon in our minds, we rolled towards the unknown destination. As our daily routine we filled up our tanks, but Rishi was a bit skeptical about the pump so he decided to fill later. As we passed Malda the NH34 was back in good shape, with buses running at more than 75KMPH, we decided to up the tempo as we lost some time with our delayed start. With a few diversions and turns Deepak and Me were able to spot Somnath but no sign of Rishi. We decided to stop and called up Rishi for his coordinates. He was actually behind us as he stopped to tank up. As per locals Raiganj was the nearest town and was the best place suitable for us to have breakfast.

Biking on the highway... after biking in 2 lane..

Next stop Siliguri was our goal as we were literally flying with 80 being the standard speed. As we approached Siliguri the city effect took a toll on the roads and we were no more singing as our whole concentration was on the vehicles. Soon we crossed Duncan Tea gardens and Bagdogra airport as the traffic increasing with each roll of wheel. It was already 2 PM as we entered Siliguri, and asked about road to Gangtok and place to fill our tummies. People were reacting like we were from some different country and providing us with costly options for food and stay. One was determined to make us stay in a nearby place, with the help of Police we finally managed to get the correct route after losing our valuable time.
We planned to have lunch at any place available after crossing Siliguri. Our preference was a north east restaurant as it will have the essence of the things to come. We found one and went inside it with a hurry. Somnath was lagging behind as he was a bit confused, a mistake in our part. We called him and found he was just a few meters behind where he spotted a restaurant with same criteria which we overlooked somehow. As we were having food, a parallel enquiry was going on about time needed to go to Gangtok and road conditions etc.

We started again and as time was passing

We realized it after an hour. As we reached Savok , the West Bengal - Sikkim border, a bit of police enquiry was on( no way near to what we faced in Mecheda). They noted down our vehicle numbers as they had enough faith in our madness, and let us go.

Just after 30-40 minutes we realized his words as it started raining, and felt like somebody was throwing stones at us. I was like The halogen was going good even in the hills, the rain was pouring slowly now as we were gaining confidence with time. J The above song was changed drastically

Bikers drenched all the way... after biking in 4 lane..

ODO -384

**devil0483** · 06-07-2010, 07:28 PM

Day 2 Destination Gangtok

Nice write up yet again

. Bring on the rest ASAP

.

**black17BHP** · 06-07-2010, 08:26 PM

Escapade to Sikkim Day 3

An adventure is never an adventure if you don’t get lost in the way and be a stranger in a strange place…and the fun associated with it makes it even better.

Day 3 – 26th April ……. A view of Sikkim’s Biggest Monastery
Come sunshine and a new day, we were waking up gradually, Somnath being the last one. We planned to get our passes today in first half and visit some local places in the afternoon. I got ready and ordered our breakfast. We were looking forward for a tough day as we had heard that the passes were hard to get. Eventually all of us were ready enough for breakfast and we tried our level best to do justice to the HOT PURI AND SABJI served to us. With the sun warm, it was the best time for us to make hay…err, dry our riding gear and unmentionables of clothing. We enquired about the weather forecast from locals and found out the weather will be the same till 2-3 PM. After handing over the responsibilities to them, I and Deepak decided to leave for Sikkim Tourism office and gather the passes, with Somnath promising to join as soon.

A View of Gangtok

As we started roaming in the plastic free city in search for the office for our passes, the sun was unveiling its rays on this beautiful city lying on the side of a hill, with fresh air to inhale and roads becoming a sine theta curve value of theta between 0 and 90. We asked the police maamus on the roadside, they guided us perfectly towards our present destination. The officer’s in office were initially a bit apprehensive, as only Sikkim registered vehicles are allowed in North Sikkim which is an Indian Army controlled area, but after checking all of our documents they told us to get application forms. Deepak went to get us a stapler and I was looking for the form. Rishi called us for a quick regroup as there was a crisis in hand. The UNI was malfunctioning; it was a minor issue but with no Honda or Hero Honda workshop in Gangtok and it would take one day for the local workshop to get it from Siliguri. With the Platina, R15 and Karizma left at our service, an instant decision was made; I will be doing a double in north Sikkim as the ZMA was the only option to take on off roads with a pillion on board. The local drivers and travel agents were not of much help as we were not availing their facilities provided by them. Some also were mocking us like “dekhte hain kahan tak pohuc payega bike leke, hotels sab booked hai nehi milenge, north ka tour bina package ke nehi hota etc”. It was a senior officer who helped us in the end and we got our passesJ. If any of you are planning to visit, please mention all places in the pass, we didn’t mention Katau and ultimately was not able to go, also get a pass for 4 days if you have an intention to visit Katau. It all happened smoothly which was beyond our expectation, and soon, with happy faces, we were planning for a local trip which included Rumtek Monastery (Sikkim’s largest and richest).
Laziness was creeping in as we were supposed to drive just 50 odd kms to and fro. We did a short check on our clothes and riding gears. We asked the hotel guy to bring in our clothes if the weather changes, after taking our gears which were almost dry. As time was running out, we decided to have lunch in between the ride. Also our tummies were yet to digest the breakfast we had. We knew the diversion we had to take in order to go for Rumtek. We filled up our tanks and were on a roll, Rumtek being only 24 odd kms from Gangtok and almost 25 from the place we started we thought it we 70-80 mins drive for us (in hills if the road is good, rider of the flatlands would be able to do 23-25 kms in an hour at max). The first 12 kms were good but with heavy traffic it was not an easy task as we all were new to hills (except Deepak, kyu ki jab wo Bhutan me tha tab aise hi roads the). I was the first to reach the diversion with Rishi just behind me by few seconds, I signaled him to pass by as I will be waiting for others so that they won’t take a wrong path. All were here and we rolled again, the drive through green jungles and snaky roads were exiting and a new experience for us. The drivers were more than helpful as they gave enough space for amateur mountain bikers to maneuver with relative ease. But with time the roads become worse with mud stones and occasional water fall running through the road.
We were all hoping Rishi’s Uni won’t give us a problem and it was meeting our expectation. I got stuck in mud once, due to the combined weight of 223-cc machine and 206-bones beast :P. We were driving and a little locality passed by but yet no signs of the biggest monastery. We drove a bit further and found locals; upon enquiring about the monastery, they showed us an old monastery which was the earlier Rumtek one but it was deserted and not matching with the pictures we have seen, courtesy OM GOOGLEAYE NOMAH. As we stopped for the enquiry Somnath passed by and by the time we discovered the deserted monastery, Somnath was back as there was nothing visible in miles except hills and roads, with one of the passing cars confirming the details provided by Somnath.
Our odo was showing 30+ kms and we were more than a bit confused about our destination. In the meantime there was an idea of photo shoot of us and our BIKES (obviously) with mountains in backgroundJ. As we were done we decided to return and ask in the locality we crossed by. As we stopped in the locality we found the Rumtek Monastery was exactly opposite to it with us having to walk for reaching the place. It was an upwards path, and for S/W people who are more accustomed to use elevators (or lift in common language) than stairs, the uphill road was hell. But we did it with our tongue out, got the tickets and inside the monastery. It was 3 already, as we were admiring the beauty of the place, sun was admiring the rest given to him by clouds.

Rumtek Monastery Panaromic View
The weather was changing and we had to hurry, but knowing we won’t come here in near future again we went to explore things inside. I was here with my family once and was recollecting those days, while others were busy to click the best possible view. Rishi took a fine panoramic view if the monastery, with the help of monks we also managed to get a photo with 4 of us with the monastery in background. We went in to experience the tranquil silence and found lots of traditional stuff inside as time was passing by. The statue of Buddha and smell of their agarbatties were creating a mystic environment. We also saw monks preparing a painting with full concentration and patience as preparing a single painting takes months (I read in local leaflet). Then it was time for us to explore the other part of the monastery as it contained an 8 feet statue of Buddha made of solid gold. It started to drizzle as young monks were looking at us with surprise which made us realize that not much tourist from outside come here with their bikes. As we saw the golden statue we found a soldier guarding the entrance, we started to have a chat with him and got to know about the current state of affairs.
As we were asking around, our tummies were also enquiring about solid stuff. With a slight drizzle started we decided to have our delayed lunch in local restaurants. There were 3-4 with most of them occupied by tourists who were buying time as the rain started to get heavier. We went to the last one and found 4 seats empty which enough for us was.
“Kya hoga bhaiya?”
“Momo, chowmin, rice”
“Ok ok 2 plate Momo and 4 plate chowmin dena, our haan, Momo pahle dena”
This was the conversation before MOMO arrived shortly. Even before we realized, we were done with the MOMO, and then arrived the Chowmin. Somnath was the first to have it and his face turned red, we all looked at each other and tried our (bad) luck. It was ROCKET chowmin as it was spicy and filled up with red chili. With smoke coming out of our ears, most of us were done with half plate and 2 glasses of water. We learnt our lesson about trying local spicy food. As the rain stopped a bit, we rolled after Somnath and rishi kept their mobiles in my bag for safety.
This was the first time we were not cursing the rain as the clouds were cleared and our first view of snow peaks gave us a glimpse of things to come.

First View of Snowey Peaks
We were up for a photo session as all of us were giving poses with snow peaks in back ground. This was our first time and normally we all were exited. Deepu and rishi had their pics and I had enough pics of my babe before asking Deepak to get a hold of me and my ZMA with the snowy peaks as background J… itna to banta hai bhai. As we ended our photo session I asked them to roll as I had to pack my cam. I stayed there for few minutes for a better view but was disappointed. The cloud cover was increasing as time passed.
As I reached a diversion, the locals told that the normal route had a land slide; I was not able to contact anyone, as the contact media (mobiles) of our group was with me. I requested the locals to direct me and they showed me another way which lead to Gangtok Bypass. I requested them to guide my fellow bikers after giving their description. As it started to rain I was concerned about rishi and his uni. The uni was giving a bit of problem and rishi was wearing a t-shirt and track pants due to non availability of dry clothes. I was driving alone with a hope to see the rest and also praying that our hotel people will take care of our clothes and bags.
As I saw an Alto in my rear view mirror, I stopped and asked for the directions to Gangtok. Lucky me … he was going to Gangtok. I followed him as the road started to get worse. In no time I was driving through mud and stone (awesome combo). I was a bit scared and was trying my best to maneuver through those conditions, with rain pouring heavily and day light decreasing it was tough for me. In some portion the roads was half broken and bad enough for a weak heart to stop pumping.
Somehow I managed to reach the bypass and was moving towards Gangtok. I saw a service center and asked them to do a routine checkup of my bike as it needed to be in best possible shape for the toughest part in north Sikkim. I was done and the shop owner wished us best of luck for the rest of the tripJ. Now I saw rishi and I realized he also followed the same path as I did the difference being I was trying to keep up with the alto hence less time taken and he was all alone. Locals were looking at rishi like he was from another country, wearing a T-shirt and track pants in cold and rain was not expected even from locals, I suppose. Soon Deepak and Somnath joined us and we marched towards the hotel. The hotel boy was sensible enough to keep our inside clothes before it got drenched again. We came back, changed and went to MG Marg the most happening place of Gangtok. With a bit of shopping for ourselves and our loved ones we started gathering information about North Sikkim.
Then it was routine work to come to hotel pack limited things and sleep thinking about a day which was supposed to be a piece of cake but turned out to be scary, landslide and bad roads with rain playing its part. But the dreamland was not far and it was time for night dreaming rather than day dreaming. We obliged our tired bodies with the picture of Snowy peaks in mind.

**black17BHP** · 06-14-2010, 07:33 PM

On the way to Indian Switzerland:Destination Lachung last town before Yumthang
A new day a new start, but the destination was miles apart. With partial excitement and lots of scare we woke up. With bed tea in time, it was time for our brains to work as we had the toughest part of our ride coming up in 3 days. After being confirmed by locals that North Sikkim roads are tough, and a double will test my ZMA out an out I knew the responsibilities I had. All were gearing up and we put our heads together to take the minimum clothes and absolutely necessary things and the rest in hotel reception. The hotel guy was helpful enough and was ready to keep our luggage free of cost.
We took 3 bags. One for Rishi and me having raincoat and some clothes, one for Somnath and one saddle bag for Deepak having all spares and repair tools. We were late to start off and Somnath needed to service his bike for the toughest part. We were waiting for our breakfast eagerly which was delayed due to some reason.
Puri but different Sabji, we had plenty this time as we decided to have less food in afternoon or skip lunch even. This time Somnath was the first person to leave the room as he needed that extra time for a whole checkup. We started slowly and Rishi was a bit off as he had to leave his Uni in Gangtok. As me and Deepu were taking our bikes out of the parking lot, tourists started gazing at us like we were straight in from some Pagal Khana, we wasted no time and was off for North Sikkim. It was a complete new experience for me to drive in hills with a pillion. Somnath had an advantage of 15-20 minutes over us, so we decided to cross the city and meet up. After crossing the traffic I saw Deepak waiting and indicating me to stop. We gathered and called up Somnath to find out his longitude and latitude. He was in a nearby shop and promised us to join shortly.
uski bike pe jis tarah najar de rahe the ouff
By the time we were done, Somnath showed up and we were off in a flash. The guy wished us good luck and we waved good-bye. The initial rides were not that tough and we decided to cover ground. There were some tourist spots on the wayJ
While crossing the city, we found a diversion indicating the monastery is 1 kms. We headed off as it was not far. As we went in we found few tourists and a non happening place (actually monasteries are supposed be like this), and will similar style and looks an instant decision was made to skip all the monasteries in our way until it has got a special history or attraction to it. We had a snap of our bike in front of the monastery and rolled on.
The roads started to get tough now with stiff climbs and a pillion, the Karizma was showing all its charisma. At times while climbing I was not able to see the horizon even, adding salt to the wound was rocky roads helped by water running byJ

Seven Sisters Waterfall

In the mean time
A tourist
ME

full mood me tha, pack kar diyaJJ). And then a few shoots before we roll.

All were done by the time I had the refreshment break, with jet set go mode we were off. Rishi decided to utilize his pillion advantage and started shooting videos of the ride, by keeping his cam over my helmet. Deepak realized it and asked me to drive behind him and Rishi to take one more video of his ride. With all requirements done we were in Mangan petrol pump; the last place where you get petrol.

Roger that mode and was off in a flash. Within minutes of Deepak disappearing, locals started laughing. We were surprised with the

Deepu came back and we filled up the cans and our bikes. Also we found a restaurant nearby to fill our cansJL

It was scary and to say the least apun logo ka to watt lag gaya tha
In our headlights, staring, bleak, beer cans, deer's eyes
On the asphalt underneath, our crushed plans and my lies
Lonely street signs, power lines, they keep on flashing, flashing by

And we keep driving into the night
It's a late goodbye, such a late goodbye
It was really what he said. The road was good for most of the part but we were still careful as a flaw can end your life, two if I go wrong as Rishi was with me. The Night breaker was doing wonders for me as usual JJ. As we unpacked our luggage and were about to get some deserved rest we had a bad news coming, the guy we spoke to was a cook and he was drunk. The hotel was booked and we were kicked out of the place L

I went back to find all others relaxing, the hotel people were calling for dinner, as we had to get up early we had our dinner and went to bed thinking about the dream driving we will have tomorrow across one of the best valleys, the so called Switzerland of India.
ODO 117 KMS

**Guest** · 07-03-2010, 04:57 AM

good combo(pics+words) man.
views are like heaven!!

**black17BHP** · 07-03-2010, 05:34 PM

@Its Me, thanks was a bit busy will post the rest soon

**chicane1879** · 07-03-2010, 05:48 PM

Nice writeup and pics. Waiting for the rest.

And that conversation with the 'Bangali' tourist was funny. I could imagine the look on his face!!

**black17BHP** · 07-03-2010, 05:56 PM

Photographers are better than painters when it comes to nature as they capture Gods painting's. Truly said: A thing of beauty is a joy forever" and sometimes even beautiful and wonderful are highly underrated words

Day 5 – 28th April ……. Indian Switzerland Yumthang and Zero Point
When you are driven by dreams, rising early from bed is not a problem as you will be still in your dream; such was the beauty of Lachung. I was up at 4:50 AM and was ready within a flash; I wanted to capture the sun coming out of the snowy peaks. As I was going for the pics I asked others to wake up and be ready. I went outside the city to get a view of sun. It was freezing and I could not feel my hands initially even with my riding gloves. It got better with time and I was able to see the first rays coming out of the mountains. I was spell bound for some time till I heard a peep peep; Oh! I was in middle of the road spellbound by the beauty, never realizing till I heard a car’s horn. Here are a few clicks of rays coming out.

It was another beautiful sight when the rays fell on ice for the first time; it was like a diamond sparkle. I tried my best to capture it and was waiting for sunrise it was 5:35 already and the sunrise was still 30-40 mins to go, the roads we faced yesterday has warned us already and we wanted some spare time with us to enjoy the beauty of Yumthang.

I decided to go back, upon entering the hotel room; I found all in LOL mode and started wondering if I was the victim but nah….it was Somnath. He had brought a swimming trunk to take a bath in Gurudongmar Lake (height 17200ft

). He heard about us going to a lake and packed the essential thing for a bath along with other stuff. And Deepak and Rishi found it out when he started enquiring about the lake and the conditions. By the time I gathered my breath, 10 minutes had passed away. Swimming even in a lake in Gangtok is not possible for us and Somnath was wondering if we will be playing some water sports in 17200 ft. Now after being done with teeth-baring smiles and leg pulling we were ready to go. We kept all our stuff in the hotel and just took our papers in my tank bag. The sun had come out and I have missed the moment (again

). We rolled towards Yumthang. As we crossed the town we were entering a beautiful landscape. I still remember Rishi saying in frequently “Side Dekh age isse better view hai”,” liken kya kare beauty inta ache tha ki roads pe dhyan nehi tha”

I was trying hard to keep my eyes on road as it was impossible for me to ignore the beauty. We decided to click and then we were stopping at every other point on the road. The sky was clear crystal blue like we used to paint during our childhood with some white cloud in it. With a rate of 3 clicks per kilometers we rolled. It was too good a place and we rolled slowly with both of us appreciating the beauty. We crossed a snaky road and a view of the road from the top was a treat to watch

With every turn of wheel we were climbing and the temperature was decreasing. I and Rishi decided to wait for Somnath and Deepak to catch up. And they came with all smiles. We had a mini bike photo shoot there as started going into the valley. The valley was awesome, wonderful, beautiful, terrific, marvelous … _ _ _ (please fill in the blanks with better words) to say the least. This was the first time we saw Rhododendrons, a plant found in high altitudes. Have seen pictures and heard them in a MOHINER GHORAGULI’s song TOMAY DILAM (A Bengali band of 70’s), but sight of it does not match with the pictures. We were clicking again and the rates increased.

Apart from these there was a lot of KARIZMANTIC landscape i.e. landscape with the ZMA. Itna to chalta hai, piche baraf wala pahar sath me Rhododendron ke per… bike leke gaya hoon, to uski pics to banta hai.

With Rishi telling me “ab bas kar”, we started off again, this time driving slowly to enjoy the beauty. Hills nearby and rhododendron plants on both sides with perfect blossom was storing the journey in ROM of our brains. We saw that rhododendron festival was going on and Rishi wanted a T-shirt for the memorabilia. As we rolled through the valley Rishi started taking videos of the ride it was an experience out of the world for us. A dream of driving through one of the most beautiful valleys in India was real and I was enjoying every moment of it. Sikkim has always attracted me more than other places like Darjeeling or Bhutan (though Bhutan is better to drive) because it has a mystic aroma to it. The monastery’s, the culture, the people and the beauty adds to it. As we rolled we found few shops near a tourist spot, it was a hot spring.

We decided to have a photo shoot. As we were left with one eye wear… (Mine broke while coming) we all were posing with the same. Somnath told us that he will charge us 10 bucks each time we use itJ. As Somnath was posing with his back towards us Rishi decided to pay by kicking, a kick which would make Beckham proud and I somehow managed to capture it, it become a legendary moment afterwardsJ. After a laugh and some more posses in which we found Prem Chopra in Deepak and Gani Bhai in Myself, we decided to have breakfast. Now the mountains were near, it was much closer than they appeared.

Momo was the only readymade option and best suited for us, after having a plate of it we ordered tea for rs 10. And some tea it was, it looked like tea, smelled a bit like tea, was hot and had a bit of sugar but the taste

, it was VIRTUAL TEA. But it was hot and was helping our cause. Deepak told me to get kitkats, on asking he replied “yaad hai last 2 din se kitkat kha rahe hain start karne se pahle and so far no major accidents”. Right he was and so from that point it becomes our luck charm. We had kitkat’s and rolled.
After crossing the valley we proceeded further towards the ZERO POINT.

Trio

A view of roads from the top

Again clicking on the way and appreciating whatever we see. We had our permits for Yumthang but not Zero Point and thus trouble loomed in last check post. The officer was showing rules and it needed a proper permit. Zero point being 15-20 kilometers from china, may be its not possible for a four wheeler but a two wheeler can take you there. We asked him to fine us and let us go and at that very particular word he replied “Aise maat bolo, hum yahan fine lene ke liye nehi baithe hain”.
We realized were not dealing with local mamus. We begged him literally and finally he was kind enough to let us go if we keep our nationality proofs there. We handed him our passport and were more than just happy. We started again. The roads were ok, not good but not bad as we faced last night. We were in a comfortable pace till we found a small area where a bridge is broken and we were supposed to drive through a dry river bed full of stones. We were like

… but that was the only route and rishi was off the bike even before I asked him to do so, we some how manuvared our way through it in 1st gear sometime 2nd and started again.

The dry river bed, please find the roads

Zero point was not far and we were going at a optimum speed in order to maintain a balance between the sight seeing and time. I was leading with Deepak accompanning the platina, we reached Zero point earlier and was spell bound to see ice with in reach that too outside the frezeer

.

By that time someone asked “app log wohi ho na jo group bike leke aya hai”

”haan, piche baki hai”
“Platina bhi hai na”
“haan wo bhi aa raha hai”
We didn’t expect our tales to go this far, on asking we found out that other tourist has circulated the information. We were feeling like heros

, it was completely out of the blues

. Soon platina and r15 joined us. Somanth’s platina was not responding in last few kilometers, the air was so less that, even ZMA was not responding after 4-4.5 K RPM. But the Platina had enough power to pull somnath through and 4-4.5K RPM was enough for the ZMA to carry 2 people.
We were having our photo shoots with ice as back ground. We soon went in ice and started playing, throwing ice balls at each other, rishi decided to take it a step further by taking his jacket and t-shirts off, he was bare chested and I was clicking his madness. Induction effect was on somnath and he too joined Rishi. More clicks.

Madness

4 of us

Then we asked some other young tourists to get all 4 of us in one frame. It was a mistake we later realized as they were drunk and somehow managed to get their finger print on the lens

which we found afterwards. All our clicks from there on were murdered

. I realized it after I had clicked some pics, all my efforts of ICE photography was in vain.
It was freezing and they offered me some local brandy.. I accepted and had a bit. It helped me a lot. We had enough on ice and decided to take a coffee in temporary stalls out there. The stall wala told me to have some brandy with coffee. Everyone agreed and had a cup of it. I had 2 there by increasing my count to 3. It was helpful against cold. We were talking with the stall walas and he was keen to know our travell plans. We told him we will go to gurudongmar lake tomorrow, they told us Gurudongmar is just 20kms from there via a road near to China border which is basically a human travelled path but bikes can make it. But we didn’t have our identity proofs with us so the though of an uncertain adventure was of no use. They also warned us about the road condition which was worse to say the least. 75 kms of climb in off roads. With people looking at us like “hum log asmaan se tapak pare hain”, those drunkers wanted our photo with our bikes and also their snap with our bike. After the serv central was served,we waved good bye to them and the local shop keepers and started back.

ZMA with ICE

As we approached the dry river bed I asked rishi to click some snaps of the road, the road we had travelled. Rishi got down and asked me “what the hell is deepak doing up there?” I replied “accha rasta dekh ke udhar chala gaya, rasta bhul gaya hoga, Driver kahika” . It was the case, Deepak has once again lived upto his reputation of being a driver. He followed the road towards broken bridge rather than the path he traversed earlier. We regrouped and started towards Lachung. The down hill drive was a pain mentally and physically also the effect of brandy overdose meant I was missing some pot holes . The plams were paining as you have to hold breakes and clutch in hairpin bends. We stoped at the chech post to collect our ID’s and gave him a packet of Haldiram Bhujia we had with us. He was not ready to take it, but after several request he understood that we were happy and wanted to share it with the officer. He wished us luck as we started.
As we crossed the beautiful vally again but this time with a bit of urgency as we had to go to Lachen by evening, even more if possible. Deepak asked us to stop, the brandy took a toll on him. He was not feeling well, got of his bike and sat down. He was following a jeep and the exhaust from the jeep made it worse (but deepak getting confused by good roads and the actual one was not due to brandy, I assure you, it’s his nature

, drivers nature). So we halted for 10 mins. We also found somnath was upset, his eye wear broke at Zero point. His dreams of earning also broke along with it. By the time Deepak was alright and we started again, deciding not to stop till lachung. After reaching Lachun we were in different trouble.
R15 is a bike only seen in television and young people gathered to get a snap with it. 2-3 young people sat on the bike with different poses , it was like DHOOM for them. Somnath asked a guy showing my bike
” Ye kaisa hai”
“Kuch khas nehi”
I was like

, “@#@$, how can he know how good it is, its doing a double in off roads and had gone upto 15874 feet till now”. Somnath was all smiles .I went inside the hotel with deepak still finding it hard to keep locals off his bike, someone getting on the bike and playing with cluth and acclerator with the manual sound effects. He finally gave up and asked them not to harm the machine. Somanth in the meantime was playing with a baby,she was like an angel, so beautiful, so cute.
As we had our delicous lunch, deepak had a new problem. We were enjoying the food but his sports bike and his riding jacket made him a stunt man for the locals and he was requested to show some stunts. He denied the offer but we were encouraging the locals and promoting him like a professional stunt man, the look he gave us was like the Ramayana look from Ram to Ravan, but we were not ready to miss the fun. As we were done with lunch we decided to fill up our bikes and emptied a can. I was still teasing deepu and was sure about no one bothering my bike. Deepu smiled and told “ dekh tera gari pe baitha hai and usko hata raha hai” I was off in no time and scolded the local heros “gadhe ka kaan nehi hai ki jo chaho karo”. We left the room as early as possible after filling up our tanks and giving away the can to a local boy and also clicked some pics of the little girl.
We started off in good roads, we were crusing with Somanth carrying the can. As we were crossing we found a tourist attraction called Bhimnala falls, it was one more for us and we didn’t spend much time there.

After reaching Chungtham we enquired about the road condition to lachen and onwards. There is a two kilometer bad patch till Lachen and off road from there. We enquired about other places to stay apart from Lachen, and found there is a place called Thangu which is 30 Kms from Lachen. We planned to stay there and rolled. As we were covering ground we faced the bad patch. But it was much better than the roads we faced yesterday, we got through it easily with our prior experiences coming into play. Lachen was not a problem from there. The approcj to Lachen was even more beautiful.As we got the first view of lachen we were astonished, it was even better. We reached there by 5 and went to the police check post.
He asked us about our plans and told us to stay here and take rest. Start early tommorow so that we have a chance to go back to Gangtok. Also even if we go towards thangu it will be 7 and it’s a very small place with very few hotels which means we will be in trouble if we don’t get a place to stay. He asked us if we have any booking as normally people tour north sikkim in a tour and hotels are booked from Gangtok it self via travel aggencies which we didn’t, he called up a hotel guy and instructed us to stay there. We decided to go by his words and went to the hotel. Now were enjoying the beauty of Lachen if Lachung was defination of a small sleepy town in hills, lachen took it a step further, it was even more organised and less crowded. It was way beter than what it seemed form a distance. We checked in and was waiting for dinner. In the meantime we pulling each others legs with Somanths famous swimming plans and Deepak cpnfusing the way and my bike not being Khas, Rishi was named BALKUMAR by then as rishi was styling his hair every time he got an opportunity. Hot dinner arrived and we were having really tasty food to say the least which was not our expectation. Infact in both Lachen and Lachung the quality of food was good. As we were about to finish off our dinner, we were approached by the Officer in Charge of Lachen Police Station, in the dining hall. He visited the hotel only to meet and have a chat with us. It wasn’t very surprising because we have already attained celebrity status by then, since two-wheelers on that route was a rarity. On top of that, he was a very supportive and nice person and wanted to share his experiences. He showed us some beautiful snaps of Gurudongmar Lake (the place which we were going to visit the next morning) from his mobile phone and informed us about the road and weather conditions we would be facing up there. After gathering all the required information, we felt relieved and it seemed that the conversation was going to end on a happy note, but things don’t always turn out the way you would want them to. In his final statement, he said ‘aaplog yahaan se upar bike leke jaa rahe ho, par upar kuchh bhi ho sakta hai aur agar kuchh hota hai to aadmi wapas nahi jaata hai. Sambhalke chalana.’ We were looking at each other and trying to figure out whether it was a deterring statement or just a word of caution. Nevertheless, we were not going to look back. As we took the bed, that last statement was still ringing in my ears. Who knows what destiny has in store for us?

ODO - 158

**black17BHP** · 07-03-2010, 06:01 PM

@Chicane - I wanted to take a snap at that time, but i could not afford a new cam as he would have been furious. There are more incidents like this, read the somnath and deepak ones on day 5

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