[shyamg28]

The wife & I took our 5th trip to Ladakh, this year. That's five trips overall, not all 5 in the same year. The difference this time - we would be on separate motorcycles, starting all the way from Bangalore.

Mouna learnt how to ride on her 13th birthday, and teaching her, was dad. Probably the best birthday gift ever one might say! And ever since, she has wanted a Yamaha RX100. In January this year, she decided she wanted her own motorcycle. We got one for her. And as things are with her, she had already made grand plans for Ladakh. Some 6000 kilometers all considered. Sounds crazy but knowing her, I knew this wasn't a pipe dream - she would make it a reality. Of this much, I was certain!

So, where were we? Ladakh, yes! We planned meticulously, overpacked, repacked, packed and overpacked. Got the motorcycles ready for the big day. Got through all our workload a day before, only to realize we wanted to be mentally fresh, so we ended up delaying our start by a day. That's just how things are. As Bruce Lee says, "be like water my friend"!

Starting off, I was quite nervous as the designated "Ride Lead". I have probably never looked into the rear-view mirror as much on any other trip! But once I observed how easy the first day turned out to be, I gained tremendous confidence in us. This was happening!
Up until reaching Ludhiana in Punjab, we hadn't really encountered any issues. We'd done about 2000 kilometers on some smooth and rough highways, some strewn with potholes, and some strewn with cows. Yep, you heard that right!
Now, the day we reached Ludhiana, turned out to be nothing short of a nightmare. We were about 150 kilometers into the journey when we hit an Expressway. And this one did not anything below 4 wheels. We did consider joining our motorcycles together through some bungee cords to pass off as a 4-wheeler. Better sense prevailed and we took an alternate route. Which, as it turned out, increased our arrival time by two fold. What was supposed to be an 8-hour journey, now turned out to be 16 hours! Through some of the worst B-roads ever. Broken so bad in some places, even a massage wouldn't suffice. There were also several road closures along the way (the best one would come around 10pm that night), which meant us navigating through villages, where a car wouldn't even fit. There was one hilarious instance where we had to ride and bend our backs 10 different ways to fit through an overhead railway bridge, which was all of 5 feet tall.
It's 10pm, we've found the National Highway and we're coasting. Barricades! What do we do now? A young gentleman came over to us on his motorcycle. He had a flag of either the community or mission he belonged to, waving on his motorcycle. He asked us to follow him, and without a second thought, we did. But we did make sure our live location was being shared (yay technology!) throughout, and our cameras were recording throughout. He took us through the slushiest, darkest single lanes I've ever come across. Mouna as usual, was singing along and enjoying the "adventure" while I had my heart in my mouth throughout. The fact that I'm here writing this is testimony that it turned out well. We reached the highway and carried on. Turns out, the National Highway was blocked by farmers protesting a new bill. For several kilometers. Disruption at its best!

The next surprise arrived as we reached Srinagar, two days later. Cloudbursts are becoming a common occurrence in certain parts of the world and this part is no exception to it. A flash flood the previous night, meant that the only road we could take towards our next destination, would be washed out. BRO had other plans. Not my loving relative, but Border Roads Organization, responsible for all road constructions in the Himalayan belt. They cleared up the path and onwards we proceeded! "Pahadon ka mausam aur Mumbai ka fashion ka kuch nahin keh sakthe!" Equates to, "you can't predict the weather in the mountains as much as the fashion in Mumbai!"

We reached Leh city, capital of Ladakh! We spent an extra day to acclimatize. But the body knows how to adapt as long as you give it time. We rested! Watched a movie or two after almost 3000 kms of being on the road. The next part of the journey would be the most challenging one we had ever taken - 19000 ft! Higher than Everest Base camp! Umling La - the highest motorable pass in the world! (Enough with the exclamations Shyam).

We made our way from Leh to Hanle, the nearest town/village to Umling La. That night we would meet a couple from Australia, who were out on a world tour on their motorcycle! Talk about "Goals!" It's a dream I've always had and one I'm trying to "Inception" into Mouna. Meeting Ollie & Maddy was a true-blue highlight of the trip for me. Here we were, pushing ourselves quite hard, unwavering in our commitment to a month long trip. And here was this couple who had made a 3 year plan (if not more) to be out on the road, doing what they loved best! They go by Tilly2Wheels.

The next morning, we would say our goodbyes to them and make our journey towards Umling La. Through a series of switchbacks, possibly a hundred thousand of them, we made our way to an intermediate mountain pass, Photi La (pronounced Foti La), casually sitting at 18000 ft. We descended and then ascended again towards the mission. Weather was turning by this time. Dark clouds appeared darker, and the indicated 5 degree Celsius seemed -5. We were excited, and the adrenaline kept us going. So much so that it took us a moment to realized we had reached! Tears streamed down. I noticed in that silence that Mouna was overwhelmed too. She too was consumed in that moment. It meant a great deal to both of us. For me, the moment was all hers. She had made it. Both, the 13 year old and the 33 year old had! A dream. A challenge. A hope. An accomplishment. There would be no "conquering" today. There would only be relief. Of having lived up to ones own expectations. There would be happiness and gratefulness, for the privilege of this life. We had made it to Umling La! We spent some time absorbing the moment, space and time. Then we quickly took some photos and videos to serve as memory were we to ever forget.

The return journey was eventful, but I won't bore you with that now. This journey of ours served many powerful life lessons to us both. And also taught us one thing - the paradox of humanity - we all seek comfort, and the next moment, we seek discomfort through a challenge, until the next comfort! Haha!

I leave you with one quote - "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it, that matters."

Cheers!

Leaving you with a few photos of the journey.

[shyamg28]

Bijapur - We visited Gol Gumbaz again.










Decided to visit Ajanta Caves which turned out to mess up our route a fair bit over the next 2 days, but well worth it.








En route Jaipur, the 2nd time we got stuck at a traffic jam caused by a Roadways bus related accident.








Jammu.


We messed up and followed a Pulsar chap and ended on the opposite end of Dal lake. Gorgeous nonetheless.




En route Srinagar.










Zoji La! Extreme traffic this time around but good weather ensured we made it through without any incident.

[shyamg28]

Upon reaching Kargil, we decided to settle in for another night so we could visit the Drang Drung glacier.


Futile attempts at taking some aesthetic shots of my helmet.
















My wife trying her best to make me look like a rugged adventurous motorcyclist whilst fully aware of what a luxury baby I really am :P


En route Leh! Favourite place to visit (maybe live? who knows).










Lamayuru (moonscape).






A map of Leh.


The popular Neha snacks.






At Leh market. Spotted the Jimny and Hilux together. Wife for scale :P

[shyamg28]

En route Hanle.




















Sumur sand dunes, the other side of Nubra valley.


Back towards Sarchu via Tanglang La.

[shyamg28]

Umling La

There are 2-3 popular routes towards Umling La from Hanle I believe - via Norbu La top (the off road route) and the Photi La (tarmac all through).
We took the Photi La route which meant tight switchbacks through & through. The off road route I've come to understand is basically desert storm :P

Reaching here was an emotional moment for both of us. I was and am extremely proud of the wife for her resilience and attitude towards life






The photo log ends here.

[shyamg28]

Miscellaneous

RAM mount X-Grip

I can no longer recommend this. The rubbers kept falling off. I bought 12 extra rubbers and eventually just decided to tape them up after which they never came off.
The other thing is that when kept in the vertical position, my phone fell off a couple of times. I was forced to switch over to the horizontal position.



Gear

Mouna -

Jacket - Rev'it Eclipse Mesh jacket (women's). Back protector to be purchased separately. Airy jacket and excellent fit.
Pants - RS Taichi Drymaster. Waterproof. Worked really well.
Boots - Gaerne G-Escape Gore-Tex
Helmet - KYT R2RPro. Light but slightly noisy. Very comfortable for all-day touring.
Gloves - Rev'it Calibre + Rev'it Sand4 H2O

Shyam -

Jacket - Klim Carlsbad Pro (Gore-Tex). Can get warm and sweaty. I love the convenience of road tripping in wet weather. However, I do feel I might be better off with a mesh jacket + rain coat.
Pants - Klim Badlands Pro (Gore-Tex). Love it. Excellent fit. And the guards just sit really well on the body through the day. I have had zero issues with this one. My all-season pants.
Boots - RE TCX Stelvio (long). Very comfortable waterproof boots.
Helmet - Arai Tour XD-4. Comfortable for all day touring. Would love an internal sun visor though :P
Gloves - Rev'it Calibre

Luggage

V Strom -

- Givi B40 Top box - 39L. Stores some electronics and quick access items.
- Givi GRT709 Canyon side bags - 70L total. Waterproof & easy mounting.
- Givi XS307 tankbag - 15L. Since I didn't have a pillion this time around, I got a Givi Seatlock, which supports mounting the tankbag at the rear.
- GuardianGear small tankpouch (Mpoche) - 2L. Keeps my phone and wallet.
- Viaterra Pod12 - 12L each. Stores rain gear for the wife & toolkit.

Duke

- Givi B32 Top box - 32L. The box itself seems decent. But we used a Zana top rack to mount it and were fully prepared to loose it along the way, despite keeping it empty nearly the whole way through. That's what ended up happening anyway lol. The rack bolts sheared off and the box was hanging near the rear tyre somewhere between Pang & Sarchu. It has found a new home with a shop owner at Whiskey Nala We got 2 Snickers bars as a "Thank you".
- Viaterra Hammerhead 45 - 45L. Stays put more or less. Needs some re-tightening here & there. Waterproof. I love this. On solo trips, I feel this would be all I really need.

Bike transport

This time we decided to ship back the motorcycle from Chandigarh to Bangalore.

Bike shipping is a huge point of contention for motorcyclists. Some suggested the railways, SafeExpress, etc.
A friend recommended Gati and also provided a contact. We chose this because we trusted the friend :P And it wall worked out well.
We left it at Chandigarh. The Gati contact took care of packaging, which was extremely well done.
Cost - 6k for the Duke & 8k for the V Strom. We also sent our luggage along with them. Thankfully, it all arrived safe & sound. But I have heard bad stories of Gati as well.

The Motorcycles

Both motorcycles sailed through the 1 month/6000kms journey. Special mention to the Gen 3 Duke 390. This motorcycle fits Mouna to the "T".
We did make some small changes -
- A windscreen/visor from Motocare. It works.
- Apollo Tramplr XR tyres - Excellent. I wish they could make them for bigger bikes too. I trust these tyres.

We both could easily keep up the same wasy as we used to when riding 2-up on 1 motorcycle. The Duke is just aces!

My partner are fortunate to enjoy some of these things together in life. I'm grateful!

[Aditya]

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

[AKSO]

Wow. This is amazing to see. What rich memories your wife and you have cemented for a lifetime. Well done

[Shreyans_Jain]

Some serious couple goals here. Excellent travelogue.

[ABHI_1512]

Shyam and Mouna- Congratulations on a fantastic journey (again) together. Beautiful pictures along the way and the resilience came through the words , immersive travel I would say. May you two continue to travel like the way you did here, keep making memories to cherish.

Cheers

[mh09ad5578]

WOw, thats an epic ride! you guys are super lucky that both enjoy riding. Lovely pics and details. Thanks for sharing details on riding and travel gear really helpful insights. Ride on!

[Kashi053]

Shyam & Mouna, loads of fun & adventure. What an epic way to do 5th Ladakh trip. Thanks for sharing. Awesome bike combo as well, suits both of you!