Every individual has dreams – Dreams of achieving things, Dreams of following their passion, Dreams of places to visit. One of mine (in a list as big as it could get) is to drive across Ladakh. When Monks(shashi) started with the initial plan about 3 months before the journey, I knew I was going. This meant two birds in one shot – Ride for multiple days and visiting the heaven for bikers. Tintin started planning for the trip. As has been the norm in our trips these past few months, there were multiple drop outs and to top it all, even the original planner Monks dropped out (curses to u Monks.. u had the most stable bike in the gang!!!). Finally Nithin (Tintin), Vineeth (MoMS), Pradeep (sk), Senthil and ppr(me) were ready to go and when we couriered our 3 bikes (2 Pulsar 180cc – mine and tintin’s and 1 hero honda hunk – Senthil’s) on 16 Aug 2011 from Bangalore to Jammu through Gati couriers, we knew it was the point of no return – Our bikes have gone. So, we have to go. π
Day 1: Gentlemen its time to go!!!
Sunday, 28th Aug 2011 – Bangalore to Delhi to Jammu
Knowing that Rohtang pass is one of the toughest passes to ride across, the plan was to avoid it in the first phase of the ride and instead go via the Jammu route to Leh. Even though this a longer route, the roads are superb and scenic beauty of Kashmir valley is one to behold. Since, tintin had his exams till the 27th of Aug, we planned our flights to Delhi on Sunday the 28th Aug 2011. The 5 of us were ready with 3 saddle bags and two trek bags at the BIAL to catch the 10:35am JetLite flight to Delhi. By 2pm, we were out of the Delhi airport and we had 8 hours to kill before the train to Jammu. So we planned to visit the Humayun’s tomb, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Nizamuddin railway station with an entry is Rs 10 for Indians and Rs.250!!! for foreigners. Why is there such a huge difference in pricing? After all, they too are here to watch the same place.. Its not as if they are being shown the same place though a better view/position… The monument in itself is beautiful Persian architecture, but inside the monument, it literally stinks. Renovation on the outside itself is not sufficient, the government has to make sure that the money goes into cleanup inside as well. By 4pm, we were out and decided to visit India Gate, which is a memorial for the Indian soldiers who died in World War I. It is also one of the main centers of agitation for IAC(India Against Corruption) and their crusade in Delhi other than the RamLila maidan. It was the same day Anna was breaking his fast after the government approved to table the Jan Lokpal bill to the standing committee. So, there was a sense of celebratory mood around India gate. Tens of thousands of people wearing Gandhi topi and waving India flags were shouting slogans and dancing to the tune of a band. We dont know if the majority of the people assembled there understood the version of the bill, but still they were dancing away happily hoping it was for a good cause. The traffic policemen had a hard time controlling the tempo’s and omni’s with their loud-patriotic songs on their speakers, honking away to the joy of the people around India gate… Had food in Andra Mess and reached The Delhi Sarai Rohila station to catch the 10:15 Duranto train to Jammu Tawi.
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Humayun’s tomb |
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India Gate |
Day 2: Ride through the tunnels… π
Monday, 29th Aug 2011 – Jammu to Srinagar. 304km – 9 hour ride.
The First Day of bike ride… π We arrived at the Jammu station at 7:30am and took an auto to travel the 10km to Gati office in Shiv market. We got our bikes delivered and used the petrol we carried in bottles as the courier guys dry out the petrol tank before transporting. By the time we had the first taste of paranthas in this trip and were geared up with the saddle bags on our bikes and gloves, arm, leg guards to protect ourselves from any untoward bike incidents it was 11:45am. Senthil and sk in the hunk, Myself and MoMS in my pulsar and tintin alone in his pulsar along with MoMS’s and sk’s bags was the way we were gonna ride in the trip. We drove through to the hill station called as “Patni Top” about a 100km ride – One of the closest places to Jammu that experiences snow fall. The roads are superb at most places. We had a wonderful first view of the Kashmir valley from Titanic point. Then we rode through the most amazing 2.5km “Jawahar tunnel“, dug through a mountain of Pir Panjal range between Banihal and Qazigund. It is guarded on both sides by Indian army and photography is strictly prohibited. Seriously, it was one of the high-points of this bike trip… The ride through the beautiful tunnel. Now the second high of the day: The “Green Tunnel” – On the way from Ananthnag to Srinagar there is a small town called Bijbihara. Here, a natural tunnel about 2 Kms is made by poplar trees on either side of the road. It barely allows sunlight inside and the ride along this stretch is absolutely amazing to say the least. We reached Srinagar by 8:30pm and booked a house boat (H.B – MoMS wink-wink :D) in Dal lake at the cost of 3.6K for the night including dinner for the night and the breakfast the next day. Titanic view point, Jawahar tunnel and Green tunnel – Triple delight on the first day!! Good day in office…. π
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First view of the Kashmir valley |
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Green tunnel |
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En-route to Srinagar |
Day 3: Zoji la here we come.
Tuesday, 30th Aug 2011 – Srinagar to Drass. 150km – 6.5 hour ride.
The package in the house boat include a shikara or boat ride in the Dal lake. By 8:30am we rode in a small boat and within the first minute of the ride we were being pestered to buy ice-creams. Then came the ornaments, the Saffron flower stigmas called Kumkumpoovu, traditional Kashmir attire photos and the list goes on…. For an hour and half the ride was through the force-sellers and were happy when we arrived back to the House boat with sk being the only victim buying 12gms of Kumkumpoovu. Then we had Jin-Ho Choi, a Korean, whom we befriended in the House Boat, singing English country music songs for us. By the time we left it was again guess what!! 11:45am…. No matter what distance we were to do for the day, we were able start the first two days at the exact same time… π
We hit the beautiful Sonmarg valley en-route with a slight drizzle and a beautiful river. The roads are not much to boast about but still we travelled at decent pace. Then came the Zoji La or the Zoji Pass, 9km from Sonmarg and a vital link between Kashmir and Ladakh. At 11,575 ft, it is the second highest pass after Fotu La on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway. The roads are pretty rough to handle with steep elevation at places, no tarmac and a rock ridden ride. We took quite sometime to clear the stretch. Once we cleared the pass, the roads became bearable to ride and by 6:15pm we arrived at Dras – the second coldest inhabited place on earth. The Tiger hills is clearly visible from the town. The rooms in “Hotel city view” are cheap at 500 for 5 people and the food is decent. We went to visit the Dras war memorial and found that the entry was prohibited for the day, as an officer of the Indian army was there to commemorate the memorial. So we turned back. The next day was Ramzan and this Muslim dominated region was in festive spirit with prayers running all through the night.

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Route leading to Zoji La |
Day 4: The day of double puncture.
Wednesday, 31th Aug 2011 – Drass to kargil to Lomayuru. 162km – 12.5 hour ride.
By 7am, we were ready to leave as we had to cover the entire stretch to Leh which comes upto 290kms. A 7km ride led us back to the Dras war memorial. The designated person showed us around and explained the happenings of the 1999 Kargil war with the Tiger hills, Tololing and Pt.4875 – the three major points clearly visible in the backdrop of the memorial. We bought our souvenir T-shirts and were really moved by the number of soldiers who laid down their lives to protect our borders. As the saying in the wall of the memorial goes: “These soldiers gave up their today for your tomorrow“!! We salute you brave sons/daughters of mother India. On crossing Kargil, we found that none of the hotels that were open on Ramzan day served veg food, so we decided to continue and try our luck ahead. About 15km before the Mulbek town we had our first puncture of the trip. Senthil’s bike had a rear tyre puncture and to top it off, he had no tool kit. Our pulsar tool kit spanner didn’t match and we were in a fix. So, after struggling for 1 hour, we decide to remove the luggage from tintin’s bike. Senthil travelled alone and sk along with MoMS carried their travel bags along with Senthil’s saddle bag till Mulbek to find a puncture shop. It took another 1.5 hours to change the tube as the back tyre nut was so tight that it took three people including MoMS(who is a giant by the way) to remove it and replace the tube. From here on, an hours ride took us to Fotu la, at 13,479 ft, it is the highest in the Srinagar-Leh highway. Along the way, we can notice the greenery of the Kashmiri valley dissappearing to give way to the barren hills Ladakh landscape. To add more trouble to our day, Senthil’s rear tyre went bust once again. We were 25kms away from Lomayaru and we decide to repeat the process of Senthil riding alone. He rode at 10kmph which made our journey arduously slow. Finally, at 7:30pm, we were in Lomayuru, the Buddhist town. We took a couple of clean rooms in “Moonlight Restaurant” and enquired about bike repairs. To our disappointment, the owner said there were only puncture shops in the town which were closed at this time and it was better to take the bike to Leh to get it repaired and check for Rim/tyre damage after the 40km ride on a punctured tyre. It was decided that we shall take the bike to Leh through a small truck and get it repaired the next day but at the cost of losing the buffer day. Bad luck. But we cannot except a bike trip even without a small incident… So, after our first taste of Ladakh local cuisine, still in good spirits, we went to sleep like logs. It was a tiring day.
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Dras war memorial |
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@Fotu La |
Day 5: Bike service day.
Thursday, 1st Sep 2011 – Lomayuru to Leh. 138km – 4 hour ride.
We were informed that the mini van will be available around 10am. So, we had time to kill and visited the Lomayuru monastery and had our breakfast of puris… π The van cost Rs.3000 to travel that distance. And to make proper utilization, we dumped all our luggage (by all luggage, i mean even MoMS!!! π ) in the van. The roads were blocked by the BRO for road widening for a few minutes and finally we were let through. The roads are absolutely marvellous. We also find the sangam of zanskar and Indus in a small town called Nimmu before we reach Leh. About 50 km before Leh, we reach the Magnetic hills which is said to defy gravity and pull the vehicle upward. But it is just an optical illusion and we too tried our hand on our bikes. Not very exciting to be honest. We finally reached Leh at 2pm and spent the next 30minutes searching ATM and garage shops. Finally we zeroed in on the garage and checked Senthil’s bike meanwhile tintin and sk booked a hotel for us to stay and also visited the DC office to get the “Inner-Line Permit” required for the travel to cross the check posts at several locations across Leh as we border two “friendly” neighbours. Finally, we tweaked our bikes too to make sure it doesn’t trouble us in the days ahead. By 6pm, we were free and visited the Shanti Stupa, a Buddhist stupa which holds the relics of the Buddha at its base. Situated on a hilltop, it also provides a good Panoramic view of the entire city. Our search to visit Leh palace was a disaster as we roamed around in the dark for an hour to finally give up and reach our rooms in “Shanti Palace” costing 1600 for a double room.
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Lomayuru Gompa |
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Nimmu town |
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Shanti Stupa in Leh |
Day 6: Khardung la baby!!!!!
Friday, 2nd Sep 2011 – Leh to Nubra valley. 132km – 7 hour ride.
By 9:30am, we had left our luggage behind in the hotel (as we were returning back to Leh the next day) to start our BIG ride. We were going to cross Khardung La – the highest motorable road in the world, standing at 18380 ft. After a 40km steep uphill ride, of which, the roads deteriorate after South Pulu, we were finally there…. The zenith of motorbike riding. It is as of now, officially atleast, the highest point till which one can take his bike in the world. Felt absolutely happy with the feat. But along the way, we found about 50 girls trying to conquer the Khardung pass on their cycles. All I can say is “Bravo”!!! You need absolute determination along with physical capability to achieve such a feat. We took T-shirts as Souvenir and posed for a lot of pics. Had hot black tea at the restaurant in the top and after a stop totalling 30minutes, started our ride down to Nubra valley. MoMS had the first effect of AMS(Acute Mountain Sickness) due to the low air pressure at high altitudes. Then it got to me as well. After a 10minute ride down, I decided to sit pillion in Senthil’s bike and Sk rode my bike. We stopped at North Pulu for our lunch. MoMS puked out water… Good that we hadn’t had breakfast….:P Then the ride became easier with good roads and downhill ride. We crossed Khardung village. Here I took my bike back and sk instead rode Senthil’s bike. A 43km ride took us to Khalsar village. Here there is a deviation to the left which takes us to Dikshit and Hunder and going straight would lead us to the model village Sumur. Our plan was to halt at Hunder for the night. So after riding for 23km we reached Dikshit and a further 7km led us to Hunder renowned for its sand dunes. The gradual change from barren hills landscape to that of sand dunes, after crossing Khalsar, is quite beautiful and one to watch out for. The Shyok River can be seen all along the route. We found a hotel “Olgog guest house” charging 800 for the 5 of us. We then went for a ride on Double humped or Bactrian camel in the well conserved sand dunes for 15minutes costing Rs.150 per head. Then we sat on the dunes to watch a peaceful sunset and then retired back to the room.
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@Khardung La |
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Nubra valley |
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Double humped camel ride in Hunder |
Day 7: Back to Leh.
Saturday, 3rd Sep 2011 – Hunder to Sumur to Leh. 172km – 9 hour ride.
We started early next morning, as we had to cover Sumur along the way. We visited the Dikshit Gompa. Then took ourselves all the way till Khalsar before taking the deviation towards Sumur. Visited the monastery and started the ride back to Khardung la. By the time we reached Khardung village it started raining heavily and we stopped to have our brunch. Once the rain abated by 1pm, we left to North Pulu and there I was affected by AMS again. Got severe head ache. This time SK took the reins and rode to Khardung la. About 5km before the pass, the rain had created a huge slush on the road and the BRO were doing there best to make the pass accessible once again. I got down from the bike and started to walk across the slush and in about a minute i was totally stuck in the middle of the slush which was about 1ft. The BRO employee helped me and MoMS out to walk across and we waited for about 1.5 hours for the road to be cleared by the time which it even started snowing. Head ache + ride in the slush + a bit of fear + snow = great combination to screw up one’s mind… π Finally they let the vehicles pass and we never even thought about stopping at the Khardung La top this time around. The ride after that was again easy on reaching South Pulu. Downhill ride and good roads again. We reached Leh back at 6:30pm.
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Dikshit gompa |
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Gompa in Sumur |
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En-route to Leh |
Day 8: Flop ride day: Bad bike day 2 + Bad health day… Another ultimate combo… π
Sunday, 4th Sep 2011 – Leh to Zingral and back. 190km – 9 hour ride.
For the first time in the trip, the first thought that came to my mind as soon as i woke up was “I need to get back home!!”. My body was aching like hell and I was running a slight fever and I didn’t have a clear head. I told MoMS straight that they should leave me and go ahead with the trip. After 10 minutes of blunt “No” for an answer, I decided to go ahead but as a pillion for the entire day. Bad start to the day. By 8:30am, we checked out of our rooms and left to the route taking us towards Chang La. A 15km drive took us to Shey palace which isn’t much to boast about and then took an hours drive along good roads to Karu where we had our breakfast. Karu is the junction of deviation towards Chang La and ultimately to Pangong Tso while the other road leads to Manali. The route is pretty good with not so steep curves but Senthil’s bike decided to behave like a TVS 50 and grunt ahead even for small inclinations. On reaching Shakti, we were absolutely certain that something was wrong with the bike when I, who was riding pillion, had to get down and walk short distances to allow the bike some breathing and climb time. The bad day just had turned worse. So, we returned back to Karu to find a garage and the guy took 2.5 hours to clean the carburetor, airfilter completely and even changed the spark plug. We decided to go ahead with the plan of reaching Pangong Tso the same day as the roads were supposed to be ultimate. The second time around, the bike started moving a bit smooth and the by the time we reached Zingral which is 13km before Chang La, the bike sputtered to a stop uphill. We decided it was too risky to take a bike across the pass which might not climb back tomorrow as the towns after the pass were not renowned for a garage. We rode back the entire way to Leh, to not take any chances with the garage in Karu, only to find it closed for the day. The worse had just turned to worst. It was an end to a pathetic day of riding and hardship, with no distance achieved and a precious day lost. But we were finally able to visit the Leh palace… π
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Shey Palace |
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Enroute to Chang La |
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Leh Palace |
Day 9: Reattempt to conquer Chang La
Monday, 5th Sep 2011 – Leh to Lukung (Pangong Tso). 155km – 6 hour ride.
Now the other 4 decided not to wake me up until the bike got serviced completely. Which was a good move; considering that, I got the required rest and was rejuvenated and ready to go ahead with the ride. By 10:50am, Tintin and Senthil had serviced their bikes. I was back to my riding position and since we had taken pics en-route the previous day we literally ran non-stop from Leh to Chang La, the third highest motorable road in the world standing at 17586ft. Both the bikes were looking in good condition, which was a positive as tintin’s bike too gave a hint of problem during the previous day climb. It was the best climb we had during the entire trip with no hiccups or stops. From here it is a 41Km ride to Thangste which has restaurants and we had our lunch at 3:30pm there, before travelling a further 34kms to reach Lukung crossing the “Pagal naala” literally meaning “The Crazy Stream”. Lukung lies in the edge of the banks of the 134 km long endorheic lake (is a closed drainage basin that retains water and allows no outflow to other bodies of water such as rivers or oceans – thanks to wiki π ) Pangong Tso. About 2/3rd’s of the lake belongs to Tibet. By 5pm, we were in the shores of the lake and clicking hundreds of pics with our bikes. The sunset changed the colour of the lake from aqua blue to dark blue to green to ultimately black. After all the bad luck the previous day, it turned out to be a good day to ride and awesome place to stay. We stayed in “Martsemik camping at Eco huts” costing 1300 for two huts; a bit on the higher side though. This was also the night, when the dreaded addiction started – UNO had stuck and it had two more new victims – sk and Senthil to its bag. uhahaha!! π
We played with the torches even when the camp people pulled the plug out of the diesel generator…. π
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@Chang La |
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My beauty at Pangong Tso |
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Add caption |
Day 10: The most beautiful sun rise and then the Start of the return journey.
Tuesday, 6th Sep 2011 – Lukung (Pangong Tso) to Rumtse. 165km – 6 hour ride.
Woke up at 6am to watch one of the best sun rises at the lake side. Now I am confused between Ethina Buja, Kumara parvatha and Pangong Tso sunrises as to which is the best. I Might never be able to decide for all we know. Its a good confusion to have though… π
Tintin was courting the idea of riding all the way to Tso Moriri the same day, in-order to make up for the day lost on Sunday. Majority voted against it, as we had the biggest challenge of riding ahead through the Rohtang pass and we didn’t want to tire ourselves out before the main event. Also, the ride to Tso Moriri and back required us to carry petrol in cans as there are no petrol pumps en-route. Ultimately democracy prevailed and the idea was dropped (All hail democracy!!). After the sunrise, we rested for an hour and then packed slowly as to speak in a serious note, we didn’t want to the place. It was beauty beyond anything we can imagine for people living in other parts. I was in love with the place and the sun rise. The change in colour of the water from black to golden to green to dark blue to aqua blue will stay etched in my mind’s eye forever. These are the memories for which we spend our money to travel long and hard. I was really happy to have witnessed such amazing beauty.. π Tintin and Senthil decided to go ahead a few kms ahead towards Spangmik to take a few more pics. The sadness had set in that we are leaving the place and I told MoMS that I will be heading back home directly from Leh for the second time in this trip. Gradually, I decided to go ahead with the ride to complete the journey. Had breakfast of noodles in the army camp close to the bank and bought a T-shirt as souvenir. The ride back to Karu was uneventful and nonstop again. My bike was showing signs of trouble similar to Senthil’s but not to the extreme. So, we cleaned the bike’s carburetor at the Karu garage before going all the way to Rumtse instead of the intended Upshi stay thus cutting the next day’s journey lesser by 35kms. By 5:30pm, we arrived at the homestay at a cheap rate of 100 per person. Now here’s something interesting…. We met a Canadian lady, who stayed with us in the home stay. She had travelled all the way from Canada to New Zealand to Australia through East Asia to Pakistan and now in India and she intended to carry on through Turkey into Europe in her cycle. Now we can make two inferences from this. This lady is passionate to the level of addiction in cycling. And most importantly, she must be having a pretty good pay package to cover such a huge trip. So, quoting this example we can claim for a good pay rise this coming year… π
Day2 of UNO addiction continued into the night before sleeping hard for the big day ahead. A 254km ride through the passes.
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My fav moment of the trip – Sun rise at Pangong Tso |
Day 11: Long ride day in pretty good roads.
Wednesday, 7th Sep 2011 – Rumtse to Jispa. 254km – 11.5 hour ride.
We awoke at 6am to begin the big day. Starting early was the best way to begin a big ride day and we did just that. By 7:15am, we were ready with our bikes packed. A 32km ride took us to Tanglang La at a height of 17582ft is the second highest motorable pass in the world. The roads were under repair, so ride was pretty slow. The descent from Tanglang la leads us straight into the More plains which is 40km plain area of mud roads, flanked by mountain ranges on both sides which indirectly means, it is a heaven for dirt biking. On covering half the plains, sk wanted to ride and gave him the bike. This was the first instance in the trip where there was a request from the other side with the last 3 instances being due to AMS twice and bad health day…. π By 12pm, we reached Pang and had our lunch which turned out to be costlier than even some of the cities we visited in this trip. Then it was turn to cross the two passes Lachulung La and Naki La and cover the beautiful Gata loops-Upper and Gata-loops lower end. The scenery by this time had changed back to the eye pleasing green hilltops to which we had become so accustomed to all these years(thanks to the western ghats!!). By 4:30, we were in Sarchu and we were coming to the end of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and entiring Himachal Pradesh. I forced sk to give me the bike back… I couldn’t bear to see other people drive in those beautiful roads and its scary like hell to sit pillion in the Ghats trusting the other rider’s driving skills for your life…. All hail MoMS for his record of 100% ride in pillion position for 12 days!!!! π On crossing Sarchu by about 20kms, we found dark clouds hovering in the proximity of the hilltop nearby. I feared a snow storm and suggested that we turn back to Sarchu but all others were in favor of moving ahead to Jispa which is 85kms from Sarchu (To hell with democracy!!! when u lose… :P). We crossed Barlacha La and reached Zingzing bar at a pretty decent pace. A localite there, to my relief said that the chances of snow storm was pretty less. This cooled me down a bit… One of the most dreaded things for me is to ride in a snow storm… never been in one but its pretty scary… π Finally arrived through superb roads to Jispa crossing Darchu by 6:45pm. The home stay where we decided to settle for the night had no display boards. They charged Rs.700 for two rooms with a guarantee of hot water which never materialized.. π So no bath for the 2nd consecutive day… we were stinking literally!!!! π
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@Tanglang La |
Day 12: Hardest day of bike ride.
Thursday, 8th Sep 2011 – Jispa to Manali. 134km – 6 hour ride.
The pre-finale day of bike riding and the toughest yet was to be faced. We were ready, but not raring to go.. π The initial journey is pretty good with decent roads in most of the places… The scenery and beauty of Himachal was in its full glory all along 74kms ride through the small towns till we reach Rohtang pass. The roads again turn bad during the final part of the climb and MoMS and his negative comments began (again!!)… “Is this it?? I was expecting much more from Rohtang pass”. 20 minutes had passed since he commented when we found the first signs of slush filled road. At first, we continued to ride together and then each of the pillion riders got down to walk while the riders tried to maneuver through 1/2 a feet of slush while trucks and tourist vehicals were stopped to prevent from movement to and fro. After half-an-hour of struggle it became almost impossible to ride. The next 3kms took 2 hours to maneuver through, with suggestions and help from multiple stranded passengers. After struggling through the next 1km we found a camp conducting Paragliding. At Rs.600 per head for a 3minute jump, it was a short ride but for a first timer it was quite sufficient. We parked our bikes and jumped from the top of the cliff along with the pilot/maneuverer. It provided a good relief after a painstaking ride during the past 3 hours. We climbed back to the cliff and had our food at “Fouji Dhaba” – an interesting name.. π Meanwhile the vehicles which were trying to climb the Rohtang were returning back to try their luck the next day. Hard Luck!!. It was good planning of tintin to shift the Rohtang for the return journey thus making sure we covered the hardest part of the ride the last. It then started raining in the Ghats reducing the visibility to less than 5meters. The drive was painfully slow to avoid colliding with incoming vehicles. We reached around 6pm and stayed at the “Rohtang view” hotel in the outskirts of the city for 400 per room for the night. We finally took a bath after 3 riding days!! Lucky… thankfully we weren’t travelling by public transport else we would have been kicked out for offending the senses… π


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Rohtang pass slush |
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Thats me paragliding… π |
Day 13: The last bike ride day and the case of “Crazy insane nutcase maniac driver”!!
Friday, 9th Sep 2011 – Manali to Mandi. 110km – 3 hour ride. And then to Chandigarh
The final day of bike riding began late. We got up-and-running only by 11am. A three hour ride to Mandi covers Kulu, along with the second 2.809km double-laned tunnel(near Aut) of our ride in NH21. Again it felt awesome to be a part of and experience good engineering. We couriered our bikes through Gati back to Bangalore at the cost of 4211 for transportation including packing. We booked a Bolero from the taxi stand for Rs.3400 for us to be dropped in Chandigarh. Now when the driver started the drive, we the front seaters immediately knew we were not going to survive the trip. This Foul-mouthed maniac drove like a maniac too… He had no sense of care but had absolute control of the car (I think so!! hopefully!!). If I counted correctly atleast 8 people should have been killed including a dog, a horse, our own driver and tintin who was sitting right behind the driver at multiple incidents. Along with that atleast 10 other drivers were foul-mouthed by him. We wanted a peaceful ride and we never got that till we reached Chandigarh after a 6 hour drive through bad roads, worse traffic and worst driving. This was also a day when we didn’t have any food… π The drive itself was sufficient to keep our brains occupied. I am not talking about our 12 day ride but about the cab ride to Chandigarh!! It will last a lifetime for sure…. π We were taken to a Rajhans hotel in area 52 for the night.
P.S: UNO had continued through since we started playing in Pangong Tso…. π
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Manali view from hotel |
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2.809km Aut tunnel |
Day 14: Two faced Chandigarh
Saturday, 10th Sep 2011 – Rock garden, Rose garden in Chandigarh
The hotel didn’t provide bedsheets, neither a mat nor a towel. One of the rooms given to us was stinking. To avoid all this me and MoMS went in search of better hotels near the ISBT bus stand only to find that the other hotels were in far worse condition. So, we decided that the only sensible thing that could be done was to get out of the rooms and roam around the city till night fall. Before that, we played the most boring 3 games of Rummy ever possible in the history of the game, with not even 1 person showing even the faintest sign of interest in the game. We then visited the 12 acre Rock garden designed by Nek Chand and then the 40 acre Rose garden. We then took a long walk across the city. This is when we observed the second face of the city. The area 52 in which we were staying was the worst area in the entire city with water logging, slush, bad planning and even worse conditions. But the other sectors were magnificent to say the least. 6 lane roads everywhere, huge footpaths with huge green cover, lush greenery and cycle tracks all along the road. This is when we came to know why Chandigarh is called the most planned city in India. I would love to stay there but never visit it for a trip because there is nothing worth seeing. The rock garden is a waste of space according to me… (Absolutely personal opinion!!) and well there is nothing else to see in the city when you remove that. We had a big dinner before retiring back to the stinking rooms for the night.


Day 15: All good things come to an end
Saturday, 10th Sep 2011 – Chandigarh to Delhi to Bangalore
We caught the 7:33am Janshathabdi to reach Delhi at 2pm. Reached airport 4 hours before the scheduled departure. Even the security guard didn’t allow us in saying “Itni Jaldi andar jake kya karoge saab”… π We read novels which we had carried for the entire trip without even opening them once properly, to kill time. Finally caught the 7:10pm JetLite flight back to Bangalore to reach home at 10:45pm.
A memorable, once in a life time trip. A dream fulfilled. 2 weeks of life spent wisely !! π
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L to R: ppr(me), MoMS, Tintin, sk and Senthil |
Things to be taken for the trip:
1. Saddle bags / Backpacks : Ones which can be easily fastened to bikes. Small back-bags for camera etc easy to wear while riding.
3. Bungee chord and nylon ropes
4. Raincoat/Rain jackets 100% waterproof ones.
5. Riding jacket, gloves and helmets . Gloves,helmets for pillion riders.
6. 1/2 pair Thermal inner wear and 5-6 pairs of normal inner wear. 1/2 Shorts
7. Good sturdy shoes and 1 pair rubber/foam slippers. 4-5 pairs of socks woolen/cotton.
8. Knee and elbow guards (optional).
9. 3-4 pants (get 1-2 quick-dry track pants and remaining 1-2 jeans), 5-6 shirts/t-shirts.
10. Toiletries.
11. Huge plastic covers to cover the luggage during the rides.
12. Medical kit including Diamox tablets.
13. Bike spare parts (tubes, clutch cables, brake cables, etc)
14. Bike Original Documents (Insurance, license, RC book, emission certificate)
15. Camera
16. Puncture and bike tool Kit
17. Air Pump – leg powered pump
18. Sleeping bag (optional)
19. Torch.
Highlights of the trip:
1. Kashmir valley view at Titanic point.
2. Ride through Jawahar tunnel, Green tunnel en-route to Kashmir and Aut tunnel in Himachal pradesh
3. Clearing the Zoji La, Fotu La, Khardung La, Chang La and Tanglang La passes.
4. Sunrise at Pangong Tso…. Best of the trip… π
5. Senthil’s bike giving 2 torture days… π
6. UNO games and the tauting/tricks..
7. Visit to the Dras war memorial
8. Chappars tintin, sk, MoMS and Senthil for making this a memorable trip and
9. Finally, most important of all, The 12 amazing riding days in my very own beauty Pulsar 180cc though all kinds of road and weather -A Ride across the biker’s paradise on Earth —- Priceless… π
Summary:
1. Distance travelled in bike – 304km + 150km + 162km + 138km + 132km + 172km + 190km + 155km + 165km + 254km + 134km + 110km = 2066km
2. Cost per person including flight charges and bike courier to and fro charges = 27000
3. Ride Route: Jammu-Srinagar-Dras-Kargil-Mulbek-Lomayuru-Leh-Hunder-Sumur-Leh-Pangong Tso-Rumtse-Jispa-Manali-Mandi
4. A Big thanks to BMC Touring forum for helping us out during the planning of this bike trip.
5. A Bigger thanks to Himank, Vijayak and Beacon divisions of the BRO -Border Roads Organization for keeping our border roads in good shape and the roads along the passes… well passable!! π
6. And the biggest thanks to the 4 chappars who were brave enough to accompany me and make this trip a memorable one!! π
Route maps:
Pics link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/109474193633253188080/Pics_Jammu_Leh_Manali_280811110911?authkey=Gv1sRgCIPPjpXc8tvc0QE