Day 12: Pang to Leh (5th Sept 2014)

Excited for the final push I woke up at 6 am. The altitude sickness was getting onto me because I couldn't breathe properly and had very disturbed sleep.

I stepped out of the room to help the riders from Delhi to fix their flat tyre but they were nowhere to be seen. Later Padma told me that the guy who was looking unwell suddenly became serious at night and had to be rushed to Leh hospital. Padma’s husband drove him to the hospital himself.  I remember meeting those guys while I was riding from Ropar to Manali and they were riding in the rain without even a rain cover. I think they had taken the ride for granted and was least prepared for it. The ride only looks like a joy ride, but it’s a very serious affair. That beautiful place can turn out to be a beautiful grave if things are taken lightly. Padma told me that the army doctor doubted that water had accumulated in that guy's lungs. I prayed for his wellbeing.

Nagendra too was facing problem with his bike. His bikes power had reduced drastically. I had a doubt that his spark plug had excess carbon deposit, which is a common problem while riding in the high altitude where the oxygen level is low.  I told him that the least I could do was to clean his spark plugs. He was willing to give a shot at it so I opened his sparkplug only to see that it was completely blackened by carbon deposit. I cleaned it thoroughly which brought back life into his bike. He was happy and so was I.

Nagendra and I split ways at 8:45 am, while he headed towards Zing Zing Bar, I headed towards Leh. The ride from Pang to Moore Plains was a smooth one. On my way, I came across one sigh which read “Ladakh abode mountains in the sky”.

20 to 25 kms of the straight open road, surrounded by the beautiful mountains, not a soul in sight, the melodious thumping of Chitti (that's what Linda calls my Royal Enfield .Inspired from the movie of one of our favorite actors - RAJNIKANT !!! ) – That was Moore plains for me. It’s a ride that truly lifts up one's spirit. This indeed must be the place where Gods too envy the mortal riders.  

 After covering about 25 kms, I had to leave the pitched road as it was under maintenance. This gave Chitti a chance to play in the open fields. This is literally the place where you can “make your own road”. However, making your own road is not an easy task. As it was a sand field, it was very difficult to balance Chitti and besides, I had to rev up the engine power as the tyres were being sucked in the sand. Any speed beyond 15 km/hr, and a fall is guaranteed. After half an hour on this technical, but fun playfield, I joined into the pitched roads. 

Making his own roads

As soon as the Moore plains gets over, the gravel road ascend to Taglang la begins. The road continues to be rough till 8 kms short of the pass. It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe as I approached the peak. The song “Harder and harder to breathe” by Maroon 5 was playing in my head. Chitti too was finding it difficult to pull owing to less oxygen in the air.

The gravel road after the Moore plains

Finally some good road

Reached Taglang la, the second-highest pass in the world (5328 meter) @10:30 am*. Few minutes after I reached, some more riders from France reached there too. They were riding from Leh to Pang. They asked me about the road conditions towards Pang and strangely they looked excited when they learned that it was a gravel road. Further, they told me that the road towards Leh was a very smooth one but also advised me to ride safe. Soon it started to snow and owing to the cold weather, I could not stay there for long so I started my ride downhill. While I was descending, one minivan full of Japanese tourist passed me. One pretty lady waved at me and gave me a thumbs-up, suddenly all the cold disappeared.  

The French riders join in 

The French riders were right. The road from Taglang la to Leh was in a very good condition and would give a tuff competition to any metro city roads in India.

While I was descending, I spotted a heard of mountain goat. I observed them navigating through those sharp stones and they made it look so simple.  I was amazed by their mountain climbing agility.

   

 I reached Rumtse, a small village in Rupshu valley at noon.

 As I rode onward, I witnessed a very funny incident. I saw that two dogs were trying to cross a stream. One of them must have done it several times because he took the lead and started planning the route while the other dog just sat behind the leader on the stream bank. Once the route was chalked out, the leader jumped into the water and beautifully navigated through the stream (I wanted to take the picture of him crossing the stream, but by the time I took out my camera he had already crossed it). He was hardly wet. All this while, the other one was carefully, trust me, very carefully observing the leaders route. When it was his turn, he jumped into the freezing water but he panicked. In his attempt to reach the other bank quickly, he landed himself into a depression where he got himself completely immersed. His expression and his struggle to reach the bank made me laugh out real loud. I don’t know if dogs believe in God, but at that moment I saw a praying dog.

The alpha male who crossed the stream first. 

In God he trusts

 Finally, after one hour of riding from Rumtse, I reached Leh. I had reached my Disneyland.

 The Leh main town was still one and half hours of ride away so I continued riding. The ride took me through the Indus river valley. I had some business there. When I had asked my mother if she wanted anything from Leh, she had said that she wanted the pebbles from the Indus river bed. Suddenly it struck me - INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION.  It didn’t occur to me but pebbles from the river which gave birth to a civilization would definitely be a treasurable gift that I could have carried from Leh. I wanted it to be a very special gift for my mother so I took time in selecting the most unique pebbles that I could find. It surely is a special moment when the water of Indus comes in contact with the skin*.   

Touched

Pebbles , you said 

Enemy behind the lines

Just 8 kms short of the Leh town, it started raining heavily, so I quickly changed into my rain cover. I passed Shey Palace on the way. The palace was so inviting that I decided to pay a quick visit and I walked in with my rain covers on.

I reached the main town at 4 PM and as it was raining, I didn’t have the will to go for hotel hunting. I checked in the first hotel that I saw. The name of the hotel was Hotel Dimbur at the old bus stand. I was wet, cold and hungry. I quickly changed into some dry clothes and headed towards a small dhaba right beside the hotel. My timing was very odd so the kitchen was closed. I asked the man in charge if they had anything ready immediately. He said that he had mutton leg soup which only had to be heated. I felt as though God had directed me there. Mutton leg soup when you are cold is a God sent thing. I ordered for a bowl of soup and a leg piece. The hot soup was so spiritual that I had to repeat the order. Later I learned that the dhaba was famous in Leh market for the mutton leg soup. Satiated, I returned to the hotel. The news about the J&K floods was very serious. I really felt sorry for all those affected by the floods.

I wanted to move to another hotel the next day, so I went to check out Chang Spa area in the evening as I was told that it’s a fun place to stay in. Besides that, I also wanted to create a Google+ backup of all my photos that I had clicked along the way. The cyber cafes in Ladakh really tested my patience as they were very slow. Had it not been for the amazing music that they were playing, I would have pulled out all of my hair. I vowed never to walk into a cyber café again.    

Before my dinner, I wanted to grab a peg of rum to fight the cold, so I walked into a restaurant cum bar right next to the hotel that I was staying in. The bar was separate from the restaurant and as a policy, they were not serving alcohol in the restaurant. I had a look at the bar and was not comfortable to drink alone there so I checked with the owner who happened to be a biker himself and had seen me unload my luggage, he allowed me to drink in the restaurant. When I was drinking one guy approached me and politely asked if he could join me for a drink. Cutting the long story short, he was from the army (I will not reveal his name and picture as it may land him in trouble) and was posted in a remote corner of Leh. As it would get very boring for them there, so during the weekends they would come down to the town for some fun. He was a very friendly guy, like all army men are, and also gave me some good information about the Leh market. At the end of the night, I was left pretty embarrassed when he paid all the bills, again open-hearted like any army men. I had to pay him back so we decided to meet the next day at the most interesting restaurant cum bar in Leh – The Ibex.        

At the end of the 12^th day, I had covered 196 kms  

        

*All the special moments which I would not get a chance to do otherwise are in bold

(Do read the other days chronicle listed in the same page)

#Royalenfield  #trip #leh #bikeride #adventure #ladakh #travel