Ladakh Diaries - Part 3: The final chapter

I woke up in Pangong Lake at 6 AM. I was excited to see the view of it.

Oh my God! What a feeling to see such a heavenly view as first thing in morning. Crystal blue carpet of water lying in the house of Himalayas. I took my camera with other stuff and ran towards the lake to click some pictures. There I saw a group of boys from Srinagar who were struggling with their camera. So I clicked some pictures for them and in return got some pictures clicked of myself.

I was so indulged that I forgot to look around for my friends. Then I saw one of my friends who got separated from us at Karu, he has already seen my bike and was enquiring about me at the Dolma restaurant where I stayed. But I was still busy with my camera, capturing the pure light of that place. At the same time I saw few more riders of our group approaching, these riders got separated at Chang La. All where looking for me and I was enjoying watching that from lake.

Finally I got back to them and we started laughing. All of us didn’t have anything to say but laugh at what has happened with us in last few hours. Now the status of only those 2 riders is unknown who got separated at village Sakti. We got to know about them when my friends got internet connectivity from the locals.Actually, Last day they returned to Leh city in misconception of routes. We clicked some group pictures as proof of making it to the Pangong lake. Before leaving, we ate aloo ke paranthe at Dolma restaurant. Those were few of the best aloo ke paranthe we ever head and we were least expecting that awesome taste at such a remote location. We had a misconception before starting our trip that we won't get much to eat in Ladakh. But we had got very tasty aloo ke paranthe almost everywhere in Ladakh and Himachal. While riding back to Leh,

we all had that satisfaction of making up to here in such harsh conditions. Until then we had ridden over everything and in almost all of the bad conditions anyone can get while riding through Himalayas. We rode over ice, sand, big rocks, pebbles and rivers in snowfall, rainfall, storms, heat and cold weather. Now we know how to cross anything without any problem. Please consider this, if you are riding through water or any other harsh conditions, do not pull half brakes and half clutch to keep control. Better leave your clutch and brakes, put your vehicle on first gear, hold your handle/steering tight and pull accelerator constantly. It will help you crossing without getting stuck in the middle. A rider we met in our journey has given us this mantra and it really helped us a lot. We didn't get our shoes wet anywhere after that.

It was a sunny day, we didn't get any problem in riding back to Leh. We were getting this feeling that our time to play hard has ended. We reached hotel Sidharth in Leh which we have booked online. There we met our other 2 riders who have reached a day before us. That morning, those 2 riders have tried going to Khardung La but unfortunately they have got return from north pullu because of road blockage. In the evening, few of us went to Rakesh(the mechanic) to get the broken Exhaust fix. After that we were roaming in the Main market. We had ice cream and were chatting about our experiences till then. It was around 10 PM, we were searching a restaurant to have dinner but most of the restaurants were closed and others were too crowded to wait for turn. So we ended up in a cafe. It was a nice cafe on Fort Road, I forgot its name. Then we went to our hotels to sleep.

     Next day we woke up to our last day in Leh. After having nice brunch we headed to Leh-Srinagar Highway to cover the local sites.

First we stopped at Gurudwara Pathar Sahib, it has an interesting history which you can read over there. This Gurudwara is entirely maintained by India army. Every single person working inside this gurudwara is an Indian army soldier.

Next stop was Magnetic hill, we didn't feel any significance about that place so we moved towards the Sangam. It is a place where River Zanskar and river Indus are conflicting. The color of both rivers is easily differentiable.

We sat there for a while, looking at the river I thought is that how our trip going to end? Something is missing, something feels incomplete. What was the first thought that use to come to my mind whenever I had dreamt about Ladakh? Riding to the World's highest motor-able pass, The Khardung La. So I looked around, it was a clear sunny day and we haven't seen any rainfall or snowfall from 2 days. I got a little hope that today is going to be the day to conquer my dream. While in return from Sangam, we had planned to visit Hall of fame.

Before reaching there I asked other riders that I am going towards Khardung La, if anyone wants to come then we should start right now. So that if it is open, we could make it in day time. Two of my co-riders agreed to come with me. First we went to our hotels to gear-up properly and then we started to Khardung La at 3:30 PM. While reaching North pullu, we were just praying while riding to have the route open for us. After reaching North pullu, we were so glad to see the open gates. We were ready to live our dream. Only 16 km, but it was worst then ever. The only good thing was that the sky was clear and sunny. Slowly we were crossing each hurdles. Crossing every difficult patch was a victory for us. Finally when we saw the board of Khardung La.

It was really hard to believe that we have made it. Literally I asked 2,3 tourists to confirm. We had a big smile, wet eyes and a loud happy voice coming from deep inside of our core that we have made it. It was one of those feelings for me which says "Yes! This is it. This is what I wanted, I don't have anything more to ask from this life. The promise which I have made to my bike that I will take it to the World's highest motor-able pass is fulfilled.

We returned to Leh by 7 PM. Got the required stuff from market and got our petrol tanks full. There I thought of checking my bike's Air pressure. But the machine was not working properly and instead of filling air, it has reduced my tyre's air pressure. Now we got a problem, because it was around 9 PM on Sunday and no puncture or tyre shop was open at that time in Leh. I searched everywhere for an hour but didn't get anything. Then we decided to ask other riders if they have air pumps. I saw some bikes parked inside a hotel, so I thought of giving a chance and I entered the hotel. There I saw an air pump hanging behind a bike. I asked the receptionist to let me use that pump. Fortunately he agreed and let me fill air in my bike's tyre.

          Next day we started our journey back to Delhi. While going towards Leh, we had split our journey from Manali to Leh at Bharatpur Tent Colony but while returning we decided to break our journey from Leh to Manali in Jispa. Although it was hectic for that day to travel around 350 km but it was better for us to spend a night in Jispa rather than Bharatpur Tent Colony to avoid HAS(High Altitude Sickness). 
         In our way to Jispa, while we were crossing Gata Loops, my bike get slipped off the road because of sudden breaks. This was the third time I fell from my bike and I was only one having such accidents in that journey. May be I was not paying that much attention while riding. My left shoulder got hurt and it was paining badly. I was not able to move it properly. Every time I use to sit on my bike, I has to use my right hand to place my left hand on the handle bar. I thought that I would not be able to make it to our destination for the day but then my co-riders pushed me and we were able to make it before sunset. At Jispa, we got a big room for all 7 of us. This was the first time in that trip when we were staying in a single room. It was a memorable night where we had many feelings and emotions. I prayed to God to make me able to ride next day. And fortunately I was feeling a little better next morning. Next day we had only 140 km to ride which we covered in time. At 2 PM we were in our hotel room in Manali. We rested in Manali for a day. Next day, we started our ride to Delhi at 4 AM. Everything went smoothly and we reached Delhi at 7 PM. This is it, everybody went back to their normal lives in couple of days. But this one experience, we are not going to forget for our life. We still has so much to talk about it and I think this talking is not going to end until we go to Ladakh again.😃