Ladakh the most sought destination for the adventure buffs
Vow the journey from Manali to Leh was just amazing with the Snow Capped Mountains, Valleys, Griffon Vultures, Himalayan Mormot, Black Bellied Magpie to Barren mountain ranges to Baralachala Pass, Bluish Lakes, Morey Plains to Second Highest Motor-able Road Taglangla, to Pang High Altitude Army Transit Camps and zooming motorcyclist was a new experience says Shreyas Kondibyle, a student of Vijaya Vittala Pre-University College.
It was like a dream come true for me, as Ladakh and Kashmir regions are considered as most sought destination for the Trekkers, motorcyclist and Mountain bikers, I had never imagined in my life that opportunity to go to this God forsaken Land (Deva Bhoomi) will come so soon in my life.
We were group of six youths from Mysore who participated in this expedition as part of Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Indian Independence.
The National Mountain Biking Expedition was organized by Youth Hostel Association of India, New Delhi in High Altitude in Ladakh Region in Jammu and Kashmir.
It was Aug 14, 2007 where the tricolor was handed over to Master Shreyas K by HE Shri T N Chaturvedi, Governor of Karnataka at Raj Bhavan, Bangalore.
On Sept 4 we took a qualis to LEH driven by Mr. Ramlal Thakur from Manali. While passing through, we passed through the tourist destination the globe, “Rohtang Pass” Baralacha (16,500 Feet) where both river Chandra and Bhaga originate and form Chandra-Baaga at Tandi which is renamed as Chenab at Doda District in J &K and various other passes like Nakeela, Lachulungla, Kangla Jal.
I was excited to know that there was a bluish lake by “DEEPAK TAAL” which really tickled me to take a picture in front of it and it was almost getting dark and we saw one more lake called “Vishal Taal” wind was blowing too much then,and our guide Mr.Amar Thakur decided to halt at “SARACHU” The weather here was adverse with chilling nights and the temperature dipping to all time low of our of –2 degree Celsius.
On Sept 5, when we woke up at 5.00 AM the temptation to click pictures of the camp site refrained us from leaving before the sunrise, and we met three cyclists and among whom two were MUMBAIKARS who were pedaling country cycle fitted with gears and one from Scotland who was pedaling fire fox, this was our first meeting with the people who were cycling en-route and later we met two more Scottish nationals at “Morey Plains”.
As I was talking to them about the cycling expedition he was thrilled and we got curious to know more about the cycles. He explained about the brand of cycle “coast”, which will cost, anywhere between Rupees 75,000-80,000.
I was so much tempted to ride one of these cycles that he agreed and the cyclist was so sensitive that he immediately adjusted the seat of the cycle to my height and I pedaled a small distance and believe it or not friends the cycles were amazing which had twenty one gears and fitted with one instrument which had all this features like altimeter, Barometer, speedometer and a clock.
Later on we zoomed to “Taglangla” the second highest motor able road in the world that is at a height of 17582 feet. On the way we visited Trishul War Memorial but were greeted by the orderly at the place who told that the memorial is closed as per the “D O” issued by the higher authorities, what best can we do? We purchased T-Shirts and Caps from the souvenir shop and proceeded for the break-fast-Lunch at Vaishno Punjabi Dhaba at Karu, from here Leh was just 44 Km and as were zooming to Leh we saw Thikse, Hemis Monasteries Sindhu Darshan, Stok and Shey Palace.
The Team reported to Semnet Guest House, Leh on Sept 5 and had a day’s rest and two days acclimatization. It was a blessing in disguise that the Ladakh festival was going on. Ladakh Festival included polo matches, archery competition, Mask dances and music concerts. We enjoyed each and every bit of it. We could get to see the cultural heritage of Ladakh and in particular nomads of changthang region.
During the two days of acclimatization, we visited shanthi Stuppa and Leh Palace, and on the third day we were given the mountain bikes so that we could get used to the shifting of the gears. We were given fire fox cycles, helmets, wrist gloves, knee caps and elbow guards for our protection; we pedaled our bikes to the military HALL OF FAME where we saw the achievements of the armed forces.
In the afternoon the Mr.Sudheer Joshi, briefed about the route and the team consisted of twelve bikers, six from Karnataka, one from Goa, one from Andhra Pradesh and four from Maharastra.
On Sept 9 all the bikers were all set to leave and Mr. Rajesh performed puja by breaking the coconut and distributed Prasadam. On the first day itself it was a distance of 46 Km and our destination was BASGO, the cyclist zoomed out from the Leh in the morning and while pedaling some was zooming as if it was a rally. Few of us were really enjoying taking pictures and after some time as the gradient was more, we pushed the cycles too and as it became afternoon there was no sight of any water and tree line, Alas! What a tiring experience it was? With the atmospheric pressure as per the barometer being some where between 490-590mm. After tiring session of pedaling 26 km we had a sumptuous meal (Maduve (Marriage) OOTA) at Shri Pathar Sahib Gurdwara, which is managed by INIDAN ARMY. Enroute we came across “Magnetic Hill”, where in at one point of time the vehicles are pushed back and we saw people of Mahindra and Mahindra were testing their new vehicles at the point. Then we saw the confluence of INDUS and ZANSKAR rivers at Nimoo Village. We interacted with the villagers of NIMO and it was quite interesting. We crossed through army transit camps and finally reached Basgo.
Basgo means “COW HEAD”, as it resembles the shape of the head of a cow. It was at 6.00PM as we reached the camp it was almost a journey of eleven hours from Leh.
On Sept 10 our next destination was Nurula, the distance was again 43 Kms, as I was the last person to reach the first camp so myself and Master Shreyas decided to start little early (6.30AM) and as we were pedaling we were tempted to shoot pictures and after steep climb we stopped at plains and shot pictures for more than 45 minutes of mother-nature, was so amazing that we didn’t want to move, distance forced us to move to the next destination. We had our grub at a place called SASPOL and proceeded towards the camp. After pedaling for more than 10 hours we reached NURLA. The campsite was on the banks of the INDUS. There was a long bridge just beside our campsite, which created a perfect ambience for pictures.
On Sept 11 we had to pedal a distance of 43 Kms to our next camp LAMAYURU, a small village famous for its Monastery. We were pedaling our bikes on the NATIONAL HIGHWAY 1-D which connects Leh and Srinagar. We had our lunch at KHALTSE. From there we went all along the Indus River until we reached a shop where we kept our bikes and then started trekking towards LAMAYURU. On the way we saw some TIBETIAN GAZZELE (NAMO). It was quite amazing to see how these creatures survive in those extreme conditions. We took a tipper and reached LAMAYURU. We stayed at the Moon land Restaurant and visited Lamayaru monastery too.
On Sept 12 four of them pedaled to the Nurula, Due to Paucity of time, eight traveled by bus with cycle to Leh to visit PONGONG SU, KHARDUNGLA (Highest motor able Road in the World) and Nubra Valley. In the evening we went to the polo match which was the major attraction of the Ladakh Festival.
On Sept 13 eight of us took a Scorpio to Khardungla Pass and reached their at 7.00 AM and as we reached there the temp was as low as -1 degree Celsius and we hoisted the tricolour along with flags of IAMAS, Sagas and Vijaya Vittala Vidyashala and later drove to Nubra Valley visited Hunder Sand Dunes and saw two Humped Camels and Deskit Monastery, and returned to Leh in the evening.
On Sept 14 we zoomed to Pongong Su and while passing through we came across Changala Pass (17800 Feet), we got so much tempted that we stopped to sip tea and bite noodles interacted with Gref and Olive Green uniform personnels and later drove straight to Pongong the dream destination of every individual visiting Ladakh as some portion of lake is in china and other in India. The Lake is good bluish and beautiful place on the earth, I’m sure it would remain in our hearts forever. After spending some time we returned to Leh in the evening had the taste of Kashmiri Pulav at Jeevan café the best place to bite while you are in Leh.
On Sept 15 the group was drifting, three went down the health syndrome as they rested in the guesthouse, and three veggies decided to visit stoke palace and thicksey Monastery and to return in the afternoon to see the closing ceremony of Ladakh Festival.
On Sept 16 the team left for Srinagar, enroute visited Mulbekh. Mulbekh with its gigantic rock engraving of Maitreya (Buddha-to-come) and its gompa perched high on a crag above the Village is the transition from Muslim to Buddhist Ladakh.
We passed through Kargil town and watched the scary sign boards reading, “You are under Enemy observation” and armaments being positioned just beside the road. Drass, the first major village over the pass, has the local reputation of being the second coldest permanently inhabited spot in the world. We visited the Drass Memorial and there as we entered the memorial we paid salutations to those martyrs who (“For our tomorrow we gave our today”) laid their life for the sake of our country during Kargil intrusion.
Mr.N.B.Singh of Rajaputana Rifles explained to us about Tiger Hill, Tololing Heights and Point 4875 Mts which is being renamed as Batra Top after Capt Vikram Batra of J&K Rifles and we were touched by the supreme sacrifice made by our soldiers protecting our borders. I still remember the day when Capt Vikram Batra of J&K Rifles spoke on NDTV and next day it was shock of the day when it was announced that he was no more.
After that we left for Gumri Army camp only to be told that the transit camp was shifted to Batra Camp and later we moved to Sonamarg via Zozilla Pass the loose stones and the vehicle moving on the edge of road kept us worrying the safety of all, we halted at 254 transit Camp.
On Sept 17 we moved to Srinagar and halted at Boat House and had experience of going by shikhara and if you are a veggie then do not forget to visit Nathus’s Sweets opp to DAL LAKE and we visited various Moghul gardens, shankaracharya temple and Hazrathbal Shrine.
On Sept 18 we visited Gulmarg, which is a hub for Ski Lovers and as we touched down we could only see the beauty of the nature and we went by cable car (Gondola) and retreated to the boat House.
On Sept 19 we left as early as 5.30am by (Boat) shikara in the morning to visit Floating Vegetable market and seeing the hub of activity going on, we were reminded of our RMC Market near Exhibition, we came back and packed our bag and baggages and drove straight to Airport to reach New Delhi and halted at YHAI Hostel in Chankayapuri and we saw a movie CHAKDE INDIA at PVR PLAZA at Cannought Place
On Sept 20 we thought we should bite some thing so we rushed to Hotel Sarvana at Cannought place, after that we drove straight to Airport to take a flight to Bangalore and reach home sweet home
The team members were Master Shreyas K of Vijaya vittala P U College, Mr. Mohan Kumar M, Director of IAMAS, Mr.Srinivas Ananth Narayana of Goa, Mr. Harish Kumar V of EZ Medscribe Mr.Rajesh and Rtn.PHF D.S.D.Solanki
But do not forget to carry sufficient water and medicines in particular IOPAR SR or Diomox, follow the advice of the physician before gulping it, which is available at Raghulal Mart in Vijayanagar, Mysore.
For you to visit Pongong Lake and Khardungla Pass, you got to procure inner line permits from Deputy Commissioner’s Office free of cost with forest entry fee being just Rs20 per person per day between 10.30 AM to 4.00 PM and it is a hassle free process.
Acute mountain Sickness: complete rest for first 24 hours and get acclimatized other wise you may face acute mountain sickness like Head Ache, Disturbed sleep, breathlessness and lack of concentration.
The article is written by Rtn.PHF.D.S.D.Solanki and Master Shreyas K of Vijaya Vittala P U College, Mysore.
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