Day-31 | 4-July-2011 | Leh-Diskit | 151.5 Kms | 6174 Kms

Although I was completely awake by 5:45 AM, cosy blanket & bed made me get out of it only by 6:30 AM. All of a sudden got fully active & took a cold water bath. Man, I shouldn’t have done that I guess. Packed not needed luggage in big bag & kept in the room itself. With all the needed things for one day, I was out by 7:30 AM. First thing I wanted to do was to get some money from ATM but when I went to SBI ATM, there was a huge line which made me not to get added in it.

As soon as I left Leh, road started to get incline but since the road was smooth, I could enjoy it with few snaps of Leh town ship.

Leh as seen on the way to Khardung La

As I rode ahead, fingers started to get cold like hell. At one point, I was thinking should I go ahead or not. Man! Very much freezing it was. Lucky as I was wearing thermal inside 3 layers of shirt, my body was in normal temperature. But to spoil the sport, it started to drizzle with complete cloud on hills ahead. With disappointment, thought to move ahead as much as I can & after some time, the sky was clearJ. Stopped at South Pullu for permit submission & asked the person in charge,

“Waha upar kane ke liye kuch milta hain kya??”

“Waha kyon kavoge??? Idhar hi kao na. Woh dekho, restaurant waha hain…”

With my fingers almost frozen, went inside & ordered a Maggi. There were 2 other guys eating Maggi & one of them started a conversation.

“Are you from Delhi??”

“No! I am from Bangalore…”

“Where did you start the ride from? Delhi??”

“Bangalore…”

“Oh man! Great… Since how many days you are travelling??”

“It’s exactly one month today…”

“Which route did you take??”

“Bangalore-Hyderabad-Nagpur……..-Drass-Leh”

Later on, I asked about their trip & they said,

“We have hired a bike in Leh & roaming around. We are in short of time.. We are into sales profession & it’s difficult to get leaves…”

As I was still busy with Maggi, they bid bye to me & moved ahead to climb up. Soon after, even I paid the bill & moved on. The road started to get bad with sandy bumps & pot holes. On my way, got to spot some Himalayan Marmot but couldn’t get clear snap of them as it was difficult to change the lens in that freezing coldL.

South Pullu where we need to submit permits

Valley on the way

After some distance, a saw a yellow board on stone which read ‘India Gate’. I have seen almost all the bikers taking photo in front of it; today, it was my turnJ.luckily, the pulsar dudes came in short time & got my snap clicked from them. Moved ahead while they were still busy with clicks & soon after, guess what??? I was on ‘Highest Motorable Road In The World’. Boy! I have done it. What a glorious feeling even though it was damn cold. And moreover, it’s exactly one month since I started my journeyJ.

India gate done!!!

And I have done it!!! :) :) :)

Valley towards North Pullu

When I was enjoying being on K-Top, the Delhi guys whom I had met in South Pullu restaurant came with pillion holding the gear lever.

“How come?? What happened??” I asked in jolt…

“It got broken! Lucky we were in second gear else gone case…”

After good amount of snaps for proof that I have made it to this place in my bike, got ready to move ahead sipping a cup of black tea. Soon,

“From Bangalore??” a hip hop kinda guy asked me.

“Yes!”

“Riding from there all alone??”

“Ya…”

“Oh great! Going to Nubra Valley??”

“Yes! Might go to Diskit or Hunder…”

“Cool! All the best…”

Started to climb down on other side & the road there was even worseL. With a great care negotiating the stones moved down only to stop at some place where road widening work was in progress & JCB was busy with work. While waiting for the road to clear, met an army officer who is in charge of road widening & he was discussing the route ahead to other tourist.

“Last point in Diskit route is Turtuk! It was with Pakistan till 1971 war & after that, we got it back…” Man! How much do they actually want???

Road got cleared after 30 mins & continued with a stop at North Pullu to submit my permission. Again a local started,

“Akele?? Kaha se??”

“Ha.. Bangalore se…”

“Isi mein???”

“Ha…”

“Thunderbird badiya gaadi hain! Wapas jaane ke time pe bechde na…” What non-sense is he talking??

Left North Pullu behind & rode on complete twists downside crossing Kardhung & Khalsar village. My rear break started to make some strange sound & got worried about itL. Boy! Why can’t we be tension free??

Road widening work in progress!!!

Attractive mountains...

Soon after Khalsar, road got divided & the left side read as ‘Diskit’. As I rode on this road, the vista got desert look with Sand Dunes on either side. Reached Diskit & got into Olthang Hotel for room. After a slight negotiation, got the deal for 400 bux which initially he quoted for 500 bux.

“Abhi Safari ke liye mat jao! Saade char baje ke baad jao. Acha scenary milega…”

Going by the managers words, got fresh, had lunch & wrote the day’s blog. It was 3:30 PM when I decided to move out to Dunes after visiting Monastery & Gompa in Diskit. First gave a visit to big statue of god. As it was on top of a hill, I could get arial view of entire Diskit village. After good amount of snaps, went to Monastery in which I dint find anything interesting to capture.

Which route to take??

Sand all over!!!

Greens on the way to Diskit

Huge statue in Diskit!!!

Diskit arial view

Inside Diskit monastery!!!

Once done with all the religious sightseeing, rode straight away to Hunder Sand Dunes. Enquired about the cost of Camel Safari & the guy said,

“Pandra minute ka ded so saab!”

“Mujhe pandra minute ke liye camel mein gumavoge???”

Soon I was on top of double dome camels & my ride began. Came back after 15 mins with good collection of snaps & handed 150 bux to dealer. With nothing else to do, walked for a while on sand dunes trying to capture surroundings with sand on the foreground. While lazing in dunes, a couple asked me,

“Excuse me! Can you take a snap of ours???”

“Sure…” I said & took their snap. He thanked me & asked where I came from?

“Bangalore..”

“Oh! Even I am from Bangalore…”

After a mins talk, another couple said,

“Sir! Namdu ondu photo tegitira?? (Sir! Can you take one photo of ours too??)”

“Tegiyona sir… (Will take it sir…)”

The conversation continued with me explaining the same normal things about my trip to them. When I asked them about their trip,

“We flew to Leh & we are on a package tour! It’s a weeklong & nothing compared to yours…”

“Do you have any Orkut or Facebook account??”

“No! I am not in any of the social networking sites! But I do write blogs of my trip. You can check my blog in onelifetoride.blogspot.com…”

“Sure… Nice meeting you & safe journey ahead…”

Man! Is it going to fall on me??

Nearing sand dunes

Camel rider or bull rider???

Double humped Camels

Sandy snap!!!

Diskit Monastery as seen from my lodge

While walking back, met the same Delhi guys & was quite shocked as they had said they would be heading back to Leh. After enquiring them, they said,

“Our plan was to return to Leh! But due to this gear lever issue, we headed to Khardung village & got it fixed. So thought to visit Hunder coming so far…”

With nothing else to do in a day, came back to room & continued writing my day’s blog. Once done with that, watched a movie till my laptop battery went low. Called my day after that with plan to visit Sumur on the way back to Leh tomorrow.