So I spent a day in Sarchu and walked around, took pictures, put my gear to dry. All that was primarily to acclimatize myself to the ‘high’. In the process of doing so, I met a lot of travelers, at the dhabha where I stayed. Most just halted for snacks, while some stayed to rest for the night. In the morning, I found something that I was eagerly looking for- a working telephone to get in touch with people at home. The lady at the Dhabha guided me to the army camp where satellite phone service was available with charges hovering around 8 INR per minute. I was so glad about it that I spent a good half an hour on the call. No matter how much you talk about Ladakh to someone, it is always less.
I met a solo cyclist named Rishabh who stopped at the dhabha for the night. He was fulfilling his dream of cycling from Manali to LEH. Then arrived two young men on their Royal Enfields who were on their way back to Manali. They halted for snacks but we all had such funny and informative conversations that they decided to stay for the night. While we had Parathas in the evening, we saw a huge motorhome pass by the dhabha.
Eager to check it out, Rishabh and I ran out to see who it was. Once the motor home halted behind the Dhabha, we met Cedric Garrigos, his wife and two children who had been travelling all the way from France since two years. Their motor home was a converted military truck which had almost everything you’d find in a modern house, including parking for cycles and a scooter. They also had all provisions and medicines inside that you could call one corner of the home, a mini operation theatre!
We all sat together in the Dhabha and heard Cedric’s stories while Dinner was being prepared by the lady owner. To our surprise, Shilpa and Sundeep joined us too after seeing my KTM parked outside. A traveller’s party of some sort is what we experienced at 14000 feet before we prepared our beds and called it a night. We had to get going early the next morning!
I was in a dilemma, whether to stop for the night 90 kilometers after Sarchu at a place called Pang or to continue to LEH city which was still 250 kms away. Now, 250 kms may sound little but in the Ladakh region, it is similar to riding for 800 kms on lower altitudes. The friendly Indian Army Personnel at camp Sarchu suggested I carry onto LEH city instead of staying at Pang as it was at a much higher altitude than LEH and Sarchu. Spending a night at 16000 feet may or may not have been a problem, especially since I had acclimatized but on the other hand, the tarmac after Pang was smooth and well maintained so there was a high probability that I could make it to LEH before Sundown and scout for a camping site or hotel. I changed my mind and thought of reaching LEH. The next morning, I left Sarchu at 8.45 along with Sundeep and Shilpa.
We maintained a lot of distance between each other but frequently met up on the way. Phone signal I was told, was to be dead until LEH. For the first time on this journey, dark clouds hovered above yet, the landscape looked brown and beautiful. A lot of the rock structures were such that they looked like entrances to other worlds. Very soon though, GATA loops arrived, a network of about 22 hairpin bends. Personally, I love hairpin curves but a lot of the GATA loops were broken and some were muddy. I wasn’t really complaining though.
In no time, I was above 15000 feet. Sandeep and Shilpa kept meeting often. I crossed Nakeela pass and then came across a Himalayan Marmot. A halt and photo session was mandatory since this little bear was extremely cute. The half broken road then descended to 14000 feet.
Road condition was satisfactory though, it takes a hell lot of effort to maintain roads at such altitudes! In a while though, I crossed whisky Nalla and the climb initiated again. The road this time was wet and a bit muddy and I saw multi utility vehicles going off road. No wonder they get stuck quite often. It wasn’t long before it had rained here, I was chasing the rain clouds. After a few kms, LachungLa pass arrived at 16,600 feet. I was a bit surprised though to not feel any signs of altitude sickness, nothing at all. I spend a few minutes there and took some pictures and continued with the ride.
After descending from LachungLa, the terrain became even more barren and dry. I could hardly find greenery of any sort but the brown mountains, rocks and ‘natural structures’ seemed like they were from another world. A barren place usually doesn’t seem very lively as a jungle. But this stretch, it was definitely alive and young.
When Pang was just 8 kilometers away, it began to rain. I took the event pretty casually and didn’t stop to put on my rain gear but in just 2 or 3 kms, the shower intensified. I couldn’t even stop because there was no point in doing so, I would’ve got drenched anyways while trying to put my rain gear on. So, I sped up a little bit and reached Pang in little under 5 minutes. I don’t know why I acted so hastily that time. I stopped at the first Dhabha and got inside. After noticing how drenched I had got, I requested the old man and his daughter if I could use the stove to heat and dry my gear. While he agreed and asked me to wait for two minutes, the scene outside turned bright.
It got so sunny, it seemed like there hadn’t been any rainfall at all! That’s Ladakh’s weather for you. While I dried my stuff outside, looked up at the sky and saw a Sun Halo, something that I had never seen in my entire life. Then, when I looked at the Dhabha entrance properly, it had the same name as I have- Saajan. On asking who it was, the lady said it was the owner’s name who I met while he was busy preparing Parathas. Lunch followed after an intriguing conversation about Saajan while Sandeep and Shilpa too arrived at the scene. I saw a lot of people taking selfies with the board that read ‘PANG’ but no one seemed to look up at that beautiful, heavenly Halo. Such a contradiction. While I had lunch and left, I planned with Shilpa and Sandeep to meet up at LEH directly.
Ahead of me laid vast plains and a single road that went through it. Popularly known as More Plains, this flat stretch of land is such an ‘odd one out’ place in Ladakh. The pretty much straight, smooth, tarred road from here was about 50 kms long. Due to my 390’s combustion being low at high altitudes, the mileage reading displayed 51 kmpl, while I cruised along smoothly at 80 kmph in 6th gear.
After More plains, the ascent to Tanglangla begins, one can see the road gradually go up the mountain. Some of the section on this ascent was covered with gravel which eventually turned into a smooth, tarred road again. The climb wasn’t a very long lasting one, the Tanglangla altitude marker arrived in no time while my watch displayed an altitude of 17200 feet. After a short photo session, I realized I wasn’t late but that didn’t mean I would stay at 17000 feet for a long time. The descent to LEH, which is at 10,000 feet begins after Tanglangla.
The road went down the mountain like a snake that I upped my speed a bit and became lean happy, overtaking almost all Royal Enfields riding in huge groups. By huge, I mean 15-20 motorcycles. I then went through villages Gya, Sasoma where landscapes with colors green and red showed up, literally. LEH was still 60 kms away. The next major town called Upshi arrived at 5 PM where I stopped to fill fuel from my Jerry can. I was happy to receive Cellular network here and immediately made a call to people at home. LEH was 50 kms from there, which arrived exactly at 6.30 PM.
I called people up at home to assure them that I had reached LEH safely, they congratulated me on fulfilling this major wish I had of riding to Ladakh. I scouted for hotels as my budget for a night hovered around 800- 1000 INR. In one of the gullies, I found a hotel with safe parking and bargain it down it 800, to which the manager agreed in a jiffy. Surprising, isn’t it? I was happy though, because I wasted about an hour to just look for a decent hotel. The only deal was that I was to have dinner outside since their cook was on a holiday. That wasn’t a problem for me at all, in fact that’s what I intended to do. I called it a night at 11.30 PM with a wide smile on my face.
Part One- Motorcycle Diaries- A Journey To Ladakh (Keylong- Jispa)
Part Two- Motorcycle Diaries- A Journey To Ladakh (Jispa- Sarchu)
By: Ssaajan Manoj Jogia
I met a solo cyclist named Rishabh who stopped at the dhabha for the night. He was fulfilling his dream of cycling from Manali to LEH. Then arrived two young men on their Royal Enfields who were on their way back to Manali. They halted for snacks but we all had such funny and informative conversations that they decided to stay for the night. While we had Parathas in the evening, we saw a huge motorhome pass by the dhabha.
*** View outside the dhabha
Eager to check it out, Rishabh and I ran out to see who it was. Once the motor home halted behind the Dhabha, we met Cedric Garrigos, his wife and two children who had been travelling all the way from France since two years. Their motor home was a converted military truck which had almost everything you’d find in a modern house, including parking for cycles and a scooter. They also had all provisions and medicines inside that you could call one corner of the home, a mini operation theatre!
We all sat together in the Dhabha and heard Cedric’s stories while Dinner was being prepared by the lady owner. To our surprise, Shilpa and Sundeep joined us too after seeing my KTM parked outside. A traveller’s party of some sort is what we experienced at 14000 feet before we prepared our beds and called it a night. We had to get going early the next morning!
I was in a dilemma, whether to stop for the night 90 kilometers after Sarchu at a place called Pang or to continue to LEH city which was still 250 kms away. Now, 250 kms may sound little but in the Ladakh region, it is similar to riding for 800 kms on lower altitudes. The friendly Indian Army Personnel at camp Sarchu suggested I carry onto LEH city instead of staying at Pang as it was at a much higher altitude than LEH and Sarchu. Spending a night at 16000 feet may or may not have been a problem, especially since I had acclimatized but on the other hand, the tarmac after Pang was smooth and well maintained so there was a high probability that I could make it to LEH before Sundown and scout for a camping site or hotel. I changed my mind and thought of reaching LEH. The next morning, I left Sarchu at 8.45 along with Sundeep and Shilpa.
*** Me and the dhabha owner
We maintained a lot of distance between each other but frequently met up on the way. Phone signal I was told, was to be dead until LEH. For the first time on this journey, dark clouds hovered above yet, the landscape looked brown and beautiful. A lot of the rock structures were such that they looked like entrances to other worlds. Very soon though, GATA loops arrived, a network of about 22 hairpin bends. Personally, I love hairpin curves but a lot of the GATA loops were broken and some were muddy. I wasn’t really complaining though.
In no time, I was above 15000 feet. Sandeep and Shilpa kept meeting often. I crossed Nakeela pass and then came across a Himalayan Marmot. A halt and photo session was mandatory since this little bear was extremely cute. The half broken road then descended to 14000 feet.Road condition was satisfactory though, it takes a hell lot of effort to maintain roads at such altitudes! In a while though, I crossed whisky Nalla and the climb initiated again. The road this time was wet and a bit muddy and I saw multi utility vehicles going off road. No wonder they get stuck quite often. It wasn’t long before it had rained here, I was chasing the rain clouds. After a few kms, LachungLa pass arrived at 16,600 feet. I was a bit surprised though to not feel any signs of altitude sickness, nothing at all. I spend a few minutes there and took some pictures and continued with the ride.
After descending from LachungLa, the terrain became even more barren and dry. I could hardly find greenery of any sort but the brown mountains, rocks and ‘natural structures’ seemed like they were from another world. A barren place usually doesn’t seem very lively as a jungle. But this stretch, it was definitely alive and young.
When Pang was just 8 kilometers away, it began to rain. I took the event pretty casually and didn’t stop to put on my rain gear but in just 2 or 3 kms, the shower intensified. I couldn’t even stop because there was no point in doing so, I would’ve got drenched anyways while trying to put my rain gear on. So, I sped up a little bit and reached Pang in little under 5 minutes. I don’t know why I acted so hastily that time. I stopped at the first Dhabha and got inside. After noticing how drenched I had got, I requested the old man and his daughter if I could use the stove to heat and dry my gear. While he agreed and asked me to wait for two minutes, the scene outside turned bright.
*** Wet lens
It got so sunny, it seemed like there hadn’t been any rainfall at all! That’s Ladakh’s weather for you. While I dried my stuff outside, looked up at the sky and saw a Sun Halo, something that I had never seen in my entire life. Then, when I looked at the Dhabha entrance properly, it had the same name as I have- Saajan. On asking who it was, the lady said it was the owner’s name who I met while he was busy preparing Parathas. Lunch followed after an intriguing conversation about Saajan while Sandeep and Shilpa too arrived at the scene. I saw a lot of people taking selfies with the board that read ‘PANG’ but no one seemed to look up at that beautiful, heavenly Halo. Such a contradiction. While I had lunch and left, I planned with Shilpa and Sandeep to meet up at LEH directly.
Ahead of me laid vast plains and a single road that went through it. Popularly known as More Plains, this flat stretch of land is such an ‘odd one out’ place in Ladakh. The pretty much straight, smooth, tarred road from here was about 50 kms long. Due to my 390’s combustion being low at high altitudes, the mileage reading displayed 51 kmpl, while I cruised along smoothly at 80 kmph in 6th gear.After More plains, the ascent to Tanglangla begins, one can see the road gradually go up the mountain. Some of the section on this ascent was covered with gravel which eventually turned into a smooth, tarred road again. The climb wasn’t a very long lasting one, the Tanglangla altitude marker arrived in no time while my watch displayed an altitude of 17200 feet. After a short photo session, I realized I wasn’t late but that didn’t mean I would stay at 17000 feet for a long time. The descent to LEH, which is at 10,000 feet begins after Tanglangla.
The road went down the mountain like a snake that I upped my speed a bit and became lean happy, overtaking almost all Royal Enfields riding in huge groups. By huge, I mean 15-20 motorcycles. I then went through villages Gya, Sasoma where landscapes with colors green and red showed up, literally. LEH was still 60 kms away. The next major town called Upshi arrived at 5 PM where I stopped to fill fuel from my Jerry can. I was happy to receive Cellular network here and immediately made a call to people at home. LEH was 50 kms from there, which arrived exactly at 6.30 PM.
I called people up at home to assure them that I had reached LEH safely, they congratulated me on fulfilling this major wish I had of riding to Ladakh. I scouted for hotels as my budget for a night hovered around 800- 1000 INR. In one of the gullies, I found a hotel with safe parking and bargain it down it 800, to which the manager agreed in a jiffy. Surprising, isn’t it? I was happy though, because I wasted about an hour to just look for a decent hotel. The only deal was that I was to have dinner outside since their cook was on a holiday. That wasn’t a problem for me at all, in fact that’s what I intended to do. I called it a night at 11.30 PM with a wide smile on my face.
*** Officially LEH'D
Part One- Motorcycle Diaries- A Journey To Ladakh (Keylong- Jispa)
Part Two- Motorcycle Diaries- A Journey To Ladakh (Jispa- Sarchu)
By: Ssaajan Manoj Jogia