Day 5: Pang - Moore Plains - Taglangla - Rumtse - leh

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We all 'got up' in the morning. Which was a very pleasing news. Cleaned the Chain. had out break fast. The Dabba wallas were very happy to see us all up :) Jesse's bullet refused to start! and he said "Some Indians start their bullets in a single kick, Dam I dont get it" and Immediately our fellows pointed fingers at my face "he owns a Bullet".. hmmm.. So its my turn now to hold the saying. Pulled the choke, made a qaurter Kick and then kicked again! Cool the bike sprung alike. Man I didnt feel like giving it back to fellow. I hid all my feelings with a smile on my face and gave the bike to him and wished all the Best !

But Jesse soon returned, saying the bike feels like losing its power. It was like, the bull too didnt want to leave. :) Jesse didnt turn on the Fuel switch. Started the bike again and bid bye to him :)

OK back to our story! We Paid the Pang fellows, Thanked them a lot, appreciated their hospitality and also asked whats there primary needs, So that we can try to do some help for them. They said They are pretty much happy here. :) They advised us not to go so fast becoz the good roads on the Plains will end abruptly.

We saddled up and quickly moved. The had to climb the hill. The roads were butter smooth and the sun shining Bright. Soon we reached the top and saw the Moore Plains. Could believe it for a minute. We climbed soo high and here I see a vast stretch of plains. Its at an altitude of 16K feet.

Start of Moore plains
The valley


The Plain




The Road in Moore plain was good, but there were some road works in progress, So that the streams from the mountains can reach the valley, under the bridges. We need get off the road in those places. The off road was too good !! I was made of fine sand. The sand was so loose that at places I found sand put to my thighs, This was the first time I felt sand from my front wheel hitting my toe. When the bike feels to be stuck, and rear tire spins and pulls up with the sand splashed all around me. I loved getting dirty :) I you dont believe me then check the pics :)



Compare my bike in the above pic with this



Sunils


Then came Chetan - Founder of 5 KmpH :)


The guess then gave a round of advice for rallying across the Plain. :)
I loved this formation. Its like the 3 hills ve gradually moved closer and merged to one :)


Then Jesse too caught up with us. He had a minor fall. Ofcourse, this the first time he is riding this bike in the such terrain. We then rode towards Taglangla.

As I rode on the edges of the mountain, some thing very different caught my attention. There small structures like this.(later foudn it almost in all villages of Leh). This was a place, like a library, where all important books and scripts were kept. Sometimes silent prayers too happen here. So something equivalent to a temple too.


Soon we reached taglangla. My bike pulled quiet well and I was happy. Never did the bike halt nor did I ve to rev it hard and de-clutch it. This brought me a smile.
Taglangla baba



There was decent descend on other side of the Taglangla. We could see the snow capped mountains all around. But the actual reason would be - We have crossed all the passes.
Look at my Sporty Standing with a Pride of Accomplishment :)



Soon after this, there was a road block. A couple of bulldozers were making the road for us.


The Road block took some 45 mins. We then drove down further. Soon Chetan realised that he left his camera back at the place where there was road block. He hurried up to fetch it back. But in vain. Too bad! he lost all this credit cards too. :( we decided that we will stop at the place where we could get our first mobile signal! As we descended down, we could see Green vegetation all around. Soon we crossed Rumtse. I couldnt believe what I was seeing :)








The roads after rumtse was too good. The favourite sign board was "Its not a rally, enjoy the valley"
Check this Beauty







The roads were too good and I zipped past all the curves and reached leh First.


There I waited for almost 30 mins, but no sign of others. So slowly back tracked and Soon met the other fellows. Then we entered Leh and searched for the hotel that our "Scorpio Driver" suggested. Both the driver and the hotel fellow was not reachable. So checked into a hotel "Hotel Hill view" :) It was good with olden Style. It had wooden roofings, like my granpa's house said Sunil :)

We roamed around the market for some time. had dinner and slept peacefully.

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day 4 contd2 - bharathpur - Sarchu - Gata Loops - lalchungla - nakeela - Pang

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I was feeling a bit tired to drive. This time Sunil drove in the front. Followed by me, Chetan and Sumit. The way we found Mountains of different shades and shapes, but looked Orange, Some are Purple, some yellow, some where Black with red shades and the plains we were traveling were Green and a valley below us had the streams.. WOW! Wat a view










Arrow Straight Roads At an altitude of 14000 Feet










With all these stops, I was lagging behind. Soon I saw Sunil lying down, thought he is enjoying the nature and moved forward. Then saw Chetan and Sumit stopped at a road side. Chetan vomiting. :( After a couple of minutes Chetan was ok and persuaded to move. hats off to his courage. I and Sumit refilled the Full, Sunil did his second refilling of the trip. His comet was very thirsty. There too I ran to catch the polythene cover that we had used to cover the fuel can. After coming back. My head too ached a bit. Gulped some water and ache eased but I felt tiredness !! Sunil suggested to stay at Sarchu but the driver said that this place will become cold in the nights and is bit higher. It could be safe to reach pang. That means we need to cross gata loops, nakeela and lalchungla and then cross a big stream and then rest for the night ! Looked like Herculean task but we moved further.
Meann while I tried to take a snap that has all the colors in it.. hmm again I dont ve a SLR so no wide angle fundas



We then rode in a slitted group, Sunil and Chetan in the front. Me and Sumit following and Jeep behind everyone. We then reached the top of that mountain range, then crossed a steel bridge and then rode on the other side towards gata Loops. There we saw Chetan and Sunil standing on the road side with a Foreigner on this bullet. He had a fall due to some gravels on the road. Ya he was fine enough to ride along.



I and Sumit climbed the gata loops ! No this time I didnt take any short cuts. I played safe !

The gata loops were very smooth and had some nice roads, though narrow, we were riding in the evening which means no commercial truck will be in opposite direction, as they wont leave pang as they cant reach Sarchu.
We then meet a Huge Army convoy!! We parked our bikes in a turn and rested and let the trucks move.
Try counting the trucks


We were soon reaching the top of lanchungla. I stopped to take a pic but others were too tierd to stop even.


we then descended down between lalChungla and Nakeela and almost everyone was dead tired. We cursed each Km we passed. Chetan vomited again.! Learnt that The Foreigner name is Jesse. He told us that he were brave enough to make the trip without Anit-AMS tablets. It was the first time man hearing about such medicines. He suggested Diamox, there are to be taken 24 hrs before we start the acute climb and then every day morning until we feel good about ourselves. he hda one spare tablet and said he can lend it to Chetan. We had to push and Chetan was ready. He didn't waste any time, as he might ve felt that every second spent will just worsen things. We crossed Nakeela. No this time even I didnt stop for a pic. and then descended down. The scenery was too good. Its all looked like the entire mountain was eroded by wind. Just like Huge Huge sand dunes. No even the Grand Canyon is not a match for this beauty.

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day 4 contd1: jespa - barlachala - bharathpur to Pang

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All the wonderful views we reached darcha and itssss..... Breakfast time :)


We had some bread omlets and some noodles. Packed some biscuits and had some water. The water was COLD
After Darcha, the hills looked little greenish, But the roads became very dirty.


After all this Dirt riding, I found a blueish pond on the road side. The pond was so still that it attracted attention


I had a dip in this water, a few of the fellows soak their palms but Chetan didnt near the pond even :) There I learnt that Chetan had a fall. The Sumil's Bike is drinking Crazy !


The roads became gravelish and there were they were very dirty that is was best to avoid riding in a group. I and sumit led while Sunil and Chetan followed. This is just to avoid inhaling the dirt thrown by the vehicles.


This Sign was really motivating


As we started climbing barlachala, the roads were very good. But we didnt ve the guts to play on the curves, as it had some gravel, plus we knew that something more exciting is waiting for us.




The roads were good, but we found it very long, I kept checking a jeep track that vertically climbed the mountain. At the last moment I took a steep off road. i stopped in the middle of the offroad, switched off the engine and was posing for some pics taken by my friend Mohan from hsi jeep. I then saw, Sumit coming towards me and started my bike. Then I tried to accelerate and Shit! the bike refused to move. I was really shocked and couldn't believe, Soon chetan and Sunil passed and Sumit was following. I revved the engine hard and let the clutch go, the bike stalled. hmmm.. Something is going wrong, May be I shouldn't ve stopped but let it go. I switched off the engine and like a dumb fellow disengaged the clutch, the bike started moving back/down. I kissed the bike to the earth. I then forced Sumit not to take this route instead go down and take the normal route. All this drama is happening at the barachala Top. I gave the bike to Sunil, who came near me and walked the steep path up. While climbing up I was just thinking wat might be wrong, the worst I could imagine was a "burnt Clutch". but I know my bike wont yield so fast, Bcoz.. I LOVE IT and IT LOVES ME!!!

My Stupidity..!!


As I reached the roads climbing, I was gasping as if my lung is gonna burst, I couldn't feel the air getting into my lungs. I jus laid down, soon Chetan, Sunil and Sumit too laid down. We didnt ve the energy to even pass the chocolates around. After 5 minutes, we stood up tired and every got on to their bikes. My bike though it moved, I felt its just revving up but not moving so well. I continued for a few Kms was it was a decend on the other side of Barlachala. Crossed a couple of streams like this. Then stopped as the situation didnt improve. Checked the engine oil and it was little low. Refilleed and hoped that things will be normal. But I was disappointed. Continued a bit more and reached Barathpur. Were we had some hot tea and bread omlet. There i remembered that in the morning I tweaked the clutch a bit tight, immediately dont it back my loosening it and Hureyy!! Its UP and RUNNING "in IT style) :D
Jumped with joy and ran into the tent to inform this. But there I saw Chetan drowsing, had a little head ache and felt a mild head spin. His eyes too was red. The driver immediately told that this is AMS and we showed move.! There we met a group of cyclist, there were riding from Manali and on a 3 month vacation !! Wow what a way to spend the vacation!!

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day 4 : Keylong - barlachala - sarchu - Pang and AMS

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We all started a fresh day. Me as usual, lazing around and requesting every other to let me sleep for some more time. BUt no mercy. We went out to check if the bikes are there/proper shape. Then started the bikes, let it to ideal then went around for a few snaps. The landscape was too Good to resist!



then around 8 we saddled up and were good to go. The Roads were again not good But we had some nice Streams and difficult Streams to Cross.

On the left the mountain range showed/demonstrated the Formation of river. snow from the clouds and water from the Snow and streams from those water. Was really amazed. Stopped so many times to see it :)

Formation of Snow from clouds



Snow in Colloidal State


now its a stream :)


The Full view


Then again I rode and the roads were almost non existent and I loved it. No signs of ppl behind me. That means I ve more time for pics

>

How about renting this house :)


Then the streams on the right side of the valley increased. That means more streams for to cross. The bike was becoming more and more dirty but ya thats how it should be aint it :)


After this the path descended down and I thut this should be barlachala

But NO. Barlachala was still long way to go. The small streams that we saw on the other side and the ones that we crossed, joined together to make a valley of slush

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