The Three Heavens

Last year one of our friends, Vishal Joshi disappeared for a month when he came back after a month he was tanned , had a long hair and a sore saddle ....he had toured ladakh on bike , Pune-Delhi-ladakh-Delhi , few thousand kms ...the sum suddenly looked big enough for us at that time as non of us has ever ride that much but we have a thing for something which can consume your life ...ladakh trip plan was immediately approved.

               But there was one big hurdle ,"leaves" , but we had the solution as well ...."Lets resign in April if they don't approve leaves , two months notice period and then we will be free" as if we were some IIM passouts with 10yrs exp but ladakh trip was certainly more enticing than weekly progress reports and boring corporate meeting , so plan B was finalised even before the plan A :)

              Rest of the year was a serious planning phase ...using google maps ...we calculated distances of almost every indian city and village in ladakh region from pune and finally settled on spiti and ladakh route. In a path breaking innovation , we found out that Kunzom pass connects spiti and manali ....and it opens after half of june , and because of our lovely Plan B we had already applied for the leaves in first week of june .so further re planning and rerouting on google maps occured.

            Probably mountain gods were so impressed by our planning , they concluded "They are not going anywhere , lets send some help " , so google god was asked to show us a blog http://devilonwheels.com/   and thus came Sahil Duggal for the rescue.

  

                 Sahil knows spiti as good as he know bars in Delhi :) ...he corrected our Plan A,B,C..... rather completely changed them ....being a biker himself , sahil offered us a 50% bikers discount ...no he doesnt ask for "I am Biker" validation , just that you need to reach losar on bikes :P Sahil took care of our bookings in Spiti region and provided some insights on ladakh region also.

                 with spiti bookings done we had spare time to waste on finding answers to questions like "which riding jacket to buy ? which shoes to buy ? which ruck sacks to buy ?" , so finally vikram (aka Vikrya) bought DSG riding jacket , I borrowed Vishal's jacket and helmet (the idiot did nt use riding gloves well so i had to buy new ones x-( ) and Abhijeet (aka Matha) bought himself a RA.One jacket :)

                      And after extensive research on liberty safety shoes , orazosafety shoes , hunter shoes and quencha ....we settled for Action Trekkers our trusted shoes while trekking in sahyadri region.

            so the date was set ...time was fixed (even though we reached railway station late) ...we were in Delhi on 2nd June.

Unforgatable Start : The Delhi Debacle

Inhospitable delhi climate reduced our first day excitement to zero in no time , as part of our perfect planning , I had booked the bullet 350ES on rent (that to after wasting N number of days on brainstorming on which bike to carry ) from a well known vendor in delhi ...."We dont compromise on price as we don't compromise on quality "  vendors tag line was assuring enough and i was also told 10 days before the trip that bike I am getting is new bullet 350ES which has run for just 19K kms...doubly assuring ...reached the vendors office ...bike looked 1857 made ...27K ran and it was 350ES without the electric start :p 

          Ok lets try out this bike ... i was told that it has enough petrol to reach the nearest petrol pump ...kick start wasnt bad either , engine hurled to life ,ran well for 100m and died ...out of petrol ....now imaging pushing bullet few kms in scorching heat ...somhow reached the petrol pump and smoke started to come out of it ...short circuit near the battery compartment ..."Sir we only take guarantee of the engine , rest of the parts is your responsibility  " I wish i could have carried so well prepared engine only to ladakh :p ...allright lets nt loose hopes ....we fixed it ...engine again hurled for few kms and died ....smoke again .....this time from the bullets ass ......break shoes were not changed since 1857 and have smoked themselves :p ...."I told you sir we only assured about the engine " x-( 

            We soon realized with such advance bike we will only be visiting spare parts shops all over spiti and ladakh ...after some quarrel and dialoguebazi Mr.Vendor agreed to take the bike back and refund us completely.

             Mountain gods again sent some help and we find a great Pulsar 220 at Mrs.Kauls shop in karol bagh ...trip which almost got cancelled because of the bullet was back to life ...we lost one day but atleast we had the bike now . Other two bikes Matha's Pulsar 200 and Vikrya's FZ look alike Karizma was in gud shape and we were all set to leave delhi debacle behind :)

Apple Tree Cottage , Kotgarh

We had wasted considerable amount of time in Delhi and now we were left with no choice but to cover 420 kms on day one to reach kotgarh just ahead of shimla . Pulsar 220 was really doing well on highway and apart from heat nothing much was bothering us.

 We stopped by in a small village to get the duplicate keys done for matha's bike , local people thought we are shooting some movie or a reality show ....matha's RA.One jacket was the reason ...they would hit matha's jacket and ask "sach main lagta nahi hai kya ??" . Reached Shimla just before the sunset and it has started to drizzle. We still had to cover 90kms more for kotgarh ....it was a full moon night and driving in shimla-kotgarh ghat section was a real pleasure with moon lighting the road from one side. Very soon in cold winds and drizzle we found out that expensive DSG riding gloves which we had bought ...which had vents for air circulation are actually freezing our hands from inside , we decided to get the duct tapping done on them.

Reached the cottage real late . Jayesh the owner is a real adventure lover and appreciated our efforts of driving 420 kms in 40 degrees heat ...our reward was a real tasty food. Jayesh even though doesnt like biking is a seasoned traveler and shared his experiences of driving jeep from shimla to goa some 20 yrs back when petrol used to cost just 20 rs .

Apple Tree Cottage , Kotgarh

Apple Tree Cottage as the name suggests is surrounded by apple trees , its Jayesh's ancestral house now converted into a luxurious cottage with real homely comfort.

Jayesh told us that road from kotgarh to Sangla is rated second deadliest by Ice Road Truckers ...we were very eager to check its deadliness.

IRT Second Deadliest Road and Sangla    

To our surprise the deadliest road is not really that deadly ..BRO has done a great job with this road and its broader and better than city roads in Pune . Yes there are sharp turns and its is hard for truckers but for bikers its a paradise ....we were easily able to hit 80+ and covered 100kms in real short time to reach Tapri ...Sangla was now just 20kms away.

Rampur to Sangla Ghat Section

But it was really not that easy afterwards ....broad highway suddenly changed into no road condition , we were entering a hydropower dam site and hence roads were not constructed or destroyed. Took us 2 hrs to cover 15 kms and riding bike on that road felt like riding a drunk bull.

Surroundings were full of dust and stones , traffic of trucks has started to increase ...road was real deadly now. There is a petrol pump in Sangla but we gave it a miss and decided to refill next morning

But then we had the first view of snow peaks from sangla and that refreshed us greatly ...i decided to wait there and click the sunset and chitkul was 20km away and light was fading real fast. 

Matha and Vikram went ahead to visit chitkul which is last village from indian side on indo-chin border even more snow peaks are visible from chitkul.

View From Sangla

Apple Orchard Camp , Sangla

on the way to tabo

Swiss tents in sangla are very comfortable but very cold we had to take out all our warm clothing  

tired as we were , retired quickly.  

Tabo : Welcome to Spiti

We had give it a miss to petrol filling in Sangla the other evening and now we were short of petrol as petrol pump in recong peo has no supply since last week. To get the petrol we had to go back to tapri which was 30kms back but road condition was so bad it would have consumed 4-5 hours and killed our hopes to reach tabo.

Tabo was 180kms away and we had just 5 ltrs of extra petrol and nearly half filled tanks, we contacted our hotel manager and asked him to check if he can get some petrol from local shop keepers who often store it and sell it a slightly higher price. Few locals told us that Poh has few shops which sell petrol. We were on our way again.

The road condition was even worse , there were landslides in the middle but luckily bike was able to get through , beautiful mountains were real refreshers accompanied by few huge waterfalls.

View from Toe Dhey Hotel tabo

Dhankar Monastery 

panorama of dhankar

The road from POH to tabo has some 20 odd loops , road condition be great and surrounding nature even beautiful. Mountain soil dramatically changed color from brown to yellowish , orange and many more , flowers were everywhere .

German Bakery : Tabo

First thing we found out in Tabo is German Baker and we were delighted to try out some fresh cookies , cakes and filter coffee. Laxman , nepali owner learned the art of making cookies in Goa . Like all mountain youths he also travels to goa in winters . Its really amazing how much these people travel every year to earn their living. Filter coffee at 60rs was worth considering the efforts put behind it.

Standing Ovation

We were approaching recong peo there was a army recruitment going on in a school playground , hundreds of young men have gathered. They saw us coming and there was a huge cheer as if some celebrity is approaching, for the first time in life we received standing ovation ….well for just riding bike :)

Bikers are extremely respected by local people , no mechanic would charge us for small fixes . In sonmarg vikram’s bike had a puncture, we went to a mechanic who has only fixed 6 wheelers all his life but still he offered help. Few more joined in …bike was a alien domain for them. They finally managed it and refused to take the money “Nahi sir ye hamari taraf se” he politely said and asked for a tea.

There was a road block in Anantnag , people were protesting against the government no vehicle was allowed to pass since few hours , but we were allowed to get through easily “aap bahot door se aaye hai, aap ja sakte ho !!” someone said.

We found a friend in Srinagar , Altaf , a local paanwala , he was so amazed by what we have done he offered to come to his house  to stay . Later on he showed us a local restra “New Broadview” which offered the best Wazwan I ever had.

Komic , asia's highest motorable village , snow leopard was spotted here few years ago

The Monk

The Nomads Cottage, Losar

The road from kaza to losar is amazingly beautiful , I would have loved to spend a full day on the road photographing the greenery , flowers , extremely colorful birds  , river and Himalayan peaks to complete the perfect canvas.

Road from Kaza to Losar 

Kyi and Kibber are must visit places as the view they offer is simply breathtaking .

kibber village

view of satlag river basin from kyi monastery 

Losar  was the coldest place we have visited so far , small village on the banks of river where narrow valley opens in a broad plane with mountains guarding all sides , leaving only small passage for  harshest and coldest wind I have experienced so far in my life. Wind was so strong it was almost impossible to get out of the Nomads Cottage.

Nomads Cottage owned by Sahil offers a homely but luxurious comfortable stay and simple but delicious food. And not to forget bikers discount in months of june and july :)

view from nomads cottage

Chandratal : Unfinished Task

Thumb rule while trekking in Himalayas “Start Early , Reach before sunset” we seemed to forget that , we were supposed to start at 5 in the morning to start the trek from Kunzom pass …finally started at 9 , by the time we covered 14 kms to reach beautiful kunzom la at 14500ft . We were accompanied by kanga , caretaker from nomads cottage to show us the route.

We met few yak shephards , in return of our paranthas they gave us spitian souja , prepared by mixing yak milk , jawar and sugar. It tested really bad …even bad when we compared it with our aloo paranthas but we ate it without complaining , they loved this fact that we ate their food and loved it. We became friends soon and started towards chandratal with them. They were there to fetch their yaks from chandratal.

Vikram and Matha very soon realized trekking in Himalaya is not as easy as trekking in sahyadris both had to stop after every 100meters for a breath and were fully exhausted.

One of the shepherds told me “sir , your friends wont be able to make it before the down , you better return ” I also agreed as it was past 12 and we hadn’t completed even 20% , with no camping equipments and food that was the wisest thing to do , I asked the shepherd to convey the message himself as I knew they wont listen to me , kanga volunteered and we agreed to reach a place from where we can atleast see the chandratal and return.

While returning I kept my 5 Stones …and one day I will return to that lake.

kunzum devi temple at kunzom pass , 14500ft

shepherds of spiti

Story of Chandratal

While we were waiting for Vikram and Matha , one of the shephards told me a interesting story . Once upon a time the lake used to be really small , a boy from a village would come there everyday and play the flute . After listening to the music goddess of the lake fell in love with the boy and both got married eventually . One day boy returned to his village and never went back to the lake , since then the goddess is crying and lake is expanding.

Story certainly is interesting but the lake might be expanding as more and more glaciers are melting and adding to the lake water . One day when all glaciers will melt …lake will start to die …please prevent the global warming or visit the lake before goddess stops crying.

Heroics of Kunzum Pass

Kunzom pass has done well to maintain absolute uncertainty on its opening , few said glaciers are still on the road and BRO is unable to work  while some said its through, bikes can go. Tsering Both , owner of hotel in Kaza has warned us be careful while crossing , ice layer makes it extremely difficult for bike . Tsering has tried it few years back and after few falls decided to load his bullet in army convoy and return.

We got the news that few bikers had crossed a day before , we decided to leave early morning (as we would always decide) and for the first time started just 30 minutes late :P

Reached kunzom pass and as locals to circled around the kunzom devi temple for gud luck ..now we had to cross 14 bends to reach batal.

First glacier approached, as soon as vikram started crossing it …slipped and fell down ..we rushed for help and had to do some ice skating to reach vikram . Thin layer of hard ice …first layer of glacier formation ….Dimag ki Batti , it was Sunday and BRO doesn’t work on weekends that means no dozer or any truck has passed the route since last 48hrs …so we had given enough time to the mountain to start glacier creation against , passing BRO vehicles would have crushed the thin layer. We had two options , move ahead or to wait for sun to shine gud enough to melt the layer . Second option wasn’t certain, we decided to move ahead …we took out our spanners and screw drivers …one would ride the bike , one would support the rider and prevent fall and third person would break the ice using metal tools we had. Idea seemed to work …pulsar's broader tires helped as it slipped less …we were moving ahead and after 3 hrs we had managed to cross 3 bends of glaciers successfully  .

After one more hour drive we reached batal and had some Maggie to boost our sprit , dhaba owner told us that there is a glacier ahead , biggest of all and full of frozen ice water …if we can get through it rest of road would not bother much.

Reached the glacier after crossing few smaller ones , bikes even got stuck in ice few times but we pushed through . Sun was shining bright now which has caused further addition to the ice water pond …we had to measure the depth , matha volunteered and put his foot in and cried “I have lost sensation in my foot , I am not going in there again” , we had to push our vehicles through , running feet , circulating blood and shining sun ment chances of frostbite were reduced.

But at 14000ft pushing loaded bikes through 3ft deep freezing cold glacier water  pond was not easy task. It took us 2 hrs and immense pain in our bones to push three bikes through . Warmth of sun brought some relief , we dried our feet and clothes for an hour …we had won the battle

the pond 

Rest of run was challenging as well we drove through waterfalls , rock climbed our bikes and when we finally reached keylong in the evening  we certainly deserved to celebrate our heroics.

Throughout the day we saw no other living creature than few sheeps , if anything had gone wrong we would have received help only 2 days after . What we did was act of extreme madness and courage.

Once we passed the glacier we were so pumped up we could have even reached leh the same day 

Battle of Tanglang la

“You can reach leh in one day” Nirmal , hotel caretaker at keylong was telling us , from our earlier victory over Kunzom pass even we thought the same we were assured again and again that roads in leh are like runways. Once again we decided to leave early …just decided.

Road was anything but the runway , baralacha la was snow covered and reminded us of kunzom , freezing wind was penetrating two layers of gloves and biting our hands . Gata loops tested our patience and brought us to 15000ft , pang was beautiful but we did not wait but then came Tanglang La , mud filled road with trucks at 17500+ft , second highest motorable road in ladakh after khardung …vehicles slipped , this time in mud , trucks blocked the route , loops ran from one end of mountain to other and slowed down our descend .

To add flavor , hail storming started , I would prefer snowfall anyday over rain and hailstorm , hailstorm even worst as temperature falls drastically . Now we were shivering in our 4 layers clothes , Tanglang La frustrated us to eternity and forces us to surrender at Rumptse , just 70kms before leh. But that was wise decision as few people were stuck at tanglang la the other night .

Next morning there was a layer of snow on our bikes , Vikram carved “Leh’d” on them.

Pangong Tso

Pangong Tso is 130km lake , extermly beautiful salt water lake which spans across india and china. Blueness of the lake changes as per the strength of sunshine , a moment it will be as blue as a swimming pool and the next moment transparent as a crystal.

One need to cross Chang La , 3^rd highest pass in the region at 17586ft to reach lake , me and vikram were riding on pulsar as matha opted out …bad idea ..pulsar was not able to carry our weight on mighty slopes of chang la and almost died of suffocation 

Return Journey and the third heaven

We couldn’t go to K-top , ice sliding has made the road unsafe and we didn’t want to repeat kunzom la topic . We decided to visit Kashmir, Srinagar and pehalgam . Rode from leh to Srinagar is beautiful and well constructed has many scenic places like magnetic hill , lamayuru , kargil war memorial and drass itself .

Zozila is a younger brother of tanglang la , equally frustrating but much more beautiful then the other.

Halted at sonmarg because of the hot weather and we didn’t mind the halt at all …lush green valley …tasty wazwan was something we were experience after long long time

Ride in Dal lake removed all the tiredness of the trip and was soothing to the eyes and my camera lens .

Pehalgam remains to be my favorite place in Kashmir .

Lunger at golden temple is tasty and please don’t try Pra Da Dhaba its waste of money

And after long , boring and hellish ride of 480 kms in scorching 40 degrees we were back in delhi and raring to reach soothing climate of pune where my friends are telling monsoon has started and I am already dreaming monsoon trekking in beautiful sahyadris

Important Contacts and Links

Sahil duggal :- 09650824268

info@nomadicdestinations.com

http://nomadicdestinations.com/

Tsering Bodh , kaza :- 09418208987