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September 20th 2008

Published: September 20th 2008

Like anyother day, I gathered collegues (whose work dedication raises to alarming level when someone calls them for Lunch), managed to find a table in ever filled canteen, munched politicis, managers and gossips apart from the same ol' canteen menu and finally returned to my cube .
" Mountain Biking in Ladakh" is a good catch word, likely to wake you even in a drowsy afternoon. Finding it in Youth hostels website, I thought I would give it a try. Now comes the odds of reality, My financial status was in all time low, less than a week available to make reservations and getting a 10 days leave is clearly a mammoth task in my office. I had nothing to lose by trying, besides it would be half the real fun. so I gave it a try and here I'am writting a shabby account of a excellant trip.

If you are obsessed with mountains or wants to be, then come to ladakh. Here you find barren mountains in various shades & shapes; sculptered by the force of wind,water,snow and offcourse homo sapiens.This is the account of my sojourn in Ladakh, Jammu & kashmir for a Mountain biking expedition

A-cute-kid

Getting started:

After coaxing my parents that Ladakh is a safer part of kashmir where there is no trace of terrorism, I boarded the train to New Delhi. The coach was mostly filled with jawans going to kashmir and a group returning to their home in Uttar pradesh after a relegious trip.
The Journey went off like a ritual with bits of chats,staring out of the window and a card game(Rummi) . Once, I reached the capital, my real problem started. The issue is people take for granted that you would know Hindi if you are an Indian. At my best, i know only some 20 words in Hindi. From Now on, I switch to a mixed mode of English,Hindi & sign language.
Reaching Manali,I had a hard time in finding the address of my youth hostel accomodation, It said "kakanool" village. Apparently, it was NOT CLEARLY IN MANALI. I had to travell some 10 km (halfway to Naggar;Old Manali) to reach my hotel. Once I reached there, there were more surprises waiting and it seemed that i was the only one staying in this resort in a remote village . I'm all thrilled,

After-Rothang-pass

when i finally landed on my lonely dormatory.
But in the morning, My surprises took a U turn seeing that the resort lied snug in a middle of a apple orchard( loaded with apples) with a awesome valley view. Spend the day at Nicholes Roerich memorial in Naggar. Both the ride in a local bus and the memorial are not be missed of if you come to Manali.

The road to Leh - Alps to Arabian landscape:

I've been taking a long time to give a catchy heading for this, but I've clearly gone old and all the fantasy had left me . For this journey is full of contrasts and extremes with a beauty than lies mainly in the variety & scale of things . Its only mountains, mountains everywhere. but, the similarity ends there.
First it is the green mountains with green pastures of Rothang pass,then you go along with the chandra river untill keylong. Its is pleasent drive with scenary intercepted by tiny villages. Then comes the snowy Barcha la... It was white everwhere and there was no distinction between the sky and the earth, Infact you see only a tiny stretch of road

At-BarchaLa-pass

before you( thanks to the heavy traffic ). Then comes a frozen lake beween the mountains. Now we drive down from snowy peaks to more plain lands; Sarchu. It is one of the beautifull place to camp in for night; surrounded by mountains and a river running in a deep gorge all along.

With this the elements of water,snow and greenary leaves you for a dry,barren mountains. The road climbs up or down endlessly among this barren landcape . If you see a huge solid mountain in a distance that looks unscalable, it is only a matter of minutes before you climb up and down as if it were a mere speed breaker. The same is the fate for the distant mountain range that dots the horizon too.
Luckily, I had two fellow travellors from kerela & ladakh(another extreme ) as good companions. I never got a chance to open my wallet in their fight for hospitality.I give up easily, but this time it did help me in my economy.
Then comes the great plains where you might encounter the ladakhi wild donkeys. Otherwise, it is a big dusty plain where the road is so mutlilaned that

The-Great-sculpter-called-wind

you could custom make a road for a long stretch and can name it after you...but a surprise again. it started snowning...tiny thermcole like balls showered and the the landscape was a snowfield in a matter of minutes...Drive a couple of more kilometers and you are again in the dusty barren plains...this landscape just oscillates between extremes, awesome!!. Now you reach the T pass ( tarangla/tarchala..sorry). it is the second highest mountain pass in the world at 17,800ft high.
Luckily there was a minor repair in our bus, so we had all the time we wanted to gaze at the distant mountain ranges in different hues of blue,brown & green and the sky completed the sketch with its own range of yellow,orange and red strokes of the retiring sun.
Having seen so much, this is the final driving force that would make you dose off , so you may not know for the rest of your life how does the final strectch to Leh look like. ...so much for the human mind that we even need a break from beauty & happiness , And so will you say" Atlast we've reached Leh".

Leh,Ladakh - On top

Sarchu

of the world:
A Lake, some mountain passes, a highway, an airstrip,a golf course, a LPG pumping station, lots of donkeys..you have all these stuff here as anywhere else in the world..only at an staggering altitude and all you do is add a adjective; "the world's highest" to each of them.
People here are so friendly and greet you with a "Juley". I guess almost all the tourist pamphlets across the globe say you the same thing. Think of a promotional saying " Our citizens are real crooks & cheats who are ever ready to strip & stab you, so come along and feel the nostralgic experience!" But you would only agree too much when you hear your own "Juley" returning their cheers sounds so pathetic in comparison. It is the tourists who should be more friendly & enthusiatic, but they do beat us!
I reported to my YHAI base camp at hotel Horzey(got it!).The first 2 days are supposed to be complete rest . This is for your body to adjust to the thin mountain air. Make sure you get a proper rest, lest you wanted to be a highest patient in the world!
Here

Getting-ready-for-the-Trek

I met three wonderfull guys who would become a part n parcel of my trip, that i was completely down when we were seperated for a day.I never felt lonely or bored after meeting them. The pack leader was Anish who is the trio's doctor, planner,organisor...n guess what , packing n unpacking was the most he enjoyed at the trek, the next one is Sachit patil;a calm guy but at time gets into wild fit of shopping trying to gobble the entire shop or mall,he's main achivement of the trek was a whistle(got as a trek leader) which he wont part with untill the organisers snatched it back. The last one is our favourite eversick guy; Bhavesh .
He got a altitude sickness at Sarchu, but we never knew when he got cured out of it. It started with the overzealous camp doctor who was in short of patients.Then, we were quick to take over the affair and between us we made sure that he is always loaded with all extra coats,mufflers,socks,quilts,blankets,biscuits,apples,nuts,books...honestly, we didn't mean him to carry our extra loads, but its quite interesting to doctor someone. It brings out the noble qualities in you and you find out

My-Stallion

how much u care for him. It really doesn't matter with his degree of sickness.Guess he stepped out of his house at the wrong time. All things unfortunate happened to him. He got sick, missed most of the biking,lost his favourite bag ,got hit by a falling ladder....
The best part was our way of planning. there are two ways to go back from leh to delhi. The first thru manali; more safe n cheap and other through srinagar; costly,not so safe but more fun. First we would decide to goback via srinagar to make the trip more exciting. Then considering safety ,we would switch to manali route after a great fight. but then if you happen to leave them for a minute the whole plan would be riveted back to srinagar for no apparant reason. then there comes the question of budget for the trip. so you'd be convinced back of all the virtues of manali route. In this process we finally landed on srinagar option purely because everone was tired to change options this time.Though I've become almost part of the gang , I did mostly the nodding part.
Another interesting observation,As with most of the

Shanti-stupa

treks i've seen ( 2 actually, but thats a pretty big number for me)it was swarmed with mumbaikars. Adventurous mumbaikars?!. Anyway, Chennai is too good a place to leave even for trekking( good to ur pride, isn't it?).
we explored Leh on walk..Shanthi Stupa; where you can catch the panorama of leh, The leh palace which is so magnificiant from a distance does not seem to be a comfortable place to live(let alone royal). Bit of dark corners,mud walls & mud flooring...we felt for the bygone kings. But that might be a stupid thing given it was built like 3 or 4 centuries ago and all the luxury would have died away.The bazaar was is unmistakenly a tourist centric with more antique shops( with less ladakhi made goods ) and kashmir shawl shops...The prices are higher to catch up only with the dollar or pounds. But you have those beautifull waxy apples & apricots sold by the street hawkers which you can munch to your heartfull .
Back in the camp at afternoon, we got a 21 gear Fire fox bicycle followed by a class on its usage. The class was mostly in Hindi and I was in

My-Donkey--me

the first row. I managed to catch up a bit that came within my range of vocabulary but nodded always in great affirmation.(used to it..)
The fouth day was what we were looking forward ; the first ride on our stallions. We biked to Kalimandir and covered the Army's "hall of fame" enroute.. It was totally amazing to know the service & dedication of the army to the nation. Oops, The biking was not clearly a fun as we supposed.

The Great Biking Expedition:

we had to get up at a early hours,(atleast bathing is not a daily ritual here , now that we are highlanders!) and got ready for the trek. As usual we were the last to arrive and started the trek with bubbling energy. With that we rushed out of leh, rode past indus into a bumpy landscape. Trying to capture footage of wildlife( yaks grazing bit far), Anish & I went out of the route and got some boring pictures. But in that process he broke his cycle carrier and rest of the team fuming at us for the apprant delay in our critical mission to mars.
Clearly exhausted, we found the

The-indus

perfect way to proceed...ie walking with the bykes. Though it sounds not romantic, it was good. After a looooooong time we reached a gurudhwara; our lunch point.The weather turned bad with bit of raining & lot windy. The gurudwara was good, relegiously significant as gurunanak( Sikh's first guru) was there sometime and the food was hot and appetizing. But then ,Bhavesh got muscle cramps and with lots of fighting they got YHAI people to take him back to Leh. My Damn Hindi, I was like 30 min away from what was going on...Things got bad ,the trio had to leave for Leh and i left to Basgo.
Now the part was easier with road sloping towards Basgo, Normally I would like to be alone in such place absorbing the nature and being lost in thoughts.But now I dont feel like a lone cheetah but more like a monkey out of a pack.The famed magnetic hill became just another bore. The terrain became difficult again after Nimu. We managed to reach Basgo by evening to catch a glimpse of a big Monastry on a hilltop; the last glimpse of the capital city of the bygone days. The champa temple was

A-cute-Granny

good and there was a young monk at evening prayer. His constant soft murmer of the ladakhi script with occasional drumsound is a strange & new relegious experiance.
To describe the camp, It was a good warm house, with a parachuate tent in front. The brooke like stuff that flowed in front was our washbasin. As for toilet they have this famed ladakhi toilet;a geographical indicator lest someone should copy it. It looks somewhat normal from outside, but the moment your enter inside the truth strikes you. All you see is a pile of mud and a big square opening in middle(small enough that you wont fall inside). I leave it to you to make up how it works(?!).
In morning, I set myself for a bit of backyard exploration to take snaps of the kitchen garden & the stream that flows in the back of the house. A donkey started barking at me, after few seconds I noticed the rope that he is tied to was entangled in a bush. Being used to pets and as a guy from countryside, I'm not that afraid like the weany city boys, but then a donkey was all new to

Yak-yak-yak

me...that too a strange donkey 2500km away from my home and probably one of the highest donkeys in the world. I took the risk and freed the donkey and he was kind in return and posed with me for few photos. I donno but i took to him so much that i treated him with carrots(stolen offcourse),apple(a free one), biscuits( the YHAIs) and lots of love(my own). In turn, he liked me very much that he barked so much, we left the house.One of the proudest moments of my life. He was the fourth donkey( 😉 ) I missed much after the trio.

Second Day of the trek(Basgo to Nurla):

It seemed to be a boring affair with biking endless bumpy roads with slopes now n then to give us some easy time.The thing you are sure to notice is almost all the road repair is being done by Bihari workers.I know that ladakhis are not particulary well off either. But the way the Biharis work in such high altitude in a dangerous terrain that alternated between scorching sun or freezing cold. I felt an silent awe for them. Now we reached the village of Saspol

Pangang-lake

and then took a track that went along with a proud swelling Indus river. We had our lunch on the hot banks of indus river and even built a flimsy stone structure touching the river. I called it my fishing outpost, actually it became my washing point.
Moving ahead on mountainous stretch, I was crossed by a bus with a guy almost out of the window waving to me. Monkey to Monkey there are more communication channels ;I was quick to grab .It gave me the extra push to reach the Camp Nurla.
There is our eversick guy sitting amidst a scenic camp on the bank of Indus. The wooden bridge and the half a dozen tents perfected the landscape. I was too glad and my david livingstone lessons( somewhere in primary english prose) popped up in my mind. Then together we started exploring the landscape.
Guess there is no end of excitement today. we settled in our tent for a game of cards. Then a tiny mouse popping out of the corners now and then. To assert our sovergnity over the tent we decided to throw him out. but this only resulted in a dismall failure

Dal-Lake-Srinagar

where i panicked the most. In comparison the weany city guys were composed .Oops, A hurt to my pride. ( May be the city guys are more used to rats than us..hahaha..took a dig at them).

Third Day of the trek(To Lamayuru):

A smooth ride till Kalsi, where we had excellant snacks..Pakodas & mint tea in a garden restaurant. With apples reachable from our tables it was the best place to have your food.
Then the wretched terrain to Lamayuru started..at worst it is like 50 degrees going uphill. so we walked most of the way and took all our time to reach there. we came across a cultivated fields with all sorts of farm animals...Yaks,sheeps,goats,donkeys and horses. Again Anish & I went there and had fun with the big yaks. One of them apparantely angry but lazy was trying to warn us out. This was one of the moments i enjoyed most of the trek. My camera battery was down so the world is denied of some of the greatest masterpieces. Still the base camp seemed to be miles far away. It is always that the last stretch that tries you the most. The camp

At-Jammu

was a good one and the camp leader too time sensitive.
We got out and were late for the prayer at the great lamayuru monastry. But the monastry was good and i got to know about the four guardian kings of the buddhism;The blue, white, yellow and red kings(pretty easy to remember, isn't it).we were so tired and all flat in our beds the moment after the dinner.

Back to leh:

Now it was a easy ride with downhill for almost 5-7 km stretch. At kalsi, Took a jeep back untill the gurudhwara(remember the first day lunch point... a big cheating!) and from there we started byking again. It was downhill mostly followed by last stretch to Leh which was the most tiring,boring and a never ending road. Somehow managed to reach the base camp at last(literally..Anish & I were the last ones to reach there). Back in camp it was no time for rest; seperated in groups we almost checked out all the travel agents for booking our return trip.

A sea caught up in the Hills - Pangong Tso lake:

This is the highest lake in the world strecthing itself across indian borders well into Tibet. To Reach here, you have to travell some 4-5 Hours from leh crossing snow clad passes and endless barren stretches. At somewhere in midpoint we saw huge nos of Marmots running across the fields. Now to give a bit of biology lessons, these creatures are somewhere between a hare and a rat . Yep, These are the same prey that Koyotes & badgers run after in the American Rockies (Thanks discovery channel).
After the tiring journey ( it is a scenic route ..but our state of mind is now for a sobre kind of pleasure after that big trek) what you see is a endless stretch of shallow blue waters surrounded by mountains. I wasn't sure the best part of it is its deep blue colour/spreading endlessly/ or the mountains that surrounds it. between them they make it a special place .It is irresistable to plunge into water but then the cold water wont let you stand more than a minute . Had a hearty lunch here; Maggi noodles. Guess Maggi virtually rules this part of India.

The Jewel of kashmir - Srinagar:

we decided to drive to srinagar the same night. The driver was driving non stop for almost a whole day and he is all ready for the night trip too. He was amazing, but they get a short tourist season and had to make most out of it. We missed the scenary all along, but then it was sort of night safari with multiple fox sightings. Had to wakeup from sleep for a foto session in kargil (how can we pass off this important place without one?).Atlast the when the sun got up slowly we were in Sonamarg for our cup of tea.
Now it is followed by a green landscape beautifull( but you miss the dry & barren mountainscape of ladakh! ) with soldiers all along the way. Got fresh news update from dad about the strike and shootings in srinagar. Guess it was that fear & myth surrounding that makes the srinagar all the more alluring. After a while,The Hazrat bal mosque on banks of biiiig dal lake welcomed us to srinagar.
It was like any another town with a bit of traffic jam. After some trouble, we landed in a perfect boathouse. Infact they were only a handfull of tourist in the tourist capital of india( or has Agra/Goa took that title?) n that meant cheap rates for us.We went for a boatride( shikara) in dal lake. It took almost 6 hours roaming around food points, textile markets, handicraft showrooms, vegetable gardens, criss crossing bots carrying children from the school(all on dal lake). Half the srinagar lives virtually within Dallake.
There was a strike for something , so most of the shops remained closed and there were not even any restaurants open. May be because of ramzan, but then why still closed after sunset?!. we stayed safe in Dal lake not venturing even for the famous gardens. Only in evening we went for a quick stroll in the market to buy some stuff to eat. Then at Bakery, the Tv screen was flashing the Images of Seriel bomb blasts in Delhi. We are dumbstruck. All these time, we were trying to getout of srinagar to the safety of capital. Only at these moments, you realise what a big luxury the Peace & Security is.
In morning , we left for Jammu leaving the kashmir valley behind us. The soldiers dotted the entire stretch of road, but you could not help noticing a stark alienness between the army & locals. It didn't look quite right somehow. In Jammu we had a long time before our night bus to Delhi. so we roamed the bazaars,visited Ragunath temple ( Bhavesh became scared again, but this time with the temple priests) and ended our great trip with a simple pizza.

Facts & Figures:

If you were looking for actual/usefull information to plan a trip on your own this may help you.
1. Chennai to Delhi - 2 nights & 1 day - Tamilnadu express - Rs550/-
2. Delhi to Manali ( ~450kms) - overnight or 12 hrs - Himachal Govt Bus - Rs450/-
3. Stay in Manali - Hotal sarthaK, kakanool village - Rs100/-
4. Manali to Leh (~450kms) - 2 days & night halt at keylong - Himachal Govt Bus - Rs600/-
5. Stay at Keylong - Dormatory type - Rs50/-
6. Round trip to Panggong lake - 5 Hrs from Leh;( Rented a Tata Decor Jeep) - Rs4000/-
7. Leh to Srinagar - Overnight or 12 Hrs - Rs7000/-
8. Boat house stay - B class; ( for a room) - Rs 400
9. Srinagar to Jammu - 6/7 Hrs;(Rented a Chevrolet jeep) - Rs3500
10. Jammu to Delhi - Overnight Journey;( A sleeper Bus) - Rs450
11. YHAI Fee for trek -10 days with food,stay & Bike - Rs5000

Note: Some of these are off season rates (Esp in srinagar & jeep rentals) and I chose mostly the simple & budget options for stay & travell.