"The Trail" : Day 4

Darcha to Pang 12.09.07

On the glorious Wednesday morning of 12th September,2007 A.D. with Lama's hot tea to boot, we started for our next destination- Pang. Getting a "fresh lease of life" by the chilling riverside was another first in our otherwise mundane lives! We found out what the concept of "anywhere" toilet meant first-hand!

The next 37 kms to Sarchu presented us with a ripping road and none was eager to ride lazily.After a while, we came across the first lake on our trip- a pristine fresh water lake by the name of Deepak Tal. The time was 08.40 hrs and the morning sun was just showering its glorious light on the mountain tops, only to be reflected in all its clarity in the still lake waters.No matter how much we fiddled with our cameras, none of the images were able to capture the raw splendour of the lake in the morning light. Inspite of us making the digicam settings to highest resolutions, choosing different modes, Sanjay and Amol trying every lens combination possible on thier very very expensive Canon EOS DSLR, we could at best hope to rake in just a bit of the essence of the panorama. A few breathless moments and some splendid shots later, we got onto our bikes and resumed the rip towards Sarchu. The roads were so splendid with such scenic views that one would not want the journey to end at all. I was thinking to myself "With roads like these, who needs a destination?".......and today, these same roads beckon me.......

We came to Level 2 - Baralachla at around 10.20 hrs; Altitude :16500 ft above MSL. We HAD to stop for a while just to soak in the view that nature had presented us in such a panoramic grandeur. The ride after Baralachla was a steep downhill one and the descent thereafter presented us with another graphic wonder which we termed as the "Grand Canyon of India". There was this river snaking with the highway and leaving a deep and marvellous canyon in its wake.

We made it to Sarchu around 11.50 hrs for lunch and I happened to check my tripmeter, which read 839 km. Lunch was maggi noodles with egg. Sounds very ordinary, but the trip so far had made EVERYTHING we had tasty! We were surprised that whatever we had , we found it not only palatable to our taste buds, but totally relishing too!

Post lunch, we thought we'd chat around for a while and soak in the afternoon sun for sometime. Just about then, we could see some mist forming on what appeared to be our road ahead. The dhaba wallah told us that it was snow- just starting to fall. We felt just a little bit apprehensive about that but decided to press on anyway ."Jo hoga dekha jayega!" was the spirit of our dudes!

The road ahead was just as scenic, if not more grand with breathtaking roads, hairpin bends, witty warning signs by the Border Roads Organisation and very pleasing names for bridges like "Whisky Bridge" and " Brandy Bridge"! We came across a stretch of 21 hairpin bends in what was called as "Gata loops" , which immediately swooshed us to an altitude of 15302 ft in just 21 bends!After the Gata Loops, we crossed another pass-level 3 Lachulunga at 16616 ft above MSL.

Just after Lachulunga, we encountered slight snow fall. No matter what direction we turned our bikes to, snowflakes appeared to be coming headlong towards us. Our gloved hands worked double time in riding the bike and doubling up as our visor wipers. Some twenty minutes into the ride , the snow fall had become very hard and very risky to drive in. Visibility was exponentially reduced and we didnt want to take chances on the blind turns, not to mention there was the the very potent risk of traction loss and ending up in the ravines thousands of feet below! At a certain wide section of the road we found a hard top jeep parked and we immediately lined up our bikes behind that jeep. Out came the tarpaulins and the tent and we were about to pitch tent, when Amol struck up a conversation with the people in the jeep. The person in charge of the jeep happened to be one especially gem of a person - Mr. Grewal, who's a pilot for Indian Airlines. He was gracious enough to let us snuggle in to his jeep and provide us with some hot water for us to dip our hands into. He went out of his way to give us some galaxy bars to munch on in the meantime. From what we found out, he has been travelling on that route for 20 years in a row!!! He's made it an annual affair-sometimes on four wheels, sometimes on a motorcycle and sometimes on a bicycle. This time was on a bicycle and 2 other people were the logistics people in the jeep. 45 minutes in his jeep and the snow showed no signs of subsiding. Finally, when it began to clear up a bit, we decided to hit the road again. The mountain tops which had been naked just an hour ago were now covered with a sheet of fresh white snow-what a transformation! Our bikes were all under an inch of snow and we had to dust off the snow with bungee cords and the tarpaulins. Fortunately, the bikes started at a single self and thanking Mr. Grewal profusely, we bade goodbye to our mentor and hopped onto our steel horses once again.

Pang was just a 18 km drive from where we had halted due to the snow storm. But those 18 km proved to be never ending, the fresh snow having made a mess out of the otherwise unmetalled road. We were lucky to be doing 7-8 km/hr on our bikes, careful all the while not to let the extremely slippery,jutting rocks and the numerous deadly blind turns get the better of us. Half an hour into the drive and seeing only 2-3 km posts go by made the ride extremely frustating. After what seemed to be a never-ending ordeal, we finally made it to Pang-our destined halt for the day. The time was 18.15 hrs We had taken an hour to cross that 18 km stretch.

There were quite a few tented dhabas that provided acco too for 30 bucks/head. We checked one "Khangri-La" dhaba and dumped our stuff inside. My tripmeter read 914km, a faint smile appearing on my face knowing that the 1k km mark wasnt too far at all now!

Highlights of the day: The ripping road in the valleys towards Sarchu; The amazing Deepak Tal; Baralachla; Gata Loops; The "Grand Canyon of India"; Lachulunla; The ride in the blinding snow fall and the torturous 18km to Pang

"The Trail" : Day 3

Manali to Darcha 11.09.07

The third day saw us starting off from Manali at a healthy 07.45 hrs, considering that it was raining on and off and triggering mild fears about snowfall up ahead. But the ride remained largely uneventful till Rohtang La barring a couple of mud slushes. It was one of these mud patches where we first met our 2 swell future teammates -Amol and Sanjay. These guys had made it on their heavily laden Bullet Machismo all the way from Pune! Amidst informal hellos, we passed them on one of the slushes and made it to Rohtang La at 10.30 hrs. I had missed zero point completely and had gone about 500 meters ahead! I remembered seeing Rohtang all snow-clad and tent-infested couple of months back and that made me pass the top completely! It was only after I failed to see the rest of the guys on my rear view mirror that I stopped my bike; and then after waiting for quite a while for them to catch up with me and them failing to turn up, I turned around and rode back the way I had come from. I saw the guys at Rohtang Pass and waving at me frantically. Only then did i realise that we had made it through level 1(as Kenny would term it!)- Rohtang La , at an altidude of 13050 ft above MSL.

Amol and Sanjay caught up with us at Rohtang Pass and there was this jovial "chai wallah" who was too happy to help us take snaps. We had some wonderful tea and coffee from the same chap. Perhaps it was the cold, perhaps it was the ride, perhaps it was really the tea and coffee, but those cups of tea and coffee felt the best tea and coffee in the world. We thanked the chap for such a delighful beverage, to which he non chalantly replied that he was doing no great job-but that he was charging for his tea and coffee. But for someone to come from the relative comfort of Manali down below to the freezing environs of Rohtang La and serve people like us is a very noble gesture indeed. God bless that chap!

Immediately after Rohtang La, we encountered what was to be the worst mud slush in our entire trip. There were places where the slush was more than a foot deep and we had to struggle with our laden bikes for maintaining balance. We could only shift to the 2nd gear, when it would be more slush ahead and we would have to downshift again. We realised that the rains and snow on the previous days had made an otherwise dusty and unmetalled road into what we were dealing with right now.The stretch took us quite some time to cover , but the roads ahead became clearer, but still snow-wet and hence, dangerously slippery.

However, we made it to the next inhabited place, Koksar,at around 11.30 hrs without any incident. There we stopped for something to bite into. We stopped at a nice dhaba and ordered some wai-wai and tea. The wai wai tasted totally out of this world! Without wasting much time, we got onto our bikes again and started off. We neither knew the road ahead nor did we have much idea where our next pit stop would be.So we decided, the lesser time on chairs and the more on our bikes meant we got to our pit stop in time!

The road ahead was intermittently extremely well built and dirt roads at times. But nevertheless, we were able to make pretty good time and at a "heady" pace, that is until we came upon a dumper truck deep in the river below! That sight was very very effective in slowing us a bit on the narrow montain road!!Continuing up the road, we reached Tandi, the last filling station on the route to Leh. And i felt somewhat proud of the fact that it was an Indian Oil outlet! Tank fills later, we proceeded towards Keylong, the next major town en-route. It was just 6 km from Tandi and we found a good-looking Himachal Tourism resort "Hotel Chandra Bhaga" , where we stopped for lunch. The time was 15.15 hrs then and the hotel staff informed us that it was well past lunchtime and it would be hard for them to conjure up a good lunch. We werent going to miffed by that, and we asked them to salvage whatever they could from their kitchen! It was at this hotel that Amol and Sanjay also caught up with us and we got formally introduced. We had lunch together on what we termed as "leftover rice and paneer"! From the hotel receptionist we found find out that at best we could hope to make it to Jispa or Darcha which were some 3 hours away. After some post-lunch relaxing, we decided we ought to hit the road in order to make it to Darcha well within daylight.

Without further ado, we got onto our bikes again, albeit it was four bikes this time. Amol and Sanjay had decided to stick to us from then onwards. Thank god for that! Those guys were really good company and they always say the more, the merrier. How true!

Some treacherous mountain terrain, some landslides, some more streamlets later, we reached Jispa. We came across some "firangi" adventurers on an expedition called "global enduro". They were all on some 30 bullets, but they had all logistics with them, incuding spares and mechanics. We all looked into each other and said "Naaaaahh!Thats not what you call an adventure!" There was this foreigner sitting on the green lawns of the hotel and sipping on a Kingfisher premium lager in the setling dusk. Never had I felt the need of a beer more in my entire life!!The very fact that we have been riding from 07.45 hrs onwards through torturious terrain was more than enough to call for a chill can or pint or bottle or whatever of soothing comfort of a beer!!

The hotel rooms were exhorbitantly priced for whatever comforts they provided. We suspected the foreign "intrusion" as a cause for the wild inflation. A few enquiries later from a bright and beautiful Himachali gal ( by me!!) , we decided to move on to Darcha, which was just half an hour's drive from Jispa. Waving off to the gal, we resumed our ride towards Darcha.

It was just nearing twilight when we hit Darcha - a hub of dhabas, a police assistance tent , a small village and surprises of surprises-one "theka"!! We made camp at one Lama Dhaba, the proprietor of which was a jovial fellow indeed. My tripmeter read 759 km.

The dhaba was quite homely indeed, with beds laid inside and 3-4 quilts neatly stacked on each bed. 50 bucks per head for beds looked extremely inviting and in little time we unloaded our stuff from the bikes and plonked them inside the dhaba! We had one "Old Monk" giving us company all this while from Manali and we thought it'd be a good time for us to introduce him to our new friends Amol and Sanjay as well! Our overnight stay at Darcha was a good time for all and Lama correctly termed it as a "small picnic"! We had a chilling river behind the dhaba providing a constant gurgle and which also served as an "anywhere" toilet!!! Aptly termed by Lama as "Jangal mein mangal"!!!!

We packed off for the night at around 23.00 hrs, cell phones being put on a recurring alarm at 06.00 hrs!!

"The Trail" : Day 2

Anandpur Sahib to Manali 10.09.07

06.00 hrs and we were jerked off our sleep by the sony ericssons and nokias screaming their pre set alarms. With little time left for lazing around, we got off to getting fresh, packing off again, preparing glucose-spiked water for our water-bottles and a having quick breakfast.

07.15 hrs and we kick-started (self-started for me!!) for Manali. A few kilometers from Kiratpur Sahib and we caught the road towards Manali. Hardly had we got onto the morning mist enshrouded Chandigarh-Manali NH, Himanshu ripped off and was nowhere to be seen. That left Kenny and me wondering where the hell Himanshu disappear into. Half an hour later, we found a "cool" Himanshu standing by the roadside, bike on stand and patiently waiting for us! It was then we realised that Himanshu was truly at home on the mountain roads, and the trend continued for the rest of the trip!

We were warned about the busy road ahead, traffic being constituted mainly of trucks and dumpsters heading to and from the ACC cement factory at Bilaspur. And boy, did we encounter trucks! Sometimes we had to crawl behind trucks for half and hour for need of passing space on the roads. Nevertheless,we managed to reach Bilaspur at around a respectable 09.30 hrs and we had our breakfast at one Hotel Neelam Bar and Restaurant! Breakfast was paranthas and eggs and coffee for liquids!

Post Bilaspur, the road was ripping free, save for the numerous blind turns. We paced on our bikes on the butter-smooth roads, through the towns of Sundernagar, through hydel projects and through one 3km long tunnel, which had more than 2 turns! That was one heck of a ride- one moment we were riding in the glaring sun, the other moment we were inside a cool, damp, dark tunnel. We were immediately blined by our shades and it took us quite some time to adjust to the darkness. The rode through that headlights on , blinkers flashing and the occasional beeps of the horn. After almost 10 minutes of riding in the dark,light at the end of the tunnel was a sight to see. It is worth mentioning that this stretch was particularly scenic and a bit dangerous too- the roads are really runway class and very very high. The steep drop on the side of the road ended in the raging Beas below!

The ride next was just as paced and we made it to Kullu just in time for lunch. A few quick searches in the town yielded no restaurants and we moved somewhat outside the town. A few kilometers towards Manali, we came across a nice restaurant by the river Beas. A lazy lunch, the pleasantly warm sun and the cool riverside was all we needed for a break.

We started off for Manali at around 16.00 hrs and made it to the popular hill station at precisely 17.00 hrs. We found the off-season rates of the hotels quite inviting and checked into decent hotel near Mall Road. But we found out that it had rained in the morning and there was fresh snow to be seen on the mountain tops. We hoped that it wouldnt snow heavily the next day.

The tripmeter on my bike read 606.3 km. That was what we had clocked in 2 days. We were too lazy to go out and try the restaurants outside and we had our dinner delivered in our room.

By the time we prepared to sleep off, it was 23.00 hrs and alarms were set for 06.00 hrs again!

"The Trail" : Day 1

Delhi/Gurgaon to Anandpur Sahib 09.09.07

The alarm woke us up at sharp 06.00 hrs, and very very very relunctantly (it was a sunday morning after all) we all got up and got about mounting the saddle bags onto the bikes - on my Pulsar 200, on Himanshu's Pulsar 150 and on Kenny's Bullet Electra. By the time we finally managed to get the saddle bags, sleeping bags and mats tied onto the bikes, it was 09.20 hrs.

A quick visit to the local mechanic to change our engine oils, and we were flagged off by Kenny's roomie. It took us a hour and a half to squirm out of the intense Delhi traffic, even on a sunday, and catch NH 1. The highway allowed us to revv our bikes at last and provided us the much needed relief to be constantly looking into the rear view mirrors.

We halted at Murthal at around 11.30 hrs for our breakfast- sumptous paranthas with homemade butter, pickles and yoghurt. A quick glass of lassi and we were back on the road. The next stop at 17.00 hrs was Chandigarh where we filled up our tanks and had some quick bites for lunch. We proceeded towards Kiratpur and Anandpur Sahib for our first pit stop. It was getting dark and the road was a nightmare-potholes appeared out of nowhere and trucks were showering us with meteorite dust storms. Finally ,at around 20.00 hrs, we logged into a hotel at Anandpur Sahib, our clothes, bikes, visors -all a shade of dust brown.

A cool shower later, we were laden off the kilos of dust on us and dipped our clothes into a detergent wash for a quick clean. Pre dinner, Kenny and I walked out in search of our "holy grail"- the watering hole! But being a holy city, Anandpur Sahib offered no respite- the nearest "theka" was a good 4 km away. We walked back into the hotel to just settle for dinner and log off. Sleep came the moment we hit the sack.

"The Trail" : Day -15 to Day 0

Preps for the D-Day

It had all started with a phone call from Himanshu in Jodhpur about a getaway from the mundane office grind.I, for one thing, wasnt too sure on the prospect, but then Leh seemed too tempting...and that too on a bike expedition. There was no looking back after that. It was all "bike trip to Leh-Ladakh" et all on google for whatever info we could lay our hands on. Invites were mailed to "potent mavericks", but seemed only 3 of us were sure shot on the trip: kenny, himanshu and yours truly. D -day was set for 3rd of September.Tents, backpacks, sleeping bags were booked; bikes duly serviced;kith and kin informed; supplies bought; medicines procured and leave applications forwarded to respective bosses!

Come August 28th, and Himanshu meekly informed us about a big honcho's visit to his office on September 6th or something like that and it was tough for him to get out of it. We all decided to postpone the D-day to September 9th, a week later.Well, it also made me complete my jobs at a comfortable pace and I was on my way to Delhi on 8th September.Himanshu had already landed in Delhi from Jodhpur and had collected his bike from the Railways parcel office. The whole day had been one hectic day, with collecting all the camping equipment, getting hold of plastic jerry cans for fuel, then making a dash to Nehru Place to get one more memory card for my digicam (thank god for that!) and then a sprint to my bike dealer to collect my bike's RC (yes, my bike is just 3 1/2 months old). It was 21.00 hrs by the time we got done with it. There was another friend of us waiting at Gurgaon to throw us a party for his brand new car, and he was getting impatient at our delay!! (god bless such noble souls!!).

It was party time then..(KRECians/NITKians have this generic trait- ANYTIME could be party time!).It was well past midnight when the beers (ahem!) finally got over, and we still had to pack our stuffs into our backpacks, and mounting the saddle bags onto our bikes. When it was 02.00hrs, we took a look at one another and somebody popped the question whether we would be able to start early morning. But a resolve is a resolve- we packed our backpacks in 20 mins flat, then made a detergent slush and we were onto cleaning the jerry cans/lube oil cans inside out. Sincere apologies to Kenny's landlady for dumping industrial effluents down the drainage pipe!

We were pooped after all the work and it was 03.30 hrs when we finally plonked onto our mattresses. Alarm was for 06.00 hrs!