Day 11: August 18, 2010, Wednesday

Chandra Tal to Sissu

Today was trek-day and we had slept off by 9:30 pm last night- so I was up bright and early at 5:45 am! While Bijoor san could escape up to the mountains to answer nature's call, I decided to jump in one of the potty-tents 'cos it was getting tougher to hold it all in! I survived! Very soon everyone was up too and we left quite early and hearing different accounts, finally took the route on the left of the mountain facing us. The climb started steep and gradually increased but we were mostly dying due to lack of oxygen! Even our resident fleet-foot KJo was struggling- considering he was wearing all the warm gear he thought he would need!

While Bijoor san, a experienced trekker, carried on walking, Dev was following him and never stopped it seemed. The rest of us kept stopping every 50 metres to catch our breath and our climb was slow, to say the least. We made it fun for us eventually by switching on music on my phone, taking funny pictures of each other and just trying to yell out to the two in the front- who were a few mountains away very soon! I believe that this is the way to trek- it was slow but more fun! Due to shortage of water (despite my repeated requests for everyone to stock up!) Kjo was trying to make do with stream water- water we didnt really feel was the cleanest- the rest tried to fight the thirst. Beni was doing much better though- his back pain did not seem to be there anymore and neither was the tingling in his calf- maybe the bad roads yesterday were good for his back! I was beginning to suspect alcohol to be his real tormentor- and his not having it for more than 24 hours must be doing his a lot of good!

At one point we thought that the lake was only a myth till we finally came across it- its water reflected the green all around it and it did not seem very deep either. We walked around it and caught up with Bijoor san and Dev (who was busy taking photos from on top of the rocks). We saw horses, sheep and dogs- one dog even came up to us and lay on Suku's feet! We started to walk back to our camp from the other side of the lake and passed a few private camps. It was interesting to see that fat middle-aged ladies had been able to trek all the way to the lake!!

 

Midway, we came across 'Govind's cafe', a small dhaba/restaurant stall with chairs- and decided to have breakfast there. Most of us piled on Maggi and Omlette sandwiches with a cold drink- however, Dev got a fungus covered bread so he had to do only with the egg! As we walked back, Beni decided to answer nature in between rocks by the river. I and Bijoor san got to the  camp first and started to pack up. I, Bijoor san, Beni and Suku lft first (at about noon) were ahead through the two water crossings till we lost Suku behind somewhere. We got to Batal and saw water and immediately stocked up and I gulped down a whole bottle right there! We waited for about 5 or 10 minutes- not seeing anyone behind, we decided to continue. Asking the shopkeeper about the roads ahead, he said that its all streams and more streams! Great!

The roads were the worst ever and it seemed like it was a dried out river bed because there were rocks all over the place- as if someone took the time to put them there! However, the views were gorgeous to compensate for the harrowing time we had on them! Just like the shopkeeper had told us, we encountered one stream after the other- so much that by the end of the 4th or 5th I lost count and stopped counting too! After the first few crossings, I and Beni decided to wait for the others- we had even managed to cross Bijoor san on a water crossing. The sun was beating down hard so I took advantage of that and took out my socks and shoes to dry them out- Beni did the same since water found its way inside his shoes too! Yes, the water crossings were maddening and getting deeper and longer. Bijoor san, concerned about his bike dying, carried on forward while we waited...for about half an hour! We left only Beni could see some specks in the mountains far away which we assumed were the other guys.

Drying shoes as we wait

Carrying on, we came across pink flowers, horses and even more horrible water crossings! The rocks at these crossings were getting bigger and rounder till we got to one crossing where some of the the rocks were bigger than footballs and very rounded. We had heard about these ones so we were sort of prepared. There was a driver of a Innova cab on the other side who had come up to it and seeing how he would drive over it while his  concerned passengers- a couple- looked on. I can only imagine their faces when they saw two bikes (me leading Beni) cross it without even thinking for too long! Again, I think we were just getting too used to the water crossings without getting too complacent though. This  crossing was followed by a road that was full of boulders and the bikes, without the weight of the saddlebags, jumped up and down and I had to use my legs and thighs to stay upright- we got out of it without a scratch thankfully! We also noticed the scenery was changing gradually.

At one point, I even ran into Beni's bike on a cliff who braked a second time very suddenly- I would have stopped but for the loose sand underneath- a truck was coming down the slope which had led to these events. My left index finger got a bit bruised under the nail but the glove had taken most of the force- it pained for a few miles but all was forgotten soon enough.

It seemed like we were chasing Bijoor san who seemed to have flown when he left us! We even skipped Chhatru where there seemed to be a number of restaurants on the road- mainly because we wanted to cross all the water crossings before Gramphoo before they got worse. We soon came upon green mountains again and the biggest water crossings of the trip! The rocks were huge but not rounded- they were sometimes sharp and jutting out of the bed- hit the underbellies of my and Beni's bike- at the first major one, close to Gramphoo, we saw Bijoor san around the bend. But we stopped to dry off our shoes- I even left my socks to signal the others that we had been there! I put on new socks- however, they got wet at the next crossing just two bends later! We however made it to roads that had tar and stone on it and boy were we glad. The views were superb and seeing green mountains was... refreshing! More horses, more flowers, more trees. We finally came up to the fork where one road goes to Rohtang and the other goes to Keylong. We saw Bijoor san sitting in a dhaba just at that  crossing and we joined him.

The first major crossing enroute to Gramphoo

Also at the dhaba were a group of foreigners riding enfields as part of some tour from Manali- they were traveling with a mechanic too and we shared tales of the roads ahead of each other- while we made them wait to cross to Kaza till tomorrow, they warned us of mud at Rohtang. I had a huge lunch of, yes, rice and dal and aloo matar! We even saw the British kids get off a bus to hop to another one that would come later. It was about 4pm when we got there while the others reached at only about 5-5:15!! Suku had apparently got a flat and it had been fixed with the Gulf tire sealant that Kjo was carrying and they had also stopped at Chhatru for lunch.

Taking the advice of a local, we went to the village of Sissu, finding no decent accommodation at Khoksar, the nearest village to Gramphoo. Riding to the next village of Sissu was absolutely wonderful- wide sweeping metalled roads- with no saddle bags I was tempted to put my knee down but the backpack made sure that I wasnt carried away much. We made it to Sissu in good time and even found a "home stay" at a Mr Ram Lal (correct me guys, if I am wrong). Dev and Kjo decided to move next door as they did not like their room. We all met for dinner though and finally sat in the cab to find a hotel. After a bit of back and forth, we finally ate at a small dhaba where the people made us rice and dal and even omlettes. The others (excluding KJo) had some Royal Stag and I was betting that Beni's pain would come back tomorrow!

We face the last major hurdle in the Rohtang tomorrow- and considering that we always think that the worst is over, it gets more interesting the next day. So we can only expect the unexpected tomorrow!

Total distance covered=  73 kms approx. + 6 kms approx on foot!

Total cost= Rs 550

[Breakfast= 100 + Water= 60 + Lunch=  100 + Dinner= 90 + Stay= 200 ]

Day 12 August 19, 2010, Thursday

Sissu to Kullu

The day began badly and kept getting worse!

We woke up to a cold morning, cloudy skies and the weather did not seem too promising. In the morning rush to get out of the village of Sissu, I bumped my head yet again on yet another tiny bathroom door! I and Beni were packed up the first and in our quest to find phones to call overseas, we left first. 

We went through the same good sweeping roads but this time around, one of the few bad patches of small water crossings came up at the top of a slight climb. Braking hard, Beni locked up his wheels and slid, almost in slow motion right in front of me! He didnt really fall- the bike did- the first time the Avenger seemed out of its elements. However, all was well and we carried on. We hadn't moved 100 metres when rains came down on us- we had our rain gear on so we did not have to stop but the rain did slow us down a bit and the curves were still left. In search of the phone, we reached Khoksar but the phone was not working. Giving up, we finally decided to have breakfast while we waited for the others to catch up. The aloo paranthas that we had were deep fried in oil/ghee- reminded me of Chandni Chowk's Parantha Waali gali back home in delhi- this was delicious! The rain was not letting up and everybody came by only after 30 or 40 minutes. and they had the same breakfast.

Suku got gooebumps in the cold wet morning

The rain was not slowing down- if anything, it was getting worse and the restaurant guys urged us to go now before Rohtang pass became a bigger mess in this rain. Having heard slushy stories of Rohtang earlier, we decided to move on, even in the rain, The good part was that the rain soon died into a slight drizzle and completely stopped as we started our climb to Rohtang pass. And as we were about 12 kms to the top, we see slush- all across the road! However, we did a good job of going through it- a truck was slowing our progress so we had to overtake it, cutting through the thick mud. The slush here was probably only about 10 to 12 inches deep. A small stretch of good road came by which took us to the top where we congratulated each other- Bijoor san had  carried on by himself. As we went down, we met these bunch of frazzled kids from Mumbai (or was it B'lore?) who looked like they had seen a ghost. They asked us how the conditions were on the other side of the Rohtang etc- it had apparently taken them 10am to 8 pm to come up till there the day before from Manali and were waiting for some mech to fix one of their bikes!!!!! I almost felt sorry for them because, ahead of them lay the hardest rides of their lives!

A rare view from Rohtang

Celebrating at Rohtang

We did not know what to expect but very soon, we came upon the deepest slush we had ever seen in our lives- at some points the slush  came nearly knee-high! And what was making matters really bad was that we had to follow a traffic jam in this muck! Had we started even earlier, we would have probably met less traffic and it would be a smoother crossing for us. When I tried to bypass the traffic ahead of me from the left (the cliff side), I found deeper mud that nearly trapped me! A valuable lesson I had taught Suku in one of the water crossings came to my rescue- I just turned the handlebars across the road of mud and I was out in an instant and found a faster way to cut through the deep muddy mess. And we were all out except Dev- he was stuck and was not being able to move- just like in a few previous water crossings. He held up the line of vehicles behind him which held up vehicles coming from the other side! Truck drivers who managed to squeeze past him were reprimanding us for him trying to move the bike in fourth gear (or what sounded like fourth gear to them)! After washing up our mud covered shoes, we decided to go back and see what Dev was upto. We saw a man pushing him all the way out of the mud and the traffic finally moving from both sides almost immediately after!

Parked after the slush area where the truck drivers cursed us for Dev!

FInally Dev comes out-notice no vehicle behind him!

Happy to be out of the slush- even as Dev was stuck!

The "beautiful" clouds that blinded us later on!

The moment we started off, Dev and Kjo decided to rush downhill. At just around the bend from where we had stopped, Suku locked his bike's front and slammed into the road on his right side. The bike's crash guard was bent and all his protective gear saved him- right from his knee pads (which cracked!), jacket (back and shoulder) and helmet- the laces of his shoes, however though but thankfully nothing like what had happened to Alok earlier in Chhitkul. After making sure that he wasnt having a concussion and that his motor functions were normal we decided to descend, Tsering the driver right behind us. We saw more stretches with slush but it was really very little slush so it wasnt much of an issue and we thought that the worse was over. But thing became even more interesting.

What we thought was a beautiful cloud cover from the top was what we rode straight into. The more downhill we went, the thicker this mist/cloud was getting- Tsering had earlier remarked that we were lucky to even see a view from Rohtang and that the clouds are very normal there! Very soon visibility was reduced to near zero! I was following Beni who was in lead and we barely touched 20kmph in certain sections! After a point, it was getting to be too much and we let Tsering lead us till we got to more visible parts of the mountain road. For entertainment we had interesting musical truck horns all around us and we even found more deep slush but I think we got used to them like the water crossings and did not bat an eyelid as we crossed it even as a SUV was stuck in it! After crossing Kothi, we knew that we were on good roads finally. And the scenery was the same beautiful one that we had seen many days ago before Shimla- green and lush. Near Solang, we decided to lunch and have as much meat as we had been deprived off- we had chicken in our soup, the rice, the noodles and basically everything we could see in the menu! 

Suku incapable of making a gang sign!

Blinded!

Suku's roll in the mud when he ha fallen earlier

As the mist disappeared...

...it became beautiful once again

Green, green everywhere!

After our pigging out we carried our descent to Manali and meet Mr. Bhuvnesh- he is the guy who was arranging the permits and cab for us if we had gone to Leh. He said he would rendezvous with us at a place called Bikers Point- a small local garage. Bijoor san and Dev got their bikes checked there while me, Beni and Suku just had our bikes washed- the first proper wash in days! Beni was doubtful of his bike for some reason and wanted only Bajaj mechanics to check the Avenger and Suku wanted to replace that left footrest panel so we decided to go ahead to Kullu for that- I thought that I should just get the headlight. We even bid goodbye to our soft spoken driver Tsering- he must have thought that he was on some kind of a joyride with us but maybe doing this wasnt new to him.

Bike wash!

We  crossed Manali and even Kullu to go to a place called Bhuntar where a Bajaj workshop was located. Beni got his chain tightened and got the right brake shoe for the rear tire. Suku got the new left footrest panel and got some of his electricals checked. I got a new headlight bulb! We headed back and it was dark already- we even encountered a slight drizzle but it wasnt much of a bother. We caught up with the rest-Bijoor san was still getting something fixed in Kullu and all the hotels that they had looked in the town were really not worth the price that they were asking. We were definitely back to the civilization and its exorbitant prices.

Staying true to our motto even in Kullu, we kept looking and found a hotel on the highway called Garden guest house by the Potdars- the owners were Marathis and were happy to find three people who spoke marathi in our group- I wish they had given some discount on that account but oh well. We got some sort of a suite with three rooms and two bathrooms. We had to walk back a bit to get dinner in a place called City Choice, a vegetarian joint much to our chagrin! We all ordered their "Special Thali in Ghee" but it took forever- everyone except me and Kjo fell asleep on the table. The food was okay but nothing extraordinary- by which I mean that there was no meat! 

We walked back through a slight drizzle and retired to bed soon enough- not before I got another bump on my head with yet another low doorway of the bathroom! As  I had expected, Beni had been feeling that tingling in his leg again today and went to bed trying to kill the pain. We expected good roads tomorrow onwards all the way to Chandigarh where we wanted to meet Mr Singh and give our regards. The trip, for the most part, was over but we still were a long way from home.

Total distance covered= 119 kms approx.

Total cost=Rs. 815

[Breakfast= 55 + Lunch= 240 + Dinner=245 + Stay= 275]

Day 14 August 21, 2010, Saturday

The final run!

Things were supposed to move smoothly today- we would go to the service centre, get our bikes serviced, meet Mr Singh and start for Delhi by 2 pm. However, we had to face the most dangerous riding conditions today!

It was raining in the morning and drizzles continued through the day. We somehow found the Bajaj service centre but they were moving real slow in the Pro-Biking section where Beni and Suku gave in their bikes. When I went to ask for my little Pulsar, the wait was going to be really long so in the interest of the others and of getting back home in daylight, I decided against a service- there wasn't anything wrong with the bike in any case. The Pro-biking people promised that the bike would be done by 1pm so we stayed on and waited.

Meanwhile, the hotel guys wanted us to check out by 12 otherwise we would have to pay for the next night- and I did not want to stay in Chandigarh- did not really like the city so much, esp since last night. So, we three went back to the hotel and packed up our stuff to bring back to the workshop. We big goodbye to the others there since Dev and Kjo had to return their bikes and had to catch flights later on. Bijoor san had to go to his friends' place and taking into consideration how his bike had been temperamental, he decided to carry on with them. 

When we  came back by 1:15, none of the bikes had any work started on them and everyone was missing for lunch!!!! Work started at about 1:45 and they crawled with the repairs. We were getting hungry so I and Suku went on my bike to fetch some chicken from a KFC we had spotted earlier in the morning and got a 8 piece bucket. We nearly got in some more rain as we came back. Both bikes were finally ready at around 4:45/5!!! A fry cry from the promised 1pm eh? This canceled our plans of meeting Mr Singh and we would have to meet him another day.

What the delay meant was that we had only about a couple of hours of daylight and this highway had many crazy drivers on the roads- I had heard of bad accidents on this highway, and in one them, I had lost an old  classmate from college. I have driven on these roads many time before too so I had to sound that warning. That said, we needed to rip as hard as could for the first two hours and take it easy when darkness fell. After Beni tanked up, I took the lead in the proposed ripping and how I ripped. I tried to keep the other twos' lights in my mirrors but very soon they disappeared somewhere but I did not want to break my pace as I had given myself  a aim to cover 150 kms in these two hours. Rains would threaten to visit in between but nothing serious really. The roads were mostly good and since it was day, I could see all the diversions and decide my route much ahead. However darkness started to fall earlier than I had imagined and my dark visor was not helping things. Keeping the visor up meant dust and water into my face. When I was about 140 kms from Chandigarh and about 80 odd kms from Delhi, I thought I should wait for those two because I hadn't seen them in a very long time. The night was pitch dark except for the lights of the cars and trucks. 

My main phone's battery was dead so I couldn't extract Beni's number to call with the other phone- so I waited for almost 40-45 minutes (sweating in my rain gear) when Beni and Suku (who I did not see) passed me-  a truck turning towards me had blocked my view so I took time to react. I still believed that I could catch up with them if I sped for the first 20 kms tailing other cars but no matter how fast I went, I could not see them in front of me. There was a bit of rain enroute so I had to stop and wipe off the water off my glasses and then decided to take it easy and solo to Delhi. I had to even refuel in between because all the speeding had seemed to have depleted my fuel (I hadn't refuelled in a long time also- since Kaza it seems!) so had to take a pit stop for that too. I was very close to Delhi and continued to push on this fast highway. Cars, trucks, buses- every one was speeding in the dark that one could never let their guard down and I did have to get my speeds lower to 60-70 kmph.

I finally got inside Delhi and the new roads there were all dusty and had giant potholes in places! Very sorry state of affairs and there were jams- even at 9:30 or so at night! At ISBT I decided to check my phone and surely enough there was Beni's text telling me that he was 80 kms from Delhi and was going to Noida with Suku later on. This meant that those two had actually stopped somewhere soon after I saw them pass me!! I was inside home by 10:30 and was happy to get into my shower and clean off all the dirt and grime from today. It was the most uncomfortable and dangerous ride we had done in the last two weeks and it made me hate the cities even more. I felt so much safer riding in the mountains, on the cliffs or waterfalls, than in between crazy traffic today.

Total Distance covered= 260 kms approx.
Total cost= Rs. 500 (fuel)

------------

Total Distance covered in the trip= 1788 kms approx.

Total cost during the trip= Rs. 10541

----------

The last two weeks have been fantastic and today's events can never take that away from us. It only makes the previous days look even better! And I can't wait to go back again- Ladakh or the other side of Himachal or Arunachal or just about anywhere.

There were many revelations and many lessons learned throughout this trip:

1. The point is indeed to travel and not blow money- its more fun that way in any case.

2. Always watch your head- start practicing for low bathroom doors at home.

3. Never hesitate and don't let fear overcome you, especially at a water crossing- if you let doubts take over, you will be stuck.

4. Choose your bike carefully. Don't take a Royal Enfield bike up there unless you know the bike inside out and can fix problems yourself in a jiffy and are carrying a bagful of spares and a lot of engine oil. The trip was a revelation to everyone, especially me, that they are definitely not the ideal bikes up there. The idea of bullets being the best bike for the mountains (which I thought too, 'cos of all that torque, till this trip happened) is just that- a romantic idea- do it only if you want to do the job of a mechanic or worry constantly rather than enjoy the ride in the mountains. Riding REs with REs is probably a better idea since they tend to slow down things due to various factors- physical, mechanical or psychological. That said, one should always know their bikes and always keep their bikes in tip top shape- the better you treat your bike prior to the trip, the better it will treat you. ;) I & Beni would know. Get fuel injected bikes if you can so the problems of engine breathlessness are done away with once and for all. However, the main lesson from this trip is not to ride a bike because of it's reputation- I thought my little Pulsar would huff and puff but it did everything so much better without giving up on me once. Always grateful to my ol' faithful.

5. AMS is serious stuff and it has many manifestations- massive shortness of breath and muscle aches included- stay away from alcohol and smokes as much as you can and for a change, try to have some unadulterated fun in the mountains. I had my doubts through the whole trip but the boys kept brushing it off- while writing the blog, I noticed a pattern and did some research that vindicated my doubts. Beni was in a lot of pain and nearly stopped his trip at Kaza!

6. Be courteous to other road users- this is not the city and there is no room for monkeying around at 4000m above sea level next to a cliff. Other road users include your team members.

7. Always, always wear protection. Protection doesn't mean that you are being a wussy or that you wont be able to enjoy a hundred percent. It's always more enjoyable when you don't have to worry about any fatal consequences. This is applicable to everything obviously! ;)- but like the spills of Alok and Suku showed, good protective gear is a must- esp when you are going to be so far away from any medical help. No matter how good you are on the bike, a accident can happen to anyone.

8. You have to be friends with rain and always prepared for it. You should not fight it and should be ready with rain gear too- it can be often enjoyable to ride in the rain esp because there are fewer people on the road at that time. Riding in rain on bad roads in the mountains, however, will not be advisable and thankfully, we were never in that situation.

9. Camp at least once. You will talk about it for days. I will probably carry my tent from now on.

10. One should not be bothered about trying to be in the most places on a map- if you cannot get there, don't push your luck. Just enjoy the ride, wherever it takes you. Christopher Columbus should know! ;)

11. Don't try to do canon ball runs ie don't try to cover as much distance as you can in a day- pace yourselves, do shorter distances and see more. Like I stressed before, enjoy the ride. That said, don't go too slow or you will be panicking trying to find habitation!

12. Don't use your camera too much- take mental pictures, let them sink in and then make a mental note to come back soon.

13. Be ready to be humbled by nature. For all the superiority of mankind talk, one landslide can change everything. Or a overflowing river. Or even a stream- there's news of a German hiker who got washed away by one such water crossing near Baralacha in Ladakh, so never under estimate nature and never over estimate your capabilities. There's a difference between being confident and being stupid.

14. There is a difference felt in Rohtang- the mess created there is all man-made and unnecessary really. Nature would have been kinder but when man intervenes, he screws up real bad. Makes me postpone my Ladakh plans by a few years till the mess clears up- it is not worth all the effort- rather than feel accomplished, you feel bitter and I dont want to start a trip with that feeling.

15. Start early- even if you have to travel only 50 kms, you will get more time to enjoy the views and the ride. As a plus, you will find water crossings a piece of cake!

16. Always stay hydrated. Carry water and make sure that bottles cannot fall when crossing streams.

17. Ride everyday. It will make you a better rider- more mature, more careful and not take unnecessary risks. I have seen weekend warriors/occasional riders be over excited and be all about "conquering" places- met too many of those on the road. Plus, riding everyday has great health benefits by keeping you happy!

I  could go on and on but the biggest lesson I learnt is that the point really is to travel and I can't wait to get back on the motorcycle to go to the mountains. I and Beni had quit our jobs before we went on this trip and I have no regrets at all. Even though we were disappointed at not being able to go to Ladakh, I seriously did not think that we missed out on anything. In fact, we are better prepared for Leh if nothing else. I am itching for my next ride and I know that wherever it is, I will enjoy it just as much. 

This trip has made me revise my goals in life. I love being a graphic designer but the ideal situation would be that someone hires me for a month or two for graphic design work and pays me decently well and then sends me off on motorcycle trips like this all over the world and learn about lands and cultures in depth. That would be the best job in the world but well, if only wishes were horses...till that happens, have to earn and save till the next trip!

My suggestion to anyone would be that if you really want to go somewhere, just do it and don't bury yourself under any excuse. Cars are okay but are half the fun so try to do it on a bike, as much as you can. You will not be disappointed.

Happy travels!