Sui Generis Leh – The land of Gompas
We began our tour from the Chandigarh Airport, and taking a traveler to reach Manali. The feeling of togetherness, meeting friends after long time and a beautiful trip ahead was quit bolstering. We passed our time by playing games, telling old college stories etc.
Manali – as we found it was quite a city as compared to the last time I have been there. May be it was the evening time, that the whole road route was crowded with trucks and lorries carrying huge logs of wood and veggies. It was the month of August, so I was missing out the red huge apples on the roadside. Nevertheless, it was nice route, greenery all around, hotels peaking up and the light dusky weather. We stopped few times for tea breaks and snacks. But water was a must and I would ask everyone to take lots of water bottles along the way as altitude will soon try to hold you up and can lead to dizziness.
With one night stay at Manali at a warm home stay, we took the bikes for rent (cost around 20k ). The Royal Enfield 500cc bikes are the best fit for our trip, we took two big bottles of petrol handy, since the way is quite deserted and a tool kit to repair the bikes just in case something happens (And it did!!! )
The route from Manali to Leh was canvassed as
Manali – Rohtang - Gramphu - Kokhsar - Keylong - Jispa - Darcha – Zingzingbar - Baralacha La - Bharatpur - Sarchu - Gata Loops - Nakee La - Lachulung La - Pang - Tanglang La - Gya - Upshi - Karu – Leh
As the journey began, after Manali, it felt as if heavens have descended, freezing air echoes in the woolen covered years, goggles taking right care of eyes as sun was sharp at times. The round abouts on the hills were tricky and riskier, I guess everyone in our group was feeling giving an examination on biking. And slowly mountain climbing began. AMS or Altitude Mountain Sickness was there and thankfully all of us were alright, taking medicines and water timely.
We reached Rontang Pass in the afternoon, the first time I saw snowfall, and it was a dream come true. The pass lies on the watershed between the Chenab and Beas basins. Travelers were stopping by and taking pictures. We too played with the bouncy snow, timed few selfies, hardly able to pose thanks to the freezy breeze and minus degree temperature. The next route was half covered with snow on both sides, just as we saw in movies (like Jab we met) and touched the ice and felt it. I was on top of the world with my heart thanking nature for this wonderful gift.
With the first ray of sunlight, we kicked off our day to Sarchu. We had tents booked for us there and planned to stay there over night. It was getting chillier as we came close by. In the mid of the journey one of the bikes had a puncture and we stopped for a while to repair it. There are many travelling groups in the season going to Leh, they have been very helpful and friendly with us. We reached Sarchu in the afternoon. God ! what a place it was. A huge plain surrounded all over with chocolate brown mountains. Wind was so cold and fierce that it almost penetrated our fat jackets. Spine chilling it was. We all went to our tents, I must say for a deserted place like that it was a big thing to offer, with all the required facilities. I talked to the owner of those tents, and he said that it is their part time business for the peak visiting span (May to November). He also elucidated the hard work these people put in, just to give us comfort. But in the end he said, its all the love for mountains that he took this profession. I agree !! Its like neighbours, growing each year, gaining beauty, sporting a different combo of colors. It feels they are telling a story each time we pass them. At night, it was even more chilling, water was beaten ice, winds soaring and we were at best with atleast three layers of sweaters each. Sarchu is known for its clear starry sky and it truly was magnificent. I haven’t seen such a sky in my life, if the weather would not be so terrific I would have slept beneath the sky , counting the unending trail of stars, making beautiful constellations all the night. But it was not so, we were finding trouble in breathing and walking due to less air. We somehow made our way to the dining tent, finding hot tomato soup to our delight. It was actually so much troublesome to find food at this place where there is not even a village nearby.
Next morning, it was a battle in our minds to actually step out of that blanket and resume our journey. But with our firm determination and grit, we all kicked off our tiredness aside and began the trip to Leh. There were irreplaceable frames everywhere, no matter how hard we try to capture those moments we simply cant take away that natural beauty with us. …
Continued in the next blog…..keeep waiting guys !!!
Some moments captured.....
