Day 1 - Bangalore to Chandigarh

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Got up at 4am did some reading on Leh Ladakh and got ready by 5:30 am. JP and Ravish came home by 7 am. We all did some small repacking and were ready by 7:15am.

The IFMR gang came to bid good bye and left by 7:35am. We left home by 7:45am after saying good bye to our families.

We got dropped at the airport in my car and we were there by 8:40am. By the time we checked in and finished the Security check it was around 9:15am. Just had enough time to have Breakfast and Boarded the flight IT 215 (Kingfisher) which left sharp at 9:55am and reached New Delhi about 10 minutes early by 12:20pm.

We disembarked the flight and went to the other terminal through the domestic transfers lounge and had lunch there and by the time we were near gate 45 it was 2:20pm. Though the aircraft left the gate in time it stopped on the run way for 20 minutes due to heavy winds and reached Chandigarh late by 3:35pm.

Then we took a cab to GATI lorry office in the Industrial Area and dropped Ravish and collected the Carton boxes. JP and myself went to the Hotel (white Palace), checked in and unpacked the essential items like helmets and went back to GATI. By the time we reached there, Ravish had got the bikes unpacked. We took 6 lts of petrol on the way and filled the tanks and fixed the rear view mirrors. All the 3 bikes started with just a press of a button without any issues. Raman the Manager along with the entire staff at GATI Chandigarh was very co-operative. Poonam at the hotel was very courteous and friendly and got us checked in in a Jiffy. Reached the hotel by 5:30pm and did repacking of the entire stuff and had bath by 7:30pm.

Later my friend Vinayak Bhat my ex collegue came to visit us and we spent an hour with him. Later after he left we 3 of us had Dinner at Pal Dhaba just next door and went to the Petrol bunk and filled all our tanks and got the tyre pressures checked.

We requested the hotel supervisor Inder who obliged to Store our carton boxes for us so that we could collect them back to repack the stuff to send it back to Bangalore on our return from Leh.

Later returned back to the room and retired by 11:00pm

Photos of Day - 1

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=pottumarthi&target=ALBUM&id=5624204510131807473&authkey=Gv1sRgCOaRj4mrp4uvRw&feat=email

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