Top of the World - Part 2

I didn't waste too much time after having lost the helmet. We moved from that spot in less then five minutes. I decided that I would ride as far as it would take to get a helmet (which would mean all the way to Leh). Spot the helmet:


We had to reach Thandi, which was the last petrol stop for the next 365kms! We had to stock up on extra fuel for the Bullet, but the R15 and Karizma managed just fine. We stayed in Keylong that night.


My riding attire for the next two days. A skull cap, balaclava, a monkey cap, my windcheater's rain hood, and a scarf. I hardly stepped out of it, as putting it all back was time consuming.


After the night halt in Keylong at the government guest house, we headed towards Saruchu, our next planned night stop. It was hardly 120kms from Sarchu, but the roads being what they were, it took us a good nine hours of riding (including lunch and photo stops).

Incident No.2 - My chain becomes completely loose and starts falling off the sprocket. I found a truck mechanic after limping up slopes for a good 10kms and got it fixed.

En route, we encountered a broken bridge at Darcha which. It was being repaired and we waited for the BRO workers to finish repairing it.


We stopped at Patsio:


We crossed Baralacha La on this day, and I believe we saw the place like no one else. This year it was completely frosted, and the frozen lake in the midst looked like what Shiva aptly put as "Alien Planet". It was the scenic highlight of the trip for me.


A sample of some of the roads we encountered.


Yep, there's your proof. An R15 doing the water crossings, no stones hitting the fairing. But yeah, your feet still freeze if water gets into your shoes, and wet socks are a nightmare in that weather.


We reached Sarachu in the evening, and did one of our major river crossings of the trip.
See video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDKRg5XYumU

The tents at Sarachu costed us Rs.1200/- for a three man tent, and included dinner, breakfast, tea and hot water. The tent has a seperate zipped compartment with a western compartment too - talk about lifestyle! Of course, I didnt even try using it. The temperatures were apparently 4 degrees insude the tent during the night. Could have been an easy -12 degrees outside. Brrr...


The next morning from Sarchu we were finally getting where we wanted to go. Leh! While we were excited about the ride, we had a small problem. We had to climb Tangalang La today, and I was still helmet less. We were warned that Tanglang La would be extremely cold, and I would have a tough time.

More coming up. Meanwhile, a few snaps from the terrain.

Top of the World - Part 1

The Ladakh trip was always a long term plan. Shiva and I had discussed it to death in the last three years. I came close to going in 2007, and it was finally happening in 2009! Kaushik was also going with us.

Presenting the bikes and riders:

Shiva (R15), Kaushik (Bullet) and Ravi (Karizma):



A big thanks to Yogesh Sarkar of www.bcmtouring.com. Yogesh helped Shiva plan the ride, chart out the route map, and helped us with places to stay. Yogesh is a walking-talking encylopedia for the Ladakh region.

With 10 days left to go before the trip, the ride fever had caught on. We went about making check lists and ticking off items from them as and when we finished them. The bikes were shipped by courrier and we were flying to Delhi.

We landed in Delhi, and here another big thanks to Karan, Arpan, Chirag and Bawa. Who are they? They are the Royal Beasts, the Delhi chapter of the bullet club. Their hospitality was beyond words. After baby sitting us for a full day, Arpan lead us till the Delhi border on the 292th July morning. We were finally on our way. We were riding to Ladakh!

Day one. We were riding through hell. We went from Delhi through Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and finally to Himachal in close to 52 degrees of heat. Bilaspur was where we managed to hit the ghats and the temperatures started dropping. Look at the gauge, 49.5 and raising!


We stayed in an awesome hotel some 20kms before Kulu that night. The food was excellent.

Day two: We crossed Manali, and were to cross the famous Rhothang pass. Shortly after our very excited stop for photographs (our first sighting of the snow capped mountains), we hit Rhothang, or rather, the mountain hit us. There was no road to speak of, traffic was extremely heavy, and BRO was laying roads at the same time.

A little before Manali.


Shortly after Manali. Deep valleys and scenic mountain roads.



My fav wallpaper; the white helmet adds to the effect.


Non-existent roads at Rhotang.






Ok, now. Have you ever lost a helmet? Yes, it happened to me, and at the highest place in the world no less. We had descended from Rhotang, and parked for a photograph. We wanted to show you folks the flowing river, and the beauty of the terrain around us. Unfortunately, my stand was resting on soft sand, and slipped. My helmet rolled off the bike mirror, and rolled away into the valley to complete freedom. It was a good 150feet down, and even if I did go down to retrieve it, I would have taken a few hours to get back up. Last good photograph of bike and helmet together:



My helmet currently rests somewhere in this valley. And that, ladies and gentleman, was how I lost my helmet. And not because I went for a dip in the river or some crap like that as was discussed in my absence.