"The Trail" : Day 6

Leh to Khardung-La and back

After some walking down the streets of Leh the previous eve, and dinner at the hotel, we decided to apply for administrative pass for Khadung-la and Pangong Lake first thing early morning. We did so the next morning and were told that the passes would be available around 11.00 hrs.

We decided to kill time by spending some more time in the local markets and I suggested we try some genuine ladakhi cuisine for breakfast. We went to one restaurant run by ALUYA (All Ladakh Unemployed Youth Association) which was bang in the middle of the town. Himanshu tried one " Thenthuk" and Kenny and I went for a "Skyue", while Amol and Sanjay decided on something more mundane- bujia. Breakfast turned out to be more of brunch when we found out the servings were huge!They should've clubbed those items under "main course" instead of putting them under "breakfast"!!

The hotel attendant came looking for us at ALUYA(since he was the one who suggested us the restaurant for some local cuisine) and informed us that the passes were ready and also suggested that we leave early. We rushed through our brunch and headed back to our hotel. After preparing ourselves well (we had put on thermal inners, shirts, sweaters, jackets and then a windcheater on top of all that), we got onto our bikes and headed for Khardung-la : level 5 AND the highest motorable road in the WORLD!!

We were beginning to feel at home in the twisty and high mountain roads till the previous day, but the road to Khardung-la was an altogether different journey. The road was smooth and metalled in the beginning, but the metal patches started disappearing after we reached a certain level. The heights were dizzying and the road narrow, the climb torturous and the winds chilling. Nevertheless we were content with the fact that we were riding on one of the toughest roads of the world!!

At 15.30 hours, we made it!!!! We had reached Khardung-la, at an altitude of 18380 ft!!! The feeling was unbelievable, we had scaled the highest motorable road in the world!!!So far we were looking up at the majestic mountains and now we were overlooking all the adjacent mountain tops....

We had a small victory toast( Yes, the "old monk" was still with us!!!) and congratulated ourselves. I felt like I had something worthwhile in my life. I hadnt scaled Mt. Everest, but I had done something my calibre allowed me to. Pushing ourselves and our bikes to the extreme limits on that road is a feeling I'll harbour for quite some time to come....

Himanshu said he felt a little sad cause the toughest was over!! Little did we know that the hardest adventure was to beckon us the very next day!!!

After hanging around for some time and taking a few shots, we decided to head back to Leh. There was this Ladakh Festival going on and a cultural music show was scheduled at 18.00 hrs. We started our bikes again at 16.00 hrs and started downhill. We reached the familiar roads of Leh at 17.30 hrs and freshened up at the hotel. A quick snack at a north Indian fast food corner later, we headed towards the Polo grounds for the music festival. An hour later, we were back to our hotel for a victory celebration!

We made plans for getting up early next morning for our visit to the fabled Pangong tso- a high-altitude lake that was shared by India and China.

At the end of the 6th day , my tripmeter read 1167 km, and we slept off at 23.00 hrs in anticipation for the next day's trip.