Thanks Vishnuu baba

Thanks Sagar.Yeah i was very happy to see my fellow brothers from Mumbai.

Duct tape was to save the bike from scratches.

Cheers
Biru

With so many Leh threads I'm completely lost. Don't know which one to read and what time. Atleast now I have a quick glance through all the threads posted.

Great stuff Rohit!! How did the Karizmas perform?

hahaha..MG take your time.Btw where is your thread.I cant see it.

Thanks Joey.Karizma's performed very well.You just need to get it tuned from the mech for the fuel mixture thing.

Cheers
Biru

DAY 9
PANGONG TSO - PANAMIK

In the morning we again went to the lake to enjoy its morning glory and do some group posing.



All of us just sat there for couple of hours to admire and cherish the beauty of the lake.




Later KP said Marsimik La is not far from here,so lets go and check out.Me and Vishnuu agreed on tagging along,while others decided to wait and enjoy the lake and have some rest.

Just before you enter Lukung,there is a left turn for Phobrang.That route takes you to Marsimik La.So me,KP anna and Vishnuu started for Marsimik La,soon we reached Phobrang where army peoples asked us to go back.Because there was some work going on,on the route and secondly we dindt had the permit for Marsimik La.Actually you have to mention it seperately in the permit form.

So we had the only option to go back and start for Nubra via Shayok.
We went back to the mud houses,loaded our luggage and started for Nubra with the rest of the gang.

Reached Tangnste and then Dubruk.From Dubruk there is a Y junction.the left one takes you to Chang-La,Karu and the right one takes you to Shayok-Agham-Khaltsar-Nubra valley

So obviously we took the right turn and moved ahead for Shayok.
The route definately was a short cut,but it was in very very worst condition.Sand crossings,Big-sharp boulders and river beds in some parts and all this for 30 + kms.



The stretch was all on the plains but most scary , as if anyone's bike would have been punctured then it would have been a nightmare for all of us.

But luckily nothing like that happened.and we made khalsar without any major hicupps except some avatars from the mighty vishnuu baba at the sand crossings

We stopped at khalsar and again we met fellow riders from Mumbai XBHP,whom we met on our way to Pangong Tso.They also came via shayok route.But Motor's and Raman's friends bikes got punctured so Spidy,Alankar and Motor had to stay on the Army camp in the night while Raman and friends gang had to sleet on a bulldozer.:shock:
(guys correct me if i am wrong on this part D )

Had some Lunch there and started for Panamik to have a glimpse of the hot water spring.Spidy,Motor and Alankar also tagged with us.Reached Sumur and then Panamik.

Damn,water was really very hot.And spidy posing



Kids at Panamik



Views of Nubra



It was almost evening and it has been a hard day for us.Some of us wanted to call it a day and some of us wanted to ride till diskit and call it a day.So because of the difference in opinion heated arguments followed,but at the end of the arguments we stayed at Panamik only.While Spidy,Motor and Alankar left for Diskit as they were running low on fuel and had to arrange it in Diskit.


Later in the night everything calmed down with the pegs of OMR.Very useful stuff i say

Cheers
Biru

Awesome shots Biru.

DAY 10 - 13 JUNE
PANAMIK - KHALSAR

We started early from Panamik,so that we can visit Diskit,Hunder in the morning and cross Khardung La before afternoon.
Nubra valley known as the valley of flowers,but what the heck it didnt had any flowers at our time

Complete region was dry and parched.But still i was taking plenty of stops to capture the beauty of the Nubra Valley.



Soon we made it to Diskit and then Hunder

SAND Dunes at Hunder


At hunder we stopped for the breakfast.It was a south indian canteen,where you can get idli's dosa's..uthappa and yeah samosa,jalebi's too.Since it was too early in the morning,we have to wait for 1/2 or 1 hour.

Me and Ashish had taken the permit for turtuk as well.So i enquired in the canteen that, "how far is it ??".The canteen guy had an i am not sure expression but still he threw away an answer 'its only 40 Kms from here'
And i immediately asked everyone,'who is ready to go '.But nobody was ready

So i thought for a while and decided to go solo.while the others decided to have breakfast and spend some time at sand dunes...and ofcourse they agreed to wait for me for max 2 hours.

After riding for 5-6 kms the 'F-' sign started to blink.
But no worries,as i had 5 ltrs of fuel in stock.So i kept on riding.
Later on my way some army fellas stopped me by blocking all the road,just to check out my bike.Later they asked me for the lift .Two of them jumped on my bike,but i politely said "sir jii ek hi banda jayega sirf".

The army station was around 8 Km from there.Just to reconfirm the distance of turtuk i asked him that how far is it.He said its very far,But not sure how many kms.

I dropped him at the base,he offered me tea and snacks.But i was having very less time on my hand so i said "thankyou" and zoomed ahead.I had almost travelled 40Kms but there was no sign of Turtuk.Finally saw a checkpost,where i was stopped to show the permit.

He was a police guy.
he said "sir you cannot go ahead".
I said "why"
Because "you are solo,we cannot allow single person to go ahead..If i will let you go.Then the army check posts ahead will stop you and ask you to return"
I said "Common sir,I am coming from all the way from Mumbai to see this place and now you are returning me back"
argument like these continued for 15-20 mins and then i finally gave up and offered him some money.100 Rs

Vistas along the way



And he let me go,and said if you were asked about your second partner at posts ahead then just tell them he is taking rest at the nearby village.
And yeah he told me one more amazing thing that,Turtuk is still 40 Kms away from here.Hunder to Turtuk is 80 kms one side
Ok,so i started for Turtuk again.After some 20 Kms i got stopped at

Military check post,where i submitted the copy of the pemit.Army guy was not too concerned about me being solo.He just asked where is the other guy.I added some spice to make it more real and replied "He is having loose motions so he stopped for the break at the last village,If later on he comes here can you please let him pass ".He said 'OK'

Vistas along the way




Again 20 Kms of run and i reached turtuk village,there again you have to submit a copy of the permit.The police guy at the check post was very friendly.I invited him for tea and had a chat for couple of mins.Like how do you guys get food,how is situation at the border any major problems you guys face.

Turtuk Farms


Over the conversation i came to know from a villager that,This village was part of Pakistan but in war of 1971 india captured some good 20-25 kms. from the previous border.Actually there was a bridge enroute.This side of bridge was Pakistan and that side of bridge was India.Now the bridge and some odd 30 kms are in India

Here is the bridge


The Police man showed me the pakistan border,pakistan posts.But from the village it's just very very far.You can just see and assume,yeah there it is.

So i went ahead and there was a military camp ,beyond that point no touritst are allowed.
I started my return journey from there.And in couple of hours made it back to Hunder.I went to the same canteen and ordered Masala Dosa,Oh i hadn't eaten anything from the morning i was vey hungry.
Again i met our Mumbai xbhpians.They were out of fuel and there was no fuel available at Diskit.Damn they were in deep trouble.

I wish i could have helped them but i just used my reserve 5 ltrs before entering Hunder.

Had an heavy breafast with them and started ahead for Khardung La.And what i see at Khalsar is,that all the lazy bums are sitting there and playing cards.I said wats up..They said 'Road is closed today because of major snowfall'.

They had booked a dormitory for 100 rs per bed. I just went there and crashed to bed as i was very tired.

Cheers
Biru

super awesome!.. i wish to go on a ride like this someday.

Biru siji..waiting for more..just mesmerizing snaps..you're damn lucky to have visited those places..and I'm really happy that you took your bike...shows that she ain't just a feather weight......

DAY 11 - 14 JUNE
KHALSAR - KARGIL

To cross the mighty Khardung La we started early in the morning,soon we reached Khardung.But we had to stop due to mild snowfall wihch happened in the morning.Road was all jammed.



Few hours later the road got cleared,but we still waited to let the heavy vehicles pass so that the turf will be bit rideable.But we were wrong,even the cars like Scorpio,Travera etc were having hard time to drive ahead on the snow turf.And it was all Jammed.





The taxi fellas tied ropes-chains in their tyres and zoomed ahead.we had no option other than paddling.Had a very-very hard time to reach
at the top as the bike was skidding a lot and was not moving even an INCH.Also oxygen was very less at that hieght and KP Anna's GPS showed -10 degree temprature.Once i took my bike to the top,i came back to
pick up the Shadow's bike,Motu was unable to paddle



Once we reached the top,we had some refreshments.Had some photo sessions.





Mild snowfall started again and a landslide happened on the LEH route.
In a while it got cleared and we started for LEH.Pretty soon we reached LEH,took the airport bypass to avoid the city traffic.





Since the Manali-LEH route was still not open,we had to take the Jammu route again.
Stopped at Magnetic Hill for some photo shoots,which we missed while coming.



But this time we took the Batalik route instead of the Lamayaru route.This route was in pretty good condition as compared to the Lamayaru route,which was full of potholes.

Vistas while going batalik





We reached Batalik and stopped for the photo session,army fellas out there provided us Free tea.



Next stop was Kargil.

Some more vistas





We made it to Kargil in the evening and decided to spend the night in Kargil.



But all the hotels were full,it took us an hour to find an good accomodation.

Had some awesome chchken curry-rice in the night and went to sleep.


Cheers
Biru

Good to see that your thread up after some time.

As usual beautiful pics.

]DAY 12 - 15 JUNE
KARGIL - RAMBAN

It was freezing cold in the morning,somehow we managed to start quite early by 5:30 AM.Reached at Kargil War Memorial,stopped to pay the tribute to those Great Kargil Heros.Gates were closed at that time,they opens from 7 am in the Morning.





While i was clicking pictures i asked other to move ahead in a slow pace.
Some vistas in between





Zozila was in quite good condition when we crossed and that too with almost NO traffic.





Zozilla war memorial



Crossed zozila pass and reached Sonmarg.stopped for a breakfast break.While coming to LEH we encountered Snowfall at Zozila and Sonmarg,but today sky was clear and the day was shiny and we were actually able to see the scenic beauty of this heavenly place.

Gaandhi Ji ke teen bandar



While we were waiting for breakfast and doing Sunbath in our own way.Few kids started to bug us,they were insisting us to buy "SHILAJIT".Which is also known as DESI VIAGRA .We shooed away the kid saying we are still young and we can do wonders without all these stuff .

After having a long breakfast break we started for Srinagar,Soon we crossed srinagar via city bypass.

Somewhere before Srinagar



And last view of Kashmir Valley



Encountered some real bad traffic jam around anantnag-banihal.It was spread till Ramban.Plenty of hours got wasted beacuse of that Traffic Jam,it was almost 7 Pm when we reached Ramban.So we decided to do the night stay in the Ramban only.

Due the traffic jam most of the Hotels were occupied,luckily we got one hotel right on the main road.

Cheers
Biru