Out Of The Wild

Day 14 : Trip 1880 km

Panipat - Delhi ; 19.09.08

Nobody woke up early this day, tired as we were from the hard ride the previous day. Even Gyan got up at 1000 hrs thereby dashing any hopes of making it to his office on time. Shrugging mildly, he just took another day off. The rest also got up fashionably late at 1130 hrs. I and Gyan went downstairs to check on my bike, and there I found that my rear tyre was acting up again. It was bizarre , we just couldn't pinpoint the source of leak. Gyan had already given his bike to the local mechanic for repairs and I told him I also had to get my chain checked and get the tyre fixed for good. So I submitted my bike too for the repairs and also for a wash. The wash created some problems with the starting as water had seeped into the CDI and my bike's rear tyre was running totally flat now. We somehow made it to Gyan's garage and the mechanic located and repaired the tiny puncture.

At around 1700 hrs we were all set to leave for Delhi but the weather had been damp the whole day and barely had we refilled at the COCO petrol pump, it started raining cats and dogs. It was as if the heavens were waiting for us to come out with our bikes and then turn on the tap! No use waiting for the rain to subside , we thought , and thundered along the highway to Delhi making brisk pace till Murthal, where we stopped at Kenny's favourite No 1 Ahuja dhaba for some paranthas and dal. It was already 1900 hrs when we arrived there, the 50 km ride taking double the time as a ride in the sun. It was a boring ride to Delhi, made much more unbearable by the rain and the inevitable humongous traffic from the border on. Our ride had turned into a crawl, us trying to move on with whatever path we could find between the heavy trucks and cars.

Just as we entered Delhi, near Majnu-ka-Tilla, the rains suddenly got worse and we were pelted with huge drops of water that came down on us at terminal velocity. Initially we had planned to hold a post-trip party on this day itself, but it was plain that we could not do it today. So Gyan moved on to Malviya Nagar, I and Jill to Lajpat Nagar, Anshu and Kenny to their respective homes after dropping the carabin rentals at South Ext. We all made a plan to meet at Anshu's place the next day for the celebrations of a trip well traversed. It was exactly 2200 hrs when we entered Jill's place, exactly 14 days after we flagged off from that place itself. Our bikes bore the signs of a hard trip - one of the LED rows of my tail lamps went kaput, while my front shockers have started emitting a constant squeak. But never a let down, even from my rear tyre. And like Kenny has rightly said, it was a complete experience : Sunshine, wind, rain , snow. Highways, state roads, no roads. Camp-outs, budget hotels, luxury hotels.

We have already started discussing our winter trip of the Indian west coast, and hope that similar comrades will be part of it -comrades who have stuck thick and thin throughout. Of course, outcasts like Nawab are declared impotent and disgraceful for bike rides EVER!!

more pics of the trip at:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/nilu.hazarika/SprightlySpiti

and

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/viks2mots/BOPEnduroMotoToLahulSpitiAndZanskar

Read another version of the trip at:

http://butcheredsoul.blogspot.com/2008/09/spiti-september.html

Out Of The Wild

Day 13 : Trip 1745 km

Shimla - Narkanda -Dharampur - Panipat

As decided last evening, we all had one healthy breakfast at the hotel, tipped the helpful waiter and got invites to the hotel again for the snow season. Jill was reeling under a hangover and he promptly went back to sleep after his breakfast. We all waited for the laundry to arrive since it was only then that we'd be able to pack up. The laundry arrived at 1130 hrs and we promptly packed up. Jill also got up groggily and set up his bike. When it was time to move downstairs, I found my rear tyre was flat - again. It was acting up again. I immediately set up the foot pump and inflated the tyre to 30 psi and I thought I would have to keep on checking the tyre pressure and regularly inflate the tyre. But thankfully and surprisingly I didn't have to. The tyre retained its pressure throughout the ride till Panipat. Strange, very strange. At the hotel parking lot, this kid comes with his grandad towards our bikes and starts admiring us. The kid's grandad was impressed when we told him of our trip itinerary and after a few minutes of conversation they bade goodbye to us. Even the hotel receptionist appreciated our zest for bike rides and told us that it really takes something out of the ordinary to be able to tolerate such long and hard rides.

1230 hrs and we were all set to leave the hotel . Anshu took his own sweet time getting his Electra started and it was only after he got it started that it was green signal for us to go, as it was for the entire trip! It started drizzling some half an hour later, barely out of Shimla. It was tolerable for a while, but then the rain got wilder and we had to stop and get our rain suits out. It remained that way throughout the trip. We passed the familiar Narkanda chowk ( we had been there earlier on our Chail trip) and ripped on the now better highway. But the rains after that made us slow down and the traffic started getting worse. One particular white sonata embera was being driven rash and posed a hazard to the riders until we let it pass by, and even then it narrowly missed getting hit head-on by a jeep from the opposite direction. Morons! When will people learn to drive sensibly on wet roads and that too in the hills?

Somehow, inexplicably, no one's rain suit was working perfectly and all of us were getting drenched. I was particularly wet to the skin. We had intended to stop at Dharampur for lunch at the same place we had breakfast in our Chail trip. By the time we reached the place at 1600 hrs, the rains were showing no signs of abating. I was thinking that once we moved out from the heights of Shimla and adjacent hills, the rains would stop. But there was to be none of that. While we tried to dry our wet clothes as much as possible, Jill,I and Vikram made some buys of pickles, jam and wine. Somehow, we managed to cram all that into our already overstuffed bags and rucksacks. I was particularly concerned about the wine bottles in my tight backpack but fortunately they made it all the way to my place safe and sound.

I had wanted one particular shot of us with the "trip" tshirts and finally it got realised at the restaurant at Dharampur. Everyone ordered paranthas while I settled for some fried rice. Anshu tried some exotic sounding lemon chicken, which turned out to be actually nice. The rains lashing outside didn't seem like stopping and we decided that we'd better ride in the rains itself, or else we'd be quite late reaching Panipat. So we rode out in the rains again for what seemed on long long ride, made all the more difficult by the relentless shower. It seemed the heavens were really pouring down on us.

Town after town we moved on, covered distances , traffic jams, wild and mad drivers at Zirakpur and fast cars and buses on NH1, but still the rains showed no signs of slowing down. It was a wet wet wet ride alright. We covered the distances in a line, Kenny up front and the rest following him like kids following a dad, all the while drawing attention from passing cars, trucks and buses alike. Fortunately none of us had any issues with our faithful bikes and my rear tyre was also running ok. We stopped somewhere near Ambala for a hot cup of tea when it got just too tiring to ride on in the rain.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived at the "pepsi pool", a turn from the NH1 towards the Panipat refinery township. Vikram wanted to carry on and make it to Gurgaon the same night itself. Inspite of trying to deter him at our tea break itself, the big man wouldn't budge and he roared on NH1 towards Delhi, only after making him promise that he'd intimate us on reaching his home safely. We took the road leading to Gyan's place after one police patrol interrogated Gyan about our bikes, our motives, ourselves! But just 2 km before the refinery , Gyan had a blow out of his front tyre at a couple of particularly nasty bumps on the road. There was no option but to limp home and get it repaired the next morning. We arrived at Gyan's place at 2300 hrs, completely bushwhacked and tired to the bone. Anshu was so tired he was not even ready to unstrap all his luggage from his bike. With a little help from Kenny, Gyan and me, he had all his stuff inside Gyan's apartment in a while. We had been riding 11 hours straight in the rain!!

Fortunately there was a little rum from the trip and a little whisky at Gyan's place that helped us soothe aching muscles. We had some cup noodles from the trip and we used the very kerosene stove used for the campsites to boil water and make the noodles. Dinner consisted of rice and some chicken curry made from the ready-to-eat packs we had taken for the camping sites. Whisky/rum accompaniment was the pickle I had picked up from Dharampur. People were relatively quick to have their dinner and I didn't wait for anyone to go to Gyan's bedroom and snuggle into a much needed sleep. Gyan had his office next morning and he had dozed off right where we were having the whisky/rum.

Out Of The Wild

Day 12 : Trip 1474 km (idle)

Hotel Himland - Shimla Bus Stop -Hotel Himland ; 17.09.08

17th of September was one lazy day for the riders barring Jill who was up and ready by 1000 hrs. Jill had truly come to his territory - people, traffic, civilization. While the rest of us spent the morning lazing under the warm sheets, watching some good Dharmender-Jeetender-Raj Babbar-Danny flicks on the TV, Jill was impatiently trying to rejuvenate us into going out and explore Shimla. Sadly no one shared his enthu and we all laid back in our warm beds. Anshu, Kenny and Vikram in fact fell into deep slumber after their breakfast!! Jill was frustrated as hell , and he went out alone for a while, returning clean shaven and with a pack of masala peanuts after a while. He finished the remainder of the RS leftover from the last evening. I took a hot bath and was in the mood for the movie "Rock On". We enquired at the hotel reception about the cinemas and timings for the movie. The nearest was Shahi cinema, and we were told that the show timings for the movie were 1400 hrs, 1700 hrs, 1900 hrs and 2210 hrs. It was too late to catch the 1400 hrs show and so Jill and I decided we'd go for the 1700 hrs show. Not everyone wanted to see the movie, but I was determined to see it - there was nothing much to do in the hotel room and I didn't want to roam the crowded streets of Shimla.

Just before leaving we asked Anshu if he wanted to come for the movie. He replied he did and got ready in a jiffy and we moved downstairs. By that time I had taken the second suite booked by me and the hotel receptionist wanted me to sign the ledger pronto. I asked if that could wait cause we were getting late for the movie; He was polite enough to oblige and fetch a taxi for us. We made it just in time to the market that led to Shahi cinema. Not finding the cinema easily, we asked almost everyone on the way for the whereabouts of the cinema. Upon reaching the cinema, we found the booking stall relatively free , but the kind of people that were lining up for the tickets made me wonder if they were really going for "Rock On". It was only then we realised that "Rock On" was on 1400 hrs,1900 hrs and 2100 hrs - the 1700 hrs slot was for a B-grade porn flick "Fashion Show" or something like that!!! Sheeessshhh!!! We all looked at each other's faces and now we realised how all the people we asked about the movie hall must have thought we were some perverts!!!

We hurried away from the place and started looking for a place to sit and have our lunch. Not finding the typical restaurants that jotted the place near our hotel, we sat in a dhaba - Milap Dhaba, and ordered rice, chicken fry and dal. It was already 1730 hrs, and we had another 90 minutes to pass before the next "correct" movie started. We had one slow lunch, moved out to another dhaba for tea and finally it was 1830 hrs. We climbed again to the movie hall and took the most expensive tickets - 75 bucks for the balcony. The cinema was quite decent, probably recently renovated with plush seats and looked more like a multiplex theater. The screen was modern too - the movie was a digital print, the one that you download the movie via satellite up link into Hard Disks and then use a digital projector. Nice movie and we had the entire hall almost to ourselves - there were barely 15 people in total.

After the movie got over at 2130 hours, we picked up a bottle of Old Monk and a coke and set off for the hotel walking. Yep, walking. The taxis were quoting 80 bucks for a measly 1.5 km, so we decided to take a hike, which wasn't bad at all. We could appreciate the lights that seemed to sprout from every square inch of the hills. After a brisk walk, we arrived at the hotel and while I kept the receptionist busy with signing the ledgers and all, Anshu and Jill snuck in the bottle of rum and coke and the mehfil was set at the new suite. I suddenly didn't feel like taking any hard alcohol at all and made do with just one glass of light beer that Kenny, Gyan and Vikram had bought into the hotel. The hotel waiter, the one who had got us the RS bottle last eve, very very considerately exchanged their now-warm beer bottles with chilled ones from the bar!! How very thoughtful of him!

This time however we were wiser not to order too much food as there were plenty of leftovers of the extremely good food from last dinner. Everyone decided that they had enough of Shimla and it would be best if we left the next day for Panipat. Don't know whether it was the place or the ambience, but Jill went on an overdrive with the rum. The alcohol flowed like water down his throat until he was bamboozled to his nuts!!

I retired to the other room, but I could still hear Jill's laugh from one suite across!! And also some heavy wall/door banging that must have woken up entire Shimla!! After a while, I could sense someone climbing onto the bed and sleeping beside me. Judging from the lack of sounds I thought it was Anshu, but a little later a regularly irregular, off-scale, annoying snoring confirmed my fears that it was Gyan. I automatically reached out for my earphones, put on a playlist and tried to drift off to sleep!

Into The Wild and Out of it

Day 11 : Trip 1474 km

Sangla - Wangtoo - Bhavanagar - Rampur - Shimla

0600 hrs on this day and I could hear Gyan stirring and getting up for his visit to Chitkul. Kenny also came into the room and tried waking Anshu - the late sleeper, but to no avail. I wanted to get up and go with the guys, probably on the pillion. The moment I got up , I just plonked back to the bed, my body weak from the fever. I decided to call it off and take rest instead.

The next time I woke up was at 1000 hrs when I heard Kenny and Gyan's bikes outside. They had returned from their trip to Chitkul and they had lots to tell. Seems they went to the place where the road actually ends, and also to the supposedly "last dhaba in India". I was still groggy from my fever but managed to get up since I had to get my tyre checked. I asked Gyan to set up the foot pump near my bike and that I'd take a look myself after inflating it a bit. After pumping the foot pump a bit ( the pump also needed some minor repairs and a nearby taxi driver offered a valuable nut) I could make out that air was leaking from a previous puncture. Damn! All this while through the torturous roads in Spiti didn't wreak havoc on the puncture, now the good tarmac screwed it up!! The tubeless puncture expert Jill came to the rescue and after a failed attempt, the puncture was repaired and my bike was all set for the road run to Shimla.

Jawed wanted to have breakfast in the same Sonam Tibetan Cafe to have one last glimpse of the lady there, one who went by the name of Pooja!! But from the last evening's episode, I said that breakfast there would take a hell lot of time and that we should move ahead and hope for some dhaba not too far ahead. By 1145 hrs we were all set, paid up the hotel and set off from Hotel Monal Regency. I needed to check on my tyre pressure and came across the solitary tyre repair man 3 km down the road. The tyre was ok, no leaks , and we moved on. Soon we came across the familiar JayPee-has-f***ed-up-the-valley territory and for a good 3 hours it was a ride through dust storms, cement splashes, dumpers galore and thundering generators. Hungry we were but we couldn't find a decent place to sit because of all the dust flying around and so we rode on and on trying to get out of the construction area. Oh! I forgot to add in the previous posts that most of the roads from Kazaa had this phenomenon called shooting stones , where loose rocks would come flying from the mountain tops and posed a hazard on the motorists below. We were on the constant lookout for these stones and there were a couple of times that we had to stop on the road when the high winds brought rocks tumbling down. Jill had a small rock smash against his saddle bags - luckily the rock missed his bike or else he would have vented his ire on the poor mountain!!

The ride seemed endless and the dusty construction roads never seemed to end. Screw JayPee!! Finally the roads cleared up and we came across Bhavanagar where we stopped for lunch. It was 1315 hrs and we were all hungry, plus I couldn't take a paracetamol on an empty stomach. We went into a dhaba by the roadside, actually a little higher up than the road, and ordered the usual combo of rice-dal-sabzi. There was a surprise in store for us there - the walls of the dhaba were splashed with posters of Kurt Cobain, Avril Lavigne and some other female singers I don't know about - a proper Hard Rock Cafe in the wild! The meal here was the cheapest we've had in the entire trip - a very very economical 125 bucks for the five of us (Vikram didn't have anything, he was still having an upset stomach). Finally I could take a tab of paracetamol.

After the lunch and a cigarette break, we decided to hit the road in the hope of making it to Shimla by 2000 hrs. The roads were rip-ready and the bull inside Kenny and Anshu woke up. The heavily laden bullets were doing 70 km + on the straight runs!! Anshu was like on shilajit!! I managed to tread behind Anshu. Somehow through the entire trip it became a norm for someone to tag behind Anshu and I wasn't feeling particularly confident today on the bike because of the fever - so I followed Anshu on his bike. I had even told the guys that I might take a fall at some turn and that they should be ready to pick me up cause I wouldn't have the strength to pick up myself. Fortunately, I didn't fall and my bike was spared the bruises and scratches of a hard fall.

I was beginning to feel a little better after a while and the roads were inviting. I couldn't hold it anymore. I honked at Anshu, revved up my engine, downshifted and gunned ahead of Anshu and ahead of the pack. Did some pretty wild banks and at one point sparks flew off my undercarriage as my stand scraped the tarmac while I banked hard on that turn. Gyan didn't believe me, but the fact was corroborated by Jill who was right behind me. At one point the road was barricaded on the cliff side by tin roof sheets for some shielding from electrical power plants and it looked just like a racing circuit!! I revved on and on and my digi speedo registered 85 kmph at one stretch and again at a bank, my stand scraped the road. It was only when my stand scraped the road twice I finally came to my senses and calmed the Rossi inside me! Doing those kinda speeds at those bends could mean murder - my own!!

We stopped at a small town Jhakri some 10 km before Rampur for some tea It was here that I reminded Gyan he should reiterate his booking at our Shimla Holiday Home since we were reporting a day late, which he complied to. A small snack later we moved on hoping that the roads didn't turn bad further up. It didn't , for a while. Just as it was getting dark, the roads began to ascend, the air got colder - chilly in fact, the roads started getting pockmarked with potholes and the climb started getting harder. Our bikes started losing steam and I couldn't shift upwards of the 3rd gear. Other fellow riders didn't fare any better , but Anshu surprisingly registered 5th cogs in stretches. He definitely was on some shilajit from some clandestine-meeting-cum-shilajit-deal !!! The roads turned for worse , everyone was losing patience since it was so close to Shimla and yet it looked so far now. The roads looked almost nightmarish in the glare of our headlamps. After some impatient riding and some very very dirty stretches that were on every one's nerves, we decided to number ourselves and ride in a tight pack - no overtaking and all. We did ride throughout that way - the last 50 km to Shimla - the roads sometimes good, sometimes just plain dirty, but the air was consistently cold. Finally we entered Chhota Shimla. When I conversed in Assamese with Gyan and Jill, some nearby localites thought we were foreigners on a bike tour and they politely showed us the way to Shimla in a polished, trying-to-be-foreign sounding accent!! I replied in an equally accentuated "Thank you" and led the pack - right onto a snarling traffic jam. Come Shimla and we were greeted with the infamous Shimla traffic jams which saw us take a good hour to cover a measly 6 km to our holiday home Hotel Himland West. The day's booking was on Gyan's name and he checked us in to the comfy suite of the hotel at 2140 hrs. My booking was starting from the next day. The friendly waiter promptly came to our service and got us a bottle of our beloved RS. I was quick to order 2 full tandoori chicken and french fries judging by the fact that we were famished and needed to bite on something meaty soon.

People got fresh soon in the centralised hot water in the bathrooms and we settled down for the regular evening shots. I hadn't been taking in any alcohol in the past two days and today I thought I had mustered enough thirst to take in some gulps. The food came and everyone literally jumped at the chicken, drinks were left untouched. I found it hard to consume even the first peg and I drew a line at that stopping myself to force another peg down my throat. Dinner was ordered since the kitchen would be closing soon. Hot mutton biryani and mutton roghan gosh came up and while people were at their whisky glasses and cable tv, I turned my attention to the food and finished my dinner.I still hadn't recuperated completely from my fever yet and so I didn't linger on much, went to the other room, got under the sheets, popped in a paracetamol and slept off.

Into The Wild and Somewhat Out of it

Day 10 : Trip 1250 km

Reckong Peo-Kalpa-Sangla

10 AM at Hotel fairyland and most of us were up and ready for the day's ride to Sangla. Tea was ordered for us all and this gave us some time to chat with Josh and his girlfriend. We exchanged info about the routes and the bike circuits. By noon we were all set and bade goodbye and good luck to the American pair. We hadn't had lunch and decided we'd have it in Kalpa itself. We had a lot of good things about Kalpa from Josh and didn't want to miss the place. After all, it was just a 12 km ride. We rode on and after some kilometers , we found hordes of hotels at spectacular locations. We hadn't climbed this far the night we were looking for hotels at Reckong Peo, and Jill and I felt dejected that we had missed out on some great places to stay. The moment we entered Kalpa limits, the roads were coloured with green pines and the air carried the fresh pine aroma all around. A little higher and it was all apple and apricots!! That place is sheer heaven, and I am not exaggerating at all. The Kinner Kailash range is visible in all its glory and it being a clear sky, we could make out the "shiv ling" at the peak - a white thumb like structure, solitary and awe inspiring.

Kalpa is absolute honeymoon country. I would suggest all newly weds to visit this place and stay at the Hotel Kinner of the Himachal Pradesh Tourist Development Corp. That hotel is a wonderful place and the rates are amazing - Rs 1100 for a cottage!!! The moment we entered the hotel, it offered us some amazing views of the Kinner Kailash, and the hotel staff were only eager to show us around. The hotel had a wide patio where one could sit for hours and hours and just rake it in. We had some splendid snaps taken, our "NatGeo" photographer Anshu making the most of it all. We ordered some simple food over there and after a while the waiter announced that lunch was served and boy,what a restaurant!!! It was on the first floor, wooden , warm and glass windows all around you that offered fantastic views of the valley and the mountains. And what a lunch!!! Absolutely ravishing!! We all hogged and hogged!! The bill came to 900 bucks, but didn't mind one bit. First , the restaurant was an absolute stunner and second, the food was awesome!! This place is definitely A one stuff. On a more serious note, off the track, there's just so much to see in India, I really wonder why people spend mega bucks on a honeymoon abroad. I don't say its not worth it, but try exploring your own country first - it wont disappoint you one bit.

A solid lunch later, we got onto our bikes again and started off with our ride towards Sangla. The ride took us through the valleys of Kinner Kailash , always attracting the attention of the local people there. The ride was not much to write home about, except for the fact that there were some huge Hydel projects of JayPee group going on at full swing, and to our utter dismay, they had just screwed the roads there. Gone were the lulling roads, gone were the greens. All we came across were mud, slush, cement slush, dust, grime, oil slicks, stones and clouds of heavy particulate matter. It was just too sad to observe all this. We all thought that in a few years' time JayPee was gonna turn all the greens into a dull shade of grey. "How green was my valley" is all we can mutter in a couple of years' time.

We reached quite early, on the other side of the Kinner Kailash. It was awesome; Just a few hours back we were looking at the range and the shivling from Kalpa, and now we were like behind the same mountains. It was probably the first time in the entire trip that we checked into a hotel before the sunset. There was still time for dusk and we decided to dump our stuff in the hotel rooms and go do some local sightseeing. We stayed at one Monal Regency hotel, which was quite comfy and our room even had a waterfall as wallpaper!! After gathering some info from the hotel staff, we hopped onto our bikes, Jill did a pillion with Kenny, and moved towards the village. I was feeling particularly confident in just a wind sheeter and a pair of floaters. Fool I was, cause in the evening I came down with a fever!! But anyway, we moved through the village, towards the Sangla waterfall we had heard of, only to find a dried up stream there. Perhaps it wasn't the season then. But we did find an open space sort of thing at a cliff and went over there to have a view of the valley below. Shots were clicked and people just hung around . It was a good time there at the point overlooking the valley.

When it was turning dark, we decided we'd get back to the village for some snacks. It was at that point that I discovered that I was running flat tyre in the rear! Thank God it was a tubeless trye or else I wouldn't have made it back to the village. We tried checking the tyre for some nails or something like that but we found none. Puzzled I was as to how the tyre was losing air. If it was the bleed valve then I was a goner, there could not have been any shop there that would be dealing with tubeless tyres. But anyway I limped backed to the village and we sat inside one Sonam Tibetan Cafe for some momos. The lady had told us that the chicken momos would take some time , so we settled for the mutton momos and just sat on the balcony sort of things and watched the market below. Jill was particularly interested in one girl that came into the cafe once and roamed around in the small market place with her friend and indeed she was playing a cat and mouse game with Jill. We all egged Jill to go and make a move, but it was good he didn't!

The momos were taking ages, and we were thinking if this was called "in less time" what would have chicken momos taken! Finally, the momo soup arrived and we all slurped in the soup from our bowls. Then came the momos, finally, steaming hot and relishing. We hungrily ate into the momos, which were quite filling. It was almost 19 hrs, and I was done with dinner- the momos were filling enough! After that we returned to our hotel and I ran up a temperature, probably due to cold I had caught with my "daring" attire for the evening. I told the guys I'd check up on the tyre in the morning and that I was gonna take a paracetamol and try to sleep.

Before I slept, the guys made a plan in Anshu's room. Chitkul was some 20 km away and it was the last place on the road there and Kenny, Gyan an Anshu wanted to see it. So it was decided that whoever wanted to visit Chitkul would get up at 0600 hrs and make a trip there and return by 1100 hrs to the hotel and then move on with the rest of the guys forward. Gyan and Kenny wanted my opinion, but I felt too weak to get up and said I was ok with the plan and I dozed off, leaving the guys to spend the evening together in Anshu's room.

Into The Wild

Day 9: Trip 1192 km

Nako-Pooh-Reckong Peo ; 14.09.08

Late evenings had always translated to late starts throughout our trip. And today wasnt going to be any exception. Not that anyone was complaining!! But we did lose daytime on our journeys and entered most villages by dusk. The last evening was another evening of laughter, rum shots, stories, episodes, walk in the moonlit night and a somewhat disturbed sleep!! People got up relatively early, wanting to catch some views of Lake Nako, which was just 200 meters from our hotel. Lack of hot water in the hotel made us reluctant to have a shower and most settled for a good face wash followed by some bed tea. I sat down by the balcony overlooking some fields and which also gave me one great bird's eyeview of the Nako village. Kenny, Vikram wanted to visit the lake again, and I ,after getting a quick shower, got all dressed up for the day. While others were getting ready we made another trip to the lake. It was only then that we saw the inscriptions on the thousands of stone slabs that formed a kind of wall around the lake. It was just so beautiful - just so mesmerising -just like the prayers inscribed on them. I dont know what kind of patience the monks must have had while inscribing the prayers onto the rocks and thus making them kinda immortal beauties. It was like someone had transformed all those rocks to some divine art. When asked, one elderly fellow told us that these were works of some old buddhist monks who had come to the place few hundred years back. All of them were hand crafted yet calligraphically perfect, no prayer line out of alignment - one seamless, endless poem.

Kenny and I were so tempted to carry one piece each and searched for small slabs. We did find some, but somehow we thought otherwise and kept them at their rightful places. Our conscience just didnt allow us to take away one prayer from the rest and somehow it just didnt feel right to take away any of that priceless beauty. Infact, after we put the slabs back we felt at peace with ourselves. Anyway, it might have mattered differently to someone else, but for us it felt the right thing to do.

We proceeded to the lake shore, and after a long long time I could see normal aquatic life -meaning fish- in the lake. Kenny was in the mood for some "Jitender" shots, so he went about climbing about trees and all for some quite splendid shots. Not to be outdone, I also sprinted up the same tree and had some leisurely "Akshay Kumar" shots taken. Quite felt like a kid there, so much so that I picked up some flat pebbles and threw them across the lake - the way you do to create jumping stones up the surface of the water. I must say, I did quite well , Kenny being the witness!

Some kiddish snaps later, we returned to the hotel to find people gearing up their bikes. I decided to empty my jerry cans and check for the mileage now. Gyan and Kenny had taken my ass too long till now , poking every now and then about my pathetic fuel consumption figures. To prove it was the terrain and a mere fluke, I measured the petrol bottle by bottle in a 600 ml pepsi pet, and put in just around so much to bring up my mileage figures to 36.5 km/litre. I beamed, urging Gyan to check his. He was confident that it wouldnt be much different from his previous figures, but when his tank guzzled up more than 5 litres and still to go, I had the last laugh!! Now, HIS bike's figures came down below 30 km/litre!!

People were ready at last, and Anshu had also taken some shots of the lake, we paid up the hotel guy (he was quite enthusiastic about bikes, and asked a lot of questions on our bikes, bike gear and performance bikes). Some foreigners arrived at the place there and gave us approving glances, quite elevating our pride! We skipped breakfast there since it was way too late for breakfast and tad early for lunch. We decided we'd brunch somewhere on the way. We kick started/self started for our ride towards Reckong Peo at noon .

Just before Pooh we encountered a fork towards Ship Ki La, the pass that allows you to visit the Chinese border, a pass into Tibet. By this time Anshu and Vikram had moved a bit ahead of us and no matter how much we honked , they were past earshot and that left us with the four of us trying to figure out what to do. There was no milestone saying how far was Ship Ki La and we had to find that out before we could take any step. We found one himachali belle waiting for a bus/jeep just at the fork and decided to ask her on the distances. I took the honours, again beating Jill to it!! She informed me it was some 8-9 Km up, but the fool I was , I forgot to ask her about permits and all. I went back again to her (she must have thought I was trying to make a pass at her!!) and asked her about permits and all, to which she replied that she couldnt tell much about it and the best place to find out about it would be the army camp at Ship Ki La itself. Thanking her, I made my way back and passed on the info to the rest. Not wanting to forgo this chance to seeing the Chinese border from such a location, we decided to give it a go. It was a question now of who'd get Anshu and Vikram back to the fork, since it was quite some time since they haved moved ahead and there were no signs of them stopping a bit ahead. Making another poke at my improved mileage figures , the guys asked me to go ahead and get the 2 runaways. Anyway, I decided to go and fetch Anshu and Vikram, asking Kenny, Gyan and Jill not to move from that place till I got back.

I rode quite some distance, all the way up to the next inhabitated place to find Anshu taking some shots and Vikram looking for a pay phone. I asked them to keep an eye on the rear view mirror from then on and took them back to the fork. On the way, I found Jill coming towards us -minus Kenny and Gyan. Jill informed us that Ship Ki La wasnt just 8-9 km from the fork; It was some 15 km and that after getting to the army camp , we'd have to park our bikes and take a hike for God-knows-how-long to actually get to the border. Apparently Gyan and Kenny had moved on upwards, leaving the rest of us to wonder whether to follow them or was it actually worthwhile to go to Ship Ki La. I was seething - not only I had burnt precious petrol getting the guys back, now Gyan and Kenny had left us without informing. Another guy in a jeep on the way back from the heights told us that it Ship Ki La was 20km away and that roads werent meant for jeeps either - they were only the 4x4 Stallion trucks of the Indian Army. After a debate, we decided we'd try to catch Kenny and Gyan going by the mantra that we shouldnt do anything alone in these kind of terrain. But after a while Vikram found the steep climb and turns unmanageable, plus we were all burning a lot of fuel. We decided to skip it and make it to Pooh and wait for the now too-enthusiastic riders.

On the way to Pooh, we looked for a place to refill our stomachs. Came across a settlement full of Dutch people from Dehradun on their Enfields and it was at this same place that Anshu almost picked a fight with a localite regarding a bike parking issue!! I got shit scared when Vikram also got down from his bike in support of Anshu. Now, Vikram is a big guy, and when he is angry he looks intimidating! But in reality he's just a big huggable bear!!! Anyway, to cool things off I urged everyone to hop on their bikes and gun off to the next town. Anshu also had the same idea , saying that with these foreigners around we'd get no service over there. And so we moved on , waving a big " bye bye" to the supportive Dutch.

Some 5 km later, we found a cliffside dhaba, parked our bikes behind a truck and climbed up the steps to the dhaba for some hot momos and noodles and started our patient wait for Kenny and Gyan over some mountain dew and noodles. Vikram, who was having an upset stomach for a couple of days, settled for some eggs and kept watch on our bikes and on the road for the roadrunners. Sometime later Vikram announced that Kenny and Gyan were approaching and he went out on the road to stop them. Come Kenny and Gyan, a lot of "gyan giving" went into them and a fiasco ensued that I better leave out of these pages. But in the end they admitted they acted rashly, and peace prevailed - but not before making complete asses of ourselves before the local folks there!! How naive we are. Anshu suggested that we make a team leader, one who's gonna think for all, but who'll make an authorative decision everyone has to abide by. I suggested we make Anshu the leader, since I deemed him the most rational guy among us. Kenny suggested my name - but I'm chicken!!! Anyway, we'd all ask Anshu for his opinion - although he'd be happy with every decision! Awesome flexible guy he is!!

After Kenny and Gyan finished their lunch , we started for Reckong Peo. I was happy to leave the place. First the ride fiasco , then the almost-fight of Anshu with the localites - the day was going just great - great downhill. We rode relentlessly, making a short stop at a roadside temple for some prayers. I rarely go to temples, but somehow I stopped there. I went up the steps, prayed that there were no more hassles in the ride , prayed for a someone's happiness and decided we'd better get going before we lose day light again. Vikram seemed to appreciate the fact that we stopped for a prayer. Amen!

A narrow, steep and tricky climb up the hills towards Recking Peo, we could make out the city lights in the distance. Jill remarked that it might be a hill station akin to Manali. It sure looked like one from the distance. Not too long after, we entered the city streets and a most welcome sight greeted my eyes. Not the people, not the lit-up hotels, not the busy streets, not the civilization - but an SBI ATM!! We all were running out of cash and the pool had gone dry! Just in time to replenish our dwindling supply of moolah!! Pockets refuelled, Jill, Anshu and I went in search of a decent hotel with parking space. Funny it is, but the more civilised the places were, the more concerned we grew about the safe-keeping of our bikes. Out in the wild at Chhatru,Chandertaal, Kazaa and Nako , we'd just park our bikes and forget about it. Shows in a way how civilization corrupts people. This was also the first place in 5 days where we got cell connections. Our days in the wild were gone, we were now connected to the world. Immediately after switching on my cell, I received queued-up messages asking if I was al right. I was somewhat confused, until I came to know that there had been serial blasts in Delhi the previous day. I assured everyone I was ok and told them not to worry. Felt good to be receiving messages from far.

Up-hill and down-hill, side-hills and alleys later hunting for a hotel, we zeroed in on one Hotel Fairyland for 250 bucks a room. No hotel in that place offered us parking space and we had to be content with parking our bikes on the street in front of the hotel. We also found one guy from Pennsylvania, Josh who was also staying in the hotel and who had come from Shimla, intending to cover Spiti and Leh. He also had his girlfriend with him on his Enfield. We were all jealous suddenly wishing WE had girlfriends like Josh. Probably the only one unfazed by Josh was Anshu for all the reasons we were jealous of Josh.

The kitchen didnt offer us any dinner, so we went downhill on 3 bikes looking for a restaurant. Everyone seemed to be attracted to one Ridang Hotel and Restaurant. It looked clean and inviting, and once inside we enquired if the hotel had a bar. Indeed they offered one and most of it all, it was all empty!!! We all moved into the bar and looked for some change from the steady intake of rum. Anshu and I settled for some beer, while the others decided to binge on a bottle of Royal Stag. But alas, Royal Stag was out of stock and the guys had to re-order one bottle of McD No 1. The bartender was one timid fellow that reminded Kenny very much of Bassi, our college friend. What followed was a real blast at the Ridang Bar. The guys got senti and all - Kenny and Gyan making a public apology for being selfish earlier that day, and Gyan offering Jill his personal aplogies. I felt so warm inside, felt like my prayers in the roadside temple had been answered!!

The mood was so lively there, even as we seemingly harassed the poor bartender. Ofcourse, all we did was order food and booze, and we kept thanking the guy, but he looked so timid compared to us that the feeling of owning him down came to me! Now our "bhai" Vikram felt like another bottle of whisky, one on him!! He ordered another bottle and the festivites never seemed to stop!! There followed friendly fights and Vikram dropped onto the floor for which he blamed the crazy angle of the floor!! Finally , we finished our dinner, paid up and bade goodbye to the bartender, but not before Jill dropped a bombshell on the bartender. Just one line actually - "We'll be back tomorrow"!! I swear I could have seen the guy go nervous!! But I relaxed him asking him not to worry, we'll be gone the morning after!!

People seemed to be in an extra mood for partying that evening. The moment we entered the hotel, Kenny boomed aloud "Where's the bottle?" - so loud probably every single soul in the hotel must have heard it! Anshu came to our room and promptly took a seat inside the cupboard!! He was game for some more whisky too, but I and Gyan declined and decided to hit the sack. The party continued in Anshu's room till a long long time as we came to know in the morning. Like always, I fell asleep not too long after getting under the sheets, feeling warm and good inside.

Into The Wild

Day 8 : Trip 1065 km

Kazaa - Tabo - Nako ; 13.09.08

The next day saw us leaving the hotel at exactly noon. Breakfast was royal and we bade warm goodbyes to the hotel guys. The receptionist who had been looking after our great stay at Hotel Spiti at Kazaa wished us good luck on our journey ahead. People still had to fill up their petrol tanks, get tyre pressure checked, Kenny had to get his carrier fixed at a welder and some good time went into looking for Vikram who had disappeared looking for a PCO. Finally, we moved on , caught the main road towards Nako and started making good pace. The roads offered little resistance albeit some breathtaking views to slow us down. Anshu was still in search of his "Shilajit" and we soon came to Lingti Village, a place where the hotel receptionist at Kazaa said we'd be able to get our hands on some shilajit. Poor Anshu kept honking at the rendezvous, but people ripped ahead of him. Dejected, he too moved on, casting some final glimpses to the slated place. On the way we took a turn to the Dhankar Monastery, which was on the cards. It was some 8 km from the main road, but quite at a height. We came across some serious hairpins that would give the Gata loops a run for its money. Some stops later for some photography sessions and still some more hairpin bends later, we finally entered the Dhankar Monastery territory. The old monastery was still some distance away, while there was a new one under construction. Some of us decided the old monastery was worth a visit and set off on our bikes. But only my bike and Gyan's karizma could make it to the point where the road ended and the steps to the old monastery started. The inclines were murderous, and the rocks made the climb terrifying for the heavily laden bullets, the roads being extremely narrow and the drop down the ravine sheer piss-in-the-pant stuff!!Wisdom prevailed in the scared place and Vikram gave up after a few meters, so did Kenny. Gyan and I also returned , amid some very very very cautious climb down the road. Never was I so scared at any stretch throughout the trip.

Jill and Kenny mingled well with the young monks in the monastery and had some nice shots taken with their bikes. Bidding goodbye to the monks, we proceeded to catch the main road towards Tabo , our slated stop for lunch. The ride was uneventful thereon and we made it to Tabo by 1530 hrs. My trip meter had clocked an exact 1000 km the time I entered Tabo. Tabo is a cool place to hang out in, essentially a densely populated place with around 800 people. there were also some foreigners who seem to have settled down there. There are also spaces properly marked as "bus stop", "hospital" et all.

Lunch at one Tenzin restaurant near the Tabo Monastery consisted of some momos , chowmein and thukpa. Initially we had all packed our lunch and gulped down at the place where we had parked our bikes. But Anshu protested saying where there is a place to sit , people SHOULD sit and eat. Now Anshu is not a guy who complains, but when he does everyone takes him seriously!! So we hastily broke into 2 groups; while one watched over the bikes, the other went to the restaurant and had their lunch. Vikram, poor fellow, skipped his lunch there since he could not abandon a long line at the pay phone, and the fellows decided to get his lunch packed. I didn't go inside the Monastery but people did and they conveyed to me that it was a lovely monastery, made mostly of clay and that it took five minutes inside to get their eyes accustomed to the dim lighting. The garden area of the monastery also had some wonderful apple trees that brimmed full with ripe apples, that looked just so inviting and juicy.

A few minutes of rest later, we all moved on. All these days, our motive had been to wake up early and reach the next place early before sunset. But somehow, that never materialised and today was no exception. We decided to reach Nako as fast as we could make it, possibly just making it before dark. Some time and some kilometers into the ride from Tabo, we suddenly entered some apple orchards at a place called Hurling, and there were apples all around us!!! Green apples, red apples, small apples, big apples, tender apples, juicy apples all around us and not a soul to be seen. It was too good to be true!!!! Gyan was turning to be the moral guy and looked around for someone to take permission from for a few apples. He did find someone, and started shouting at him if he could pluck some apples off the trees. Little did he realise, he was trying to communicate with a scarecrow!! We all had ourselves in splits when we realised he was talking to a dummy!!! Kenny and Jill took the initiative of jumping the fence and looting some apples. Jill was particularly after some fantastic looking green apples. We all stuffed some apples each and started our bikes lest someone caught us in the act!! But we were content nonetheless at having the absolute pleasure of munching on some virgin HP apples!! Truly Himachal is apple country, and a great country at that!!

Moving on towards Nako, we tried to make fast pace. The road was surprisingly good, looked brand new, albeit a steep climb that never seemed to end. There was no traffic at all save a solitary state transport bus bearing the Rampur depot tag. Some time later and a lot of altitude climbing later, all of us grew wary since we didnt come across a single milestone nor a single board that showed where the road was taking us. Finally some hutment came into view and luckily it was filled with the road construction people. Verifying that the road was indeed taking us to Nako, we pressed on.....only to come across one of the worst stretches of road - one water crossing that had eroded the entire road, and unfortunately, the crossing happened to be in one damn steep incline. Then came the backbreaking climb down the jagged road. It was already dark and we had turned our lights on, the need for a safe climb much more accentuated now. After negotiating the treacherous terrain, we hit smooth roads again and gunned our engines towards the lights ahead. We almost missed the village entry and came back after we realised we were moving farther away downhill from the lights. Darn those people who always say "Both the roads lead to the village"!!

Finally we entered the village and enquired for one Amar Guest House that had come recommended from the restaurant at Tabo.It was nice and cosy,rustic and very very village hut types, but we had to take a flight of steps down and we were in no mood to be carrying our equipment all the way. Plus the landlady seemed to be a lot stiff in her lodging charges. We looked around for some more places to put up for the night and finally checked into one nearby Reo Purguil Hotel that offered much more comfy rooms AND parking space for our bikes at almost the same rates.

After checking into the rooms, we all got fresh and Anshu and Vikram went to the previous Amar Guest House to make some phone calls since it was the only place in the locality that offered a payphone. But seemed Anshu and Vikram had a lot to hear from the land lady when she came to know we ditched her hotel and stayed elsewhere!!! Poor fellas, they had to beg to make a phone call and even after that they got looted . Vikram paid 25 bucks for a 3 minute call!!

Evening time was again slotted for some rounds of old monk, and for a change we tried having apples with the rum!!! It wasn't bad, quite different, but nice!! Found the food at the hotel way too expensive and we ordered our food at a dhaba bang in front of the hotel! Told the dhaba guy we'd take an hour and to make our food slow and easy. He asked us not to worry- food would be available till 10 pm. But the shots continued till late, so much so that the dhaba guy had to come to our room to remind us that it was 10 pm!! Dinner was rice-dal-chicken curry and rotis for Kenny and Vikram.

After a heavy dinner, Kenny felt an urge to take a midnight stroll to the Nako lake and he pulled me along. I, in turn , roped in Anshu and Vikram too. Banged on a particulary big pebble in the dark and hurt my toe in the process. It was a good sight, the lake by the moonlight. It was a very very small lake, compared to Chandertaal and a pygmy lake compared to Pangong Tso. but looked beautiful enough in the moonlight. The moonlight also made me drift off to some memories of yore, while I fought off the cold. It was chilly, but the moon and memories brought some kind of warmth inside.Talk about cold comfort.

We retired later into our rooms- Gyan, Vikram and me piling into one room; while Anshu , Jill and Kenny settled into the other room for some "joint" sessions. Jill said that their room was meant for people who stayed up late and who woke up late. Bloody Kenny ditched me and sent Vikram to my room. I just glared at him and asked him for his earphones; I was too tired to look for my pair.Without a single protest, Kenny handed me his earphones and I bid goodnight to the guys and headed for my room, where Gyan had already started his glorious snoring!

For reasons very well known to the guys, I took some 3-4 play lists and the volume put on high to garner some sleep!!!

Into The Wild

Day 7 : Trip 932 km

Kazaa - Komik - Rangrik - Kazaa

The seventh day of our trip went in exploring the markets of Kazaa, looking for trinkets to buy , and also in search of the local mechanic. Getting our bikes' transmission chains oiled and tightened took us better half of the day, and we had to still go to Kibber, Kye and Komik. When it was past noon, we all decided we'd go to the most recommended of the three since it was nigh impossible to do all the three places in one day. Komik came as the choice of our hotel receptionist and we were also enthused when we found out that it was the highest village - Kibber lost out by 5 metres!

Bikes ready and stomachs full , we set forth towards Komik well after noon. The initial stretch was good for short rips, but after a while we entered landslides area, where there were some work or the other going on. Not much of a hassle, but we did have to wait at some places where the bulldozer would be clearing rubbles of landmass. Some distance later, we came across a fork and we asked a worker there enquiring about the road to Komik. His reply was both the roads lead to Komik. Taking the road supposedly better than the other, we proceeded on some broken roads, but ones that offered us some fantastic views.

The ride was idyllic and we came across some characters quite aptly handled by Anshu. One being fossil peddler. Yes, fossil. Apparently Komik was under the sea some thousands of years back and now is a treasure trove for fossils; And we did get our hands on quite some of them. Simply beautiful. Don't know how old they are, but being fossils they are, I don't reckon they'll be anything less than a thousand years old. The fossils are beautiful by the way! We came across quite some forks on the road and we made some wrong turns, much to the dismay of Jill. But one thing we found out over there was that all roads lead to all villages!! Simply speaking, all of the villages were interconnected with the same kind of roads - dusty and broken and lonely.

After quite some riding, we finally reached Komik, one of the loneliest villages in the trip with a population of 114 people . Society would be so hassle free here!! We spent some time there, visiting the local monastery - claimed to be 800 years old by the caretaker there. The inside were nice though. Its always a different world when you step inside a monastery/gompa. The silence forces one to revere the sanctity of the place. Some innovative photo shoots later, we decided to head back to Kazaa before the cold caught up with us. I wore only a pair of woollen gloves and at that height the glaring sun brought no respite from the absolute chill of the high altitude winds. With just a pair of woollen gloves to shelter my hands, the cold wind bit into the palm and hands and I felt like some hundred small, pointed icicles were poking into my palm. It was numb enough for me!

We started off from Komik at around 1600 hrs and took the road that lead us quickly down ( suggested by the caretaker) . The road turned out to be only a little better than the Chota Dara stretch and we crawled at snail's pace, careful not to brake too hard or twist the bar too hard. One mistake , and its a lovely ride/fall/dump down 4000 meters. Finally after some really involved riding , we came across tarmac. But with tarmac came the landslides too. We had to wait behind a bulldozer again , but we were granted a passage from the sides after one of the tractors backed up a bit. The downhill ride was uneventful till Kazaa. Some of us went in search of payphones, some went for snacks, and Gyan, Kenny and I went in search of Chang - the local beer. found out it wasn't available at Kazaa, but was to be found at Rangrik some 8 km before Kazaa.

The hotel receptionist offered to take us to one of his relatives there after phoning them beforehand of our requirement of Chang. Off we went with the receptionist guy and after some 15 minutes, we waited at the roadside while he went off into the village in search of Chang. The more we waited the more exotic Chang became for us. We were growing impatient when the receptionist failed to turn up after 20 minutes and we blared our horns into the still evening. Finally, he came huffing and puffing out of some street with 2 and a half litres of our precious Chang!!!

We rushed back to the hotel and showed everyone our trophies, amid cheers and applause. Orders were placed for finger fries and some mutton, which we had ordered beforehand and the place set up for some local wine tasting!! Jill was down the whole day for some reason and he declined all our offers. Fine by us we said and we settled onto the party!!

There were some other guests that had checked in to the hotel that day, some adventurers from Ahmadabad in their Tavera and Scorpio. They met us, called us "Macho Men", congratulated us on making it so far on bikes - all of which inflated our chests no end!! I also went on to the extent of talking about "Dil mein junoon" and stuff!!! These people were looking for camping at Chandertaal too, and we warned about the sub-zero temperatures that awaited them at Chandertaal.

Incidentally, Kenny, Gyan and I had topped up our tanks before ripping off to Rangrik. While Gyan clocked an average of 32 km/litre, my average took a plunge to 28.5 km/litre!!! I was the butt of the jokes from Gyan and Kenny for the whole evening, and also for a couple of days to come till my bike started sipping fuel predictably after Nako.

The evening was just as warm as the previous eve, the local wine flowing like sweet water. Laughter in the room and a warm mellow feeling settling into all of us. Dinner followed after the session that lasted for quite some time. The mutton was out of this world, and so was the mushroom dish. Everything tastes exquisite in this hotel, something made better by the friendly and informative hotel staff. We walked into our respective rooms, with plans of starting off early for Nako the next morning.

Into The Wild

Day 6 : Trip 867 km

Chandertaal - Lossar-Kazaa ; 11.09.08

Morning light came as welcome change to the freezing environs of Chandertaal. Everyone woke up lazy and piled out of the tents to soak in the warmth of the morning sun. It was actually warmer outside the tents than it was inside. Jill was still down and out with AMS, while the rest of groggily tried to dismantle the tents and pack up for the rest of the journey.We all tried to wash our faces from the water of the rivulet - it looked sparkling clean anyway. At first it was just too cold to the touch, however after the sun was up for an hour, the temperature of the water slowly climbed to what must have been around 1 degree Celsius. After getting done with that we all looked at the cliff side in dismay, wondering how we'd ever scale it to reach our bikes. It was fairly easy to throw our stuff down, but now we'd have to carry it all the way up and the way we were stricken with AMS, it had to be one long, torturous job!! When asked if anyone else had felt extremely cold the previous night , they all replied in the affirmative and I was glad I wasn't the abnormal one! Then to prove his point, Gyan brought me the water bottle we had kept outside our tents throughout the night - the water had frozen into ice! It was a solid block of ice inside the water bottle. We figured it might have been around -2 degrees Celsius in the night. Not bad at all!!

It took us 2 hours and well into early mid-day, but we were all done packing and mounting our bags onto our bikes. We munched on some chocolates for energy, that was our breakfast for the day, and some glucose that Vikram so handily offered us all. Before the effects of the glucose wore out, we decided to hit the trail and blast off from Chandertaal. But that was all easier said than done.

It took quite some struggling on the Enfields' part to make it out of the cliff side. Not surprising since they were the most heavily loaded and the steep climb also took toll on the pulsars and the karizma. Then came the tricky inclines on the narrow ledge of a road. Anshu had some 2-3 falls en-route and it took 3 of us to get his bike up. But like Anshu likes to put it, he never falls, only the bike falls!!! One was a particularly hilarious fall. At at downhill hairpin, Anshu took a fall - ahem! I meant Anshu's bike took a fall. It took Anshu, me and Kenny to get it up. It was at an awkward angle , he had fallen in the middle of the hairpin; So the bike's front was still facing the cliff end of the road. Anshu started fiddling with the gear shift of his bike once it was up. Kenny and I both shouted to Anshu not to put the bike on neutral. Snap came Anshu's reply " I put in in neutral". WHAM!! Anshu's bike fell like a log split second later!!! Another heave-ho from the three of us and the bike was up, Anshu wiser for the same!

After getting on to the main stretch of road leading to Kazaa, we trundled along what could barely be called a road. Sandy patches, grit and pebbles, rocks strewn all over. And on the way we came across Kumzum Pass, the highest pass on this route. We paid homage to a temple there, and moved along. The photographer in Anshu was acting us and some splendid shots were captured by him in this stretch. "Shilajit", the wonder drug, was always on his viewfinder's wish list after some pretty persuasive marketing by one peddler at the mall road, Manali. "Gol Gappa" cheeks was what the peddler had promised Anshu had he tried Shilajit for a week or so. It was Anshu and his quest for shilajit, and the butt of all leg pulling from then on for Anshu throughout the trip!!

Some breathtaking landscapes and some wild roads later, just before Lossar, our tyres abruptly treaded on asphalted roads - just like that, out of the blue. And a big welcome gate saying "Most Welcome to Spiti Valley". Finding metalled roads after what we've been through was like feeding our bikes 110 octane methanol. After a long long time we were actually able to shift to our fourth and fifth cogs and raced towards Lossar, our planned pit-stop for the day. It was only when we reached Lossar that we found out that the next 57 km to Kazaa were "makkhan" smooth and we'd make it to Kazaa in 2 hrs max. So we decided to have a hasty lunch there and move towards Kazaa before sundown.

Lunch was paranthas, rice-dal-eggs - a king's meal for us then. We hogged proper at what we called the 5-star restaurant of Lossar. We had tables, chairs, metal plates and glasses , a seat overlooking the road - what else do you need to feel like a million bucks ,especially out there in the wild? We met another true blue biker over there - Suresh Rana, who introduced himself to us and informed us of the roads ahead. Thanks to his precise info, we did have a great ride till Kazaa and entered the sleepy town just at dusk, when the lights were just coming on. Some scouting, some negotiations, some bargaining later, we booked 3 rooms at the HPTDC's Hotel Spiti for quite a deal. One room free, breakfast and dinner on the house! In all we managed to save some 3k in the bargain, plus the food was absolutely awesome, absolutely lip smacking good!! Jill was the happiest of the lot - for the fact that he was getting into a resort and not some camping tent!!

After washing off all the grime from our faces and getting fresh, we all sat down in our room and opened up yet another Old Monk for the evening. French fries and Old Monk never tasted so good!! The festivities went on till late night when the hotel receptionist, nice guy he was, reminded us that our dinner was ready down in the dining hall. Warm from the rum , and the comfort of the carpeted rooms, we all marched downstairs to the dining hall. The assortment of dishes there overwhelmed us hungry and tired riders, but we dug into the food like a pack of hungry wolves. But our appetite wasn't enough to finish off the food offered by the very very hospitable hotel staff and in spite of our best efforts, we left some very good egg curry and one dish of aloo dum curry half finished. Maybe it was the rum, maybe it was the tiring ride, maybe it was the fries we had , but we did leave a sizable portion of the meal untouched. Post meal, we all moved into our respective rooms and jumped onto the cozy beds, sleep catching up with us in little time.

Into The Wild

Day 5 : Trip 769 km

Chhatru - Batal - Chandertaal ; 10.09.08

The guys, prominently Gyan and Kenny, woke up early at about 0800 hrs, and went about looking for "dump" sites. Vikram joined in the fray too!! While we went about loading our stuffs and soaking in some early morning sun. The tents were soon dismantled and packed onto the bikes. People wanted to laze around for some time, and so we did. No one was complaining after all! At around 1100 hrs , we set off on our journey towards Chandertaal, determined that we would make it there at least today, and we couldn't afford another day's delay in just getting to Chandertaal. Just 2 km into the ride, we arrived at Chhatru, and stopped at a Dhaba that was serving lunch at that time. We joined in, and had some absolutely smashing rice-dal-sabji combo meal. Kenny and Vikram opted for panranthas though. Music in the background was nice too!!!

We decided to hit the road soon. We drew attention wherever we went and that was a good feeling...till we came across the roads - or no roads at all- at Chota Dara. It was rocks and pebbles all the way, and we had such a tough fight to keep our bike's balance. Anshu had a couple of falls here....and after a hard hard ride, we made it to Bataal. There were a bunch of foreigners trundling along the same route in a Sumo ahead of us, and there were quite a number of shots taken of us!!! The same foreigners had been waiting at Bataal for some refreshments, and I made a grand entry there ,being the first to reach. One guy clicked some snaps while I came over. Wonder if they might come in some mags!! Fantasies, fantasies!!

There was a wonderful sheep dog at the tea stall and I had a gala time playing with it. Even bought him a pack of biscuits, which he hungrily lapped up from my hands. Dogs are such wonderful beings!! Anshu played the proper paparazzi here, holding the camera still for a long long time and clicking away at the "gori firang", a snap much prized by Jill!! Post tea at Bataal, we proceeded towards Chandertaal after arming ourselves with info on the approach road to the lake from some Sumo drivers. The road thereon proved to be another challenge altogether- high altitudes, narrow tracks, steep ravines, rock/pebble infested, water courses/ falls through the roads and no signboards. Some 15 km into the track and still no sign of the lake,we sent Gyan and Jill ahead of us as scouts, while I scaled half a hill top to scout for our scouts. Sometime later I could see them returning, and both gave us different versions of their scouting. Jill was absolutely pessimistic about going ahead towards the lake, while Gyan was raring to go citing Chandertaal as one of the major vantage points of the whole trip. A consensus was arrived at. We moved on towards the lake. We could spot a glacier and a small lake below it. Not finding an approach road to the lake, we moved a bit more ahead in search of a link road. Further ahead, just opposite to where we were looking, I found another lake - Chandertaal- in exactly the opposite direction where we were searching for it!!!!

We went about looking for an approach and was wondering how to get to the shore, when Gyan went ahead looking for a trail. I went in the opposite direction following some jeep tracks. I found a Pajero already parked at a cliff side, and a trail leading down below, but not negotiable with bikes. It had to be done walking down. We knew carrying our stuff down wouldn't be the issue here, but carrying it up the next morning would definitely be. But hell, we needed to camp by lake Chandertaal, so we started flinging our sleeping mats and bags down the cliff!!! Then we parked our bikes and left with the Jerry cans down below. Jawed was shit scared someone would harm his bike and told us that he would be heading back to Bataal!! He was already under an attack of AMS and it took some hard consoling that nothing would happen to his bike and that every one's bike and the Pajero was parked there - no one would single out his bike.

Reluctantly, he agreed, and proceeded downhill. Gyan and Kenny and Anshu were making a furious pace setting the tents before nightfall, yet again. The night won and we had to set up the tents with the help of the moonlight and our torches. Into the night, and some 45 minutes later, the tent was up and ready. People piled inside with their precious cargo and carriage. Jill was huddled up , down with AMS and with a sullen look. It took a lot of cajoling and all just to make him talk. I set up the stove first, and this time I lit it up like a pro!! No hassles, just the warm blue kerosene flame from the stove. Started boiling the water again for the noodles. We had carried some cooking oil from Chhatru for the canned fish and the pork. Dumped a full pack of Top Ramen Smoodles into the hot water and the noodles were ready in ten minutes. Passed on the food to the people around, but they had lost appetite - partly because everyone was down with AMS , particularly Jill and Vikram. Still, Kenny, Anshu, Gyan and I managed to finish the noodles and I made some tuna for Jill, followed by pork. Vikram felt better after popping in a pill of diamox , and had revived some of his appetite. So he helped me finish off the pork. Anshu and I had gone off in search of some firewood here too, but alas, firewood was one thing that eluded us where we needed it most. The temperature started plummeting rapidly and everyone made up their sleeping bags. Vikram went off for a leak somewhere near the lake shore and after coming back he reported seeing a canine fleeing off from his torch beam. lLater on he told us that it might as well have been a pack of wolves. Well, I was spooked for sure. I was cooking all the fish and pork and I was hoping nothing comes close to the tents sniffing at the utensils and taking a peek inside the tents!! I wanted to see a snow leopard, but not this way!!!!

After the meal, Kenny and I decided to take a stroll down the moonlit light. It wasn't a signt to be missed for anything, specially after camping right next to it. We took 2 flashlights and went off to the lake shore. It was a clear night, the lake waters still and deep, moonlight shining off its surface, no ripples in the waters, the mountains bearing minute traces of their true colours in the moonlight and a chilly wind hit our faces. There was a rivulet that originated form the lake and we shone our torches on it. The water was crystal clear and we could see hundreds of underwater organisms in the light. Freezing water it was , but there were so many organisms teeming underwater and I could not make out what exactly they were feeding on. Suddenly Kenny tells me "Don't run". I ask "Don't run from what?". "If anything wild comes along", he says. Shit scared I was!! It took me some guts to walk to the absolutely silent and lonely lake shore, the tents some 100 metres away and this guys was talking about wild canines!! Still I managed to rake in some of the absolute essence of the beauty of the moonlit lake, before the uneasy calm managed to ruffle my nerves. I also let my fantasies run wild, thinking that the lake might harbour some Lochness-kind-of-monster and that we'd be the lucky ones to take the first ever snaps of it!!! There's one thing about this lake....you just cant make out where the water starts and the shore ends - day or night. The water's just so clear, its just amazing. I told Kenny I was going back into the tent and so he followed me. Once inside, I barricaded the zipped openings of the tent with my backpack and stuff, careful not to take a chance. Took a diamox and tried to sleep. But I was getting cold feet, literally. It was so damn cold, I couldn't sleep a wink the whole night. Tried best to keep myself warm inside the sleeping bag, but it felt like someone had put in an ice pack right inside the sleeping bag. I had no choice but to squirm and twist inside the sleeping bag for the rest of the night, body warmth slowly seeping away from my body.