Memoirs of a Wandering Nomad

Ladakh 6. DAY 5 – August 08, 2007 Wed Bharatput City – Killing Sarai (Sarchu Sarai) – Sarchu – {Gata Loops} – Nakeela – Lachlung La – Kangla Jal – Pang – Moray Plains – Tanglang La – Rumtse – Miru – Upshi – Karu – Leh By the time it is 6am and the tent owner comes to wake us up, we are already awake with pounding headaches that the height, the rare oxygen, the cold and disturbed sleep have given us for free. We pack as quickly as possible in our condition (actually in record 20mins) and head towards the river. Thankfully there is truth in the locals’ statement and the flow is very small. It is still an effort, but we manage to drag our bikes through without much incident. The downward climb from here on towards the Sarchu valley is eerie – the landscape resembles that on Mars. There is no sign of civilization except the road we are on, that too is broken in most places. We are glad we did not attempt this last evening – when it was already dusky. We climb down this bumpy and often scar...

Ladakh 5. DAY 4 – August 07, 2007 Tue Marhi – Rohtang La – Koksar – Tandi – Keylong – Stringi – [Udaipur] – Jispa – Darcha – Patsio – Zingzingbar – Baralacha Pass – Bharatpur City By 6am, it is bright and sunny, which is a phenomenon common across all high-altitude mountain areas. The memories of the wet, dark and chilly night is behind us. Baddy has gone back from this place as he has to reach Delhi in a couple of days. We pack and start off. We have miles to go before we sleep today. The climb to Rohtang La looks like cakewalk in the fresh morning Sun. Most of the snow has melted and the road is manageable, albeit curvy and bumpy in parts. We reach Rohtang top in good time, and celebrate our first pass with some cake I have packed from back home. We start climbing down the other side towards Koksar. The road has great surface and is largely downhill. So we switch off the engines and roll down, giving tough competition to the bicycle gang. We see a plaque for Spiti valley towards the ...

Ladakh 4. DAY 3 – August 06, 2007 Mon Manali – Rohtang La – back to Marhi The day opens very late – as late as 9am for us. Must be the trout curry and the exhaustion of the earlier day, but we simply can’t get out of the excellent fluffy beds. Not that we are complaining though. By the time we pack, have a royal breakfast (120 bucks for an English breakfast, complete with fruit juice, omelets and coffee) and leave, it is almost 10:30am. We cross the bridge and go to the other side of Manali, go to the petrol pump on the way, fill petrol and then take the right, which leads to Vashishth. Vashishth, known for hot water springs, is also famous in the biking community because it has Anu’s garage. Anu is arguably the best mechanic in the area – and by area I mean a circle with a radius of at least 500km. Not even in Leh would you have good mechanics, so show your bike to Anu. And that is exactly how you do it. You just show him the bike. He does not repair bikes because that’s his job. He ...

Ladakh 3. DAY 2 – August 05, 2007 Sun Swarghat – Bilaspur - Sundernagar – Mandi – Aut – Bhuntar – Kullu - Manali The second day opens with a warm sunshine and clear skies. It is quite pleasant at Swarghat, and we are all refreshed by a good night’s sleep. We start off for Manali by around 9:30am – a small mistake that I would like to avoid the next time. One should always start early, and this is the learning we have over the next few days too. I am on a thundercloud, fully rejuvenated with the sleep. Saki too gets into good action, and we make excellent progress to Bilaspur. We stop and Bilaspur to get Alok’s bike repaired. Baldev mechanic in the town – a good and helpful fellow. Recommended. After a suitable breakfast of parathas, we move from Bilaspur towards Sundernagar and then to Mandi. The road goes through a green valley – part of Kullu valley – and is exceedingly beautiful. The road has juice bars on sides, river, valley and hills. The weather is quite nice and sunny. We mee...

Ladakh 2. DAY 1 – August 04, 2007 Sat Gurgaon – Delhi [GT Road] – Sonpat – Panipat – Chandigarh – Rupnagar – Kiratpur – Swarghat I wake Alok and Rini up at 4am. The day begins with a downpour, while we are trying to pack the bags on the bike. It is dark and pours heavily for almost 2 hours. By the end of which we are at the end of our patience and wits and decide to pack the bags anyway and move on. We are completely drenched, the luggage is wet and the packing is badly done due to lack of visibility. By the grace of Murphy, once we start, the rain stops almost by design. We meet the rest of the team (3 more bikes) at Dhaula Kuan after some more confusion on the meeting place, and proceed towards GT road – filling petrol, taking cash out of ATMs and generally whiling time away for no apparent good reason. A lot of places are flooded and muddy, through which we waddle our way, especially Azadpur Mandi. Occasional drizzles add to the misery. Finally, by around 8:30am, we are out of Delh...

Leh Ladakh Motorbike Expedition 2007 Statutory Warning: The following series of posts contains material that can cause irreversible damage to your lifestyle. It may also put all your career aspirations of being a lawyer or a stock-market expert or a CEO or or any other serious role that you want to be in, in serious jeopardy. It is therefore recommended only for nomads and dolphins. p.s. For the weak-hearted, beware. It also contains some references to Hridaynath Mangeshkar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ladakh 1. Day 0 – August 03, 2007 Fri Gurgaon There is almost no comparison to the way I felt about the Ladakh ride even before I began. Most people compare it with Mekka for bikers. Well, this was Mekka for a staunch fakir, who is denied a visa and travel for at least 5 years. Maybe even worse ... Many years ago I bought a bike – a Royal Enfield Bullet 500cc. I bought her with th...

This is a post about posts – a sort of ‘Meta-post’ – about posts to follow. From August 4th till August 17th, I have been in a different realm altogether – Ladakh – ‘the Land of Passes’. Also the land of snow, the land of unpredictable climate and the land of mind-numbing beauty. It is a dream come true, the effect of which has taken over a month to taper down and the memories of which will linger perhaps for eternity. Before I started, I had no clue what lies on my way. Today, I remember every stone turned by the wheels of Saki, every sign board overtaken, every bridge crossed and every moment of this 14-day long expedition. The memories are too many and too vibrant to fit into any format – visual, voice or text. However, I am going to try my best to organize them day wise and present here – which is also incidentally the life’s goal for this blog. There are in all 16 posts that I plan to write – 14 for each day, one preclude and one epilogue. Like the expedition itself, this is a mam...