It was 4 am in the morning and me and Amit were on our way to board an experience to a dreamland called Ladakh. We boarded the flight at 5:45 am and the flight to Leh was unlike any other which I ever took. The last 15 minutes of flying were a real joy as the adrenaline level in our body was breaking all records and was skyrocketing. The sight of himalayas outside the window panes were breathtaking. Just as we were enjoying the views the pilot announced that we were about to land. We landed in Leh airport around 7 am. Thereafter we took a taxi which cost us 400 Rs till Leh market. We then started our search for hotel. Luckily we found a homestay (Namkha homestay) for 700 Rs.
Today was the day to get Acclimatized to high altitude in order to avoid Acute Mountain sickness. We started slow and got some sleep after reaching hotel. Then we took rest for 3 hours and had breakfast and went straight to the market to get our permits. The whole permit process took around 1 hour. After that we rented the bikes from a bike rental store in market. You can find many bike rental stores in Leh market. We took Royal Enfield classic 350 cc in 1200 Rs per day.
We were left for half day today so we decided to visit the nearby places and went to Shanti Stupa which is famous for its location as one can see the entire Leh city spread around and witness beautiful sunsets.
After relishing the heartwarming views of leh city we went back to hotel room all excited to begin the next 3 days as the trip of our lifetime was about to begin.
Stories of Ladakh | The Ascent of Khardungla
It was an important day today as we were about to kick-off the 5 Days ultimate bike trip in Ladakh.
We started early from our hotel after a fulfilling breakfast and by early I mean 9am, trust me it was really cold out there. Soon after few Kms there was a checkpost where we showed our permits. Surprisingly I saw a couple coming back from Khardungla in a truck with their bike in truck's carrier. Seeing us in bike they both started telling the difficulties on the way and amount of snow on road making bike to skid. Hence, they couldn't continue the journey further and had to call help from Leh.
We were frightened by their story but were determined to reach Nubra Valley crossing Khardungla Pass. Therefore we continued our journey. Next 20 -30 Kms were smooth with great views but as we were approaching towards Khardungla it started snowing, even after 2 layers of gloves our fingers started freezing and were numb and we could see black ice on road which was terrifying because in case of a skid the chances of survival were slim. But somehow we managed by taking 2-3 small breaks (as they say 1 step at a time) and reached Khardungla Top. It was snowing at Khardungla and the temperature was somewhere around -5 degrees or maybe less. To our rescue we saw an Indian army wet canteen and went inside the hut to get some warmth and hot tea. We had hot tea with biscuits and got to know some interesting facts about the place from the Jawans.
Stories of Ladakh | The Descent of Nubra
Hot tea served as a boon for us and brought bit relief to bone chilling cold outside. We captured few shots in Khardungla and then thought of starting with the descent of Nubra valley. We stayed for about 20 mins in Khardungla. It is not advisable to stay at Khardungla for more than 20 minutes as it might cause AMS(Acute mountain sickness) to some people. Keeping that in mind we started our bike and started with the descent. First few Kms were really dangerous as there was lot of black ice ok road which was making bike to skid on applying the brakes and we had to ride really carefully along hill side. Somehow we managed it and finally the roads were clear of snow and the views turned straight outta Fairytale with distant mountains full of snow and roads carved in between those mountains. We didn't make any stop on the way until Nubra valley apart from a small breaks for deinking water. This view was there during one of our stops which I managed to capture in my lens.
As we entered Nubra valley the landscapes changed and the mountains became deserted with small sand dunes appearing on both sides of road and double hump camels seen on a distance.
We stopped our bike and witnessed the majestic and barren raw beauty of mountains.
We knew today's ride was going to be challenging as we had to cover almost 275Kms to reach Pangon Lake. So we tried to start early but unexpectedly last night's meet with Captain Morgan didn't let us wake early and we started around 10am and went straight to Diskit Monastery and witnessed the gigantic statue of Maetriya Buddha near Monastery. Soon after offering our prayers we started our journey to Pangong. As expected the ride started becoming challenging with each passing mile and to a major stretch there was literally no road. I remember riding on sharp stones of small sizes making our bike literally crawl and carve the way out of them. We were two people and were riding alternatively. But after this stretch of no roads we both were exhausted. So we took a short break once the roads started coming to normality and had water which is most essential specailly in a sunny day at high altitude. After refilling ourselves with some chocolates and water we continued to Pangong lake, it was already 2Pm and we had to cover more than 150Kms still. Now the roads were all empty we couldnt find even a single person from last 30 min and we were worried as we were not able to locate ourselves because we missed few milestones and lost track of time. But as they say one step at a time. So we continued our journey and reached Durbuk which connects Pngong lake to Leh city through Changla Pass. It was already 4:30pm so we just grabbed a hot tea and continued the ride. Now it was around 50Kms but the road was in really good shape so we rode fast and reached even 100Kmph speed at some points. We saw a board stating Shahrukh khan "jab tak hai jaan shooting point" we stopped for just 5 min to grab some touristy pictures 😎 and continued.
By this time our hands literally became numb even after double layered gloves and still there was around 20-30Kms left. We gained some strength and start riding in a decent pace to reach safe as it has already started becoming dark. As we entered Pangong the first view of lake made us forget all our difficulties which we faced reaching there and we were just struck by the sheer beauty which we've never seen before. We reached the end point and the looked for guest house. We got a guest house and our lovely host made us maggie noodles with some hot tea and after which we went near the lake to get some evening shots. It was dark and there were cold winds blowing so we just spent some 5 minutes near the lake and came back to our guest house where Mr Captain Morgan were waiting for us 😄 and we had rum along with the owner and listened to the tales of Ladakh from him. He was really happy sitting with us, he sang a ladakhi song as well for us. Then we had the dinner and slept a good night's sleep as the most tiring and interesting day came to an end and beautiful Pangong in full day light was waiting for us to greet us with some amazing views.
We woke up with a knock on door and it was the owner of homestay who has brought us bed tea. I opened the door, the wind outside was still cold but the sunrays falling on Pangong lake caught my attention and I just grabbed my camera and glass of tea, ofcourse 😍 and started walking towards lake. I enjoyed my tea just by sitting near lake and observing the beauty in silence while my other rider friend still sleeping. I captured few shots and then went and got ready for today's ride which was to reach Leh city from Pangong by crossing mighty Changla pass. So I woke my buddy up and we both got ready and bid adieu to our host and then continued towards leh. After Just a few Kms we came across famous 3 idiots shooting point in Pangong lake which we had missed last evening since we were late. We went there met few foreigners from England and had a chat with them and clicked few pics and went ahead to Leh. We had reached Durbuk from where there was a way to Changla and another one to Nubra from where we had come last day. We had some noodles at this place and then continued forward towards Changla. Locals told us that Changla is having a lot of snow on road and that made us worry though we were confident since we had crossed Khardungla 2 days back. So we just kept the steady pace of 40Kmph and enjoyed the views of the valley and just 4-5 Kms before reaching Changla it started snowing, making the ride even more challenging and dangerous. We kept on riding 1 mile at a time but the way was never ending. Somehow we saw few flags and it was Changla baba temple at Changla pass. We both were exhausted, we ate the remaining choclates and drank some water and clicked some pictures there. After which our only target was to reach back to Leh before dark. The road from Changla to Leh was bad in few parts and it was patchy and muddy which gave us even more challenging when we wanted none. But, we finally entered Leh city and the views of snow cladded himalayas were again visible and we went directly to our homestay, parked the bike and ended our day with a sense of achievement. We had achieved a dream which many carry to ride bike in high mountain passes in Ladakh. 🏔😎 We took a deep sleep knowing that we had to board flight back to Delhi next day morning.
Link to my YouTube video on Ladakh:
https://youtu.be/I3Dby3SSZVg
Link to my Instagram for more photos and travel stories:
www.instagram.com/tellus_navigatio
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