TGT : Day 5 -- 06/09/07 -- Leh

***
Date : 06/09/07
Starting Point : Leh
Destination : zzzzzzzzzzz
Start Time : Afternoon after a nice long sleep.
Distance Covered : None
Itinerary: Leh
Fuel : Lots available but little needed. Leh has a Petrol Pump.
Connectivity : Only Post Paid connections by Airtel & BSNL
Road Conditions : Puts most of the so-called-cities to shame!
Food & Shelter (And hot water!) : Leh has accommodation to suit all kinds of budgets. From 3 stars (5 star by Leh standards) to basic dormitory kind of accommodation. Room rents in hotels with good bedding and hot water is around Rs.300/day on twin sharing basis. Ask if hot water is running all day or there are specific timings! Most hotels refuse running hot water in case there are not sufficient clients in rooms. Will provide you with hot water in a bucket but that is mostly never enough to wash away the grime & dirt & after enduring the cold for 3 good days!
Daily Expenses : A hearty breakfast -- Rs.150 for 2 + A fulfilling dinner - Rs.150/person approx + Stay at a guest house for 2 bed room - Rs.200/Night + Internet - Rs.53 (Rs.1.50/min!!!) + Mechanic - Rs.200 + Bike Washing - Rs.25 + Blank CD's - Rs.20 for 2
Shopping : T-Shirts (Embroidery) - Rs.400 + T-Shirts (Printed) - Rs.150 + Rs.180 + Buddha Lockets - Rs.150 for 2 + Pashmina Shawls - Rs.1800 (3 Stoles)
***
A day spent at Leh. Sleep was such a welcome thing and so much more was the hot water bath. Shaved, cut nails and did things that gave me a little civilized look after 4days. I don't remember when we got up and stuff cause it didn't matter. Got up a good half an hour after i was awake! The key thing to accomplish was get the bike fixed. After the fiasco on the very second day and riding around for 2 days with a loose chain, it was on the top of the to-do list. But the to-do list itself could wait till we ate something other than eggs & maggi!!
***
The breakfast was at German Bakery in the main Leh Market. Now the point to be noted is it is Sardarji's German Bakery tucked inside the road leading from the main square to the Leh taxi stand. It is not the one right in the square bang in front of "Pizza De Hut" restaurant. Though it too claims to be a German Bakery, the ambiance is hardly something that will remind you of Germany or for that matter, even a Bakery! Nyways...so the point is, go to the "Pumpernickel German Bakery and Restaurant"!! It has the ambiance I've come to expect of German Bakeries and the food tasted yummy! Ab i don't remember what we had but you can see for yourself in the pictures! And you can of course see the place itself. But yeh, be prepared to be treated as a 2nd grade citizen in your own country (i.e. if you are an Indian!)....takes forever to service your order. But the food is good (for break fast). So one big job done! Gobble what the world terms as breakfast... ;-)
***
Next was to get the Camera Card's emptied on to a CD cause 1gb is woefully little to capture what the nature has in store for you in Ladakh. There is a Fotofast in the Leh Market that will do it for you for Rs.80 per CD which isn't bad but you go spend another Rs.10 for the CD case cause they won't give you one! And spent a few minutes on the net to check emails etc. I had initially thought of updating the blog as and when i got a chance in Leh but when net costs you Rs.1.50/min in Leh and is virtually free everywhere else i go, i decided that the world could wait on knowing how much fun i had on the trip! ;-)
***
The afternoon was generally spent looking around the curios and trinkets around the Leh markets. And of course the T-shirts that you can flaunt around in plains back home proudly proclaiming your victory in taming the mighty Khardungla & the terrains around Leh! Leh is plains by the side of the Indus and is pretty hot during the day time. Fluids are a must since it can get pretty hot like it was on this day. Must be mid 30's. So you sip the "Tsestalulu Juice" and refresh yourself. For those challenged in Ladakhi, it is simply called the "Leh Berry" juice, a very tangy, sweet juice extracted out of tiny orange berries found in abundance all around Leh. Stick around for day 7,8 and beyond on the blog and you can see them. ;-)
***
Finally, at around 3pm, I made it to Mohan Sharma's garage on the Srinagar road to get my bike fixed. The rest of the gang was already there working on their bikes by themselves. I didn't want to so i hung around. My problems were much beyond the regular oil change since the bike wasn't just pulling. Now let me tell you that Mohan Sharma is the most well known Mechanic for Bullets in Leh and also services other bikes. So saying that he is BUSY will be an understatement. A big one. So go to him at 7am cause that's when he opens!! Finally after getting the bike fixed at around 6pm, i went off to get it washed. A rather big washing center on the way to Thiksey. Rs.100 for a bike wash! That is if you don't do it yourself. If you do, only Rs.25! Damn expensive shampoo for my bike but then i guess it deserved it.
***
Finally it was some roaming around in the market. When you are with a group of 13, you are never alone though you may be out by yourself. Kept bumping into the guys in stores, restaurants, net cafes and where not. Even into Karthik & Ananth, whom we had just met. It was dinner time at "Pizza De Hut" before we even knew it. The night was spent trying to click the Leh Palace using different cameras me and Dharam had between us. 4 of them!! Different ones, different modes, and what not. You can see the results for yourself. The Leh Palace in the night is one of the most sold post cards in Leh. Finally at around 11pm, curtains on a day that was hardly used to rest for the upcoming rides. Up next day was Khardung La, a place where every biker wants his picture clicked!! At 18588 ft above mean sea level, it surely isn't a joke.....
***

TGT : Day 4 -- 05/09/07 -- Pang - Leh

***
Date : 05/09/07
Starting Point : Camps at Pang
Destination : Leh, finally!
Start Time : 10.00am
Distance Covered : (11998.4 - 11811.8) = 186.7 kms
Itinerary: Pang - More Plains - Tanglang La - Rumtse - Sasoma - Gaya - Lato - Miru - Upshi - Thiksey - Shey - Leh
Fuel : What ever you already got in the tank and jerry cans.
Connectivity : No cellular network & no STD booth. There are STD booths in Upshi but it is hardly 50kms away from Leh. So for a better part of the day, nothing...
Road Conditions : Probably the best mix of roads. Smooth roads through out except some muddy/sandy diversions on More Plains. Awsome tarmac all the way from Rumtse all the way till Leh. Roads up towards Tanglang La are good and only a few scary sections downhill.
Food & Shelter (And hot water!) : Leh has accomodation to suit all kinds of budgets. From 3 stars (5 star by Leh standards) to basic dormitory kind of accomodation. Room rents in hotels with good bedding and hot water is around Rs.300/day on twin sharing basis. Ask if hot water is running all day or there are specific timings! Most hotels refuse running hot water in case there are not sufficient clients in rooms. Will provide you with hot water in a bucket but that is mostly never enough to wash away the grime & dirt & after enduring the cold for 3 good days!
Daily Expenses : Food + Water - Rs.35 + Stay @ Pang - Rs.?/person
***
I had seen pictures of More Plains and in the hindsight, this was probably one day I was most excited about. And the terrain didn't let me down one bit! It was one lazy morning since it was known before hand that there wasn't much distance to cover. In fact I felt more relaxed and lazy thinking of all the warm water and other creature comforts that were awaiting me in Leh. So the start was only at around 10am long after seeing off Vodka & his trusted bicycle at around 8.30am. The breakfast was the now-usual-feast of maggi, tea & omlettes. ;-)
***
Right after Pang (in about an hour was it?), we hit a long and vast stretch of open land midst of the mountains. It was during the first picture break that I asked if this was More Plains cause it was as scenic as any plain could ever get. Affirmative was the answer! I was in two minds on whether to indulge in photography or take the innumerable dirt trails by the side of the pukka road and kick some dirt. Not bad that i managed to do both. The pictures speak for me. There are lots of muddy/sandy diversions one needs to take along the tar roads, since a lot of road construction is on at different sections of the route. Some of these diversions are nothing but smooth-powdery-dry-dust-like mud and not sand as it seems from far. Grip? Zilch!!! Too late to do much but trudge through them and make it back to the road. And then there was this absolutely dry river bed that looked like Rann-of-Kutch from far away. I was riding along side Shamik who kinda seemed skeptical to rumble down the hill to get there. It was only after i reached the dry bed that he rolled down and it was worth all the trouble! Look for yourself in the pictures!
***
Before we realized, we were at the foot of the Tanglang La climb. The climb itself was not an issue, either for the bike or any rider. Guess we had done enough passes already? We were at Tanglang La by 1pm. It was the usual pictures around the sign board and of a few awsome snow peaks before i realized a now familiar headache returning. By then, Yogesh had already given the marching orders so we had to begun the decent. The road downhill seemed as if it could do with some mending. There are a few scary sections and on one such, that had a water crossing, i was trying to pass a convoy of trucks. One wrong maneuver and the bike was on its side right in front of a truck i was passing! ;-) The usual kushti was required to get it up. Never muscle with the nature! But that probably was the only rough patch along the way.
***
At the base, we reached Rumtse at around 2pm and from then on it was riding bliss! It was as if we were riding in the smooth Western Ghats, only with much more abundant glory, all along the way. Absolutely super-fast, expressway roads all along till Upshi with minimum traffic. I never encountered such high visibility, high speed curves again, except for one more instance later! (Most of you who do it after reading this will encounter such sections all along once the army finishes the all-season roads in 2008-2009!) I was riding along with Suyash and we were the last of the lot. It would have been sucha a criminal waste, an insult to such roads, if i had not zipped and so i gave up on accompanying him, the photography and just soaked in the ride part! Just ripped and ripped some more till i saw the other bikes ahead standing by the roadside in Upshi. Not one regret! :-) BTW, a small village - Lato, is a great place for pictures since the river runs real close and real shallow to the village.
***
The stop at Upshi, 50kms from Leh at around 3.30pm, opened up a host of options on the food menu and we gorged on parantha's! They were good! Or maybe they just tasted so good after feeding ourselves only on maggi and omlettes for what seemed like forever. What ever! We made it to Leh stopping a bit by Shey & Thiksey to catch a gilmpse of the Shey Palace & Thiksey Monastary. Guess all i wanted was to go see how hot water feels!
***
The trick wasn't in reaching Leh, it was in reaching Leh & finding where was Dharam! He had left, what was now 2days ago from Darcha and had already spent a day in Leh. Hopefully! He took 1 day to reach Leh & our plan was to make it the same night as him. But the plans changed & there was no way to contact him and let him know. Not a nice situation to be in right? While i was going over all this in my mind, he finally called on Bhuwan's phone and we managed to setup a meeting point. The rest of the gang would go settle down at some place while i went and stay put where Dharam was for that night. So that was it...but nope. Dharam was fuming and i didn't know where to hide though it was nobodys fault. But he managed to vent it all in an hour and the rest of the evening was spent in TAKING HOT SHOWER, searching for STD booths near Polo Ground to call back home, calling the rest of the gang to figure out next days plans & finding a decent place to eat near the Moti Market. The food that night was nothing to write about but I managed to get vegetables is all i want to say! We celebrated the trip-so-far with two cans of juice and called it quits for the night! I don't remember unpacking or looking too much around the room (& bathroom) except for where the bed was!
***
So far so good! Rather great!

TGT : Day 3 -- 04/09/07 -- Darcha - Pang

***
Date : 04/09/07
Starting Point : Shack at Darcha just before the bridge
Destination : Pang but only after a lot of debate whether trying to make it to Leh is one insane idea!
Start Time : 8.00am
Distance Covered : (11811.8 - 11650.1) = 161.7 kms
Itinerary: Darcha - Patsio - Zingzingbar - Baralaccha - Bharatpur - Sarchu - Gata Loops - Naki La - Lachung La - Pang
Fuel : What ever you already got in the tank and jerry cans.
Connectivity : No cellular network & no STD booth.
Road Conditions : Mix of rough, smooth and no roads. But great roads from Sarchu onwarnds. Baralaccha is no longer the 18kms of a slushy-rocky mess it used to be. A breeze now where most riders will almost miss the solitary board indicating that you are at Baralaccha.
Food & Shelter : Mostly tents only for extremely basic food & accomodation beyond Rohtang. Maggi & eggs is staple diet. Lucky if you get rice-dal/rajma & sabji (mostly cabbage with carrots). Lots of different kinds of tea though. Accomodation is basic again. Tents with beds. Extremely cheap in late august & september.
Daily Expenses : Food + Water - Rs.65 + Stay @ Darcha - Rs.125/person
***
The previous days ride had very very clearly outlined the limitations of a Bullet 350 in carrying a pillion. And Dharam (Bless you for being so good!) had made enquiries about alternate means to reach Leh. So he hopped on to the 6am bus while i was not-so-merrily contemplating on dipping my hands in the cold water and brushing my teeth. It was such a quick parting that I don't even remember saying niceties like 'take care. wear sweater. blah blah'. Thankfully he escaped any signs of AMS through out the trip in/on any means of transport he used.
***
With the luggage "firmly" in place on the bike wrapped nicely in a blue sheet of tarpaulin, off we rode at around 8am. 14kms from Darcha is "Deepak Taal", a quaint little lake that made me stop and click a few pictures. The bike had literally huffed and puffed this distance so a few pics later, i decided to check out the issue. A loose end of tarpaulin finally led me to a piece of rope entangled in the rear sprocket. Throwing all the caution to the winds (damn i think i was excited that i finally had some serious issue to resolve in my Ladakh trip!), i started taking the tarpaulin and then the rope, off the bike with gusto! And all the enthusiasm led to an extremely tiring ordeal for the next 30mins. By the time I had managed to remove the rope from the sprocket, try and tighten the now-very-loose chain, fold the tarpaulin and start the bike again, i was feeling as if i had towed a truck all the way with my bare hands! Started only after a good 45mins at Deepak Taal.
***
What followed was another smallish lake - Vishaal Taal. It was here than Major Vishaal laid down his life in a chopper crash hence the name. Further down just before we hit Sarchu was a extremely scenic valley. Click click and more click followed by a lunch break at Sarchu. Now this lunch was special. There are always eternal optimists in any group and we had a fair share of them too. Then there are eternal lazy a$$es like me who outnumber them by dozens. Which again held true for our group. So basically Yogesh was outnumbered by the rest and his plan of pushing to Leh from Darcha was vetoed vocally by Eric, Manik etc and not-so-vocally by simply nodding to Eric's statements by me and a lot of others. Pang finally was the chosen destination after considering others like Bharatpur etc that got ruled out due to the altitude.
***
From Sarchu, most of the roads were good, if not great except for a few patches. At one particularly bad patch, the bike tilted to the left resting on the saddlebags and crash guards. I just couldn't get it up till i got off the bike and mustered all the strength possible, and some more, to get it up again! Phew...the skids were actually taking a heavy toll on the energy reserves but the real fun would only be tomorrow! One passed through scenic roads (they are all over ladakh so get used to this sentence!) crossing "Gata Loops", "Naki La" & "Lachung La" on the way. Now Gata Loops is a mystery to me cause you see a sign board indicating the start but none indicating the end. And not one shot could i click that captured all the 21 loops that are to be existing. But the Gata Loops were one place where all 12 bikes fell in line for a group ride cause Yogesh was recording a video. But yeh, the awsome loops after Gata were far far better with superb views of mountains and roads snaking over them. Naki La & Lachung La were mere blips in the journey i guess. We finally made it to Pang at about 5.30pm.
***
The camps at pang were again rows of tents. Me & Suyash were in a different tent than the rest of the gang sharing it with 3 guys from RTMC, Karthik, Anant & Vodka urf Harish. Well it can't be termed exactly as love at first sight kinda feeling but it sure was pretty comfortable from the word go. Harish was doing a cycling trip from Manali to challenge himself as if doing it on motorcyle wasn't challenging enough. But later he said that he had already done so twice, once on RD & then again on a Bull. Guess he must have missed all the views so wanted to make sure he doesn't exceed the 25kmph speed necessary to soak in all of it this time! The other note worthy thing is that the term "Motocrapper" was born this very day. Karthik still owes it to Vodka for this one! :) There were lots of conversations on better photography, motocrapping, tents buring down due to gasoline stoves etc etc. But since all that would require a separate blog, lets just the lights off on the day!

TGT : Day 2 -- 03/09/07 -- Manali-Darcha -- Off To Leh!

***
Date : 03/09/07
Starting Point : HPTDC Dorms in Manali
Destination : Darcha (Pang as planned but reality is usually harsher!)
Start Time : 8.00am
Distance Covered : (11650.1 - 11496.0) = 154.1 kms
Itinerary: Manali - Rohtang Pass - Gundla - Khoksar - Tandi - Keylong - Jispa - Darcha
Fuel : Only petrol bunk between Manali & Leh is at "Tandi". Also, pray that there is electricity and stock of fuel!
Connectivity : No cellular network. Only STD booth between Manali & Leh was in Jispa. Manali to Leh is 3 days so only time to call back home is day 1!
Road Conditions : Have noticed that its mostly good except a few kilometers before and after a pass. It was near Rohtang on either sides with roads exceptionally bad after Rohtang till Sarchu. Nothing as bad as it is mentioned in the logs pre-2006! In fact an all season road from Manali till Leh will be open by 2009 if the BRO plans go along as planned.
Food & Shelter : Forget pukka makaans and meals. Mostly tents only for extremely basic food & accomodation beyond Rohtang. Maggi & eggs is staple diet. Lucky if you get rice-dal/rajma & sabji (mostly cabbage with carrots). Lots of different kinds of tea though. Accomodation is basic again. Tents with beds. Generally extremely cheap in late august & september but NOT at Darch. The ones we took at Darcha were Rs.125/person for the night! Forget hot water. If you do get some, it will mostly be a jug barely enough to brush your teeth and wipe your face. Toilets? Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!! Get used to crapping in the open and using tissue wipes.
Daily Expenses : Fuel - Rs.290 + Rs.200, Food + Water - Rs.150
***
When in Manali, make sure you close all doors & windows of the room before you go to bed. I didn't and woke up at 7am with barely any sleep and a throbbing headache. Hot water costs Rs.10 a bucket but is normally unavailable in the mornings (when you need it the most!) even if you are willing to pay with your life! So with no tea, only cold water for morning chores, we still managed to load all the luggage on the bikes by 7.45am. Filled the tank to the brim and off we went, luggage-myself-&-dharam, at 8am towards Rohtang, our first halt. I was sure the bike was going to pull it through like a jetliner with around 200kgs on top of it! Reality usually isn't a nice dream, so i was to find out later. BTW, we started right in front of the sign saying "Manali-0 km" ;-)
***
It was all damn exciting. The chill, the feeling of truly getting on with the ride, the excitement about visiting the places i've been seeing on the net. Guess thats what pulled me & Dharam till Rohtang cause the bike just wouldn't. So much for an Enfield 350! We still managed to huff & puff our way till Rohtang Pass at the altitude of 13050ft. And what a feeling it was to be on a "PASS" in the Himalaya's finally. The air was cold and it was pretty cloudy but the faces were beaming. Sounds poetic but then it still doesn't capture the "Wow, I'm here!" feeling. It is to be experienced, not read on some blog. There were customary pictures taken at Rohtang with all bikes lined up. Quite a line up it was with about 20 bikes. And as expected, there was a pile up of bikes. The only thing standing between the bikes toppling down and the ones still standing was the mighty Bhuwan! I'm not lying! Go see the pictures for yourself. ;-)
***
I was pretty careful at Rohtang trying to take tiny steps to make sure I don't tire myself out as i'd read in various logs on the net. But honestly, i was feeling ridiculous walking so slow and not really doing things like getting the bike on its main stand. So i decided to test the caution and see if one really does get tired with minor physical activity like walking! What a mistake it turned out to be given that i had already woken up with a groggy mind. Now i was saddled with an extremely irritating and persisting headache that wasn't to go away soon enough. So AMS is serious thing and the only way it can let go of you from its clutches is sleeping over it. Unfortunately, its not always possible cause its not something that you encounter only in the nights! So pay heed to all the warnings and take it easy till you acclamatise. ;-)
***
Roads leading to Rohtang are actually quite a difficult climb. One manages to ignore the seriousness of the climb since it is the first pass and adrenaline levels are pretty high. A lot of other higher altitude passes like "Naki La" & "Baralaccha" are infact a lot more easier on the bike. Again, the climb down towards Sarchu leads you through probably what are (were soon i hope) the worst roads in the entire Manali-Leh stretch. Dharam's back and butt were probably subjected to 3rd degree torture till we made it safely to Sarchu. Roads from Sarchu onwards are good and by any standards. In fact roads in some parts of Pune city are worse! So the ride further till the night halt at Darcha was smooth with frequent breaks for pictures. We made it to Darcha by 5.30pm pretty much in one piece.
***
Darcha is actually not a village or town but just a bunch of tin sheds and tents. You hit it right after climbing down the mountainous road from Jispa. So remember what i said and don't start dreaming of cozy hotel rooms, warm beds and hot dinner. The tents them selves were pretty warm but offering not much in terms of food except maggi, eggs & rice-dal. So thats what we had and i spent the rest of my time reading the service manual, talking to a chap from bombay riding solo on his bullet 350, and fiddling with my bike as per his and the service manuals instructions. I was to find out later that it just was such a terrible thing to do! Dharam spent the time finding out about buses/cabs that go towards Leh to avoid the grind all over again since the log entries we had read said that Baralaccha and More Plains had bad roads. Plus there were Lachungla & Tanglangla (2nd highest pass @ 17582ft) to climb the next day to make it to Leh. Seems there is a Delhi-Leh(!!!) bus that passes through Darcha at 6am and Dharam decided to get on it.
***
Anyways. The time after 5.30pm was spent EATING, getting used to the cold water, smell of the bedsheets in the tent and messing up the bike. Actually i could've very well ended the days log in the previous paragraph except that i'm still in two minds about whether to put in a few words on how much a city b@st@rd i've become. But what the heck! A day of riding and sipping tea at every break meant there was intense pressure building up inside by 9pm to do the crap session. Inspite of spending the entire day, without what falls in the category of "facilities", i still was hoping to find a decent loo. The girls who were running the place must have had a seriously tough time suppressing their laughter since i actually asked them this question. All they did to answer it was wave their hand outside and point towards the open space!! It wasn't easy to go through the entire exercise at 2.30am when it is 5degrees outside and trucks keep flashing their headlights at you. Some things just have to be done no matter what the price! ;-) It was also one of the umpteen things that made me realize the kind of luxuries we dabble in and manage to ignore in the city for ever running behind that expensive car or mobile phone.
***

TGT : Day 1 -- 02/09/07 -- Delhi-Manali -- The Tour begins. Finally!

***
Date : 02/09/07
Place : Anant's Home (Delhi)
Time : 2.00am
Distance Covered : (11496.0 - 10922) = 574kms
Itinerary: Delhi - Panipat - Ambala Cannt (NH1) - Chandigarh - Ropad - Kiratpur - Kullu - Manali
Fuel : All along the way
Connectivity : All cellphones work in roaming. STD booths all along.
Food & Shelter : Umpteen hotels to eat and stay. A bit scarce once you start climbing towards Manali. Carry your own water as much as possible.
***
Slept at 9pm last night only to wake up at 2.00am. Anant's mom made me light an agarbatti and pray at 2.45am once i was ready. Felt like home! The plan was to meet Yogesh at Brar Circle at 3.15am and head towards Manali.
***
A pretty uneventful day with most of the riding on NH1. Rains near Ambala meant had to use the tarpaulin the very first day. The panchu worth Rs.75 worn over the riding gear gave away in the very first hour! :) Some bad roads on the way near Kiratpur where construction of flyovers is in progress but otherwise not much. Climb to Manali was good with the first flavours of the mountains thrown in. Still some rain but mostly drizzle. Thankfully no traffic jams. By the time we made it to Kullu, it was dark and dinner time and around 9pm. Post dinner ride was awsome. Night rides seem to be becoming my favourites. We passed through what was a 2.8kms long tunnel and at one point, i almost turned back since there was no oncoming traffic!!
***
We still made it to Manali by around 11pm after almost 21hrs of starting from Delhi. Not a great record to boast of...Dharam was already there since the morning having taken a bus on 1st. Had thankfully got me a warm sweater by then. The accomodation was in HPTDC Dorms (Only Rs.75!) which were good but bloody cold. No hot water meant everytime we dipped our hands in water, we froze to death for about 5mins! But anyways. The excitement carried through the day till the lights went out at around 12.30pm. Yawn...But TGT had finally begun. So much thinking, planning & dreaming for it and now we were finally on our way!

TGT : Day "-1/0" -- 31/08/07 & 01-09-07 - Pune-Delhi - By flight ;-)

Day -1
***
Taking the 4pm bus yesterday (31/08) was probably the most exciting thing in the entire month of August. I was finally off for TGT (The Grand Tour). Made it at the most crawling pace ever in a bus cold as arctic to Parle by 10.15pm. Regular chat with Amol & dinner later, was in bed by 11.30pm (earliest ever at Amol's so far!). As expected, couldn't sleep. What the heck!
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Day 0
***
Thankfully Indigo saves the low-cost airlines the blushes and was off sharp at 6.30am & landed at a near perfect 8.30am. By 9.30am, i was finally at Anant's place and raring to go. All plans of riding solo till Chandigarh seemed so near. Finally the "RIDE" part of TGT was going to start. And then....sigh. The bike refused to start..sputtered to death. Anant checked the fuse and yep, it had blown. Ideally a small job but some screw up while changing left the wires running to the battery in smoke!!!! The plastic casing simply sizzled and melted off leaving bare wires. Damn..not a great omen ain't it? At least a new fuse, some shitty insulation tape later the bike started and was dutifully left at Pappu's. "Sham ko milega" were the words that basically cemented the fact that i wasn't going to ride today. Guess it all happens for good so a plan going awry meant the bike was thoroughly checked once more and is all set. For me to ride out at 3am with Yogesh!!! Damn..
***
While the bike was being done..we went all over the city gathering stuff (read bike related stuff) for roadshakers that Anant is going to carry to Pune tomorrow morning.
A trip to karolbagh (50xNana Peth) & we dropped Dharam to catch his bus to Manali at 5pm. Home by 5.30pm, bike ripping on roards back home from pappu and now ready for dinner and a little wink.
***
All in all a sweaty day spent in exchanging a zillion stories about roadshakers and the bullet with Anant! Not a bad start if you look at it! :)

The Grand Tour : I'm off to Ladakh!

Image Courtesy : http://www.bcmtouring.com/
***

Been planning, dreaming, thinking, sleeping, eating, breathing of this trip since i got the Bullet for myself. Time has come my friends. It has been a very difficult week at office cause i have been able to do nothing to suppress my excitement of the "Grand Tour". Have been reading emails in office without really understanding a word, running around to get things, plan stuff, send bike to delhi, book tickets and what not. A million thoughts running through my mind. All about the trip. A million things i think of to put on my checklist and then forget them as fast as they flash in my mind. People say its not such a difficult trip but who the hell is in the frame of mind to listen.

***

Have spent time at the mech learning a few basic things about the bike like changing cables, removing tyres (and putting them back of course!), tuning carbs, checking fuses, fixing spark plugs etc etc. The bike is already in Delhi though Gati did manage to break the rear indicators and bend the foot peg. With flight tickets done for Saturday i.e. 1st Sept'07 at 06:30 hrs, i can hardly sit still. Getting bored of planning and getting stuff together. Just want to ride now. Enough of dreams. The ride itself beckons!! Ladakh -- Here i come! :)

***

Following is the itinerary that we will be following on our trip to Ladakh:

Leg 1

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Day 1, Manali - Rohtang Jot - Kokhsar - Tandi - Keylong - Jispa - Darcha - Baralacha La - Bharatpur - Sarchu, 230kms: The fun starts on the very first day, as we traverse through broken roads, slush, water/river crossings and cross two high altitude passes (Rohtang La 13,050ft and Baralacha La 16,500ft).

Day 2, Sarchu - Gata Loops - Nakee La - Lachulung La - Pang - More Plains - Tanglang La - Upshi - Karu - Leh, 260kms: Another hard day of riding while covering three high altitude passes (Nakee La 15,547ft, Lachulung La 16,616ft and third highest pass, Tanglang La at an altitude of (17,582ft).

Day 3, Leh - Thiksey - Leh and local sightseeing, 80kms: A day to unwind, get the bikes serviced and visit Thiksey and other historical places in Ladakh’s capital, Leh.

Leg 2

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Day 4, Leh – Phyang – Khardung La – Khardung – Khalsar – Diskit – Hunder, 110kms: Conquering the worlds highest Motorable road at 18,380ft and then riding beyond it to the magnificent Nubra Valley, a stone throw away from the Siachen Glacier.

Day 5, Hunder – Diskit – Sumur – Panamik – Sumur – Khalsar – Khardung – Khardung La – Phyang – Leh, 200kms: Sightseeing in the beautiful Nubra Valley and then ride back to Leh via "The highest Motorable road in the world, Khardung La"

Leg 3

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Day 6, Leh – Shey – Karu – Shakti – Chang La – Tanksey – Lukung – Spangmik - Pangong Tso, 170kms: On day six we plan to ride to the largest salt water lake in Asia, Pangong Tso. En route we will be crossing the "Second highest Motorable pass, Chang La (17,800ft)".

Day 7, Pangong Tso – Phobrang – Marsimik La – Phobrang – Pangong Tso: Ride to the worlds highest Motorable pass, Marsimik La, 18,634ft and then come back to the Pangong Tso.

Day 8, Pangong Tso – Lukung – Tanksey – Chang La – Shakti – Karu – Shey – Leh, 170kms: Ride back to Leh for a final night there.

Leg 4

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Day 9, Leh – Nimmu – Lamayuru – Khaltse – Kargil, 293kms: Ride to the town Kargil on the Leh – Srinagar highway.

Day 10, Kargil - Sanko - Parakachik – Rangdum (Suru Valley) - Panzi La - Padum (Zanskar Valley), 245kms: A back braking journey through Suru Valley to the Zanskar Valley, there are no roads for over 170kms and one has to negotiate trails filled with rocks, sand and water to reach the capital of Zanskar Valley, Padum.

Day 11 – 13, Zanskar Valley: Exploring the Zanskar Valley and visit numerous Buddhist Gompas Zanskar Valley is famous for.

Day 14, Padum – Panzi La – Rangdum – Parakachik – Sanko – Kargil – Drass, 245kms: A hard days of riding and we will reach the town of Kargil

Leg 5

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Day 15, Drass – Zoji La – Sonamarg – Srinagar, 205kms: An early morning start should take us to famous Zoji La pass, from here the valley begins.

Day 16, Srinagar – Banihal – Udhampur – Jammu, 300kms: From Dal Lake to the beautiful valley to the famous town of Jammu, the kms pile up.

Day 17, Jammu - Pathankot – Jalandhar – Ludhiana – Ambala – Delhi, 590kms: After a long ride from Jammu, we bid Himalayas a final good bye reach the home base, Delhi.

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And the riders are:

Bhuwan Singh from Jaipur, Rajasthan on his Royal Enfield Thunderbird
Dharam from Bangalore, Karnataka as a pillion with Nilesh
Dheeraj Singh from New Delhi on his Bajaj Pulsar 150
Manik Mittal from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh on his Bajaj Pulsar 180
Nagadeepan R. from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh on his Honda Unicorn
Nilesh Sundar from Pune, Maharashtra on his Royal Enfield Electra
Saumitra Swarnkar from New Delhi on his Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi
Sparsh Arun from New Delhi on his Bajaj Pulsar 150
Sunil Gupta from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh on his Bajaj Pulsar 150
Suyash Sonawane from Pune, Maharashtra on his Bajaj Avenger
Umesh Soman from Mumbai, Maharashtra on his Honda Unicorn
Yogesh Sarkar from New Delhi on his Bajaj Pulsar 180 (I end up thinking of Yogi Bear, the furry cartoon character every time I think of Yogesh!)

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The itinerary is from my friends site : http://www.bcmtouring.com/ladakh-2007/

You can visit his site for frequent updates cause i'm going to spend my time chilling. Won't really bother about a few web pages of my blog cause i'll have a lot to soak my senses in!! Adieu!!

Off to Ladakh - All 3 of them!

Date : Wednesday, 20/06/2007
Time : 5.30am
Place : Vahuman Cafe, Next to Jehangir Hospital, Bundgarden Road, Pune
Occasion : Flag off ceremony for "The 3" riding to Ladakh.
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Rajat was damn excited about the Ladakh trip for last few weeks. Borrowing shoes, gloves, money...everything short of the bike and guts. When I met him on 19th evening at around 5pm, he had not yet packed, not slept well and probably guzzled booze the night before. All that he had done in the last few weeks under the flag of preparation was grow a beard. To get the "Biker" look! Giving bikers a bad name, idiot! Look at the pictures, aren't the rest shaved and well dressed? ;-) Anyways. The plan was that they would be meeting at 5.30am at Vahuman Cafe and leave sharp at 6am. Tall order....Roadshakers Standard Time as always.
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I had not been astride my Bull for last 4 weeks due to the burn injury and been missing the meets for 4 straight weeks. Seemed like a ,perfect occasion to bring out the bike. Hardest part was that i had not slept well for 2days myself. Its never an issue to stay up late but getting up early is a big naaaaaaaaah. But for this noble cause to further the motivation level of fellow Roadshakers, i set the alarm for 4.45am. Knowing fully well that it was going to prove real stupid cause Rajat & Naveen together beat the laziest of the lazy hands down and never make those times themselves. But they were going where I wanted to go. But for the one unproductive activity in my life called work, that provides for my all, I would have been riding along! But come September and I will.
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And guess what? I did hear the alarm and did wake up. It sure was hard with no time to make tea. So I simply put on the clothes (shut up!), jacket, hung the camera around my neck and went up to the bike rubbing my eyes. It didn't let me down, i must say. Started with precisely 3 half & 1 full kick. Felt real good to be on again and no better time to ride than early morning. King of the roads! Was there at around 5.30am, greeted by a familiar sight of only 2 bikes standing. Ram & Ujawal were the only ones on time. From then on it was...waiting, waiting, waiting. As people gathered, including Naveen who turned up at 6, junta started dialling to find out the where abouts Rajat. It was only after a lot of calling, getting mad, calling names & almost sending off Naveen all alone, that Rajat turned up at 6.45am.
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As expected, except for the serviced bike and donning of appropriate gear to suit the "Biker" look, he was completely unprepared. What followed was complete pandemonium for a solid 30mins. Rajat & Manish trying to tie up the luggage. Manish asking real difficult questions to Rajat & Naveen that they didn't really want to answer. Bawa clicking snaps & tying special tags to the two bikes along with Mustan. Finally...it was all secured. Talismans tied around necks, coconuts offered to the God of Travel (there must be one, right?), hand shakes, hugs, cheers & umpteen pictures later, off went the 3. Yep. 3! Rajat, Naveen & my shoes! Rajat had them on.....God Speed! Ride safe & have fun!
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