day 17 - manali to Chindi via tatapani

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The Next Day was Dec 31. Called MG_Biker(friend) and informed him that we are leaving manali and will be heading towards Chindi, rampur Peo. MG said that we can reach rampur the same day. he said the distance is ~350. I was surprised Y cant I do jus 350 km in a day. Ok started by 9. had the famous bread omlet. I packed one piece of my cheese sandwich and 2 pieces of my friends. Packed the stuffs and kicked the starter.. The sleeping bull sprung to life in a single kick. A bright grin on my face
We moved as fast as possible as we know traffic will increase as time passes. Took turns at high speeds. The engine was roaring hard (engine breaking to the core)
A small Break in the middle...



Crossed Aut, took a break reached the place were we need to take the Detour to tatapanni route.
Thanks to someone who adviced me to carry tissues for 'jus in case'




hmm.. Missing my South India



Around 2 we were somewhere nearly nothing enroute ,but the high eroded mountains, we crossed mountains after mountains, the max speed was 30 and the handle bar was never straight. Atlast meet some humans..



Soon it started becoming cold, so put back the thermals of the riding jacket.
Frozen Falls.





and then a broken bridge. As I neared the bridge, I thut its the end but luckily there was a detour down






reached a place where the regular shimla route joins and had lunch by 5. we had hardly covered 225+kms. and started riding again.. The last sunset of the year 2007



Could spot a frog, but tried a lot to get a nice pic, but it was all shakky, its was not possible for me to hold it steady for 3 secs....


We decided to rest in some guest house near Chindi. Spent the night there, welcoming the new year with a loud snore..

Day 16 - Manali

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The first thing that I did in the morning is I called MG to let us know the places were we can find snow snow and only snow. Its very frustrating its our 3rd in Himachal and ppl say manali is the swiz of India that this but we are yet to ride on snow. He told us 'just head to Rohtang.. and U will find a lot of snow..' come back by lunch and go to kullu for the night. In Kullu too U ve jalori pass U will find snow there too' All set we head to Rohtang every early in the morning Around 8 itslef :D

we crossed a wooden bridge from Manlai to go to the other side. This is our first wooden and noisy/loosy bridge. jus a few 100m we saw a thin and tall falls completely broken. As we proceeded up we saw black ice almost at all U turns. but hey didnt skid. It was very hard. After a few kms we reached a camping ground. Jus infront of the camping ground the road was completely covered with hard and white ice. We proceeded with caution and was able to cross it with out a fall. There after the roads deteriorated a lot. Huge path holes filled with water and snow on either side. We crossed a couple of patches like this and in then there was very thick patch almost for a quarter km of road covered with hard white snow. There shyam got stuck. It was like this front wheel was in loose snow and back wheel was on hardened snow. So if we accelerated the back wheel started to spin. he accelerated a bit more and the front wheel pulled out and moved fwd. but shyam lost control and had a fall. He was not ready to move further up and ya I too felt the same as coming down will be more difficult. The sun was raising the top layer of the snow on road started to melt and it became more and more slippery.


Our first successful cross on snow. we took the patch to the left much carefully. A single slip even our bones cant be found.


2nd


3rd We struggled a lot there



and fell here :D


you could see the fellow always behind us. This is another guy on his CHetak coming behind us. He had a pillion. He used to get his pillion off on snow patched But he rode very comfortably. Later we came to know that he lends the skiing equipments. He told us to come a bit up where there will lot of snow on the road and he will let us ski :) But he parked the bikes there itself and walked up :) there we found some jeeps parked. we made frnds few fellows there. They were very funny to be with. We struck a deal of 50 Rs for skii. and we tried our best. Shyam had some exp and he took off. BUt I fell down hehe :D then learnt about the leg angle body weight balance etc from him and I too skiied for 10 meters :D





We then climbed up the snow for more massti :)





I loved this skiee.. All snow went into my pants :D



EEEE.... full smile..


Could see how much I ve bloated up jus in 10 days



The rode down was terrifying for Shyam. On his first fall I was too close to him so had to jam the breaks. The tyres lost traction and I stopped very close too him. So decided that I wil go in the front and he can know where there is dark ice. The water on ice was increasing. Plus there was huge traffic jams. In one turn ppl were pointing at me and told something there was some kind of shock/anxiety. I turned and saw Shyam on ground. He got up fast and rode again. This time I let him in the front so that I will at least know if he falls. The 3ed fall shocked me. I saw a big chuck of snow thrown off. I hurried to him. There was small blisters on this knee. The knee guard protected him. The bikes crash guard was bent and petrol was leaking. I lifted the bike and kicked the start lever. After a couple of kicks the bike started. We both were relieved. Took some rest and carried on. Luckily there was no other fall/dark ice.
This is the fall that was completely frozen in the morning.



The curves




We came down and wanted to go to another place forgot the name. Shyam didnt want to come. So I went up. But there was too much traffic jam so I too returned but ya he made a good decision. There was more of black ice.

there was a small ground full of snow. we did a lot of massti there. The main thing was the rode on the a small wooden plank. The kids were renting it for 5 per 2 rides. we used to sit on the small block and they will push us down shouting "lift ur leg. dont put it down" and suddenly "break break.." this means out leg down.. that was too good... :p

Poser Pic


THen we came back to the guest house by 6. Had some snacks and then to market. I bough 2 pairs of yark wool shocks. IT turned out to be very useful later. :)

Day 15 - Palampur to Manali

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We got up lazily in the morning from palampur by 8 but we were sandled up by 9:30. THis day would be a complete ride till manali.
our destination :)


The route we took palampur - jogindhernagar - mandi - Aut - kullu - manali. The road from Palampur to mandi was too good. very smooth and lots and lots of twisties. I was scrapping my foot pegs almost once in 3 turns only didnt wanna risk much. Also traffic was meagre. The scenic beauty was different but not very pleasing.
Took a pics at different places while waiting for Shyam








Huge trees but most of the patches were eroded. Sun was very bright but place was cool enough to wear our jackets.









After Aut it was traffic prone. The only entertainment I had while riding was reading the names of the places in Hindi :).

We reached Kullu by 1. We saw a white fort kinda building and a dam en route. We didnt stop at Kullu just a few photo clicks and then rode on.












THe road looked as if it was carved through the big rocks. Mostly C shaped. and one big tunnel. after all these by 3:30pm we saw a small Tea shop. A much needed break.











our Lunch :)


As the sun started hiding behind the mountains it started to become dim so we pushed on. The golden peaks :)




And by 8 we reached MANALI. We got a much decent hotel. The funny thing was we order 1 chicken curry and 6 Rotis. We were told that it will take 1 hr. So we decided to go for a walk. It was 9:30 and it was drizzling a bit and mostly hails were hitting us. we returned with 30 mins to hotel. Full shivering and jaws trembling. The manager gave a big smile at us. Then we went it covered ourselves in blankets and was eagerly waiting for our food. The fellow brought '1 Chicken' curry and 6 parathas. I mean one full hen :confused: was cut and had as curry for us. half means half of the chicken will be in the curry. hmmm.... donno it works like this here. :D

Day 14 - Pathankot to Palampur

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The next day morning we got ready fast and started heading towards himachal - should be the top most state of the ride. after a few 10 kms we saw the board saying the bridge to manali is under repair or something.. but we didnt bother much thut it will be some where after Kullu :) and soon after a km or so we say a big broken bridge... hmmm.. the message was clear - "welcome to Himalayas" ;)



we say a military jeep crossing the river beside the bridge. we would see the tyres hitting hard at the boulders and water splashing all over the jeep. We wandered around for a while to check for some other crossing point but returned in vain. Then soon a localitie came with his chetak. we showed a different route in the same crossing area where the river was less deep. We also advised us to remove the shoes. Shyam did it.. but I didnt. I thut the shoes will protect by feet from the boulders while crossing. At one point the water was almost covering the engine. I had to stop and burn the clutch hard to pull it off from the a bug boulder under the water. Asked shyam not to come this way and he came a meter away my path and it came with ease :)















After crossing the river we stopped for a while. Changed/wore the shoes. Then we saw this. our first sight of snow peaks :)







With a big smiles on the face we started driving towards Dharmasala. This was the first unbroken bridge we crossed. On the way we had our break fast neat and simple - Bread and tea :)











Soon we reached Dharmasala. In between we discussed our increase in breathing rate and oxygen level is decreasing bikes torque decreasing etc etc and when we reached the Dal Lake at Mcleodganj this was our altitude.. hahha.. we had a big laugh... :D





We would see the snow peaks much closer. I asked a lot of ppl there if it is possible to go to those peaks. They said its possible but its 2 days trek. And there is a pass on the way where there was heavy snowfall yesterday. hmmm.. so still the snow peaks were distant mirages :(















We came down to Dharmasala had food discussed with the hotel manager regarding the routes and places to visit we gave us a couple of visiting cards and wished us safe ride :)





Worlds highest cricket ground.





Should be a landslide. isnt it?





We drove via chamunda. It was already dark. enroute there were a lot of villages almost every 5 kms. We reached palampur by 8 and called it a day