Parma to Leh : 16.09.07
Not wanting to lose time on our onward journey t
o Leh, we woke up rela
tively early at 06.00 hrs on the freezing morning of 16.09.07. After a quick "chai" from our hospitable Army hosts, we kickstarted at 07.00 hrs from Parma, bidding goodbyes to our saviours and passing on phone numbers. A ride across incredibly beautiful country scapes and "Scottish" farm lands , myriad of small lakes and rivulets, small and quaint villages took us to our vantage point - Tang Tse. This was where the road forked to Pangong Tso and Chushul. We had taken a roundabout of the complete road and reached the place where the road united and led to Leh. We could see 2 rivers culminating into one at Tang Tse and the river from Pangong Tso was murky and muddy, which was how the people at Tang Tse knew that the bridge had been washed away again.
o Leh, we woke up rela
tively early at 06.00 hrs on the freezing morning of 16.09.07. After a quick "chai" from our hospitable Army hosts, we kickstarted at 07.00 hrs from Parma, bidding goodbyes to our saviours and passing on phone numbers. A ride across incredibly beautiful country scapes and "Scottish" farm lands , myriad of small lakes and rivulets, small and quaint villages took us to our vantage point - Tang Tse. This was where the road forked to Pangong Tso and Chushul. We had taken a roundabout of the complete road and reached the place where the road united and led to Leh. We could see 2 rivers culminating into one at Tang Tse and the river from Pangong Tso was murky and muddy, which was how the people at Tang Tse knew that the bridge had been washed away again.
After catching the main road to Leh, we made good time, crossing the familiar Chang La and making it to Leh at 13.00 hrs. We had lunch at a Punjabi dhaba the sign board of which read "Sher - A Punjabi Dhaba"!!
Before w
e entered the town limits, we paid a visit to one of the largest m
onasteries in Leh - Thiksey monastery and spent some half and hour there before we proceeded towards Leh.
e entered the town limits, we paid a visit to one of the largest m
onasteries in Leh - Thiksey monastery and spent some half and hour there before we proceeded towards Leh.The total distance we covered from Leh to Pangong Tso to Chushul to Tang Tse to Leh was 422 km and my odo read 1604 km at the hotel. We were famished and after a shower, we hit the mattresses and sleep came in 3 minutes flat!! Himanshu was fast asleep in no time and that left Kenny and I to figure out what to do for the evening. We decided that after an hour's sleep, we could go for a drive on the Leh - Srinagar highway and see "magnetic hill", a hill that suppsedly defined gravity.
At 16.30 hr
s, we embarked on the ride towards yet another directio
n- towards Srinagar. Himamshu was too tired to ride his bike, opting to hitch a ride on Kenny's Bullet instead. The road was amazingly good and soon we came across a Gurudwara - Pathar Sahib Gurudwara. We went in and offered prayers and resumed our ride towards magnetic hill. When we came to it, there was a big board with instructions where to place our vehicle and observe defiance of gravity!! However, what awaited us was a big "kela" as my bike refused to budge and inched downhill. A gentleman in a Qualis insisted that it was indeed uphill and Himanshu was adamant that it wasnt. He suggested using a spirit level to determine who stood corrected. Just then a truck came along and he parked his truck at the spot painted on the road and then proceeded to make complete fools of us and our coveted "Engineering" degrees!!! He just took out his water flask and poured some of its contents on the road!!! Well, Himanshu was right, but we felt we had graduated by sheer fluke!!
s, we embarked on the ride towards yet another directio
n- towards Srinagar. Himamshu was too tired to ride his bike, opting to hitch a ride on Kenny's Bullet instead. The road was amazingly good and soon we came across a Gurudwara - Pathar Sahib Gurudwara. We went in and offered prayers and resumed our ride towards magnetic hill. When we came to it, there was a big board with instructions where to place our vehicle and observe defiance of gravity!! However, what awaited us was a big "kela" as my bike refused to budge and inched downhill. A gentleman in a Qualis insisted that it was indeed uphill and Himanshu was adamant that it wasnt. He suggested using a spirit level to determine who stood corrected. Just then a truck came along and he parked his truck at the spot painted on the road and then proceeded to make complete fools of us and our coveted "Engineering" degrees!!! He just took out his water flask and poured some of its contents on the road!!! Well, Himanshu was right, but we felt we had graduated by sheer fluke!!We returned soon afterwards and spent some more time in the hotel. We decided to go to an authentic Tibetan restaurant for dinner this time and proceeded towards one "Tibetan Restaurant" kitchen, where I ordered traditional cuisine and the guys went for a butter chicken. We had one thing in common though - 2 glasses of Kingfisher Premium Lager!!! We toasted to our successful ride so far and somehow, the mood turned melancholy-mellow as we realised it was last night in Leh. We took a longer walk to the hotel through the streets, looking for souvenirs and I getting a prayer wheel and a couple of lampshades, and making it to the hotel at around 22.00 hrs.
We had to get our bikes serviced in the morning and pack for our journey back home; So we decided to sleep off then and so we did. None of us were in the upbeat mood that prevailed on all the days before and I couldnt help but feel somewhat sad somewhere inside of me that we were leaving this place, a place that was heaven for us for all these days.
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