Ladhak – Heaven on earth. Tour Diaries, Day 5

Day 5 – (Pang – Leh) 12^th August 09

The night was a bit chilly, it had been the coldest so far, but nowhere as close to what I had imagined. The advantage I had in the trip was that because I was a last minute entry, I had not read a lot and had not prepared much as well, so I had no idea of things were going to be and there was almost zero disappointment.

Hot aaloo paranthas and tea was just we were looking for and breakfast was served, was really excited to reach Leh as I didn’t know whether I will be able to make it or not.

Moore Plains

As we hit the road the first thing we encountered were the Moore Plains, oh boy even the sight of it was breathtaking. So imagine no concrete road, mountains on both sides and around a 500 meter wide dusty path with tyre marks everywhere. It was like a scene out of the old movies where people are on their horses riding in the middle of Mountains on both sides, it gave a real sense of excitement. The road was really dusty and loose mud was making the bike slither a bit and control had to be maintained, after going for about 10 Km we started thinking are we really on the right track or are we lost, 1-2 cars crossing us made us feel that we should keep moving forward. At last we found the concrete road, which was almost always running parallel to us but at a farther point. We stopped to admire the vastness, calmness and the peace of the place. It gives you different kind of a high.

As we moved forward this was the first time we had to use the petrol cans, so they came in handy afterall J and yeah we haven’t found a petrol pump yet after Tandi (at many places you could buy petrol at 100Rs a litre though).

Tanglangla - Second highest motrable road in the world

The next stop was Tanglanga pass, it was the second highest motorable road in the world, reaching there gave me a sense of pride, that I have done something worth remembering all my life. Because of the height the views were mesmerizing ( I know keep using the same adjectives again and again, but each place seems to be better than the earlier one and even more beautiful).

The downhill from their was pretty neat and we really zoomed, all the pillions asses were already hurting a lot, and the bikes going at 80 was not helping their cause, but the roads were so gud that I couldn’t resist. I really appreciate the effort that BRO (Border Road Organisation) puts in to build the fantastic roads. The mountains here were really beautiful, or it was just me noticing them now different shaded, different texture but the heat was no less I wasn’t really expecting it to be that hot.

We stopped at Upsi for lunch very near to the crossing Indus river, and were on our way to Leh. As we entered the city it was still too hot and this was the first time I was kind of disappointed as I was expecting some snow at the destination, but it was nowhere to be found. We parked and tried to search for a Hotel and everyone was going in circles, then the phone came in really handy, I called up Shakul and asked where he had stayed and we went straight to that hotel, negotiated to the price what Shakul had told me and it was a decent enough accommodation.

The first thing to do was to take a shower, and believe me what a big relief it was. We settled down and took some rest. In the evening we went out to find a mechanic as the bikes need to be checked once again and took a time from him to bring the bikes tomorrow. In the evening we went out in 2-3 groups exploring and soon it was time for dinner. The mobile network was not gud and we didn’t know how to contact each other and all of a sudden we all reach at the same corner J , lucky us J. Shakul had told me that KC’s is a gud restaurant with a big screen and bonfire and all and we set out to find KC, it was trouble to find it but “Dhoondhne se to bhagwaan bhi milta hai” and this was just KC.

We finally reached KC and evevryone was starving. We had booze in our mind and got an Old Monk, food was worth waiting for and the ambience was amazing, the place was just perfect but everyone was quite tired and people started dozing off there itself J , soon most of them left and Dutta and me were the only ones, we finished the booze and headed off to the hotel, rejoicing the accomplishment of reaching Leh.