“Bhaiya, settle kardenge??” I said while loading my bike as I had to pay for lunch & dinner.
It was 6:25 AM when I was out of Diskit towards Sumur. The plan was to head till Sumur & get back to Leh before NOON as I had to get my bike checked with mechanic as well. Early morning ride with empty roads & mountains still trying to get out of mist was delightful moment. Rode pretty slow so that I can capture every beautiful thing in my lens.
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| Both mountain & machine standing stiff! |
After 12 odd Kms, got a diversion in which right leads to Sumur & just took that. As soon as I took that road, an officer stopped me,
“Local ho???”
“Nahi sir! Tourist hain…”
“Permit???”
“Iss ke liye bhi permit chahiye kya?? Mera paas toh Nubra valley ka permit hain bus! Sirf Sumur tak hi jaana hain! Thoda photo keech ke ded gante main vapas avoonga…”
He took my vehicle details, my details & let me off to goJ.
The ride to Sumur was wonderful with huge mountains at distance & greens beside the road. Got to spot some Rabbits but failed to capture them. Damn! They are so quick. Giving plenty of photo breaks, reached Sumur by 8:30 AM. As I had to head back before NOON, took a U-turn & back on the track towards Leh. Rode pretty fast with minimum photo breaks crossing Khalsar, Khardung & North Pullu.
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| Hills on the way to Sumur... |
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| Tiny plant |
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| On the way to Sumur again... |
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| Nearing Sumur |
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| Finally, caught her in my lens |
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| Vista on the way back to Leh!!! |
After crossing North Pullu, the pain began for both of us as the road was pathetic. Since the time had already passed 10:00 AM, was little worried about road widening work & I may have to waitL. But to my luck, the work had not started but it was not all over as I had to deal with lot of tourist vehicles plying in opposite direction. It was 10:45 AM when I switched off my bike at Khardung La top dealing with pretty steep road & stones all over on the road. Wanted to be at K-Top for a while but what a scene! K-Top was over flowing with tourists. Bikers busy taking their snap in front of ‘Worlds Highest Motorable Road’ board, pretty girls busy playing & sliding in snow; family members completely occupied taking their snaps with hills on the back & so on. Another 10 more 4*4’s, the K-Top should have suffered a traffic bottleneck. I dint feel like spending any more time there & got back on my bike with bad decline road this time.
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| Icey K-Top |
On my way down, met the same Israeli couple who had offered me coffee in Pangong.
“Hey! How are you??” the lady said as soon as I stopped my bike.
“I am fine & how about you??”
This time she got impressed with my metal boxes few questions she flooded on that. Boy! Every time I meet her, she finds something interesting about my thingsJ. But this time, she was not alone. There was another guy in her group who too got curious on the boxes & got few doubts clarified about it. After wishing them good luck ahead, rode non-stop to South Pullu waving Thumps Up for the bikers climbing up hill. After a Maggie bite in the restaurant, reached Leh by 12:40 NOON. Boy! I have done it pretty earlyJ. Unloaded the luggage in same room where I had kept my unwanted luggage. Since there was very hot water coming in tap, took a pleasure bath & took some rest downloading the photos to netbook.
After some time, got out to get the cash & have lunch but ended up waiting for 45 mins before using the holy ATM machine. While on wait, a guy came close to my bike & asked,
“Iske andar paani jata hain kya??” pointing to the boxes.
“Nahi jaata hain!” I said & that’s when a young chap standing in front of me in queue questioned,
“Where are you from??”
“Bangalore…”
“Started riding from Delhi??”
“No from Bangalore itself..”
Then again the same set of questions about what do I do, how was the trip so far, which route & so on. Man! Should I put on big board in front of my bike??? After getting the enough cash required for next few days, got back to same Punjabi Lassi shop & had nice lunch & Lassi. Post lunch, went to a mechanic in Manali road & got few things checked like Clutch Plates, Oil level in engine & clutch box, break tight & air filter.
“Oil hain aapke paas?? Clutch box main thoda kum hain oil…”
“Ha bhaiya! Hain…”
After pouring the required amount of oil into clutch box, he checked Air Filter & advised me to get it changed.
“Ab koi dikkat nahi hain! Aaraamse jao!” the mechanic confirmed & came back to lodge paying his fee.
It was just nearing 5:00 PM & with no plans ahead, watched a movie in netbook. After completion of the movie, got few chocolates, a Tibetian prayer flag for my bike & got my bikes tank filled up along with 2 additional cans I had. After some time, again went out for dinner & crashed with Tso-Moriri as a destination for tomorrow.
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