Trip of a lifetime!
The Day arrived (7th July) and we were all excited and nervous (since we'd seen a lot of videos about AMS/Dangerous roads/etc.) Since it was relatively cheaper we bought a transit flight (Mum-Delhi-Leh). Needless to say, everything went smooth except the Delhi transit (the delhi airport authorities always try their best to ruin your day). Even before we reached Leh the flight was extremely satisfying and the views were mesmerizing. You get a feeling of money well spent (TIP: Take an early morning flight to Leh with left side window seats between rows 7 to 10 for a great view)
Here's a day-wise itinerary of our trip. None of it went as planned, but than whats the adventure in a planned trip!!
8th July - We landed at Leh (KBR Airport). As soon as you disembark the flight, the weather and smell of freshness all around is the first thing that will overwhelm you. It may be the smallest airport i've seen but with far better co-ordination and welcoming attitude of the locals, it felt like you're always welcome. Also this was the first time, we experienced power outage in an airport. Cautiously (with AMS at the back our mind) we proceeded to our location 'Hotel Rezang-La' https://bit.ly/30My4nc in a Maruti Eeco as arranged by Mr. Apte. Hotel Rezang-La is a beautiful place (15 minutes from main market. This place is well-maintained with a beautiful lawn, garden and has one of the best cooked food in Leh. Since we didn't sleep due to our transit flight, we had our breakfast and went to sleep quick (TIP: Always rest the first day in Leh even if you feel relaxed, as you never know when AMS will hit you. It hit Farheen the very first day and than later Myself and Amitav on 3rd day at Khardungla-Top). Evening was spent with a casual stroll in the alleys of Leh and on the terrace shooting time-lapses and great landscapes.
9th July - A quick call back home Mumbai made us realize we were very lucky as there were flights getting canceled due to heavy rains in Mumbai. The weather in Leh was bright and sunny. This was our bike-test day with local sight-seeing (we'll be using these bikes for the rest of our trip). We had 2 RE Classic 350's (with Ladakh carriers) waiting for us to start our trip. The plan for the day was Leh Palace, Thiksey & Hemis monasteries. The roads were beautiful throughout (special thanks to Border Roads Organization) and we spent some quality time riding for these places. (TIP: These places have lots of stairs/slopes, so be hydrated and if you start feeling breathless, stop, relax & breathe from your nose. Those Oxy/liv cans don't do anything, so don't stuff your luggage with them. Our organizer had arranged a proper Oxygen cylinder with mask on 1 of our bike carriers, which helped us a lot). We came back evening feeling excited for our looong trip to Turtuk the next day.
10th July - This was the official start of the trip and we had to do 200+kms from Leh-Turtuk (including Khardung-La). Since we were over-excited we slept late and started late @10:30 am (a big mistake for any bike travel in Ladakh is starting after 9am, since ice starts melting rapidly after noon and than you've bigger/stronger streams to cross). Our todays itinerary was Leh-NorthPullu-KhardungLa-Khalsar-Diskit-Kharu-Bogdang-Turtuk which is easily doable in 8 hours with breaks. I was hit hard by AMS at KhardungLa-Top but the excitement and some oxygen kept us all going on. After some photo & oxygen sessions, we left for our destination feeling proud to have done one of the highest motorable roads in the world. Considering the amount of melting-ice and land-slides BRO does an amazing job of keeping the roads decent enough to ride. What we were amazed to see was some cyclists scaling Khardung-La. We had some stop-overs for Yak spotting, restrooms and Thukpa. We reached Diskit for a petrol refill at 6:30pm which made us worry as it starts getting dark after 8pm and we could see some bad weather in front of us with 100kms still to go. We encountered some strong winds with rain and dust storm near Yagulung which reduced our average speed further. The scenes were reminiscent of 'Caradhras' from LOTR. After crossing Bogdang, we encountered a gypsy coming from Turtuk who informed us that few kms ahead there is a big water crossing which could make it impossible to cross with our bikes. He was not wrong. We encountered this raging monster around Chalunkatang and somehow made it on the other end of the stream with no road lights and half-drenched with freezing water (and no mobile network). With Adrenaline pumping we marched ahead to reach our destination at http://www.ashoorguesthouseturtuk.com/ which is by-far the best place to stay in this small and beautiful village. Mr. Abdul Rehman greeted us with warm tea and we took our drenched luggage and selves to dry. (TIP: All remote villages in J&K do not have electricity & most of the day, so keep your power-banks and cameras charged for the next day. Any mobile network you receive will be BSNL or Airtel but very patchy, so keep your relatives informed prior). After settling down, we received the bad news of India's loss to NZ in WorldCup, so this was the topic for the rest of the night with servings of delicious Paneer Makhani (hands down one of the best I've ever had). Strangely, being a Muslim dominated small population, no one in Turtuk ate non vegetarian (even at weddings). The proximity of guest house to Shyok valley (the sound) makes you sleep peacefully through the night....
11th July - .... only to wake up and realize that we could see POK Karakoram ranges out of our window and we were hardly 5 hours away each from Pakistan, Afghanistan & China. We met Mr. Ghulam who was to be our advisor for the rest of the day. We left our hotel at 9am and had a beautiful walking tour of the village on foot (as there are no roads inside Turtuk village to demote commercialization). For the entire tour (read trek) of around 4-5 hours we never felt tired, there were numerous natural water outlets which felt fresher than Evian (Mr. Kohli hope you're reading this). Pink cheek children's & old (young at heart) were excited to have their pictures taken. After long GoPro & Photography sessions, we came back to the guest house at 2pm for a lovely lunch and head-out to see the last stop on India-Pakistan border to view LOC & PAK posts. The road (or not) to Thang is purposefully rocky to keep tourists away. The army gives us good guidance of what lies ahead and there are some pre-defined spots marked which can be viewed using binoculars. The place gives you a sense of pride and you can constantly feel that Pakistan army is watching you from the top. After taking lots of beautiful memories from Turtuk we thanked Mr. Ghulam and Mr. Abdul for making our stay pleasant and memorable. We left Turtuk with a big smile and our next destination for Diskit. We made it to Hunder Sand Dunes by 5pm where wifey wanted to experience double-humped back camel ride. After the camel safari, we were all tired and went to Diskit after a petrol refill where we had our stay at http://www.hotellhasthangnubra.com/. This place has a beautiful view of Shyok River & Diskit Gompa, has electricity 24x7, is the first place where we had fast wi-fi (only at reception area). This was the turning point of the trip as we had a plan of Pangong the next day, but the shortcut from Diskit to Pangong had 2 overflowing streams due to which the roads were closed. A discussion over dinner led us to a decision that we would postpone Pangong a day and do Khardung-La to Leh to get our bikes serviced (as my friends bike started giving problems). After a nice dinner and major Wi-fi calling we went back to our rooms to enjoy a good nights sleep. P.S. - My Gore-tex shoes still didn't dry from 10th Night.
12th July - This became our buffer-day (TIP: Its very important to have a buffer day in your itinerary specially if you're using rental bikes). We went back the same Diskit-KhardungLa-Leh route and were proud to do KhardungLa twice within 2 days. After a photography session at K-top i wrapped us fast to descend due to less oxygen (read AMS). While descending it started snowing than raining than harsh sunlight in a matter of 20 minutes. Once i reached near North Pullu post, i couldn't see my friends bike, so thought of waiting for a while. After waiting for 5 minutes, we decided to go back but as soon as we turned we saw our friends coming back. They had a puncture and were helped by passer-by backup vehicle. We than reached Leh and were now staying at Mr. Apte's http://www.khardunglaview.com/. We spent the rest of day relaxing and having a great lunch at Tiffins on SkaraRd. The rest of evening was spent explaining http://www.goldeneagleexpedition.com/ the issues with the bike. We rested for the night for leaving to Pangong via ChangLa early the next day.
13th July - This was the most taxing day of the trip. We left early at 9am for Leh-Karu-Sakti-Zingral-Tangtse-Lukung/Pangong which is 220+ kms. G.E.E. ruined this ride by servicing the bikes extremely badly, we could hardly climb anything with pillion. Our pillions were tired of getting down at places and climbing on foot. The road (or lack of it) from after Chang La pass till Tsoltak was so bad that after riding it you can do Yungas Road in Bolivia with your eyes closed. My friends bike got punctured (again) and we lost some time due to this. On the way we encountered some wild horses which was a high point. Eventually we reached Pangong Lake and our first reaction was 'this place is a hype'. It was nowhere close to what you see in the images. Yes, the water is crystal clear and yes you see reflections of sky & mountains but nothing that great. In-fact our own Pawna lake looked similar (when we visited about 10yrs ago) before it became commercialized. After some time-lapses and photo session the temperature dropped suddenly from 15 to 7, the winds were very strong and we had a stay in a tent at Spangmik overlooking the lake at https://bit.ly/2JIFTUY. The staff was courteous and the tents were sturdy and we slept as the sky was overcast with no stars visible. The temperature dropped till 4 degree C in the night and it was the most chilling night of the trip (with no electricity and wind gusts it felt like Blairwitch Project)
14th July - We left after breakfast knowing we had a tough day ahead. On the way we encountered Himalayan Mermots for a quick photo session. The bikes were giving up on the steep climb to Chang-La and we had our pillions transferred on different vehicles till up the pass. The bikes huffed and puffed to make it to Chang-La pass where it was snowing heavily. The descent was decent enough and we made it to Leh with 1 minor fall. After reaching Leh, we were very tired and had a big trip coming in (Kargil) the next day. As my friends wife got sick that night, they decided that they will not accompany us to Kargil the next day and we had a change of bike to RE 500 for the next day.
15th July - This was an overcast day and we started with 2 riders on their Avenger 220 who were going to Kargil too. We had a long 280km ride ahead for Leh-Saspul-Khalsi-Lumayuru-Mulbek-Kargil-Dras. The roads were buttery smooth and 500 glided like an eagle all the way to Dras albeit with 2 punctures on the way. Despite the punctures we reached Dras Memorial at 6pm and were able to witness flag downing ceremony. (TIP: Visit Kargil memorial and Leh Hall of Fame once in your lifetime to experience what Indian Army and Airforce are capable of and are doing for your safety). There are beautiful mosques, raging valleys and aromatic frangrances on the way between Dras to Kargil which refreshed my mind on way back to Kargil. We stayed at http://hoteldzojila.com/ which has great decors and lively ambiance not to mention 24hrs electricity and fast Wi-Fi. This was the only place in the entire trip where we had a fan (Note: There are NO fans in entire LEH/LADAKH as there is no need for one, but if you're someone who needs to hear the sound of a fan for sleeping than better download fan noises). We had a serene dinner and slept in peace at this lovely hotel.
16th July - Our RE 500 decided to breakdown overnight and Mr. Apte promptly arranged for our pick-up to Leh via shared taxi. This was the day i was not riding, so took lots of time-lapses and photos on the way from Kargil to Leh. Since it was a shared taxi the driver took his own sweet time and we checked out Lumayuru and Magnetic Hill on the way till we reached Leh in evening. We decided to rest the remaining of the day at the hotel and completed packing as we had a flight back on 18th Morning.
18th July - Early morning flight. Bye Mr. Apte ji. Thank you Leh for giving us a heavenly experience.
All thanks to dear wifey Farheen for being through the good times and the bad. Without the support of our pillions, we both would not have a enjoyed the journey as much.
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Yes, do visit Ladakh once in your lifetime!