Since I got married to a girl who loves to travel, it was pretty easy for me to convince her for our first anniversary trip being more adventurous than romantic...While shortlisting our destination, one of my friend told me that the beautiful valley off-road which comes while travelling from Kargil to Kashmir that crosses the Indian Army territory has got its approval to be discontinued for civilians from 2017 and that route will be permanently closed. This triggered me to push one 'to-do' task of my list to priority and I asked the same to my wife, do you wish to do this one road trip???
I got a very confusing reaction from her which included excitement, happiness, curiosity and nervousness. Something that couldn't tell me whether she said a Yes or a No! I again happen to ask her, Sweetie, would you like to do this trip? she screamed Yes! so loudly, she hadn't even screamed that loud even when I proposed her. So since this trip was on, I went ahead with inquiring dates, flight tickets, tour managers etc.
The same friend who told me about Sarachu Pass, gave me a number of this guy called, Hiren Patel who happens to own a Tour Management company called, The Dream Riders Group. He happened to help my friend whose bike had broken down on his way to ladakh last year. After inquiring, this guy happened to be the most appropriate tour for ladakh.
So I go ahead and do the payment and all the flight bookings. There was a long list of tours that he had to offer but I opted for the 11 day tour from Manali to Srinagar that was scheduled from 19th June to 1st July. Infact, Hiren had also made a whatsapp group of all the people who were part of this trip named as Dream Riders Group X5.
As this was my 3rd trip to North, I was pretty much aware about the climate, the oxygen available there and stuffs to be packed but since this was my wife's first such adventurous trip discussions, google guidance and packing began from Feb itself. It so happened so many times that she would wake me up in the middle of the night and ask random questions about the trip and my only reply would be,"This phase is more adventurous than the trip".
So cutting straight to the trip, we had carried two sweaters, one hoodie (Sasta, Sundar and Tikau option from Decathlon) gum boots, couple of clothes. We had worn our riding jacket and carried our helmets in hand. Our flight was Indigo from Mumbai to Chandigarh on 18th June.
On the flight I dropped a message if anyone from the group is on this flight and it so happened that one of the guy was sitting right next to us. So there I met the first guy from the trip who was Nilesh Vaghasia from Surat.
The reason why I specified the guy from surat because his entire gang was coming from another flight. A bunch of hardcore Gujrati businessmen mostly into textile and one NRI from USA.
So we land around 5.30 at Chandigarh airport and we need to board Tata Himganga state transport bus from Chandigarh bus stop for Manali. Since we didn't have much time for dinner we thought of eating at the bus depot only. To the surprise, eating one dal fry, Jeera rice, hakka noodles and 3 cups of coffee costed us only 230Rs.
While we boarded the bus from Chandigarh, we were all charged and desperately waiting to reach Manali to get started. At 4.30 we took a pitstop from where we could see Beas River. That breath-taking view just charged us from the sleep and we were jumping here and there and already clicking pictures.
Entering the over-crowded lanes of Manali, I looked at the roads and thought, is this Manali or Delhi toll plaza? looked like all the buses, cabs and autos were just jumbled up into each other. None of the less, we didn't wanted this to curb away our enthusiasm, we got off the bus at 8.30 and head towards our hotel Daffodil which also happened to be a starting point of a journey that was gonna change our lives.
Pass through the narrow steep lane and we enter a parking space which is like a candy shop for kids. There we see approx 25-30 Enfields parked outside the hotel. The beauty of it was that all the bikes were brand new and most of them were Standard 500's alongwith 2 TB 500 and one Desert Storm. Looking at the registration plate (GJ 01) I assumed that the Desert Storm belonged to Hiren Bhai. Tired, Hungry and sleepy, we enter the hotel lobby and see there were just 3 people sitting there, one couple and a girl. On chatting with them, I got introduced to Husband and Wife Kriya and Vish and a lady named Lopa. Since I couldn't find lot of people there, for instance I actually wondered if all these bikes would be a part of our journey.
Then enters the Anurag Kashyap of this movie. Introducing a guy who's in full pahadi avtaar clothes and aviators, he is none other than Hiren Patel, the organiser and founder of Dream Riders Group who comes out of one room and meets and greets us in the lobby. His first words were,"Welcome to Manali" somehow I judged at him as if he is Prakash Raj from Singham and his next statement would be "Aali re aali, atta tujhi baari aali". But very courteously, he said, please wait for sometime as the staff is cleaning the rooms and you will get your room keys shortly. At that time I wondered if he owns this hotel too.
Then enters Dr. Rustom Pavri (reference from Munnabhai M.B.B.S).aka Rahul bhai, serious look on the face, simple and innocent guy just too dedicated for his work. Comes and meets me and says please hand over your driver license. I was like, abbey yaar, I've hardly slept for 2 hours, its morning time i.e. washroom time and I'm sitting here at the Lobby waiting and this guy wants my license? UGH!!! So I reply to him that will give it to you in sometime.
Finally we get our rooms and next thing we do is wake up in the evening for the introductory meet-up. Here we were supposed to get to know the itinerary and the people whom we're gonna ride with. Walking down the garden area, I see more than 50 people there and I'm like Whoa!!! is this a ride or a parade???
Usually the introduction of the trip happens with the leader saying about great things that one will experience during this trip but our great Hiren bhai (that's what everyone called him) aka Anurag (Who's great in adding twists and random surprises in his concept) starts off by saying, If you guys think you are on a leisure trip, you're completely wrong. This trip nowhere will give you leisure. It's an adventure of a lifetime trip. This trip is all about stretching your physical and mental capacity, hardcore riding in extreme low oxygen levels. Narrow lanes next to the cliff and Offroading through waterfalls. You would hardly get any food (by that he meant limited choices), while we were wondering if we made the right choice by picking this trip, this didn't even pull a sweat to our gujju gang.
Here, we welcome the 'GUJJU GANG'. A bunch of 50 gujrati businessmen travelling from various parts of Gujrat, never ever ridden more than 10kms on activas in their life, had booked an entire tempo traveller for themselves and 3 bullets. This is not about it, this gang had travelled from Ahmedabad to Delhi in a flight where they paid approx 15k worth money extra just to carry their own food. That's right!!! they had carried approx 30kgs of ready made food from home. This consisted of Khakras, Theplas, Chiwda, Farsan, Chutneys, Pickle and Mukhwas.
Here we get introduced to an American gujju (sorry for being racist here) who wore the riding gear that suited his way of riding (Jo-Rocket) He was the only one in the entire group who had attended basic training at CSS (California Superbike School) and had some extra info on riding tips. Hiren bhai introduced us to most of the people there (alongwith Dorji bhai who was the helper, Imran who was the mechanic and Rahul (aka Dr. Pavri) who was our lead) Post meet ups, we were handed over the keys to our bikes. And that's when I met the bike that was gonna take me for a ride (Quite literally) for 2400 kms. It was a black standard 500. On riding the bike, the handle was bit misaligned and brakes were lose so got that set in the night. We were instructed that we would be leaving at 5am sharp next day morning. But timeline is such that never got implemented.
So after having our breakfast we are set to leave the place around 8am. Many were ready since 5 but most of them were done by 7.30-8.00. We start with no basic instruction, no details, nothing.. The only instruction came from Kashyap was 'Dabaa ke chalana hai' I was trying to decode this twisted message of his but surprisingly there were no asterisk on the statement.
While we left from Manali, the journey started off a path which was running parallel to Beas river and in-front we could see snow covered mountains. This mesmerising view is what is called journey to paradise. Our first stop was around 11-11.30 at a random stall where we took a chai break. While getting off some random mountain, there was a landslide which kind of gave me shivers. While we waited there for sometime till the road gets cleared, the entire flashback of 2011 came infront of my eyes.
2011 was the first time when I explored the beautiful Ladakh. I had recently bought a Machismo 500 and the first urge was to do a trip to Leh on my very own bullet. Anyhow figured out lives and managed to reach Leh. Looking at that place the only thing i chanted was "HEAVEN!!!" but didn't know meri hi nazar lag jayegi. So its day 3 and we leave for Nubra via Khardung-La pass, all packed and ready. It was around 9am in the morning. We had picked up all our stuffs from the hotel (except used clothes) and wore all possible precautions (Including winter liner, Hydra-Dry vest and windcheater to keep ourselves warm. That day, there wasn't much traffic and one of our friend wasn't feeling well (Altitude sickness) so he decided to be my pillion. Our target was 4pm to reach the destination but the way we rode to Khardung-La, we thought we might even have our lunch there. Since my friend was already suffering from altitude sickness, due to lack of oxygen he started hallucinating and started feeling that I'm abusing his mom (dunno why he would think like that) out of nowhere he started abusing me and hitting me from behind. I stopped the bike and was like "whats wrong with you man???" That's when he asked me, why are you abusing my mom? I'm like we are on one of the most toughest roads on my brand new bike with a pillion, freezing temperature, lite snowfall/rain and hardly with any oxygen! In all this chaos who would think of abusing your mom? unless she's mother nature who's testing us by increasing the density of the rain!!! This argument went for 10-15 minutes but I guess whatever happens, happens for a reason right? If this argument wouldve continued for half hour more, things would've turned very different. We just reach Khardung-La and about to pose photos next to the board that said, 'Highest Motorable Road in the World!' and suddenly out of nowhere by the time we reached there, it started raining heavily and this was a mix of snow and water which was more colder than either one of them. As we took out our phone for clicking a photo, we hear a huge thud noise from Leh side (At Khardung-La point, if you are standing facing the board, the left side is Leh and the right side is Nubra). It almost felt like a bomb blast. This made us completely forget our photo session and we ran towards the noise and couldn't see anything due to dense fog. This kind of created shivers in us and we were wondering if we should proceed ahead. Everything went in the background (the feeling of reaching the highest motorable road, snow, bike, climate, pakoda chai from the military canteen that was covered with so much snow, that it looked like a igloo and that's at Khardung-La) and we immediately sat on our bikes and got ready to leave to Nubra, suddenly we saw chaos happening and people running. When I asked someone, he said "landslide hua hai" so we thought maybe we should head back to Leh instead and by the time we agreed on that, even Leh roads were closed due to landslide. Now we are in the middle (top actually) of a mountain with road closed both sides, rain and snow, on our bikes with no shade or cover to go. Initially we actually freaked out but then realised there's no point of panicking and we have no option but to wait till the road gets cleared. We immediately took off our helmets and requested the army to keep it in some dry place. Wore our head-warmers and covered it with plastic bags so that it doesn't get dry. This wasn't enough that the temperature started dropping further. We didn't have thermometers to check but it was around -5 or -7 degrees. Our fingers started turning purple and we had no place where we could warm our hands except switch on our bikes and take warmth from the engine but that would consume fuel which was already scarce. We went to the canteen and anyhow managed to get inside but unfortunately it was reserved for all women and children. So the army guys didn't allow us to come inside. However, looking at our states, they asked if they wanna sit in the kitchen to get some warmth and it couldn't have been a better option. We went inside the kitchen and since the entire hut was covered with snow, the oil that was used to fry pakodas, its smoke had clogged in the kitchen and we could hardly breathe there for 10-15 mins. This situation started turning like ekta kapoor's movies with twists that kept coming. So since it was raining so much, we got the urge to use the loo which was a general loo outside on the edge of the cliff standing on the support of wooden planks. The moment you open the door of the loo, there's technically no pot or anything to sit on but the loo is just a box with a big round hole at the bottom. Looking at this one might just forget the agenda. Incase you like to take your phone to the loo, this place might probably not be a good idea because there's wind blowing from bottom and incase you drop your phone, its gonna land after 10k feet. Even at that altitude, the phone might scream in the air before it falls. Almost in a mix feeling whether I should cry or scream, I walk out and look around. There are around 10-12 cars there with all the drivers and men inside the car and most of women had got acquainted in the canteen. One of the most beautiful fact about Ladakh is its people, their humbleness and hospitality is something I've never seen anywhere. Looking at our states, one guy came up to us and started having conversation, we kept on moving our body (not dancing but walking here and there so that there's enough blood flow) he started asking us what happened, where are you from etc. Then he said, "I'll open the backdoor of my car, you can rest in it for sometime" it was the most humble gesture one could offer as we were drenched, and we would probably ruin his backseat. So 3 of us anyhow fit in there and sit for a while. By then our hands had gone beyond shivering and we could barely feel any part of our body. I removed my gloves and started rubbing my hands to get some warmth. By now its was 5.30 in the evening and there was no sign of help. Our hunger also went beyond control and the canteen had gone out of stock of food at 2pm itself. The only option we had was parle-g packs, few chocolates and raw maggi that we had carried. So we go to the canteen to ask if they could or allow us to cook maggi and give us. So they were kind enough to give steaming hot water in cups where we poured maggi and masala, stirred it and had it as it was. God finally showed some mercy around that time as it stopped raining and snowing. We kept on checking update with the Army there if there was any scope of the roads opening up anytime soon. But somewhere we knew that we might have to stay back in the night there only. So now its 11.30pm in the night and we again felt hungry. This time there was no source of warm water or food so we had to eat raw maggi and parle-g. We managed to park our bikes straight so we could sleep on it. We kept our bags on the handle and slept on the bike. One friend who didn't get his bike would keep switching with us after 2 hours. So its 9.30am now and with hardly any sleep, bodyache, temperatures that moved between -10 to 0, finished whole old monk (that was the only thing that kept us alive) and almost on the state of giving up we get up and think of what to do next, then I see the same driver (who gave us shade to wait) rushing up to us. He said, "Leh ka raasta khulne ko hai, aap log pehle niklo warna jam milega" At that moment, we forgot the fact that we had to go to Nubra. We immediately ran to get our helmets, started our bikes, and rode towards Leh. By-God that day if it would've been a race, no one couldve come close to me. I didn't even care about my brand new bike or what if I get a puncture the way I'm riding. I was drifting, riding doing all possible stunts to get back to the city. After almost a 2 kms, which took us half hour cross, we saw the last slabs of the landslide and by god it was scary. There were 2 cranes and a army type truck which had come to clear the road and they had been doing it whole night to clear the route for the day. It was still fresh with snow and mud mixture but we didn't really care and we rode on it to get off the place as fast as we could. On my way I didn't see a single car overtaking us which came from Khardung-La. Riding like a maniac, we reached the hotel room at 1.30pm, all of us had tears in our eyes and felt like we have actually come back to life. We just threw our stuffs in the room, got into dry clothes, we had a headache beyond migraine pains, so took 2 super strong painkilllers and just went off to sleep. Got up next day morning at 4am and we felt as if we have slept for 3-4 days.
Just day-dreaming about my rendezvous with snow, the road by then got cleared and we continued our journey. By that time, I realised there were almost 25 bullets, almost each had pillion and there were 6-7 couples as well. So then we stop at another joint for Lunch where we were offered Rajma chawal, omlette bread and expect the unexpected Chicken Momos.
Here, I met a guy who never knew would become a brother from another mother. Vaibhav Admane, aka Babaji aka Majnu Bhai a guy with a witty humor and someone who has a lot of gyaan to give, the only Maratha in the group. Punekar, foodie and his similar love for momos. So we interact and sort of gel along well.
We leave from there and reach Keylong around 5.30 in the evening. Nothing fancy here to talk about so we simply get in our rooms and go to sleep (being tired) get up for dinner and resume sleep again. Next day we leave for Pang where we get to meet Pankaj Tripathi of the group.
We reach Pang and in the night we have a get together to sort of get to know other people in the group and after 5-7 pegs down, the Tripathi rises, aka Pathakji aka Yogesh Shrivastav, the younger version of Pankaj Tripathi and his gyaan. So as we continue this journey, we get to know talents coming up. By now, there were groups already made, there was the Gujju gang, Couples gang, Bachelors gang and Incognito Bachelors gang and us. Next day morning I bump into two europeans who were riding their Ducati Scrambler, took a tea break at Pang. Fully geared up in AStar suit with Astar boots and Airoh Helmet. I guess their riding gear only would've been more expensive than our bikes, gears, the entire trip along with flight fare included. Looking at them, one would think, even their adventure looks like a classy luxury leisure ride.
Day 3 brings the day of the disaster. On our way to Tso-Moriri, one of the fellow Gujju bhai falls off the bike, luckily he didn't trip over the cliff and he was safe, but it kind of created a horror moment for everyone. He was fine and was safely brought to the location. Now most of you won't know but the road to Tso-Mo does not even qualify to be a path. One has to literally ride off-roading where the bike vibrates so much (due to gravel) that not just hands but the entire body starts aching. Alongwith that, if you try to apply brakes then your bike skids for sure (as it was a non-abs bike). The road was in such a bad shape that no matter what we do, we couldn't ride it faster than 40-50kmph.
Have you ever seen those commercials or movies where there are bunch of losers walking and then there's one hero of the movie passing them by and making all of them eat his dust? So while we were pushing ourselves to drag the haathi, 2 BMW 1200GS pass by us, both the riders were in a standing position on the bike and the bike was easily doing 70-90kmph and it just passed by as if its running on the highway. If Fan movie would've released back then, would've sang its title track to them.
Day 4 is where I had my first heated argument with a fellow rider. On our way to Leh, the guy who was ahead of the troop was misleading signals and since it was a single narrow road, I almost rammed into incoming traffic multiple times. In the entire trip, the entire gujju gang (of around 20 people) had arranged for a separate stay. I guess they wanted to stay away from non veg people as they were pure vegetarian and also they had got their own food so they were pretty much sorted everywhere. We had 2 days halt at Leh to explore the local areas, so first thing I did was to go to the market for shopping and a miracle happened there.
The same BMW 1200 GS that passed us at Tso was parked there. I immediately ran towards the bike to meet the owner. That's when I realised the owner was from Mumbai and the bike was MH registered. The owner's name was Vikram who was very humble and courteous to talk (usually people with expensive bikes throw a lot of attitude) While conversing with him, I told him you just zip passed us towards Tso. And he was like ohh, it was you guys??? I should award you for riding this bike on terrains like these... In a Embarrassing moment I asked him, how does it feel to ride this monster? (Pointing at the 1200 GS) on those terrains? didn't you feel those heavy vibrations or that you might slip? He asked me what vibrations??? That's when I realised its not just the brand names but also the parts in the bike that makes it worth 27 lacs. So he started off with the features on the bike like a 1200 box type parallel twin engine with different riding modes, traction control, wheelie control, ABS level control, electronically adjustable suspension control, hand warmers etc etc and etc (the list must've been a 10 minute long) which won't let him fall. Nothing much to ask further, I just shook hands with him and took a glance at the bike which was like an oscar for any rider.
If you are in Ladakh, there are 3 most important places to visit, Shanti Stupa, Hall of Fame and the great Paththar Sahab Gurudwara. The beauty of the Gurudwara is that its managed and served by the Indian Army. Even the food is cooked and served by the Army. Its a delight to see a Maratha regiment cook, a Bihar regiment serve water and a Khan (Rajasthan regiment I guess) serving food and then visiting Hall of Fame where you would get to see all the things seized from the Pakistan Army (In terms of weapons, documents, badges etc)
After two days of fun and local roam, it was finally time for the day I revisit my day of horror! The next day we were supposed to go to Pangong lake via Khardung-La pass. Now, since me and my wife are overweight, people advised us not to go on the bike (let my wife come in the car or both of us preferably) as the bike might break down on the way. My only response to them was, "I'll tag you on my check-in pic". Saying this, we started off, now this was a challenge accepted moment but I had to focus and make sure we reached safely up top. All the other riders had gone ahead, met two bikes on the way which had their break-downs. That moment when I saw the guy who advised not to come on bike, the look on his face was completely worth taking this adventure. I did make sure that I stand next to the board, click a picture and tag him as well.
The next thing to remember for me was the time when we went to Nubra valley. Nubra valley is like one of those places that you usually dream of. Its nowhere close to what you would expect in reality. For instance, you are crossing mountains that are covered with snow, there are snow patches on the way, crossing roads that are parallel to some random river and then there's open wide area where you can see the horizon and you keep riding. After all of this, suddenly you cross a mountain and see a area that's covered with sand dunes! You heard it right! after a mountain full of snow, we come to a part which is completely covered with sand. There are camels for local ride and its not just a thin layer of it but it kind of gives you a feel of Jaisalmer. Back on Day 2 when we reached Pang, Hiren bhai told us that its a tradition of Dream Riders Group that we do not get food cooked by the chefs but all the riders or whoever wants to voluntarily cook can do so. My wife immediately replied that her husband will cook food. And since they were talking in gujrati, I didn't understand a word they said and my situation was like from the movie Chennai Express where Deepika looks at Shahrukh and he nods his head. We couldn't arrange the masalas that we usually use back home so had to pick up weird substitutes. Also, since the terminology used to name the masala is different from the one we use, it was a nightmare to shop for all the stuffs to cook. So we reach Nubra around 3.30 and sitting outside the tent we all are drinking whiskey while I'm wondering today I'm supposed to cook food for 52 people (I accidentally miss the hotel staff) and if things go wrong, these people might eat me in the night instead. The place structure was so that the moment you enter the resort, there was a concrete dinning room with attached kitchen on the left and there were tents on the right with a garden area int he centre. So I start my preparation by asking the staff to help me chop onions and tomatoes. Ohh and btw, my agenda was to make Jeera Rice and Dal Fry!!! For the food to be ready by 9-9.30, I did start my preparation at 7. Got almost 2 kgs of tomatoes and 3 kgs of onions chopped with around 500 grams of green chillies, the kitchen looked really weird as people were wondering what exactly am I upto. Since there was a small get together there everyone was requested to come to the garden area outside even our Gujju gang had decided to join the party. As they got to know that someone from the group is cooking, they entered the kitchen to see what's cooking. The shocker for me for the moment was when they said, they've already finished their dinner and are here only for sometime and won't be having any food. Where I had accounted them. This made me further worried and nervous as food for approx 25-30 people is already gonna be wasted. Tonight's meal is gonna leave me with nothing but embarrassment and apologetic to everyone. While cooking, Hiren bhai entered the kitchen to check up on me if I needed anything and I shared my worries with him. With a nice smile he replied, don't worry even if the food is a disaster, it is a heroic stuff to what you are doing. We won't be thankful enough that you atleast took an initiative and efforts where everyone else is outside partying, you are here cooking.
Around 9.40 is when the food was finally prepared and I wanted someone who would possibly not criticise on my food. So I called our helper Dorji Bhai who happened to be a Tibetian and the most humble person in the entire group, to come and taste some dal and rice and let me know if anything needs to be added/altered or I need to sneak out quietly and run away. He came inside with a smile and took some dal and rice on a plate and went outside to the dinning room. He didn't return for almost 10 minutes. I started thinking if the food was so horrible that he left it there and ran away. So as I was about to turn and go outside, he entered and said, "Saab, thoda aur milega kya please?" I actually interrupted him and asked him, "Pehle batao theek to bana hai ke nahi?" His response was something that just got me my confidence back, he said "Hum chicken khaya hai par ye jyada tasty hai. Humko thoda aur milega? nai to ye sab log khayega to humko nai milega" For a minute I actually thought that he's just being polite to me. But why would anyone be interested to eat dal rice after having tandoori chicken???
So the dinner gets served outside and everyone is called in. My wife insisted the gujju gang in gujrati to atleast try the dal and rice. Very next minute after tasting it, I see the entire Gujju gang going for round 2. This time, they picked up a bigger portion of rice and dal (usually how much you take in the main course). Looking at this I was atleast relaxed that the food won't go waste.
The hotel staff was continuously carrying containers of dal and rice outside and topping the serving area. I could see the happiness on people's faces and everyone just loved the food. The biggest compliment I got ever was a friend saying, "Ghar ki yaad dila di yaar".
Looking at the speed of the food getting over, the hotel staff actually got curious to try out the food. Each of them just tasted the food and immediately took out containers and vessels to remove food for themselves to be had later and stored it in the fridge. This actually happened to be one of the best moments for me in the trip. After all this Dorji bhai actually gave me that 'didn't I tell you so?' look.
Next day morning we left for the sand dunes. Now if you are not able to recollect what it looked like, you might wanna watch the movie 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' where he gets trained by wearing a rope around his waist that is attached to a tyre. That location is Nubra valley. Mesmerised by its look and since it was a well maintained area, there was hardly any litter around and it looked as one of the most beautiful sand dune one can ever see.
By the time we reached Nubra, most of the Enfields stuck to their words i.e. being the most unreliable vehicle on these terrains and I actually wondered if my bike was from a different manufacturer as there was 0 problem so far...while riding on our way back as I was thinking about this, suddenly I hear a loud bike from behind. I look at the rear view thinking if there's a Harley following me. As I slow down, the firing also reduced. So I actually wondered if someone is chasing me. So I finally pull over to see who's following me. And I don't find anyone behind me. As I'm about to wonder where did that sound come from I look down and realised that my bike is missing his exhaust and this loud noise was coming from my own bike. I immediately rushed back to find the missing exhaust and there I found it lying on the side of the road, waiting for his master to come and rescue him. Since the exhaust was hot, it was impossible to lift it. So here comes our mechanic to the rescue as he lifts the exhaust with a cloth and throws it in the pond nearby. Then picks it up and keeps it in our backup tempo. And from Nubra valley to Leh, I ride a bike with no exhaust and one who's sound is audible in the distance range of the next 100 metres in advance.
Another exciting place to visit was Kargil museum which is few kms ahead of Kargil city. It actually gives you the patriotic feel. Little more intense and furious than the feels at Wagah Border.
On last day when we reach Kashmir, as soon as we entered the hotel, it was a moment of celebration. We roared our engines, screamed out loud and celebrated. By that time, my travel statistics was 13 days, 2200 kms and one turn indicator missing on the bike and insane amount of memories that got tied to me during this trip. This trip made new friends, got to know a lot of people and definitely got hands on experience on the most adventurous roads one can ever ride on.
Keep Dreaming. Dream On! Game On! That's what keeps the adrenaline pumped...
I got a very confusing reaction from her which included excitement, happiness, curiosity and nervousness. Something that couldn't tell me whether she said a Yes or a No! I again happen to ask her, Sweetie, would you like to do this trip? she screamed Yes! so loudly, she hadn't even screamed that loud even when I proposed her. So since this trip was on, I went ahead with inquiring dates, flight tickets, tour managers etc.
The same friend who told me about Sarachu Pass, gave me a number of this guy called, Hiren Patel who happens to own a Tour Management company called, The Dream Riders Group. He happened to help my friend whose bike had broken down on his way to ladakh last year. After inquiring, this guy happened to be the most appropriate tour for ladakh.
So I go ahead and do the payment and all the flight bookings. There was a long list of tours that he had to offer but I opted for the 11 day tour from Manali to Srinagar that was scheduled from 19th June to 1st July. Infact, Hiren had also made a whatsapp group of all the people who were part of this trip named as Dream Riders Group X5.
As this was my 3rd trip to North, I was pretty much aware about the climate, the oxygen available there and stuffs to be packed but since this was my wife's first such adventurous trip discussions, google guidance and packing began from Feb itself. It so happened so many times that she would wake me up in the middle of the night and ask random questions about the trip and my only reply would be,"This phase is more adventurous than the trip".
So cutting straight to the trip, we had carried two sweaters, one hoodie (Sasta, Sundar and Tikau option from Decathlon) gum boots, couple of clothes. We had worn our riding jacket and carried our helmets in hand. Our flight was Indigo from Mumbai to Chandigarh on 18th June.
On the flight I dropped a message if anyone from the group is on this flight and it so happened that one of the guy was sitting right next to us. So there I met the first guy from the trip who was Nilesh Vaghasia from Surat.
The reason why I specified the guy from surat because his entire gang was coming from another flight. A bunch of hardcore Gujrati businessmen mostly into textile and one NRI from USA.
So we land around 5.30 at Chandigarh airport and we need to board Tata Himganga state transport bus from Chandigarh bus stop for Manali. Since we didn't have much time for dinner we thought of eating at the bus depot only. To the surprise, eating one dal fry, Jeera rice, hakka noodles and 3 cups of coffee costed us only 230Rs.
While we boarded the bus from Chandigarh, we were all charged and desperately waiting to reach Manali to get started. At 4.30 we took a pitstop from where we could see Beas River. That breath-taking view just charged us from the sleep and we were jumping here and there and already clicking pictures.
Entering the over-crowded lanes of Manali, I looked at the roads and thought, is this Manali or Delhi toll plaza? looked like all the buses, cabs and autos were just jumbled up into each other. None of the less, we didn't wanted this to curb away our enthusiasm, we got off the bus at 8.30 and head towards our hotel Daffodil which also happened to be a starting point of a journey that was gonna change our lives.
Pass through the narrow steep lane and we enter a parking space which is like a candy shop for kids. There we see approx 25-30 Enfields parked outside the hotel. The beauty of it was that all the bikes were brand new and most of them were Standard 500's alongwith 2 TB 500 and one Desert Storm. Looking at the registration plate (GJ 01) I assumed that the Desert Storm belonged to Hiren Bhai. Tired, Hungry and sleepy, we enter the hotel lobby and see there were just 3 people sitting there, one couple and a girl. On chatting with them, I got introduced to Husband and Wife Kriya and Vish and a lady named Lopa. Since I couldn't find lot of people there, for instance I actually wondered if all these bikes would be a part of our journey.
Then enters the Anurag Kashyap of this movie. Introducing a guy who's in full pahadi avtaar clothes and aviators, he is none other than Hiren Patel, the organiser and founder of Dream Riders Group who comes out of one room and meets and greets us in the lobby. His first words were,"Welcome to Manali" somehow I judged at him as if he is Prakash Raj from Singham and his next statement would be "Aali re aali, atta tujhi baari aali". But very courteously, he said, please wait for sometime as the staff is cleaning the rooms and you will get your room keys shortly. At that time I wondered if he owns this hotel too.
Then enters Dr. Rustom Pavri (reference from Munnabhai M.B.B.S).aka Rahul bhai, serious look on the face, simple and innocent guy just too dedicated for his work. Comes and meets me and says please hand over your driver license. I was like, abbey yaar, I've hardly slept for 2 hours, its morning time i.e. washroom time and I'm sitting here at the Lobby waiting and this guy wants my license? UGH!!! So I reply to him that will give it to you in sometime.
Finally we get our rooms and next thing we do is wake up in the evening for the introductory meet-up. Here we were supposed to get to know the itinerary and the people whom we're gonna ride with. Walking down the garden area, I see more than 50 people there and I'm like Whoa!!! is this a ride or a parade???
Usually the introduction of the trip happens with the leader saying about great things that one will experience during this trip but our great Hiren bhai (that's what everyone called him) aka Anurag (Who's great in adding twists and random surprises in his concept) starts off by saying, If you guys think you are on a leisure trip, you're completely wrong. This trip nowhere will give you leisure. It's an adventure of a lifetime trip. This trip is all about stretching your physical and mental capacity, hardcore riding in extreme low oxygen levels. Narrow lanes next to the cliff and Offroading through waterfalls. You would hardly get any food (by that he meant limited choices), while we were wondering if we made the right choice by picking this trip, this didn't even pull a sweat to our gujju gang.
Here, we welcome the 'GUJJU GANG'. A bunch of 50 gujrati businessmen travelling from various parts of Gujrat, never ever ridden more than 10kms on activas in their life, had booked an entire tempo traveller for themselves and 3 bullets. This is not about it, this gang had travelled from Ahmedabad to Delhi in a flight where they paid approx 15k worth money extra just to carry their own food. That's right!!! they had carried approx 30kgs of ready made food from home. This consisted of Khakras, Theplas, Chiwda, Farsan, Chutneys, Pickle and Mukhwas.
Here we get introduced to an American gujju (sorry for being racist here) who wore the riding gear that suited his way of riding (Jo-Rocket) He was the only one in the entire group who had attended basic training at CSS (California Superbike School) and had some extra info on riding tips. Hiren bhai introduced us to most of the people there (alongwith Dorji bhai who was the helper, Imran who was the mechanic and Rahul (aka Dr. Pavri) who was our lead) Post meet ups, we were handed over the keys to our bikes. And that's when I met the bike that was gonna take me for a ride (Quite literally) for 2400 kms. It was a black standard 500. On riding the bike, the handle was bit misaligned and brakes were lose so got that set in the night. We were instructed that we would be leaving at 5am sharp next day morning. But timeline is such that never got implemented.
So after having our breakfast we are set to leave the place around 8am. Many were ready since 5 but most of them were done by 7.30-8.00. We start with no basic instruction, no details, nothing.. The only instruction came from Kashyap was 'Dabaa ke chalana hai' I was trying to decode this twisted message of his but surprisingly there were no asterisk on the statement.
While we left from Manali, the journey started off a path which was running parallel to Beas river and in-front we could see snow covered mountains. This mesmerising view is what is called journey to paradise. Our first stop was around 11-11.30 at a random stall where we took a chai break. While getting off some random mountain, there was a landslide which kind of gave me shivers. While we waited there for sometime till the road gets cleared, the entire flashback of 2011 came infront of my eyes.
2011 was the first time when I explored the beautiful Ladakh. I had recently bought a Machismo 500 and the first urge was to do a trip to Leh on my very own bullet. Anyhow figured out lives and managed to reach Leh. Looking at that place the only thing i chanted was "HEAVEN!!!" but didn't know meri hi nazar lag jayegi. So its day 3 and we leave for Nubra via Khardung-La pass, all packed and ready. It was around 9am in the morning. We had picked up all our stuffs from the hotel (except used clothes) and wore all possible precautions (Including winter liner, Hydra-Dry vest and windcheater to keep ourselves warm. That day, there wasn't much traffic and one of our friend wasn't feeling well (Altitude sickness) so he decided to be my pillion. Our target was 4pm to reach the destination but the way we rode to Khardung-La, we thought we might even have our lunch there. Since my friend was already suffering from altitude sickness, due to lack of oxygen he started hallucinating and started feeling that I'm abusing his mom (dunno why he would think like that) out of nowhere he started abusing me and hitting me from behind. I stopped the bike and was like "whats wrong with you man???" That's when he asked me, why are you abusing my mom? I'm like we are on one of the most toughest roads on my brand new bike with a pillion, freezing temperature, lite snowfall/rain and hardly with any oxygen! In all this chaos who would think of abusing your mom? unless she's mother nature who's testing us by increasing the density of the rain!!! This argument went for 10-15 minutes but I guess whatever happens, happens for a reason right? If this argument wouldve continued for half hour more, things would've turned very different. We just reach Khardung-La and about to pose photos next to the board that said, 'Highest Motorable Road in the World!' and suddenly out of nowhere by the time we reached there, it started raining heavily and this was a mix of snow and water which was more colder than either one of them. As we took out our phone for clicking a photo, we hear a huge thud noise from Leh side (At Khardung-La point, if you are standing facing the board, the left side is Leh and the right side is Nubra). It almost felt like a bomb blast. This made us completely forget our photo session and we ran towards the noise and couldn't see anything due to dense fog. This kind of created shivers in us and we were wondering if we should proceed ahead. Everything went in the background (the feeling of reaching the highest motorable road, snow, bike, climate, pakoda chai from the military canteen that was covered with so much snow, that it looked like a igloo and that's at Khardung-La) and we immediately sat on our bikes and got ready to leave to Nubra, suddenly we saw chaos happening and people running. When I asked someone, he said "landslide hua hai" so we thought maybe we should head back to Leh instead and by the time we agreed on that, even Leh roads were closed due to landslide. Now we are in the middle (top actually) of a mountain with road closed both sides, rain and snow, on our bikes with no shade or cover to go. Initially we actually freaked out but then realised there's no point of panicking and we have no option but to wait till the road gets cleared. We immediately took off our helmets and requested the army to keep it in some dry place. Wore our head-warmers and covered it with plastic bags so that it doesn't get dry. This wasn't enough that the temperature started dropping further. We didn't have thermometers to check but it was around -5 or -7 degrees. Our fingers started turning purple and we had no place where we could warm our hands except switch on our bikes and take warmth from the engine but that would consume fuel which was already scarce. We went to the canteen and anyhow managed to get inside but unfortunately it was reserved for all women and children. So the army guys didn't allow us to come inside. However, looking at our states, they asked if they wanna sit in the kitchen to get some warmth and it couldn't have been a better option. We went inside the kitchen and since the entire hut was covered with snow, the oil that was used to fry pakodas, its smoke had clogged in the kitchen and we could hardly breathe there for 10-15 mins. This situation started turning like ekta kapoor's movies with twists that kept coming. So since it was raining so much, we got the urge to use the loo which was a general loo outside on the edge of the cliff standing on the support of wooden planks. The moment you open the door of the loo, there's technically no pot or anything to sit on but the loo is just a box with a big round hole at the bottom. Looking at this one might just forget the agenda. Incase you like to take your phone to the loo, this place might probably not be a good idea because there's wind blowing from bottom and incase you drop your phone, its gonna land after 10k feet. Even at that altitude, the phone might scream in the air before it falls. Almost in a mix feeling whether I should cry or scream, I walk out and look around. There are around 10-12 cars there with all the drivers and men inside the car and most of women had got acquainted in the canteen. One of the most beautiful fact about Ladakh is its people, their humbleness and hospitality is something I've never seen anywhere. Looking at our states, one guy came up to us and started having conversation, we kept on moving our body (not dancing but walking here and there so that there's enough blood flow) he started asking us what happened, where are you from etc. Then he said, "I'll open the backdoor of my car, you can rest in it for sometime" it was the most humble gesture one could offer as we were drenched, and we would probably ruin his backseat. So 3 of us anyhow fit in there and sit for a while. By then our hands had gone beyond shivering and we could barely feel any part of our body. I removed my gloves and started rubbing my hands to get some warmth. By now its was 5.30 in the evening and there was no sign of help. Our hunger also went beyond control and the canteen had gone out of stock of food at 2pm itself. The only option we had was parle-g packs, few chocolates and raw maggi that we had carried. So we go to the canteen to ask if they could or allow us to cook maggi and give us. So they were kind enough to give steaming hot water in cups where we poured maggi and masala, stirred it and had it as it was. God finally showed some mercy around that time as it stopped raining and snowing. We kept on checking update with the Army there if there was any scope of the roads opening up anytime soon. But somewhere we knew that we might have to stay back in the night there only. So now its 11.30pm in the night and we again felt hungry. This time there was no source of warm water or food so we had to eat raw maggi and parle-g. We managed to park our bikes straight so we could sleep on it. We kept our bags on the handle and slept on the bike. One friend who didn't get his bike would keep switching with us after 2 hours. So its 9.30am now and with hardly any sleep, bodyache, temperatures that moved between -10 to 0, finished whole old monk (that was the only thing that kept us alive) and almost on the state of giving up we get up and think of what to do next, then I see the same driver (who gave us shade to wait) rushing up to us. He said, "Leh ka raasta khulne ko hai, aap log pehle niklo warna jam milega" At that moment, we forgot the fact that we had to go to Nubra. We immediately ran to get our helmets, started our bikes, and rode towards Leh. By-God that day if it would've been a race, no one couldve come close to me. I didn't even care about my brand new bike or what if I get a puncture the way I'm riding. I was drifting, riding doing all possible stunts to get back to the city. After almost a 2 kms, which took us half hour cross, we saw the last slabs of the landslide and by god it was scary. There were 2 cranes and a army type truck which had come to clear the road and they had been doing it whole night to clear the route for the day. It was still fresh with snow and mud mixture but we didn't really care and we rode on it to get off the place as fast as we could. On my way I didn't see a single car overtaking us which came from Khardung-La. Riding like a maniac, we reached the hotel room at 1.30pm, all of us had tears in our eyes and felt like we have actually come back to life. We just threw our stuffs in the room, got into dry clothes, we had a headache beyond migraine pains, so took 2 super strong painkilllers and just went off to sleep. Got up next day morning at 4am and we felt as if we have slept for 3-4 days.
Just day-dreaming about my rendezvous with snow, the road by then got cleared and we continued our journey. By that time, I realised there were almost 25 bullets, almost each had pillion and there were 6-7 couples as well. So then we stop at another joint for Lunch where we were offered Rajma chawal, omlette bread and expect the unexpected Chicken Momos.
Here, I met a guy who never knew would become a brother from another mother. Vaibhav Admane, aka Babaji aka Majnu Bhai a guy with a witty humor and someone who has a lot of gyaan to give, the only Maratha in the group. Punekar, foodie and his similar love for momos. So we interact and sort of gel along well.
We leave from there and reach Keylong around 5.30 in the evening. Nothing fancy here to talk about so we simply get in our rooms and go to sleep (being tired) get up for dinner and resume sleep again. Next day we leave for Pang where we get to meet Pankaj Tripathi of the group.
We reach Pang and in the night we have a get together to sort of get to know other people in the group and after 5-7 pegs down, the Tripathi rises, aka Pathakji aka Yogesh Shrivastav, the younger version of Pankaj Tripathi and his gyaan. So as we continue this journey, we get to know talents coming up. By now, there were groups already made, there was the Gujju gang, Couples gang, Bachelors gang and Incognito Bachelors gang and us. Next day morning I bump into two europeans who were riding their Ducati Scrambler, took a tea break at Pang. Fully geared up in AStar suit with Astar boots and Airoh Helmet. I guess their riding gear only would've been more expensive than our bikes, gears, the entire trip along with flight fare included. Looking at them, one would think, even their adventure looks like a classy luxury leisure ride.
Day 3 brings the day of the disaster. On our way to Tso-Moriri, one of the fellow Gujju bhai falls off the bike, luckily he didn't trip over the cliff and he was safe, but it kind of created a horror moment for everyone. He was fine and was safely brought to the location. Now most of you won't know but the road to Tso-Mo does not even qualify to be a path. One has to literally ride off-roading where the bike vibrates so much (due to gravel) that not just hands but the entire body starts aching. Alongwith that, if you try to apply brakes then your bike skids for sure (as it was a non-abs bike). The road was in such a bad shape that no matter what we do, we couldn't ride it faster than 40-50kmph.
Have you ever seen those commercials or movies where there are bunch of losers walking and then there's one hero of the movie passing them by and making all of them eat his dust? So while we were pushing ourselves to drag the haathi, 2 BMW 1200GS pass by us, both the riders were in a standing position on the bike and the bike was easily doing 70-90kmph and it just passed by as if its running on the highway. If Fan movie would've released back then, would've sang its title track to them.
Day 4 is where I had my first heated argument with a fellow rider. On our way to Leh, the guy who was ahead of the troop was misleading signals and since it was a single narrow road, I almost rammed into incoming traffic multiple times. In the entire trip, the entire gujju gang (of around 20 people) had arranged for a separate stay. I guess they wanted to stay away from non veg people as they were pure vegetarian and also they had got their own food so they were pretty much sorted everywhere. We had 2 days halt at Leh to explore the local areas, so first thing I did was to go to the market for shopping and a miracle happened there.
The same BMW 1200 GS that passed us at Tso was parked there. I immediately ran towards the bike to meet the owner. That's when I realised the owner was from Mumbai and the bike was MH registered. The owner's name was Vikram who was very humble and courteous to talk (usually people with expensive bikes throw a lot of attitude) While conversing with him, I told him you just zip passed us towards Tso. And he was like ohh, it was you guys??? I should award you for riding this bike on terrains like these... In a Embarrassing moment I asked him, how does it feel to ride this monster? (Pointing at the 1200 GS) on those terrains? didn't you feel those heavy vibrations or that you might slip? He asked me what vibrations??? That's when I realised its not just the brand names but also the parts in the bike that makes it worth 27 lacs. So he started off with the features on the bike like a 1200 box type parallel twin engine with different riding modes, traction control, wheelie control, ABS level control, electronically adjustable suspension control, hand warmers etc etc and etc (the list must've been a 10 minute long) which won't let him fall. Nothing much to ask further, I just shook hands with him and took a glance at the bike which was like an oscar for any rider.
If you are in Ladakh, there are 3 most important places to visit, Shanti Stupa, Hall of Fame and the great Paththar Sahab Gurudwara. The beauty of the Gurudwara is that its managed and served by the Indian Army. Even the food is cooked and served by the Army. Its a delight to see a Maratha regiment cook, a Bihar regiment serve water and a Khan (Rajasthan regiment I guess) serving food and then visiting Hall of Fame where you would get to see all the things seized from the Pakistan Army (In terms of weapons, documents, badges etc)
After two days of fun and local roam, it was finally time for the day I revisit my day of horror! The next day we were supposed to go to Pangong lake via Khardung-La pass. Now, since me and my wife are overweight, people advised us not to go on the bike (let my wife come in the car or both of us preferably) as the bike might break down on the way. My only response to them was, "I'll tag you on my check-in pic". Saying this, we started off, now this was a challenge accepted moment but I had to focus and make sure we reached safely up top. All the other riders had gone ahead, met two bikes on the way which had their break-downs. That moment when I saw the guy who advised not to come on bike, the look on his face was completely worth taking this adventure. I did make sure that I stand next to the board, click a picture and tag him as well.
The next thing to remember for me was the time when we went to Nubra valley. Nubra valley is like one of those places that you usually dream of. Its nowhere close to what you would expect in reality. For instance, you are crossing mountains that are covered with snow, there are snow patches on the way, crossing roads that are parallel to some random river and then there's open wide area where you can see the horizon and you keep riding. After all of this, suddenly you cross a mountain and see a area that's covered with sand dunes! You heard it right! after a mountain full of snow, we come to a part which is completely covered with sand. There are camels for local ride and its not just a thin layer of it but it kind of gives you a feel of Jaisalmer. Back on Day 2 when we reached Pang, Hiren bhai told us that its a tradition of Dream Riders Group that we do not get food cooked by the chefs but all the riders or whoever wants to voluntarily cook can do so. My wife immediately replied that her husband will cook food. And since they were talking in gujrati, I didn't understand a word they said and my situation was like from the movie Chennai Express where Deepika looks at Shahrukh and he nods his head. We couldn't arrange the masalas that we usually use back home so had to pick up weird substitutes. Also, since the terminology used to name the masala is different from the one we use, it was a nightmare to shop for all the stuffs to cook. So we reach Nubra around 3.30 and sitting outside the tent we all are drinking whiskey while I'm wondering today I'm supposed to cook food for 52 people (I accidentally miss the hotel staff) and if things go wrong, these people might eat me in the night instead. The place structure was so that the moment you enter the resort, there was a concrete dinning room with attached kitchen on the left and there were tents on the right with a garden area int he centre. So I start my preparation by asking the staff to help me chop onions and tomatoes. Ohh and btw, my agenda was to make Jeera Rice and Dal Fry!!! For the food to be ready by 9-9.30, I did start my preparation at 7. Got almost 2 kgs of tomatoes and 3 kgs of onions chopped with around 500 grams of green chillies, the kitchen looked really weird as people were wondering what exactly am I upto. Since there was a small get together there everyone was requested to come to the garden area outside even our Gujju gang had decided to join the party. As they got to know that someone from the group is cooking, they entered the kitchen to see what's cooking. The shocker for me for the moment was when they said, they've already finished their dinner and are here only for sometime and won't be having any food. Where I had accounted them. This made me further worried and nervous as food for approx 25-30 people is already gonna be wasted. Tonight's meal is gonna leave me with nothing but embarrassment and apologetic to everyone. While cooking, Hiren bhai entered the kitchen to check up on me if I needed anything and I shared my worries with him. With a nice smile he replied, don't worry even if the food is a disaster, it is a heroic stuff to what you are doing. We won't be thankful enough that you atleast took an initiative and efforts where everyone else is outside partying, you are here cooking.
Around 9.40 is when the food was finally prepared and I wanted someone who would possibly not criticise on my food. So I called our helper Dorji Bhai who happened to be a Tibetian and the most humble person in the entire group, to come and taste some dal and rice and let me know if anything needs to be added/altered or I need to sneak out quietly and run away. He came inside with a smile and took some dal and rice on a plate and went outside to the dinning room. He didn't return for almost 10 minutes. I started thinking if the food was so horrible that he left it there and ran away. So as I was about to turn and go outside, he entered and said, "Saab, thoda aur milega kya please?" I actually interrupted him and asked him, "Pehle batao theek to bana hai ke nahi?" His response was something that just got me my confidence back, he said "Hum chicken khaya hai par ye jyada tasty hai. Humko thoda aur milega? nai to ye sab log khayega to humko nai milega" For a minute I actually thought that he's just being polite to me. But why would anyone be interested to eat dal rice after having tandoori chicken???
So the dinner gets served outside and everyone is called in. My wife insisted the gujju gang in gujrati to atleast try the dal and rice. Very next minute after tasting it, I see the entire Gujju gang going for round 2. This time, they picked up a bigger portion of rice and dal (usually how much you take in the main course). Looking at this I was atleast relaxed that the food won't go waste.
The hotel staff was continuously carrying containers of dal and rice outside and topping the serving area. I could see the happiness on people's faces and everyone just loved the food. The biggest compliment I got ever was a friend saying, "Ghar ki yaad dila di yaar".
Looking at the speed of the food getting over, the hotel staff actually got curious to try out the food. Each of them just tasted the food and immediately took out containers and vessels to remove food for themselves to be had later and stored it in the fridge. This actually happened to be one of the best moments for me in the trip. After all this Dorji bhai actually gave me that 'didn't I tell you so?' look.
Next day morning we left for the sand dunes. Now if you are not able to recollect what it looked like, you might wanna watch the movie 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' where he gets trained by wearing a rope around his waist that is attached to a tyre. That location is Nubra valley. Mesmerised by its look and since it was a well maintained area, there was hardly any litter around and it looked as one of the most beautiful sand dune one can ever see.
By the time we reached Nubra, most of the Enfields stuck to their words i.e. being the most unreliable vehicle on these terrains and I actually wondered if my bike was from a different manufacturer as there was 0 problem so far...while riding on our way back as I was thinking about this, suddenly I hear a loud bike from behind. I look at the rear view thinking if there's a Harley following me. As I slow down, the firing also reduced. So I actually wondered if someone is chasing me. So I finally pull over to see who's following me. And I don't find anyone behind me. As I'm about to wonder where did that sound come from I look down and realised that my bike is missing his exhaust and this loud noise was coming from my own bike. I immediately rushed back to find the missing exhaust and there I found it lying on the side of the road, waiting for his master to come and rescue him. Since the exhaust was hot, it was impossible to lift it. So here comes our mechanic to the rescue as he lifts the exhaust with a cloth and throws it in the pond nearby. Then picks it up and keeps it in our backup tempo. And from Nubra valley to Leh, I ride a bike with no exhaust and one who's sound is audible in the distance range of the next 100 metres in advance.
Another exciting place to visit was Kargil museum which is few kms ahead of Kargil city. It actually gives you the patriotic feel. Little more intense and furious than the feels at Wagah Border.
On last day when we reach Kashmir, as soon as we entered the hotel, it was a moment of celebration. We roared our engines, screamed out loud and celebrated. By that time, my travel statistics was 13 days, 2200 kms and one turn indicator missing on the bike and insane amount of memories that got tied to me during this trip. This trip made new friends, got to know a lot of people and definitely got hands on experience on the most adventurous roads one can ever ride on.
Keep Dreaming. Dream On! Game On! That's what keeps the adrenaline pumped...
