[Part 2] Adventurous ride from Koksar to Leh

Day 4: Koksar

New morning, woke up early in the morning and came out of the room. Got stunned by seeing the view which was in front of my eyes. Very rare and beautiful site was in front of me. Since we reached Koksar late night we could not recognize beauty of this place. Ran inside the room, picked up camera and started capturing the beauty of this place. 

Mean time every one woke up and started packing. Had early breakfast since taste of food was good at this place. After breakfast & Packing again it was time for photo session (Even though we didn’t had bath every one gave pose to camera nicely :P Including me :D).

Plan for the day was to reach Sarchu which was around 150 Kms, If possible Continue further and reach till Pang. Started from Koksar around 7.00AM. Though we woke up early morning, by the time we finish our packing, tying our luggage’s to our bikes, breakfast, Photo session and all it turned 7.00AM.  Said good bye to Devanand Uncle :P and continued our journey towards paradise.

We were back on road, Manali – Leh highway. Seriously it was like heaven on the earth. (You will see both heaven and hell on this stretch). For that moment it was like a ride on the heaven. Stopped many times for the photos session and continued our ride. None of us were in a hurry and every one of us was enjoying the beauty of the place.

It was completely a new world for us. Roads were also in good condition once we cross Koksar till Keylong. Not many streams we came across, few small streams we crossed but not big one. Main thing to remember while passing through road is; start as early as possible because at morning time water flow in the stream will be less.  This was just beginning of our journey and we were enjoying the streams too... J

Temperature at this place was around 10 to 15 degree Celsius. Being a South Indian it was very cold for us.

Due to many photo sessions again we 3 (Deepu, Vagee & me) were at last and there was a big gap between remaining team and us. At some point even rest of the team stopped for photo session and we joined them.

Witnessed many waterfalls in this road, but this waterfall was rally very attractive. No words to explain this place. We just need to experience it. 

Once we started finishing our photo session after few kilometers only Sunil left behind, he was alone and he was facing some problem with his luggage from morning. Though road condition was good at this place, the luggage on the bike used to fell down. When we came to know that he is not visible distance we thought of waiting for him.

Meanwhile started one more round of photo session in that waiting period :D. 

Sunil reached us in 10 minutes, our guess was correct. His luggage was about to fall from his bike, somehow he managed to reach us. It’s difficult to tie luggage’s alone. Again it took another 30 minutes to tie all luggage.

My sincere suggestion for people who plan for Leh bike ride is reduce your luggage as much as possible, then you will enjoy your ride, or else you will waste most of the time in tying your luggage’s only…!!!

It was already 11.00AM and almost 4 hours we started our journey but managed to cover only 20 to 30Kms..!! Not even passed 5 Kms from previous stop, now its Guru’s bike turn… Luggage from his bike fell down. Now even Deepu & Sunil were not there, thank god we got mobile signal called Deepu and asked him to wait for us. Tied luggage to Guru’s bike and started again. Reached Tandi, Tandi is a place where will get last Petrol bunk in this stretch. They have put large board on this petrol bunk saying ‘Next filling station is after 365Kms’. Filled full tank fuel for all the bikes, filled extra can also. It took almost 30 mins to fill fuel for our bikes. Always this bunk will be crowded.  

Just after crossing Tandi, road was blocked due to land slide. Only Deepu, Guru, Vagee & me left behind. Remaining 2 bikes already crossed this place. I guess it was happened just few minutes back.

Waited for another 15 to 20 mins for road clearance. Finally reached Keylong around 12.30PM. From morning 7.00AM to 12.30 PM we just managed to cover 45Kms…!!!

Stopped near one mechanic shop in Keylong for our bike checkup. Checked all bikes breaks, chains and fixed some small issues with bike.  As suggested by friends tuned engine for pick up. But as per my experience, if your bike is running fine then don’t tune your bikes. After tuning only one of our bikes started giving problem. Spent more than 1 hour in mechanic shop and now it’s all set for our adventures ride…!!!   

Time was already 2.00PM and thought of having lunch in Keylong only before we start our journey. I was feeling damn hungry since we had our early breakfast. Near mechanic shop only there was some restaurants, settled in one of the restaurant for lunch. The view of Keylong from this restaurant was awesome.  

As always Deepu ordered for our food, don’t know what and all he ordered but first we got Onion Pakoda with some schezwan Chatni or sauce that sauce was too spicy and I love spicy food… J Because of sauce only ordered 2 more plates of Onion Pakoda :D. Had delicious lunch and we were back on road.

Again one small steam welcomed us on board. 

Once we cross this stream road was good only. And no need to mention with super surrounding. Nature and its best…!!!

Reached Jispa around 3.30 PM, In Jispa we will get many tents to stay. Most of the people who start their journey from Manali will stay in Jispa. Since we had enough time and energy left in us we continued our ride without stopping in Jispa.

After heavy lunch we were waiting for one pit stop so that we can relax for a while. Once we crossed Jispa (not even 5 Kms I guess) reached one place which was perfect place to relax & for photo session. No second thought we just stopped for photo session again..!!

Suddenly our captain sits for for Dhyana :P 

Captain Sri Sri Vagee Maharaj on Dhyana…!!!!!

Don’t know what was wrong with lunch, All of a sudden people started dancing :P and it was very funny moment. Unfortunately I couldn’t join them because I hurt my ankle while trying Jumping pic... :D  Had very good time out there… J  

When we were out of our mind and dancing, one biker came and informed us that road is closed due to land slide near Darcha and we can’t go ahead..!!!

Now all of us were back on track and started to think what’s next…?? Still it was around 4.00PM and we were in a dilemma to go ahead and check in Darcha or go back to Jispa. Finally we decided to go ahead and check in Darcha if its minor block and bikes can move then we will proceed or else will stay in Darcha. Reached Darcha and checked in checked post, they stopped us from going ahead. Without any other option we ended our ride on Day 4 in Darcha. Just covered 77Kms on Day 4..!!!  

Managed to get one tent for rent at cost of Rs.100/- per bed, which includes common bedroom, attached dining hall, nice view of river…:D. Please don’t imagine it, just check the below pic… :P

We were relaxing in the tent and got a chance to talk to army people, who went till that land slide and came back due to block. They showed us the video clip which caused land slide. There was a water fall flowing on the road and it was impossible to cross that road for that moment….!!! They even said that don’t know when that road will open again. Hopefully by morning water flow will reduce, if that is the case then you guys can continue your ride or else you need to wait…!!!

No other option left for us, borrowed cards from the tent owner for time pass. Guru taught us one new game 'American Show' it was again a fun time. Don’t know how we spent 2 hours. Nice time pass game.

We were bit tired (by doing nothing :P, No no by giving pose to camera :D). Had early dinner and went into deep sleep hoping that road will clear by morning… J

Day – 5: Darcha

Woke up early morning and came out of the tent. Already vehicles started moving. Checked with one truck driver who was coming from the other end about road, he said now it’s clear you can move. Started packing all our luggage’s and tied it to our bikes. Had morning tea and left Darcha around 6.00AM. Due to block from last night, early morning only there was bit traffic. Sun rays were falling on the mountains and perfect day to start. 

Not even 5 Kms we traveled, Stream was in front of us. On cold morning now it’s our turn to get into chilled water. Deepu went first and then rest followed him. Our legs were completely wet even though we covered with plastic cover. Removed all our shoes, covers and we were waiting to dry our wet foots. One more gang of bikers came at the same time and they struck in stream, ran down to help them in bare legs and that time I realized what does cold (chilled) water means. Pulled both bikes out of stream and my legs were literally shivering due to cold. Later we realized that our legs won’t dry if we stay at this place. With wet boots and wet cloths only decided to continue our ride. 

Meantime 2 foreigners came on bicycle, they just removed their shoes and easily crossed the steam and continued their ride… J 

After seeing these guys we have not wasted any time and just continued our journey in wet cloths only. We reached a place where land slide happened last day, now slowly (with lot of circus) vehicles were moving through this pass. There was no road at all, for me it was appearing like waterfalls only…!!!

Deepu managed to cross this stream with the help of localities before we reached this place. He parked his bike on other side and came down to help us. Whichever bike you might have, you may be an expert rider but in this place you need help of others to cross this sort of streams. Pulled all our bikes one by one and passing through stream should us the meaning of hell… (As I mentioned earlier, you will experience both heaven and hell at this stretch). Now we stared cursing the streams whenever we have to pass it.  

We thought of drying our wet foots, but the truck drivers asked us to take our bikes out of the way so that they can move. So with no other option moved forward.

Once we crossed this stream road was good. Thought of stopping near Patseo -- Army camp, but rest of our team members were already moved ahead so without stopping we just rushed to catch them. 

Road was awesome, the beauty sounding us made us to forget the toughest path which we passed. It was just amazing ride.

Not even 10 Kms we enjoyed this ride, saw a huge traffic jam from far, all trucks were waiting in the queue for their turn.

Ohhh… another stream was in front of us. This was also more or less looking like waterfalls. Ride on this roads reminded me dirt tracks :P. They were not stopping bikes, we managed to go front and cross the stream.

Met one gang of bike riders from Bangalore, they were struck here from previous day afternoon, they were supposed to catch their flight in next 18 hours. Don’t know how they managed to reach Manali…!!! Thank god we were not struck on roads like this. At least we got shelter when we stopped our rides due to road blocks. This was the last major road block of this stretch.

Again smooth road was in front of us, thought from now on our ride will be good and we can reach our destination as per plan. No… we were completely wrong…!!! Even though roads were good, Deepu’s bike started giving problem, pickup was totally dropped, RPM on the meter was not showing more than 5. Next nearest place was Zing Zing bar, thought we will manage till we reach zing zing bar and we may get mechanic in that place.

Again we missed our team members, only Deepu, Vagee & me left behind. With all struggle Deepu’s bike going front and we were giving some support to push it forward. My stomach was singing song in hungry (guess every ones) it was already around 10AM we didn’t had our breakfast and after all the circus, all our energy was burnt out completely…!!!

Over all it was not good start for the day, but once we reached zing zing bar valley we forgot everything. Again this was one of the beautiful valleys of this stretch. 

Since we were riding bit slow due to bike problem, rest of our team already crossed zing zing bar and they were waiting for us near road side Dhaba. Ordered for some soup and breakfast, by the time it was ready, try to fix the issue with Deepu’s bike. He done some adjustments, for that moment it was looking fine. After all circus relaxed for a while near Dhaba. Met one more group of Kannadiga’s, felt so happy to talk to them. Finished our breakfast and continued our ride.

Many songs were running on my mind during this journey, but while crossing this path reminded me song from movie “Jab We Met”...  Haan Hai Koi To Wajah, Jo Jeena Ka Maza Yun Aane Laga, Yeh Hawaon Mein Hai Kya, Thoda Sa Jo Naasha Yun Chane Laga………… 

It was totally a new experience for me, saw snow first time in my life in this journey. Though we got snow in Rohtang pass didn’t get chance to play in snow. But here again stopped for a while and spent some time playing in snow and as usual in photo session J

Mean time Deepu’s bike was giving problem in other end. Tuning near Zing Zing Bar didn’t help. Didn’t get any mechanic at this place, but still slowly moved towards our next destination. Pick up was completely dropped; he was struggling to climb uphill’s. He was trying many things to fix issue, but still nothing worked out. Our tool kit was tied to another bike, but he went forward so without proper tools he could not do anything. 

Stopped one more biker on the way, who was from Delhi, he was riding alone with his wife on his brand new thunder bird…!!!  Asked him to help us, even he looked at bike and tried to help us but he was helpless. We were standing at Baralacha la pass, when other biker told us then only we came to know it. They were coming here for 3^rd or 4^th time I guess. She only suggested us not to stand in high altitude for more time. Finally somehow managed to move on.

Though we were struggling with bike issue, never missed an opportunity to capture the beauty around us. J Beautiful Suraj Tal Lake.  

We sensed the problem of standing in high altitude, feeling headache and vomiting sensation, before it get worse thank god reached some Dhaba and took some rest. Vinay suggested us to eat garlic when we hit with AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), all of us took 2-3 piece of garlic and relaxed for a while. The person who stopped to help us was also hit with AMS and even he stopped in same Dhaba. Had lunch and took short nap break and once we felt okay then continued our ride.

This was very hectic day of our ride, not even 10 Kms we traveled again there was road block…!!! Thank god this time it was not because of stream, just a land slide and already JCB was there and they were clearing the block. Thanks to BRO (Border Roads Organization) for such a hard work.  Waited for 15 – 30 mins and it was good to go.

Reached Sarchu around 5.00 PM and in check post checked with military officer that how long it may take to reach Pang, he said it will take Max 3 hours. But same time one group of bikers were coming from Pang, when we checked with them they said it will take 6 hours minimum…!!!

After listening that we dropped our plan of reaching Pang and settled in Sarchu only. Managed to get tent house in Sarchu for Rs.200/- per head. Without much negotiation we hired that tent house.

Day 5 also ended up without reaching our destination as planned. We just covered 74Kms on day 5. It was very challenging day for us, same time it was one of memorable day of our ride J      

Day 6: Sarchu

Had sound sleep last night, woke up early morning and started our journey at 5.00AM. Since we left all our luggage’s in bike only last night, didn’t spend any time on tying our luggage’s.  Last 2 days we were not able to cover much distance so on this day planned to reach Leh at any cost which was around 250Kms.   

Keeping Deepu’s bike issue in mind we stayed with him and let him go front and we were following him. Till Gata loops it was flat road so managed to move without any issue. From Gata loops to Naki la again it was uphill junction; here we struggled a lot to cross this junction. Again our 2 bikes left behind, even my bikes pick up also dropped (because we forgot to off the choke after starting bike, we realized that after one day when we reached Leh…!!!) but managed to reach our destination. When we reached Naki la, Deepu’s bike completely broke down. Now situation was very bad, we were totally exhausted due to struggle what we faced while pushing bike in Gata loop and since we were standing in high altitude we were facing some breathing problem too. 

Deepu was trying to fix the issue, first he tried to change the spark plug but it didn’t helped. We decided to take some ones help and reach nearby mechanic shop but our bad luck didn’t get any help. Finally Deepu removed the Air filter and started the bike, now it looks okay and it started to move. Already we spent more than 1 hour in this place. So without more delay we continued our ride.

Once we passed Lachulungla Vagee was hit with AMS, Lachulungla is at altitude of 16616 FT so we didn’t stopped at this place (already we spent lot of time on higher altitude, because of that only his health got upset). Finally reached Pang around 12.00PM.  

Since we 3 (Vagee, Deepu & me) were facing some headache and vomiting sensation we thought of going to Military camp and take some medicine. Entered military camp and told us the problem, they checked our pulse rate and all and suggested to take oxygen. Took oxygen for 10 mins and we can sense the immediate relief… J

We asked military guys to help us to fix the bike if they can. Even they tried many things almost for 2 hours and could not fix it. The solution what we found was, remove the air filter and move on…!!! By 3.00PM we started our ride again after taking some rest. After Pang roads are very good and without any difficulty we continued our ride.

More Plain (name of the place) was too good and we could easily hit 100Kms per hour speed on this stretch (but my bike and Deepu’s bike was not in a condition to reach that speed :P).  Now somehow we managed to cover distance compare to last couple of days.  

After More Plain reached Taglangla (altitude 17592 FT) which is world’s second highest motorable road of the World.  

Witnessed snow fall while passing through this pass and it was the first time I saw snow fall in my life and it will be most memorable moment for life time J.

Roads from this point were not so good but manageable. Reached Rhumse and had late lunch around evening 6.00PM. Still we were about to cover around 100 Kms from this point. Finished our lunch fast and continued our journey. Reached Karu around 8.30APM and filled fuel for all bikes. Checked for rooms in Karu but felt it was bit expensive so decided to continue our journey and reach Leh which was just 35Kms away. On the way also in some villages tried for the rooms but due to some fest in Kalachakra (place near to Leh) surrounding places were too crowded and didn’t get rooms. Tibetian guru Dalilama was there for that function. Finally reached Leh by 9.30PM and next challenge was to find rooms. Deepu and me went inside the Leh city to search rooms.  Near old bus stop, In Main Street finally we got rooms and ended our long and adventures ride to Leh… J  

One thing for sure this ride will remain as most memorable ride for life time… J

For more pics CLICK HERE