[pallav167]

A road trip to Leh-Ladhak has always fascinated me like nothing else in this world !

As far as my memory goes, the first thought to do a Leh trip flashed through my mind in 2011 when four of my office colleagues went there in Scorpio, burnt the clutch somewhere on the way and left stranded. They finally got the vehicle towed to the service center at Leh and wasted three precious days in the whole process. Upon joining back, the tales of their adventures circulated everywhere in my Gurgaon office for weeks and months.




Leh always on mind but plans couldn’t get materialized:

As the luck has its way, we couldn’t plan the trip in 2012 as my wife went to UK and I moved to Hyderabad in 2013. After moving to Hyderabad, It was more challenging to plan a long trip to North and hence gave it a miss in 2014. We were expecting our son in 2015 so couldn’t plan.

In 2016 July, I moved back to Noida. This has infused a fresh hope in me and I decided that 2017 is going to be the year for sure.
As always, God had some other plans! I moved to UK in 2017 for a year and could only return by the end of Jul 2018.

Between Jul 2018 to Jul 2019 – Discussions to plan the trip kept going throughout the year with four of my friends. In April 2019, I asked them to start doing some serious planning as we were targeting to hit the road in early June. This is when they started pulling out one by one due to different reasons. My last hope, a friend from my apartment, failed to get the leaves approved and backed off in May. My wife said that since our son is just four, we should plan for the next year and hence she was also out. It was too late to plan the trip with no one to go along but I just don't want this year to slip off without Leh.

I finally decided to go solo by car but later ended up doing a group Biking tour. The date was finalized as 3rd June and I was left with just two weeks to plan.

3rd June – Boarded 9 AM flight from Delhi and reached Srinagar at 1:30 Pm with a halt in Jammu.

Two weeks gone in shopping and packing; finally the D-Day arrived. I was to Fly to Srinagar, followed by a bike ride till Leh to come back via Manali.

3rd June 2019 - At 1:30 PM, I landed at Srinagar airport which was basking under bright sun. I was picked up from the airport and dropped at dal lake around 2:00, took a small ‘Shikara’ ride to get to my House-Boat which was already buzzing with bikers. By the end of the day we were 39 bikers and few, including me, were solo while others had pillions with them. Everyone became friendly within no time and we all enjoyed the rest of the evening chit-chatting amidst magnificent view of ‘Dal’ lake on a super pleasant day.

Shikaras magnifying the captivating beauty of Dal...



A beautiful evening at Dal lake amidst light drizzle...




4th June ‘19– Day to meet our Royal En-fields and reaching Kargil. (Srinagar to Kargil -204 KMs)

Next morning everyone was full of excitement as today we were to be introduced with our bikes. I was quite animated today as I had hardly done any biking in last 10 years and these bikes were going to be our rides for the next 10 days.

We packed our bags and left the houseboat in Shikara and soon reached the spot where all the bikes, camouflaged in glorified battle green shade, were lined up in a disciplined manner. The bikes were in impeccable condition but I was slightly disappointed to see 'RE Standard' bikes instead of 'RE Classics'. Bike operator told us that truck carrying ‘Classics’ has met with an accident so they have made some alternate arrangements. We weren’t left with any choice but to believe him and went on to pick the best we could from the lot.

We wasted good 2-3 hours in knit-picking the bikes through multiple test rides along with taking pics of any existing dents to ensure that the bike operator couldn’t penalize us later. We finally started at 11 AM and our destination for the day was Kargil. There was a hell lots of traffic after Srinagar and we took our first major halt at Sonmarg around 1 PM.

Somewhere in Sonmarg...



Spent almost two hours at Sonmarg, crossed Zojila around 4 PM and finally reached 'Kargil War Memorial' by 6 PM.

It was chilling cold at 'Kargil War Memorial' and we were all fatigued out after the day long ride; took a hot cup of tea & cup noodles from army canteen which has helped a big way in beating the chill. Spent around 1 hour, taking photographs, appreciating the beauty of nature, and feeling Patriotic. Though I wanted to spend more time there, but it was getting dark with another 45 Kms to reach Kargil town.

Kargil War Memorial..






I finally, along with first 4-5 riders, reached Kargil town at 8 PM. Hotel location was already shared by the group captain and we were in our hotel by 8:30. Bikes kept pouring in at regular intervals and the last one came around 11PM along with our recovery vehicle. This bike has got a flat wheel just 20 kms before Kargil. Recovery camper came after two hours as there were other break downs too and finally fixed the Tyre. Once all 19 bikes were in hotel, we had our dinner together and spent some time discussing the plans for next day before retiring to our rooms.

Hotel owner was an ex- army man and I spend some good time listening to his war-time stories. He narrated how the heavy shelling from Pakistan proved dreadful for Kargil town as it was directly in firing range and how the enemy forces hasn’t even spared the civilians in the town.

The first day was quite eventful as two riders got injured near Sonmarg and two others has done some damage to their bikers as they skidded near Zojila, one has got a flat tire while few others have got bike breakdowns. I was lucky to survive the first day !!

The roads near Zojila pass were in bad shape but rest of the highway was in mint condition kudos to BRO (Boarder Road Organization).

During our drive today, we crossed some famous land marks of Kargil war such as Dras, Tiger hill and off-course Kargil.

Dras is known to be one of the highest in-habitat place in the world. We also passed through the mighty ‘Tiger Hill’ which was rescued, in full glory, through a daunting operation by our brave armed forces during 1999 Kargil war.

5th June ’19 – First glimpse of Ladhaki culture (Kargil to Leh - 218 KMs)

Today was supposedly going to be a relatively quicker drive as roads from Kargil to Leh were wide and well maintained.

We woke up around 7:00 AM, had a morning tea, checked our bikes, started them & left the engines running for some time to heat-up which is much required in cold conditions. We finally left our hotel at leisure around 10 AM and soon after leaving Kargil, we entered into Leh region through two high mountain passes.

The first noticeable change upon entering the Leh region is the foot prints of Buddhist culture all around. Villages were adorned with colorful Tibetan flags. Huge spindle prayer wheels were kept, on the cross roads, at the entrance of most of the villages. As we moved further towards Leh, these imprints kept getting stronger with numerous ‘Gompas’ and several small & big monasteries on the way. There was a sense of immense calm and tranquility that we experience all through this route. In-fact this was one of my favorite leg in the entire trip.


Footprints of Gompas and Tibetan culture after Kargil..



The drive from Kargil to Leh was full of beautiful landscapes. The only passes we crossed today were ‘Fatu la’ and ‘Namik la’ which were around 12000-13000 ft and easily manageable with some great roads.



After crossing Fatu la and Namik la, comes the ‘Lamayuru Moon land’ approximately 110 Kms from Kargil and almost mid-way to leh.

It’s a small village, popular for one of the oldest monasteries in Leh region; and an ideal place to take a break between Kargil & Leh. We took our lunch break here at a ‘Dhaba’ just opposite to this famous monastery amidst peace and serenity.

Interestingly, this quaint little village is often called as ‘moon land’; credit goes to its incredible geographical formations which resembles moon like craters.

Moon like Crater formations..



Fascinating Lamayuru Monastery..



We left 'Lamayuru' after delicious lunch and reached 'Magnetic Hills' around 5 PM. Unfortunately, the downside of being on bikes is that we missed to experience the magic of magnetic hill as that is only possibly with four wheeler. So, we left the magnetic hill with some pics and without much stunts.



Snow covered mountain peaks in the background while entering in Leh city!!



It has got quite dark while reaching Leh; our Enfields sped past the town, roaring at full throttle and were quite a head turner. Although, I felt bad for the sound pollution they created in an otherwise peaceful town. Having said that, this is nothing new to the people of Leh as we were not the only biking group in the town which we realized next day at the fuel station.

There were at-least hundred bikers lined up to get the morning breakfast for the bikes at the fuel bunk situated on the entry road of leh town. It was a delightful sight watching people with all types of Royal Enfield including Himalayan Rangers, Classic 500s’, Thunder Birds to ever green Bullets.

Shanti Stupa at Leh entrance and it's a popular landmark !



6th June ’19 – Crossing Khardungla – One of the Highest motor-able road (Leh to Diskit, Nubra - 114 KMs)


This was a special day as we were to pass through one of the highest motor-able road that everyone must have read about a thousand times. Khardungla is one of the major pass that connects Leh region with Nubra valley and is located at an altitude of 18000 feet.

I woke up at 7 AM, had a sumptuous breakfast at hotel and since I haven’t got the chance last night, I made a short visit to leh market. It was little early for the market to come to a full bloom and only few shops were opened. I purchased a few souvenirs and a T-shirt for my 4 year old champ with a caption that says.... ''My Father just visited Leh and all I got is this cool T-shirt’’

A morning in super clean Leh market




I went back to the hotel, and the group was waiting to leave for bike re-fulling. After refueling in Leh, we took off-road route to Khardungla; the road was quite narrow and not tarred. This patchy road kept taking us upwards until Leh city went completely out of my optical view.

At this moment, I wasn’t aware that I will end up visiting Leh two more times within next few days. I will talk about these misadventures later.

We finally stopped after some 10-12 odd kilometers on a check post and waited for the other bikers of the herd. Once everyone reached, we put the engines on fire and kept gaining height (we were going towards Khardungla after all). The whole road is broken and not it a great shape, it was quite narrow and mostly bad. After around 2 hours of drive, we finally reached the prominent land mark ‘Khardungla Pass’, spent some good time clicking pictures to adore for life. We were advised not to stay at Khardungla for more than 15 mins as there are high chances of hitting AMS, but the excitement was such that we ended up spending close to 1 hour here.

After crossing Khardungla, we have to take another halt as BRO was cleaning some fresh snow off the road. The job was done quickly with powerful snow cutters and we were able to continue our journey.



After a long and tiring drive, the group finally stopped few kilometers before ‘Khalsar’ at a diversion which goes towards ‘Pangong’ on the right and ‘Nubra’ on the left. The right was much straighter and in the absence of any sign board, most bikers went straight. We waved and shouted to grab their attention, asked them to come back and take a left towards Nubra.

It was a continuous descend for the next 10-12 kilometers after Khalsar until we hit a straight patch in the middle of the mountains around 5 PM. The road was straight like a geometry ruler and we were easily cruising at 100 kmph on the hills. There is a vast open desert on both sides of the road and the sunset made the perfect setting for the outstanding pics. We posed in the middle of the road which was mostly empty, but we remain cautious of the random vehicles passing through. There were still lot many cars passing through and threatening us with their beaming headlights. Photo session became a daunting task, but we still managed to get some good clicks.

''We were already in Nubra valley and Diskit was just 10-12 kms from here!''





Finally left the place around 7 PM and reached our beautiful hotel ‘Lhas Thang’. The hotel was strategically located, immediately after crossing the straight road, right at the entry of the Diskit village.

Spent the rest of the evening over tea and snacks near wood-fire.



7th June ’19 – Roaming around in Nubra valley (Diskit - Hunder)

My plan for today was to do nothing and just relax in the hotel. All the other bikers have left for ‘Turtuk’ village which touches Pakistan border, but I preferred to stay back and explore the Diskit village.

''Turtuk, Hunder and Diskit are part of Nubra valley. Turtuk went in Pakistan during partition but Indian army regained it during 1971 war.’’


After a leisurely sleep and a delicious breakfast, I took to the wheels around 11 AM and went straight to the Diskit Monastery, also known as ‘Diskit Gompa’ locally, which was quite near to my hotel. This 14th century architecture is located at a hill top and provides magnificent views of Nubra valley. The monastery has a statue of Cho Rinpoche (Crowned Buddha), a huge prayer drum and several images of other deities.

Diskit Monastery !






Don’t forget to visit the humongous statue of ‘Maitreya Buddha’, facing down the Shyok River towards Pakistan, right opposite to the ‘Diskit Monastery’.



It was around 1 PM and time to explore the local market of the village. I tried some parathas and chai at a laddakhi shop, taste was okay considering the remoteness of the place.

I then visited a local shop and spent the next one hour chit-chatting with the shop owner. He was a 65-70 years old man and was quite interactive. He told me that none of the shopkeepers in Nubra valley sells cigarettes as an initiative to keep their coming generations free from tobacco. I was highly impressed and our discussions continued over other interesting topics related to politics, local culture and things that I was curious about. He said that earlier generations were more into alcohol and non-vegetarian food but ever since Dalai Lama visited the place, they have largely gave up these things.

Around 3 PM, I went to 'Hunder' which is roughly 15 KMs from 'Diskit' and well known for its double humped camels. Took few pictures and watched others enjoying the camel ride. I wasn’t interested in doing camel ride for two reasons, firstly I did lots of them during my Jaislmer visit last year with my son and secondly my son was not with me so there isn't any point doing it anyways.

''Double Humped Camel at Hunder, Nubra''



The views in Hunder valley were again magnificent with Camels walking in the cold desert sand and snow covered peaks in the background. I spent around 1 hour here and returned to the hotel by 5 PM; had some tea and waited for other bikers to come back, had dinner around bonfire and went for an early sleep.

''Hunder'' - Sand Desert





''Nubra Valley remained off-limits for outsiders until 1994 and no one could visit Turtuk until 2010, as tourists weren't permitted beyond Hunder due to its proximity with Pakistan.’’

8th June ’19 – Day to witness the pristine Pangong lake (Diskit – TSO Pangong - 150 KMs)

There are two routes to reach Pangong from Diskit, one goes through high altitude passes and other one goes through some narrow roads with Shyok river flowing parallel to the road.

Route-1 -> Diskit – Agam – Shyok – Durbuk – Pangong (Distance – 150 KM)
Route-2 -> Diskit – Agam – Wari La – Chang La – Pangong (Distance – 225 KM)



We left Diskit around 10 AM and took the Shyok route. The landscape was simply amazing with Shyok river running besides us in between the mountains gorge.

This route was totally deserted with a sense of calmness & quietness in the atmosphere. However, the burbling Shyok river was breaking the monotony of lull. The whole setting was euphoric and heavenly blissful, making it a perfect ride.

After Khalsar, as we proceeded towards Agam, the road started getting more and more isolated and road conditions kept deteriorating. Till few years back there was hardly any road on this route except for a sand and gravels track. Now there is a road but not in a great shape; that’s the reason that many still don’t use it and most people prefer to do Pangong from Leh side.
There are some rare eating joints on this route and we could only find some small make-shift shops in Agam that only serves tea, packed drinks, Maggie, omelet and parantha.



After a quick refreshment at 'Agam', we kept moving forward leaving tyre marks on the highly secluded muddy road.

All of a sudden we realized that road ahead is blocked by a big boulder that has tumbled down the hill. The alternate route has sharp incline with stones and potholes. The bikes need a momentum to beat the 50 degree uphill incline but it was difficult to accelerate due to the presence of rocks, mud and stones. Most bikes skidded off and It was quite tough to pull them up once they loose momentum. All the bikers were quite confident that they can bring the bike up without skidding, few tried and they all skidded. It took 3-4 people to pull up each bike and we got completely exhausted after pulling up just few seven bikes and there were nineteen in total.

Now it was my turn to test the waters. I put my bike in first gear, gained slow acceleration using my legs to balance the bike on rocks and Topsy-Turvy turf. The trick worked and I finally made it to the top. I then helped the other bikers and after a grueling haour long efforts, all 19 bikes were back on the right track.

Incline where bikes refused to move up and most of them skidded



This thrilling adventure quietly consumed almost 90 minutes, but it was a lot of fun and refreshing too. After this, we kept moving towards our destination for the day and finally got the first glimpse of pristine Pangong lake around 5 PM.

''Millions of travelers has already described and penned the beauty of this pristine lake, so I would let the pictures speak instead''





'Three Idiot shooting spot'




''Best thing to do at Pangong is to just sit and appreciate this beautiful lake when a million stars zooms over it on a clear night.''

[pallav167]

9th June ’19 – Exhaustive ride on mud track amidst sand storms (TSO Pangong to TSO Morori - 300 KMs)

This is going to be a long day with lots of off-roading as road is mostly non-existent on Pangonng - TSO Morori route.

We took a shorter route which goes via Chusul but the easier one is via Durbuk, Hemis and both the route meets at 'Mahe'. TSO Morori is another 65 Kms from Mahe and one has to left while coming through Chusul and right when coming via Hemis. The track was bad and painful for bike ride while we drove mostly on the bad of sand and gravels.

The two routes are as below:
Route1 -> Pangong -> Durbuk -> Hemis -> Mahe -> TSO Morori (320 KMs) approx. 8-9 hour drive
Route2 -> Pangong -> Chusul -> Mahe -> TSO Moriri (180 Kms) approx. 6-7 hour drive.

We started around 10 AM from Pangong and one can imagine the roads by the fact that it took us 6 hours to cover 130 Kms with 1 long break and 2-3 short breaks. Although route was mostly flat and I haven’t gained any height till Mahe, but my body started giving up as we could only maintain the speeds of 20-25 km per hour throughout the day on an non-tarred road.

I haven’t done much biking in the last 10 years and even the regular bikers in the group were finding it challenging to steer past the unevenly rugged and off-road path. Route goes through the cold dessert full of sand and mud. While the roads were mostly isolated; the one thing that was breaking the uneasy silence were the scary sand storms.







After crossing the desert, I reached 'Mahe' around 4 PM. I was alone and couldn't decide if I should take a left or go straight or should I wait for other bikers to arrive. I was aware that 2-3 bikers were ahead of me and since it was getting dark; I asked for the directions and decided to continue towards left for TSO Moriri. I was under the impression that it must be just 15-20 kms from Mahe and started doubting myself when nothing came-up even after 1 hour of drive. The road was continuously going upwards after 'Mahe' and was totally deserted with no human soul in sight. I was already exhausted and started feeling helpless as I wasn't sure if I am going in the right direction. After driving few more kilometers, I found a biker from my group who was alone and confused like me. However, we were still confident that we were heading n the right direction as we both were told to take left at 'Mahe' and there was no other diversion in between.



The roads were better after Mahe but we maintained low speeds due to unbearable cold conditions; encountered glaciers, snowfall , heard of sheep but absolutely no human throughout.
Last 10-15 Kms to TSO Morori were even more confusing as the road got bifurcated to two sides of the TSO Morori lake and we weren’t sure which side our camp was. There were no mobile signals on this route since morning and taking a wrong road means driving back on a treacherous dark route when we were already half dead.

Funnily, We did took a wrong route but were fortunate as we soon found a person to ask for the directions. He was not aware of our Camp but assured us that most of the camps are on the right side of the lake. The road leading towards our camp was terrific and it was a horrendous experience to cover the last 10 Kms.

It was pinch dark when we finally reached our camp at 8 PM. I was dead on arrival as I shivering due to continuous exposure to immense cold outside and was unable to breathe properly. I got inside my tent, quickly drank few liters of hot water, tucked inside the heaps of blankets and snugged them to my chin.

While lying half conscious in my tent, I kept worrying about the people who were left behind. It was too cold outside and route was horrifying; I was scared at the thought what if someone would have taken to wrong side of the lake or worst if someone’s bike have broken down in the dark. All my fears came true and few bikers did took the wrong route and one bike broke down which came at 11 PM after being towed and rescued by our back-up car.



Please note that hardly any pics were taken at TSO Morori as this route has already seeped all our energy.


10th June ’19 – Change of Plans prompted the return to leh (TSO Morori to Leh - 200 KMs)

It was 10th June and we were informed that Baralacha which usually gets opened up by May end was still closed due to unexpectedly heavy snowfall.
Our original plan was to return via Manali as it was a shorter route from TSO Morori, but closure of Baralacha la forced us to return back to Leh to take the Srinagar route.

We started from TSO Morori at 10:30 and reached Mahe at 11:30. Roads were decent and since we were descending, we comfortably maintained a speed of 50-60. Sunshine was another factor in keeping up good speeds as we weren’t shivering like last evening .

The worst was yet to come though. After taking a pit stop at Mahe, my bike refused to move forward as the gears were not getting engaged. My fellow bikers asked me to wait for the back-up vehicle which finally came after 3 hours as there were other bikes that has broken down in just 60 kms of travel.
I kept taking update on the position of recovery vehicle from passing bikers. They all assured that it will reach in another 10-15 mins, but the wait turned out to be endless due to so many breakdowns.

This beautiful scenery near the breakdown spot made the wait a little less painful at ‘Mahe’ !


Finally, the back-up camper came around 2:30 PM and our super mechanic Syyed started the diagnose process. He was quick to realize that a fuse has blown off and replaced it within 5 minutes with a new one. I must say that Royal Enfield is mechanical bike unlike contemporary bikes and if you are going alone, one must have a basic knowledge of the bike mechanicals and should carry some must have consumables and spares. Most of the issues are small and easy to fix but if you can’t diagnose or if you don’t have the spares, you could be stranded for ages.



I finally reached Leh at 7 PM, probably the last one to arrive along with back-up camper. Thanks to the first and only breakdown for me on this otherwise amazing trip so far.
You remember the thoughts that were going on in my mind while Leaving Leh city on Day-4, 6th June. I never thought that I will be back here within 3-4 days.

11th June ’19 – Baralacha Opened up prompting further change in plans (Leh to Sarchu - 200 KMs)

Ever since we left TSO Morori, we were keeping a close watch on Baralacha news. Last night there were rumors that Baralacha might get open tomorrow and the news was confirmed by our group captain in the morning. We were all excited to hear this but as per the original plan, we should be in Sarchu today instead of Leh which effectively means a loss of one day. There is a direct road that connects TSO Moriri to Sarchu via Pang but since Baralacha was still closed till yesterday, we took Leh route yesterday.

Now, to make up for the lost day our group Captain asked us to stretch today’s ride till Jispa which is 335 Kms from Leh instead of originally planned night halt at Sarchu which is 250 Kms. It was a long distance to cover in one day, considering hills, but still doable as roads were generally good till ‘Pang’.
We left our Leh hotel early around 8 AM and tanked up the bikes at a petrol station near Shanti Stupa. There is no fuel station on Leh -Manali highway for the next 400 Kms, so our back-up vehicles also tanked up the extra fuel in reservoirs.

We crossed the check-post at Upsi, which bifurcates the Manali road on the right whereas straight one goes to TSO Morori.
I decided against driving with the group, stopping for unwanted breaks and wasting time; so I took the lead considering it’s going to be a long day today.



Leh-Manali highway is breathtakingly beautiful with Indus flowing besides and passing through countless twists and turns. The Highway is 473 Km long and is one of the most celebrated highways of the Himalayan region. The Highway goes through beautiful villages of Kullu & Lahaul Valley, Sarchu & Morey Plains. In encompasses 21 Hairpin bends famously known as Gata loops along with 5 high altitude Himalayan passes and mesmerizing vistas.

After an hour of blissful drive, I encountered some fresh snow on the road. I put my bike in 1st gear, gave a light throttle, but the rear wheel started spinning and skidding and soon I almost lost the balance of this heavy weight machine. I was lucky that there were few bikers from other group who helped me in lifting the bike. Total weight of the bike was on my legs and my feet were already slipping on the snow hardened by the passing vehicles. Although these bikers were also slipping on the snow but were kind enough to push my bike out of it. They gave me a good advice to plough the bike with the feet and not to accelerate while driving over snow. I learned the trick and soon got a chance to apply it as I encountered another patch of snow. It worked and I managed to pull through my bike without much difficulty except that it was too exhaustive for the legs to drag the bike out of snow especially on uphill climb. I kept getting more and more snow patches and to avoid this tiring exercise, I decided to provide momentum to the wheels just before hitting the snow. I was under the impression that momentum will help me glide through without any acceleration and this would save the physical effort of pulling the bike with my legs. It proved to be blunder and I was saved just by sheer luck and god’s grace. My bike went completely out of control over the snow due to inertia it gained and my front wheel was wobbling and skidding like a coin on the ‘carom board’. I knew that applying the brakes means a certain death, so I kept skidding and was just praying that I shouldn’t be dragged too much to go down the cliff into the gorge. I was riding on luck for the fact that it was just a small patch and soon I hit the tarmac, the friction helped me regaining the lost control and my bike was back on wheels. Lesson learned and did no more misadventures with the bike for the rest of the journey.

I have to cross four very high altitude passes to reach Jispa. First and highest of the pack was ‘Tanglang la’ (17,480 ft.), followed by ‘Lachung La’ (16,616 ft.), ‘Nakee La’ (15,547 ft.) and the toughest one was ‘Baralacha La’ (16,500 ft.) which got opened today itself after over eight months of snow camouflage.
After Jispa, there is a fifth and last pass of this seeming endless Himalayan highway which goes by the name ‘Rohtang La’ (13,060 ft.) and is a craze amongst tourist and travelers across the world.
Crossing these beautiful passes is an experience in itself as you crisscross through snowy peaks and snow laden roads. I don’t have enough words to describe the beauty of these incredible mountain passes that were a part of historic silk route, so let the pictures speak for themselves.





Crossing each of these pass will require anywhere between 30—45 kms of uphill and downhill drive and it is bitterly cold up there especially on the peaks. Being on a bike increases the difficulty level by several folds as you are all exposed to the unforgivingly harsh weather conditions with cold waves piercing through your face, freezing your body and blood vessels inside. For a biker, it takes at least 60-90 minutes to cross each of these passes and I was feeling jitter while crossing there extremely cold mountains passes as it was equivalent to spending that much time inside a freezer. Lack of oxygen and presence of snow on the hilly curves poses another challenge for a shivering human soul, so much so that on few occasions I just wished to be airlifted by someone (a little exaggeration ).

Fighting these weather conditions and leading the pack, I crossed the grilling ‘Tanglang la’. After this strenuous ride; I got the shock of life and a sense of hallucination as I saw a wide open road devoid of mountain curves right ahead of me. The road was flanked by mesmerizingly beautiful high altitude mountains on both sides.

Welcome to ‘More Plains’ ! A long straight patch of tarred road that could compel any auto enthusiast to go hard on the throttle. I did the same and it helped me to quickly sailed through a good 30-35 kms on a terrain where crossing each kilometer feels like a life span in itself (you know what I mean).

The fun was short lived though and ‘More’ plains were gone in jiffy. I reached ‘Pang’ and took my first halt of the day; had tea, soup, maggie, omelet and everything else that could keep me warm. The gusty winds outside left myself quivering with cold, but the lady managing the joint was kind enough to allow me into the kitchen room and provided a warm quilt too. The room was much warmer and I spent a good 1 hour cuddling in the quilt and chitchatting with a group of three bikers who came on beautiful mean machines i.e. Benelli, Ninja and Triump.

I kept peeking out of the kitchen window furtively on to the road, curiously looking for the bikers of my gang but no one turned up. My whole group was trailing big time, I assume they must have taken too many halts along the way. But, I was still happy riding solo today, as driving in a group compels you to take too many unwanted photo, tea and pee breaks.
The road after ‘Pang’ was completely dilapidated for a good 15-20 kilometers and it was a nightmarish experience crossing this shabby stretch, highly prone to landslides. True to its name, crossing ‘Pang’ was a pang of disappointment for almost 1 hour.

Soon after Pang, I encountered another torture of crossing ‘Lachalung la’ and ‘Nakee la’. Spine chilling winds blowing at high speeds, plus a light spell of snow engulfed the top of these passes and it was too depressing to cross this immensely cold deserted mountain range with hardly any human life in sight. In between these two passes, I encountered ‘Whisky Nala’ which wasn’t that threatening considering it was early June and the snow hasn’t start melting yet, but the place was still too gloomy for my taste.

During the descent from Nakee la top, I encountered magnificent and alluring ‘Gata’ loops which immediately pulls for your attention. These loops are already covered by millions of travelers from across the world in their blogs and posts and anyone who must have heard about Leh-Manali highway, must be well aware of this series of 21 hairpin bends famously known as ‘Gata Loops’.

I was about to enter in these loops when I realized that none of my group bikers are behind me; and since Baralacha got opened today only, there was absolutely no other vehicles on the road. I was scared to the death as I recalled those creepy stories of ‘Gata Loops’ which were experienced and shared by thousands of people who have passed through this route earlier.

The myth related to Gata Loops is that a ghost is present in the road and it will disturb the passengers if not offered water and cigarettes. I found a pile of water bottles on a corner of the road at the start of the loops but couldn’t muster the courage to stop and make the offerings. In fact, I wasn’t even carrying any disposable water bottle to offer, so I continued my journey shivering, shuddering and praying.

Nonetheless, Gata Loops is a treacherous route to overcome. The hairpin bends are sharp and one could see all the loops lined up one after the other from the top and provides a thrilling experience.


It was around 2:00 PM and weather started getting bad to worst. Sarchu was still 20-25 kms after ‘Gata loops’ and I was driving continuously after Pang, so I decided to stop at Sarchu and wait for other riders to arrive. I was tired and have heard the stories of one more ghost waiting at ‘Baralacha la’ which I don’t want to encounter alone.

I reached Sarchu around 3:00 PM after driving the last 5-10 kms amidst mild snowfall. I was struggling out of immense hunger, cold and excessive fatigue. I dropped my guards at the first Dhaba that came in my aperture view at Sarchu and gulped down whatever I could. It started snowing heaving by now and soon the whole panorama was engulfed in a sheet of white as snowflakes continued pouring down the sky. After one hour, the members of my group started arriving in the same Dhaba. They were drop dead exhausted and shivering with spine chilling cold, totally drenched in snow and rain.

It was 4:30 PM now and although the snow has stopped but weather was still terrible, we were told that Baralacha has closed again and the group decided to quickly occupy the makeshift rooms that were available at a nominal rent of Rs. 200 per bed. We knew that we have left a long trail of vehicles behind us and whatever beds are there, will be all gone in a jiffy. We weren’t wrong and within next 1 hour, there were hardly any more rooms available. We were a group of 39 people with 8-10 people bundled in each room, lying next to each other in seemingly warm bedding and cozy quilts. Nevertheless, we were still happy and content to have the shelter at least.

At this moment in time, no one imagined that we were going to spend more nights here.



12th June & 13th June’19 - More nights at Sarchu with a failed attempt to Baralacha.

We woke up fresh after a good sleep in tents and were informed that Baralacha has opened up. Completely thrilled by the news, we quickly shredded the snow off by pouring hot water on our bikes, packed our bags and hurriedly gulped the breakfast. The goal was to cross Baralacha which seems like concurring Mt. Everest at that time.



Baralacha was just 22 Kms from Sarchu, but it turned out to be one of the most perfidious path due to of piles of snow on the roads. It was especially exhaustive for bikers as we were once again dragging the bikes through our foot, albeit on fresh snow, resulting in an even higher friction. My biking shoes were completely drenched with cold slushy water while negotiating snow at high inclines. I feared a frost bite but luckily survived the day.
I was elated to see the panoramic peeks of mighty ‘Baralacha la’, felt a sense of pride on finally reaching the top after a grilling ride from Sarchu. I knew that getting down the ‘Baralacha la’ will be equally challenging but I was relived since half battle is won now.

Slush & Mud on slippery paths on the way to Baralacha la



The happiness was short lived as there was a huge traffic jam on the top and we could do nothing but to wait amidst snow and high winds. The drive till Baralacha la has hardly left any energy in anyone of us and we were stranded amongst strong cross winds on smoky mountains. It was strenuous to stand in the open in that cold even for five minutes but the wait just got longer with hopes getting grim.

We were told that there is a spell of fresh snowfall and the pass was probably not even opened when we started today morning. I now realized that someone has definitely spread a false news at Sarchu base camp as we haven’t spotted a single vehicle coming from the other side since morning. We were not alone to be fooled and there were at least hundred vehicles including cars, trucks and bikes that were stuck on the top amidst freezing cold. Going back was not an option as the roads that we left behind were equally threatening and we were now totally broke both physically and mentally.





We came to know that one person from other bike group has dumped his rented bike at Baralacha. He must probably be scared by the thought of driving back under those conditions or possibly cold weather must have taken a toll on him and he must have hitched a ride on the truck. This made me realize how life threating these beautiful mountains could be and how miniscule & helpless we humans are in front of nature’s fury?

We were still hopeful as we can spot the snow cutters breaking through the snow mountains making a headway towards us, but it was a lot of snow and it’s going to be long wait. After half an hour of wait, we have to take a call whether to wait further or go back. We have chosen the latter option as it was almost becoming impossible to stand anymore due the fear of hypothermia. We started back and after two hours of grueling ride, we were back in our tents at Sarchu.



New day 13th June, we woke up early and enquired if Baralacha la has opened up but haven’t got any positive response.

It was 9 AM, we heard the same roar as yesterday and few cars took off to try Baralacha again. We were alert and conscious today as we already burnt a good amount of fuel yesterday. Now, we don’t have any more fuel reserve and stamina left to make another futile attempt today, so we waited for the cars to come from the opposite direction.

After an hour of wait, we saw a few cars coming towards us and everyone went berserk in frenzy. We hold on to our glim hope that the mighty Baralacha la could be accessible today but the happiness was short lived and we soon realized that these are the same cars that left Srachu an hour before. Everyone rushed to enquire and the cars confirmed that Baralacha hasn’t opened yet. We sent our Innova to inquire the exact status at the army check-post, five kilometers ahead. It returned with a submissive news that Baralacha hasn’t opened today and since it’s snowing heavily and continuously on the peaks, chances are tenuous for it to open in next 2-3 days.

We were in no mood to wait for another 2-3 days and immediately decided to return back to Leh. There was tiny problem though! we don’t have enough fuel to drive back 300 plus KMS 

Finally, we ended up towing our bikes on two trucks. The deal was done in 40K INR with each truck to load 9-10 bikes. It was herculean task to load 19 bikes, on the high mounted truck, using a wooden plank and it took close to 2 hours doing this exercise.

The 300 KM journey, bumping and jumping seated on top of our bikes (in truck), proved to be endless with full 12 hours of torturous truck ride.



We reached ‘Leh’ at midnight and went to sleep around 1 AM to woke up again at 4 AM for another long day.

You remember I mentioned earlier while leaving for Khardungla on day2 that I have to come back to leh city twice again.

14th June ’19 – A long and unforgiving journey in Mini Bus (Leh to Srinagar - 200 KMs)

After a 12 hours of truck ride yesterday, it’s time for a 16 hour bus ride today!

I was so fed-up by this day that I just want to flew out of these mountains and get back to city madness. I was missing my family and was mentally tired. First time in my life, I got the feel on how boring and tiring these beautiful mountains could be. Spending three days at Sarchu and a long truck ride has taken a huge toll on me.

We all dropped our damaged bikes at Leh last night and started frantic search for flights to Delhi. Flights prices were exorbitant as I was told that Zojila is also closed since last two days. So that literally means, we can’t get out of leh through Srinagar route either and airlines were making hay during no sunshine. The ticket price went sky rocketed to 26k per soul.

We discussed with our tour operator and he was kind enough to arrange the mini buses (Tempo Travelers) from Leh till Jammu without any extra cost. He assured us that there is confirmed news about Zojila to get open by tomorrow but we were supposed to start at 5 AM to be able to cross the pass in day light as Army doesn’t allow vehicles to cross over after 6 PM.

I slept at 1 AM last night and woke up exactly after 3 hours by the alarm sound. I had taken a shower just 3 hours back, hence I just put the clothes on and was in tempo traveler at 5AM.

We left Leh around 7AM and during the descend from magnetic hills, we crossed a point where ‘Indus’ river merges with ‘Zanskar’ river. The difference in the color of two rivers is visibly obvious as Indus water is pure Emerald.



Finally reached Zojila around 5PM and found a mammoth traffic jam with thousands of trucks lined up on each side of the road. Zojila was closed since last two days and since it opened today, trucks on each side of the mountain pass tried to cross it over and resulted in massive build up.

After another grueling and uneventful day, we eventually reached Srinagar at 11 PM. Although the bus was provided till Jammu, but everyone felt too feeble to continue the journey. So we booked the hotel, ditched the bus in Srinagar itself, booked next day flight for Delhi and flew off.



The 13 day memorable trip in company of complete strangers who have now become good acquaintances has now come to an end. Memories of leh are unlimited and the beauty of this cold desert is undefinable. There is so much to soak in and plenty to take away from these enthralling mountains. The radiance of nature in this dazzling land has left me totally spellbound and wanting for more.

[vb-saan]

Thread moved from Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thank you for sharing!

[dsnaveen21]

Good photography, amazing travelogue. Thanks for sharing.

2 wheeler's are always a risk in Leh/ladakh.

I went in 2018, hired a innova for 1 week.

[pallav167]

Thanks for your comments dsnaveen21 ..
You are right.. it's a risky terrain for a two wheeler.. This year I will be going again in Car if Kashmir remain peaceful that time.

[pallav167]

This is the certificate of completion provided by my touring agency. I adore this as it keep reminding me the memories of by first ever solo bike ride