Roadtrip To Ladakh, The Land of Lama

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why”

~ Eddie Cantor

Made up of and bound by mountains, Ladakh evokes myriad images in the mind of travelers. A high altitude desert in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh is considered to be the ultimate frontier when it comes to adventure travel. Cradled between two mighty mountain ranges – the Himalayas and the Karakoram – Ladakh with its stark landscapes, barren terrains, high altitude snow desert and a medieval way of life casts a mesmerizing confabulation of charm on visitors.
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Day 13 to Day 16: July 5-8, 2012; Debring – Keylong – Manali – Chandigarh – New Delhi:

This was the last leg of the ride. A ride that took us to the farthest off places. The places, where life appeared so different, surroundings appeared so serene, away from the chaos of the urban world, no phones, no emails, no meetings…we only answered the call of the mountains…

Since the route was more or less that same for a large part of this journey, I am skipping the daily details and writing the last part of the travelogue in one go.

All through the route from Debring to Keylong, the weather was pretty cold. Morey Plains, Pang, Sarchu, Lachulung La, Nakee La and the Gata Loops were all familiar now – there weren’t any surprises in the store en route, barring the fact that weather was dramatically icier this time. I kept craving for a hot cup of tea – such was the chill in the weather. With clouds over our heads, and rain looming, we rode almost non-stop and arrived at Bharatpur, which was our stopover for lunch.
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Day 12: July 4, 2012; Leh to Debring & Tso Kar: From this day, our return journey to New Delhi commenced. On the Day 12, our ride was from Leh to Debring, which is located off-Morey Plains, about 150kms from Leh, crossing Upshi, Rumtse and the mighty Taglang La.
In the morning briefing, I could observe that the riders didn’t want to leave! The fun was in arriving at Leh and not in going back. We wanted to stay, soak in the beauty of this wonderland. I know many of us that day decided in their hearts that they would come back, very soon.

When we started from Leh at about 8am, the weather was bright and sunny. We again rode through the beautiful, green patches on the Leh-Manali highway, passing Shey Palace and a large number of monasteries, Stupas and rock carvings on this road.
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Day 9: July 1, 2012; Rest Day at Leh: Good Morning, Leh! Though it was a rest day and ideally the tired me should have slept till late, I woke up pretty early. Well, that’s what I got used to doing for last so many days now!
First thing first – True’s care! Our RE Team Leader Aakash had announced last evening that the bikes should get serviced, if needed, early on this day. True was cruising all fine and needed no service. However, eight days of grime, dirt and dips in water forced True to take a bath! So, I initiated the hunt for a bike/car wash center nearby. However, it being Sunday, Leh was largely shut and I had to drive 8kms on Manali Highway, all the way to the hamlet of Chogalmasar Jamba, where across the bridge exists an old acquaintance’s garage; a person whom was meeting after good six years! But, just like all other people from the hills, he was extremely warm and forthcoming. So, True was given special preference in queue.

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“If you go to the Odyssey as a boy, you will return a man; if you go as a man, you will return a sage, and if you go as a sage, surprisingly you will return as a boy”.

With these words, Dr. Venki Padmanabhan, the CEO of Royal Enfield, flagged off the Himalayan Odyssey, 2012 from the India Gate, New Delhi, on June 23^rd.

Listening to these words, I wondered, what would bring the above-mentioned changes in us? Both True (that’s what I call my latest Enfield) and I pondered alike…
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They say, a simple news snippet can give birth to a lot of actions. It happened with me this May, when the news channels aired that the gates of the famous Badrinath Dham Temple opened on 1st May. That’s when I decided to ride my Royal Enfield to this revered site of Hindu pilgrimage situated upon the peaks of the Garhwal region of north Indian state of Uttarakhand. Nitin, my younger brother and a newly christened biking-enthusiast, readily agreed to join in.

We decided for a four-day trip. Well, it is exactly 1100kms journey to & fro Gurgaon that we had to cover. Keeping in view that nearly 600kms out of them were on the mountainous terrain, it was a tall feat we planned!

Indeed it turned out to be one heck of a tall feat…
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