Had written this travel log as a mail to my friends before I started this blog. Posting it here now. Dont think half of them read this humongous mail, but do go through if you want to know about biking to Leh.
2nd june 8 PM ....bus from ISBT to manali...the gang comprised of 8 ppl (me, khera, pb and ankit mahajan from mdi and 4 frenz of khera)they were quite thoughtful to bring some premixed rum and coke....3-4 swigs each helped us sleep quite nicely on the otherwise very long journey (16 hrs)...had dinner at some dhaba on the way...
- 3rd June: 12 PMlanded in manali....weather pleasantly cold....took a sumo and searched for a hotel...and on the way stopped at a shop to arrange for BIKES (BULLLLLLEETTSS) ...hogged at the hotel...discussed the route and possible distances we could cover in a day (total of 485 kms to leh) ...khera had printouts of an excel sheet he had sent us earlier which contained places on the way and distances etc....:)) ....went shopping for gloves etc...found a nice rooftop cafe and had coffee etc...at about 7 went to get the bikes...which we eventually got at 12 at nite (thats wen we should've realised that this guy is not reliable but well he was the only one who had bikes available)..inbetween shopped for stuff we would need on the way...ropes, waterproof sacks etc...and CONDOMS...before u presume anything...someone had come up with the brilliant idea of using them to keep our cameras, mobiles and ipods in case of rain...so pb and khera went and bought some....and PB goes and asks large ones (not knowing that there are no sizes :))...but the best part was when in the middle of the market we are having this discussion whether they are lubricated or not coz then they wouldnt be quite as handy to store gadgets....so then pb went and asked if there are any non lubricated ones available... .and they werent.....this was by far the wackiest moment of the trip i think....tired of reading yet?? 7 more days to go:))
4th June: early morning (very early)woke up at 6 and had tea coffee etc....packed up...tied our stuff on the bikes (4 bullets and 2 yamahas)...finally started by around 8....had covered barely 10 kms when the signs of first trouble appeared.... one bike refused to start...called the mechanic who fixed the bike .....another 10 odd kms and we decided that atleast a couple of these bikes wont be getting to leh....went back to the shop replaced a yamaha with another bullet....got others checked up....finally managed to start by 130 pm types with 5 bullets and a yamaha....reached rohtang pass (51kms) and an altitude of 13050 feet...which is quite high compared to ur regular hill stations but nothing compared to where we are gng....theres quite a lot of snow here but because of the commercialisation is quite dirty as well....so now then the bikes add to the adventure and two of them are giving trouble again....one of them stuck about 2 kms back....here we had lots of group discussions about what to do....finally khera and another guy went back to manali in a sumo...after calling the bikewala to pick up his bikes from there and arrange for another bike...the rest of us had to move on to the next village of any consequence and where we could find a place to stay....it was almost dark...weather was getting bad....with moments when the clouds covered the entire terrain with 0 visibility.. ..but the clouds disappeared as soon as we left rohtang..... covered the 30 odd kilometers of really really bad terrain ...with water streams flowing on the road (if u can call it that) with our headlights showing us the way....thankfully it was all downhill.... ... reached this village called khoksar and found hp tourism guest house.....but only a dorm was available at 15 rs per bed......the sheets and pillows were so dirty we kept on our jackets with hoods while sleeping.... and there were two other ppl in the dorm who were some drivers so we kept our mobiles, wallets and cameras close enough to lead to a very uncomfortable sleeping posture..... there were no PCOs in the place and only bsnl mobile signal....which none of us had....so had to use the mobile of the shopkeeper where we had dinner...(dont ask what was for dinner....food from hereon is of no consequence coz after an entire day of riding a bike everything tastes really good...but u still dont eat too much coz u dont know where u'll be able to find a decent enough loo :)))
5th June: early morning again...started off without a shower or even changing clothes (u dont use the loos in a dorm in a village which starts and finishes within 50 meters of a straght road)....... .we didnt take a shower so nature decided to give us one with some mild rain as we started....now is when we started noticing the scenery....so far theres greenery and some water bodies down below from the road we are on.....our target is to cover some 170 odd kms today and hit Sarchu....on the way we cross one of the worst passes of the journey - baralachala. the road is bad but the scenery is amazing....with quite a bit of snow and infact we even encountered a very mild snowfall.... on the way we found a couple of really pretty lakes (one which is surrounded by snow covered mountains being reflected in the water) and needless to say i stopped and clicked wallpapers at every concievable opportunity. ...on the way we also got to the last petrol pump before leh (still 350 kms away)....so u have to carry extra petrol in cans otherwise even full tanks wouldnt get u there....just b4 our target for the day - sarchu.....we encounter our first plains and decent roads where we could actually take our bikes to the fourth gear..:)) and ofcourse i made the most of it......sarchu lies in this valley (i think part of the lahaul spiti valley) which is actually at a height more than the rohtang pass....but no snow here......just really beautiful mountains on each side and a plain road in the middle....here our acco for the night is tents (good ones with beds and all and even a loo) . the water being provided to us for drinking or any other purpose was from a crystal clear stream flowing around the camp.....the food here was pretty decent.....we were the only ones eating in the buffet tho there were a couple of other ppl staying there....
6th June: time ofcourse is around 630 am.....target for today Leh ...still 250 kms away....in the morning....a couple of ppl decided to get some water on their own from the stream....but lo and behold ...it was frozen into wht else but....absolutely crystal clear ice....:)... .now the temperature (which must have been sub zero at nite) was close to freezing but yet the sun was so strong that u could easily get sunburns (most ppl had noses that looked like a monkeys ass by the time they reached leh).....and our socks and shoes dried within half an hour....haan by now we had learnt the importance of polythenes which were not available anywhere.... these we wore over our socks because the shoes were very likely to get wet along the way....water streams on the road are a common phenomenon.. ..another thing we were getting used to by now was waving and cheering on by various road construction workers and local children trying to give high fives on the way....(this treatment is only reserved for bikers :)))....we manage to start off by 830 after breakfast... .the next checkpoint is a place called pang about 77 kms from where we started and the roads are decent...o btw....all these places have no sign of electricity as this road is only open for four months and so everything here is temporary... .from the tents to various military transit camps....its a place completely untouched by civilization. ..the only sign of that being a road and the occasional truck or taxi passing us...pang is where we enter jammu and kashmir and leave himachal pradesh....after pang we have about 40 odd kms of plains.....its a ride thru a desert valley with very minimal vegetation, absolutely clear blue skies and really really strong winds. quite an experience that..the next pass of consequence is tanglangla which incidentally is the second highest motorable pass in the world at 17582 ft.....this pass is almost dry with little snow...but ofcourse just look around and you can see everything from snow covered peaks to absolutely dry mountains ...all with a backdrop of a very very blue sky.......the last leg of the journey after a town called rumtse uptil upshi which is 50 kms from leh is absolutely amazing..... .the road is very good with the usual mountaineous curves and u are surrounded by mountains of various shades of red, brown and pink......and again all with a backdrop of the clearest blue skies u will ever see....this by far was the best part of the journey..... here u find some really interesting road signs which keep u amused along the way...sample a few..."be gentle on my curves""dont gossip, let him drive""i like u honey, but not so fast""let your insurance policy mature before you""dont be gama in the land of lama" (didnt get this one)finally reached leh at around 6 pm...found a hotel and finally took a bath after 2 days on the bike.....the restaurant we ate at is run by a guy from goa...and was 100 odd mts from our hotel....but it was like walking 2 kms because of the lack of oxygen....and leh isnt even that high at just under 10k ft.....
7th June: Mission Khardungla.. ..yep thats what all this was about.....to go to khardungla pass ....the highest motorable road in the world.....its about 41 kms from leh and the road is ok sorts compared to what we'd travelled on so far.....i took about 1.5 hrs to get there....finally a place where u hardly see any peak above you (atleast none that can be reached).... feels like you are on top of the world.....there is a snow covered peak there which we decided to climb....big mistake..... u see if it was difficult to walk 100 mts in leh....this place is 18380 ft above sea level or over 5.6 kms (thats more than half the height of mt. everest).... we were panting like we'd just run a 50 km marathon by the time we reached the topmost we could....had to eat the snow to avoid passing out......wrote MML in the snow and clicked photos with it :)))...finally decided to slide down ...bought a couple of beer mugs from the souvenier shop and headed back...here my bike refused to start....and it really tires u out trying to start it.....coz 4 kicks and u are completely exhausted... .(infact on the way back from leh....one morning it tired out 6 ppl b4 it started)....reached back at the hotel and khera and the other guy had reached by then....(btw used rolly as our inbetween messenger... as we figured whereever theres a phone..khera would contact her....so we left messages with her :)) So these two went to khardungla the next morning....we got our bikes checked up and managed to start back by late afternoon despite our target of 12.....hence had to do some night driving that day......but thankfully that part was mainly in the plains....the journey back was pretty much the same with two night stops (one of them at a really really cold tent in pang) Inbetween had some trouble with the bikes (like a flat tyre, no engine oil) which tho had us gng back a few kms here and there .....looking back...only added to the adventure... .Reached back manali on the 10th at about 4 after some rough weather during the last part of the journey and took the last bus out to delhi at 8 PM.....and yes
"THERES ONLY ONE WAY TO GO TO LEH...AND THATS ON BIKES"....trust me its worth it.....
Arvind Katariya