Himalayan Odysseys

My wanderings

2010-02-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

A small drive in the rains - Photolog

August, 2008

Some photographs captured while on a drive in Manik's car, specifically to enjoy the rains in the August of 2008. The drive was along the upper Ganga canal road, or nehar, as it's popularly called. Idyllic villages, children having a gala time in the rain and a swim in the canal, and the laid back village scenes made up for a refreshing change from city life.

Upper Ganga Canal drive

Pondicherry

July, 2008

An official trip down to Chennai gave me an opportunity to do what I had dreamt for a long time - to ride a motorcycle along a beach. Had one full weekend to myself, so I met up with a friend, took a bus to Pondicherry, and the next day, headed straight to the market to rent a motorcyle. After spending a few hours inside the city, it was time for beach hunting, and to fulfil an old dream...

Weekend at Pondicherry

Kinnaur: Chitkul & Roghi

May, 2008

The itch to ride away into the hills has been there for some time now. The last I rode in the hills was way back in January. I had a new lens to try out, and this trip gave me plenty of vistas to fulfill that. And this trip gave me that unexpected dose of adventure in the form of a trail that we discovered from Roghi to get back into the highway.

	Day 1 : Noida - Bawanagar
	Day 2 : Bawanagar - Sangla - Chitkul
	Day 3 : Chitkul - Kalpa - Roghi
	Day 4,5 : Roghi - Narkanda - Noida

Chokhi Dhani

March, 2008

I was still not in a condition to ride, and this trip came as a much needed relief after I had to spend weeks in bed with a broekn leg after the accident. Again, thanks to Manik.

Chokhi Dhani

Haridwar

February, 2008

This was a day trip with friends, and one of the rare trips that I have done in a four wheeler. Thanks to Manik for this.

Haridwar

Tehri & Dayara Bugyal, Uttarakhand

January, 2008

Just another of those 3 day rides, the aim being just riding and photography.

	Day 1 : Noida - Nalupani
	Day 2 : Nalupani - Dayara Bugyal - Chaam
	Day 3 : Chaam - Old Tehri - Noida

Jalori Pass

September, 2007

Most friends from BCMT were going out on a tour of Ladakh, while some of the less fortunate, which included I and Dixit, were sweating it out in Delhi. So we decided to at least have a weekend ride, and we decided it to be Jalori pass.

	Day 1 : Noida - Khanag
	Day 2 : Khanag - Noida

Binsar, Kumaon

July, 2007

With the rains eluding Delhi, I decided to give them a chase. Some friends down south posting marvelous photos of rides and rains were the inspiration. So we set out, I and Shamik, fully geared for a ride in the rains. Though we didn't have much success with the rains, we did come pretty close to the clouds.

	Day 1 : Noida - Almora - Binsar
	Day 2 : Binsar - Noida

Harsil

March, 2007

After our last aborted trip to Harsil, this had to happen soon. So off we went, this time, I, Manik and Sparsh. The route planned was basically the same as the last time, only this time we decided to deliberately take the off road stretch from Champa that goes around the Tehri lake and brings us back to the main highway, some 60 Kms after Champa towards Uttarkashi.

	Day 1 : Noida - Uttarkashi
	Day 2 : Uttarkashi - ITBP camp
	Day 3 & 4: ITBP camp - Nalupani - Noida

Tehri, Uttaranchal

February, 2007

This is one trip I won't forget about in a hurry. Our original plan was to ride till Harsil and turn back.

But then, It rained and rained,
and then it rained more.
And nearer we got to our homes on our way back,
brighter the sun shined.

	Day 1 : Noida - Uttarkashi
	Day 2 : Uttarkashi - Bhatwari - Champa
	Day 3 : Champa - Noida

Surajkund Mela

February, 2007

Surajkund mela, an excellent opportunity to try out my photography skills.

Surajkund Mela

Lake Seruvalsar (Serolsar)

January, 2007

Last trip with Manik, to Auli, exactly a year ago was a roaring success in terms of the adventure we had, and the fun we had with snow. This time, I wanted something bigger, better. I had seen the Seruvalsar lake start freezing at the edges on my last trip there, in November. I instantly had visions of how the lake would look like at the peak of winter. Thus we went hunting for a frozen lake and found it!

	Day 1 : Noida - Khanag
	Day 2 : Khanag - Seruvalsar -Khanag
	Day 3 : Khanag - Shoja - Narkanda
	Day 4 : Narkanda - Hatu - Noida

Nainital

December, 2006

A quick weekend outing with my team from office. Only two days in hand. Nainital seemed to be the perfect location. Obviously, for a change I was not riding my motorcycle this time. And thus happens to be my only tour in the hills on a four wheeler in some years. A full day spent along the shores of the lake gave me plenty of opportunities to do some photography.

Nainital

Munshiyari, Kumaon

December, 2006

Being associated with BCM Touring.com, I get plenty of opportunities and like minded friends to see the world with. There are not many places in Himachal that are high enough or far enough for a 5 day tour once it starts snowing. Anyway, the past few trips were almost entirely dedicated to touring Himachal Pradesh, which made me suddenly interested when friends at BCM latched a plan for Kumaon.

	Day 1 : Noida to Rayagarh
	Day 2 : Rayagarh - Chakauri - Rayagarh - Munshiyari
	Day 3 : Munshiyari to Almora
	Day 4 : Almora to Noida

Ladakh

September, 2006

My last tour of Ladakh left many places to be explored, particularly the Manali - Leh highway and the lakes Tso kar and Tso Moriri. Visiting these splendid locations was the primary objective of this tour. Of course, scarcity of leaves didn't leave us with much scope to explore other places, like Nubra, which I am yet to set foot on. Tso Kar and Tso Moriri are some of the spots in Ladakh that are yet to see an influx of tourists, thanks to absence of proper access routes to these places.

	Day 1 : Noida to Marhi
	Day 2 : Marhi to Pang
	Day 3 : Pang to Leh
	Day 4 : Leh; Khardung La, Shanti Stupa
	Day 5 : Leh, Tso kar, Tso Moriri
	Day 6 : Tso Moriri to Sarchu
	Day 7 : Sarchu to Kullu
	Day 8 : Kullu to Noida

Lahaul and Spiti

June, 2006

This is one journey I have been planning for more than a year now. My last attempt almost exactly a year ago was thwarted due to the flash floods on Sutlej, which caused massive destruction all along the roads I planned to travel. In fact, I would call myself lucky to escape the fury of the Sutlej as I could make it only till Shimla instead of Jeori as per my plans, thanks to bad weather. My last attempt was a solo attempt and I enjoyed it a lot. But after I met with an accident this January, my parents wouldn’t even hear of letting me go alone. All the same, I would have some how managed this trip, partner or no partner.

	Day 1 : Noida to Kinnaur
	Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo
	Day 3 : Tabo to Gette
	Day 4 : Gette to Koksar
	Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu
	Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

Auli : A weekend adventure

January, 2006

The perennial biker's itch; that was what started another of the many country - hopping trips that we bikers do so often. For long, I have been on the look out for a place where I could try my hand at skiing. After much consideration, we decided the place to be Auli, in Uttaranchal. Auli is one of the most famous skiing spots in India. This is just 12 Kms away from Joshimath, which is the base station for tourists heading for Auli. Tourists, especially skiers flock to Auli during the main skiing season spread over January, February and March. Located at an altitude ranging from 2519 Mts. to 3049 Mts over the slopes, Auli receives bountiful snowfall, resulting in delightful snow covered slopes, making it a skier’s paradise.

The above write up by me was published in Bike India, March 2006 edition. This was something of an achievement for me, and my claim to fame!

	Day 1 : Noida to Joshimath
	Day 2, 3 : Joshimath, Auli and back

Lahaul and Spiti : Attempt one

September, 2005

Prelude

24th, 25th June, 2005; our (I and Yogesh's) plans to explore Spiti were cancelled, since Yogesh suddenly got an assignment at home. But I still had 6 offs in a row, and I was not going to waste the 6 days just staying at home. Someone suggested Munshiyari in Uttaranchal. Someone else said it's not safe to do this trip alone. So, in the end, plans were finalized for Spiti; Tabo, Kaza and back via Rohtang and Manali. Thus started my only solo trip till now and I was pretty excited; it was just me and my bike for full 5 days with the majestic Himalayas for company.

	Day 1 : Noida to Shimla
	Day 2 : Dhali to Jalori Pass
	Day 3 : Khanag to Keylong
	Day 4 : Keylong - Darcha - Koksar
	Day 5 : Koksar to Noida

A small drive in the rains - Photolog

2008-08-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

The drive started with a wait for gas at this CNG station in Sarita Vihar:

Even as we waited, I found something to click:

After some driving around Ghaziabad, and turning left from the highway, we reached this place, along the Upper Ganga canal.

Thanks to the rains, the greenery was soothing

And we just kept clicking...

We passed by a few villages every now and then, and stopped at a few. Some village scenes...

Salil

Pondicherry and around

2008-07-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

27th July, 2008.

This is my first real 'trip' down south. Put a weekend to good use while in Chennai on some office work. Met up with an old friend, and took an evening bus to Pondicherry. Next morning, we hired a motorcycle (Pulsar 150 V2), and roamed around Pondicherry and Auroville. Didn't carry my SLR. All pics were shot from my faithful 4 Mp Kodak P&S.

Some photos from the day ride...

Pondicherry sea front.

Gandhi Memorial

A war memorial inside a garden in the old French town.

Inside the same garden

Inside Pondicherry

Vidhan Sabha, Pondicerry

A sign board from a bygone era

Central Secretariat

Old French buildings

Villas

Streets of Pondicherry

In search of beaches where I can ride on, I found this...

Fishing boats

Finally found a beach where I can ride along. But getting there was no easy task...

But once I got there, it was an old dream fulfilled!

Won't forget this moment, ever!

Don't know when I'll get a chance to do this again!

The sanctum Sanatorium at Auroville

Found another beach, had a dip and a swim, and the day was over before I realized ...

Roamed around in MG road to spend the evening, had dinner, and caught a bus back to Chennai.

Kinnaur: Chitkul & Roghi, May 2008

2008-05-31T00:35:00.000-07:00

My forearms are still aching from all the hard work we did yesterday. But once we started on the Roghi – Tapri route, we had no choice but to keep going. The only information we had about this route was from the caretaker at the rest house in Roghi. But then, not many people visit this Rest House. The guest register indicated that we were the first to visit this year, and going by the single entry for 2007, we might as well be the only visitors this year.

Our stay at the Roghi rest house was not by prior planning. We had set off from Chitkul, planning to visit Kalpa, Roghi and then proceed as far as time allowed on our way back home. But we reached Kalpa soaking wet after riding in the rains half way from Rekong Peo. After waiting 2 hours for the rains to die down so as to do some photography, we decided to ride ahead and check into the rest house at Roghi and leave photography for the next day on our way back.

I have been to this rest house last year, and though I couldn't spend the night then due to paucity of time, I had promised to treat myself to a night here some day. And the unexpected rains presented an opportunity to do just that. Set high up in the mountains, this is no ordinary rest house when it comes to the location, going by HPPWD or even GMVN rest house standards. Kinner Kailash is just a peek outside the window, and so is the chain of snow covered mountains peaks on either sides of the revered Kinner Kailash Mountain. The close proximity of the rest house to these peaks is what makes it different from other “Snow View” hotels and rest houses. And Roghi being no city or town, there is nothing to distract the view that lies in front of us. Looking down, we have an astounding view of the deep valley, whose floor is not even visible from the high perch that this Rest house is. Settling down on an easy chair at the wooden balcony, sipping tea, we were left spellbound by the view ahead of us, as we caught the last rays of the sun gleaming off the snow from the chain of high mountain peaks.

The Roghi PWD Rest house.

The location

The driveway to the Rest house

Views from the Rest house

The high and the mighty

Glaciers high above

As the sun started to set

At sun set

The rest house has just 2 rooms, with bare minimum amenities, which is understandable, since the rest house practically receives no visitors. And it is no easy task reaching this rest house either, unless you are an expert handling a 4x4 or good with riding a motorcycle up a steep slippery rocky stretch that comes about a kilometer before the rest house. Of course, there is always the option to park and hike that last kilometer, as I had to do last year, after unsuccessfully trying to ride over that tricky stretch. But then, it seems not many people are prepared to do that, and instead prefer the comfort of riding/driving into the driveway of many a Guest house that Kalpa has on offer.

The day started with tea at about 8 in the morning in a small 2 room hotel in Chitkul run by a family. Neat and clean bathroom, double bed and hot running water; this was a good enough package for 300 Rs. In places as remote as Chitkul, one doesn't really have to worry about not having a closed parking space. In any case, our bikes were parked right outside our room, on the ground and the only floor. The hotel is located at the outskirts of Chitkul village.

Our hotel (Rani guest house). The L shaped building in the center of the photo.

The village itself is neatly planned, making wonderful use of a stream that flows down from the mountains above. Last evening, as we took a walk up the pathway that goes through the village, we came across chakkispowered by water neatly diverted from the stream using hollowed out wooden logs. The chakki itself is housed inside a small enclosure, and is connected to a turbine below that drives the chakki. Water diverted using the wooden log turns the turbine.

A chakki house

Hydro Chakki

Houses are constructed mostly using wood, with the newer houses having a tin roof while the older ones had elegant roofs shaped out of stone slabs. The kind of construction style did give a mystic look to the whole place. We walked through the village, shooting people and things we found interesting.

Chitkul village from the outskirts

Another Buddhist place of worship

A cluster of Chitkul houses

Chitkul village from high above.

The pathway through the village leads to a trekking route that goes all the way to Pooh over the high mountains. Dixit was not wearing shoes, so once the cemented path ran out, he had trouble climbing the steep trek path. So on I went alone, planning to turn back as soon as the sun sets. The path climbed higher and higher, bringing me closer to the snow peaks and glaciers on the adjoining mountains. Also, it gave me a bird's eye view of the whole of Chitkul. After a certain point, there was a descent in the path. I preferred not to proceed further, and waited as the sun went down, casting its golden rays on the snowy peaks that surrounded me.

The trek promises to be exciting

As the sun starts to set...

The trek path

Views from above

Chitkul, nested among the high mountain peaks...

The views...

A panorama from high above...

This was just what I had hoped to see when we started for the day from the rest house at Bawanagar. The ride from Bawanagar was pleasant once we got away from the highway towards Sangla at Karcham, away from the dusty roads and dumpers carrying stuff from or to the dam construction sites. Soon, we had snow peaks in view, and we got closer and closer to them as we gained elevation on our way towards Sangla and then Chitkul. Except for the first and the last days, this was a pretty relaxed trip, with plenty of stops for photography, and we still reached our destination and checked into a hotel or rest house well before sunset.

The Bawanagar PWD Rest house...

Karchham - Sangla - Chitkul road

The Karchham - Sangla stretch...

A small temple, at a lonely stretch

By the way...

PWD Rest house, Sangla. We had our lunch break at Sangla. This RH was right across the street from where we sat.

Another break, on a rock jutting above the road.

The Sangla - Chitkul stretch - we get up close to the snow peaks.

Snow!.

We hit the end of the old Hindustan - Tibet road, at Chitkul.

But the fourth and the last day was going to be hectic like never before. There was about 600 Kms to be covered to reach home, more than half of them in the hills. We had two options from Roghi; the regular route through Kalpa and Rekong Peo, or the unknown route that goes in the other direction, to Tapri. The Roghi -Tapri route, if in a good condition could have been a much needed shortcut in this situation. Tapri is right on the NH22, and would bypass both Kalpa and Rekong Peo. Also, the fact that there was no habitation along this route made it all the more exciting. So the Roghi – Tapri route it was to be.

The Roghi – Tapri trail was built some time back to transport rations and other supplies to Roghi and Kalpa when the regular route via Rekong Peo was washed away by floods. All was then forgotten about the trail when the regular route via Rekong Peo and Kalpa became operational. The caretaker had no confirmed information as to whether the Roghi Tapri route was still open. All he knew was that this was a 4x4 trail. All references on the Internet to this route mentioned this to be a bridle-path when I checked later. We decided to give this a try and turn back if we couldn't proceed further.

A first glimpse at this route indicated some tough times ahead. The path was strewn with rocks and the gradient was so steep that our bikes would go into a slide with the slightest application of brakes. But the landscape was beautiful. There was lush greenery all around. We were riding through a dense pine forest and the snow peaks all around kept constant company. After a couple of scary down hills, the path ahead just seemed to climbing up vertically! The trail at times looked like a lush green lawn, with grass just the right length to sit down and start a picnic on while wild flowers added to the heavenly scenery all around.

all around.

A sample of the Roghi - Tapri trail

This looked almost vertical; the photo doesn't exactly capture the depth.

Hard not to stop and stare!.

And just as hard to leave the place.

Wild flowers, and it is not the peak season for wild flowers yet. Imagine how this would be in September.

Yes, that's the trail.

A trail that at times welcomes you with a smooth green carpet...

And then tortures you with this.

And this.

More of the trail...

...

The highest point in the trail was 200 meters above Roghi

Right after such a stretch, we could proceed no further. A few rocks, large enough in size to be immovable without machinery had fallen off the cliff above and were blocking our way completely. Well, almost completely. We had the choice of turning back at this point, but the trail was only getting more and more interesting. We did a survey, and found that with a little of pushing and shoving rocks, we might just be able to get the bikes through the blockade, though at a risk. The narrowest point that we had to squeeze the bikes through had the deep valley at one side.

That was scary!

A recce...

Dixit gives it a try...

We get at it together

We got Dixit’s bike through first. At the narrowest point, the silencer got caught at the rock edge, and we spent quite some time wondering how to proceed, with both of us holding on to the bike from front and rear. One wrong move, and the bike would be lost. One last pull by Dixit, and the bike got through, with the sound of metal grinding as the silencer scraped the rock edge. Some lessons learnt. This was a pretty tiring job. The task is best undertaken with all luggage taken off. Rock edges at the narrowest point will come in the way of the foot peg and silencer, and we had to do something about it. I took a rock and tried to chip off some edges at the point where the rock was fouling with the silencer. It barely made a difference. Then Dixit took a heavier rock and broke of a big chunk of rock from the edge. I removed all luggage from my bike, and it got through pretty easy.

We get Dixit's bike through...

This ride was turning out to be a big adventure. And if we found a real blockade ahead from where we had to turn back, we would have to go over the whole exercise of crossing the previous blockade all over again. It was apparent by now that this road had not been in use for months, and with no mobile signals, help won’t reach here anytime soon in case of any eventuality. We proceeded further, stopping frequently for photography and looking forward to our next adventure.

We found one soon enough. A huge rock on the way was blocking most of the path, while a few smaller rocks blocked the rest. The smaller rocks could be moved away with some effort put together. That done, we tried our best to chip some rock off the large one that couldn’t be moved. But as hard as we tried, this one won’t chip. This was solid granite, unlike the rocks we encountered on our previous blockade that could be chipped at the edges. Anyway, this was much safer than our previous obstacle, since we had the rock at the edge of the road towards the valley, while we passed next to the mountain wall. I had a go first this time, and got stuck. The rock jutting out caught the saree guard at the rear. We tried tilting the bike to make way, but in the process, the handle bar got stuck in some roots. I removed some of the roots and rocks to make way, and could move a bit further ahead, but now, the disc caliper got caught in a rock, that had slid down when I removed the roots that caught the handlebar. We aborted mid way, left the bike tilted at a 45 deg angle and got back to clearing rocks again. Once mine got through, Dixit’s bike got through as well, without much effort.

Road block!

Clearing that needed a lot of hard work, and then some more.

Time to work...

We though we had cleared enough rocks to get the bikes through, but how wrong were we!

The memory ran out before we could pass through, and the camera stopped shooting. Further on, we encountered few more such landslides and blockades and got through all using our now tried and tested procedure of wrestling with rocks. We also passed 2 of the most challenging stream crossing I ever encountered, with the bike left stranded in the middle of the stream, wheel spinning due to the steep gradient and slippery rocks. We had to follow on foot and clear rocks from below the bike so it could pass through. On the second stream crossing, we had to remove a heavy log that got carried with the flow and now rested on the middle of the path.

Another Block!

This stretch of 14 km took us more than 5 hours and we were dead tired. We forgot to carry water from Roghi, and had to drink at the few streams that we passed by. But the look on the faces of people when we reached the end of the road was priceless to say the least. We stopped at the first village that we saw, Urni and had Chowmein and Thupka for lunch at the only dhaba this village had. The first question everyone asked was about the route we took, and were unfailingly amazed at our reply. The restaurant owner seemed proud to have us as their customers, and spread the word around of our ‘conquest’!

From then on it was the regular commute home, albeit one of the toughest ones ever. We had started from Roghi around 9:30 AM and reached home at 8:00 AM the next day, after being on the road for 22 and a half hours.

Thanks for reading.
Salil

Chokhi Dhani, March 2008

2008-03-31T16:38:00.000-07:00

Capturing the spirit of Rajasthan and ensuring the perfect Rajasthani experience is Chokhi Dhani, a unique Village Resort. Chokhi Dhani literally means a “fine hamlet” i.e. a quintessential village that offers an ideal pastoral experience. Away from the urban life the quaint mud and thatch dwellings in the resort give the right blend of traditions- modern amenities in typical ethnic environment. ..... chokhidhani.com

With a few days left before it got really hot, we decided to have another day ride, Chokhi Dhani being the destination.
As expected, we had a peaceful drive on the NH8. But before that, we had half of Delhi and Gurgaon to cross.

The tourers!
Guptaji: mast as usual!

Our pilot and the brain behind the trip (and the man behind the steering wheel)

Eric... knew this would be his last ride/drive up North for some time to come.

And, yous truly

Starting point: Eric's place, Kalkaji

Some photos on the way...
In Delhi

Took this relatively new route to Gurgaon via Mehrauli

Out on the highway

A camel herder taking a break

Camels with its precious cargo of lambs and even a dog!

It was time for a break, and someone had a great idea. We took a narrow road amongst the fields and had a shower!
Thanks to the sprinklers on the field.

Now, I and Manik had cameras hanging down our neck, and didn't dare go near the water spray. So, Guptaji and Eric enjoyed it to the max!

Enjoying!

A break from the 'break'...

After they, ummm enjoyed...

The fields...

It was now time to move on, but some guys just haven't had enough of the break!

On the way, while wandering inside Jaipur in peak traffic

We were at the gates of Chokhi Dhani at 7:15 PM. There was some queue for the tickets, this being a weekend.

Once inside, the fun begins.
Eric playing kancha with the Chokhi Dhani folks.

Guptaji got a free champi at the maalish stall
"Champing maalis free hai sa"

You can dance with the dancers at the various stalls here.

Smoke Hookah

Having trouble holding it in

Get chewed by a magarmachh

Wrestle with a deer/antelope/Nilgai (whatever)

Have fun with tribal women

Watch the magic show

The tricks

And best of all, just sit and watch the beauties at the dance stalls!

We had a delicious dinner, of traditional Rajasthani cuisine and then headed back for home around 11 in the night. Eric and Manik took turns at the steering wheel. I had a bit of a scare at one point when I discovered that both the driver and the passenger at the front seat were asleep! And that did well to drive me sleepless for the rest of the drive home. We met Dj on the way at his office, and reached Kalkaji around 6 AM.

Haridwar, February 2008

2008-02-20T16:23:00.000-08:00

Haridwar

With winter in full swing and clouds making yet another guest appearance we decided to honor Haridwar and Rishikesh with our visit. And...

Tehri & Dayara Bugyal, January 2008

2008-01-27T15:55:00.000-08:00

Day 3 : Chaam - Old Tehri - Noida

We started the next morning, asked directions for the road that branches off the highway for old Tehri. Once into the road, we stopped frequently for photographs as was the plan.

Day 1 : Noida to Nalupani
Day 2 : Nalupani - Dayara Bugyal - Chaam
Day 3 : Chaam - Old Tehri - Noida

Tehri & Dayara Bugyal, January 2008

2008-01-26T15:55:00.000-08:00

Day 2 : Nalupani - Dayara Bugyal - Chaam

We started day 2, and plans were made on the fly to ride to Raithal and trek some way to Dayara Bugyal. The road for this place branches off from Bhatwari, and is 18 Kms of absolute smooth rippable roads. The last Km or so is however non surfaced. We rode on till the road ended about 1 Km further from Raithal.

The road ends here:

Raithal village: Base for the Dayara Bugyal trek.

A Uttarakhand Tourism tourist facility, Raithal (Yet to open).

We spoke to some locals and were advised to start the trek early in the morning. It was 12:30 PM and a bit too late in the day to complete the trek and come back to the base. So we decided to trek some way up the trekking route and come back.

The trek starts here and is a paved path for about 200 mts or so.

Then it is a rock lined path for another 200 to 300 mts:

After that the path runs out and you have to follow a path that goes all the way up to Dayara Bugyal.

About 2 Kms into the Trek, there's Forest department's eco huts which was closed as of now.

The trek is very steep and tiring and we had to take breaks every few hundred meters. We decided to rest a bit and start back for Raithal. Dixit spotted a nice stretch of fresh snow on the ground.

I suggested (jokingly) to go build a snow man. This was first time Dixit chanced upon some nice smooth fallen snow, and took my suggestion a bit too seriously.

After a lot of huffing and puffing and some hard work, Dixit managed to build what looked like a shivling.

30 minutes into the task, the snowman was looking nothing like a snowman!

And then I stepped in and in a few minutes, the 'snowman' began to take shape. The finished product:

Posed with our snowman for some pics

Now that was obviously Dixit's idea:

Mission snowman accomplished, we started the trek down to Raithal. the climb down was relatively easier, and was over in no time. Rode down to Bhatwari, had something to eat and started on the way back. Plan was to get as near to Old Tehri as possible before calling it a day. After a day of fun in the snow, and some hard riding, we ended the day at Kandi Saur (Chham).

Day 3 : Chaam - Old Tehri - Noida

Day 1 : Noida to Nalupani
Day 2 : Nalupani - Dayara Bugyal - Chaam
Day 3 : Chaam - Old Tehri - Noida

Tehri & Dayara Bugyal, January 2008

2008-01-25T15:55:00.000-08:00

Day 1: Noida to Nalupani

This is another of those short unplanned rides that I sometimes indulge in. So, we decided to ride till Tehri and do some off-roading and photography. Had a late night shift so started pretty late in the morning, at 9 AM from Noida. Target for the day was the hotel at Nalupani about 24 Kms before Uttarkashi. Reached there around 8 PM. This hotel (Gyandeep lodge) has some wonderful views from the room balcony, and is located at a lonely stretch on the highway, away from any town or village.

Day 2 : Nalupani - Dayara Bugyal - Chaam

Day 1 : Noida to Nalupani
Day 2 : Nalupani - Dayara Bugyal - Chaam
Day 3 : Chaam - Old Tehri - Noida

Jalori Pass, September 2007

2007-09-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

Day 2: Khanag to Noida

The alarm rang at 6:30, and as is the norm, Dixit turned it off and went off to sleep again. The Chowkidaar woke us up with the morning tea. It was still drizzling, and cold. Had tea, and got out to have a look around.

The rain had stopped completely by now.

We got ready, and left for Jalori Pass, half expecting to find landslides ahead. We had rode for just about a km ahead when:

We came to know that there was another landslide up ahead after this; which meant it would take atleast a day for a bulldozer to reach here and clear the landslides. It looked like we were stuck at Khanag. We parked our bikes and crossed over to the other side on foot.

Up ahead, another landslide...

Waiting...

Looked like it was time for us to turn back. We had to reach home today. I have visited Jalori Pass about 4 times before, but Dixit, it seemed will have to wait for his turn.

Village kids...

Our steeds...

We started our way back, hoping that there would be no more landslides on the way. We came to the point that we had crossed the last night. One of the boulders had been broke down and flattened by now.

The landslide where we had squeezed through the last night:

Kids, enjoying their Sunday perhaps...

The nullah right before the landslide:

Lush green... things re usually greener on the other side of Jalori Jot, towards Shoja. That was what I wanted to enjoy. May be another day.

A waterfall on the way back to Luhri.

The ride back to Narkanda was pleasant as long as the roads were good till about 20 Kms before Narkanda. After that, I would have preferred kuchha roads like they have in Zanskar to the metalled, but broken and potholed roads that we have here. From Narkanda to Shimla, we were riding for hours in thick fog. And trucks with no indicators/healights would constantly appear out of the blue (rather white) and cause a panick change in direction at the curves...
For about an hour, it looked like we were riding into a white wall, that never really came up. And the dusty roads, thanks to the truck traffic, was all mud now. Resulting in this:

The front mudguard is only half there due to an ass**** of a mech who forgot that the bike had only 2 wheels, and gleefully removed the front axle, without any support to stop the bike from coming down, crashing the mud guard. This happened in Kingal, on our way to Khanag. And believe it or not, this was Dixit's second mudguard that broke in similar circumstances in as many days! First it was a puncture a day before we started. It seemed mechanics all over had sent their pea brains on a trip to somewhere! Well, all's well that ends well, and thankfully, it did. We reached Noida around 3:15 AM, no other parts missing.

Day 1 : Noida to Khanag
Day 2 : Khanag to Noida

Jalori Pass, September 2007

2007-09-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Noida to Khanag

Most BCM members were going out on a tour of Ladakh, while some of the less fortunate, which included I and Dixit, were sweating it out
in Delhi. SO we decided to at least have a weekend ride, and we decided it to be Jalori pass. Since we were heading in the same direction as the Ladakh gang, we decided to ride with them for some of the distance. So off we started from Eric's place, where the rest of the gang were getting their steeds readied for the long ride ahead.

It was not a 'chill out' ride for us after all, unlike the Ladakh gang. It was just a 2 day trip, and we had a lot of distance to cover; so we got out of the 'chill out' mode which we were in when with the Ladakh gang, and rode ahead, planning to reach Jalori as soon as possible. Nothing special about the ride till Narkanda, after which, things got worse. The traffic were mostly trucks, and the roads too dusty and potholed for about 20 Kms down from Narkanda. After that, the real enjoyable ride began.

Had a brief break here at the Satluj view point; my favorite spot in this stretch.

Took the left turn towards Jalori about 7 Kms after Kinjal. I loved this snaking narrow and almost empty mountain road.

It was getting dark now, and soon it began drizzling. We stopped immediately and got on whatever rain protection we had and continued with the ride, even as the rains got heavier and it began pouring. It was as dark as can be and we were now on the lookout for landslides; it has been raining for some time now. We had originally planned to cross Jalori pass and reach Shoja for the night, but the present conditions made it difficult for us to cross Jalori jot. So the target for the day was now Khanag.

The last 15 Kms of the Jalori pass is pretty steep and we had frequent stretches of slush and washed out roads. After a particularly bad stretch and stream crossing, the trail seemed to have come to a dead end. It was the landslide that we were on the lookout for. There were two huge boulders on either side of the road, and a big stone in the middle, blocking the road completely. We waited for a while and things looked stable; there were no more boulders or rocks falling down from above. If we were to turn back, we would have had to ride about 20 Kms to Ani to find a place to spend the night. After weighing our options, I asked Dixit to try lifting the stone from the middle. With some effort, he was able to remove it, and there was just enough gap between the the two boulders for a bike to pass through.

We reached Khanag around 9 and checked into the rest house, but under the condition that if some one turned up with a booking, then we'll have to leave. Had to agree. We had dinner. It was raining heavily by now. I prayed there would be no more landslides and went to sleep.

Around two in the night, I was woken up by some loud knocking on door. There were only two rooms in the rest house, and both rooms had separate entrance from outside. It was pitch dark (no power) and It seemed it was time for us to leave. The man on the other side was trying to peer in through glass sections on the door with the help of his cellphone. I didn't respond, and he went away, only to return in a few minutes and continue the knocking. I opened the door; there was strong smell of liquor in his breath and he authoritatively asked me "Who gave you this room?". "The Chowkidaar", I replied. "Where is he?". I said, "I don't know". I was aware that the Chowkidaar had his quarters behind the rest house, and told him he so. He wanted me to come out and show him, but I declined. He said Ok, and left. I hoped they won't find the Chowkidaar, and would go away. But soon there were loud noises in the adjacent room, the lounge, that had another entrance from the outside. It seemed as though they were trying to break in.

Our room had another door that opened into the lounge and worse, the latch on this door was faulty. Dixit got up and placed two sofas we had in the room against the door, and hid my backpack that had the cameras and cash under the bed. The commotion quietened down a bit. I hoped they had not opened the door. A few minutes on, some one knocked on the door to the lounge. Thankfully, we recognized the voice of the Chowkidaar. We opened the door. He said they were some govt. staff and had got stuck in the landslide, and are here to spend the night here. He wanted a quilt for them. Dixit gave his; we had a blanket and Dixit used it. The Chowkidaar went away, and thankfully the episode seemed over, we went off to sleep.

Day 2 : Khanag to Noida

Day 1 : Noida to Khanag
Day 2 : Khanag to Noida

Binsar, July 2007

2007-07-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Almora - Binsar stretch

The hotties that Shamik talked about.

A random stop somewhere, hunting for grub.

At the gates of the Binsar Wildlife sanctuary.

Inside Binsar Wildlife sanctuary.

Shamik, hungry and exhausted...

Green fiesta

Sunset at zero point, Binsar, where the road ends.

Next morning, at the KMVN rest house.

View from our room window at the KMVN rest house!

Views from the rooftop of the KMVN rest house; clouds above, clouds below, me in between!

The KMVN rest house, located at the highest point in the area, with views all around.

Way back, inside the sanctuary

Moss on the road

Shamik on the road

It clears up a bit; the clouds go down!

My sweetheart, with 60,000 Kms on the odo and still going strong.

Green everywhere.

A temple, inside the sanctuary

Fallen pine leaves on the road.

Shamik, in love with his Geo cruiser.

Harsil and Beyond, March 2007

2007-03-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Day 3 & 4: ITBP camp - Nalupani - Noida

We spent some part of the morning at the ITBP camp, watching the ITBP personnel go through their daily routine.

View from the camp.

The camp.

Our thikaana for the night.

ITBP.

Post breakfast, we started our long walk to the glacier. We were humbled by the escort we were provided.

There are some wonderful views of the Bhagirathi on the way. A walk always allows you to enjoy the surroundings better.

A group photo.

Inline 6!.

Once at the glacier, we found a bulldozer busy at work, 'scooping' the glacier away to clear the road.

A video of the same.

We bid adieu to our friends from the ITBP for their hospitality and moved on, planning to reach Nalupani for the night. As usual, we had lots of stops for photography on the way.

Sparsh went down this time at the ice patch that we had negotiated on our way up

My favorite place of stay in this part of the world

Day for was the usual commute home; uneventful and boring.

Day 1 : Noida to Uttarkashi
Day 2 : Uttarkashi to ITBP camp
Day 3 & 4: ITBP camp - Nalupani - Noida

Harsil and Beyond, March 2007

2007-03-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

Day 2: Uttarkashi to ITBP camp

We started the day quite late. It was almost 12 when we finally checked out of the hotel. Filled up and started for the day in another 15 minutes. Roads were good till Bhatwari after which was a long landslide zone. Bhatwari also happened to be the point from where Me and Dixit returned from our trip in February.

As we neared Harsil, we started seeing snow peaks in the horizon. There were stream crossings every now and then, and we even passed by a glacier.

We crossed Harsil and headed towards Gangotri. Spent some time here as we proceeded cautiously over black ice with snow heaps on both sides of the road.

Photo studio doing his work...

And the result:

Wish I had a better lense...

Moving ahead, after a break for the above photos, we found that the we can't proceed any further. There was a huge glacier going across the road that blocked it completely.

We spent some time there, taking photographs when we came across some ITBP personnel, who were on their way back from Harsil. They had walked all the way from an ITBP camp further up, crossing the glacier to reach Harsil just to make a phone call! We had a few words with them as Manik enquired about Sattal. They went on towards their camp, and we had all but decided to turn back for Harsil in a few minutes. I wanted to trek down to the Bhagirathi river below, and was looking for a path, when 2 gentlemen from the ITBP came, looking for us after coming to know of our arrival here from their friends who had just passed by. These men are expert trekkers, as is their job to keep vigil over the mountainous borders the year round. They led me an Sparsh down to river, guiding us on the path to take and the way the terrain is to be handled.

Once we were back on the road, they warmly invited us to spend the night with them at the ITBP camp. We were a bit apprehensive at first, since this meant we would have to leave our bikes and most of my stuff in the saddle bag unattended. Finally, after assurances of safety, we decided to cross the glacier and spend the night at the ITBP camp. It was easy to climb the glacier, but it was pretty steep at the other end, and we had some difficulty climbing down. A half an hour walk took us to the ITBP camp. The men were only too happy to carry our luggage for us. The camp is isolated for a few months every year due to the glacier, and the it is hard for supplies to reach this place. But this didn't figure at all when we were treated to dinner. And we chatted long into the night before we were escorted to our quarters for the night.

Day 3 & 4: ITBP camp - Nalupani - Noida

Day 1 : Noida to Uttarkashi
Day 2 : Uttarkashi to ITBP camp
Day 3 & 4: ITBP camp - Nalupani - Noida

Harsil and Beyond, March 2007

2007-03-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Noida to Uttarkashi

After our aborted trip to Harsil, this had to happen soon. So off we went, this time, Me, Manik and Sparsh. The route planned was basically the same as the last time, only this time we decided to deliberately take the off road stretch from Champa that goes around the Tehri lake and brings us back to the main highway, some 60 Kms after Champa towards Uttarkashi. Along with some adventure riding, this route has good scope for photography; I just might ride this stretch again after the mosoons. We started off at 4:30 from Mohan Nagar. The upgarded headlight setup on my bike meant that I remained the pilot as long as we were riding in the dark. Everything went on smoothly till around Muzzaffar Nagar where the roads were in a pitiable condition and things slowed down a lot. However we were greeted by smoothly carpeted roads just as we entered Uttaranchal and we had breakfast just after Haridwar. We took the left turn towards Narendra Nagar after crossing Rishikesh and were soon on the almost empty hill roads cruising towards Chamba.

Sparsh had a punctue just after Chamba, and this took some time to fix. Once fixed, we took the kuchha road that I had to take the last time after we took a wrong turn from Chamba. And then the fun began.

A first-timer on the hills!

One of my Favourite shots from this trip. courtesy Manik

The Tehri lake. Conditions were less than ideal for photography, with all the foggy conditions around.

But the offroading was good fun.

The road by the lake in the above pic was the original road in this area and is now consumed by the waters of the Tehri lake. We decided to explore this old road. The dhaba owner (above pic) gave us more info about the road. This will go on for about another 2 Kms, after which it is submerged. We wanted to continue till the road ended.

I was leading and soon I could see the point were the road ended. The road we were riding on right now was under water for some time and came back up when the waters receeded. This was something I realized later. I had my eyes fixed on the end point where the road went right under the Tehri lake when suddenly...

I saw it too late to even try to use brakes. I just let it go.. flew on and landed safely.. thank god! Looked back as soon as I came to a stop and waved at Manik who was some way behind me to stop immediately.

Sparsh decided to take a walk all the way to the end.

Don't know what he saw, but was all smiles when he came back!

Fortunately there was a way to get back up safely

Turned back to get back on the road to Uttarkashi soon. On the way back...

The new road (read replacement road to the now submerged road) is almost 50 Kms longer than the old road. The one we took from Chamba, though unsurfaced saved us alteast 20 Kms. Once we got back up on the new road it was smooth sailing. Stopped about 40 Kms from Uttarkashi for a tea break. We reached Uttarkashi just as it got dark. Manik found his tyre almost flat. We had to hunt around a bit to find a puncture wala. Fixed it, found a hotel and settled in for the night.

Day 2 : Uttarkashi to ITBP camp

Day 1 : Noida to Uttarkashi
Day 2 : Uttarkashi to ITBP camp
Day 3 & 4: ITBP camp - Nalupani - Noida

Tehri and Beyond, February 2007

2007-02-27T01:48:00.000-08:00

Day 3: Chamba - Noida

The weather hadn’t change a bit the next morning. So our target for the day was straight home. We were pretty comfortable with hill riding after 2 days of riding on the rains. The major hurdle now was the UP highways. Some way ahead, I heard a scraping sound each time I used the front brakes. Uh oh.. this can’t be good. My fault. A disc pad change was long overdue and the wet condition over the last 2 days must have accelerated the wear. Once in Rishikesh, I stopped at the first workshop and had a change of pads.

The old one:

(the cat was using up the only bit of sun in my house when I wanted to click this. So…)

Our brunch stop was at this cool little restaurant at Agrakhal. Meet Rommie, the friendly 1 year old bhutia dog whole loved Dixit’s hands!

The raindrops on visor pic was also shot here.

Once we reached Rishikesh, the rains stopped. Moving ahead, the sun came out after three days and grinned at us. We reached home around 8:30.

Some experiences and additions in my touring inventory after this trip:

- Hair drier : handy for drying up shoes and gloves.
- Two thick rods : To ‘de-rim’ tyres (old screwdrivers should do).
- Tube valve opener : Wonder where one can get that…
- Plenty of polybags that can cover our feet completely
- Newspapers : Use a thick layer as insoles and change them as soon as it stops raining. (local vernacular ones are best).
- Waterproof gloves (if it is a possibility). Under normal temperature, skin just gets wrinkled when wet for long periods. But under cold conditions (enough to numb), skin seems to absorb water and swell up (not good at all).
- Scamsters are no good if you are riding in rains for long periods. I couldn’t find a single piece of dry cloth in it on day 3 morning. Remedy : Pack all stuff in a large poly bag and then put them in the scamster.

Day 1 : Noida - Uttarkashi
Day 2 : Uttarkashi - Bhatwari - Champa
Day 3 : Champa - Noida

Tehri and Beyond, February 2007

2007-02-27T01:27:00.000-08:00

Day 2: Uttakashi - Bhatwari - Chamba

It rained through the night and it was still raining the next morning. Good recipe for landslides.

11 AM and there were no signs of the rains dying out. By 11:30, we were on the roads once again, cruising towards Harsil, rains keeping company all the while. Once I was as wet as I could get, I started enjoying the ride. 20 kms into the ride, we saw fresh snow on the peaks ahead and I had visions of a ride in the snowfall, with fresh snow flakes on the visor blinding me, bringing back memories of last year’s Ladakh tour when we rode into snowfall at Tanglang la. 10 more kms and all my hopes crashed as we hit a road block caused by a landslide. There were 3 other landslides further up ans we were told it would take atleast 2 days for everything to be cleared. We were at Bhatwari now. There was nothing much that could be done now.

Plans changed again and we had an easy target for the day: Chamba. If the weather gets better the next day, we would have some time to explore the Tehri lake area. We stopped at a desolate restaurant – cum – hotel for lunch, stripped off all the rain gear and asked for the menu only to be told nothing’s available for lunch, this being off season! We had to make do with tea and decided to reach Chamba ASAP. Moving on, the rains stopped for the first time since yesterday for a few minutes, and I got a chance to take out my cam for the first time in this trip. The results:

But a few minutes were all I got before the drizzle started again and I had to pack my cam off in a hurry. So off we went again, riding into the rain. We would have hardly covered 10 kms when things felt wobbly. Dixit was ahead of me and I was struggling to catch up. So I honked and honked till he stopped. It was the rear tyre again. Guess it is time to change the FKR. 2 Ladakh trips, one Spiti and numerous other trips had given me just one puncture over 2 years, while the last two trips (Serolsar and this one) grounded me with 3 puctures! This was a pretty deserted stretch and neither of us remembered when we had seen the last market/village/tyre service. So moving ahead was the only thing we could do.

Luck: Just 2 Kms ahead, 2 tyre service workshops.
Badluck: Both were closed… no power for the last week (some transformer tripped somewhere)
Luck : The neighbouring shop had the key to one of the tyre shops and it had a foot pump
Badluck : No knew where the tools were or how to fix a pucture.
Luck : We had all the tools, and a spare 120/80 tube (from my last tyre change)
Badluck : We changed the tube (for the first time in our lives), filled her up, fixed the wheel only to see the tyre still flat : what a time to discover the spare tube is puctured too! God knows how and why.
Luck : Some guy turned up from somewhere and claimed he can fix the punctured tube for 50 Rs.
Badluck : It was getting dark. No lights and it has been raining all the while.
Luck : Despite our apprehensions, the guy did fix the pucture.

The whole process of fixing the puncture and using the faulty foot pump to fill up took well over an hour. It was almost 8 PM and Chamba was still 30 kms away. It was pitch dark now and someone had the heart to mention bagh and some such terrible wild animals. Darn them, but the rains should keep them away and we continued on our away. It started raining harder and we suddenly found out the why! We ran right into a cloud and we could see nothing except big drops of rain in front of my headlight (god save my camera). Just as suddenly everything cleared up and we were able to see better. We kept riding into clouds and this slowed us down terribly. We reached Chamba around quarter to 10, hungry and drained to find every dhaba and restaurant closed. We checked into a hotel and the chottu there was kind enough to cook up some parathas and omlette for us.
Two days of riding in the rains and cold conditions later our hands were swollen and pinkish!

Day 3: Chamba - Noida

Day 1 : Noida - Uttarkashi
Day 2 : Uttarkashi - Bhatwari - Champa
Day 3 : Champa - Noida

Tehri and Beyond, February 2007

2007-02-27T01:15:00.000-08:00

Day 1: Noida to Uttakashi

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but not many pics this time

But here's the trip log

This was one of the least / worst planned trips ever so far I have done. To start off, we forgot all about the weekly moderator conference on Tuesday mornings that stretches on till about 5:30 AM. So we couldn't take off at the planned 4:30 - 5:00 which is the usual time for most short trips that we make.

5:45 : My place; realized we don't have a map of Uttaranchal yet.
6:15 : Painfully jotting down places along the route from Goolge Earth!
6:25 : Realized we had taken a wrong turn; Harsil our destination was nowhere to be found. (Roads on Goolge Earth need to be bolder.)
6:35 : In goes the slippers I had been wearing so far into the scamster and we were ready to make a move. Finally!

It was already daylight, and it felt strange starting a trip in daylight. It was like starting for office at 9 in the morning .

A late start on this route means delays everywhere. Unlike the Delhi - Chandigarh highway, this is mostly single carriageway and passes through many cities and traffic intersections. Tractors loaded as wide the load, tractor overtaking tractor at 20 kmph, strange contraptions (jugaads) on three or four wheels with a steering wheel that seemed plucked out from a Tata truck; these were the usual sights at this time. To top it all UP highways are in a bad state for a large part of the route. I would rate the trail to Zanskar more comfortable than this stretch. After what seemed a long struggle, we finally reached Rishikesh, and took the left turn towards Narendra Nagar. It felt the as if whole world suddenly went to sleep and we were the only souls on the road.

Some way past Narendra Nagar, with the trip at 260 Kms, I decided to take a break. It was about 12:30 PM. Once our butts felt better, we decided to move on. But before I mounted, I took a casual glance at my rear tyre to see a tiny little nail head proudly poking out of the tyre! On touch it felt nicely embedded deep inside and it was time to look out for a puncture repair guy. Luckily found one just 2 Kms ahead. This guy had a single objective: to find the easiest way to get the puncture fixed. So, instead of the usual procedure of dismantling the rear wheel, this guy drained the air out and tried to remove the tube bicycle isshtyle! But FKR is not an easy tyre to ‘de-rim’ as he found out the hard way after much prodding and hammering. So back to the usual dismantling procedure. This break doubled up as our brunch break as we started again, I noticed tiny rain drops on my visor.

From this point, the weather kept getting progressively worse until it reached a constant heavy drizzle that was to be our constant companion for the next three days, till we were back on the plains.

Once you reach Chamba, it gets pretty confusing wrt the route ahead. On a map, one could see 5 roads heading off from Chamba, four of them in almost the same direction. The drizzle made sure there weren’t many guys out there and the few I asked about the route ahead looked as confused as we were. So off we take a wrong road which we realized only when it looked like we were heading into some big construction site (the Tehri dam). Asking around, we found we had two options to get back on track to Uttarkashi: backtrack till Chamba or take a kuccha shortcut. Kuccha = off-roading My eyes lit up. There was no question of turning back for Chamba now. A few kilometers back on the road we took from Chamba, we found the trail and took it ever so gladly, in spite of the wet conditions.

This trail took us around the periphery of the enormous Tehri dam lake and offered a hundred exotic vistas for which I could have camped right there had I been carrying a tent. Old farm lands, half submerged by the turquoise blue waters of the Tehri Lake, roofless abandoned houses, half submerged peaks poking out from under the waters, alternating tracks of bright green farms and blue waters… all in all, a photographer’s paradise. Only if the drizzle subsided for a moment…

This trail seemed to be part of the old road that was in regular use when the Tehri dam was still conceived. Now it seems to be all forgotten, but to enjoy the Tehri region, the vast lake and the gorgeous vistas that surround her, this is the route to take. This impressed us so much that we decided to take this trail again on our way back, but that was another story.

Wet conditions kept our speeds low and combined with the delayed start, it was now apparent that Harsil would be a tough ask for the day. Tea break gave us news about snow in Harsil. That brightened our spirits and we decided to call it a day at Uttarkashi, and hope for better weather the next day. The GMVN rest house was well equipped as usual and can accommodate 4 guys easily in the double bed room that we checked in. In addition to the huge double bed, it had another single bed somewhat like the GMVN rest house at Munshiyari.

Day 2: Uttarkashi - Bhatwari - Chamba

Day 1 : Noida - Uttarkashi
Day 2 : Uttarkashi - Bhatwari - Champa
Day 3 : Champa - Noida

Surajkund Mela, February 2007

2007-02-27T01:08:00.000-08:00

Seruvalsar Lake, January 2007

2007-01-30T22:58:00.000-08:00

We reached the PWD guest house at Khanag after dark. Once we settled in, we had a photography session.

The pic below tells a story. While we were at it, the power failed and there was complete darkness. So Manik goes inside, lights up a candle, brings it out and mounts it at the top of the stairs. All in one pic!

Some experimentation with long exposure shots:

Most of day 2 was spent trekking. We rode to Jalori pass, parked our bikes after riding it as far as we could into the trekking path and started the trek. Trekking in snow was fun, but Manik seemed to have some anxious moments, not being sure of his foothold on the steep snow covered paths.

Most of the trekking path was dry. But when there was snow, we had it in plenty.

View from the trek route:

A break...

I stayed back for some photography, while Manik carried on.

I loved this patch

Soon after I had the first view of the lake. This was the first time I am seeing a lake frozen over. First impression I had was that the lake had dried off and there was just sand left over! But a closer look suggested solid ice!

Around the lake:

We threw some heavy stones on the lake only to see it bounce off the surface. With some trepidation, and with the help of a long stick in my hand, the other end of which was held fast by Manik, I stepped into the lake; into frozen solid waters of lake Serolsar!

There after it was fun for hours, I crossed the lake on foot, made a video of it, and seeing me doing all this, even Manik stepped in!

That's Manik

A parting shot... It was evening. We left for the rest house.

There were some steep climbs involved in the trek path.

Back at the rest house, we were treated to a dinner in the PWD kitchen with fresh rotis and dal.

Day 3 we rode back to Jalori pass and from there on to the other side, towards Shoja. The road from Khanag till Jalori is in a good condition with no snow or black ice anywhere, even though some parts of it were wet. But as soon as we started out on the other side, towards Shoja, we found this: A thick layer of ice covered with dirt. Very deceptive!

My bike did a 180 degree as soon as I touched this, and was facing the cliff now. Looking back, Manik was down and now lifting his bike up.

Manik wondering what hit him

And we thought black ice and loose soil doesn't go together! That's brown ice for you.

We rode on till there was no snow around, taking breaks every few meters for photography.

Icicles

It never fails to amaze me as to how things change as we cross passes in Himachal. The other side of Jalori pass was completely dry with nary a sign of snow or rain. And once we crossed over...

Photography in full swing!

It was time to turn back now. Target for the day was Narkanda, and then Hattu Peak if we had some time left. Once we crossed over, I tried out some proper off-road ishtyle riding, taking curves sliding and drifting, standing on the foot pegs, while Manik made some videos. On the way back we explored a lot, taking new roads every now and then, and exploring new places like Kandagai and others, the names of which I don't remember anymore. We had some rains as we approached Narkanda. This and all the time we spent exploring meant we couldn't attempt Hatu this evening. But rains around Narkanda meant we should have some fresh snowfall at Hattu! So we decided to do Hattu first thing in the morning and checked into a hotel for the night.

Day 4, I come out of the hotel and find my bike not in a condition to ride:

There was this thick layer of frost on the seat. Manik was lucky, his bike being parked closer to the building. The only way out was to scrape the frost off the seat!

We started out and went straight towards Hattu peak. The ride up was wonderful, with the steep climb and narrow roads covered by pine trees.
Some way before Hattu mandir, we had patches of snow. The FKR showed it's worth again, climbing up in snow effortlessly, while Manik's knobbies were no good, giving no traction. Manik stayed behind, while I carried on. The snow got deeper and deeper and the going got tougher, and had to stop at a steep hair pin after even the FKR gave up.

No amount of pushing and revving would get my bike to move an inch up from this spot.

Time to turn back now. And this was the most difficult part. I couldn't use the front discs on the steep descent with all the snow. And I couldn't use the rear brakes either since I had to keep both feet on the ground to balance the bike. So the way out was to turn off the ignition and fuel, slip into first gear and use the clutch as brakes. This worked like magic as long as I kept to pedestrian speeds. I stopped and got off at a hair pin bent to take some pics.

And now the interesting part; I mounted again, and habitually turned on the ignition! I intended to use the same technique (clutch + first gear) to continue climbing down but now, the ignition was on and the worst part was, I was not even aware of it. I started again and with the first application of the clutch to slow down, the engine burst into life and I instantly crossed the critical pedestrian speed limit after which no brakes can slow you down on a snowy descent. Sliding and locking wheels and using all my skills to keep up was not going to help me. I was gaining speed all the time and soon the straight stretch ended and had me riding towards the edge of the road, the deep Narkanda valley waiting to devour me. Brakes having failed long back, and steering as good as dead, I had only one choice. I locked the front brakes with the steering turned to one side. I fell down, and along with the bike slid on for a few meters and stopped a couple of feet from the edge of oblivion. That was the closest I got to ending my touring career and perhaps my life! Just two feet.

That last halt after which all hell turned loose was just a few meters ahead.

2007-01-15T00:50:00.000-08:00

10th September, 2006

We started off at 4:45 from my house in Noida, planning to cross Rohtang pass and reach Koksar by day end. Though Koksar looks a bit over ambitious, weather (at Rohtang) permitting this is possible. We reached Manali around 5:30, and as we refueled up at Manali, we looked all set to cross Rohtang and reach Koksar by night fall. So we put on the extra layers as we got ready to give Rohtang a try. But the moment we crossed Manali and started the climb for Rohtang, the weather gods had a sudden change of mood, and it started drizzling. Nothing surprising though; in fact I was half expecting this to happen. So, out came the rain gear, and on we went, aiming to reach and stop at Marhi for the day, if not cross Rohtang. The drizzle turned into pouring rain and the light disappeared as we gained altitude. The bad stretches were at their worst, with deep slush giving us a tough time, even with the FKRs. After all, we still had the stock MRF Zapper up front.

We reached the shops at Marhi around 7:30, wet and shivering, and rushed into a coffee shop and ordered coffee. Decided over coffee to stay put at Marhi for the night. I was not sure if there was any place at Marhi to spend a night. Asked the shopkeeper, and came to know of a HPPWD rest house not far from the shop. But the day was not over yet. The PWD Rest house asked for 1000 for the night, way too high than the standard rates at PWD rest houses on either sides of Rohtang pass. Some bargaining and threats of pushing on to cross Rohtang pass and over to Koksar instead of staying here for 1000 rupees brought the rates down to a more realistic 300 Rupees.

Once in the room, we had to unpack the sleeping bags and hang them over the windows to dry them, as water had seeped into them after riding in the rains. Got up early in the morning to find the whole of the rest house and

Nainital, December 2006

2006-12-30T16:27:00.000-08:00

Some photos from my recent visit here...

The Cricket ground, perhaps a unique feature of this hill station. Regular club level tests are held here.

A view of the lake

This town has got some swanky hotels for those with heavy wallets.

Decorative candles : A specialty here.

Sights around...

Higher reaches best covered on horse back...

Another view of the lake

Move along the Mal road on pre paid rickshaws. Fare : 5 Rs. flat

Ducks in the lake...

Yours truly

Dixit

Take a peaceful walk along the lakeside

Another way to relax. Go boating...

Courtesy Nainital yatch Club

Buildings from the British era, by the lakeside

Bhimtaal

Naukuchiya Taal

Salil

Munshiyari, Kumaon. December 2006

2006-12-02T23:28:00.000-08:00

Some photos from the trip.

First snow sighting and everyone came to a halt:

Sutta + Photography break...

Second snow sighting; Everyone comes to another halt!

The amazing sunrise at Chakauri, that some lazy bones missed out.

After the Sunrise, at Chakauri...

A view from our hotel before day 2 started...

Locals, livelihoods...

I simply love fall colors. I just come to a screeching halt when I see them.

Next stop.. which river was that?

Picture perfect...

Only too eager to get shot were they.

Right after the only pass in this trip, the Kalamuni Pass.

Almost in Munshiyari.

Me, Shamik and Manik go sightseeing...

On the way back; I was in no mood to sacrifice photography avenues to rip along. So kept at my own sweet pace and shot some of the best pics of the tour on the way back.

This stretch had the most awesome rippable roads in the entire tour. And with almost no traffic to tackle.

Dj, with that florescent orange bag hanging down on the front could be spotted from far away.

Look who is trying to help whom

Next moment... To hell with him...

Trekked up to Birthi falls;

Way back:

Ah... I love these colors!

Typical roads in Uttaranchal.

Pine forests.

A short stop at Nainital, for lunch...

Well, that's Uttaranchal for you. Enjoy!

Salil

2006-10-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Ladakh: Khardung La, Tso Moriri and Tso Kar

This was an 8 day tour from Noida to Leh and back, covering Tso Kar and Tso Moriri on the way back that me and Dixit did in September 2006. Why post it now, when its almost time for this year's trip log? Well, ask Yogesh... he ain't posted his log yet. And he's the admin here!

Well, I've been waiting to complete the trip log to post these pics with, but it never materialized. So I finally gave up and ...
The pics...

Nothing interesting on day 1; just the plains and the straight boring highway.

Day 2, a butt break. Manali - Leh highway

Somewhere just before the tents @ Sarchu.

Day 3, found this just as we started for the day from Pang. Truckers create such shortcuts to cut down on a few loops...

The view from there. That's Pang.

High altitude sickness (AMS). Dixit gets it again.
The original roads were washed away by floods this year. So a parallel dirt track is all that's there to
cross the pains now (as of September 2006). Work was on to restore the metaled roads..

Dixit was literally dragging himself along. While me being luckier just enjoyed the whole thing...
This was perhaps a dried up lake that formed after all the heavy rains this year.

More plains. A high altitude plain flanked by moutains on both sides, and a road that's at times straight as an arrow.. a rarity in the mountains.

Dixit finally gives up... an hour of rest, painkillers and a lot of water got him up and riding again.

The plains ends at the climb for Tanglang La - the world's second highest motorable road. Some way into the climb, it began snowing.

At the top...

We reached Leh city by evening, day 3.

Day 4. On the way to Khardung La...Claimed to be the world's highest motorable pass, at 18380 feet.

K-top.

On the way back.

Barley crops.

Leh city from up above.

Prayer wheels in Leh

Shanti Stupa

Day 5. Way back from Leh. This shortcut is supposed to be used only to go down.
Could ride up mid way when it began to get too steep for me and had to turn back.
This is on the ascend to Tanglang La when coming back from leh.

Back to More plains... a nomad riding his horse.

Missed a turn at Tso Kar that goes to Tso Moriri and ended up here... a dead end.
Ended up having to park our bikes at Tso Moriri due to this and take a hike to save petrol.
Dixit had to ride his CBZ in reserve for about 40 Kms before we finally reached Tandi.
This after he used up the 10 Lts of extra fuel we carried! Pulsar rocks. Didn't even hit the reserve!

Tso Kar

Grasslands on the shores of Tso Kar.

The colors... you have to see it to believe it!

Day 6. We reach Tso Moriri.

Tso Moriri

We were low on fuel, with no place to fill up from. So we parked and took a hike along the lake...

Grasslands, and a wildlife sanctuary on the shores of Tso Moriri.

Roads along the lake.

Back on the Manali - Leh highway, saw this as I entered a curve on a cloudy evening.

A panoramic view of Sarchu.

We crossed Manali and checked in to a guest house at Sundernagar for the night. Day 8 was the usual commute back home on the boring highways.
So guys, it's a great place out there. Get riding now!

Ladakh, September 2006

2006-09-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

Hi all
This was an 8 day tour from Noida to Leh and back, covering Tso Kar and Tso Moriri on the way back that me and Dixit did in September 2006. Why post it now, when its almost time for this year's trip log? Well, ask Yogesh... he ain't posted his log yet. And he's the admin here!

Well, I've been waiting to complete the trip log to post these pics with, but it never materialized. So I finally gave up and ...
The pics...

Nothing interesting on day 1; just the plains and the straight boring highway.

Day 2, a butt break. Manali - Leh highway

Somewhere just before the tents @ Sarchu.

Day 3, found this just as we started for the day from Pang. Truckers create such shortcuts to cut down on a few loops...

The view from there. That's Pang.

High altitude sickness (AMS). Dixit gets it again.
The original roads were washed away by floods this year. So a parallel dirt track is all that's there to
cross the pains now (as of September 2006). Work was on to restore the metaled roads..

Dixit was literally dragging himself along. While me being luckier just enjoyed the whole thing...
This was perhaps a dried up lake that formed after all the heavy rains this year.

More plains. A high altitude plain flanked by moutains on both sides, and a road that's at times straight as an arrow.. a rarity in the mountains.

Dixit finally gives up... an hour of rest, painkillers and a lot of water got him up and riding again.

The plains ends at the climb for Tanglang La - the world's second highest motorable road. Some way into the climb, it began snowing.

At the top...

We reached Leh city by evening, day 3.

Day 4. On the way to Khardung La...Claimed to be the world's highest motorable pass, at 18380 feet.

K-top.

On the way back.

Barley crops.

Leh city from up above.

Prayer wheels in Leh

Shanti Stupa

Day 5. Way back from Leh. This shortcut is supposed to be used only to go down.
Could ride up mid way when it began to get too steep for me and had to turn back.
This is on the ascend to Tanglang La when coming back from leh.

Back to More plains... a nomad riding his horse.

Missed a turn at Tso Kar that goes to Tso Moriri and ended up here... a dead end.
Ended up having to park our bikes at Tso Moriri due to this and take a hike to save petrol.
Dixit had to ride his CBZ in reserve for about 40 Kms before we finally reached Tandi.
This after he used up the 10 Lts of extra fuel we carried! Pulsar rocks. Didn't even hit the reserve!

Tso Kar

Grasslands on the shores of Tso Kar.

The colors... you have to see it to believe it!

Day 6. We reach Tso Moriri.

Tso Moriri

We were low on fuel, with no place to fill up from. So we parked and took a hike along the lake...

Grasslands, and a wildlife sanctuary on the shores of Tso Moriri.

Roads along the lake.

Back on the Manali - Leh highway, saw this as I entered a curve on a cloudy evening.

A panoramic view of Sarchu.

We crossed Manali and checked in to a guest house at Sundernagar for the night. Day 8 was the usual commute back home on the boring highways.
So guys, it's a great place out there. Get riding now!

My wanderings-old

2006-07-19T23:44:00.000-07:00

Lahaul and Spiti
June, 2006

A background
This is one journey I have been planning for more than a year now. My last attempt almost exactly a year ago was thwarted due to the flash floods on Sutlej, which caused massive destruction all along the roads I planned to travel. In fact, I would call myself lucky to escape the fury of the Sutlej as I could make it only till Shimla instead of Jeori as per my plans, thanks to bad weather. My last attempt was a solo attempt and I enjoyed it a lot. But after I met with an accident this January, my parents wouldn’t even hear of letting me go alone. All the same, I would have some how managed this trip, partner or no partner.

Auli : A weekend adventure
June, 2005

The destination
The perennial biker's itch; that was what started another of the many country - hopping trips that we bikers do so often. For long, I have been on the look out for a place where I could try my hand at skiing. After much consideration, we decided the place to be Auli, in Uttaranchal. Auli is one of the most famous skiing spots in India. This is just 12 Kms away from Joshimath, which is the base station for tourists heading for Auli. Tourists, especially skiers flock to Auli during the main skiing season spread over January, February and March. Located at an altitude ranging from 2519 Mts. to 3049 Mts over the slopes, Auli receives bountiful snowfall, resulting in delightful snow covered slopes, making it a skier’s paradise.

Lahaul and Spiti : Attempt one
January, 2005

Prelude
24th, 25th June, 2005; our (I and Yogesh's) plans to explore Spiti were cancelled, since Yogesh suddenly got an assignment at home. But I still had 6 offs in a row, and I was not going to waste the 6 days just staying at home. Someone suggested Munshiyari in Uttaranchal. Someone else said it's not safe to do this trip alone. So, in the end, plans were finalized for Spiti; Tabo, Kaza and back via Rohtang and Manali. Thus started my only solo trip since now and I was pretty excited; it was just me and my bike for full 5 days with the majestic Himalayas for company.

Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

2006-06-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

Day 6: 9th June, 2006

It was warm in the morning when we started. We hardened ourselves for a day of riding in the June heat in the plains of North India. The temperature kept rising with lose of altitude and we took frequent breaks to cool down. However, it was good fun ripping down the smooth hill roads, which are again one of my favorite stretches. The ride home went smoothly, and it was only after the sun went down that we got some respite from the heat. We reached home as planned at about 9 PM at night.

Kms covered : 560
Expenses : 763 (Fuel and accommodation)

Home

Day 1 : Noida to Kinnaur
Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo
Day 3 : Tabo to Gette
Day 4 : Gette to Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu
Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu

2006-06-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Day 5: 8th June, 2006

The objective of the day was to explore as much of Lahaul as possible and get as near to Delhi as possible; the target being Mandi. After a much needed bath we headed out to the market right across the road for breakfast. We were greeted by a waterfall on the opposite side as we sat down for breakfast.

Good morning!

Rest house

It was 9:30 by the time we had breakfast and started off for the day. We took the Manali to Leh highway and from Tandi took the road to Udaipur till Shansha. It was raining the previous night. However, the clouds had all cleared up and it was a sparkling clear day, a blessing for a photography freak like me. After 3 days of stark naked landscapes of Kaza and Spiti, Lahaul was green and pleasing to the eyes. Our ride was all along the Chandra and then the Bhaga rivers. The roads were far better than yesterday, with only some stretches needing repairs. There were many stream crossings on the way and these were fun. Some stretches were good enough to do 80 + on the speedo. We stopped frequently for photographs, unlike yesterday.

Livestock and lifeline of the local populace…

There were numerous of these…

The source of all the waterfalls and streams

Picture - perfect

We reached Tandi soon and took the road that goes up towards Udaipur. These were places I had visited in June last year in my solo trip and also one of my favorite places in the map of Himachal. Unlike Spiti, these are more densely populated as is evident from abundance of cultivated land on either sides of the rivers. Even the mountains here had a green tinge to them compared to the barren ones in Spiti.

Cultivation along the Chandra River

Shansha

Enroute an unknown village branching away from the Tandi - Udaipur road

We rode on the Tandi – Udaipur route till Shansha and then took a road that goes further up and ends at a small village. This point signified the end of our trip. It was time to start our almost two day journey back home from here. I stopped frequently for photographs, while Dixit, feeling a bit sleepy under the sun, went ahead on his own.

Shansha

River Bhaga

The scenic Tandi - Udaipur route

Tandi - Udaipur

By the River Bhaga

I took my time reaching Tandi, and Dixit was nowhere to be seen. Wondering if I had missed him, I backtracked a bit but only found him while coming back. He had gone all the way to the petrol pump at Tandi and had a fill. I did the same on reaching Tandi and was back on the road towards Rohtang pass. It was hard to find any restaurants or dhaba for hours and hours in Spiti. But here in Lahaul, there was one ever few Kms. We checked into one for lunch. Had chowmein and then Thupka, a Tibetan dish with boiled noodles and vegetables. The thupka tasted a bit bland after the chowmein, though the soup was delicious. As was the general pattern for the last few days, it began to get cloudy towards the evening. As we approached the ascent for Rohtang pass, we saw the mountains ahead enveloped in dark clouds.

In the final leg of our journey

Lahaul

Another waterfall

Rohtang Pass... under a dark cloud cover

Rohtang is known for its vagaries of the weather, which gives it the name, Rohtang, meaning piles of dead bodies. I had myself experienced this almost every time I passed through here. This time was no different. As we neared the summit, it started drizzling and we were riding through heavy clouds, with hardly any visibility. However, the snow cover was far less than what I had expected going by my ride here last June.

The usual, at Rohtang pass

Hunting for gloves

Only bits of snow left

The late evening ride down from Rohtang towards Manali spared us the mad rush of tourist vehicles that’s normal in the daytime. We took a tea break at Marhi and by now it was totally dark. The roads were now empty and it was a smooth ride till Manali. Manali was return to madness. We rode right in to a traffic jam on the bridge right before the market. It took about 20 minutes to get through the place and I also lost Dixit in the process. Thankfully, phones started working now and we got together soon. It was about 9:30 PM and I hoped to ride till Mandi for the day. However we were tired and checked into a hotel when we reached Kullu.

Kms covered : 228
Expenses : 671 (Food, fuel and accommodation)

Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

Day 1 : Noida to Kinnaur
Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo
Day 3 : Tabo to Gette
Day 4 : Gette to Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu
Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

Day 4 : Gette to Koksar

2006-06-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

Day 4: 7th June, 2006

I had been vaguely aware of dawn and the first light of the morning for some time, though still asleep. It was 5 by the time I was fully awake. I knew there were splendid vistas waiting to greet me outside the tent. By then, I had somewhat got used to the altitude. Even then, in my excitement to get out of the tent, I hurried a bit and by the time I was out of my sleeping bag, I was gasping for breath. I sat down a bit to catch my breath and had a growing sickly feeling creeping over me. I reached for the water bottle and poured some into my mouth. It was so chilling; I couldn’t swallow it for another minute or so. Next time, I’ll remember to keep the water bottle inside my sleeping bag if I ever camp again. A few minutes more and it felt better. Got hold of the camera and tripod and out I went. It was a sight to behold. It was still pretty much dark. But straight ahead, across the river Spiti somewhere down below, the high snow capped peaks caught the first rays of the sun, and I knew this was going to be a beautiful day among the high mountains. If only I could wake up to such delectable sights every day! It was 5.10 AM. I only wished I could have got out a bit early.

First Rays!

It was chilling, but that was expected. What I didn’t expect was to find the water we had left outside in a bottle frozen!

Frozen!

Dixit was excited to hear about this and he rushed out. He didn’t stay out long before going back head first into the tent. It was getting brighter by the minute. This is the best time for photography, when it comes to mountains. After taking a few photos I decided to take my bike out and explore the surrounding hills. If freedom has a meaning to it, this must have been it. No roads to lead you, no men, no nothing; just miles of mountain slopes and meadows to traverse as you please. I soon reached a point, where the mountains ended and a sheer drop started with the Spiti River flowing about 500 meters below. This should give you an idea of the vast dimensions I am talking about here. No photo can give you the feel of things as I experienced here. Right behind me was Gette village, the farms around her, glowing with the early morning rays of the sun.

The valley and Spiti River

Village Gette

My sweetheart

Every small task, even the effort to setup up the tripod and shoot photos was exhausting. A small climb up a cliff, overlooking the river Spiti felt like an hour of hard running in the plains. After spending some time here, I returned back to our camp site, and found Dixit still resting in the tent. He had a headache. However, he got out decided to ride around a bit, hoping this would improve things.

Campsite

Dixit : getting the feel of things

Unfortunately, this didn’t do him any good. He puked once and went back to rest after some biscuits, water and a dose of Saridon. I continued on my way to the last village on this route, Tashigang, where the dirt track we have been following ends. This track passed through some magnificent mountain scenery and I kept myself busy trying to capture it all in my camera. One the way was a small puddle with pieces of thick ice, which was thankfully shattered by a Mahindra that had passed through while I was at the camp site. The jeep happened to be the only vehicle we had seen so far in this area and the driver appeared to be a foreigner lady!

Approaching Tashigang

Tashigang

The road ended here

Buddhism everywhere!

This is one of the smallest villages I have ever seen; it has only 6 houses, and is a hard long ride/drive to reach here. Not to say, there’s no way one can reach this village in winter, without a Helicopter. Life must be really hard in these parts of the world. However, that hasn’t hardened the hearts of the souls who live here. Just as I parked my bike for some photography, a lady who was on her way down to her house invited me for tea. Having had just water and biscuits since last evening, a cup of tea felt like the best thing in world at that juncture. I gladly accepted and followed her down through narrow alleys between the houses and finally into her house. The house had 2 floors. It was pretty dark as I entered, but just bright enough to see a stairway leading up to a balcony that led to the kitchen. One thing I observed is that electricity connections have penetrated the unrelentingly tough terrains in these parts to reach the smallest of villages.

This was the first time I was in a Tibetan kitchen. It was rectangular room; stove and racks of plates and a cassette player on the left, and at the far end, on the floor were mattresses, along with a low wooden desk in front. I was motioned to take my seat behind the desk. Right in front of the desk was a traditional heating stove, made of tin, with a round tin flap at the top for a lid and a chimney that went out through the roof. While the lady prepared tea, we were joined by an elderly lady, most likely the grandma and then a young girl in her teens. The grandma kept feeding the heating stove with dry shrubs and small pieces of wood. The warmth was comforting. The young girl played some lively traditional Tibetan song on the cassette player. We didn’t talk much, since Hindi or English weren’t their strong point, nor Tibetan mine. Two small children, a girl and a boy were playing around. I wished I had carried chocolates for them; I promised myself to do this next time on. We had tea; it was perhaps the most refreshing cup ever. It was not made of cow’s milk, as the taste suggested, but refreshing all the same. There was a notebook lying on the desk. I casually opened it. It must have belonged to one of the children. In it were alphabets in Tibetan, written in a way that would remind us of our days at Kindergarten.

Tibetan script

Tea was over soon, and the last of it was gulped down with a feeling of guilt for Dixit, who was still in the tent, packed in a sleeping bag and fighting AMS, some 10 Kms away from here. I thanked them and took my leave. Every single house had multi-colored flags at the roof sides, waving lazily in the breeze, indicating the Buddhist culture, that seemed to be the only religion in these parts.

Buddhist edifices

The ride back, as it was through picturesque landscapes and giant mountains, went a long way in satisfying my thirst for photography. And I shot some of the best photos of the trip here.

A lone multistoried building, in the middle of nowhere.

Perhaps, my Photo of the trip!

Back at the camp site, Dixit was just out of the camp, feeling much better now.
It was time to have some fun on our bikes. It is not everyday that we get to ride away from roads, free to make our own path, check out our bike’s climb angles till the bikes won’t climb anymore; and all this at an altitude that’s more than 4Kms above sea level. Our cameras kept clicking and back home, when I saw the photos, I just wished and wished that I could be back there again, doing these things all over again. One of these days, I’ll be back.

Dixit: out after all

Joins me

My turn

I climbed and climbed till the bike wouldn’t move any more and then turned back

Back

This could have gone on and on, but now it was time to pack up and move on. As expected, it took some time packing up the tent, sleeping bags and everything else and we got moving finally. We again had fun riding down the steep 4WD tracks and we made videos of each other climbing down. Soon Kibber was in view, and it was to be Kibber for lunch.

Dixit rolls down the steep tracks

Kibber

Kibber village

Building blocks for building houses

View from Kibber

We had fried rice and veggie soup for lunch. The soup turned out to be too spicy and we could hardly drink any. The owner was however very kind to offer us another serving, but we declined politely. It was turning out to be a tough time eating. We had to stop chewing frequently to catch our breath. The lack of sleep made it difficult for me to keep my eyes open and while Dixit, our accountant settled the bills, I took a small nap.

Our plan for the day was to reach Chandratal and do another night of camping there. This was a total ride of 103 Kms. And we braced ourselves up to handle the worst roads in the trip, especially the track from Batal that gets us to Chandratal. Dixit’s CBZ had sprung an oil leak, luckily in the left shocker and that left the disk brakes intact. The ride down from Kibber took us back to the main route along the Spiti River. Good roads, bad roads; my bike took it all in its stride, and even with all the luggage on board, it felt all ready and longing for a long and hard journey, even after 40,000 Kms on the odo.

This route along the Spiti River once again brought to us the amazing rock formations of the kind we saw someway before Kaza. The Spiti River really has a dramatic journey through these deep ravines lined with extraterrestrial formations.

The Spiti River winds along...

Reminded me of Lamayuru in Ladakh

Amazing!

We had some arrow straight smooth roads in these parts, which were largely plains with mountains visible all along. My bike still refused to cross 85 Kmph at full throttle, indicative of the high altitude. It was a smooth ride till Losar. Some way after the check post at Losar, the roads simply vanished! By the look of it, no metalled roads were ever built here. Unlike Rohtang pass, the climb to Kunzum pass was not at all steep. Even then, the wretched condition of the roads made us take more than an hour to do the 18 Km stretch from Losar to Kunzum La. It was 4:25 by the time we reached Kunzum pass. We had a quick stop to take a few photos and then hurried on toward Batal.

Kunzum La

Views from Kunzum La

Views from Kunzum La

Progress again was pretty slow, the roads, in addition to the usual gravel, had large stone boulders embedded on the road, indicating that a road roller had never passed by here. I was pondering on whether to skip Chandratal and head for the next available accommodation to settle for the night when suddenly, right in front was the sign board pointing to the track for Chandratal. ‘Distance 12 Km, jeep able 10 Kms’. All doubts cleared up and with a new vigour, we started for Chandratal. The track was much similar to the roads we were riding on from Losar where metalled roads bid us adieu. But soon, things began to take a turn for the worse and we wondered how the ‘un jeepable’ stretch of 2 Kms would be. While at the restaurant in Kibber, we had met a group of guys whose plans to do Chandratal had to be cancelled as a 4WD got stuck in this road, causing a blockade. I soon recognized this stretch; now cleared, but with a lot of fresh soil spread over the road along with a bulldozer standing by. Part of the route was right on the Chandra River, and we were dodging smooth round stones, polished by the waters of the Chandra over the years. The last 2 Kms indeed were torture, though it seemed that a talented driver and an able 4WD can make it through right up to the lake. But at places, one half of the road had fallen prey to landslides and sometimes the other half simple disintegrated and vanished in to the valley below. It took all of an hour to do the 12 Kms and reach Chandratal. It was 6 PM and though we would normally have some daylight till 7.30 in the hills, it was getting pretty dark with a threatening cloud cover above. We got our bikes as close to the lake as possible and hiked along the lake side for a bit. I left the tripod at the bike and was looking for some place to keep my cam still to get a good shot of the lake.

Chandrataal

Buddhism.... everywhere

Serene

Waiting to see how this would look on a bright sunny day...

Time up at Chandrataal

We were at a corner of the lake and given the time and a sunny day, I would have liked to do a hike around the lake. Also, on a sunny day, the colors of the lake would have been a brilliant turquoise and a hundred other shades of blue, as the sun went over. As we sat on a rock, deciding on what to do, a lady who had been trekking here approached us. She was surprised to find out that we actually rode a bike here. A Russian in her thirties, she had trekked from Kunzum pass to the lake and had reached here yesterday. She had been camping here, but had to move out of her tent and take shelter under a rock after it snowed the last night, that almost buried her tent. When she found out that we had plans to camp here but for time restraints, she was kind to offer us her already pitched tent for the night. However, we had to decline as we had decided to save time here and use the reserve day to explore some bit of Lahaul. Chandratal failed to impress me much; my be it was because I had already seen the fascinating Pangong-Tso in Ladakh and compared it with Chandratal, or may be it was the gloomy cloud cover above that hid the true colors of the lake. One day I’ll dedicate a trip to Chandratal.

A drizzle started and we had to rush back to our bikes to start our journey back. The track we took would have been unrideable had it rained, but we took our chances and hoped that it won’t rain hard. Another hour of torturous terrains took us back to where we started. We were still on the descent after the Kunzum pass and some way ahead, at Batal, we found a cozy little dhaba and decided to have a tea break.

Two cups each of hot tea, a general talk with the owner regarding weather in these parts and some information regarding the next available accommodation later, we hit the road again. It was clear by now that we would be handling some of the most difficult terrain of this trip in total darkness. We should find accommodation at Chattru according the dhaba owner and that was 32 Kms away. We had some particularly bad roads for a start. These were right on the Chandra riverbed and roads diverged in to many branches before joining the main road. We even had to backtrack once after a branch ended in a deep pool of water. Thankfully, we soon joined the main road and by now, we were riding in complete darkness, but for our headlights. We had to cross streams, deep ones at that time and again in this stretch. For a first timer, I was really impressed with the way Dixit handled all the torture thrown up at him for a better part of the ride today. We just hoped and hoped for the roads to get better but it was futile. It was all non metalled rally track; wait it is really a rally track - the great Raid-de-Himalayas passes through here every year. The speeds we kept would have been something like 20 to 25 Kmph at best, and by 9:30, we were at Chhatru. We found the PWD rest house, but unfortunately, it was booked for the night. The only other accommodation available was a dormitory, at 50 Rs per head. I didn’t want to use the dorm; the back pack I carried had 62,000 Rs worth of equipment and a dorm didn’t feel like the best place to spend the night. Our next available accommodation would be at Koksar, 20 Kms from here. We finalized our plans for the next day over tea in the dhaba at Chhatru. It was another tough ride till Gramphu, where we join the NH21. I had stayed at Koksar before and easily found the PWD rest house and settled for the night. We had done 172 Kms in all for the day, and this was substantial, considering that we started riding only by 1.30 in the afternoon. And what a day it has been!

Kms covered : 172
Expenses : 347 (Food and accommodation)

Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu

Day 1 : Noida to Kinnaur
Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo
Day 3 : Tabo to Gette
Day 4 : Gette to Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu
Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

Day 3 : Tabo to Gette

2006-06-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

Day 3: 6th June

The rest house is a part of the complex that consists of the Tabo monastery and has 2 kinds of rooms. The family room has 4 beds in 2 rooms and an attached bath, while the normal one has two beds and has to do with the common bathroom. The bathroom was clean and had running hot water supply.

The Tabo monastery is one of the oldest in the world. An inner chapel suggests its foundation in 996 AD. The monastery consists of nine shrines, each consisting of images of Buddha, paintings, murals and other artifacts dating back to the 11th century. We spend a lot of time photographing the monastery.

Tabo monastery

Tabo village

..... Shrines inside Tabo monastery

Main Tabo monastery

A cute little puppy.

..... Badly needed something to chew on. So chose Dixit’s jeans

The Tabo guest house

It was 11 AM by the time we had breakfast and started out for the day from Tabo. I and Dixit decided to take it slow and stopped frequently for shooting photos, while the others, due to time constraints hurried ahead.

Tabo

A view of the Tabo monastery complex

Houses, Tabo

It was getting pretty hot under the sun, though it was very cold in the morning when we got up, at Tabo. Dixit was riding with his jacket stuck under bungee cords that tied his rucksack to the bike. After we stopped again to photos, Dixit found the jacket missing, and had to turn back to retrieve the missing jacket. There was no way we could proceed as this jacket was the only warm clothe that Dixit carried for the trip. It took him about 30 minutes to find the jacket and come back to where I was waiting. This, I think was about the only delay we had in the entire trip.

Waiting…

However, we caught up with the rest of the guys soon, as they were delayed yet again. This time, Gurpreet's bike was immobilized after the aluminum plate where the footrests and brake lever is mounted cracked. We spent some time with them in a local workshop as they tried to fix the bike and then moved ahead.

Rock formations

Spiti River

Moving slow as we were, Sunny and the rest of the guys caught up soon, as we had stopped for a photography break. This time, Gurpreet was riding pillion, with his bike left behind at the workshop, to be trucked home. Just as Sunny stopped in front of me there was a sudden, short hiss from his tyre, indicating an air leak.

Sunny, Gurpreet and Praveen

Strangest of rock formations, all along the Spiti River

He carried on as fast as he could, while I and Dixit stayed behind for a few more photos. We were yet to start when we saw Praveen return back. Sunny’s tyre was flat and I was the only one who happened to be carrying a pump. We rushed ahead, and found Sunny just a Km ahead, the tyre totally flat. The tyre was totally bald in the middle and not road worthy at all, at least not for the kind of roads we were riding on. The leak was a major one, with a lot of air leaking even as we filled it. Sunny rushed on; we followed, and found him waiting, not even a Km ahead. We inflated the tyre again and it was flat as fast as before. Inflating was not the solution anymore. There was only one thing to be done; ride to Kaza with the flat tyre. Gurpreet was now riding pillion with Dixit, and they carried on ahead, while I stayed behind and captured some of the most amazing rock formations in this valley in my camera.

Spiti valley

Overall progress has been very slow today, and we had not reached Kaza yet. It was 3:30 by the time I reached Kaza. I found everyone scattered around. Sunny and Keerti were at the diversion to Kaza town. Praveen had gone to the petrol pump. Dixit and Gurpreet were somewhere in the town, trying to arrange a truck to get Gurpreet’s bike transported to Chandigarh or Delhi. But, in the end, all the delays of the day amounted to zilch, as the only petrol pump in Kaza, was out of order as I found out soon. None of us could proceed anywhere without refilling. The last petrol pump was at Powari, 200 kms behind, and the next would be in Manali; 340 Kms away assuming we didn’t take any side roads. Gurpreet was making phone calls all over the world, trying to arrange transport and money to get his bike as close to Delhi as possible. Dixit was with him most of the time. Sunny was at the local puncture repair shop; his tube was done for and had to use a tube borrowed from Praveen. We had some light lunch at a local restaurant and it was about 5.30 when we were finally ready to move. The petrol pump had thankfully been functional for some time, and we had already filled up. We bid adieu to Sunny and the guys from South, Keerti and Praveen; they planned to proceed straight to Losar and then on to Manali the next day. We planned to ride to Kibber and camp somewhere in Gette, the highest village in the world.

We bought some biscuits for dinner/breakfast and started on our way towards Kibber. It was already 5.45 PM, but daylight stretches far into the evening and it was still very bright. The side road for Kibber starts about 3 Kms after Kaza, just at the start of a bridge. For the past three days, the rivers, Sutlej and Spiti have been our constant companion. Now, as we moved away from the Spiti, we had a magical last glance of the waters of Spiti, rendered a gleaming silver by the rays of the sun setting on the other bank.

Sun sets across River Spiti

The setting sun cast an ethereal ambience on all earthly objects, and the ki monastery stood high above, on a hill; a witness to all this for centuries.

Last rays of the day...

Ki monastery

Some where on the way to Kibber, we took a wrong turn and ended up at the entrance to the Ki monastery. A very steep road leads right up to the steps of the monastery. We turned back and were soon on the way to Kibber. So far we have been riding along the riverside, with snow peaks and giant mountains all around. Now we were actually getting up close to the peaks that we have been seeing for the past two days. We could actually feel the gain in altitude. And so did the bikes. Soon we had Kibber in view. We had plans to camp for the night. And I didn’t want to camp close to inhabited places. As we were getting closer to Kibber, I saw a dirt road branching off the main road. Instinctively, I took that road; hoping to find a flat grassy patch of land before it was too dark. Some way into this new dirt road, I found a small flat meadow, fit to pitch a camp. There was still some time left before it would be dark, and we decided to explore a bit more, and if required, backtrack to camp here.

Still further, I noticed tracks made by four wheel drives, which apart from the well cut out dirt track, climbed straight up the mountain faces. It was time for some real adventure now. I stopped my bike and asked Dixit to follow, since this 4WD track had to be a shortcut. Just as both wheels got off the road and into the track, the engine died, and I found myself struggling to keep the bike from sliding down, both wheels locked. It was too steep and in this altitude of over 4000 meters, there was just not enough steam in the engine to pull the bike, me and luggage up. I tried again, kept the revs high, almost redlining it and then half clutched the bike and it started rolling. Even still it stopped frequently and I had to do what most of us would do to pull off a wheelie in the plains to get into motion again. The steepness eased off a bit as I proceeded and I stopped as I touched the old dirt track again to check for Dixit, who was now out of sight. I climbed down a bit and found Dixit stuck right at the start. His bike just won’t move! I took over and with some pushing from Dixit, the bike climbed up. Again, we had two choices; the good old dirt track and the steep and exciting 4WD track. I choose the latter while Dixit, being double minded, first chose the dirt track and then turned back to join me. The climb was less steep this time. As we joined the dirt track again, we had an amazing view of the mountains all around. The Kibber village was back in view; this time, were standing higher than the highest road connected village in Asia. And we had more climbing to do! There were no more 4WD tracks left; I suppose the founder of these tracks had enough and decided to go straight. But all the same, it was an amazing climb.

We were in level with the snowline in the adjacent mountains and there were plenty of sites to pitch our tent. I loved one particular location, which had a huge patch of green flat meadow, perfect for lawn tennis. Having selected our location, we explored a bit further and some where down in the valley, we saw some flat cultivated land along with a small cluster of houses. This was the Gette village. We turned back, ready to camp above the highest village in the world! It was almost dark. We got our bikes off the dirt track and into the meadows, headlights positioned to light up our camp site. We had to fiddle a bit with one of the poles, and it was 9 PM by the time we were all set. The altitude made sure that we were gasping for breath all the time. Dixit was too tired and went straight to sleep. I tried some night photography, but the exposure didn’t come out right. It was Dixit’s first time at such heights. For a first timer, sleeping at about 4300 meters could have proved dangerous, as I realized later. I had camped at heights before, but never this high.

We drank some water and along with the biscuits we bought at Kaza, was our dinner. We had a tough time going to sleep. The altitude was really getting to us now. To add to my woes, the full face mask I wore didn’t allow me to breathe easy and I had a bad cold. I found some relief after taking off the cap. As long as we were awake, we deliberately breathed harder to compensate for the lack of oxygen. The moment we dozed off, the breathing would get normal and the resulting suffocation would wake us up, panting hard. All in all it was a very uncomfortable night, and it was only towards the early morning hours that I could catch some sleep.

Kms covered : 70
Expenses : 585 (Food and fuel)

Day 4 : Gette to Koksar

Day 1 : Noida to Kinnaur
Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo
Day 3 : Tabo to Gette
Day 4 : Gette to Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu
Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo

2006-06-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

Day 2: 5th June, 2006

We woke up at about 7.30, to overcast skies and a light drizzle. We took our own time getting ready, as we didn’t want to ride in the rain. I also prepared a little contraption out of the huge plastic sheet we carried for use as a rain cover for my camera bag. Fortunately I never had to test it out in the entire trip. We had breakfast from the small Rest house canteen, readied our bikes and the skies cleared up just in time. The day looked promising and we looked forward to it.

It was 10.15 when we started and within 45 minutes of our ride, we encountered a roadblock. Recurring landslides in this area made the road maintenance guys drill out whatever loose rocks they found on the nearby hill, to ward off further landslides. There was nothing we could do but wait, as the rocks came tumbling down with a bulldozer busy clearing them up. Huge pieces of rock automatically rolled across the road and onto the valley below, perhaps into the Sutlej.

It took about 15 minutes to clear up and yet there was hardly any traffic build up on either ends of the road block. Landslides all along this route had ensured that the roads were almost non existent for long stretches. The bailey bridges were fun to cross. Strips of river were visible through gaps on the wooden planks that were bolted to iron beams, and the whole bridge reverberated on passing through.

An hour later we approached the Baspa power project site, and saw the thunderous surge of water off a cave built right into the mountains!

I have been in touch with Bunny who had set off on this route with some friends from xBhp a day earlier. We knew that they were not far from us. Some way into Kinnaur, most cell phone networks go off and come back only on exiting Lahaul towards Manali. We found them stranded some way before Ribba after one of the guys broke a clutch lever, after a fall while trying to pull a few scrambles in the sand. He had no choice but to backtrack to Recongpeo for a replacement. We proceeded towards Ribba after spending a few minutes with them. Ribba would have been the place to be had it been September. It is famous for grapes, wine and the grapes and other fruits like apples are ripe by the time. We found grape, apple and akrot cultivation, though none were ready to be plucked yet. Ribba is about 3 Kms off NH22, and the metalled road ends almost at the point where the village starts. After that it is a narrow and broken dirt track along apple orchards and grape plantations.

Dixit tried his best and asked a few people who passed by as to where we can get some home brewed grape wine. We were told we would have to check some houses in the evening, since they would all be gone out now, tending their crops. As we were engaged in examining the rich flora of the region, we heard some voices that sounded like slogan shouting. With the Anti quota protests still fresh in our minds, we dismissed it as our imagination. However, the voices grew stronger and we were left wondering as to what could be wrong in this remote and most peaceful part of India. The answer was quite close, and we found to our amazement that it was a procession taken out by school students. It was world environment day and procession was to promote tree planting, though after seeing the thick tree and plant cover along the path they passed by I couldn’t help wonder where they wanted more trees planted!

May be they had a message for us!

Our next break was at the bridge at Khab. This was one of the many bridges washed away by flash floods in June last year. The locals had to make do with the help of a rope pulley, which is now gathering dirt by the side of this bridge. This bridge was rebuilt and inaugurated on November 2005.

The rock formation in this area was majestic. On one end of the bridge was sheer 90 degree rise of a huge wall of rock, about 100 feet straight up in the air. On the other end was a deep canyon dug out from thousands of years of river activity.

After the bridge, begins a steep climb. As we kept climbing, the loops that we rode on were clearly visible from above. Soon we saw a few bikes way down looping their way up. We decided to wait for them to catch up. About 22 Kms from Khab, a road diverges towards Nako. We waited here for about an hour while the rest of the gang caught up with us. They had a target of Kaza for the day. It was 6.30 already, and Kaza seemed an impossible target considering the kind of roads we were to ride on. So we decided to ride till Tabo and call it a day. It was fun ripping the roads at night with Sunny and then waiting while the rest of the gang caught up with us.

We reached Tabo at about 10 at night. The new road that bypasses Malling is a big blessing. Tabo would have been impossible today without this new road. I found Bunny’s bike parked inside the Monastery and gathered up the rest of the guys. Everything looked deserted and everybody seemed asleep already. I saw some light through a window nearby; it was a monk’s dwelling. He led me to the in charge who took us to the manager and he allotted rooms for the rest of us. One thing I would regret is the way some of us behaved in the monastery during that time. This is one place where peace and silence is of utmost importance, and visitors are expected to maintain the same all through their stay here. Despite requests, this seemed to be the last thing in their minds and the monastery echoed with masterfully recreated cries of dogs and animals made by some of us… disgusting, to say the least.

Once in Bunny’s room, a conference began to discuss plans for the next day. I and Dixit had not suffered any delays unlike the rest and had a lot of time in our hands and even a reserve day. So I and Dixit decided to take it slow while the rest decided to split, some making it for Manali while some to Grampho or Losar.

Kms covered : 229
Expenses : 295 (Food and accommodation)

Day 3 : Tabo to Gette

Day 1 : Noida to Kinnaur
Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo
Day 3 : Tabo to Gette
Day 4 : Gette to Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu
Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

Day 1 : Noida to Kinnaur

2006-06-04T12:55:00.001-07:00

Day 1 : 4th June, 2006

After keeping ourselves busy preparing during the last few days leading to the trip, it was finally the morning I and Dixit have been waiting for. The day was going to be a long one, with about 500 Kms planned to cover, from Delhi to Jeori. So, we had planned to set off from Noida by 4:30 AM. Dixit arrived at my place by 3:45, and we spent some time making a few last minute adjustments to luggage and finally, tying them all up to the bikes using bungee cords. It was quarter to 5 when we finally started off from my home.

Last trip to the hills, I and Yogesh had succeeded in making a non stop ride till a few Kilometers after Kalka. I was not sure if Dixit would be able to do this, since this was his first major trip had no experience doing such long rides. But I was in for a pleasant surprise, and we did much further than the last time and only stopped some way after Parwaano. Not only this, he kept pushing I and this ensured that the speedo needle hovered between 95 and 100 instead of the planned 90 Kmph. We had breakfast at our first break. Dixit took a few photos, and we saw the Himalayan Queen passing by high above in the hills.

The ride to Shimla was good as usual, with the smooth hill roads and pleasant weather allowing me to eat up kilometers fast and allowing me to take liberties at the curves. At one point, when I got in sight of the Jabberthatti air strip, I stopped to take a few photos. Dixit, who was lagging behind a bit passed by without either of us seeing each other, as I was engaged in getting a good shot of the air strip from this distance. I decided to wait while Dixit caught up. But soon I got a call from Dixit, who was already waiting for me at Shimla! I hurried up and caught up with him just before the tunnel which takes us along our way towards Narkanda.

Progress after Shimla was slow on account of crowded streets and heavy traffic. We soon ran into 3 of our friends who were on a weekend trip to Chail. After a few exchanges and receiving wishes for a good trip ahead, we parted. We reached Narkanda at about 3 PM, had lunch and continued on our journey forward. From Narkanda, which is at 2700 meters is a descend till Ani, where we reach quite close to the level of Sutlej, and then the climb starts again. I used to experience a slight problem of pressure build up in my ears with change in altitude. I could normally control this by swallowing or a yawn. But this time, nothing I could do seemed to normalize the build up inside my ears. We had to take frequent breaks on account of this, making progress slow. At one point, I even had to ride back up a few kms after a similar break, when it started paining and I could barely hear things. That seemed to ease things inside me a bit and we could then continue normally after all the delays. The Sutlej was our constant companion from here on for the next two days.

Dixit was quite used up to taking the curves smoothly and we kept up a good pace. It was still bright daylight when we reached Jeori. So we decided to proceed a bit further before calling it a day. We entered Kinnaur, and registered at the check post and also received information about a PWD rest house at Bawanagar. It was 7.30 when we reached Bawanagar. The rest house was a bit high on a hill and we had to carry our luggage uphill to our room and then park our bikes on in front of a shop on the other side of the road.

Kms covered : 560
Expenses : 1075 (Food, fuel and accommodation)

Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo

Day 1 : Noida to Kinnaur
Day 2 : Kinnaur to Tabo
Day 3 : Tabo to Gette
Day 4 : Gette to Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Kullu
Day 6 : Kullu to Noida

Day 2, 3 : Joshimath, Auli and back

2006-01-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

Day 2 & 3 : January 30, 31, 2006

Joshimath is one of the four great 'maths' established by the Adi Guru Shri Shankaracharya in the 8th century AD. And given its proximity to Auli and winter sports like skiing, Joshimath has become a hub for adventurers and pilgrims alike. The religiously aligned can make excursions to Badrinath, Kedarnath, and Hem Kund sahib Gurudwara from Joshimath.

Auli can be accessed either by road or through a ropeway operated by GMVN from Joshimath. Access by road is usually blocked by snow in the winter months. The ropeway is the only way to reach Auli during the months of January, February and March. GMVN charges 200 rupees for a return journey and you will be rewarded with aerial views of the picturesque valley from the cable car. The ropeway is a state of the art system with remote controlled hydraulic and pneumatic braking system for safety. Also incorporated are sophisticated electrical and electronic circuitry with telemetry and storm warning devices to minimize human error. It has a capacity to carry 25 passengers at a time and the travel time is 20 minutes one way, covering a distance of 3.96 Kms. Altitude wise, this is the second highest ropeway in the world.

You can alight at either tower 8 or at the ending station. We went all the way and got down at the last point. As soon as we got down, we were almost gheraoed by vendors renting out skiing equipments, sun glasses and anything you need for traversing the slopes on skis. Charges are very reasonable; for 200 Rupees, you can have the skis and an instructor for a whole day. They will teach you the very basics on a flat stretch before letting you go up a small slope and try it out there.

Seasoned skiers can go down the slopes and make use of modern facilities like ski lifts for the great skiing experience that Auli has on offer. But for the uninitiated, skiing can be a tiring experience, though it is great fun. If you are really serious about getting on with skiing, the Mountaineering and Skiing institute run by ITBP conducts certificate and non certificate courses that you can sign up for. We saw some of the ITBP men practice on the slopes and they showed us what skiing is all about.

Manik gave up after a few runs up and down the slope, while I persisted with it a bit more. It was good fun gliding down the slope, but it was a drag going back up the slope with the skis on to have another glide. I gave up soon after. We then returned the skis and took a hike up the slope.

Some way up the slope, the alpine forest ends and the ski slopes start. Auli is surrounded by lofty mountain peaks on all sides and we had a spectacular view of the surrounding peaks from the slopes we were on. The slopes, carpeted by the fresh powdery snow and the lofty peaks all around are a treat to the eyes of the tourist and the photographer alike.

It was 1:30, and the slopes were deserted by now; perhaps it was time for lunch. We headed back to the ropeway for our journey back to Joshimath. I had a good look at the snow covered roads on our way back and I decided that its time for some adventure on bikes now. <100_7351,>. I have ridden in snow before and the experience has always been challenging and good fun at the same time. This was another chance to work out and put my FKR 120/80 rear to good use.

We were back in Joshimath by 3 PM, had lunch and headed back to our hotel to pick our bikes and gear for the ride to Auli. The roads were decent and we cruised for about 9 Kms after which we first encountered snow on the road. We got through the first stretch of snow without much fuss and it was about a kilometer later that we came across some deep snow. Manik had little experience riding in the snow and I acted as an icebreaker, with him following me closely. The snow was about a foot deep at places. We stuck to the tracks made by other four wheel drives and army trucks that had passed through here before. All the same, the only way to keep the bike upright in such conditions is to ensure that the front wheel doesn’t skid from under you, while the rear goes sliding all over the place. Again, the 120/80 FKR at the rear helped a lot in these conditions. We made very slow progress over the snow clad roads and it took us about an hour to cover the 15 Km stretch to Auli from Joshimath. Going straight would get you to the small ITBP township at Auli. You are greeted by ITBP’s Mountaineering and Skiing institute signboard at the beginning of the township.

A right turn some way before the ITBP township took us to Auli. A flight of stairs leads to the chair lift that’ll take you further up to the ski slopes. There are many restaurants and cottages all along the stairs on the way up to the chair lift. We had tea and hurried back down to our bikes, since we didn’t want to tackle the snow in the dark on our way back.

Auli

The ride down was easier than the climb and we stopped and I took out my camera to capture the moments and the fun we had riding in the snow. I had some anxious moments when I tried to give way to a jeep that had to overtake us since we had stopped. The Mahindra just slid past centimeters away from me and my bike, all wheels locked, hunting for the traction that simply was not there. I experimented with my camera even as it was getting dark, and finally decided to wait until dark to capture some night shots.

We reached Joshimath by 7:30 to find it enveloped in darkness; of course, it was the omnipresent power cut. We had dinner at a dhaba and headed back to our hotel. The trip was coming to an end now. All that was left was to spend the night and start the long ride back home. We started at 8:40 next morning and rode into traffic at most of the towns that we encountered on the way. Some way after starting from Joshimath, I found my speedo dead. An inspection revealed that the speedo cable had come loose from the connector in the front wheel and the inner cable had fallen off. I backtracked some way to retrieve the cable and fixed it back. This was the only snag that I encountered from my 34K old Pulsar 180 during the whole trip.

I am crazy about snow. I just love it up close. This trip gave me everything that I could do with snow and that I couldn’t. I skied on snow, hiked on it, had fun throwing snowballs at Manik and finally, rode quite a bit on snow. This trip gave me all that I wanted and more. I returned home satisfied, looking forward, in high spirits at the week that lay ahead at work.

Day 1 : Noida to Joshimath
Day 2, 3 : Joshimath, Auli and back

Day 1 : Noida to Joshimath

2006-01-29T09:48:00.000-08:00

Day 1 : January 29, 2006

The perennial biker's itch; that was what started another of the many country - hopping trips that we bikers do so often. For long, I have been on the look out for a place where I could try my hand at skiing. After much consideration, we decided the place to be Auli, in Uttaranchal. Auli is one of the most famous skiing spots in India. This is just 12 Kms away from Joshimath, which is the base station for tourists heading for Auli. Tourists, especially skiers flock to Auli during the main skiing season spread over January, February and March. Located at an altitude ranging from 2519 Mts. to 3049 Mts over the slopes, Auli receives bountiful snowfall, resulting in delightful snow covered slopes, making it a skier’s paradise.

The day started with some anxious moments as I stared into the ATM screen flashing an “Invalid Pin” error. I was totally blank as to what my PIN was. Another attempt would have been pure guess work and one more wrong PIN meant a locked ATM card for a better part of the trip. I wisely decided to take out the ATM card and move ahead. The ride to Ghaziabad to meet up with Manik cleared my head a bit and I was spot on in my next attempt. We started early, at 5:30 AM from Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad to avoid the heavy morning traffic at the NH24. Everything went smoothly and the fog did not trouble us as much as we had expected, except for some small pockets of fog here and there. The highway from Mohan Nagar to Meerut was decent dual carriageway and helped by the very low traffic density at these times, we got through with it comfortably, and in good time. The dual carriage way ended at Meerut, though the low traffic still allowed us to maintain good speeds. We had a few patches of bad roads near Muzzaffar Nagar that slowed us down for a few minutes. The red hue in the eastern sky indicated the approaching dawn and I looked forward to a day of riding along the highways and soon the twisties in the Himalayas. The hue became brighter and soon it was dawn and dawn brought to us the little pleasures of traveling along the country side on a beautiful morning; the bright yellow fields of Mustard, the carpet of fog, lingering above the fields and sometimes extending over the roads, and the sun’s rays on the fog creating a magical display of visual effects that managed to keep my eyes away from the roads so often. 130 Kms into the ride, we rode into a traffic jam caused by an overturned tractor. Being on two wheels helped and we rode through the jam without much hassle. Hours of riding in the cold stiffens our joints and breakfast turned out to be a welcome break to refresh us up.

By 9 AM, we were done with breakfast and were about 15 Kms ahead of Haridwar. We had to maneuver through heavy traffic and three wheeled monsters in Rishikesh. The hills started a short while after Rishikesh. Being a shutter bug doesn’t help keep good time when I am riding the Himalayas and we took ample breaks to satisfy my appetite for photography.

This is a shot of the Ganges about 5 Kms before Kaudiyala, the rafting hub of Uttaranchal.

Roads in Uttaranchal can rarely be called butter smooth. They are decent at the best and our fortune of decent roads ran out around Kaudiyala, when the roads were all broken up on account of landslides or due to road widening tasks being carried on for about a 7 Km stretch. We were back on the usual smooth roads soon and enjoyed our ride along the twisties and the breathtaking sceneries as we climbed higher and higher into the Himalayas.

This is the last view of the Ganges.

A few Kms ahead, at Devprayag is where river Ganga starts at the confluence of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers. The ride further ahead after Devprayag is along the Alaknanda river. A few minutes ride later, we ran into some friends who were on their way home after a trip to Auli and Karnprayag. We moved on after receiving a few updates about the road conditions ahead, from them.

We came across some mind blowing scenery of mustard fields cut into the face of the hill slopes about 20 Kms before Srinagar. This turned out to be a photographer’s delight and we spent quite a lot of time capturing the splendour of the articulately carved out tracts of flat land on the hill slopes across a river that wore a pleasant shade of green.

The stretch between Devprayag and Srinagar abounded in mustard fields everywhere and this seemed to be the main crop in these areas this time of the year. Riding along these mustard crops was a delightful experience and we took it slow, soaking in the beauty of the surroundings and enjoying the ride.

We were through with lunch by 3:30 PM and we realized we still had a lot of distance to cover before calling it a day. It was 370 Kms on the trip meter, which meant another 130 Kms before we reach Joshimath, our destination for the day. We decided to up the ante now and kept riding at a fast pace with only a stop for tea and another for a snap. We had the best hill roads in this stretch, which deteriorated a bit as we neared Joshimath. It was dark as we entered Joshimath. The main road is dotted with hotels and dhabas on both sides as you enter Joshimath. We checked into one close to the ticket booth for the GMVN ropeway and settled in for the night.

Day 1 : Noida to Joshimath
Day 2, 3 : Joshimath, Auli and back

Day 5 : Koksar to Noida

2005-06-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Day 5 : 30th June, 2005
I Got up at 5:30 and set out by 6 AM. It was a beautiful morning. A bit cloudy, but the clouds kissing the mountain peaks just a few meters away had a special charm to it.

I rode right into the clouds by the time I reached Rohtang pass. It was chilling at the top. I took off my gloves to click a few snaps and my fingers went numb.

As soon as I crossed Rohtang, it started drizzling. I was half way down to Manali and the tourist cabs had already started their trips up to Rohtang. I had breakfast at café Kothi and got ready for the long and grueling ride back to Delhi. Halfway to Kullu from Manali, my chain started making weird noises. I stopped at a local mech and when he opened the black lid, the chain was so loose that it was lying at the bottom of the chain cover.

This was my longest ride in a single day till date, with regards to duration and distance. I started from Koksar at 6 in the morning and reached home at 10 PM, a distance of about 710 Kms. This one trip will be etched in my memory forever.

You can see all the photos of this trip here.
Some high resolution wallpapers for your desktop here.

Home

Day 1 : Noida to Shimla
Day 2 : Dhali to Jalori Pass
Day 3 : Khanag to Keylong
Day 4 : Keylong - Darcha - Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Noida

Day 4 : Keylong - Darcha - Koksar

2005-06-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

Day 4 : 29th June, 2005

The morning was just as beautiful. I took out my camera and started clicking as soon as it was bright enough.

View from the hotel

A bath and a breakfast later, I was ready to leave. I decided to ride up the route to Ladakh for a while and turn back and make it to Manali for the night. Jispa was the next town on the route, 23 Kms from Keylong. It was 11 AM. There were some army barracks on the way and a petrol pump that had only diesel and I guess that was not for public use. Jispa had another HPPWD rest house and a large hotel. The roads were pretty bad for long stretches and a real test of patience for any biker.

A nondescript village near Jispa

Next up was a descend to Darcha where there was a bridge across the river Chandra. There were some shops and dhabas here. I crossed the bridge and went up further for about 10 Kms when I saw a huge waterfall flowing down the slope and right across the road. I was not sure if it was safe to cross and decided to wait for a while for some vehicle to cross it first and give me an idea of how deep the water was on the road.

A while later a truck passed through and I found that I can cross it if I kept to the center of the road and avoided the tread lines of four wheel vehicles. I decided to try my luck, lost balance and had to put my left foot down on the chilling water to balance myself. I got through with chilling water in my shoes. I decided to proceed a bit further and then drain the water off my shoes. But just one Km ahead there was another massive stream flowing across the road. This was much tougher than the previous one, and I decided to wait and have a good look. The flow was so strong that it carried large chunks of rocks right across the road.

Soon a Tata Safari came along and had a tough time getting through.

This was when I decided to turn back. I rode back and stopped at a small dhaba at Darcha, drained out water from my shoe and had some refreshments. On my way back, I took this road up to Kangsar and May villages.

There were surfaced roads only up till Kangsar. Thereon till May, where the road ends, the roads were unsurfaced. Half way to Kangsar, I had a look down and saw the winding mountain road that that I was riding on. All the way till Kangsar, there were potato farms on the hill slopes. Kangsar was about 10 Kms off the Leh road, a few Kms after Jispa, if you are going towards Leh. May is further 2 Kms from Kangsar. May takes you up close to the snowy mountain peaks. A 2 Kms trek from where the motorable road ends, there's a monastery.

May is a small village, connected only by rocky, unsurfaced roads. The road passed over another waterfall. Thankfully, the roads were out of reach of the waterfall. The road ended at May, where a solitary cow was tied across the road.

Early in the morning, on my way to Darcha, I had seen a Himachal Tourism signboard, which had a map of the trekking routes in this area. One of them was a trek to Kugti pass, located at a height of 5000 Mts. I had a small hope in the back of my mind that it might just be possible to take my bike half way up the trek route. This took me to Shansha, which is about 25 Kms from Tandi. The trek started after a wooden suspension bridge over a river. The bridge was off limits for vehicles. So I couldn't attempt the trek. But the place was full of scenic beauty and I was glad that I made it here. The first picture has a view of the trekking route and even a few tourists on their way up.

There was another road going further up from Shansha. I didn't know where it led to but the whole place was so beautiful that I decided to wander up that road, just to soak in that natural beauty. Half was up I shot a good snap of Shansha and the road that I was on. The road ended up at a small village, which by the looks of it seemed abandoned. There was not a soul I could see around. But the road up to this place was beautiful with bright yellow and pink flowers on the slopes, making up a memorable evening for me.

Before I knew it was 5 PM. I had originally planned to reach Manali by night. But this now looked out of reach and I decided to make it as close as possible to Rohtang and call it a day. After a 2 hour ride, I reached Koksar and checked into the HPPWD rest house for the night. This place had no mobile network coverage. BSNL is the only service provider after Rohtang pass. Worse, this place didn't even have a STD phone in the village. So I had to ride back 14 Kms to Sisu to call home. The stretch between Koksar and Sisu was a tough ride in the dark, with the roads being almost completely washed away for long stretches.

This was another tiring day, and my tour was now coming to an end. I was a satisfied man. Had dinner from a nearby dhaba and went to sleep, planning to do the Rohtang to Manali stretch before the onslaught of tourists made the going tough for me.

Distance covered - 228 Kms
Expenses - Food and accomodation Rs 384
Fuel - Rs 300
Total : Rs 684

Day 5 : Koksar to Noida

Day 1 : Noida to Shimla
Day 2 : Dhali to Jalori Pass
Day 3 : Khanag to Keylong
Day 4 : Keylong - Darcha - Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Noida

Day 3 : Khanag to Keylong

2005-06-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Day 3 : 28th June, 2005

I got up early at 5 in the morning and had a look around the place.

The rest house

The camping ground

I Had a bath, packed up and was back on the steep ascent to the Jalori pass by 8. After the pass, it is a steep descent down to the village Shoja, about 6 Kms down from Jalori pass. The roads were almost completely washed away and the conditions were misty. Shoja had one of the most magnificent natural scenery I have seen in this trip. The hill slopes were not too steep. The place was rich in natural vegetation and full of wild flowers.

Shoja has a HPPWD guest house, a Banjara resort and other 'Night stay' accommodation. The roads got better from here and going further down, was the village Jibhi. I saw a beautiful temple that I first mistook for a Church, but for the trishul at the top. I am still not sure if it really is a temple.

I was really low on fuel now and hit the reserve around here. There has been no petrol pumps for the last 65 Kms and didn't know when I'll find the next one. Found a shop selling petrol at the next village, but I couldn't trust the stuff they were selling. Asked around and found that there's a petrol pump 25 KMs ahead. That was a relief. I was back to ripping again. I had to ride on reserve for about 30 Kms, till I reached Larji. The last petrol pump was at Luhri, 97 Kms back. So if you are doing this route, make sure you fill up at Luhri. The descend continued and it was getting hot all the while. I soon had to get rid of my jacket and reached Aut at about 9:30. From here starts the highway to Manali and beyond. I had my breakfast here and continued on my way. Found heavy traffic in Kullu and the towns around this area.

I reached Manali at 11:40. Took a break here and spend some time checking air and oil levels, got some cash from the ATM and got ready for the long and tiring ride to Keylong. Started for Rohtang at 1:50. There was a mad rush for Rohtang pass. There were so many tourist diesel vehicles going up and down the road. Cafe Kothi reminded me of my last trip to this place with Yogesh (tiger). I reached Marhi at 2:30 and had my lunch there. By the time I was ready to leave, there was a big traffic jam, half way up to Rohtang. Riding a bike had its advantages. But the diesel fumes were killing and coupled with the high altitude, I had an headache by the time I crossed Rohtang. The progress was very slow with stops of up to 15 minutes for vehicles to pass by on their way down. Being the route for supplies to army posts at the border with Pakistan, there were army convoys and giant army trucks going up and down.

The slopes enroute Rohtang Pass

Stream crossings

The loops to Rohtang

Somewhere up there is Rohtang Pass

Once I crossed Rohtang, the scenario changed dramatically. The traffic trickled down to 1 or 2 Mahindras or Sumos with tourists heading perhaps for Ladakh. The air was much cleaner and there was not a soul in sight except for the occasional tourist vehicle. You can see some of the most beautiful places on earth here.

The other side of Rohtang pass

But the road conditions were very bad. Being covered in snow for almost half the year doesn't do the roads any good. The snow melt was at its peak and there were waterfalls right into the roads and streams flowing every few meters. It was tough and challenging, but I enjoyed it all.

The roads improved as I went down further. I felt immensely thankful to the BRO (Border Roads Organization) for making such wonderful places accessible to us. The first village after Rohtang was Koksar, 18 Kms from Rohtang. It had a HPPWD rest house. Next came Sisu, 14 Kms from Koksar and had another HPPWD rest house. I stopped here for tea, and found this cute little puppy in the tea shop.

The ride to Keylong was mostly along the Chandra river and snow capped mountains were in view on both sides of the road along with numerous waterfalls that form the source of the river, all making up a treat for the eyes of the city dweller.

Keylong

I reached Keylong at about 7:30. Keylong is a small town with a few hotels and dhabas by the main road. There are some more down the hill. I did a round to check out the hotels along the main road and checked into the first hotel that I had seen, while entering Keylong. I got a corner room with two windows on 2 sides of the room.

The view from these windows were simply mind-blowing. Down the mountain slope, atop which the hotel was located, there were potato farms. Further down, there was the Chandra river with a very strong current audible all the way up in my hotel room. Across the river was another mountain, with lush green slopes rising up to a snow capped mountain peak. Just perfect! I could have sat watching this for hours on end, soaking in the beauty of the whole thing. But it was getting dark now, and I had butterflies in my stomach. So I went up to the hotel restaurant for dinner, came back and went to bed with the curtains open, waiting for the first light of the morning to bring back the beauty of the place back into my eyes.

Distance covered - 244 Kms
Expenses - Food and accomodation Rs 380
Fuel - Rs 500
Razor - Rs 15
Total : Rs 895

Day 4 : Keylong - Darcha - Koksar

Day 1 : Noida to Shimla
Day 2 : Dhali to Jalori Pass
Day 3 : Khanag to Keylong
Day 4 : Keylong - Darcha - Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Noida

Day 2 : Dhali to Jalori Pass

2005-06-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Day 2 : 27th June, 2005

Got up around 5:30 and had room service deliver tea. While getting ready for the day, I casually turned on the TV and found a news channel. It was all there... the Sutlej floods, 6 bridges washed away, and all these on the roads that I would have been on, but for the rains and the problem with my bike the last day! Nature had been kind on me in a way and I could after all, consider myself lucky for all the things that had slowed me down. Now, this meant aborting this tour or re-planning my tour from scratch. But the first priority was to get my bike repaired. So I left for the service center, all the while pondering on what to plan for the days ahead.

Dhali

The service center opened only by 10 and I had tea and samosa for breakfast while I waited. I got a call from tiger and I asked him to call back after watching the headlines. The mech at the service center prescribed a solution even before I could explain the problem completely. Took a test ride with me as pillion. The problem, according to him was wheel alignment, though I found nothing wrong with the alignment. But the mech is a mech and I had to agree to what the mech said. He took off the rear wheel and worked on it, took a test ride and said its fine now. I paid up and left with no hopes whatsoever of the problem being resolved, and found that I was right. Came back and this time, he said the swing arm bushes were gone and will have to be replaced. But anyway, they didn't have the required parts. By now, I was almost getting used to the wobble and decided to continue.

Narkanda

It was 1 in the afternoon and I decided to ride till Narkanda and then plan for the next destination, depending on how I keep up. There was heavy traffic around Shimla and neighboring towns. Reached Narkanda pretty soon and by now, I was able to maintain normal speeds in the hills. It was 3:30; I had lunch and decided to continue till Luhri where the climb begins for the Jalori Pass. On the way I saw this spot... Sutlej View and stopped for a break and a few snaps.

Sainj

Views from Sainj

It was a good ride from this spot, down to Luhri. All along there was the river, and lush green farms on the hill sides and plain tracts of land along the river. I was getting hotter by the minute as I was going downhill. Coming down to Luhri, I saw the Sutlej was still in its fury, though the water level had receded since the floods started yesterday.

Satluj; Still furious

It was 5 in the evening and sun was still shining bright. I decided to make it till Jalori and call it a day. I was a bit low on fuel, there was a petrol pump in Luhri, but refueling now meant valuable daylight lost and thought I'll try my luck. The steep climb to the pass started soon. Luhri was at 765 mts and Jalori Pass at 3050 mts; an ascent of 2285 mts in a span of 52 Kms. There was hardly any traffic. The roads were good enough to do 80s in straight stretches. The wobble was hardly perceivable in uneven road surfaces. There were small villages by the road every now and then. I saw a signboard to a HPPWD rest house at Khanag and decided that was the place to stay tonight. The last stretch from Khanag to Jalori pass had very bad or almost no roads. This coupled with the steep ascent of 600 mts in 6 Kms (Khanag to Jalori Pass) and very foggy conditions made it a tough and enjoyable ride. There was a temple and a few small tea and refreshment shops at the top. It was almost 7 and getting dark now.

The temple at Jalori pass

The temple was closed for the day. I had tea at one of the shops and that was very refreshing. Making great tea is one thing these small shops in the mountains are experts at. This place was still out of reach of electricity. The shops made do with candles and Kerosene lamps at night. I inquired the shopkeeper about the sign board that I had seen about the rest house. He said why go there... I can give you accommodation right here. And he showed me to a small cabin across the road. Just large enough to accommodate a double bed and a broken old chair by its side; earthen floor, wooden walls, tin roof, open air for toilet and no lights! Imagine a small wooden cabin at the top of a mountain pass with no electricity or lights leave alone mobile network coverage. That's as spooky as it gets. I had a look at my phone and excused myself saying that I have to go down and call home.

The rest house was an old British bungalow, built in the 1930s. My room even had a fireplace and the typical high roof. The caretaker gave me strict instructions to leave by 7 in the morning.

Distance covered - 185 Kms
Expenses - Food and accomodation : Rs 296

Day 3 : Khanag to Keylong

Day 1 : Noida to Shimla
Day 2 : Dhali to Jalori Pass
Day 3 : Khanag to Keylong
Day 4 : Keylong - Darcha - Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Noida

Day 1 : Noida to Shimla

2005-06-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

Day 1: 26th June, 2005

I decided to leave early, before 5 AM to escape the searing heat in the plains and hit the hills before it got real hot. I planned to make it to Sarahan, 530 Kms from Delhi and spend the first night there. But I slept too late to wake up on time, and could leave only after 6. It was a pleasant morning. There was a cool breeze blowing and I thought it won't be a hot day after all. There were some signs of rains in Delhi. I was excited. This was my first solo trip ever. I really hoped I won't get a puncture and get stuck in a lonely stretch in Spiti. But being alone meant no one else to wait for anywhere, take breaks as and when you like, and the worst part, no one to care for you if you get stuck somewhere.

The cool breeze had other things in store for me... rains! It started raining before I hit left Delhi. I stopped under a flyover and put my cam in a polybag. Decided to ride... rain or no rain. The rains stopped once I hit the highway... good. There was that cool breeze again, clouds in the horizon, light traffic and I was happy. I thought of doing Ambala in record time. Every now and then, it drizzled and I rode through it, never slowing down once. Just before Ambala, I saw dark rain clouds looming in the horizon, almost as if the monsoons were in full swing. As expected, it started raining heavily. Rain drops felt like gravel against my hands and neck. Saw a dhaba and stopped. I was not fully wet yet.

As soon as I got in, I wished I had stopped at a better place. This place had a leaky tin roof, wet chairs and no protection from the blowing wind. Tea cheered me up. Had breakfast here and decided to leave as the rains slowed down. As soon as I touched the roads, the rains were back in full force. But I kept doing 90 to 95 in the wet roads, low visibility and light traffic. My bike had no qualms handling the wet roads at speeds on the other side of 90. The fun of riding in the rains starts only once you are totally wet, down to the last piece of clothing you have on your body. My shoes were filled with water, still kept riding until concern for my luggage made me stop at another dhaba.

Drained my shoes, squeezed water off my socks and wished I would have bright sunny weather for the next 4 days to come. But nature, as I found out later had other things in store for me. I started off again. It was only drizzling lightly now. Soon found a small traffic jam caused by a long truck that had dived head-on into a ditch. Its rear was raised high over the road, like the last few moments of the Titanic, before it broke into two. I had hardly done 5 Kms since my last stop, when in an effort to overtake a truck from the left, I hit a long pool of water and the water that I had drained some time back from my shoes were all back there.

There was another jam at the toll plaza. Kept going straight and turned right from Zirakpur for the bypass towards Shimla. I took another break here to drain my shoes and change my socks. All ready to charge again. Ever wondered how fast we reach Kalka once we have the hills in sight shortly after Ambala... and how painfully slow it is the other way? There were heavy traffic jams in Pinjore and Kalka and progress was slow here. Once I started ripping after Kalka, my bike started handling funny. Once it touches 45, the front would start wobbling. I thought it must be low air pressure, but why all of a sudden? Stopped at a petrol pump... the pressure was a bit low, but not low enough to cause wobbling. Stopped to show it to a local mech at Dharampur. He had nothing much to do. Checked the air pressure. It was low again! Filled up once more and continued on my way, but so did the wobble. Parked my bike on the roadside to inspect the front rim for alignment, and I noted a thorn stuck half way into a groove. Exulted at finally finding the cause of the wobble, I took it back to the mech and fixed the puncture. Now I was ready to rip again.

But sadly the wobble continued. This was turning out to be a nightmare. I could no longer slingshot out of turns. I decided to show it to the Bajaj service center at Solan. But being a Sunday, it was closed. I Hoped the Bajaj service center at Shimla would be open and continued on my way. Stopped just once and took out my cam for the first time.

Nothing was going as planned and I was already very much behind schedule. I reached Shimla very late, at 4 PM. only to find the service center was closed for Sunday as well. Called Yogesh to find out that there are no more service centers beyond this point. My only option was to spend the night at Shimla and visit the service center in the morning. The lowest quote I got for a hotel was 350 bucks in Shoghi... Its peak season now! Anyway, it was too early to check into a hotel yet. So I was wandering around aimlessly in Shimla when I found this milestone... Dhali 13 Kms. So I thought I'd check out that place. It was a nice ride there, not crowded at all, like Shimla. Found a hotel there (there weren't many in this town). 350 bucks again, but good enough for the facilities offered. Some water had seeped into my rucksack and I had to take out all my clothes and spread them out on the bed to dry them. The only view I had out of the window was the tin rooftop of the adjacent building, with monkeys perched on it. But it was too dark to shoot them now. Had room service bring in dinner. I had a bad headache now. Took some food, had a painkiller and hit the deck. It was a tiring day.

It was a disappointing first day of my first solo trip. I realized that being in a group would have slowed down the whole group. And that seemed to be the only silver lining in an otherwise disappointing day.

Distance covered - 400 Kms

Expenses - Food and accomodation Rs 510

Day 2 : Dhali to Jalori Pass

Day 1 : Noida to Shimla
Day 2 : Dhali to Jalori Pass
Day 3 : Khanag to Keylong
Day 4 : Keylong - Darcha - Koksar
Day 5 : Koksar to Noida