A bike tour to Ladakh leads to beautiful twists and turns up mountains, through valleys and on to unlikely dips in a river
Au00a0bike tour to Ladakh leads to beautiful twists and turns up mountains, through valleys and on to unlikely dips in a river
It was my trip to Ladakh last year that did it. The vast landscape, the shivery mountains, the rough roads and raw beauty had me at the first sight. I was hooked and yeh dil wanted more. There was no doubt that I would go back. But this time I wanted to do it bike. Of course, my family freaked out hearing my plan. But I was adamant. They say all big adventures encounter obstacles. Mine was no different. Four of my friends backed out at the nth hour but I wasn't about to abort my plans just because some friends had chickened out. So it was Murtaza and I, who finally embarked on a journey of a lifetime.
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June 4, 2009
The day finally arrives. Our flight takes off at 6pm from Mumbai to Delhi. Our connecting train to Chandigarh is at 9.40 pm. And it halts at Delhi only for 10 minutes. Tension mounts. It's a touch and go situation. But we make it just in time to catch the train. And soon we are Chandigarh bound. Ho!
June 5, 2009
The 320km drive from Chandigarh to Manali is a combination of not-so-good roads and some terrible traffic jams. We travel from Ropar to Swargat to Bilaspur. Once you leave the industrial environs of Bilaspur behind, the area opens up to reveal beautiful landscape. And thereon the Sutlej river and then the Vyas river is our constant roadside companion until we reach Manali.u00a0
June 6, 2009
We start early in the morning from Manali to Rampur. The ride till Aut is a regular one.u00a0 However once we move from Aut towards Banjar, the scenario changes.
As we cross Banjar, the landscape changes again with a gradual climb from here onwards. We head towards the Jalori La pass. The last 15-16 kms ride to the top takes its toll on our nerves. The kaccha road, fog and rain makes riding excruciatingly painful. But our ascent to the top of Jalori La pass is worth every minute of our painful ride.u00a0 
The descent on the other side is beautiful with green pastures and cattle grazing on the gentle slopes. We reach Ani by 7pm. And so in bright moon light, we ride along the Sutlej towards Rampur some 50 kms away. We reach Rampur at around 8.30pm. We manage to get an economical hotel, which provides us with hot water too! Yay!u00a0 And we crash in.
June 7, 2009
We wake up to the beauty of Rampur. The small religious town is planned on the slopes of two mountains with the Sutlej running in between. A few bridges connect the two sides.
We start out from Rampur at around 10 am and cross multiple small yet stark, rocky and dry passes of Rampur Valley. As we go further the landscape changes from Rocky Mountains to a purview of industries.
We halt at Tapri for lunch. Our initial aim is to camp overnight at Recong Peo. But the Dhaba owner suggests that we head 65kms farther to Puh and camp there.u00a0 The ride from Recong Peo to Puh will remain one of the most memorable ones.u00a0 The roads are smooth as butter and perfect companion to the bikes.u00a0 We ride through waterfalls, drink water from the flowing streams and halt at some breathtaking riverside locations. Ah life is bliss! A security check at Morang and we reach Puh.
Puh is a small hill station and riding the steep climb towards Puh makes us more tired than it did throughout the day. We are tired. Delicious homemade dinner is the perfect ending to a perfect day.u00a0
June 8, 2009
The day doesn't start off too well as we ride a few kilometres when my bike clutch gear breaks down. There's no way we can get the spares in this small town of Puh.
We drive to Recong Peo, headquarters of the Kinnaur district to get the spares of the bike. After we buy our spares, we decide to drive to Kalpa from Recong Peo. Kalpa is at 9700ft and from here you are rewarded the view of Mt. Kinner Kailash (19884ft) one of Shiva's summer abodes.
Return to Puh and crash into our room which is like a tiny hole in the wall. But do we care? That's how tired we are.u00a0
June 9, 2009
We decide to skip breakfast and leave early. We ride for about 20 kms in peace and more bike problems. It's getting a bit frustrating.u00a0 Luckily, we find a mechanic out of nowhere near an army camp.
After the repair we head towards Kaza in to the Spiti Valley which is one of the most remote and sparsely populated regions in our country.
We reach Khab, a small village 26km from Puh.u00a0 After a vertiginous ascent we reach the village of Kah which sits like a green oasis amidst the rocky mountains. As we go further we come to the village of Nako which is believed to be created when Guru Padmasambhava threw a rock here. 
We have our second security check at Sumdo and then stop at this small village called Hurling for lunch. I take the opportunity to chat with the local women who are more than inquisitive to know about me and where I came from.
From Hurling we ride directly to Tabo Monastery.u00a0Tabo is known as the 'Ajanta of the Himalayas' and certain section was apparently built in one day and still remains to be in the same condition.
From Tabo we ride non-stop to Kaza. The ride through these mountainous ramparts is divine. The isolated beauty and tranquil silence in this valley is an elementary experience. We reach Kaza at about 6 pm and get a nice guest house after looking around a bit. We crash in.
June 10, 2010
My bike has given way completely so we decide to leave it behind in Kaza and ask the owner to get it picked up later. I ride on the pillion with Murtaza. The ride from Kaza to Lossar village is easily the most spectacular part of the route. Each landscape is a picture perfect postcard view.u00a0 We stop at Lossar for our breakfast and it's here that the Kunzum La pass begins.
Kunzum La pass which separates Lahaul and Spiti districts is one of the most difficult passes until now. This is purely because of the conditions of the roads. The road is a slush of ice, water and mud making it difficult to balance the bike.
We descend to Batal and have tea with an Englishman who warns us about the road ahead. Little do we know that the next 100 kms would be the toughest and longest eight hours of our lives.
We ride through waterfalls, flowing streams, huge water puddles; we pass between white walls of snow on either side of the road. Our shoes and socks are completely drenched in ice cold water and our entire body is trembling and numb. The distance between Batal and Gramphu is the longest distance in my memory although it was just 50km.
Ascent to Rohtang is very frustrating and the roads are as bad as we have seen. Our bodies revolt in the cold, it's difficult to even speak. We manage to get on Rohtang Top and Murtaza can't take it anymore. There's serious danger of him getting hypothermia. We rush to a tent nearby and request the people there to start a small fire for us. I suggest to my friend that the only way out of this misery is to reach Manali and he reluctantly agrees.u00a0
The descent is long and scary as the traffic makes us nervous.u00a0 We fantasize about a hot water bath on the way. And get just that when we check into a wayside hotel in Manali.
June 11, 2009
It's 1.30am and we can't keep our eyes open. But we are at the taxi stand to board a cab to Leh. We start for Leh at 3am. The driver is doing almost 40-50kmph on Rohtang. Our hearts are in our mouths. We stop at Koksar on the other side for a tea-break.
The view keeps getting better, snow capped mountains, tiny waterfalls from the melting glaciers, green valley and some very picturesque villages en route. At Tandi, we cross the bridge and pull into Keylong for breakfast.u00a0
Murtaza forgets his bag at one of the tents in Pang and has to take a ride back to fetch the bag. Our cab and I continue further towards Leh. Ascending and descending three passes (Nakki La, Lachilung La,Tanglang La) of close to 5000 meters in a space of about 100 kms is as crazy as one journey can get.
We reach Upshi at 7pm and then Leh at 8.30pm. We make friends with Samuel and Nath who travelled with us in the cab. I check into a guest house and after dinner, I collapse on the bed after 32 hours of non-stop travelling.
June 12 & 13, 2009
Murtaza returns from Pang and I sigh with relief. We have a late lunch and chill for the rest of the evening with Nath and Samuel.
The next day, we hire bikes to go around Leh.u00a0 We visit Leh Palace, Shey Palace and the famous Thikse Gompa but miss visiting Shanti Stupa.u00a0 We attend a local Ladakhi festival where we try our hands at archery.. Samuel and Murtaza do a great job at dancing with the locals in a traditional Ladakhi dance.u00a0
June 14, 2009
There's a bandh across Leh today as the entire guest house and restaurant association is on strike.u00a0 We're looking for a cafu00e9 to have breakfast. Luckily, we find a place which has a backdoor entrance. We start our journey towards Khardungla the world's highest motorable road. We are heading to Nubra valley for an overnight stay at Hunder.
The ride is smooth and the bends and the curves are fun to ride on except for some odd stone on the road due to landslides. Our journey till South Pullu is like a breeze and it's here where we get our first security check done. The last 10km we ride on a track of snow melted water and ice-mud slush! We reach the top to find a traffic jam because of the tourists.
On the descent, we are warned by the army to ride slowly as there's melted ice on the roads. We cautiously reach North Pullu and head for Khardung and experience the best roads so far. The mountainscape is like a desi version of the Grand Canyon. We stop at the first sight of the Nubra valley to take some pictures.
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We camp at Hunder, the last point for civilians. We land up cracking jokes, sharing legends, discussing religion and of course women all through the night.u00a0
June 15, 2009
We start from Hunder rather late and after getting our bikes fixed and buying fuel for the bikes for a whopping Rs 100 per litre, from the locals we head towards Khardungla.
The ride from Khardungla to Leh is a formality. Fatigue has set in.u00a0 We reach Leh and meet up for dinner where Samuel's two other French friends join us as well. It's really funny how two of us started this journey and by the end of it we were six interesting fellow travelers.
I sit there thinking about the entire journey and realize that I have completed what is arguably the most spectacular journey of my life. It was demanding alright but incredibly rewarding.
We hit Leh airport at 6.30 am and reach Mumbai at 5pm after a series of delays. It's like dropping from a refrigerator to an oven.
Like all good things that come to an end, so did this journey. But it will remain an integral part of my memories. Juley!
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