7th July 2012 to 21st July 2012
WOW !!!! What a ride! For me the ride to Nirwana was driving to the last of earth. I am content. I lived my dream.
Adventure starts even before I start my journey. 4th July, 10pm I am at Yashwantpur railway station infront of TT, holding an unconfirmed E-ticket (waiting-01) begging him for a seat. He showed me the way out. Left with no choice flew to Delhi next morning. Dumped my luggage at Delhi youth hostel and ran to railway station to collect my bullet. On my way back to hostel I thumped my bullet on Rajpath :), sat alone at India gate for hours. What a glory of Indian Armed Forces. Patriotism overflows "ab bhi jiska khoon na khola, khoon nahi wo paani hai.. jo desh ke kaam na aaye wo bekaar jawani hai".
Met a friend (Srikanth), at hostel and he took me out on streets of Capital City. We went from Chandni Chowk to Rajpath. I was just sitting back and trying to understand the roads in the city of circles (New Delhi). Next morning (6th July) our team arrived. Shiva, Himanshu, Anand, Sandeep, Rajesh, Dilip. All were full of energy and thrilled to start the ride. We finished cleaning our bullets and hit the sack but waiting for the sun to rise and to start our ride.
The "D" day.. we packed our bags loaded on our bullets and assembled at India Gate for flag-off. The Aaj Tak news channel covered our flag off ceremony with the drizzle on. With the rain coats on we started our journey on NH-1 towards Chandigarh. We had several stops in between and reached Chandigarh around 5pm. We went around the city in search of spare parts and helmets. We went thru the sector 26, 27 and could see the crowd. I then felt now wonders Roadies auditions are it over here..!!! Further continuing we reached Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh) around 12 in the night and downloaded our luggage and hit the sack.
Next morning when we woke up and saw outside the windows a huge river (dried up) running next to hotel. What a magnificent view that was to sit in balcony and had a cup of coffee. It was about 10am when we loaded our bullets and started our ride towards Manali. About 80Kms before Manali (after Mandi), there is a stretch where the river runs on the right and the huge rock mountain leaning on to the road. We were just enjoying the thumping sound between those mountains and suddenly we hit a tunnel. This was along some spectacular river gorge scenery and through a very
long dimly lit tunnel. The lack of lighting and narrowness of the tunnel
did not deter the truck drivers who continued to overtake one another
regardless of who was coming the other way. I tell you what, even now I get goosebumps when I think about that stretch.
Just after crossing Bhunter (Kulu diversion) I first saw the snow cap mountains.. Wo wow.. It was getting dark as we closed Manali. We had a plan to stay in a guest house in Mountain, literally on mountain where there were no roads. We tried our best to climb those mountain on our bullet and we realized that would be more adventures than the whole trip.!! So returned back and checked-in to a hotel near Manali.
When the window curtain slided I was stuck to see the snow mountains right next to our hotel. And a helipad on one side and the route which we drive thru last night. We had a hot coffee and started packing our bags, loaded the bullet and then headed towards Rotang pass, on Leh-Manali highway. It was drizzling, greenery all around and snow caps in between. Driving thru the hairpin curves we hit the huge traffic jam because of land slide near Rotang pass. Slowly we crossed those mud slides, one heck of a road and one great experience. We just reached the Rotang pass and Himanshu's bullet rear tyre got punctured. We didnt have enough tools to change the tube so hired a goods vehicle and loaded the bullet into it and we got it fixed in Katra. The downhill drive from Rotang to Katra was extremely dangerous and to add on to that we were just driving and the landslides used to happen right infornt of us. Offf... for a moment heart beat crosses 120 and then gets back..
The road from Rotang to Keylong is very scenic. The mountain on the left looks like someone has just cut and took the piece out of it. We can see the layers of earth with ranging colors from red to black. Few Kms behind keylong a sign board read "The next filling station is after 365Kms" and filled our bullet tanks and also jerry cans. We stayed that night in Keylong and I must tell you it was freezing cold that night. Keylong is the last place where your mobile phone will work before you
reach Leh and also the last place where you can hope to find a mechanic,
in case you are having some problems with your vehicle get it checked
ASAP.
The next morning we planned to reach Pang but the route from Keylong to Darch to Baralacha La to Sarchu was horrible. And we put up a tent in Sarchu. Two of our group members were down with Acute Mountain Sickness and they got some treatment from military transit camp there. Oxygen levels were getting low and as the sun was going down it was freezing cold. We got into to the tent hoping to survive till morning. Its been an hour after we slept we started calling each other name and surprisingly all of us were still awake..!!! Everyone was struggling for oxygen.
When we started next morning I never thought it would be the most memorable day of the journey..!!! We started pretty early and reached Pang for brunch. After hogging in heavy we the next part of the riding was RIDING. Just after driving 30mins or so we hit MOORE plains...
It is difficult to describe the immense size of the place, the solitude and the silence disturbed only by the sounds of the bikes roaring across. I cant express my feeling in words. I am glad I was been there in my life. 20 odd kms are straight and beautiful road right in the center of the valley, we zipped in 100-120s and crossed in minutes and then starts hell ;) I mean the highway construction was on so we had to drive literally on the base of the mountains. We were almost drained when we crossed this. This was not it we had to climb Tanglang La - Second highest pass of the world. We reached there and it started snowing..!!! Phew phew I could recall the Black movie Rani's expression after sensing the snow fall :)
The longest day didnt end there we quickly started climbing down and up in that valley and we finally were down to Gaya, Upshi.. Gaya was absolutely heavenly village. River in between valley and Buddhist stupas and greenery.. I wish I could have stayed there for few days but we took a small break for a cup of ginger tea at Upshi to unwind. And the roads are good after this place. We reached LEH by evening 7pm. We checked-in a hotel and went around the city. "German Bakery" restaurant.. Hmmm Me and Himanshu will remember this for long time ;)
Next day was a break day to get acclimatised to that altitude. Then day after we drove to Khardung La - Highest motor-able road on earth..!!! What an awesome feeling up there. A sense of achieving something. I lived my dream. I drove my bullet on highest motorable road. Unfortunately I lost my camera there more than camera, those photos. We reached back Leh by evening and gave bullet a bath and also took for a minor checkup. We went around the city "German Bakery" again ;)
Third day in Leh, we hired a taxi to Pangong lake. Almost everyone was feeling sleepy in the cab until they got the glimpse of lake. Crystal clear blue, then to blackish blue and the greenish grey, I cant express all the colors of the lake turns into. I mean as we were clicking snaps we could see the lake changing its color. We had a detailed photo shoot that day and we reached back Leh by late evening.
The day at Pangon lake, hmmm I was shouting songs, no not humming, I was shouting. I really missed _______ anyways I will be back there with _______ and go for a looooong walk on the lake side..
Packup from Leh :( Then we started from there towards Kargil on NH1. I just have to close my eyes and I get every curve of road infront of my eyes. I just lived every thumping sound of bullets in the valley. When we entered Kargil, it was not pleasant atmosphere there. Then we continued to Drass. We spent night in the army camp there. The room/facility provided there was nothing less than a 5 star hotel. What an hospitality.
In Drass we went to Kargil war memorial. They narrated us the story of Kargil war "Operation Vijay". Tiger hills you remember this..!!? It was there right infront of my eyes in INDIA, not in.... Our military guys fought for us, so now I could say I see Tiger Hills in India, otherwise...
The drive thru Zozilla pass was terrifying and then a pleasent Sonmarg. The next stop was at Katra. After climbing 14kms we got darshan of Vaishnavi devi. Came back to hotel and slept. Road from Katra to Delhi was good, infact I should say best roads after driving thru Moore plains ;) We took a break at Ludhiana and reached Delhi youth hostel next evening. As we were bit familiarized with Delhi we arranged for Bike courier thru train and booked flight back to namma Bengaluru for next day. The weird feeling because the trip was over. I mean I had to wake up from my dream. Finally me, Siva and Himanshu said bye to each other at Delhi airport.
Rajesh, Sandeep and Dilip, it was nice meeting you all. Shiva and Himanshu are the ones who planned an action and then have set
it in motion. Anand helped us for accommodation and passes to temple ;)
Thank you guys.
Link to Photos
