The one to Leh (2016)
After my first solo ride last November, I immediately started to plan my next. I initially thought of doing a ride to a place called “Parashar lake” in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. I was fascinated by its serenity when I first saw pictures of this place in a blog. Right when I decided that my ride is going to be from Delhi to Mandi and back, came in few people into the scene and infected me with thoughts about Leh-Ladakh. Being an amateurish rider and quite an impulsive person when it comes to things like these, I gave in to those thoughts. From then, the only destination I could think of was Ladakh.
I sought help from a couple of experienced riders who had already been to Ladakh. They were not fine with me going alone to such a difficult ride that too when I have done just one long bike ride in my past. Either they out right said on my face that I was not ready, or they asked me to take an additional week to make it. Neither was I mature enough to take that I was not ready nor was I willing to take another week off from work. My mind was foolishly rigid and I just didn’t want to turn back. So I stuck to the idea, I took a solid 4-month time to prepare myself with the things that I would need for the ride, the routes that I would need to put into my head, the things that I would need to look out for and of course the itinerary.
This time I didn’t want to lie to my parents and then later confess after the trip. 10 days of lying is a lot for my standards. Moreover, I could not have, considering the fact that I will be out of coverage for a couple of days which will just get them worried a lot. So, I opened it up to them that I am planning this trip and I wanted to do it alone. Surprisingly they were fine with me taking a break but worried only about the “going alone” part of it. So, before I started on the trip, I went home to show them I was prepared a little and reminded them that I was 24. Though I could understand every bit of their worry and concern and they could understand every bit of my passion and interest, some push from my side was need to get them convinced on this. Having brought my parents to the same page as I was, I started to Delhi from Coimbatore by flight on June 8th morning.
Day 1, June 9th * Delhi — Patnitop * 700KM
Once I reached Delhi, I picked up the bike from the place that I had booked it online from and drove it around in the city just to test its condition. Then I got a luggage carrier fixed to the bike, which is almost an essential for long rides if you don’t own a saddle bag. Initially I had planned to start the ride the next day just before sunshine. But the destination I had planned for the first day was Patnitop which is a 700KM ride from New Delhi. So, I slept early, woke up very early, tied my luggage on to the bike and started by 2 AM. I knew that the initial stretch from Delhi to Punjab is a big plain highway and hence I didn’t want to waste any daylight on a simple straight route. I reached Ambala when it around half past 5 and I could instantly rewind to the first time when I heard this name in “Rang de basanti”. I continued on the drive after a brief stop in Ambala only to halt again for another 45 mins at Una, Himachal Pradesh since it was pouring meowths and growlithes. Next in the map from there was Pathankot. Yes, it is the very same place that we all heard in the news few months ago.
When on a ride, one way by which you can sense that you are nearing a beautiful place is by noting the gradual deterioration of the roads. The mountains started to show up and the roads started to vanish. Riding in Udhampur reminded me of my trek to Samraat valley with my frisbee team folks. It had similar gorge like structures with the roads built in between high cliffs. It was already evening and I was a little worried about getting to Patnitop before it darkens. But to my wow, those high altitudes had the sun on for a little more longer than the usual. I reached Patnitop around half past 7 and the sun was still not completely behind the hill but it was definitely not enough light for me to find a safe place to rig my tent. Luckily, one of the guest house owners there was glad to help me out and he let me pitch my tent in their lawn for free. Surrounded by huge trees and with the lights of the houses on the hill on the other side shine like stars, I pitched my tent and happily rested for the day, having reached the place I had in my mind with no hassles. It was a good day to begin with.
Day 2, June 10th * Patnitop — Srinagar — Sonamarg * 270KM
I woke up early, got refreshed, took a cold shower, packed up all my stuff and got ready. Of all the cold showers that I had anticipated in the trip, this was the first. I started to Srinagar and the roads were filled with lorries and trucks. The traffic was nothing like I expected it to be, it was worse. It was like a queue of people in America waiting outside Wallmart on a BlackFriday eve, except here the queue was full of heavy vehicles. After wasting a solid amount of time waiting in the vehicle line, I tried to speed up a little and soon reached the famous Jawahar tunnel. It was my first tunnel ride and it was such a unique experience with no one else in the entire straight tunnel but me for a stretch of 3KM. Anantnag, around 40 KM from there was were I had my first sight of snow at a long long distance on blunt mountain tops. I reached Srinagar around 2 PM and that city was not a peaceful place as I hoped it to be. I just wanted to check my bike once with a RE mechanic before I started on the difficult routes. But a riot sparked right in front of my eyes and I was just made to rush out of that city. I would want to take a moment to mention the kindness of the Autorikshaw drivers who advised and guided me to leave the place since I was very obviously a non-native on a white bike with a load of luggage.
I then started to Sonamarg, which was the place I wanted to be by the end of the day. Though Srinagar didn’t put a very nice first impression, its outskirts were brilliant. Fields on either sides, tall trees marking the street lines and the abundant flying seeds made the place look magical. The closer I got to Sonamarg the colder it got. The snow capped mountains and the dark heavy looking clouds surrounding them was kinda spooky since I didn’t want to sleep in my tent with a storm over my head. Once I reached the valley of Sonamarg, I could vividly see why it was named so. Completely mesmerizing. Lush green mountains on my sides, tall snowy mountains on the farthest sight, continuously gushing river flowing along the road and free wild horses playing in the wide spread grasslands, WOW! What a life Heidi must have lived. I rigged my tent in the public camping site by the river, fell flat on my belly and was just starring at the scene outside my tent till it became dark and slept to the river’s burble.
Day 3, June 11th * Sonamarg — Kargil — Leh * 340KM
I knew the ride that day was going to be half rugged and half smooth. As soon as I started from Sonamarg, the first place I hit was the famous, difficult and dangerous Zoji La pass. The road was just crazy. Oh sorry, there was no road. That terrain is very difficult and that pass is so highly prone to accidents and lands slides that it is closed post 6 in the evening. The roads are mostly filled with snow sludge and a blink of an eye could land you down from an altitude from where the ground is not visible. But as I said earlier, the worse the road gets, the better is your destination. Post that dreaded pass, there was just snow everywhere. I loved the ride in between heavy snow laden grass lands. That Shahid Kapoor driving a jeep in ‘Jab we met’ feeling, here was no Kareena though. From there in about an hour I reached Dras and I had no clue that I was about to ride on the best road I have ever been on. Dras to Kargil was unarguably the best road I have ever ridden on that to with a river always following me by my side. Singing “senthazham poovil vanthadum thendral” in repeat mode, I reached Kargil in no time. I got minor repairs done to my bike and then started to Leh from Kargil at around 3 PM.
I crossed Fotu La top and the Magnetic hill on the way to Leh and reached Leh by 8 PM and found myself a simple guest house to stay. This ride to Leh was nothing but magical. I can’t really make justice to its beauty by explaining in words. I would just say I was so much reminded of the scenes from the movie series “the land before time”. The places where like they were straight out of someone’s imagination.
Day 4, June 12th * Leh — Khardung La — Leh * 80KM
Leh was beautiful. The morning was very calm, a little gloomy and misty. The only plan for the day was to go to Khardhung La and rest for the remainder of the day. But the day went off the plan in all the directions. Right after I reached the foothill, the police stopped me from going any forward. There was some rule that rented bikes from other states are not allowed probably to promote their local businesses. I had to talk to them for about 10 mins to get them convinced to let me pass. Next, halfway through the route, another obstacle. The road was blocked since the weather was very bad at the pass. After an hour, they let us go but the road was extremely damaged by land slides and snowfall. It was like I was skiing on my bike. After a dreaded ride skidding and cutting through the streams of molten snow I reached Khardung La, the highest motorable road in the world that a common man can ride on. The weather was still very bad up there. It was raining snow in the size of thermocol confetti and the visibility was limited to not more than 10 feet. It was the first time I experienced snowfall in my life and it was extremely stunning amidst the extreme weather . The army officials there were very helpful and they let us shelter in their cafeteria till the weather cleared. The vehicles were advised not to leave due to poor visibility and harsh road conditions. At such high altitude and at a place which held a big board stating that staying for more than 30 mins is not advised, a bunch of others and I had to stay for more than a couple of hours.
After the weather cleared a bit, I tried to get started from the pass towards Leh. But my bike wanted to stay there on the top for more time. Obviously, like Everest is for Humans, Khardung La is for bikes, why wouldn’t it want to stay a little longer. But this bike had decided to stay there for really long time. The bike’s battery was totally dead and the tiring efforts to start the bike by both electric and kick starts failed miserably. Pushing that bull on snow was the last thing I wanted to do that day at that altitude. Fortunately, there was another solo rider, Rishi Luthra from Leh and he offered to help me in pushing my bike till we reached the downward slope. I should say if not for him I would have either hurt myself trying to push the bike in snow or would have been stranded there for more time. I got all the way from Khardung La to Leh by making half a dozen jump-starts on the slopes. I got the battery changed and just crashed immediately after I reached my room. That day had too many twists in the plan, I strained my lungs to its maximum, got a cold burn on my nose but undoubtedly the best day of my entire trip.
Day 5, June 13 * Leh — Karu — Chang La — Spangmik (Pangong Tso) * 160KM
The day’s plan was to ride to Pangong Tso lake and settle there for the night. Rishi joined me for the ride for just this day. We had our breakfast opposite to the mighty yet peaceful Thicksey Monastery and started on the road. Once we reached the Pangong Tso road, we were made to take a detour since there was some road laying work for a few kilometers. The detour was terrible and its inclinations were ridiculous. It was just a mud trail and the soil was extremely loose. Even the most experienced drivers with powerful cars were moving backwards. Bikes could barely cross this route and most definitely not with a pillion. We somehow managed to cross this detour and the road got a little better. After a couple of hours of riding we reached the mighty Chang La which is claimed to be the second highest motor-able road in the world.
After a hot cup of maggi, we continued towards Pangong intermittently halting to click pictures. The scenes were extremely serene and untouched. When I had the first sight of the turquoise blue waters of the Pangong, the seemingly normal guy in me turned into a super excited kid. The blue waters were mesmerizing and it sure did make me think about staying there forever. The small waves, flying gulls, the tall snowy mountains on the other shore and the gentle silence was worth every mile I traveled. The night turned out to be even better. Starring at the uncountable stars, following satellites till they vanished behind the horizon and pondering about nothing else was all the break that I needed.
Day 6, June 14th * Spangmik — Karu — Pang * 320KM
After witnessing a beautiful sun rise at the lake very early in the morning, I had a decent cup of coffee and started along with Rishi towards Manali. The return seemed to be easier and we could churn out more KMs in less time. We stopped for breakfast at Chang La again and had a good look of its beauty for one last time in this trip. As we neared Karu I could distinctly notice that my bike’s back brake has burnt out probably due to misuse in the downhills. With no proper brakes I somehow managed to scrap through safely out of the muddy detour at the start of the Pangong Tso highway. Right after I got out of that detour I could see a couple of vans and cars quitting the idea of going to Pangong after trying and failing to get pass the ridiculous off road detour. Once we reached Karu, Rishi and I bid goodbye to each other. He started towards Leh and I started towards Manali after getting my bike’s rear brakes replaced at Karu.
The Leh-Manali highway for more than half its length has only raw road, has no petrol pumps for the 400KM stretch and has zero places to get help if your bike goes bad. I was having all my fingers crossed that bike wheel should not get punctured in this forsaken road. When I hoping I shouldn’t get into any trouble, I saw a solo Israeli biker on the way who was stranded since his bike was totally dry. I could totally understand his plight and shared couple of litres of fuel with him from my spare can of fuel. When driving in the plains of this highway I felt no issues but as soon as I started on the hilly sections I felt like the bike was being pulled against its motion. At first I thought it was just the tough terrain but soon my back wheel started fuming. The new brakes were too tight on the wheel rims and that was holding the bike back. I took the bike’s toolkit, which I had bought in Delhi, out for the first time in this trip and got the brakes loosened. I tested it out, it was perfect and I got back on track. The initial part of the Leh-Manali highway, till Pang, has a decent stretch of road and hence I hurried towards Pang. Pang is not a village as such and has no local residents but has a capacity to accommodate few 10s of people. Initially I had a plan to drive till Sarchu, which has better accommodation options, but I could each Pang only by 5PM. There was still plenty of sun light but I decided to stay at Pang for the night and found myself a decent tent to stay.
Day 7, June 15th * Pang — Sarchu — Keylong * 200KM
Pang has an Army Transition Base which is one of the highest in the world. The battalion of army trucks that started from that Pang base could easily count to 50. I started early from Pang but these trucks started ahead of me(damn) and I had a tough time to get out of the pack. Very quickly did I realize that my decision to stay in Pang was golden. The road beyond Pang was like the road to Mordor. It took me a long time to cover very short distances. Once I reached Sarchu the roads got a little better and the scenes were quite refreshing too. Had a good toast and coffee at Sarchu and started from there. I didn’t have any other plans for the day but to ride to Keylong, a village on the Leh-Manali Highway. Since I was not in a hurry to get there, I rode slowly and was just cruising at 40Kmph. I took a lot of stops, clicked a lot of pics and had a good peaceful time on the bike.
The problem with riding bikes, or sometimes even driving cars in this highway is the melting of ice. If it’s post noon and if the sun is bright, the melting of ice is quite high and it obstructs normal vehicular movement on the road. Streams and waterways flow right in the middle of the road making it difficult and sometimes impossible to cross for two-wheelers. I had to cross several just waterways which was locally called “Nala(s)”. Few had weak water flows and were quite simple to cross. I had a tough time with a couple of those waterways which were both deep and had strong water force. I decided not to rush through it since even if something went wrong there was not even a single person out there to help. So, I took my time and somehow made it thanks to Royal Enfield. Then, I continued to Keylong and picked a guest house which had the best view of the mountains and to my joy it also served tofu. I finished my dinner at around 7PM, spent time in the balcony till it got dark and crashed for the day.
Day 8, June 16th * Keylong — Rohtang — Manali — Kullu * 160KM
The initial road stretch of about 12–15 KMs from Keylong towards Manali was under construction and it was extremely dusty. I could neither shut the helmet visor since my own breath was fogging my vision nor could I drive with it open. This was the only frustrating time period in my entire trip. After this stretch of raw road, I was covered with a distinct layer of dust and mud all thanks to the talented but ruthless HP bus drivers. Then, I fueled at Tandi, the first place which has a fuel station in the Leh-Manali highway, and drove towards Manali. From Tandi it started to shower mildly and it was quite difficult to ride as I got closer to Rohtang Pass. I reached Rohtang pass and I felt so bad for the Ranganathan street amounts of crowd there. They were all playing and trying to have fun in the dirtiest snow I have seen in the entire trip. Rohtang pass should seriously have some limit on the tourists that visit that place if the Government wishes to save atleast some amount of the ecology there. After being overwhelmed with the amount of people at the Rohtang, I started downhill only to find that the roads were completely covered with fog with visibility not more than 10 feet. But I couldn’t stall there since the weather was just getting bad and I had to slowly travel downwards.
The foothills of Rohtang was beautiful and filled with “Pachi neramae” song themed routes. If I ever travel to Manali again it would be for these foothills and definitely not for the misty Ranganathan street alias Rohtang pass. I reached Manali, drove around the city for a while and started towards Kullu. As per my experience in Kullu, it should not be called a hill station by any means. Conoor has a much better weather than Kullu. I wouldn’t advise this place for a vacation. Even the rafting spots (most of them) there are not authorized by the Government. So on the whole Kullu was just a letdown.
Day 9, June 17th * Kullu — Mandi — Parashar Lake — Mandi * 200KM
The plan for the day was to go to Parashar lake in Mandi and camp there for the night. Mandi was about 70 KM from Kullu and I reached Mandi by noon and Parashar Lake was another 60 odd KMs from Mandi. It should have been an easy ride to the Lake but it was not my day. The road was getting reconstructed and I waited for hours with others tourists before we were allowed to go. During the hours of waiting on the road side I was just talking with few of the people working in the road construction. During the conversation I got to know that the road construction would happen at 4–5 places on that road the next day and so the road would be virtually closed. This means I cannot settle at the lake for the night and return the next day. This was the only thing that didn’t work in my trip as per plan.
I reached the lake by 4PM and spent an hour at the lake. The lake, the temple beside it and the surrounding mountains made it almost impossible for me to leave that serene beauty. If anyone intends to be out of the normal routine and simply be, this is the place I would suggest. This lake was very much unknown to tourists but now the place is getting commercialized which is not a very good sign. I hope the HP tourism regulates the tourists to this place and has some permit system to this place. Since my plan to stay at the lake for the night was out of question I hurried back to Mandi to settle for the night.
Day 10, June 18th * Mandi — Chandrigarh — Ambala — Delhi * 450KM
I started from Mandi and the plan was to settle down at Chandigarh and travel to Delhi the next day. But I was in a bit of dilemma about stopping at Chandigarh the reason being, finding a place to camp in the hills is much easier than finding a proper place to stay in a city. So I didn’t want to take that trouble in two cities, back to back. Moreover, I felt that I needed a day of rest before getting back to work. So I pushed myself and rode to Delhi straight from Mandi. The route was a familiar one, the highways were pretty good and the weather was very pleasant. So I didn’t feel any strain in riding to Delhi on the same day. I reached Delhi by evening 6PM and found a place to stay near the bike rental I hired from.
The next day I just spent time sleeping, walking around the streets of Phar Ganj/Karol Bagh and eating a lot of street food. That night before going to bed I tried to rewind the entire trip inside head and went to sleep with fond and happy memories.
This trip is something that I wouldn’t forget for a very long time. Not just for the beauty of Kashmir and Ladakh, not just for the fun I had on a bike on various terrains, not just for all the different people I met and different foods I tasted but for the learning that I could be off my comfort zone for 11 days, ride for about 3000KM, travel to an unknown land, and miss no company. It has given me an unreasonable content, some confidence to travel alone and the zest to look forward for the next opportunity to ride, to wander and to get lost.
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Note: I know this note has scrolled for several pages and if you are a tired poor soul who read the entire thing and not just see the pictures, one, thank you for bearing with me till the end, two, duh! obviously it was going to be lengthy. I had 10 days worth of memories to share. Moreover, even when I had the best English teachers in school I was not that good at comprehensive writing.
Few questions that some friends of mine wanted me to answer, which I said I would do via this note.
1. Why Ladakh? I guess I answered this in the first part of this note itself. Initially, Ladakh was too huge a ride that I was prepared for. But once the thought got into my head, I just couldn’t resist.
2. Why alone? This varies from person to person. Not everyone will enjoy their time alone. I have tried it in the past and it works for me. Hence, I traveled alone. I have another reason and it is a selfish one. I can halt whenever I want, I can push myself to any extreme, I decide when to start and I decide when to end the day, I can change plans on the go, I can be content with nuts and bread, I won’t crib if the water is cold, zero negativity on the road during a ride and if at all the ride stops prematurely it would be for my mistakes and not someone else’s. Until I find someone similar its probably just going to be me. It is not that I don’t want to travel with friends (Manoj and Aditya, the next plan is for December right?). That is different, this is different.
Takeaways:
Itinerary:
Day 1 — Delhi — Amabala — PathanKhot — Patnitop (700KM)
Day 2 — Patnitop — Srinagar — Sonamarg (270KM)
Day 3 — Sonamarg — Dras — Kargil — Leh (340KM)
Day 4 — Leh — Khardhung La — Leh (80KM)
Day 5 — Leh — Karu — Pangong Tso Lake (160KM)
Day 6 — Pangon Tso Lake — Karu — Pang (320KM)
Day 7 — Pang — Sarchu — Keylong (200KM)
Day 8 — Keylong — Rohtang — Manali — Kullu (160KM)
Day 9 — Kullu — Mandi — Parashar — Mandi (200KM)
Day 10 — Mandi — Ambala — Delhi (450KM)
General Information:
1. Don’t go for rented bikes if you own a decent bike that can pull you on the mountains. The rented bikes are not always as good as they look on the outside. Plus, it comes with a lot of maintenance issues.
2. I hired from https://www.wheelstreet.in/. I would not recommend this for Leh. After a 10 day ride I handed over the bike back to the dealer and they immediately cleaned it and rented it out again to another person who planned to go to Manali. Not good! So, I would suggest you could rent from them for a ride in the cities but definitely not to Leh.
3. Rented bikes from other states, apart from HP and J&K, were not allowed at Khargung La and Pangong Tso. Either take your own or learn enough Hindi to talk your way through.
4. Only BSNL postpaid sim works in majority of J&K. The annoying airtel 4G girl is just bluffing. There is no 4G over there.