Day 11 : (16th June 2009)

Day 11 : 16 June 2009 (Destination : Leh-ChangLa-PangongTso-ChangLa-Leh, Distance Covered : 370kms)

Had an awesome day yesterday roaming around LEH town. Today we were suppose to head to Pangong Tso lake. Frankly I had never heard of this lake before & hence wasnt too curious to ride here. We all where extremely tired of the chillness & cause of the tough ride we had for the past days. But Mr. Gopi insisted on this ride & he dragged us too. Finally we left our rooms at 7am, leaving the luggage behind. We where getting more & more acquainted with the Leh town now & the places, hotels, so it felt like a regular routine now.
On our way to the Lake, we where stopped by an Army Camp.

They had some Punjabi festival that time, hence we where more than delighted to be a part of the 'real' heros celebration. We where offered tea & sweets (bundi). There where lot of poor people, who where also given food by this military guyz. It was an overwhelming moment.

The actual HEROES

With their permissions, we clicked the pictures with them. Felt really good & proud to say - "Hey this soldiers are of my nation". This collectively formed moments will be treasured throughout our life. Resumed our journey towards the most awaited lake, unseen & unimagined.

The climate was amazingly chill & there was a very light snow-fall happening. We had 'Chang-La' on our route which is the 3rd Highest Motor-able road in the world situated at an Altitude of 17586 feet. All of us where shivering & chilling crazily, including our bikes. Bike had tough time to climb C-la due to the altitude & the bad weather. But luckily none of our bikes gave any serious problem or where even stalled a single moment & passed thru safely.

winzee


Gopi.. yeah


prasad


Rachit, me, yours truly :)


I kept my RPM around 4k band & was doing perfect. Later again, while descending the mountain, we stopped by an army camp. This time we where forced due to our health & difficulties for our body to adjust with the temperature. Hence the break was extremely required. Prasad could even hold the engine & didnt feel anything (later his palm was found to turn black :-D ). The army guys where quiet familiar with this kind of issues & just smiled at us. They gave us Tea, dry-fruits, biscuits & even offered, that we may take as much as we can. All of us where overwhelmed with this kind of experience provided by the actual superstars who are sitting there just to take care & protect our country. Its day or two temporary ride for us, but for them, its more then their home.. Hats Off.!! We where even taken to a chamber which was specially meant for heating. There was a huge heater in the center & we felt so awesome in few minutes.

En-route journey was outstanding, so beautiful greenery & yaks yakking around, white horses.. Just a vow moment, straight into the Wallpaper.




wanna mess?? :P






spot the Odd yak out






in-house yak


the wanna-be yak


We did see the most awaited animal - Yak.. Vow, first time in my life. Felt bit scared initially but later we where one of them, and they felt home ;)
Passing & struggling through a cold desert for quiet some time, suddenly we saw a blue treasure peiercing through the Golden Mountains.. Woah..









That was the first sight of Pangang Tso lake.. Vow.. What a feeling.. Clicked few pix & rushed to the lake. Aha.. Finally, we where by the lake.. Vow.. No words can bring the lakes reality to its actual feel. Water was so clear, so colorful. The surrounding mountains where sparkling like gold. Tried all possible pose here to get clicked ;) We where even snatched by a family. They wanted their kids to take pix with our bikes. So many seagulls where flying around & floating near the surface waiting to get feed by the tourists. Where we in heaven..??? What an experience was it..
The lake is just unbelievable & I felt so glad, that I had not even seen the pix, so I could imagine & expect. Was blown away at its first sight. The lake is situated at an unpredictable height of about 14,270 ft. 60-70% of the part of this lake lies in China. Its believed there is no fish in this lake. A must visit destination. Some more pix....

a fantastic click by gopi






perfect place, where our bikes has to be








winzee flying




the man & the machine


gopi....


Roadies.. Beat that..!!


3some idiots :P





dont take me wrong ;)






We thought of heading back to Leh, so started our return league. All where chilling like hell & wanted to pass Chang-La as soon as we can. As we neared to climb Chang-La, the snow-fall increased heavily. The other guyz waited to click pix, while I couldnt dare to wait or take a halt. Just wanted to get out of this mountain. Was riding alone in crazy snow. Slipping & fishtailing around the rocks & sludge. There was a guy on his avenger riding alone, so we both where virtually riding together. I was just praying to god & my bike, that there should be any problem in the machine which can make me stop. I was riding a white bike now & me like a snowman ;) If I open the visor, entire snow gets in my mouth & over the face. If I close it, the visor becomes white. I had to keep cleaning it again & again. Body, legs, fingers, hands was numb. I had to attend the nature call desperately, but couldnt afford to wait. Was even ready to face the consequences ;) Finally got down the mountain after riding on top speeds of 25-30kmph & got relaxed. Waited for quiet sometime for the other guyz to tag. Winzee & Gopi arrived & thought prasad may have gone ahead or may be coming. As all of us where in real bad state & wanted to reach room ASAP, we just left towards the hotel. Waited for quiet sometime, still there where no signs of prasad, which made us bit worried. After a good amount of wait, he finally came & started bombarding us as we didnt waited. But even our & his reasons where justified ;)
He had some problem in his bullet. Clutch was very loose & hence couldnt get a pickup. A qualis driver helped him out by tightening the clutch cable.
All-in-all a wonderful journey, a day well spent & worth the efforts. Would die for many days to live this single day. It was that wonderful. Ended the day with gopis favorite tandoori chicken & Ruuummmmmmm

Next day was in a mood of taking rest, but as usual gopi insisted strongly to ride to Khardungla & complete the ultimate dream of our life - Riding to Highest Motorable Road in the World. I was not curious much to ride there & wanted to head back, even Prasad was OK with not going to K-La & Winzee was OK with anything we think. Lets see, if we ride there to the K-Top..... :)

Next : Day 12 (Riding to the Top of World)