Day 5

Day 5 – June 16:

Drass – Wakha

Stay: Tents (good)

We started from Drass and our first stop was the Drass War Memorial. We spent around 2 hours there. We were overwhelmed at the sights of Tololing, Tiger hill, Rhino horn, India Gate and several other points about which we had only heard before. Anger for the enemy and pride for our soldiers were the only two feelings I had. It is in fact sad to see war memorials for martyred soldiers dotting the roads everywhere there. I only wish that we didn’t have to build so many war memorials.

After this we moved forward towards Kargil. Had lunch there and started moving ahead. We took the old route via Lamayuru. We reached Wakha at 6 pm. It was getting cold with clouds all around and we still had to cross Namika la and Fotu la. Also riding at night was a strict no for me. Here I had to put across my opinion to Rahul and Abhisekh a bit strongly on stopping here rather than moving ahead (in fact I had a small altercation with Rahul). Anyways we decided to stay in Wakha. We found a tent camp, enquired and got a tent for us. After dumping our luggage and changing we came out to look around. Even though it was an unscheduled stop for us, I feel that it was good to have stopped in Wakha. Abhisekh and Rahul went on to climb a hill just for the fun of it, while I was near the tent clicking away. In some time it got windy and chilly and we returned to our tent. We had our dinner in the tent and went off to sleep.

Please find the pics here.

Day 4

Day 4 – June 15:

Srinagar – Drass

Stay: Hotel Hill view (ok)

We started a bit late from Srinagar. Had tea, filled petrol and we were on our way. Photo stops meant slow progress and we were in Sonamarg by 12.30 pm. Verified that Zozila was open, had lunch and started towards Zozila. It had started raining in Sonamarg and we had just started. Initially the feeling was a mixture of discomfort of rain, excitement of seeing snow so close for the first time and the combined coldness of rain and snow. The progress was awfully slow with a foot high mud on the road and a huge line up of trucks and four wheelers ahead. We slowly and gradually crossed them from the hill side where ever possible and from the cliff side on a two feet mud path between trucks and fall of the cliff. Enjoying the views and shivering of cold we crossed Zozila. We stopped at a place down Zozila for a few minutes and warmed our palms on the bike engines. The finger tips were burning due to cold and every time we took off the gloves to warm them they had new colours – red, blue, black……. I rushed towards Drass, found a small restaurant opposite the J&K tourism bungalow (which I didn’t notice till very late), asked the owner to give me a jug of warm water and put both my palms in it. All of us were in no mood of going till Kargil. Another reason was that we had to visit Drass War memorial. It was as important to us as visiting Pangong Tso or Khardungla in Ladakh. After all we could go there only because of those people in whose memory that memorial has been built. Anyways in our anguish we headed to Hotel Hill view got a room and came out, and it was only then that we noticed the J&K tourist bungalow just opposite. We went to a Nepali guy’s hotel and ate one of the tastiest chicken of our trip. Just ask for the Nepali guy’s hotel you will find it. Later we had some dinner and slept off at the second coldest inhabited place in the world (feels good to say it…). Tomorrow we plan to get Leh’ed, but do we????? let’s leave it to tomorrow…….

Please find the pics here.

Day 3

Day 3 – June 14:

Udhampur – Srinagar

Stay: Golden Lily House boat (ok….. it was a house boat)

We start from Udhampur in rain accompanied by cross winds. The progress is very slow. We stop after sometime to have breakfast and some respite from rains. Had breakfast but no respite from rains. Anyways we continue on. In between somewhere Rahul gave lift to a small school kid till some distance. It started getting clear when we started climbing towards Patnitop. We got some nice views from Patnitop and most importantly Rahul’s and my first view of snow capped peaks, though a bit too far away. We anyways were excited. Descending from Patnitop towards Jawahar tunnel we stopped at places for tea and clicking around. Next big target was Jawahar tunnel, had heard a lot about it. But Jawahar tunnel turned out to be scary, a bit too congested for the kind of traffic that goes through it. Once inside, I had to give pass to four wheelers who, I suppose won’t be able to drive if honking was impossible. I somehow missed the Titanic view point (don’t ask me how….. I have no clue). Rahul saw the view point but wanted to stop me from missing it, and eventually he also had to just bypass it without stopping. Once he told me, I tried to stop but was asked by army personals to move forward. Anyways, we both stopped after sometime at a hotel like place where there were lots of army men and a few tourists. We also had to wait for Abhisekh who wasn’t to be around. After Jawahar tunnel the road is bad, really bad. We started chatting with a few army men and they suggested taking a right just after a visible turn ahead, which would take us through the inner parts of Kashmir valley and the road is much better than the highway. This was great information. The road really was wonderful and the best part was, it passed through villages with greenery all around, with no or very little traffic and small streams running with us. This was the Kashmir that should be seen rather than overcrowded and expensive tourist locations. Abhisekh was a bit concerned as we were riding at places where there were no tourists at all and very little army as compared to any other place in Kashmir. Anyways we stopped at a small village for tea, chatted with the locals there and they seemed pretty friendly. They also invited to stay in their homes instead of staying in Srinagar as Anantnag and most of Srinagar was closed due to protests over killing of some youth. We declined politely and moved forward into Anantnag which was really closed, all shops closed only a few local vehicles and a few autos at the auto stand. We crossed through Anantnag and caught the highway to Srinagar. Some more photo stops and we were in Srinagar. We had to enter our bike numbers while entering Srinagar, where the army guy told us not to stay near Lal bazaar. We anyways wanted to stay near Dal lake. On reaching Dal lake on the highway to Leh, Abhisekh got the fascination of staying on a houseboat which we got for Rs. 1100, way too high for our budget. Anyways it was the first time so we took it. After dumping our bags we had a long shikara ride in the lake, ate Rista and kebabs, finally had our dinner a bit late and slept over. Next day we had to cross Zozila and I was excited, reason being snow walls…. :)

Please find the pics here.

Day 2

Day 2 – June 13:

Jalandar – Udhampur

Stay: Hotel Vishal (best avoided)

We took our sweet time to get ready and start riding. The road initially is good just after Jalandar, but gets bad after. There was also a jam because a car had broken down. Here we took a detour and did some offroading to cross it. After covering some more distance we saw some rain threatening clouds ahead and we covered our bags and ourselves, though it turned out that it was unnecessary. The plan for the day was to skip Jammu and ride till Patnitop. We crossed into Himachal in between for a few Kms and then back into Punjab. Just before entering J&K, the road is, or let me just say there is no road at all, and there is huge line of trucks which you have to cross. Now we had entered the state of our journey. I had a vague idea of the route which we had to take to bypass Jammu. After some enquiries we got to know that we had to take a right after Samba. Before reaching Samba, the inevitable thing happened. I had a flat tyre. Luckily a puncture shop was nearby, but he was too busy in fixing a truck tyre. So we removed my bike’s tyre and gave it to him to fix it. Puncture fixed, but he was still in no mood to put the tyre back. So we did it. I tested the brakes and they were still too loose. Tightened it to my liking and we started. Just after taking the right after Samba, my bike started acting weird. It would go to a maximum of 50 kmph. We stopped near a puncture guy again and told him our problem. Meanwhile Abhisekh had gone ahead and it was just Rahul and I. The puncture guy found out that the brake shoe casing on the rear wheel was too hot and it had turned from a silvery colour to light golden due to overheating. Spent 30 minutes to let the brakes cool down then he fixed the tyre again. My bike was working fine now. I still don’t know what the problem was. If I had tuned the brakes too hard I would feel it while driving, but the brakes were fine. All this wasted more than 1 hour as a whole.

Anyways moved ahead, met Abhisekh, explained him what had happened. Now we started riding in mountains for the first time on this trip. We were faced with high speed cross winds and our speeds were reduced to 20-30 kmph. The worst was while crossing a bridge, felt like the wind would push us from the bridge. Anyways, time wastage due to puncture and slow speed later meant that we decided to stay in Udhampur instead of Patnitop. The decision seemed wise as it started raining as we entered Udhampur and it was getting dark. Next day we ride to the Kashmir valley.

Find the pics here.

Day 1

Day 1 – June 12:

Noida – Jalandar

Stay: Hotel …….. (good, but forgot the name)

We and our bikes were all set and ready for the trip. We started off at 5 am, stopped to withdraw cash and fill petrol, crossed Delhi and were on NH 1 in no time. Initially our plan was to take the Manali-Leh route but unfortunately it was still not open. So it was the Srinagar-Leh route for us. Crossing Sonepat, Panipat and Ambala we took continued on NH 1 to reach Ludhiana. We had set our target for the day at Ludhiana but since we had reached there early enough, we decided to stretch the day till Jalandar. Sometime before reaching Ludhiana, we stopped for lunch at a small dhaba where we sat on cots instead of chairs. This was something Rahul had wanted to do for a long time. Rest of the ride was uneventful till Jalandar and we got ourselves a room on the Jammu highway. The only highlight of the day was we riding in four states – UP, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, and the heat we had to endure all the way. Seriously, riding jackets and knee protectors don’t go with the heat.

Before the trip.

Ladakh bike trip was in our minds for a long time. It was only after months of reading on various travel sites and getting to know what it exactly involved in terms of preparation that we decided to go to Ladakh. The team included Abhisekh Verma, Rahul Prakash and me. After seeing several pics of Ladakh at various places, it was inevitable for us to turn back. Several emotions had filled us even before the trip started. The awe feeling of Ladakh, the Heaven on earth feeling of Kashmir valley, the nationalism arising from the fact that we would be visiting places like Drass and Kargil, and most of all the eager anticipation of what all we will have to endure on this trip.

The preparation involved, preparing ourselves physically for the trip (where I didn’t do anything at all), preparing our bikes, getting spares for anything that may go wrong with the bike, getting proper riding gear, medicines – especially Diamox, etc, etc. To our benefit, Abhisekh had done the Delhi to Leh trip via Manali once earlier. After all the initial preparations, we were almost set to start our trip. Rahul and I had sent our bikes to Delhi and we also reached Delhi on June 11. June 12 was when we had to start riding.

About us: Abhisekh, Rahul and I (Rohit) are people earning their daily bread due to IT industry. Abhisekh and Rahul are bikers in true sense and I am a slow and over cautious biker (courtesy three accidents in one year). So the title of this log actually applies to me in its sense. I ride a Pulsar 150, Rahul rides a Karizma R and Abhishek rides his Avenger 200.