Ladakh Wanderlust
Ladakh - The terrains are so treacherous and the paths so rough, that only the best of friends or the worst of foes will come and visit us - by Indian Army. The name was known to me since my childhood because my maternal uncle had done the impossible (Khardung La) on is bicycle in the pre -2000 era. Now that I have been to Ladakh, I don’t have the correct
words or phrases to write or define what I have seen in those Himalayan
valleys. Nevertheless, I am trying to script out my travelogue - my motorcycle diary.
In
the past years, a few of my friends went to the mystic wilderness of Ladakh. I
use to admire their pictures and wish that someday I’d be there too. And
finally it happened in 2014. The faint planning started in 2013 (we were 3 old friends) which started to take a shape just after the New Year’s ('14) bell rang . For me
this was very exciting, as the new year started with a promise and I had taken a
short trip in the Himalayas of Uttarakhand in the Dec’13 and I was all charged
up to explore more. The bug of exploring Himalayas had taken a toll on me and
was biting hard inside. This plan was perfect.
We were supposed to do the Ladakh expedition in
May’14 on rented motorbikes. Thanks to BCMTouring for the impressive travel
blogs of craziest riders who had been to Ladakh before. We finally decided that we’d
get our own bikes overhauled and will ride on that, rather than driving
on unknown bikes in the most treacherous terrains. From Ambala to Jammu exploring the Ladakh inner circle. The plan got postponed due to our common office dependencies to July and the drive route reversed, from Jammu to Ludhiana. All set with plan, the days were not passing quickly. Finally the day arrived, on 18th July we started for Jammu from Pune on train. Our bikes were already parceled a few days before our travel. It was a strange excitement we were filled with!
Everyone we talked in the train journey was amazed to find us doing the ride to
heaven. Everyone cautioned us about being safe. Somehow the time in train
passed away and we reached Jammu on 20th July at 1200 hrs.
Unanticipated, our bikes had reached the parcel office. We were joyous to start
our journey a day before the actual planned. But all the joy went away when we
uncovered our bikes. My bike had a dent on the fuel tank, the tail light half
broken and the foot brake paddle de-shaped. Sandip’s bike (worst damaged) with huge
dent on the fuel tank (we feared of a leak) and the handle bar disfigured.
Harish’s was ok apart from some scratches. We had anticipated this kind of
blunder from Indian Railways. Bit sad, we knew we had to get those fixed
quickly to start our day. Nothing we could found on Sunday to get the bikes
repaired. Decided to drive the bikes in those conditions and get it repaired in
Srinagar, a brave decision. Quick lunch and we started off around 1400 hrs.
Day 0 [Jammu - Patnitop]: Prayed the Sun god to ride by my side! The highway 1A roads from Jammu towards Srinagar were in good condition and the drive started straightaway in the mountains. Multiple streams flowing down below.
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| Hotel Greenland Gallery View |
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| View from Titanic Point |
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| Dal Lake at Sunset |
Day 2 [Srinagar – Sonmarg – Dras – Kargil]: 0700 hrs,
we started on the empty roads encircling Dal. Now the real picture of Dal comes
to us. Fantastic. Pit stop and re-fuelled to full capacity. Missed to visit
Hazratbal (may be next time). The roads were single laned and bit bumpy until we
reached the highway where we got our stomachs fuelled with Aaloo Parathas.
Drive continues behind a long convoy of Army trucks in the greens of Kashmir
Valley. One by one, overtook them. A beautiful experience came then - Little
Kashmiri kids waving their hands to bid you good bye. What else can make you so happy?
A sign of good luck for us! We throttled on NH 1D, for, we had to seize
the day. Continued driving up the mountains enslaved in the beauty of Kashmir.
After an hour we stopped by the road to take a few shots of the imposing
Himalayan peaks that had magnetized us for quite a long distance. Far ahead we
could see the snow-capped peaks of Sonmarg and the lush green alpine
countryside in front of us.
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| Kashmir Country Side - Peaks of Sonmarg far ahead |
On the way ahead we saw the military men getting
trained in rock climbing. Welcome to Sonmarg. After a turn ahead, we could see
the town ahead and the mighty peaks of Kolhoi and Machoi glaciers. We stopped
for another photo break, to capture the landscape grandeur. We took shot of our
trio.
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| Sandip[on left], Harish[in center] and Me[on right] |
After a
short break of 10 minutes we started for Dras. We were roughly at 3000 m height
from sea level at Sonmarg. Now the real drive started upwards! Ahead lied the
mighty Zoji La (our first major mountain pass to cross), a few kilometres from Sonmarg the roads vanished and it was all rocks and dry mud to drive on. Full
load on the clutch plates as we moved mostly on 2nd and 3rd
gears. Overtook a few Sumos which were crippling to move up the terrain and
curves. A few kilometres ahead towards Zoji La, we met the traffic jam. The whole
road was blocked and we were parked on a steep slope. No reasons were known by that time. Gusty winds were blowing
dirt all over us. After half an hour there
was some movement and a way between the traffic got created for our bikes to
move ahead. We decided to move till we get hit by the road block again. We
moved and there was a JCB stopping our way ahead, probably, deliberately parked
by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to stop the vehicles entering the
landslide zone which was about 1.5 km ahead from the roadblock. We looked for
opportunities to somehow break ahead of the JCB. We found one! An angled path
between JCB and small population of ‘Baltal’ thousands of feet down below, roughly
2 feet wide. Risky job to cross, a single inch of wrong move could’ve been the
end of our lives. JCB was actually broke and nothing could move it. The BRO guy
helped us doing the first risky bit, we crossed with barely an inch of rocks
left [the minimum width of bike had got increased due to tied saddle bags]
between us and death. Heart raced and adrenalin surged in the blood stream. Half a kilometre ahead was a huge glacier, my quote - “When you cross something which is epic to your scale make sure to get clicked”. I got myself shot crossing against the glacier. Now you can imagine about it.
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| Crossing Glacier |
Another half a kilometer ahead was the real blockade, a landslide. A few bikers were already there, all parked in the middle of nowhere, very close to Zoji La.
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| Landslide Ahead |
Now you can see the roads
of Zoji La and the landslide ahead. What else we could do but to wait, 1130 hrs
it was. News came, that BRO will clear the path by 1500 hrs. The only benefit
of being there was the magnetizing beauty of the mountains all in front of us. We could see the helicopters flying from Baltal down towards Amarnath. For half an hour we
did some photography experiments.
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| Spellbound By The Himalayas |
The heat was tremendous, wind
had stopped blowing, and we tried to take shelter under the shadows of our
bikes. All in vain. We finished all the water we had in an hour. Talking was
the only way to pass time; we networked with the other biker groups. Trust me,
never met so many Royal Enfield cry-babies. Most of them frustrated with the bike
issues and when RE break in those terrains, it’s like an elephant to push. We
smiled that we would have been on the same side if we had driven on rented bikes,
our decisions were running good by that time. We ate some biscuits we had but
still no water was left to drink. Me and Harish decided to go back to the
glacier we had crossed, to refill.
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| Life Saver |
The glacier
water was extremely chilled, we washed our dirty faces and refilled ourselves
and the bottles with the pure mineral water. A very refreshing break it gave.
Luck was on our side that we were stuck with the supply of water. God helped us
surely. Other bikers followed our lead and got themselves relieved of the heat
with the glacier water. We managed to pass the time and at 1530hrs the path
opened. Huge cloud of dust covered the whole way, nothing could be really seen when the traffic from both the sides met. The opposite traffic had a
large number of SUVs which blew too much of dirt from the road into air.
Another RE broke in front of us, someone did a quick job of pushing and parking it
on the side. We crossed Zoji La a few minutes later. Now you know the Godzilla
I mentioned earlier and why! The nickname came from reading the old biker logs
where Zoji La was mentioned in golden letters because of the uncertainty it
brought in everyone’s expedition. The way downwards Zoji La was still painful.
We stopped at the first shelter we saw at village ‘Matayen’, to have some food,
damn hungry we all were. Matayen is a small village after Zoji La where you
can get some food. We ate Maggi (the quickest one to prepare) keeping in the
head that we were still short of time and the road ahead were still bad till
Dras. The village is situated in the beautiful valley and the view was
absolutely amazing. After stretching our body in the green grass with food, we moved ahead towards Dras.
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| A view at village Matayen |
Around 1700 hrs we reached Dras, the second coldest inhabited place on earth and an important
place with the history of wars that India has fought with Pakistan and their
terrorist organisations in its vicinity. On the beautiful backdrop of Tololing
Range, Indian Army has built a War memorial for the soldiers who lost their
lives fighting for the country. War memorial also has countless tombstones of
the martyrs. We paid our tribute to the soldiers and read about the
history of the wars that were fought there.
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| Dras War Memorial - Tololing Range at backdrop |
A very special place for me, that,
I saw what it takes to protect a united nation of innocent people from
intrusion and the intimate/un-adulterated beauty of nature the people protect
inside them. Also heard the news from the army-men that Pak terrorists have again tried to sabotage the Amarnath Yatra and have failed yet again. With a numb heart and thoughts we left from Dras to reach
Kargil by the end of day. The roads
from Dras to Kargil were like butter smooth. 68kms to cover before the light
which was dimming very quickly then, we fired up, pumped the bike muscles and
zapped on the track ahead. 1930 hrs we reached Kargil town and lodged. All the
time I was driving I hardly remembered any pain but the moment we stopped in
Kargil, it re-surfaced like anything. Carrying the saddle bags to 3rd
floor of the hotel was an uphill task again. The breath was already shortening
while climbing. Here comes the signs of mountain sickness. Started to feel a bit
of tinkling on my fingers probably because of lack of oxygen in the bloodstream. With the
running nose and shoulder pain, I got high fever by the day night. Skipped to go
out of dinner, got a parcel instead at room, took a Diamox (for ASM) and Crocin. I could
hear my heart doing the extra work till the sleep came in.
Day 3 [Kargil
– Lamayuru – Fotu La – Leh]: Body conditions didn’t changed overnight. We again
started our day at 0700 hrs from Kargil to reach Leh by end of day (220 km to
cover). After covering 45 km we reached to Mulbekh village and stopped for breakfast. A
small hotel just opposite the Mulbekh Monastery provided us
some amazing Parathas. While the food was getting prepared we visited the 30 ft
tall limestone sculpture of Maitreya Buddha and offered our prayers with the giant
prayer wheel. There was an intriguing silence at the monastery and the little Ladakhi
kids were all rotating the prayer wheel before leaving for their school on the way
ahead.
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| Prayer Flags at Mulbekh |
That was the part of Ladakhi-Tibetan culture we experienced. Offering
the prayer is really made easy by the Tibetan, rotating prayer wheels which
come handy too, enchanted prayer flags where the sound and winds do pray on
your behalf. Amazing and highly intriguing culture, so are the Buddhist people
too. Some of the kids waved us good byes with smiles, their innocent eyes and
gesture took away our hearts. In life, what more can you ask for!! Powered by
the smiles and the energy of Parathas we moved ahead for the next mountain pass
to conquer – Fotu La. The highest point on Srinagar – Kargil – Leh route, 4108m
(13478 ft). Taking photo at Fotu La was compulsory for us :)
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| Me and Harish at Fotu La top |
Met a team of
foreigners on REs, coming from the opposite direction with their GoPro mounted
helmets. I kicked myself for not investing on GoPro (which I really wanted to)
for this trip. If I had that I could have captured a lot lot more [nevermind, I’ll
do it next time]. Our bikes were running absolutely fine in those terrains,
only Sandip had a trouble of inappropriate supply of oxygen for combustion and
he was losing fuel at a higher rate. After Fotu La, we saw the greens very comfortably sitting between the desolate mountains.
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| Beauty in Desolation |
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| View from Lamayuru Monastery |
We entered the premises of oldest and largest existing Gompa in the
region. Read about its history and had a few minutes inside the prayer hall
where Lamas were reciting the prayers. We could hardly understand anything they
said but it was a special moment for us to be a part of a Buddhist prayer. Took
shots of the monastery’s spread buildings and people before starting for the
final run of 110 km towards the Leh city. Our drive
continued amidst the strange rock formations in the mountains, spellbound in
the beauty of mountains we breezed ahead.
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| Rock Formations |
Quotes from BRO were placed very
strategically over the path, brilliant they all were. We enjoyed reading those
on the way. The moment we’d start feeling pain of sitting over the bikes we’d
see this – ‘Never Give Up’. Who wouldn't get charged-up reading it? We all did,
forgetting the pain and continued journey ahead. We took two more pit-stops,
first was the Magnetic Hill and another was Gurudwara Pathar Sahib before
reaching Leh.
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| Magnetic Hill |
Sandip dragged his bike to check if there is really some strange phenomenon in the place. None as per him!
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| Gurudwara Pathar Sahib |
While my fellow riders were taking bow inside Gurudwara, I was busy speaking with the soldiers about their lives in the high altitude terrains etc. They departed with their leader. Now comes the part which I'd like to bring to notice - of the silly people who come to such sacred and special places of world, that they shouldn't disturb the silence and vibrations of these places with their loud blabbering. It irks! The road ahead was a straight descend where you could see far far. Far enough to see the Stok Range and the greens of Leh city ahead.
These were the spots where a lot of Hindi Movie scenes were shot. We throttled as it was after a long long distance (700+ km) we got a straight road to drive. We reached the outskirts of Julley and took a Panoramic Shot of the Indus valley.
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| Straight Road before Leh |
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| Panoramic view of Indus Valley |
The best description of Leh - "Starkly Splendid Rooftop of the World". Capital of Ladakh. We reached by 1700 hrs and lodged at Hotel Anshah in Leh market, very near to the Leh Palace. Oh no, not again, room on 2nd floor! With heavy panting we managed to take our bags up to our rooms (we were already at 11500 ft). By the time we reached Leh, we had already gulped 250 gm of Glucose. Dead tired we all were. The view from the window outside was something that
took away our attentions from our breath. Oh boy, what a breath-taking view of
Stok Kangri was there for us to admire. I quickly took out my super-zoom lens to take a shot.
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| Stok Kangri |
Hot shower and we went out for roaming in Leh Market. Had some delicious Momos to bring
down some hunger. One circle of the market and we came back to relax
before dinner. Had some heavily buttered food in dinner, for, it had been
quite a few days since we have had a lunch and to subside the losses we ate
till our throats. Watched the inauguration of Pro-Kabaddi back at hotel before
sleeping. The next day was a relaxed one as per our plan.
Day 4 [Leh]: Like every day’s discipline, I woke up early,
freshened up, took a few morning shots of Stok Range and went back to sleep.
Discipline went to dustbin that day. Woke back up around 0930 hrs. This day, we
were to map Leh completely. Went to a Dhaba for morning breakfast. Chhole Bhature,
Samosas and Gulab Jamun ‘पेल के नाश्ता किए भाई उस दिन..’. We got the information that there will be a
sacred dance by the lamas in Phyang Monastery but we were unable to find the
way to the monastery. Hall of Fame was on the way. We went in, the senior army
officer was from Maharashtra and looking at our bike numbers he greeted us and
asked his subordinate to give us detailed information about the terrains of Ladakh
on the 3D model. We could correlate all the valley which we had crossed and
what was coming next to us. Gathered info about the region around for our journey
ahead. Watched the video of Kargil war understanding the reasons, the hardships, the political view and martyrdom.
Touched deeply by the war video, we roamed inside the different halls looking
at the different major operations that army had done over the years in the most
difficult conditions. Proudest moment came for me when I was in the Siachen
section. Operation Rajiv was part of the Hall of Fame. The operation named
after my maternal uncle who led the first attempt of capturing the highest post of Siachen at 21,153 ft from Pakistan in 1987, the operation was named to honor his brave
death. I was standing in Leh, probably because of what he did years back! We got the directions info from an army man to reach Phyang. It wasn't far from Leh, 15 km. We reached right on time. Lamas had just finished one cycle of their sacred dance and were about to start another. Found a good front spot in between the crowd to shoot with the zoom lens. Everything was new to us, the words, the rhythm, the people, the get up. Took some shots, had some prior experience in street photography, it helped in taking shots in between the crowd.
Completed a walk of perimeter of the monastery admiring the Phyang valley. In those heights the Sun always gives you hard time. When you are not driving you are sweating, badly. On our next plan was the Leh Palace. We returned to Leh city and went for lunch. Met a Chinese guy who was traveling in India for last 40 days. He was bit sad about not being able to visit Pangong etc. because of the restrictions. I consoled him, that he can visit Pangong lake from Tibet where 60% of the lake lies. After exchanging greetings we left. We roamed in the market for a while and near 1700 hrs we started to climb on foot for Leh Palace which was at a height. Breath shortened but we reached the palace. The sign at entrance showed that we were late, it was closed for tourists for that day. Nevermind, we enjoyed the view of Leh from the heights. One word for it - Spectacular.
The lights were fading, the temperature going down. Still above was Namgyal Tsemo Gompa at the peak of the hill. After a debate we decided to climb further, to whatever distance we could make before the lights went out. I was struggling to breath because of the sickness and was too tired to climb. Harish was shouting from a distance above that I should not give up and climb, Sandip too did the same. I turned back to take a view of the Sun, turned my head up and then an idea for photography came inside my head. Don't know how but I think I absorbed some cosmic energy and then I climbed with a pace which astonished Harish and Sandip. I reached the top even before Sandip. There, at the top, I knew that I'd be all OK by the next morning. Light went dim and I took the nightscape of Leh.
Also, took a few shots of the night sky above as a preparatory exercise for something to come, which I had decided to shoot long before our trip. We came down in complete darkness on the faint city lights falling over. Got our bikes full tanked for the next journey. Dinner time with the cold breeze on a rooftop restaurent, we ordered the veg Thukpa (Tibetan noodle soup). Brilliantly prepared food it was. So far in our trip we hadn't struggled to get good vegetarian food. Thoughts and planning for next day's epic ascend we were supposed to do and sleep time!
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| Sacred Dance of Lamas |
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| Leh City |
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| Leh nightscape |
Day 5 [Leh - Khardung La - Nubra Valley]: Morning lights were exactly as I wanted to. No sign of fever and pain. No breakfast, however we started our ascend towards Khardung La, the real test for our bikes and lungs, for, it was at 18,000+ ft height. More than 7000 ft of rise from Leh. I knew that after the previous day's hiking, no height is going to be a problem for me. Here's a part that I forgot to tell. While I was sleeping in Patnitop, Jatin a photographer-biker was travelling with his wife from Jaipur, had lodged next to our room. Harish-Sandip had made friends with him and I didn't get a chance to meet him. He crossed while we were moving towards Khardung La. Roads were good till South Pullu. Finally met the vibrant guy during the pit stop. Also, Prasad (whom we met during our Shikara tour in Srinagar worked in the same Pune premises that Sandip did) joined us for this trip. From 3 we were 6. Got ourselves registered at the Police station and we moved up. The view was killing as we moved up the valley. Completely awestruck with something that nature had offered us. Deep inside we all thanked God for that day. Roads disappeared after South Pullu and the steep ascend was the test of our wills and skills. Jumping-Bumping over the rocky roads, splashing the water crossings we reached the Khardung La top. Utter joyous moment for us. We reached the top without a single issue. Of-course due to all the numerous good lucks we exchanged with the riders since we started our journey. It was photo-shoot time for us.
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| Our Group - Prasad, me, Sandip, Harish, Jatin, Navya from Left to Right |
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| Get an idea about the roads we drove! |
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| Harish and Jatin - North Pullu |
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| View near Khalsar |
"We seeked personal liberation, we found it in those Himalayan terrains".
After refreshments we decided to drive to Hunder, which was only 7 km from Diskit. Hunder was the biggest surprise for us. We were in between a perfect desert sitting below the mighty mountain valley. Never expected to see a desert in those heights.
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| Sand Dunes of Hunder |
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| Maitreya Buddha of Diskit |
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| My first shot of Milky Way - Diskit |
Day 6 [Diskit - Khardung La - Leh]: The morning breakfast was again a delight. Freshly prepared Ladakhi bread with butter, jam and curd. The best hospitality we received in our trip. This was another day way back the same path we came a day earlier. Did took pit stops at different locations this time for photos.
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| Nubra valley |
Day 7 [Leh - Chang La - Spangmik]: Everyday since we started our drive, were getting tougher and the views were getting even more rewarding than the previous day. This day was no exception. We started to reach the Pangong Tso by end of day. Yes, the same lake which was part of many movies, most famously '3 Idiots'. First 35 kms of morning was to reach Karu on the Leh-Manali highway and have breakfast. An Ok-ish breakfast which was swallowed with much help of coke. One of the most treacherous roads I have ever driven was ahead. Huge boulders of rocks combined with sharp rocks/gravel combined with mud with occasional water crossings on a steep climb. That's the perfect sentence to define the road to Chang pass. I was lucky that I had renewed by bike tyres with a set of tubeless off-road ones. It worked so well, that I was able to climb at a better pace and grip. Also, the Om Mani Padme Hum flags were flying with my bike. Harish's bike wasn't climbing well, he felt the power output had declined drastically. His drive was slow up the terrain. We stopped twice to lookout for him, sometimes he'd look like a small dot travelling towards us. That's how things look when you are in the majestic mountains. The roads were worst near the top. We reached the 3rd highest motorable pass in the world 17,688 ft and bowed to Changla Baba (at the temple).
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| View from Chang La |
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| Wild Horses - Tangtse |
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| Pangong Tso - Lukung |
“In the mountains there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.”
I had lost track of time, which day/date it was, when we reached Spangmik. Only BSNL mobiles work, none other. Found a place for night shelter. Sun was already behind the mountains and the wind was cold. Heavy flow of the cold wind was wanting us to stay inside but we didn't. I put on my pullovers and covered my head and went out to shoot. The most fun time in all of our trip. Pangong water was ice-cold. No playing with it.
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| Trio |
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| Pangong Tso Panorama - Spangmik |
Day 8 [Spangmik - Chang La - Leh]: “How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!”
The morning was wonderful, beautiful sunrise in front and the peaks where snow increased overnight was behind us. By the time breakfast was getting ready we decided to drive towards Man. Lots and lots of photos were clicked again on the way. Too much to capture, too less time. We returned back, had bread-butter-jam in breakfast and we started our return journey to Leh. Got our names striked off the list of army, that we had returned safely at Tangtse. Heared the sound of machine guns firing somewhere in a near firing range. Our legs were getting killed because of the gumboots we had been wearing in this journey because of numerous water crossings. No option but to wear it for the whole journey ahead, as it was just start. We were supposed to get too many water crossings and mud in the coming days of our ride. Reached back Leh for one final time in this trip. Lodged at the same hotel, room. We went out for some shopping in the Leh market. I got an 'Infinite Ladakh' T for myself.
Day 9 [Leh - Chumthang - Namashang La - Karzok]: One last time tanked full with petrol, there were no petrol pumps until we reached Manali, which was planned to be touched by Day 11. With heavy hearts we said adieu to Leh, it had been a wonderful host to us and a place which will hold a special place in our memories always. Next magnificent word for us was Tso Moriri, a remote trans-himalayan lake in the remotest Changthang valley. Not many riders go to Changthang because of its remoteness and difficult drive. This lake wasn't the part of our original plan at first and it was included under my request. Excitement as everyday, was at its best in the morning. We again reached Karu for breakfast and then reached Upshi. Beyond Upshi the roads worsened. BRO is continuously working to make the paths in Himalayas really better. This path was like built of millions of speed-breakers clubbed together with sharp gravel spread all over. Every joint of body and bike had been jolted. It spanned for almost 35 km and then came the path of sand where once I lost the control on a slope and skidded. All in shape, nothing happened to me, the drive armors worked. Harish helped to pick the bike up again. Our pace was slow and this was first of the 3 days when we were supposed to drive the most of distances in single day. We saw broken bridges on the way.
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| A broken bridge on the way |
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| Lake of Joy - Tso Kyagar |
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| It was my sunshine |
Day 10 [Karzok - Namashang La - Polakongka La - Lachung La - Naki La -Sarchu]: We came to know about the rain when I woke up at 5 in the morning. Our bags were wet, helmets were wet from inside. What could we do but to accept it. Luckily the camera bags were on chairs, sigh!! The morning was beautiful. At 0530 hrs I was all ready and headed for a walk towards Tso Moriri, crossing multiple streams of water in the cold breeze. Had a great photography time that morning, got hold of wild migratory birds, snow capped peaks of Rupshu. Everything was so immensely beautiful that I literally thought of hanging down my riding armors and staying there forever. Who doesn't?
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| Rupshu Valley |
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| Heavenly scapes of Tso Moriri |
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| Sleeping at Polakongka La |
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| On left- Startspuk Tso and Tso Kar |
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| Roads after Pang |
Day 11 [Sarchu - Baralacha La - Rohtang La - Manali]: This was another day when one of the most famous high mountain pass waited for us - Baralacha La. Known for its many water crossings and unfriendly path. We started early in the morning to cover 230 km and reach Manali. The morning was cold. I was wearing a pullover + wind cheater and was still feeling the biting cold. The hands were getting frozen inside glove. Just at the corner where the new heights could be seen, rain started. Quickly wore my raincoat over, still the water drops were taking away the body temperature. Can't stop, we had to drive ahead. That was probably the coldest day in whole of our trip and the drive was getting difficult with the increase of height, rough roads with too many water crossings and slippery mud. We drove bravely in those weather conditions and reached a stop which had much of flat plain. Snow all around the landscape. Without food inside the body temperature was hard to maintain. Heavy winds of cold was blowing making it hard to stand outside. We went inside a shelter to eat. We were shivering with cold that morning, our teeth were making noise. Super hot noodles with a full jumbo hot coffee did some good inside. We had to move ahead, Harish had moved far ahead of us and we had to get to him. We started again and reached the Baralacha top (16000+ ft). "Baralachala means summit with cross roads from Spiti, Ladakh, Zanskar and Lahaul meet here and in ancient times it was part of a trade route".
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| Baralacha La panorama |
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| Food Joint - our pit stop |
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| Zingzingbar |
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| The Wall |
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| Roads we drove up |
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| Curves of Rohtang |
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| Rohtang - Manali road |
Day 12,13 [Manali - Kullu - Swarghat - Ropar - Ludhiana]: For me the Ladakh expedition was over. I cannot write about the ride ahead of Manali, for, it was the same painful drive between heavy traffic of trucks and honking cars till we reached Ludhiana railway station to parcel our motorcycles back for Pune. Some good food in Punjab at the end of trip.
We had clocked some 2500+ km in the trip averaging ~200 km/day. The trip was a maiden run for me, no bike trouble, no punctures. Pure experience. The credit goes to this machine which ran extremely well under my commands. It has gone priceless now.
Ladakh is a place under the sky, under the heavens where the skies kiss earth. The mountains help build the iron will, iron nerves of men who make a deep relationship with the Transcendent, the Numinous, the Divine, the Spiritual.
The most important part of the whole run was that - "We believed we can achieve it and our confidence was rewarded, for we, had a good faith for the nature."
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| Love the One who is lost in Himalayan Wanderlust! |
Comes the morning
When I can feel
That there's nothing
Left to be concealed
Moving on,
a scene surreal
Know my heart will never
Never be far from here
Sure as I'm breathing
Sure as I'm sad
I'll keep this wisdom
In my flesh
I leave here believing
More than I had
And there's a reason I'll be
Reason I'll be back
As I walk
the hemisphere
Got my wish
to up and disappear
I been wounded
I been healed
Now for landing I been
Landing I been cleared
Sure as I'm breathing
Sure as I'm sad
I'll keep this wisdom
In my flesh
I leave here believing
More than I had
This love has got
No ceiling!
-- Eddie Vedder (No Ceiling) [Click on the link and listen]
All those Yesterdays', I miss, We miss now, everyday!
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