Trip to Leh – Part 4

The last part of Delhi – Leh – Delhi Trip that was planned but did not happen. To read the third part of the series, click here.

Day 10

, was spent in lazying around in the bed. A slow breakfast at a Tibetian joint. Tibetian bread with butter and Kissan Jam was awesome. Tibet herbal tea is what my mom makes and serves when we have cold and fever. Down south its called kashayam. Time for some more rest and some more rest. And of course it was raining outside this time even during the day. It wasnt pouring but still was a lazy feeling to go out. Later in the evening finally decided to go to Old Manali.

Day 11

, bags were packed again and plan was to reach Chandigarh by evening. Then enroute a small change to reach Ambala. But rains decided otherwise. It was not easy to ride down the mountains in the rain, but there were no options are alternatives. The only option was to ride since we had quite a distance to cover. Finally this time though we had good lunch at a dhaba. As time progressed both Ambala and Chandigarh looked out of reach and we settled for the night in a dingy hotel at Pinjore.

Day 12

, with no further wastage of time we headed to Delhi. On reaching Delhi we made a small mistake of heading to New Delhi railway station. For this we had to bike through the traffic of Old Delhi. Anyone familiar with Delhi would advise against this. After 30minutes through the traffic I was struggling to breathe. The pollution level is really high. We moved over to another lane went about a km parked my bike and panted for 10minutes. Finally I was able to get some oxygen back into blood. While others went to look for hotel and found “Hotel Southern” at Karol Bagh, I pushed Anand’s bike for 1kms since it refused to start. My bro came back and they both towed the bike to the hotel.

This trip was most adventurous. While last year during monsoon ride I faced tough situations it was nothing compared to in this ride. There were lot of learnings during the ride. We had all parts in this trip, fluctuations of moods. On 12th August when we got into hotel there was sigh of relief and happiness on faces of others. I was preparing myself for the next leg of the journey.
That we were unable to reach Leh this year does not mean we wont try again, we would plan again for a trip next year.

Though not affected by the floods, an understanding of the situation stems from the fact we were stranded in our paths on all directions. Another direction which we could have tried but did not was due to the riots in Kashmir. May peace return to the valley soon. And people have a good time in future. Let there be no more such floods which affects not only the people but also the army and overall economy. The amount of goods that got wasted led to loss for not only farmers but also other distributors.

If you are on facebook do your best in contributing to the efforts of providing shelter to those homeless people in Ladakh region. Click here. Alternatively you could also follow this link, click here. Let us help those in need.

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Trip to Leh – Part 2

First part of the trip, click here.

Fourth day

we started off from Hotel Chaman just as planned. An early morning start to avoid the traffic at Rohtang Pass. This is quite funny actually. All tourists who come to Manali go to Rohtang Pass for what to have a view of snow. Though it was clearly raining throughout. From reports we heard that it starts raining in evening from 7:00pm or so and continues till wee hours of morning. We did experience the same too. This brought with it landslides at Rohtang Pass. Tourists go till Rohtang Pass reach the top click photos and return to Manali.
Few kms from Manali, there was a big patch of mud on the road from last nights rain. I took my arm to signal others to slow down and thud I had a fall. It was second fall and the worst fall. I did not check how bad it was. But my upper right thigh was paining real bad and so was rest of the thigh. I still managed to ride not showing discomfort. Any signs of discomfort would make all others to stay put. Close to Marhi the bad roads started. Seems there were roads there and laid fresh. Due to landslides it was completely covered with feet high mud and converted to slush. It was making riding difficult and an experience. At many places the bike skid what with so much of luggage behind. At worst parts I asked my brother to take the bike out for me. Keeping my leg hanging gave such a pain. Getting onto and out of the bike was getting worse each time too. There were few stretches where the sludge was real bad. With lack of food and heavy pain on thigh it was only worse. A Japanese guy was also travelling the same stretch and a special mention about him. He was not only alone in the ride, the leg rest was also broken and he had to support his leg keeping it on brake pedal.
At one point after Marhi when we were standing by the side lot of traffic was moving up slowly. Due to the slush, traffic had come to halt too. One of the truck guys asked if we wanted to eat. Another truck guy called me inside and there was mini house inside. They were cooking sabji and offered alcohol and nicotine. They were completely equipped.

5kms before Rohtang, unfortunately my bike stopped and refused to start. Same was the case with my friends bike. The clutch plates were gone, burnt out.
Lesson 2: Keep clutch plates also in stock.
There were GREF (General Reserver Engineers Force) officers who had come to the place in the morning for servicing their bulldozer. After knowing that we spoke Tamil, one of the officers Rajasekar came to us and enquired on the situation. There were two possibilities, either take a truck stop go up to Keylong or take a truck to Manali. Decision has to be made in less than 5minutes time. This was also second real-time soft skill training on decision making capabilities.
The first was team work when everyone had to help in pushing each bike out of slush. This way we pushed all four bikes out.
Taking into account all possibilities, I tell them we would go down to Manali. They load our bikes into their truck. We start off from here by 6:30pm. By 8:00pm we leave Marhi after a brief halt for tea. First sip of tea from morning for my friend and myself. Till then we both have had about 3 pieces of wonder cake and a banana. When we reached Manali it was 12:00am, yes midnight. GREF officers went into the hotel “Royal Inn Palace” on Rohtang Road and woke up the hotel staff talked out for room for us. Then they helped in getting down the bikes.

GREF Officer1: Kyon Rohtang aata hai tourists. Idar kuch bhi nahin hai. Baraf nahin hota hai. (Why do tourists come to Rohtang, there is nothing here, no snow)
ME: Kisi ek tourist se poochna idar kyon? (Why dont you ask a tourist why Rohtang)

GREF Officer2: Neenga en Sir Leh ellam vandu kashta padureenga. Naanga thaan inga kashta padurom. (Why do you come to Leh and suffer, we have no other option)
ME: Adan, neenga kashta padureenga nu naanga anubhavika thaan. (We also want to experience the tough times you face out here)

GREF guys real friendly guys, they even offered to take us around town looking for dinner which we politely turned down. We did not want to trouble them anymore. All this and they also refuse to take single penny. They do not allow you to even pay for their tea.
At 1:00am we walked out of hotel and found a restaurant shutters going down with the owner still eating. We explained our story and got a bread omlette for two of us. First meal in the entire day. And the feeling of bread omlette going through the pipe cannot be explained but only experienced.
We did survive the entire day without eating and still managed to lift our bikes up and down and to sit uncomfortably in the truck. In all we had lost all our energies.

Fifth day morning

, we are now two days behind schedule. While we should have been riding from Keylong on this day we were running to the nearest workshop and got new clutch plates fixed. This time we took additional ones to stock up for later usage.
Rest of the guys moved from Koksar to Keylong on this day and decided to stay put for us to join them. Beyond Keylong there is no network communication and would make it difficult.
By evening, we got our bikes serviced, had good heavy lunch of almost 7 rotis per person and rice. Still we were feeling hungry!! Also got sometime to check my leg. I was limping down the stairs and was able to climb up or go down only one step at a time. My upper thigh had a big clot of blood which was why it was difficult to move it freely. Applied moov ointment and some hot water. Was walking up and down the stairs like a limp, one step at a time. It would take another 4-5 days for healing but cannot relax.
In the evening, we go around town hunting for a truck who would take us to Keylong. We do not want to risk again at Rohtang pass. Moreover my leg would not allow for an easy passage also. On second thought we go to “Bony Sony Motors” in Old Manali. We talk with him and a truck is arranged for us within 15minutes. Thanks to mobile network communication is so fast these days.
Old Manali is a place to go for. You will find maybe zero Indian tourists but you will find only firang tourists. What is there here? Nothing a lane full of shops with boards calling for trekking, skiing, and other adventure activities. No wonder you dont find Indian honeymoon tourists out here.
There are other things to see in and around Old Manali.

Sixth day

, morning 4:00am. We both are ready. A phone call to Sonu. 4:30am we are on the road on truck to Keylong. While on the truck we actually realise how difficult it is to sit inside cramped for space and with a paining leg. We stop at Marhi for tea and Koksar for breakfast, maggi with eggs. Wow, so great the taste was. Actually maggi’s tastes so damn good in those places.
Just when entering Keylong, my phone rings. Anita calls from Bangalore and enquires where I am and tells me about the situation ahead. Cloud Burst in Leh. Thanks to her for the warning.
We are welcomed at “Nalwa Guesthouse” with claps all around. And there is no current in the village. And looking out from the guesthouse towards Monastery up on the mountains and the mountains beyond is a view just beyond words.
Three days behind schedule is what actually made us survive, looks so at the end of the day. If there were no delays GOD knows where we would have been and in what shape. Like they say, “Everything happens for ones own good”.

Post lunch we strategise our next plan of action. Now that the route up to Leh is closed for another few more days, the next option is to go down via Rohtang Pass. But a strike of wave and we decide to do the Spiti Valley. Let us go somewhere we have not gone and also make a different tour, so what if we did not get Leh’ed.

We meet a lady with German accent who enlightened as to why cloud burst happened in Leh. China took over Tibet and they cut all the trees over there for development of road & rail infrastructure. Due to this, unprecedented rains are observed all over the Himalayan range in India!! We were about to laugh but the topic got changed to MNS in Mangalore and women oppression.

Night was complete entertainment. We walked into a restaurant for dinner. Two guys started talking with me. We built up a nice conversation and where laughing all over. Another table of diners were very serious and didnt smile still. Now we asked for fork and got to know its hindi name. Then I sing loud “Kaanta lagaa aa aa”. The entire restaurant started laughing including the serious table. The lady who was making food also burst out laughing. Everytime we asked for fork, they would give and sing kaanta lagaa.
Around 9:00pm the current came and we all started clapping and shouting. The place looked very lively in just few hours.

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Trip to Leh – Part 1

Yes, we did not get Leh’ed like others proudly write and talk about. We were in a way lucky to have got delayed in our journey towards Leh from Delhi. We were in a way unfortunate to have missed the extra bus of excitement if we were travelling on schedule. In the end we had a different kind of excitement and adventure which most other people missed out. We had fun, we had our tense moments, we had moments of depression, we had moments of dance on the roads.

In the train journey from Chennai to Delhi on TamilNadu Express we kept eating like anything, little did we know that would have been last times of hogging. Once we got down in Delhi, we got into Ginger Yatri Nivas Hotel and occupied half the space in the restaurant. Had a good breakfast and took the bikes from the parcel office. Checked the bikes, added small carrier to another bike at Karol Bagh.

By 2:00pm we were on the road towards Ambala. A brief halt for food. Remember don’t think you would get non-vegetarian food on this stretch. Most of the dhabas are pure vegetarians, no egg’s too. When we reached Ambala, we checked into Hotel Royal Place. We were on schedule.

Second day

was a delayed start from Ambala, and we went hunting for ATM to withdraw some cash. Finally an ATM where we could take money. This city has Fun Cinemas multiplex too!!
It was almost 10:00am when we left Ambala limits. We had to reach Manali but then we did not take the route towards Chandigarh. We took a longer route via Dodhara, Rupanagar. Just after Ambala at the petrol station when checking tyre pressure we found that in one of the bikes, the tyre was getting cut due to hitting against a nail at every hump or pothole. This took another 2hrs of our time. In the meantime we finished our brunch too.
This route that we took towards Ludhiana and another deviation to Rupanagar through Dodhara is really scenic with river flowing by the side. Funny incident was cops told us not to take photo of passing train!!
At this place we had first brush with what might have been in store for us. A river bridge had broken off and we had to wade through sand to get across to other side. Slowly with delay we were losing time and close to Mandi it started pouring. I was having visibility issues and decided to stop riding further and went under the shade of a shop. Others joined out here. But my friend Anand, kept riding ahead in search of what? And he also has visibility issues in the night more when it rains. To top it all.

Niranjan: Anand poitan (Anand went)
Me: Enga (where)
Niranjan: Straight aa poitan (He went straight)
Me: {Given Anand’s visibility issue and the way niranjan said I was like f***} straight aa??

Then I understood he went in the wrong direction and went up straight towards dam.
There was one guy among in this place who started a conversation with me.

He: Aap idar se Mandi ki mod pe jao. theen kilometer ke baad rehne ke liye milega. Acha hai. (You go in the direction of Mandi after 3kms you will find a nice place to stay)
Me: Teek hai (ok)

Since his breath was smelling of alcohol we did not want to be coned like what guys on Chattisgarh side tried with me during New Year. So, we rode in the other direction and later came back to same place which he had mentioned of!! To realise guys in these places are not crooks all that.

It was dark and we could not ride any further forcing us to stay at “Mid-Way Resort”.
This resort is almost like an exact mid-way to Manali. The staff were very friendly here and made sure that everything was comfortable.
Now we were a day behind schedule. We were supposed to reach Manali by night-fall. Here we were mid-way.

Third day

, we thought we should be able to cross Rohtang. I was aware of the traffic and conditions on Rohtang from people who were there before. Little sceptical but looked like possible. We were still not aware of the conditions completely. About 20kms from Mandi, I had my first fall. I was slowing down for an overtaking truck in opposite direction and the bike behind me touched mine. I lost my balance and fell down. Luckily it was not a bad fall and I didn’t fall with bike on top of me and neither on side of the traffic.
I got up to notice bit of oil leak from the clutch case box.
We continued our ride and decided to fix the leak at Kulu. Now again getting delayed we decided against and to halt at Manali. Lunch was near Kulu by the river side. We were dead hungry since we hadnt eaten anything from morning. We took breaks but no food break till then.
Now it was not only hot but more humid from rains. At Kulu we fixed the bike oil leak. Got a new luggage carrier for another bike. The mechanic Salim is close to them temple after the bridge and reasonable and knowledgeable. While we were fixing the bike others caught on sleep and others bought new sunglasses, only to lose them further down in the journey.
Before entering Manali, there is a GREEN Checkpost. All vehicles with registration outside Himachal Pradesh have to pay this GREEN TOLL. Of course there are some hotel guys also sitting here, whom if you approach would take you to hotel. And our stay happened at “Hotel Chaman”.
New Manali is crowded with lot of Indian Tourists. Every inch is a honeymoon couple flashing bangles and all smiles. Some with tired look on faces. So many honeymoon couples that even a club at a basement of shopping lots is named “Club Honeymoon”, not strictly for couples. Entry at Rs.200/- non-redeemable.
Few firang tourists are also here on this side of town, New Manali to have walk through.
I walked around too with Anand and had ice-creams. And wondering why people do shopping here when everything can be bought in every other city. It was not cheap by any means too, being a touristic place.

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Road Trip 2 Leh

No road trips for this year so far. Been quite period so far. Couple of short rides to Ooty, Coorg. And finally am on a road trip. Not to forget Make Your Trip in March this year.

And finally am on going to be on my motorbike. Tonight I pack my bags and head to Chennai on KSRTC bus. Tomorrow after brief check-up we leave in the night by train to Delhi. Our bikes would travel with us. From Delhi we ride to Leh via Manali. The tentative plan includes Nubra Valley. Once back in Delhi.
Am riding down to Bangalore through Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, Pune.

Looks like a good road plan??

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