PROLOGUE
I had planned to go to Ladakh in the summer of 2008. That time I would have been just back from my Summer Internship while at MDI and would have snatched a quick time out for Ladakh in the company of Buleteers Bala (Balaji K) and Teji (Tejpreet Singh) who had evinced interest in getting Leh’d. But things couldn’t work out and I had to wait for 2 long years to realize this long cherished dream of mine.
April: I have formally applied for a 2 week holiday at my office. My boss is not too enthused and seems to be dilly dallying on the issue. “Arre itni chhutti to Shaadi mein milti hai”, he says jokingly. I know what he means. But I’m adamant and would not relent. I have an upcoming visit to our US office now and have quietly decided to take up this issue with the Director of my team in there. I talked to him on this and he is super cool on the holiday issue! “Where do you plan to go for vacation?” he asked. “It’s a place called Ladakh in the Trans-Himalayan region of North India. I plan to ride on my motorcycle all the way”, I said. And what he said was to my ultimate surprise, “Ladakh!!! That’s the most stunning place on the planet! And you intend to ride your motor bike to the place?! That’ll be the most amazing thing for you. Even I’d been to Ladakh in 1991!” So now that Director was convinced, there was no other hurdle to my holidays being approved!!! So now indeed my Ladakh plans would see the light of day. And now I can earnestly plan for my trip. Happy.
May: I had my holidays approved and my trip would span 16 days in all from 5th June – 20th June of 2010. It was now time for me to start preparing – start preparing for the mother of all motorcycle trips. I hate the word preparation, I normally just pack my bare essentials and set off to unknown lands, I ride with God – on his whims and fancies. And he has always been kind to me . . . . never ever have I faced any problem with my bike or any other untoward happenstance in my career as a motorcycle tourer. I’ve been to tracks as hostile as Sach Pass in Himachal, Nakhroghat in Uttarakhand and Rajmachi in Maharashtra; but never faced any problem what so ever. I’d always had my luck by my side – may be God had been too kind to shield me form the consequences of my child like foolishness. But now things would be different, I have to plan for the inevitable anything lurking behind zillions of blind hairpin bends. There would be water crossings more than a foot deep; slushy roads across the highest motorable roads in the world, sand tracks which could devour any bike, snow laden roads where you’d skid and slide and run and glide, insanely long tracks without any trace of human habitation, sub zero temperatures which would freeze your bones, and lastly the freak June weather which had been wrecking havoc with people’s Ladakh plans this season.
THE TEAM
I could have done this solo or with friends from BCM Touring who had similar plans running across the itinerary pages on the forum. But I had my sister showing enough interest in tagging along. But it would be difficult convincing our parents to let us embark on this marathon journey. So what do we do? Convince our parents to accompany us! And that we did – now we were 7 people in all. We hired a Toyota Innova for 6 people and I was supposed to ride on my motorcycle. Now that the last hurdle was gone, my Ladakh trip was assured!
The list of people:
(1) Saurabh Pant (Me)
(2) My Dad
(3) My Mom
(4) Kanchita Pandey
(5) Kanchita’s Dad
(6) Kanchita’s Mom
(7) Vaishali Uprety
Preparations: The most basic of all – get my bike serviced. I replaced my front and rear tyres (then 47,000 kms old) and tubes with the stock MRF Zapper (hard to get aftermarket CEAT Vertigos, IRC and Michelin tyres for the Bajaj Avenger). Changed the spark plugs and also fitted my bike with the K&N air filter. The rest was all good and all I had to do was to pick up some spare parts for any eventuality during the tour. So I packed in the following items for the bike:
Front and Rear tubes
Clutch Wire
Accelerator Wire
Clutch and Brake levers
Extra Spark Plug
1L Castrol Engine Oil
Brake Oil for Front Disc Brake
I knew I had a 12V Air Pump at home in Delhi and decided that I’ll pick it up before I start. But as fate would have it, this would prove to be the weakest link of the whole trip!
I also packed in the following safety and supplementary items for me, the luggage and the bike:
DSG Mesh Jacket with Alpinestar Chest Guards
Alpinestar Bionic Knee Guards
Alpinestar Balaclava
DSG Primal Gloves
Cramster Saddle Bad
Cramster Tank Bag
Lafuma Sleeping Bag
A few bungee cords to tie up the luggage together
Tarpaulin Sheet and nylon wire to secure the luggage
A 5L can for carrying extra fuel (didn’t require this thru the trip)
Above (Left to Right): DSG Mesh Jacket, Alpinestar Chest Guards & Alpinestar Balaclava
Above (Left to Right): DSG Primal Gloves, Alpinestar Bionic Knee Guards
Above (Left to Right): Cramster Colt Saddle Bag, Cramster Turtle Tank Bag and (bottom) bungee cords
Camera Equipment:
Nikon D-80
Sony Digital Handy Cam
Tripod Stand
THE TRIP IS HERE ! ! ! ! !
Day 1: Delhi - Ambala - Pathankot- Jammu
Day 2: Jammu - Srinagar
Day 3: Srinagar - Zoji La - Kargil
Day 4: Kargil - Rangdum - Kargil
Day 5: Kargil - Saspol
Day 6: Saspol - Leh
Day 7: Leh City & Around
Day 8: Leh - Khrdung La - Diskit - Hundar
Day 9: Hundar - Panamik - Sumur
Day 10: Sumur - Khardung La - Leh
Day 11: Leh - Pangong Tso - Leh
Day 12: Leh - Kargil - Drass
Day 13: Drass - Zoji La - Gulmarg - Srinagar
Day 14: Srinagar - Jammu - Pathankot
Day 15: Pathankot - Ambala - Delhi
