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Published: April 12th 2012
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Hiring two-wheelers from “Himalaya bikes” near the main street of Leh, we headed past Chilling and the Zanskar River towards our destination, the province of Dha-Hanu in the far west of Ladakh. “Himalaya bikes” is a very good place to hire motorbikes in Leh by the way. The people running it are very reasonable and prices are astoundingly cheap. We took a detour to Likir to see the Dalai Lama’s occasional residency. The statue of the Buddha surrounded by the bright ladakhi flowers was wonderful to behold
A further detour to Yangthang took us through Nevada like scenery with layered drops of sandstone and moonlike panoramas. We turned back where the road became extremely bumpy. We passed a long military convoy of 30 or so trucks and then became completely covered in exhaust fumes from all the trucks coming from Srinagar. Not an enjoyable or healthy experience.
We came down into the Indus River valley with new tarmac roads where we could get up to 90kmph, which was a relief after some of the other inhospitable roads in Ladakh. The backdrops were enormous and the river extremely fast flowing.
Finally we made it to Khaltse which was the
only petrol station for 100km and it had no petrol. This nearly became my downfall the following day. With the sun descending rapidly and nearly 80km to go we turned off the main highway towards Dha-Hanu district. We didn’t pass a single vehicle for about 60km and we rode through a magical river canyon passing beautiful calm villages with friendly people and pretty good English speakers. It was so remote that the level of their English was a shock.
I was pretty worried about where we were going to stay and comparing the journey we had completed already on the map I didn’t feel that we would make it to Dha village on time with daylight. Eventually I accepted that we were going to try as hard as possible to make it and we absolutely caned it through silhouetted canyons and the setting sun’s golden light with the river constantly to our left. When we arrived in Dha it was dark and we had had our headlights on for 30 minutes.
After a ridiculous encounter with the military asking for permits, they sent us in completely the wrong direction in pitch black. We thought we were
heading to a guesthouse, food, water and safety. Instead they sent us in the dark to a bouldering clearance area. We climbed zigzagging rocky roads uphill for 45 minutes. It was fun but I always had in the back of my mind that we were supposed to have found a guesthouse within 5 minutes of going up. Eventually we descended and asked about 5 different sets of people where to sleep on the way back to Sanjak village. Every direction we were given was utterly flawed and wrong.
After 2 hours of riding in the dark in one of the remotest areas I’ve ever been to we crossed the bridge to Sanjak where a fat soldier and 4 locals greeted us fairly roughly because we were so late. They demanded our identity and were suspicious of us riding in the dark so close to the Pakistan border, but eventually they helped us extremely kindly. A guesthouse owner was brought back from his home to give us a room – 400 rupees each (massively overpriced but considering the circumstances I thought they could have scammed us a good 1000 each). The most extraordinary thing was that in the military checkpoint
they cooked us Maggi (noodles) and we ate them in the officers mess with a live AK47 lying half on the floor and the wall behind us, its owner chatting calmly outside. The noodles were surprisingly good and the onions reminded me of Europe. The fat soldier referred to us as brothers and assured us that it was his duty to help us.
Next morning we woke up with the Indus river roaring past us – the room was situated right next to thundering rapids. We got an omelette and chai and headed to Darchik, an Aryan village and the purpose of our visit. The village was beautifully set into the side of a steep mountainside with glorious apricot orchards and crops left out to dry on the rooftops. Each rooftop, however, seemed to have a sky satellite dish! It was an odd sight in such a remote area. We were 20km from the Pakistani border in Ladakh at a village of Aryans who didn’t mix with other Indian people and who had apparentlysettled there 1000 years ago...
A man dressed in beige overalls invited us in for tea and we had chai and special ladakhi tea which
was very rich and smooth. He refused to take any money and was probably the most hospitable person I’ve ever met.
We rode back to Sanjak over the Indus river to a side road that cut through the gorge towards the Leh-Srinagar highway. The road was even more remote, extremely rough and we later found out that we were extremely lucky that our bikes worked there. Otherwise we would have literally been stuck in the middle of nowhere with no mechanic and no petrol for 200km.
The second half of the road was littered with Islamic villages with peaceful farms close to the gorge stream and people at work tilling the fields. It was a relief to get back on the main highway and we were greeted with fresh tarmac and a moonscape view (I thought this was the famed Moon-land view, but this was to come later). This happened several times as the further we rode the more incredible and alien the scenery became.
After lunch we ascended Fotu la 4200m with intense desert mountain scenery. On the other side was an even greater view. Siddling down this mountain side was uplifting. On reaching lamayuru we
were diverted to the other more dangerous and high route. This was extremely fortunate, because as a result we saw the real Moon-land view. It was a bright yellow serration and a bumpy mini oasis of moonlike rocks, amongst enormous rocky mountain backdrops. This was the greatest drive I’ve ever been on and again descending was a wonderful experience.
On reaching the bottom of the mountain we both had very limited fuel. We were 5 minutes from reaching Khaltse fuel station when my friend’s bike caught fire and smoked beneath his seat. It was wrecked. A very kind man talked to our biking agency for us and my partner was told that he had to leave the bike and arrange a pickup for it from Leh 100km away. He hitchhiked back with a Frenchman and I was left to drive all the way home on my own. With my friend’s ride long gone I got to the fuel station to find no fuel.
At the next village I went round everyone and no one could help me. Everyone I asked said fuel was impossible until Leh and that the closest mechanic for my friend was in Leh also!
I rode off hoping to find another village of people to ask. My fuel gauge went from 3 points to a flashing one point within 5 minutes. At this point I made the most important decision to ride back to the first village in case I had to leave my bike with someone and hitchhike myself. Seeing my desperation a young man from the same village admitted that he did have fuel, which they stressed they only ever used in emergency cases. I was ecstatic and, while expecting a hefty and extortionate price for the fuel, I paid 180 rupees for half a tank. In Leh at the station I paid 750 rupees for a full tank! Extraordinary generosity from the villagers! I was shocked and felt like I should give them 500 but they were humble and genuinely just wanted to help rather than make a profit. I left shouting thank you in ladakhi (“tukse je”) and began the 90km slog back.
I rode so hard and with such determination that the road that I dreaded along the riverside flew by without me realising. I was back on the clear highway roads heading to leh from likir very
quickly. I raced through military camps more desert and past the zanskar River again. Finally I reached Leh utterly exhausted. I had made it back before my friend somehow so I had to find a guesthouse immediately. I walked all the way through Leh with my face covered in black soot and exhaust fumes. I had no idea. Settling down it was a relief to be clean and to have a clean bedroom and to sip on a fresh beer to calm my over-worked senses.
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Bhushan Pawar
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Need Help
Hello, I am planing to Leh this Sep.(2nd to 16th). I plan to hire bikes from Leh. Just wanted to know in case if you can share about the rent they charged. We want to hire two bikes (Royal Enfield Electra/Std. & Thunderbird. Waiting for your reply.