The why and the how.

This isn't a comfortable cruise on the Mediterranean. Neither is it a herded package tour to Europe. Nor is it a fast bus ride to the Taj. For miles at length, there is no guarantee of food, roads or people. Rocks and mud could slide down the slopes any time. Roads can also turn into rivers any time. If your vehicle breaks down in the middle of nowhere, you could be stranded for hours. There is uncertainty at every step. And it gets accentuated when one is on a motorcycle. And yet we wanted to do it. Why?

It all began in the winter of 2009 when me and three other Pegus- Ankur, Beni and Sukamal- just happened to mention our "plans" (mostly wishful thinking) to go to Leh the next year and how we should just all go together rather than bump into each other at the top. It wasn't about going there because everyone else was doing it or because we had any machoistic notion of achievement on getting to the top of the "highest motorable road" at Khardung-La. It  could have been the seduction of the beauty seen through pictures taken by other people who have been there. It could have been that inexplicable itch to go out for some adventure and take a break from our mundane everyday city lives. It could also have been the need to be shaken out of our warped ideas of reality. Also, Leh is almost like a pilgrimage for most bikers- maybe we also wanted to check out what the hype was about. We are curious. We are young. We are definitely restless. We had to go.

I guess no one really had an answer to why we wanted to do it- but we did. And why not? Over the next few months, there were many emails that went back and forth about this and invitations sent to friends to join us. I was in Delhi, Ankur and Suku in Mumbai and Beni in Singapore- and we were grouping forces. The discussions culminated into a Facebook group, Skype conference calls, detailed maps, pdfs and even more emails. The planning was immaculate. All the gear was bought. the D-day was near. Our scheduled departure date was August 8th, 2010. There had been reports of landslides on the route on August 5th. And then disaster struck in the region on August 6th- 2 days before departure.

There were a few of us who were nearly adamant to go to Leh nevertheless. But this trip was not going to be about "being there, done that" or adding points on "Places you've been" and filling 100s of photos in our Facebook albums. Despite our disappointment and shock, most of us felt that it would be highly insensitive to go to Leh in such conditions where people have lost lives and property and there would be gloom all around. What kind of celebration would it be? What kind of achievement would it really be? Reports in any case suggested that this disaster was possibly the result of increasing human interference in that region. Mother Nature had spoken- and we needed to take the hint.

So, just 30 hours before departure, I & Beni started looking at maps of Himachal and alternative routes that we could take. Admittedly, spirits were low but we had already decided that we would still ride somewhere to the mountains. I had seen pictures and read few articles on the Lahaul and Spiti valleys but probably our decision was finally based on how much more probable it would be for us to get AMS (Acute Moutain Sickness) in the region. Saturday was spent convincing every one that this is going to be worth it- even though they were being hopelessly optimistic about the roads opening up to Leh.

There were many more who were in the original plan but unfortunately for them, they could not join us on this trip that is going to be etched in our memories forever. In the end, we were 7 of us who were ready to head out to the hills on Sunday, August 8th 2010. Our bikes were as eclectic a group as us- I took my trusty first-gen Pulsar 150, Beni san brought his brother's Avenger 200, Suku san borrowed his friend's Pulsar 200, Bijoor san stayed faithful to his '94 spec Bullet 350. Alok got his Karizma and Dev and Kaustabh rented RE Thunderbirds. By the end of Saturday, all the bikes were prepped to roll out early next morning.

All we really knew is that we were going to the mountains. Call it the spirit of adventure or hard-foolery, but we were definitely excited even if Leh hadn't worked out. What we were going to hear the first day of our trip defined the next 13 days after it.

The planned route:

The Lahaul-Spiti circuit in Himachal Pradesh

Day 1: August 8, 2010, Sunday

Day 1: Delhi to Dharampur

The scheduled departure was supposed to be 6 am and after a realistic estimation, changed to 7 am. The night before was spend packing up our saddlebags with everything we could ever need for the next two weeks. Dev, Kaustubh and Alok initially were supposed to join us at Chandigarh because their bikes were getting fixed the evening before. However, their bikes were ready and they would join us in the morning on the way to Chandigarh.

Beni & me- ready to kick off the tour of a lifetime.

Considering that, except for me, everyone was an outsider, finding the rendezvous point across Moolchand hospital became a hard task. Bijoor san had been in that area the previous day so he was Suku san's GPS but Suku ran out of fuel and had to push his bike till a good Samaritan helped him out. I and Beni san went looking for them but then it was already too late- Suku was lost again somewhere. Kaustubh caught up with us at the right moment but Dev and Alok were very very lost. As Dev finally made it, we collected Alok from near ISBT. It was already around 8:30 am! Soon after we proceeded to go on the highway, we had to make a fuel stop for Alok. And then we were finally on our way.

 By now the cool morning had given way to a very harsh sun and I was sweating under my waterproof riding gear. We got some good pace and some breaks for water or even to adjust luggage on some of the bikes and once for breakfast. After we had crossed Ambala, we saw a bypass (NH22 according to my map) that went straight to Shimla. We stopped at a Dhaba for a little break and seeing the daylight and the distance that we had covered, were very excited and gung-ho about making it straight to Shimla from there after meeting Mr Gurpreet Singh to collect the bottles of Slime that we had ordered yesterday. Just 5 minutes after we started from this dhaba (a few kms away from Chandigarh), it started to pour heavily. Everyone brought out their rain gear at the toll plaza as were shushed out of there. The rain stopped shortly after but began after we rode a little distance more. A little distance away, the Pegu boys took shelter under a shed that did very little work in the intermittent rain. We decided to proceed in the rain and as we entered Chandigarh, the rain came down heavier than it had all day! 

At the dhaba, just before rains hit us and washed away our bold plans

The gang had separated into two- Alok, Dev and Kaustubh had reached Chandigarh before the rest of us while the four of us went looking for the Slime. In the heart of Chandigarh, we found Mr Gurpreet Singh at his house with all the Slime we wanted- except Suku who had forgotten to mention that his Pulsar had tubeless tires. 

 Mr Singh is a retired Colonel and is apparently well traveled and now indulges in modification of automobiles and motorcycles. He participates in many national level races while he continues to ride bikes despite a steel plate (?) in his shin, inserted after an motorcycle accident last year. he had very useful tips a to where we should stay and what all places we should visit and what places we should avoid. He was adamant that we stop after Nako because of the unpredictable weather this year in the region which had caused many landslides and floodings. While suggesting places where we could stay, he understood our situation and made a very apt remark. He said it in a very casual way but it stuck with us throughout the trip and it was something that probably guided us well. He said "the point is to travel, not to blow money".

After our interesting  conversation, he also attempted small fixes on Suku's bike (Suku had been push-starting his bike all day!), he suggested that we gorge on chicken at Singh's Chicken. and so we did. The helpings were huge and the dishes were replete with generous portions of spices and floating oil. In hindsight, it was a good thing- as this was going to be our last meat extravaganza for a long long time.

After having our fill at Singh's Chicken, waiting for the others

Taking Mr Singh's suggestion about staying outside expensive Chandigarh, we  did something we had promised not to do- ride in the night. There were delays as the other guys were shopping for rain gear and other stuff but we regrouped by about 6:30/7 pm! We proceeded to go toward Dharampur, little expecting to find a traffic jam in the hills. 

There had been some sort of a landslide and the jam had accrued when it was being cleared. Having motorcycles enabled us to squeeze through the many gaps between the vehicles and somehow get to the open roads ahead- not before Alok dropped his bike once at standstill taking Kaustubh's call.

Once we left the jam behind, the clear roads had one problem- there were hilly and it was dark. Add to that speeding vehicles and we knew we were in deep peril. We continued to look for hotels all along the way and somewhere around Dharampur, we found a place called Hotel Namaskar. I was finally happy with this choice mainly because it had a lot of parking within its own compound. After washing up, I created a new fashion statement of combat boots with shorts! I did miss slippers as I had not foreseen eating after showering! The food was bad and the room had a smell but well, we had learned the new mantra for this trip a few hours ago- so not much to complain about really. Some did have some hopes of the Manali-Leh highway opening up but I guess we had all resigned to the fact that the Leh trip will have to wait for another year. All we could talk about was the ride ahead of us for tomorrow.

Total distance covered= 303+ kms approx.

Total cost= Rs. 1430

[Breakfast= 50 + Lunch=  180 + Stay & Dinner= 400 + slime= 800]

Day 4: August 11, 2010, Wednesday

Sarahan to Chhitkul

I woke up early to wash my bike and to see how the weather would respond to us. A slight drizzle was on but I decided to proceed washing nonetheless. Soon Bijoor san, Suku and Beni joined in on their respective bikes. The drizzle slowly died down and a strange mist started to slowly engulf the place but we could see the sun trying to break through the fog too. Except for me and Beni, the others went for breakfast to the HP Tourism place- we went a bit later in search of some Tibetan food- we found thukpa and chowmein in a small establishment- unfortunately it was all vegetarian but the break from the normal foods of the plains was very welcome. The faces had started to change in Sarahan and we could see more Mongoloid features- we felt at home so to say! ;) We made a brief stop at the temple but came out earlier than the others and started packing up our bags on the bike and very soon we were all ready to do another day of riding.

 

 

The original plan was to go to Sangla and possibly rest at Rakcham. Mr Singh had been calling all these days to check on us and it was on his valuable suggestion that we decided this. If we had time, we would probably go to Chitkul.

I, Beni and Suku (The Pegu boys) again managed to somehow break away from the rest- right till the end of the day! The roads were actually very good till we hit a place called Bhawa when we started approaching the dam project on the Sutlej undertaken by Jaypee. The roads disappeared- almost literally! There was a mixture of white cement in mud and stone for most of the way through Wangtu and even Karcham till a few kms before Sangla. 

It was nearly 2pm when we were one km from Wangtu and we decided between ourselves that we will have lunch whenever we see the next town/restaurant. We were banking on Wangtu but we never saw it. Then we thought we would stop at Karcham but that also passed but we saw nothing to eat!Taking the right towards Sangla, we ran into some deep muddy slush but thankfully, since we had motorcycles,  we did not have issues getting out of it.

Beni celebrates early while Suku shows his aching hands!

The bumpy roads mixed with the occasional stretches of slush and loose sand were taking a toll on the bikes and us. For company, there was a group in two 4x4s who did not seem like they were going any more faster than we were! We finally hit some hard tarmac and I didnt lose a moment to hug it! We had crossed about 20 kms in 1 hour and 7 minutes! Not to mention the earlier hour crossing about 20-25 kms!

On solid ground again!

The road wasnt always smooth but it was definitely better than what we had experienced the last one hour. We were slowly climbing the mountain and the air was getting thinner but cleaner as well. When we reached Sangla, we checked out the Guest House which seemed decent enough to stay. However, while we waited for the others over lunch (at 4:30 mind you!), we made some new plans. Suku quickly got his bike checked up before lunch and we sat down to resketch our plans.

The lunch was the beginning of the aloo-matar ordeal we would have to face from this day on. But the big breakthrough was the decision to carry on forward even if the others had not caught up since our plan was to stop at Rakcham in any case, and we took this belief in good faith that the others would land up there as well. The hotel guys suggested that we go to Chhitkul and stay at a Alpine View Guest House while the Guest House people said to stay in the guest house there. And so, armed with at least two places to stay in Chitkul, we went.

We reached Rakcham very soon after- about half an hour! The place we looked into seemed abandoned while we still felt that we had a lot of day light left. So, again in good faith, we left for Chhitkul and decided that we would stay there. I believed that if the guys did not see us at Rakcham, they would automatically proceed further. And within another hour of some decent roads mixed with some tricky bumpy mountain roads, we suddenly came upon our first big water crossing! 

Beni was in the front and he just decided to take the plunge and carry on. Suku was after him and he decided to follow but somehow, he managed to keep steering to the right. I stopped till Suku was a little distance away and I also plunged into the water. The water was gushing from the left hand side from a slightly higher elevation (almost knee high) that made it just a bit tricky as it was strong enough to push our bikes- I guess that was what was happening to Suku. By habit, I put my foot down at the slightest hint of draft and the bike followed Beni's line and I was on dry ground at the same time as Suku, a bike distance on my right!

Psyched by our first water crossing, we stopped a little distance away once we were on the cliff based roads again. Suku dried out his shoes and we took some pictures and gushed about our first major water crossing- it did seem like we did pretty well. And to be honest, we did! We went on forward to get into Chhitkul and again, we had a little water crossing in our way. After the previous one, we broke no sweat on this one and I did not even have to put my foot down! 

Beautiful views greeted us on our way to Chhitkul

Suku squeezing his wet socks dry

 We checked out the PWD guest house first- they had only two rooms, no hot water, no food and no heat but it was astronomically cheap. Plus, it had a great view. However, we decided to check out Alpine View Guest house- for that we had to cross the stream again and this time around, Suku decided to stop in the water just as he was about to cross it and I sort of got stuck behind him! In the end, it was all okay- this place had rooms, was cheap(250/room) and had hot water too. And we would get food too. As we were getting worried about the bigger water crossing and the others, we heard Bijoor san's bullet and when we saw him, we knew that all was well. We all yelled and congratulated each other on the crossing and cursed the road before that. 

The two snow peaks that were hidden from view for the rest of our stay

The sun was ready to set on us

We walked to the village in the dark through the stream to get water while the boys got themselves a Royal Stag as they felt they earned a drink that day. The woman who handed us this small bottle charged Beni 250 bucks but she was honest about the actual price and said that it was fair for her to earn a 50 buck profit on it- she also mentioned how the price is significantly higher for foreigners! Over drinks, chips and dinner, everyone shared their experiences of the day and we made the decision to stay one more night at this promising little village. We were already at a height of 3450 meters above sea level and there were some mountains around us that we were hungering to climb. 

Total distance covered= 99 kms approx.

Total cost= Rs. 220

[Breakfast= 40 + Water= 60 + Lunch=  120 ]

Day 5: August 12, 2010, Thursday

Stayed in Chhitkul today. And stayed mostly on foot. We started late and took it easy. We enjoyed the chilly morning air and I even felt the cold floor with my bare feet for the lack of slippers! For breakfast, I finally decided to adapt and had an omlette with the parathas- just to keep warm. To prevent mishaps, I took a swig of pudinhara- you know, just in case- especially since I haven't been having eggs directly for ages.

Freezing in my summer wear!

View from our rooms

Everyone was ready for the trek and looking at the weather, most put on their warm gear- some even wore their biking gloves! I made a mix of gatorade in my alum bottle for the  climb up. We felt rather stupid when we saw that there was a bridge over the stream to walk across- while last night we had been trying to jump over it or walk through it- in the dark! Anyway, we walked through the village, clicked a gazzilion pictures and yet again, it proved tough to take Dev away from little girls- these kids wanted pens in return for permission to photograph them! 

We even chatted with some Kinnauri menfolk who told us that ther are all taught Hindi in school and thats why they all know the language. We met an old man who offered us some freshly harvested turnips- that we washed and ate at the spot- was way better than what we had last night. The village seemed to be quite developed- it had solar panels in spots, there were water channels everywhere and water even powered the sole wheat-mill that we saw there- Apparently, people had to just give a share of their wheat in return to be allowed to grind their wheat- that's all! This was a village of a claimed 600 people- but they seemed to be doing rather well. I really like the atmosphere around here, natural or cultural- and generally I am someone who doesn't like people so much!

Beni starts his funny poses with his Japanese hat!

Temple temple everywhere

They take this to heart-learned it last night!

Paparazzi

Contemplation + break

Dev treks up valiantly- all by himself!

The village becomes a speck

The flag-top- lower than our point! ;)

Rock-land!

Beni gets up, close ad personal!

Kjo, Alok and Suku went on some trail that went up to a hiltop that had some flags. Bijoor san had disappeared in the horizon somewhere. Dev, who was walking ahead managed to find some route (or so he thought) that seemed shorter to the same flag-top. Me and Beni took it easy on the climb but kept on the trek route that we were all on from before. And in the middle of green mountains we came upon a whole rocky section and from that point you couldn't even see the village or anyone else. It felt like we were finally really away from home. Bijoor san was at the end of the route and we stopped for a mini photo session and just to contemplate. We saw Dev still climbing hard to the top on his supposed short route and soon they were all on the top. Beni was showing signs of AMS but it probably was just the lack of oxygen and we were all tired without a doubt.

As we (me, Beni and Bijoor san) made our way down, Suku and Dev were making their way up from where we came from. We three did not see the other two so we proceeded to look for food in the village- we saw the SUVs and taxis we had seen the day earlier. We finally found food and service in the more expensive guest house- the food was pricey at 200 a head! We met our Israeli neighbors from our guest house and a Israeli couple who were riding on one bike- a beat up enfield with a bent front end and busted meters! They were almost on the same schedule as us so perhaps, we would see more of them.

The drizzle had returned on our way down and was getting a little heavier while the clouds engulfed the mountains we had trekked earlier today. We three walked back to the rooms where the rest of them joined up soon. The rest had lunch here and everyone fell asleep after that! I was bored to death and the Airtel recharges were not working at all and I was not getting any signal on signal point in front of the guest house!

We had a brief chuckle when we saw these group of bikers making a big deal out of the little crossing in front of our guest house! One guy got stuck in the middle of the water, one got stuck before the water and everyone was terrified on seeing this water body! I guess they got back their courage when a guy on an avenger on the other side just plowed through the water effortlessly! What surprised us was the presence of a Splendor and a Samurai in their midst!

Stuck guy on his pulsar while Avenger guy is about to show how its done!

Beni woke up soon and with Bijoor san in tow, we headed back for photographs on yesterday's roads. I took him pillion on my bike and at points, one realized how tricky it would be to have a pillion in the mountains, esp on slush and ditches at bends. The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds but we did not get much of good light and darkness was creeping up fast. Calling up Airtel customer care was a pain and futile for calling needs. Bijoor san's BSNL worked perfectly fine. As Bijoor san felt his bike would be slow so he headed back before us and we followed soon. 

Signal point- in front of our guesthouse- everyone comes to call!

Floating clouds meet us again

Dinner was again at the hotel but not before the owner met us with the local alcohol that beni had asked for. After looking at our photos, he proceeded to show the potency of his land's alcohol by inserting his finger into the alcohol directly in the bottle and burning the bits of alcohol that he could manage to put on his finger. It was sort of freaky to see him do that but more gross because everyone else had to have that alcohol afterwards! Everyone says alcohol at high altitudes is inadvisable- and I just hoped that we wouldn't have to find out the hard way-esp since it's hard to keep Pegus away from alcohol!

Arvind demonstrates fire catching abilities of Kinnauri alcohol

It was a good day with hardly any riding- good rest for the bodies but I was itching to be back on the roads again.  I think the road had been harder on the rest much more than on me, so we do need these recharge stops- plus, I really like this village a lot. Tomorrow, we head to Nako via Rekongpeo.

Total distance covered= 0kms

Total cost= Rs. 1120

[ Lunch=  200 + Recharge= 200 + Stay(dinner,water,breakfast)=720 ]