Escapades

       Photo: Leh City      Health advisory on the permit for visiting Leh-Ladakh reads 'All tourists/visitors arriving in Leh must undergo at least 48hrs of acclimatization before initiating their journey to high altitude areas'. Incidents where tourists gasping for breath is not uncommon. This is due to A.M.S (acute mountain sickness) when people from lowland areas whose body has become habitual to plenty of oxygen suddenly find themselves in a place where there is a lack of oxygen.      Since during the past 4 days our altitude grew gradually, one day of acclimatization was sufficient for us which also allowed us to check the list of 'Must do places'.      The city of Leh it seemed has somehow been kept intact with its cultural and religious persona being the driving force behind its identity giving Leh such a unique place among the places where young crowd go for a 'break'. Of course, it is not to say that Leh has...

         Photo: Somewhere in Ladakh            Leh was just 200 kms. The capital city of Ladakh. A place and its people very unlike what I was habitual to.        Just as we left Kargil, the bare mountains of Ladakh welcomed us in all its glory. The sun was up but it did not feel hot. The roads built by B.R.O (Border Roads Organisation) were next to perfection and riddled with quips aimed at hasty drivers.      We had our breakfast of aloo parantha served with tamatar ki chutney at a roadside Dhaba and we could only wish that our maid at home made such delicious food. We passed Namik La situated at a height of ~12,000 ft and clicked many photos with folds of mountains serving as background. There was no vegetation to be seen on those mountains, however what lacked in the terms of vegetation, was fulfilled by the different hues of colours reflected by the surface of rocky mountains. One-fold of...

          Photo: Dal Lake     (Day 2 of Ladakh: A Dream) Last night we were stopped by the army jawans just as we were about to embark from Banihal towards Srinagar. The jawans requested that we start our journey towards Srinagar early in the morning. For the uninitiated, this part of our drive from Banihal to Srinagar would take us alongside the notorious towns of Anantnag, Avantipura, Pulwama and others, known for harbouring anti-India sentiments and the army were recently reinforced to facilitate the ongoing 'Amarnath Yatra'.      When we started at 6 am, we were met with highest level of military presence. The armored vehicles straight out of Batman movie were a sight to behold. That day I felt the meaning of the words 'parinda bhi par nhi mar sakta' .      However, with all these annotations about the valley put aside, I can say with certainty that ' Kashmir Valley is a thing of beauty'. With houses made of woo...

      P athankot ---80---Samba---60---Udhampur----60--- Ramban---45---Banihal---95--- Srinagar     (Previous post: Day 1 of Ladakh: A Dream)   It was still raining in the morning when we woke up, not with the same gusto as the day before but enough to dampen our moods. That day we were aiming to reach Srinagar, the pitstop for our 2nd day, which was ~300 kms away. But thankfully, the clouds had run out of its water and the Sun played hide and seek from thereon to warm our hearts. We took the road that would take us through the city of Udhampur and allow us to bypass Jammu and save valuable 40 kms.       It was at a Dhaba named ' Jai Maa Laxmi Vaishno Dhaba' (near Samba) that news reached our ears  that a section of road in Rambaan district, the connecting road to Banihal-Srinagar Highway,  had caved in to the raging Chenab, the day before and every news channel and Facebook page predicted atleast 2-3 days of time before the r...

  (Introduction)   ...the rain played spoilsport. Alam clock was set for 2:00 am since our Day 1 was going to be long haul of nearabout 600 kms from Delhi to Jammu. When the alarm went off at its pre-decided time, it was raining cats and dogs outside and the idea of postponing the trip to the next day briefly crossed our mind. Never had I prayed so early in the morning before. After passage of about half an hour, it seemed like our prayers had been answered. At first, the downpour slowed down to a drizzle and then it completely stopped at around 4 am. We wasted no time stuffing the last remains of our items into our bags. It may seem easy but it's a herculean task tying two bags at the back of a motorcycle which were packed with clothes and daily use items that I was going to use for the next 12-13 days. Yes, we had 2 bikes and yes, each of us was to carry 2 bags. This completely thankless job took a good 1.5 hrs of our time and at that point we realised that it had to be done...

     3 years of wishful hoping, 3 months of tidbits preparation and 1 week of palpable excitement finally culminated into the start of my dream ride on the 8th day of July 2023 to the land of mountain passes. Morey Plains, Barlachala pass, Khardung La, Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri, Turtuk, Apricots, Juley, AMS, Shyok, Zojila pass, Hanle , Diskit Monastery. All that was going to happen soon. Ahhh!!!           When the idea of visiting Ladakh this year in July was hatched, 2 of my friends said aye. However, Gaurav broke his arms first and fellowship of the ride later and that left me and my friend Kaniska who were going to traverse the lands of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh to reach Leh and beyond.  Kaniska and I are not made out of same mould, however, one thing that is common to both of us is our love for motorbike riding. Nothing can beat the sound of that 'thump' coming out of engine of a bike, like a celestial music you ...