[amit_purohit20]

Year 2007 I hopped jobs from Mumbai to Pune. I got 18 days to join my next employer and I took advantage of taking my mom to Char-Dham yatra. I had been to Haridwar and Rishikesh numerous times and never beyond. I had not tasted blood and this was the oppurtunity to taste it first time- The Mighty Himalayas. I saw many Sardar's travelling on Motorbikes to "Hemkund Sahibji ". I was mighty impressed by a young Sardar returning from Hemkun Sahib who was riding a Bajaj Boxer with his Grandfather and Grand mother as pillion! I was in the bus and showed my Mom the trio. If they can do it tripple on a bike why can't I do it solo so, I told her I will be back here on my bike someday. She nodded!

Although I never was a dare devil and have extreme fear of heights but my love for mountains especially the Himalayas grew exponentially after the trip. Google introduced me to Sandeep Guhagarkars travelogue to Leh.

http://www.indiatravelogue.com/trav/trav8.html

He traveled on his used 14 year old bike to Leh on an Ind-Suzuki. It was years back when he had accomplished this feat. But Sandeep's travelogue did not give the much needed details which I was looking for. To the rescue came BCM touring where there were many travelogues to Leh and our beloved Late Yogesh Sarkar took pains to guide and finalize the itinerary for my Ladakh trip. It took 3 years for me to gather courage and do all the preparations to plan an actual trip to Leh and by this time the Hindi movie "Three Idiots" had made Ladakh famous. I had been showing my mother Ladakh pics and my mother knew the major Ladakh routes on map and was familiar with Yogesh Sarkar's pulsar motorbike! My mother loves to travel and she herself had been on a two month bus journey across India and Nepal to visit various spiritual places.

Initially the plan was to make this trip on my tried and tested TVS Victor GL, which had accompanied me to various near Mumbai Konkan trips. But she lacked power, had cold start issues and I was doubtful of her capacity to tackle steep inclines with all the luggage. Add to it the major issue was with the spoked wheels and tube-type tyres. My lovely mother comes to my rescue again and she gifts me a brand new Apache RTR 180! With spirits high I now focused on getting company for my arduous trip. None of my close friends wanted to do this trip and many made brilliant excuses! I tried searching online and it was only a matter of time that I met few persons who sounded like they were hell bent to do this trip with me. But all of these persons soon faded away as the date of journey approached. Some were courteous to let me know (with some nice excuse) and some just disappeared! Left alone and only one week to go I was in trouble, because I did not had the mental strength to do this journey alone. I had never been for such a long drive on any vehicle. I was not worried about the off-road terrain or the water crossings but just the thought of sheer cliff drops (acrophobia!) made me go weak in my knees. I had already booked my train tickets to Jammu from Mumbai. With a sad heart I took the decision to cancel my train tickets and just wanted to inform my mom about it before I take any action. I told my mom that I am left alone and nobody is ready to come with me and to my utter surprise she said- " Ok if your friends have deserted you, you go alone on your own!" I was not prepared to digest my moms reaction, I expected my mom to support my decision and console me for my bad luck instead! Just some words of motivation are enough for a battalion to win a war and here I was not going for any war it was just a hard journey. Filled with renewed inspiration and my hopes high I decided to go alone! But as its said "God helps those who help themselves" I received a call the next day from a guy from Mumbai itself and that he wanted to join me." Ek se bhale do" and "Ek aur Ek gyarah hote hain" I muttered to myself!.

It was the month of July 2010 and it was raining heavily both in Maharashtra and in the Himalayan hills. I was daily keeping track of the weather, Yogesh had advised me to change my travel route as it had rained heavily and there were lots of landslides in the Manali-Leh route. Little did I know that time, that had I not heeded to his advice my efforts to reach Leh would never have materialized. In the end of July and first two weeks of August there were lots of landslides which had disrupted the connectivity to Leh via Manali route and many bikers were stranded. Also he advised me that I would not face much acclimatization issues if I took the Srinagar-Leh route. But in 2010 Kashmir was on boil, there were lot of stone-pelting incidents and lot of terrorist activities reported. All of sudden there was a lull period and suddenly the valley was peaceful again towards the last two weeks of July. Please note that July and August is the time of Amarnath Yatra and that's the time terrorist activities and the nuisance by the locals is at its peak! The prevailing government was hopeless that time and really things were out of control in 2010.

29th July 2010, Thursday: Preceding day
I took half day off and took a bus from Pune to Mumbai. It was raining cats and dogs that day and it took me 8 hours to travel from Pune to Mumbai. I was in tension as had not I made up in time I would have lost my opportunity to load my bike as luggage in the "Jammu-Tavi" Train. I had to ride like a maniac in pouring rain from Kandivali to Bandra Terminal to just reach in time to complete the bike packing formalities. This is also the first time I meet my companion, he is ahead of me and has already completed packing his bike. The train was supposed to start early morning next day for an overnight journey to Jammu.

30th July 2010, Friday- Train starts from Bandra Terminus
With lots of blessings from my Mom and prayers to God our Train- Jammu-Tavi Express starts from Bandra Terminus. I and my friend take time chit chatting and knowing each other the rest of the day.

31st July 2010, Saturday: Jammu- Udhampur
Our train reaches Ludhiana station at 10:30 am. We have some nice platform snacks as breakfast, our spirits are high and here comes the first blow- The platform TV announces that Kashmir is again under boil. Our train departs and me and my partner friend in crime are both thinking about what we are going to face in the upcoming days. Let me introduce my friend a little more- This guy is a native of Mumbai and he belongs to a fisherman family.This guy was born at sea level and he has never been much away from the sea level. A good natured guy but very far away from the reality he is going to face! It seems he has seen some episodes of NDTV good times and seen some motorbike travelogues to Leh and knows only one word-Morey Plains!. That is all the information he has about Leh and ladakh! He just wants to reach Leh city and come back and he knows its fun. He has no idea about the roads, the terrain the water level crossings or the issues going on in Kashmir. I really appreciate him to make up his mind for this journey without thinking much or caring enough to collect lot of information.He is on his Honda shine motorcyle which he cares for too much. He is also worried that if somebody comes to know that he works for the civilian military the Kashmiri locals will pelt stones at him till he is dead!

Our train reaches Jammu late around 4:30 pm and we take another 1 hour to unload, prepare our bikes and then push it to the nearest petrol pump. Its already late in the evening and we are in a dilemma to continue further to Udhampur or stay in Jammu. At the petrol pump we meet a Saradarji he tells us with his usual confidence (or should I say over-confidence) that we can easily reach Udhampur and its only a 1.5 hour journey. The locals and pump attendant's all support his comments strongly. We believe them all and fire our engines and soon are out of Jammu city and enjoying the scenery. Soon its dark in the mountains and heavy rains lash out at us. The rains were so heavy trust me I have never seen this much amount of down-pour except in Konkan. In pitch dark, mountain roads under heavy torrential rain it becomes very difficult for us to drive. I notice that my bikes rear wheel acts like a water pump and pumps all the water in my saddle bag! The brand new rain coat is no match for the rain and its just a formality to use it. We are unable to proceed further and stop at a dhaba (without electricity) for around an hour or so. Finally we arrive in Udhampur at 10:45 pm in the night to find the whole town empty and asleep. I still wonder how that Sardarji reaches Udhampur in 1.5-2hours! Luckily we locate a hotel and order food. We and all our belongings are fully drenched in water including the money which we were carrying. We stick all the Rs 500 notes on the wall all across our room. The waiter enters the room and his expression was worth seeing when he watches the entire room wall filled with currency notes!


1st August 2010, Sunday: Udhampur- Rambaan- FCI godown at Khanabal [Locked inside a warehouse]
We are greeted with a clear morning and we start our journey towards Srinagar hoping to reach by evening. The first views of Patnitop with the mist mesmerized us. We know its just the start and soon we are going to be overwhelmed by the heavenly scenic views.


First pic of the journey.


Yours truly!


Partner in crime!


Himalayan hill roads


Beautiful himalayan rivers.

Thrilled with the first views of the Himalaya's we are excited to continue our journey forward, but we are stopped abruptly at a police check post in Rambaan. Kashmiri Police constable tells us to park our bikes and not to proceed further as the situation in valley is not good and curfew has been imposed at many places ahead.


Police check-post at Rambaan



Jawahar tunnel -Pic available in public domain
(courtesy: https://kashmirreader.com/2020/04/12...oing-on-daily/)

I started driving on the left side of the tunnel, it was pitch dark and suddenly out of nowhere a local truck starts tail gating me within 3 feet and tries to push me to go fast and faster. Luckily I spot a carved portion in the tunnel and stop there and allow the truck to pass. As soon as I try to get riding, my bike reaches the middle portion of the tunnel road and it starts skidding. I can clearly see me my rear wheel in the right corner of my eye! I try to correct it and find my bikes tail going in the other end, it starts wriggling like a snake in the tunnel. Now it strikes me why the military jawan told me about nails in the middle of the road- its the slippery black ice. What the jawan wanted me to was drive in the tread of the other four wheeler's wheels where the ice has melted and I can get some grip.

Once out of the tunnel we drove straight without any stops and passing through deserted villages in between. I was thinking that curfew is on so all shops, houses are closed and no one is out. But at one village we reached there were nearly 50+ people standing on both sides of the road (and some in the middle of the road) passing through the village. This was the first time for us so we were not sure what to do in such a situation. The atmosphere was already tense, our hearts racing - Will we be lynched? Fearing the locals we stopped at a good distance from the crowd and were afraid, but did not want to go back again. We had heard horror stories of locals killing army men by stoning them to death. As I had no option I decided to drive through the pool of people standing on the road at full speed. The crowd was staring at us from far and our hearts were racing. I just put the first gear and then at a speed of 50-60 kmph speed I just teared across the crowd and was on the other side of the crowd. The crowd gave way to me just as the sea gave way in the Bible! My friend followed suit and he too crossed the crowd in similar way. The crowd did not do us any harm as they identified us as tourists but their stares were intimidating. After sometime we had the first view of the beautiful Kashmir Valley, sorry no pics there as the situation did not allow us to click any pictures.

It was dark by now and we carried further but soon we were intercepted by a police cum military patrol jeep and we were told to turn back. We were taken back to a FCI (Food Corporation of India) warehouse near Khannabal. The ware house had high walls and the walls had high fencing. On all the four corners of the godown there were towers made to keep a watch for terrorists. The gates of the godown was closed with high steel doors. We were locked inside the warehouse for next few days and informed that we would be allowed to go once the Amarnath "jatha" arrives and when it proceeds further towards Pahalgam. "Jatha" here means a collection of buses ferrying Amarnath pilgrims which mostly move in night and in groups to avoid terrorist attacks. In 2010 it was very common each year to hear bullets being fired on the innocent pilgrims. Inside the camp there was free food organised by the Amarnath yatra organizers and lots of bhajans and dhols to keep us entertained and uplift our mood. We prayed to Lord Shiva to help for our further journey. The stay was uneventful and comfortable with the good food but the toilets were overflowing! We were awake full night to get a chance to proceed further but our request was heard on deaf ears.

2nd August 2010, Monday: Full day at FCI - Escape in the night!

In the daytime we used to sleep and in night time we used to be awake considering that Jatha will arrive and we will be allowed to proceed further. We met 3 Bulleteer's from Delhi. One of them was working at an NGO in Leh and he had been to Leh numerous times. We all hatched a plan to escape in the night. The Delhi guys were smart they took into confidence one of the military sardar and convinced him to allow us to escape. In the day time we were allowed to go back cross the Jawahar tunnel and get our tanks full. We were in a confused state whether we should proceed further or drive back to Manali -580+ kms and start from there.But it would have meant loosing two-three days and our whole plan would derail. In this dilemma my friend from Mumbai started acting weirdly he was just too afraid to proceed further and break the curfew! Lot of energy was wasted in convincing him but ultimately he got convinced to proceed towards Srinagar.We crossed the Bannihal tunnel 4 times in this confusion to go further or not and for filling up fuel for our bikes. Earlier I was worried about my bikes new engine as I could not do a proper running-in (only 3 Pune-Mumbai travels and 900 kms on odo) but now the biggest enemy were my bikes tyres. The dreaded TVS tyre had started showing its true colour and I lost my confidence of driving the bike safely in wet conditions. Every time I crossed the Bannihal tunnel it was a nightmare for me, whereas my friend on his humble Honda shine had no problem at all!


When we were placed at FCI warehouse and we planned to return back to Manali route, we were often misled by the Kashmiri youths and locals. They used to tell us to proceed in wrong direction where there was actually stone pelting going on or where the protesting crowds had gathered. Two Kashmiri youths who were travelling in a Maruti 800 car told us to follow them and asked us to leave the main highway into a remote road. We grew suspicious and luckily did not follow them. I think they had plans to rob us of our money or more I don't know!


At FCI godown with the Amarnath Yatra pilgrims.

3rd August 2010, Tuesday: FCI godown Khanabal (Anantnag district) - Avantipora- Pampore- Srinagar- Dal lake - Sonmarg- Drass- Kargil
On the third night a jatha came and confusion was going on whether the buses would be allowed to go further or not. Some buses were allowed and some were not. The police and the military here were working together and they had instructions not to allow any tourists to go further forget about bikers! The Sardar Army man told us to wait at the gate with our bikes but would not allow us to leave. In the commotion, the noise and pushing around we took the risk and escaped. It was 12:30 in the night, we two and 3 Bulleteer's escaped with no plan what to do next. For some time we drove alongside the pilgrim buses but soon they turned right at a bifurcation for Pahalgam.
The left side bifurcation was blocked by the police which led to Srinagar. We were forced by the police to take the Pahalgam route. Few bikers took the right and then again turned left and few tried to escape through the narrow gap in the barricade. The constable got very angry and wanted to hit us with his lathi very badly but he got confused whom to stop first and hit first. One of our group member was unfortunate enough to get the lathis hit on his bike. Luckily he did not get hit. The Kashmiri police shouted- "Saalon laashen bichi padi hai raste mein, lashon ke upar se gaadi chalaoge kya?" Meaning- There road is filled with human dead bodies. Are you going to ride on them?

What a blatant lie it was! I repeat do not trust the local police, they do not want us there and tell all lies to discourage you from proceeding further. Whereas the Indian army men want us to visit Kashmir and beyond as its our territory! The army would go at great length to help us proceed further unless and until they have directions not to allow visitors to proceed further for their own safety.

For few kms the roads were peaceful, it was pitch dark and we could feel the cool breeze of the night. But that was the end as soon as we crossed Avantipore things got messy. We saw around 50+ police vehicles, civilian vehicles which were parked along the road were burning. Everything was burning, the police stations were now a rubble and had been burnt up badly. The government buildings, the schools everything was set on fire. The huge pine trees lying along the side the road were set on fire too. There were stones placed on the road to obstruct traffic and lot of stones thrown by the stone pelters were lying on the road. It was suddenly very hot and the whole atmosphere was full of smoke, dust, debris and fire. Our eyes were burning and to give more trouble the wind was blowing the debris right into our eyes. In the darkness I could not see a big stone and I with my bike was suddenly thrown 1.5-2 feet in the air! Somehow I landed properly and did not break my bone or my bike. There were trees cut and laid across the road. Either we had to drive in the fields to circum navigate the trees or carry our bikes over the tree trunks and cross those barriers. At one place the milestone was dug up and placed in the middle of the road. Suddenly I see one of our group members driving perpendicular to the road into the field. Later I realized he had actually misjudged the road direction because of the milestone stone placed in the middle of the road!

We reached Srinagar Dal lake at 3 in the night. There was complete silence in Srinagar and peace. We were again stopped at the exit of Srinagar. It seems Ganderbal a small village located just outside Srinagar city is infamous for protests and more. The NH1 Highway was just a truckwide at Ganderbal in 2010 and led into narrow alleys with mountains on both sides of the road and houses on top of the mountains. If the village crowd decides to throw stones on us from the top we could be easily killed in the narrow alleys itself without having any chance to cross the village. There was a queue of trucks waiting, and I tried to overtake the queue from the wrong side and missed my group. I was not stopped by the military too and I proceeded further in the dark of the night. As no one from my group was visible (nobody had postpaid BSNL mobile phones in our group) I started to drive fast to catch them. After a 15 minute of panick driving I could not see anyone, I was now in a fix whether to proceed further or return back to where we had stopped. I came back to the military stop to find my friends were sleeping at the side of the road there!

It seems the zone between Bannihal tunnel and Srinagar ie.Avantipore, Pampore is known for violent protests. Again the zone between Srinagar and Ganderbal is famous for violence. Beyond Ganderbal the locals gradually start supporting India as during the Kargil war, Pakistani firing had damaged their houses and livestock.

Beyond Ganderbal we could sense a feeling of security and relief. We reached Sonmarg by Morning 5:30 am.



Sonmarg


The place where we first stopped in the morning (5:30 am) after driving through hell. We were unfortunate that we could not even get tea in the shivering cold.


Road going to Baltaal, shorter route (18 kms trek) to reach Amarnath shrine but a treacherous and difficult one.


Beyond these mountains somewhere lies the Amarnath shrine. Jai Bum Bhole!

[amit_purohit20]

As if driving through terrorist infested areas and burning buildings, vehicles and trees was not enough, just after Sonmarg we encountered the mighty Zozilla pass. I was overwhelmed at the first steep U turn I took on the mountain,the terrain was intimidating and the heights scary. I dared not look into the valleys below and the horrible TVS tyres were slipping on each and every wet rock. The bulleteer's and my friend rode faster than me in the passes because they were not acrophobic like me. When I encountered my first water crossing I was all alone, all my companions were ahead of me and instead of taking the path which had less water depth and boulders I took the path closest towards the mountain. I was nearly trying to ride my bike on the mountain slope and hence it slipped on the road in the water crossing puddle. Luckily I didn't fall down, I got down from my bike put it in 1st gear and walked together with the bike out of the water crossing.
Although over a period of time my fear of heights reduced and I could also drive relatively fast but never on the passes which had steep 90 degree cliffs besides the road. The bullets used to struggle in slush and water crossings because of its weight but my light weight bike would make way easily.


Zozilla Pass, Can you spot the remains of a truck which has gone down the cliff?


Zozilla Pass, Can you spot the truck and the yellow coloured bull dozer?


End of Zozilla Pass, A sense of achievement.


My Avatar after following a soot belching truck throughout the Zozilla pass.

Soon I was out of Zozilla, I had crossed my first treacherous pass all alone without anyone's help. I felt a sense of achievement and we proceeded towards Drass. As we were tired we rented a room in Drass and took some rest. Within 2 hours the delhi guys were up and wanted to proceed further as they had very few days of leave left for their Ladakh trip. I and my friend both were very tired and not in a haste so told them to go ahead and we rested for another two hours. I also had my first cold water bath in Drass to get rid of the horrible soot on my face, the biggest shock I got when I turned on the tap and sat below it to take my bath. My heart nearly stopped for a while, it was damn freezing cold. We checked out in afternoon and proceeded towards Kargil.


Beyond those mountains likes POK. Notice the wall made by military to hide the military vehicular movement from the prying enemy eyes


Telephone exchange Drass, View from my Hotel balcony.


Tololing- Had it not been for the brave soliders in Kargil war, I would not have been able to take that snap. A big salute to our Defense forces.


Traffic Signal Kargil

Once we reached Kargil we wanted to visit Kargil War memorial but we came to know that it was located near to Drass. It was already late evening and we had no energy to go back and visit the war memorial, so we called it a day and checked-in a home stay. We had no idea what a bad decision we had made. I am a vegetarian and my friend can not live without non-veg but we both could not bear the stench of dead animals inside the multi-storey old wooden house. My friend and I decided not to eat anything and so we just had tea and some farsan and slept!

4th August 2010, Wednesday: Kargil- Mulbekh -Lamayuru- Alchi- Nimmoo-Leh [Life saving decision made]
From Kargil we wanted to take the Batalik route as I had read that its more scenic. I tried to take the right directions as per the map but still landed up on the Mulbekh-Lamayuru route.


Looks like wrinkles on a Elephants skin.


Oasis in a desert. Rice fields?


Natures sand carving

Fotula pass was more difficult for me than Zozilla because there were steep cliffs alongside the narrow roads. Although I never drove on the valley side in spite of being warned by a local, at one point I was caught on the valley side with just 4-5 inches to spare as there was a convoy of military trucks passing by. Imagine my plight as I had to wait for the 20-21 trucks to pass by. As I was caught just at the end of a U turn, during each truck's turn its front bumper used to be just few inches from my bike. A small judgmental error by any of those truckers and even a gentle nudge would have made me fall into the gorge. It was too terrifying a moment for me.


Fotula pass

During my descent, after completion of a U turn I came across a road that had collapsed by a feet. I was somehow able to navigate my bike but I saw a Bolero pickup approaching the near 1 feet perpendicular step uphill. I thought he never would be able to climb that step. Even if he comes with speed and climbs the step he has to immediately take a U turn or he will be going straight into the valley. But I was wrong I think this is a daily routine for the local jeep drivers. He reversed his Bolero for few metres and came with tremendous speed and bumped on the step. I could see his front wheels in the air and then the rear wheel climbs, the vehicles rear overhang rubs against the ground and he brakes and takes a U turn successfully. I was mighty impressed by his driving skills.


Lamayaru Monastery


Mountain made of Gold dust!


God's own canvas


Beautiful Himalayan roads


And the raging rivers


What better road than this you would want to drive on?


Convergence of Indus and Zanskar river

Rest the journey was uneventful and we reached Leh. One of the locals asked me which route I came from and I told him I came by the Srinagar route. He was surprised because he said that some bridge at Nimoo has been washed away due to heavy rains. I could not co-relate to his story because it wasn't raining the whole day, probably the river water levels were high.

Just inside the Leh city there was a bifurcation in the road, the left one led to old Leh city and the right one to the new Leh where the beautiful decorated entrance to the Leh city lies. Due to gods grace I got a thought that it would not be fun to see concrete buildings in new Leh and so I decided to take the left and climb up the mountain towards old Leh. This decision was a life saving decision, which I will get to experience soon. We checked in a hotel for the rest of the day. In the night it rained a little and next morning we could see it had cause the mud thatched compound walls to wear down a bit.


5th August 2010, Thursday: Rest at Leh and local sight seeing[The deadly night]
The day was spent in getting permits from the Government office near Polo ground. We spent some time doing local sight seeing- Shanti stupa and Thiksey monastery. We stocked on some essentials and I purchased the much needed gumboots to avoid getting my feet in freezing water during water crossings.


Polo ground Leh, In a nearby building we got our inner line permits


The majestic entry gate to Leh city


Shanti stupa


Thiksey monastery


Desert and lusciously green fields, separated by a road


The huge praying wheel


An acrobatic skit organised by some foreigner couple for the children in monastery.

In the day there was hardly any rain and as per the locals it doesn't rain much in Leh. It either snows or even if it rains its over within a short period. Around 10 pm in the night it started raining and by midnight it was raining cats and dogs. Probably there were a lot of thunderstorms also, but I don't remember clearly now. Throughout the night the rain didn't stop. As I have stayed in Konkan it was quite normal for me to experience the torrential rains and I didn't think much about it.

[amit_purohit20]

6th August 2010, Friday: Leh city [The day of destruction]
Next day we get up in the morning to find tensed and sad faces of the Hotel employees. When asked about it, they told me that the new Leh had been completely washed out and there was a cloudburst! I could hear voices of few women crying and many people were rushing here and there. The Ladakhi people have very strong ties within themselves. If there is any calamity or any grief they stay united, they feel for each other and they would do their best to support each other. Off course in this inhospitable terrain this behavior is obvious.

Not knowing the exact amount of destruction we could not gauge the gravity of the situation. We visited New Leh to find that the portion just below the entry gate to Leh city had been washed out. There was no sign of houses or roads everything had been washed out. In the night due to the cloudburst it rained so heavily it melted the gravel mountains. The mix of gravel and water is a very abrasive mixture. Combine it with the force of water due to the sudden down pour of the cloudburst and water running down the sides of the mountain, its a deadly cocktail for destruction. All the houses in the path of the flow of water had vanished, even the concrete ones didn't stand a chance and they got washed out. I could see the deadly force of water had carried away some buses and heaped them one on top of other at some other location. The buses had no sheet metal body, none of the relatively soft parts like plastic, rubber etc were remaining only the carcass of these buses was visible. I could see only the seat frames and the seat springs in some places. The abrasive mixture had eaten away everything it could on the buses. Now imagine what this mixture would have done to the humans. None of the people got chance to escape from their houses they were washed away with their houses. In the night even before they could react they were stripped of their flesh, drowned and washed away by the abrasive mixture, such was the impact of the cloudburst. I could see may Excavators and Back-hoe loaders at work in clearing the mess. I could see many of the foreigners and the locals there, trying to help in clearing the debris etc. I thought I should help but then the thought of handling dead bodies haunted me so I didn't. I felt very guilty for my behavior but I wanted to do something for the locals so I contributed a substantial sum of money which I was carrying at one of the donation boxes. It gave me some relief with the guilt I had. My simple decision of staying in old Leh saved my life. Call it Gods grace. I still thank God to help me take the right decision that day.


A tale of destruction

The scale of destruction was not limited to Leh city, the Choglamsar area was also affected badly, the connecting road had been washed away and it was creating problem for the relief efforts. Later I heard of stories of Indian ammunition being swept away to Pakistan and many other related stories.


Pic taken from the Leh city entry gate. Left side is the entrance road to Leh city near the majestic entry gate and on the right was probably the Bus Stand and few houses

There was no electricity or telephones working in the town. In the evening I was sitting on the Hotel terrace and was talking to an american couple, suddenly we hear a loud BOOM as if a very big bomb had exploded. We could feel the vibrations of this huge sound. Probably it was another cloudburst which had happened close by. Many panicked and we could again hear a few women crying, the situation was really tense. In the panic I told the american woman that I am leaving the hotel on my bike to get away from this cloud burst. She calmly asked where would I go? I said I would go down the street, she said the water will follow you as you are going down slope. Hmm then I told her I will go up the mountain, she smiled and said what if you come across the water coming down while you are going up the mountain! I had no answer, I realized I was making a mistake by running nowhere. After I calmed down I observed that in the neighboring ground the military persons who were off-duty carried on with their volley ball game as usual as if nothing had happened! A special mention to the Hotel owner, he provided us free meals for the day as there was no way we could have got something to eat outside.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Ladakh_floods

Above link says:
"Note that the implied 75 millimetres (3.0 in) of rain over Leh during the most intense part of the storm (cloudburst) is equivalent to around a year's worth of rain falling in 30 minutes"


7th August 2010, Saturday: Leh- Khardungla- Diskit- Hunder- Thoise- Hunder

In spite of the word of caution from some of the locals we proceeded towards Khardungla and further the next day. Nobody expressed it but some locals were not happy with our idea of continuing our journey further. For them it was a time of grief and they were filled with emotions and here we fools were planning to do sight seeing. At one of the military check post even the military jawan asked us why are we travelling during this calamity. Well we were doing no good sitting in the hotel room either and we had come there to travel. Some people warned us from travelling to Khardungla as there might have been landslides and water crossings would be difficult. We decided that we will come back if we could not proceed further but at least we will give it a try. Obviously there was lots of slush on the roads and it was difficult getting out of Leh. We reached Khardungla and then stayed at Hunder.


India gate enroute Khardungla


Beautiful roads


Made it to Khardungla top


At Khardungla top

I didnt find Khardungla very difficult, the climb was not that steep and the roads were not very narrow, although the roads were in bad shape as usual. It was the descent from Khardungla that I found the roads really difficult, filled with lot of boulders and it was difficult to control the bike.


Temple at the most beautiful location


At a dhaba in Khardung village.


Clouds playing hide and seek


Remote deserts


Lovely mountains till the horizon


Vast expanse of deserts near Hunder


Shyok river and the road at the same level!


Overflowing Shyok river, Notice how dangerously close it is to the road.


One of those deserts which are at the highest altitude in the world.

My plan was to proceed towards Turtuk but I was advised by a foreigner against it because the water was flowing over the bridges and the level of water was above the handlebars of the bike. I wanted to go to THOISE at least but after seeing a bad patch of road, my friend stopped at Hunder. I had to go alone to THOISE and come back. At Hunder military camp we got the first opportunity to make a call and inform my mom that I was still alive and it seems there was lot of tension at my home after seeing the cloudburst devastation visuals in the news.


THOISE (Transit Halt of Indian soliders enroute siachen)


The bad batch of the road to THOISE which made my friend change his mind and he decided not to proceed further.


Apache RTR 180 on the dunes of Hunder. Probably the first Apache (180cc) to reach Hunder?? (TVS dealer who helped me with spares wanted me to write a blog and he will submit it to the company but I didn't- I was too lazy )

8th August 2010, Sunday: Hunder- Diskit- Khalsar- Sumur- Panamik

We proceeded towards Panamaik enjoying the beautiful views and the overflowing Shyok river by our side. At Panamik we did a small trek with a carprenter from Bihar to the Hot springs. We luckily got a guest house to stay. In the house there were only three beautiful girls and they were not comfortable to have us stay in their house. After a discussion with their neighbor (probably a relative) they allowed us to stay. When asked why were they all alone, it seems there father had been to Leh and there was no news of him yet. The house was adjacent to a small mountain which was nothing but made up of loose gravel and small stones that's it. Our feet used to sink nearly half a foot in the gravel if we tried climbing the hill. In the night there were thunderstorms and it started raining again. We could hear sobs of some women crying. It was these three girls who were worried for their dad and were crying. We tried to console them and the neighbors came and after a while they were ok. In spite of their sad mood they and the neighboring aunt made a delicious meal for us. It rained the whole night and we were really afraid that if it rains heavily the whole mud and gravel mountain beside our house would collapse on us. Luckily it didn't happen that way and the weather next day was bright and clear.


Where's the bridge?


A strange tree


Hot springs Panamic






Beautiful flowers at the guest house, Panamik

9th August 2010, Monday: Panamik-Leh

I had planned to take the newly opened route then from Panamik-Khalsar-Warila pass- Shakti village- Pangong Tso. But I was advised by locals as the Warila Pass was in bad condition because of the heavy rains. Also there would be no support available on this route as locals were not using this route too. So we returned back to Leh.


Slush on beautiful road.


Overflowing river, Check the level of water, these are normally at least 20 feet below the bridge.


Back to Khardungla

[amit_purohit20]

10th August 2010, Tuesday: Leh- Karu- Changla Pass- PangongTso
The changla pass was difficult but was awarded by free tea served by the Indian army. I was lucky that I was not required to cross the deadly nallah as by that time a bridge was constructed.


Changla Pass


Free tea and a pic with the Jawans. A friend of mine says I look like Shubhash Chandra Bose!Hehe


Beautiful flowers beside the road.


Enroute Pangong Tso


Beautiful Nature


One of the hundreds of water crossing I came across


Another of God's own painting


Small islands!


The military bridge that made my life easy.


First glimpse of Pangong Tso

At the first glimpse of Pangong Tso I felt like I achieved my goal. For my friend his goal was just to reach Leh but I was eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of Pangong Tso.


Green and Blue in the same pic


Beautiful Pangong Tso


Water crossing to go to Spangmik, which we decided not to cross. One can't gauge the heavy flow of water in this pic.

We decided to proceed further towards Spangmik but were blocked by a water crossing which we both decided not to cross and so we stayed back in the only tent available at Pangong Tso.


Taking advantage of my gumboots


Another view


First time in my life I liked the objects in the mirror to be closer!


Green and Blue water together just separated by a thin boundary


Sparkling clean blue water


Tents where we stayed and gazed at the millions of stars in the night.


Tent owners baby at Pangong Tso. This cute baby now is 11 years old!

When I was planning my itinerary for Leh, I had planned for Turtuk, Spangkmik-Man-Merak-Chushul- Hanle- Tso Morrriri and back to Manali. What a fool I was! I could not have simply done all these places in one Leh visit because when you are on a motorbike the terrain takes a toll on you and you can not just get up and ride everyday the same kms you did last day. Your body needs rest to recover and one should take a break to halt and absorb the surrounding and get a feel of it. Just rushing through all the destinations does not feel rewarding.

11th August 2010, Tuesday: PangongTso- Leh

As soon as we returned to Leh we wanted to drive to Manali as our return train journey was from Kalka. But fate had it and we were informed that due to the floods in the entire Ladakh region there were more than 70 bridges (big & small probably) washed out and there is no way we can go to Manali. Our hopes of driving on the Manali Leh route and completing the entire circuit had been shattered. Leh city was in a recovery phase, there were hundreds of stranded tourists who wanted to go home but stuck up. We were also very tired seeing all the death and misery and the rough roads had taken their toll on novice riders like us. My friend suddenly felt homesick and he wanted to meet his young daughter desperately. We decided that we will leave our bikes at some transport office and take a plane to Delhi. We visited Leh airport to check if flight tickets were available for Delhi. The tickets had already been sold and the price of one ticket was Rs 48000/- We hardly had a few thousand rupees left in our pockets and the only SBI ATM in Leh city had run out of cash!


12th August 2010, Wednesday: Leh


Leh airport.


At Leh airport you can take your bike till the entrance!


Tourists struggling to get air tickets

Next day we came to know that Government of India has instructed the flight carriers to fix the amount to max Rs 7800/- or so. We had to stand in a queue for hours and we were excited when we got a flight ticket to Delhi. Now the task was to pack our bikes and give it to some transport company in Leh to send them back to Mumbai. Luckily we met one of the Delhi guy again who used to work for some NGO in Leh. He gave us leads to two transport companies in Leh.
When we approached one transport company, we found 6-7 people standing in a circle and staring at some thing on the ground. We thought that someone had died and they were carrying on with the last prayers. We stood still for some time and then I tried to notice the dead body which was lying on the ground, but I couldn't see any body there! Then I noticed two odd things coming out of the sandy ground, to my surprise they were the handle bar mirrors of a Bullet projecting out of the ground.
It seems a Mumbai biker group had left their bikes with them to transport it back but then calamity struck and the floods filled the transport company's entire ground with sand. There were more than 15-20 bikes buried in sand. The transport company expressed their inability to transport our bikes and we could not agree more.

Luckily we got a transporter who was ready to transport our bikes back and in spite of this calamity he didn't try to cheat us by charging exorbitantly. Like other travel destinations in India Leh in 2010 was not much commercialized. People were humble, pure souls who would go out of their way to help others. I hope that by now Leh city people's wounds would have healed and pray to God to never again show his wrath on the humble souls! Respect nature.

13th August 2010, Thursday: Leh- Delhi- Mumbai
We got an Air India flight and reached home to the relief of our near and dear ones. My mom had taken the most hit after hearing the news and constantly watching the coverage of Ladakh floods in news.

Thus ends my little adventure story, had lot of hiccups but in the end it went well. Thanks for being with me till here and also to those who got bored to death and left in between! Forgive me for my mistakes and making this travelogue very lengthy. Also forgive me for some parts of the narrative which you would have found me exaggerating the difficulties we faced. But trust me for a faint hearted novice rider who has acrophobia this journey and its adventures were nothing short of a challenge and by Gods grace and your best wishes I was able to overcome them and reach back safely. Thank you again!

( By the way it was not always that I was in tension during the journey, I do remember scraping my bikes foot-pegs in those twisty Himalayan roads . Had fun! Would I do it again? Hell Yes. )

Regards,
Amit

[ampere]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!


No story of Leh can be stale! And that too if its on a bike!

[puneetakhouri]

Wow!! What a journey. You can easily make a movie out of this!!!

[ssambyal1980]

Nice travelogue Amitji... The narrative looked quite lengthy initially but once started reading just couldn't stop and completed in one go. The sheer adventure and what will happen next kept me glued till the end. Kudos to you to embark upon such a treacherous journey as a novice. Your initiative proves that where there is will there is a way. Your strong resolve and the blessings of auntyji got you through thick and thin despite great turmoil and upheavals. Your Kashmir valley experience entails goose bumps and anxiety. The cooperative and ever helpful attitude of the Indian Army is very touching. The account of flood destruction in Leh is very sad but nonetheless the resolve of the mighty Ladakhis is unparalleled. Its hearting to know that you and your trip companion remained safe despite all odds. The photographs shared by you tell the entire story and compliment the narrative very well. Your missing the return leg via Manali is disappointing but nevertheless it's always better luck next time. I too drove to Ladakh in September 2016 via Manali. Initially had plans to complete the circuit by returning via Srinagar but due to turmoil in valley had to return back via Manali. Nonetheless did went up to Drass-Kargil and visited the War Memorial. Had posted the travelogue of Ladakh trip. This is the link https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...uti-dzire.html (The mountains are calling & I must go! Tour de Ladakh in a Maruti Dzire)
Hope you will enjoy reading. Thanks once again for sharing your valuable experience. Keep posting.
GODSPEED

[Aish_4761]

Doing a Ladakh trip now-a-days has become more mainstream but, someone doing that back in 2010, probably would be one of the earliest amongst the ones I read..! Currently, the roads, the bikes and the connectivity have improved a lot..!
Apache RTR, definitely one of the finest machines money could have bought you back in the day, I wonder if you still have it...!!

[amit_purohit20]

Originally Posted by Aish_4761

Doing a Ladakh trip now-a-days has become more mainstream but, someone doing that back in 2010, probably would be one of the earliest amongst the ones I read..! Currently, the roads, the bikes and the connectivity have improved a lot..!
Apache RTR, definitely one of the finest machines money could have bought you back in the day, I wonder if you still have it...!!

Yes now every one knows about Ladakh and Leh and bike rides, but back in 2010 it wasn't that famous. Yes I do have the Apache RTR with me and it still rides like a charm. In last ten years I haven't changed anything other than brake pads and Engine oil. The only unfortunate thing is it hasn't seen the Himalayan roads again. Hopefully she will be back on those roads someday soon. Thanks for your comments.

[AtheK]

You call it little adventure story??

The amount of adventure in this one travelouge is probably more then combined adventure a normal human being experiences in entire life. This was one hell of a travelouge, and i must say the amount of courage and confidence you have, would put a lot of people to shame.

Great it all came out well, and happy you acheived your dream. Also a call out to TVS Apache, what a brilliant bike this is, i would probably never sell my RTR till it stops running altogether.

[Highway_Nation]

What a read it was! Nothing short of a movie. Wished it was more lengthy so i could read on and on.

[SJM1214]

I visited Ladakh in July 2009. After that, I remained in touch with this region by some friends. I remember 2010 cloudburst was a deadly one. It's interesting to know that you were in Leh during that cloudburst.

Thanks for sharing the story with us.