In Nature's Clutches – LEH,LADAKH

What can I say about Ladakh? I can just say one thing.... I am totally speechless.

The plan

We were a group of thirteen youngsters, Young, daring and craving for adventure. As a result of above we planned to ride to Leh, Ladakh on Bullet 500CC the only superbike that is affordable for us middle class Indians. The question was do we ride from Delhi or do we ride from Manali. We decided to ride from Manali as we were accompanied by some daring ladies and it would have been tiring to ride from Delhi. We hired bikes from Manali as it was the best possible option. We also hired a mechanic to help us through the trip. We decided to take the Manalià RohtangàKeylongàSarchuàUpshiàLeh route, as it was supposed to be the most scenic route to Leh. We had booked accommodation at Jispa and Sarchu. Our plan was to ride till Jispa on day-1, ride till Sarchu on day-2 and finally reach our destination Leh on the day-3.

The Journey

It was a Monday morning and for a change it wasn’t boring. We thirteen bikers were ready with all the biking gear except the Helmet. Yes, you heard it right. We planned to conquer the Himalayan glacier without a helmet, how stupid. This was due to a misunderstanding that the bike rental would provide us the helmets but for our bad luck it wasn’t so. So we took the risk. So, here we were thirteen bikers with a fool proof plan ready to conquer the mighty Himalayas on one of the mean machines known to man, Bullet 500 classic.

As we set out on one of the most challenging journey, we were faced by many hardships. It was raining heavily in Manali and we put on our rain coats and headed off to jispa our first destination. As we were approaching Rohtang pass the intensity of rain increased and we got the bad news that the road leading to Rohtang pass was filled with quick sand and slush leading up to the knees. Adding to these there were many landslides due to heavy rains. We braced ourselves to face these challenges. As we drove on the slush, many bikers fell into the slush hurting themselves and many struggling to get their bikes out of the quick sand. At that point of time we just prayed to god to help us cross this nightmarish roads leading to the Rohtang pass. Help came from all quarters. We got help from another biking group who were travelling to Leh and also from few truck drivers. I really pity the truck drivers who have to drive through such worst possible roads and weather conditions. With great difficulties we managed to get our bikes out of the slush and halted at a point till the rains subsided. Once the rain gods showed mercy on us and the intensity of the rains reduced we headed off to Rohtang pass. Rohtang means piles of dead bodies. We were wondering as to why it was called so until we actually reached the spot.

Rohtang....

I am in short of words to describe Rohtang pass. Snow covered mountains, deathly curvy roads, steep cliffs and what not. It never snows during the month of August in Rohtang pass but, God had different plans for us. The pass was covered by thick layer of snow giving a mind-blowing and breathtaking view of the pass and the surrounding mountains. The last time it had snowed in the month of August was in 1970. So, we were lucky to have witnessed snow in the pass. All the bikers got drenched in rain before reaching the Rohtang pass due to the heavy rains. The snow around us froze our palms. We were unable to ride along the pass as our palm felt like a block of ice. All our senses went numb. Many riders gave up and their substitutes took over. We were actually nervous if we could get pass the snow clad mountain pass. Such chill this pass gives you. A lot of people have lost their lives in this pass due to such extreme weather conditions. No wonder this pass is called the pile of dead bodies or Rohtang.

A beautiful paradise called Koksar...

With great difficulties we bikers managed to get off the snow clad Rohtang pass into a beautiful Valley called Koksar. This paradise is surrounded by innumerable waterfalls each forming at the rate of one waterfall per hour due to the heavy rains. We almost tripped over few waterfalls that were forming on the way to koksar right next to us while we were riding. The heavy rainfall on the roads leading to Rohtang pass, the nightmarish journey through the snow and the horror stories of what lies ahead in the journey brought down the morale of all the bikers. We decided to halt at koksar until the weather conditions showed some improvement. With great difficulties we found a lodge. It was more like a refugee camp. Fifteen beds were laid out one next to the other just like we were in an army bunker. We thanked god that we were at least able to reach koksar and get a decent lodge to stay until the weather got better. There were few bikers belonging to another group who got stuck in the snow clad mountains of Rohtang due to landslides and had nowhere to go. I just cannot imagine their plight as they were stranded in those icy mountains of Rohtang all night long and nowhere to go. By God’s grace we were all at the lodge safe and sound with just some minor injuries and minor issues like cold a cough. We spent that night at koksar hoping that the next day things would turn out to be better. However that was not the case. The rains did not stop. It continued pouring the next day as well. We were getting really bad news from different travellers that there were a lot of deaths near Pang, Keylong and Sarchu due to the bad weather. This further battered the morale of the bikers.  All of us were confused. We were contemplating to end the bike trip and go back to Manali via Rohtang. However the memories of Rohtang gave a chill in our spine and we decided to go-ahead in our journey to Leh would be a better option instead of undergoing the nightmare of Rohtang pass again.

The Silver lining

Finally the rains showed some signs of subsiding. It was 1PM.The sun rose out of nowhere and gave us a ray hope that this journey is not over. The rains stopped and there was a beautiful rainbow formation right behind our lodge. The clouds were clearing one by one. The faces of the shattered bikers lit up again. All the SLR dudes started capturing the beauty of koksar in their cameras. We were back into Business.

Phase-2 Koksar to Sarchu

As we had lost a lot of time in koksar due to the bad weather, we had to make changes to our plan. We could no longer stay at Jispa as we did not have time to waste and the tents in Jispa had collapsed due to heavy snowfall. Our next destination was Sarchu. Due to the ordeal in Rohtang all our warm clothing was of no use to us. We planned to buy fresh set of warm clothing in keylong. We woke up by 5am the next morning. We couldn’t quite figure out which day of the week it was because all our phones were switched off as there was no power for two days in koksar. We had no time to lose as we had a long journey ahead. As we heard horror stories that had occurred on the way to Sarchu and Pang, we did not know what lay ahead. We, thirteen bikers were ready, ready to ride 200kms into the unknown. We wore all our biking gear and revved up our engines to head off to Keylong, where we had planned to have our breakfast. On our way to Keylong we encountered a very bad patch of road called “Pagal Nala”. A waterfall had paved its way through the road. There was no road. It was just flowing water and sharp rocks. Thank god we were on Bullet 500 classic, as no other bike could have been able to cross that road. With great difficulties we managed to cross that bad stretch and headed off to Keylong. We could see the kind of mayhem caused by the bad weather to this beautiful paradise. There were huge rocks fallen on the roads damaging the pitch, fallen electric lines and trees. It was an absolute catastrophe. It was a reminder to us that we are at the mercy of Mother Nature and no force is greater than her.  

Keylong

After driving for 40kms we reached Keylong. We finally saw some human habitation after two days. Keylong is a moderately populated city in the Himalayas providing all the amenities like good hotels, decent restaurants serving yummy food like Thupka and Cheese Omelette. We halted at one such restaurant and gave our taste buds a treat. We were deprived of good food for two days while we were in Koksar as a result all of us hogged like we will never get to eat again. After having sumptuous food we headed out to the market. We bought warm clothing, Gloves and Gum Boots. As we were already running short of time we wrapped up fast and continued our journey to Sarchu. On our way to Sarchu we passed through Snow capped mountains, Lush green valleys, never ending roads, Streams of water. The view was breath-taking. You need to experience the Himalayas at least once in a lifetime it will truly enrich your life. We had to make an entry at the army check post because this was the only way they could keep a track of people just in case someone went missing as there was no other means of communication in this area. We passed by a valley called Zing-Zing-Bar which was totally covered with snow. It was nature at its best. As it was sunny and the clouds had cleared it was a perfect setting for some snow games. We bikers halted and played in the snow for some time. Making snow balls and flinging it on each other. The happy moments were back. We then got on to our bikes and drove to Sarchu. We reached Sarchu at 3PM.

Sarchu

A beautiful valley covered by snow capped mountains. We couldn’t have asked for more. Our tented accommodation was at the middle of few snow clad mountains. The view was simply breath-taking. We parked our bikes in sequence and checked into our accommodation. As Sarchu was at a higher altitude, most of us were suffering from acute mountain sickness. Diamox tablets came in handy during these testing times. As the sun set the temperature at the valley reduced drastically. None of us were able to sleep at night as it was very cold. I guess the temperature reduced to 0 degrees at night. I was shivering all night. It was 8AM next day. We had our breakfast and readied to leave to our next destination, LEH. We drove non-stop till Pang. We had minor mishaps on the way as few bikers including me fell from their bikes in the tricky mountain curves. As we passed through the beautiful Himalayan Mountains we made a promise to ourselves that we will visit again. After riding for three hours we reached a beautiful paradise Pang.

Pang to LEH, Ladakh

Huge mountains, uniquely carved, resembling an artist’s imagination- Pang. The feeling of riding through these mountains is indescribable. We were glad that we planned to ride through this nature’s beauty instead of taking a flight to Leh. We halted for lunch at Pang. We had the world famous Maggi noodles Pang style. I don’t know what goes into the making of Maggi in these hilly areas as they taste so yummy. After having our lunch we continued our journey to Leh. The road after pang is awesome to say the least. All credit should go to Border Road Organization (BRO) for their hard work in maintaining the roads in mint condition in such extreme places. The feeling of driving through these roads was out of the world. There were bad stretches here and there but those were overshadowed by the mesmerising view of the surroundings. We had finally entered Ladakh. It wasn’t easy to get there. After all the hardships we faced en-route, it was truly worth. Colourful streams of water flowing from colourful mountains. It felt like I was in Switzerland.  I just fell in love with my surroundings. I did not want to go any further. I wanted to spend my entire life there, right there at the Heaven called Ladakh. Passing by the beautiful mountains we reached Upshi at 1PM and LEH at 3PM. It was a life changing event for all of us. We did not even know if we could ever reach our destination or if we could survive the extreme weather conditions forced upon us by Mother Nature. For all, it was truly worth it. As I mentioned in the beginning, I was speechless after experiencing the mesmerising Himalayas. I have vowed to go on this journey again.