I think Steve was suffering from hypoglycemia more than anything else. Of course the altitude made things worse. I have always followed a golden rule, never travel on either an empty stomach or a full stomach! If there is nothing, have at least a banana. Even I do not have tea or coffee! Other than one occasional Kahwa a year!

Strange, But true. Diskit & Hunder has cellphone connectivity

This explains


Thanks! Yeah Kudos to Steve for riding with so much grit, but he didnt have a choice, did he?

Diamox? I guess we forgot where we kept Diamox, and found it only after reaching Keylong


Thanks Dinesh!

Thank you Deepak.

Thank you so much

I wasnt upset, I was in a fix - what do i do next, wait there or ride on. But it was fun at the top, it was snowing - meeting lots of new people and I almost spent 40 minutes at the Top :P

AMS and Me @ K'La

AMS and Me at K-Top

Ever since I started reading threads on Ladakh , K’La has had a special place in my heart. Was all excited to ride to the highest motor able road in the world. Couple of things I missed out due to the excitement was skipped Breakfast and inhaled petrol fumes while tying the jerry cans – this was a mistake; maybe a blunder and cost me heavily. The ride till south pallu was good without any issues. I started getting signs of breathless as soon as we reached the check post. My thought was keep drinking water and I should be good. I should keep you guys informed about another habit of mine- I do not drink Tea/Coffee and this cost me dearly as well. Ananth had his share of Tea/Coffee when ever we skipped breakfast and this kept him going. As soon as we got the Sign to head to the K-top, I did not want to strain the bike and kept riding without pushing the bike. It was cold, so cold that you feel your balls might be frozen (excuse my language) but did not get better words for expressing myself. This was the coldest weather I have experienced in my life. Cold weather, bad roads, Ice, no Traction for the tyres, Dizziness, Weakness and a mild headache – this was the situation I was in. However did not want to let Ananth down and kept motivating myself. Every kilometer felt like a millennium. Soon we reached “India Gate” I came here first and asked Ananth to stop and get a picture of me with my bike out here. Now Ananth wanted a picture as well. I did not want to let him down by giving excuses and headed down about 10 meters to get the snap. Got a little pissed when he asked me go further down . Now I had to walk up at that altitude, this did not help me either but I am glad I got that shot. As I resumed the journey thinking things cannot get worse I get stuck at a massive traffic jam. We were stuck for quite some time and I am not sure how long as my condition was deteriorating, add to that every truck/Car in front of us was revving causing me to inhale diesel smoke. As soon as I reached the top, I knew I had to get down, called Ananth to get a picture so that I can move. Ananth was a little upset as I could not get his Picture. I could not explain the situation there and said meet you somewhere on the way to Nubra(Sorry Ananth for not getting your picture). The ride from K’La to the North Pallu section was a nightmare. Couple of reasons

1. Number of vehicles passing through this route should be 1/10th the number of vehicles riding from Leh to K’la.(Most of the tourists turn back from K’la)
2. As mentioned by Ananth this region does not receive a lot of sunlight.

As I started riding down I realized that I was the only person traveling in this route and I was alone, fighting something I cannot see but only experience in some of the worst conditions imaginable (In layman’s terms – “I was Fc’uked). There no point in stopping as I had to get down ASAP. Roads were bad with a lot of fresh Ice, water and slush. Maintained a decent speed thanks to the tyres. I did not know how far the army camp was as there were no sign boards. This is on section I wished I had stopped to take pics as it was breathtaking(this coming from a guy who could not concentrate due to AMS). As I kept riding I faced an urge, an urge to pee. Now this is something I could not control. I did not know if I should stop and Pee or keep riding. After some time I did not have a choice. By the way Did I mention about my riding gear. I had my raincoat pants on which does have a Zipper. Getting that pant down at this situation was tough with an urge to Pee. Somehow answered natures call and headed towards a settlement(road workers I guess) and asked about the army camp. Good thing was I was out of the snow capped region. I saw a lot of squirrels(not sure what they were).Finally reached the North pallu check post. Did not even see the signboard Ananth was talking about and asked for help. The army guys were so helpful that they got me inside their canteen and gave me hot water and asked if I wanted Tea. Got the hot water and politely refused the tea and kept waiting for Ananth. I had some problems here, my headache was ok but I was feeling drowsy but did not want to sleep as the canteen was not on the road and I did not want Ananth to miss seeing my bike and get separated. The next 20 minutes kept fighting sleep by talking to the army guys and cursing Ananth for not coming soon. Finally I hear a motorbike sound which was not a bullet and found our an at the check post. He did not see the bike. I started shouting with whatever energy I had left and the army guy in the canteen helped me as well. Finally the Ananth joined me at the canteen. He had some food here and then we pushed off towards Diksit. I was still not Ok and was feeling sleepy and informed Ananth that we had to stop at the next village. Took a short nap and had a Sinkers bar- I think it is this small 40rs junk food which brought me back to life. After Khardhung I was normal and we proceeded towards Dikskit.

This was my experience fighting AMS and riding on the highest motor able road in bad weather. To feel what I felt you will have to ride it. They say a picture can say a 1000 words, now that you have read this article look at the pic of me at K-top. Hope you guys enjoyed it.

Finally got some time to read this thread and whoa..I had been missing something!

Great trip and nice clicks Ananth....the best thing about another Leh log is that you cannot get bored seeing the same places again and again captured in different times or with different perspectives...

Wow Ananth,

Super duper stuff.. Great log. But the high light was the videos. <applause>

In the last video (posted in the Day 7 log), some dark clouds could be seen. Is it so..? (Or just my imagination).

Anyways, CONGRATS again. Awesome stuff. Snow, Ice, Black Ice, sand dunes, desert, riding on road in pot holes... And that too all in one day, Marvelous...

Again wonderful log full of your awesome experiences Ananth. Good to know that Steve rode against AMS to be there and do that - Get Leh'ed.

Nice set of videos Steve.

Black ice is nothing but a thin layer of ice on the road. Its called black as it cannot be seen from ur saddle and appears transparent thru which the BLACK TARMAC is visible. U know what happens when a tire hits thin hard ice!

Yeah, it was several weeks ago..
But, I was under the impression that fuel prices would be steep considering all the transportation involved to reach that part of the world..

@Tarc - That was several weeks ago when the prices in Chennai were around 52 odd.

Finally found some time to read...Day 7 log is superb..enjoyed reading it thoroughly..snow, mountains, deserts...Superb!!!!

@Steve, Kudos to you for overcoming AMS and keeping the riding spirit..it seems you overcame it by just sleeping..didnt you take any medicines like Diamox or anything..

And petrol for Rs55 at Diskit?..wow!! cheaper than Chennai!!!

Very true

Reminds me of US; the people in mid west are good & are of helping nature (not sure on AL & TX) & that's the impression of US you get. But wait till you visit NY city where you're yet another piece of flesh with no value. I guess its the same everywhere no matter its US or India, villages & small towns still remain good.

Can feel the excitement
Amazing
What is this black ice? Is it the slush of snow & dirt mixed together?

I was speaking to Akhil and he was enquiring about the road statuses for you. You called me the next day morning, around 7 AM.

Chaos in office - First one week, I kept myself low. Not much breaks / moving around the lobby to be seen by the managers. But it took me a while to settle off project issues which popped up as soon as i left for leh. Managers are still kinda not happy, but i dont give a damn. Leh was more important than the projet issues :P

And i edited the links, can you check again? Its displaying fine here..

In the middle of the cold desert you were receiving calls from your office? How bad was the chaos at office? At what point exactly did you recieve my call?

Cannot see most of your links. Showing some error message!

Day 7: Leh - Kardung La - Nubra Valley

Day 7: Leh - Kardung La - Nubra ValleyYouTube - Enroute to KardungLa - Ladakh









Parked the bikes on the sand and took a few snaps. Received a message from Rossitter enquiring about road conditions to Kardung La. I was calling up Akhil, sitting in the middle of sand dunes. Technology has improved a lot.

Akhil, I was speaking to you from here :



Sajit wanted to try driving the fortuner on Sand. They tried their best, but could not climb up after a limit. They had to reduce the tyre pressure to 5 psi to drive on sand dunes. They did not want to take risk, so settled in on a side.





We spent an hour more there, chit chatting and relaxing. The good part of the place was that it was pleasant, small stream running on one side, dunes to play on the other side and the temperature warm enough to enjoy all this.



The tripod they used:







ZMR, A Better tourer?





Saw a petrol pump at Diskit. It was so small that one could miss it even after seeing the way it is built up. Off road from the road into the hand operated pump. 55 Rs for a litre. Filled in some 4L each. Went back to the room and crashed. Eventful day, riding on snow fall was a first for me. Experiencing snow fall is different and riding on a snow fall is totally different. Anyhow, day well spent. The room was very comfortable, sipped in another tea and slept off for the night. Once again 1000 thoughts were running in my mind, could not sleep properly. Just laid down, praying for the worst not to happen

Thanks bro.

Sorry aargee, Was tied up with some work. Done with the next days log. Will post it in a while.

Nice video da. send methe video, ill edit it and re upload it

So you didnt goto Pangong or you went via wari la - chang la? And yes, Welcome back

Nothing BIG, just switch on the camera, mount it in the space between your chin and the helmet