Leh Ladakh, the dream destination...
Leh Ladakh, the dream destination...
(Part 2/3)...
Day 4
According to the plan, we were expected to
reach Leh by EOD, but the delay continued some way.
It’s the most important day, we got to see
the most beautiful places. We started from Sonamarg in the morning, greeted
natives for the Eid all the way. We passed the dangerous Zoji La pass in the
morning.
Briefing about Zoji La, I feel it is a
nightmare for every rider on Srinagar –Leh highway. Fingers-crossed all the way, it took around
1.5 hours to cross it. The road is a single lane, two-way traffic and valley on
one side. Whenever you see a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, you
have to wait till it passes you. If unfortunately, you are on the valley side,
then better to start praying for another day of life. We crossed Zoji La, most
of the path is covered with snow. If you have a fear of heights (I have) better
to stop whenever you feel to, never get carried away with speed. Once you cross
the valley. Take rest, drink some water forget the way you did for some time
because you are going to enter the Kargil highway. You will find the right
roads with riverside by, whenever we were thirsty, we used to stop by, get some
water through the river and have it. You will come across my war memorials,
each and every hill will carry great war memorials. Patriot inside, you will
just awake when you get to know how Jawans crossed the mountain and won the
battle for us. We stopped at Thangavelu and Kargil war memorials. Both of them
are must if you want to know about the great Kargil war.
The
temperature is average in Kargil, right from Pathankot you will see defence
forces every other mile, they will be helpful indeed. We had our lunch in
Kargil and spent the afternoon there in memorial. Then we started to Leh. Roads
were built by BRO (Border Roads Organization) which were amazingly good at
those situations. The landscapes change every now and then, Monasteries welcome
you at every village, Buddhist statue scripted on a hill in Mulbekh was a feast
to the eyes. We reached Mulbek where we got a vehicle problem again. Our
silencer got repaired, and though the place was almost abandoned, we got help
from localities that evening. Throughout this journey, each and everyone we
encountered helps us. Some while we got vehicle problem while some in
motivating. But every individual out there was so supportive. They offered some
food, after having them, we started our journey. As we got to know that we need
permission to travel in Leh. So after reaching Lamayuru, we again faced a problem
with the bikes. One of the bikes has got headlights down, and the other got
brake issue. We planned to stay in Lamayuru in camping tents, but the place was
not suitable due to the frigid breeze and wind. We continued our journey to the
next town where we found a room, and we stayed there for the night.
We started our journey from Lamayuru to
Leh. Though it was the shortest journey, we took a lot of time as we didn’t
want to miss the places nearby. We started from the hotel at around 10 AM, began
with the monastery, then to the Sangam and then Magnetic Hill. Monastery in
Lamayuru was big, it includes schooling and residence for kids. Sangam is a
place where 3 rivers meet. One could differentiate the streams just by seeing
the varied colours. Magnetic Hill is a place where we can notice vehicles
getting moved on its own towards the hill when kept in neutral. Though it
wasn’t so much convincing, there were a lot of visitors. One who comes along
with organized trip makers will never miss this one. After the magnetic hill,
we started a journey to Leh. The temperature was high in Leh (it crossed 30-35
in July first week). We went to get permissions from local authorities. Though
it is a simple process, it consumes a lot of time, and it’s better to get it
done by offering money to local drivers. By the time we reached the permission,
it was late in the evening, we went to a motor repair shop and then had dinner,
booked a room nearby.
Day 6:
From Leh, we started to Khardung-La at
early in the morning around 6AM. As outside rented vehicles weren’t allowed in
Leh, we had to start early in the morning. Khardung La was the highest
motorable road at the time we travelled. It was at an altitude of 18500 feet
above sea level. The route was a bit risky at some points. Other than altitude
sickness, you won’t feel challenging to drive on the road. We took in 1 hour to
reach the top spot from the checkpoint, but our companions couldn’t make it because of vehicle brake down. Again we came back to the checkpoint, caught a mechanic took
him to the bike and got it repaired, then we returned. In a hurry, I ran around
500 meters in that altitude and that made me sick. I advise you to avoid anything
which increases your heartbeat. We returned back to Leh, avoiding Nubra Valley
and got our bikes repaired again. The entire day was wasted because of the bike
problem, after that, we started our way back to be according to the time plan
we made. We got our luggage packed, started to Tsomo Riri. After crossing a
checkpoint, we camped the tents and slept.
Day 7:
Our schedule has become hectic because of bike trouble, we learnt that at least 4 days of buffer time should be maintained in such trips moving forward. With a lot of excitement, we started our journey early in the morning, the road was terrible, though it wasn’t risky, we couldn’t even speed up to 30kmph. At first, we thought we could quickly makeup to Tsomoriri and return to Jispa by evening. But it took us 6 hrs. just to cover halfway from the checkpoint. We had to cover a lot of bridges on the way; When we reached a Kyagar Tso lake, we mistook it as Tsomo Riri. It was a beautiful one with very fewer tourists. Localities said that it was a saltwater lake. We started to Tsomoriri after getting a few clicks there. We reached Tsomoriri in the evening at around 4PM. It was a big one, much bigger than the first lake we saw and even more significant than Pangong which we missed to visit. The beauty of the lake worth the long journey we made. Started return journey to Jispa after some snacks and we had our stay on another side of Kyagar Tso lake that night. That was the most beautiful camping we had throughout our journey.
Comments
Post a Comment