Leh Diary 6 - Pang

Link to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

God didn't create metal so that man could make paper clips! 

Ride, eat, sleep...repeat !

Dol-ma's inn is just similar to many other places on the way except for Dol-ma herself. At about 45-50 with slight grey hairs Dol-ma comes across as a kind-gentle and stout-sturdy person at the same time. Always on move and doing the daily chores with a finesse of a professional. She was already up when I woke after my 'second-sleep' at six a.m. and was doing the plates with cold water in a temp sub 10 deg C. Unlike many other inn's we saw on the way, this was quite clean and I knew the reason soon. After finishing with plates, she cleaned the whole place of smallest piece of the plastic/paper thrown by tourists and passing vehicles. 

We had a leisurely breakfast and when it become apparent to her that we were not really thinking of moving ahead for the day on account of sickness, she just threw her hands in air in despair and told us that its not going to help us any. Its better for us to go ahead and reach Pang (& Leh finally) where we can get good medical care for patients. Its no point spending time to acclimatize to higher altitude when we can reach to a place which does not require any acclimatization. And finally she succeeded to put across this message.. By noon we were ready to leave !

The road from Sarchu (4300 m) to Pang (4600 m) is a elevating road climbing through the Gata loops (22 hairpin bends) at 4,190 m (13,750 ft) elevation and traversing through Nakee La pass at 4,739 m (15,547 ft) and Lachulung La pass at 5,065 m (16,616 ft) elevations. 

 

 

   

Best posture to sleep to avoid AMS - rest in stnading position leaning against support...  

The views of plains and the mountain range was excellent during the entire journey. After Nakee La we passed small descend and then again steep rise to  Lachulung La pass - our highest pass so far. During the descend Puru fell one more time (& last time as this turned out to be last of our accidents) - this time he was driving. Fortunately no further injuries to him and only small dent on the bike front guard. The location was excellent - see blow -  pictures taken of the location from all  angles ! 

 

 

We reached Pang by early evening and stayed in a place recommended by Dol-ma which is run by her sister. It was bang opposite to military transit camp which boasts of worlds highest transit camp. We called home from the V-SAT line phone available there. 

Night was better than the one before and had a lot of promise of better days ahead !

5 - Leh Diary - Sarchu

Link to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

There are two types of people in this world, people who ride motorcycles and

 people who wish they could ride motorcycles.

Based on our Tuesday's drive (120 Kms in 6 hours), we rose Wednesday morning leisurely. Rain last night has refreshed the mountains. The view from the hotel balcony was excellent. Had a nice breakfast and little we knew at that time that could be our last breakfast with 'choice of menu items' before we reached Leh. 

 

We thought could cover distance upto Pang (180 kms) if we ride for another 1.5 - 2 hours as the daylight was available till late evening (upto 2000 hrs). After a quick stop at  what is known as 'last mechanic till Leh' in Keylong we started the ride. 

The road after Keylong upto Jispa was very good (compared to earlier ride) and we kicked ourselves not to drive upto Jispa on earlier day. The ride was smooth, and we rode in random sequence and reached the check post where we're supposed to enter in J&K. 4 bikes had reached and we waited on remaining two. After 10 minutes we started getting jittery and sent the bike with spares back. They were gone for more than 15 mins and still no news. We then decided to climb a smallish curve and see what was matter. And there we had our first accidents (apart from several failed trials by Nitesh on earlier day). Bhavna was riding and Puru on Pillon. As the tar (black-top) surface turned into loose grave, she could not control the bike and collapsed. Fortunately, she fell on the mountain  / rocky side of the road and not on the other where there was a small pit/valley (which we had just climbed). And just by stroke of some more luck did not survive any head injuries even without helmet which she discarded in Keylong as it was tighter on her cap. Her hand however was swollen. Our first aid kit was handy and we immediately applied cream/spray and tied the crape bandage that we were carrying. 


Soon after the check-post we saw one of the first Tso (Deepak Tal) on the way. The water was crystal clear. It cheered the group a bit and helped atmosphere !

 

 

Few KMs ahead of the lake, we were again held-up as the bridge was being repaired by BRO team.

 

I took the lead after the bridge was opened and drove ahead of the group. I crossed the ZingZingBar, a base camp for Bara-Lacha-La. The road after that was a steady climb. Both the Bhaga river and the Chandra river originate from melting snow at opposite sides of Baralacha La, the former flowing southwest and the latter flowing first southeast and then northwest to merge at Tandi. The strech of 18 KMs was perhaps the most memorable I had ever during the ride. I stopped on one of the curves, to give way to passing military trucks and to notice our group which was riding quite below. Close to 15-20 minutes lead.

The desert/plain which I had just crossed was stunning. And then all of sudden after the last curve the life changed. All hills were covered in white and there I thought I knew why heaven is shown in white color. I stopped the bike and walked over the ice. I thought I will cry just by looking at the beauty surrounding. It was pure bliss. It was truly, a moment God sent! I was alone with no other sign of civilization in sight. My mind wondered to home. I thought how both - Sapna and Asmi – would have liked here. Such was an effect of the surreal silence that I could even concentrate on my breathing instantly – see/feel the breath as it happens - a technique I learn at Vipassana (and hardly practiced after the course).  It must have been 20 mins or so and then some passing trucks brought back me to the ground. But those were 20 mins extream happiness. I think I was in trance.

 

 

 

 

The group has still not arrived and I was thinking of going back. When I now look back at the incidence, I feel that I was not worried about the group, but wanted to run away from the hypnotic place which has literally got me. Soon a group of other bikers passed and I was told that my gang will be there shortly. Which arrived still 10-15 mins afterwards and here I learnt about second accident of the day. Just after the bridge, on the road which was more of sand and loose gravel, one of the safest driver – Kishore has fallen. When we hired the bikes he was concerned about how he is going to tackle the hair-pins with his smallish height. And here we were with two unexpected accidents in less than 40-50 kms of stretch. 


The height at the Baralacha la (pass which was less than 500 meters ahead) above 5,000 meter and air was thin. Puru and Mahesh were feeling uneasy - first symptoms of AMS. We crossed the pass and passed rivers (mentioned above) without stopping & without taking many pictures as I would have liked.  ...

  

After some descend we reached Bharatpur (4300 m) and stopped for lunch but main importantly to take the stock of situation. The tent was comfortably warm and food was welcome ! Mahesh failed in his catwalk-test (striaght line walk) and confirmed primery symptoms of AMS. Puru was jittery (and also on the verge of AMS). And two injured persons. Medical help was available at the military camp at Sarchu. So after some recovery we drove through steady descend and reached plains ... and what a plains it was ! The road was OK after the initial descend but the views on offer really gave something more to cheer about... 

 

 

 

 

Sun was still shining when we reached to the Military camp at Sarchu. We saw a doctor who the crape bandage with a wider size (compared to our first aid kit) and advised to get X-ray done once we reach Leh. At the transit military camps on the way (Sarchu, Pang etc) - the officials are helpful, are quipped with basic facilities and can provide ncessary medication (oxygen etc) in case of severe AMS.

We stopped at Dol-Ma's Inn at Sarchu. Except 2 persons (one of which is your's truly) whole group was having trouble adjusting with lower O2 available at 4300 m elevation. Even a small walk to get the bedding & blankets from other tent was task kept us huffing-puffing.  After a customary dinner of dal-rice we called off a day. I sat outside the tent for sometime - the sky was clear and could see many stars. My childhood memories come back to me - I remember the days when we used to sleep under the open sky on a terrace above our house in Nasik and there used to be so many stars in the sky, just like this day. Tried to recall unsuccessfully when was the last time when we enjoyed the night sky. Barring an odd passing truck the universe was quite. Sleep was a welcome thought after such an eventful day. 

With people suffering from AMS and cold, the night got noisy. Sometime after mid-night I thought of hiring separate tents - if available for the next days stay. Judging from the situation it was obvious that we have to stay for one more day before everyone gets acclimatized to the altitude. I also found out why - Segmented sleep - as they say was quite common in ancient times -  is not very good thing after 8 hours of biking. Fortunately I had at least  a 'Second sleep....

4 - Leh Diary - Rohtang to Keylong

Link to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul..." 

On Tuesday, we got-up early (as the consequence otherwise would be to get stuck in Manali for one mroe day) and were ready to ride by 0430 hrs. But it took us more than half hour to tie our bags to the bike carriage. By that time we learned that the couple which was reached earlier & was staying at a different place had some issue taking the bike out because of haphazard parking. By the time we forced that bike out by denting few cars, it was already 0545. We thought that we had a very slim chance of making past Rohtang, but we still decided to take the ride as it would help us test the bikes in any case. And what a ride it was !

The 'road' to Rohtang after Madhi was horrible, and thats understatement... The correct description of the 'road' will be - a route made by passing vehicles on a mountain by choosing pits which will not topple the vehicles upside down. It has everything required to test the driver skills - mud, water logging, water crossings, sharp beds and on top - no Road. We're thankful that only by luck we were there on Tuesday morning when its closed. We latter at Zojila pass found out what its to drive among the trucks at the blocked pass, but thats for latter.. We can now confirm, if you start early on Tuesday morning, you can arrive at Rohtang in 11/2 - 2 hours. 

Rohtang pass - which means pile of corpses or ground of corpses was so named because of people dying in bad weather to in trying cross the pass. It connects the Kullu valley to the Lahaul & Spiti valley on the other side and is one of the ancient trade routes. Once at the pass we had some food and celebration. 

  

Celebration (at 3,978 m ~ 13,054 ft*)

 

The road after the pass was equally challenging and there then we passed one of the first guys who went about this journey/route on  bicycle ...

   

Since the pass is opened only during May - November, Govt of India is building a tunnel under Rohtang which will be longest road tunnel in India and will reduce the distance between Manali & Keylong by almost 60 KMs. Lying on the Manali-Leh axis, this (Rohtang) is/ will be one of the two routes to Ladakh. The other route through the Zoji La pass on the Srinagar-Drass-Kargil-Leh highway also gets blocked by snow for nearly four months in a year. These two routes are vital to feed military supplies into the sub-sector west (facing Aksai Chin) and the Siachen Glacier. We were to take other route while returning.

By the time we decended in Koksar we had realised the importance of heavy-steady bike that we had hired. Nitesh, who was used to only gear-less scooter, rode with his wife and fell thrice but all (bike & both of them) reached unscathed  to Keylong. Thanks to the BIG carriage we had in the back for loading the bags. That used to make first contact with the ground rather than the front leg gaurd or so and there by giving some time to take body parts out. 

The view from the valley was beautiful and we stopped for another round of snacks. Everyone, including Kishore who had got one size 4 & another size 9, was grateful for the last minute purchase of the gub-boots. 

   

     

Crow with yellow beak... Little we knew at the time that we will see many in coming days 

We made a second stop near one small waterfall. The sun was burning & still water was chilled and we could hardly dip our feet in it. It was here we first appreciated the importance of warnings on several on-line forums about 'sun burn' and 'frost bite'. 

 

  

 

The ride after the descend was pleasant as the road moved along the river - which we believed was a Chandra River, a source stream of the river Chenab. We reached fuel station at Tandi by the late afternoon. This was advertised as the last fuel station till Leh. We wanted to get the tank full, but thanks to the adamant attendant, we could get only two litre per bike as he has to serve LOT of customers (?) and he had limited stock.  However, latter we found that many tent owners and small shops on the way also sell petrol in small cans at marginal premium. So its better to get the tank full and fill fuel cans in Manali itself. If the bike average is good (our bike gave over 30-33 km/l), you don't have to fight with the Indian Oil-Tandi.

By the time we reached Keylong, everyone was tired and did not feel like riding one (or two) more hour to Jispa. We decided to stay in Keylong itself and booked a hotel (Hotel Gespa Inn) on the market street. It rained in the evening and view from the hotel balcony was excellent. 

Some pictures from the first day's ride

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Significance of 13k ft for Puru was realised much latter but now looking back to these pictures, we know that celebration was quite apt.