K2K-2012 - Day 20 to 21

Day 20

We get up early and finish off all the pending packing.

I was not feeling good at that moment. The fuel can was weighing heavy on my mind. Also i had lost one empty can to Wari La.

I look out of the window and though the view was divine with the heavy clouds and the partially visible snow deposition it gave new lows to my already low mood. I am visualizing the black ice and all the skidding and may be some more falls like during Wari La. I feel the same way while typing this in! That is how much i was affected that day.

We get together for breakfast and decide to not make through any "La"... we still had an alternate option and we take it with both hands. We decide to ride via Chumatang which is not a La. Our destination for the day was Tso Moriri.

I some how manage to get a good 5 liter can from the hotel. How ever its not the normal shape that can be tied up comfortably on the luggage rack. And i can almost hear Guru honking at the gate.... i make a run for the bike and we leave the hotel towards the fuel station.

Once the 10 liter can was full and loaded, now came the second small cylindrical one. After one try with the nylon ropes i give up. I unload all the stuff in one of the saddle bags and replace it with the 5 liter can. Again the view of ALL the mountain caps being invisible due to the heavy clouds was extremely depressing.

We are on the road towards Karu by 11. We pass Karu and take the route to Chumatang and hit our first road block... a land slide which was in the process of being cleared up by the ever patient and persistent BRO. This takes some 10 minutes which gives me time to drink some water and readjust myself after a hurried exit of the fuel station in Leh.

The awesome and ever resilient BRO. Respect!!

The ride till Chumatang was a mixed bag of barren rocky landscapes and greenery with again a river to keep us company. Many inclines too. The roads were good and i'm comfortably cruising. The Xylo crosses a bridge and moves along, i'm happily trailing them at a decent distance to give me time to react to any changes in the road.

I do notice the bridge and slow down. I am almost done passing this bridge when i just stupidly fall! This was a stupid fall. There was no cause. But again i fall to my right for the third time on the trip.

I quickly pick up the bike hoping there is no damage on the saddle bag or the fuel can inside it.

I pick up the bike and before i can think, the bike falls down on the other side.

Cursing and kicking myself, i run around the bike and pick it up, put the side stand on and just collapse due to the fatigue. I calm down and gather myself up, switch off the key and turn it back on. The bike is back to life and i proceed ahead. Luckily no damage done to anything - except my ego. Rightly so... this is Leh!!

We cross Mahe and then get to a point where we take a left for Tso Moriri and the straight ahead takes you to Sarchu (which is another 160 km). Its close to 3:30 and we decide on the move to skip Tso Moriri and choose Sarchu as our destination for the day. We take the straight towards Sarchu and just after 10 km the roads become non existent. Just plain mud roads would have been a boon, but this was now uneven road with jelly. We are climbing steadily and slowing down too. This torture lasts for the next 90 minutes.

Ladakhi consistency - the views are out of the world when you cannot shoot photos. The road runs in the middle of a never ending valley both in length and breadth. We see herds of wild asses.... could have said zebras without the stripes.... from far they look like horses. Soon after the torture, you pass Tso Kar and then take a almost U turn and take the road to Sarchu. This U turn is inevitable.... except if your were trekking on foot.

Soon after the U turn you have a semi ready road. Its ready for its first coat of tar. The Xylo zooms at full speed leaving me to swallow all the dust and tag it. I was already low on energy. Also doing good speeds used to chill me down and hence i choose the dust clouds over the chill. In between there is a stretch of missing road where even lorries are taking a detour and going around it to connect back to the main road after half a kilometer. Also we see from a distance that this detour is peppered with lorries which have sunk their tyres into the loose gravel and have been abandoned for now. This makes us extremely cautious inspite of which i get stuck in a stretch with close to two feet of fine brown mud. By the time i got out of it my white touring pants were painted brown until my knees. What takes me 5 minutes takes the Xylo around 10. So that gives me some breathing time. Guru's dad had to get out of the car and do a recce before guiding him down the least dangerous path and back on the road.

We proceed towards Sarchu which is another 100 km away and i start to shiver uncontrollably from the inside. This gets out of hand as we approach Pang since the roads get a lot better - like the highways are supposed to be. This makes it impossible to keep the speeds down despite a conscious effort. The sun down has caused the minimal warmth to disappear too. I am frequently reaching out towards the radiator to get some warmth into my fingers. My breathing becomes rapid and i'm not able to control that either. The dipping temperature causes so much fogging that the entire front part of the balaclava is totally wet. The 5:30 sun is at an angle and all i am riding through is the shadows of mountains.... no sun rays even if i go hunting for it.

At times i was begging God for a cloud or two to get some respite from the heat and now here i am begging for all the sun i can get for some warmth. What a contrast?!

The Xylo slows down to check what is wrong since this is a clean highway and i have still not built up speed to move ahead. One look at me after i raise my visor - Pooja is already freaking out. Guru instantly cuts short the present day's plan and decides that it is best for all of us to stay back at Pang. He never fancied a night stay at such a high altitude since he has previously tasted how bad it is. But i thank him for his patience with me and helping me out by being there for me in a place he never wanted to stay in.

Destination Pang. We find ourselves lucky to find accommodation in a tea stall that caters to the lorry traffic around that area. They had a huge room with four walls and a roof. The beams were made of logs of wood and there was lots of wild grass below the roof top for insulation. There were close to 10 beds on the floor with a huge pile of blankets and pillows.

I salute our armed forces who put up with these conditions and guard our country around the clock. Cannot imagine what its like in Siachen which is approximately 19,000 ft above sea level.

I say this after spending just one horrible night at 15,000 ft - a measly altitude when compared to Siachen.

When on a bike its the riding temperature that is important. Eg. @ 50kph if the atmospheric temperature is 50 degrees, then your body is experiencing a temperature of 38 degrees (less by 12 degrees) due to the speed while riding against the wind. It was around 4 degrees when we reached Pang at 6 in the evening and the temperatures fell to around -14 in the night. We suffered the entire night with AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) symptoms due to reduced oxygen levels at that height. Head aches, nausea, hallucination was the norm for that night. Thanks to Guru's advice with regards to lots of water intake i made it through the night. I woke up in to see him sitting on the bed. I tell him that my head is aching pretty bad and he replies.... "well i did not see you go out and pee... Sai if you do not drink enough water to make you pee then you are bound to feel this way". I gulp down half a bottle of ice chill water and silently hit the bed hoping i'll sleep. Another important thing i noticed is that no matter what you do, you always feel out of breath wanting some more air to satisfy your lungs... especially when you try to lie down and sleep.

I found the most warm and welcoming people in the most inhospitable places and mind you - they were never after your money, all they gave and expected in return was a smile and goodness.

K2K-2012 - Day 21

It was such a lovely feeling when the morning sun invites you with the warmth. All you see around is ice and chill. The hilarious part was when i made a dash to the bathroom in the morning only to find the water in the bucket turned into ice, had to control myself and get back to ask for "flowing" water 

The lady who runs this place graciously allows us to use the kerosine stove which we place below the Xylo's engine to heat it up.

I observe through the view glass of my bike's engine cover that the oil which is normally "oily" is totally gooey today. Notice that the 650 is always on the side stand. So when you sit on the bike and get it to vertical you will notice the oil level rising. What usually takes a single second takes almost 5 seconds. That's how thick the oil had turned into.

Luckily for me i crank up the engine thrice and it comes to life and then i let it idle down until the rpm becomes constant. Also i empty the first 10 liter can of fuel into the bike and gift the owner with the empty can  The bike still has a 5 liter can to the right side in a saddle bag.

After a lot of heating, a lot of effort and some help from the near by lorry drivers the Xylo comes to life.

We thank the owner and proceed to Sarchu at 8.

Sarchu is 80 km from Pang and we reach Sarchu at 11:30. We take three and half hours after another round of torture session through no roads and also ice on the early morning roads to keep us company. By the time we reach the famous Gata Loops, i am completely drained out to even enjoy this stretch. After breakfast at Sarchu we proceed to our next stop Keylong. I proposed Keylong to be our destination for the day while Guru hints at wanting to make it all the way to Manali since he does not fancy another extra day of this torturous driving. I'm already feeling a bit uneasy with this news since i did not want to do Rohtang in the dark.

Before i go any further i must tell you about one of the water corssings - Killing Serai. Real killer huh. Even before descending to this crossing i see a fully prepped Aprillia stuck at the entry to this water crossing, there was a small pile up of lorries on the other side since he had blocked the exit for them. This was a true off roader by the looks, i do not know which model though. So i am looking out for options to give this crossing a miss. I spot a bridge which is missing a lot of metal plates, but the base structure (the metal column) which holds these plates together seemed ok. So i coax a BRO worker to stand at the other end and guide me out of this bridge. He says i'm insane and should go through the route taken by the others and points me down to the water crossing. The Aprillia is still stuck and he now is trying to retrace his path and come back to the dry part. I make up my mind and tell the BRO guy to stand at the opposite side and signal only if he thinks i'll fall down and start off. First gear, heart in my mouth to see the gushing water through the missing plates of the bridge and after some anxious moments i make it through!! I thank the BRO guy and then park the bike to the side and walk to meet the Aprilla guy. He was actually wanting to go to Leh so he is on the side which i have already crossed over to. When i tell him about the bridge he says "Indian bikes are too light mate, lucky you! I'm sure the bridge is gonna break if i try". So i tell him that i have a Ninja 650 which is surely some kg heavier than the amazing Aprillia he has. So that gives him some hope and he proceeds to the bridge. Mean while the Xylo cautiously but seadily makes it through this crossing and the Aprillia makes it to the other side via the broken bridge above. He waves at me from afar and proceeds while i run to my bike and move ahead.

The other scary water crossing which i had to pass was the one right after Sarchu before hitting the highway to Keylong.

So we leave Sarchu and proceed to Keylong which is a 100 km. The entire stretch of 100 km is extremely bumpy no matter how the roads were. This resulted in my neck taking a real bad treatment. The first 30 km of this stretch is no roads. Pretty much as bad as the Pang - Sarchu stretch. The next 45 km - the roads are much better and the views are out of this world. Its absolute treat to ride this stretch even with the creepy feeling of a pending ride in the dark via Rohtang. You are approaching Zing Zing Bar now and then you reach Jispa. All the mountains you see are now COMPLETELY covered with prestine white snow. No dirt, no dust, no smoke... so the snow is pure white and actually this whiteness gets to you. The contrast is so high that your eyes start to strain after some time - even with the visor down. You actually need a polarized goggles for this. We could have actually touched the snow and may be played with it for some time. But its destination Manali so no playing.

Zing Zina Bar

Once you cross Zing Zing Bar and get closer to Jispa, the snow disappears and the lush greenery starts. Now and then you have the roads peppered with water crossings. Not the dreadful ones but the inviting and easy ones which wash away all the dirt in your tyre types. But its worth noting that the inclines and descents after Zing Zing Bar all the way to Keylong are steep.

Very refreshing ride to Jispa.

Just before Jispa there is one bridge which is under construction, so you've got to go around it travelling on a dry river bed with all the boulders. Again very draining.

The ride after Jispa to Keylong is like a gradual acclimatization back to civilization. Reverse acclimatization for the Leh smitten tourers. Welcome back to bad roads of the highway and cities, welcome back traffic!

We pass Keylong and dont stop. Now i am trying to prepare myself for the ride via Rohtang. After another dust filled, semi constructed road of 30 km we reach Tandi. I empty the final 5 liters, leave the can at the fuel station and tank up. Its 4 o clock. Till now we were planning to have lunch at Tandi before hitting Rohtang. But i see Pooja running towards me with a bottle of gatorade. I gulp it down going bottoms up. Then Guru tells me that its going to be a real challenge if we spend another half an hour for lunch. My neck and joints which were hoping for some respite fight back asking for some time out, but i agree with Guru and we proceed towards Rohtang.

The dust clouds made me blind most of the day. The dust on the visor and the sunshine make it very difficult for visibility. I do not have enough energy to actually be ahead of the Xylo so i have no choice except to ride through this.

Tandi to Rohtang is very much like Fotu La. Full of dust and worse still, very steep inclines and bad roads. So it was dusty like Fotu La and wreched like Zoji La. At around 5:30 Guru stops to remind me to wear the extreme weather gloves that i had borrowed from Akhil. He says the temperatures are going to fall drastically from now on. Fall it did!

Thanks to these gloves, i was able to make it through Sarchu and now through Rohtang. Its not that your fingers dont get numb inspite of this, but if it were the normal gloves then i am sure to have lost any and every sensation in my fingers which is not good for throttle control and braking. Thanks Akhil! 

We reach Rohtang Top at 6:10. I take a pee break while Pooja picks up my helmet to clean the Visor. The fogging and the dust had made the inside of the visor real messy. I was not able to reach this while on the ride.

The sun is not visible anymore and its quickly getting dark. I am going to exactly do what i feared the most - Rohtang in the dark.

We proceed to make the descent. I mostly do this stretch with the visor up. Though the cold was causing discomfort to my eyes and resulting in a head ache, i had no option since the smoked visor with the fogging was causing problems with visibility.

The roads where mostly better than expected. Rohtang still has those scary stretches but not through out... around 60% is already asphalted... this is normal but the rest 40% is sure scary. We are at the base of rohtang at 7:30... i am screaming with joy inside my helmet. We reach Manali at 9.

Bye Bye Heaven

What Pooja went through on the trip to Wari La in terms of body taking a thorough beating, i went through the same today... BUT ... it also brings an end to K2K as i see it... with the cherry on the cake - a round trip to Leh.

The days that follow are the boring ride on highways back home. First reaching Pune and dropping back Pooja. Then riding back to home in Bangalore and pampering the bike with a much needed servicing and lots of love!