Rides and Travel

XMas Holiday Ride (Bangalore - Munnar - Trivandrum - Conoor - Bangalore)

2011-12-27T21:55:00.000-08:00

Adhoc unplanned ride, Had taken two days off after xmas on 26th and 27th. Parvez said he will start early morning from chennai and will meet me at krishnagiri and then decide where to go. Morning it looked like Parvez overslept and did not get a call from him till 8am. I had no clue where to go, Jo and Mooosai had already started towards kerala early morning. I called up jo and said he is some 150kmts off bangalore and on the way. I told him ok I will try to catch up and started towards mysore.

Parvez Dude! at Munnar

8:30 I get parvez's call, he said dude I overslept where are you? turn back come to Krishnagiri. I turned back from Mysore road towards Krishnagiri. Waited at krishnagiri for Parvez to join, and we started from Krishnagiri towards Marayur. We started at 2pm and reached Marayur at 9:30pm. No food no beer there (had some crappy food road side and crashed )

Myself!

I did not want to go back to Bangalore the next day. I tried to persuade Parvez to go to trivandrum and then come back the next day. But due to some office matters he could not join me, instead he turned back to Chennai and I turned to kerala (tvm) Started at 10:30 and made it by 3:15 for lunch, mom had made mutton biriyani chicken fry etc ... good that I came home I had some good food and wine. and could spend some time with bumble bee.
I had to be back in office on 28th, so next day at 11am started towards GK's place at Vaikom where Jo and Moosai would join me and carry on the Bangalore. GK's mom had made some wonderful lunch for all of us. After lunch we started towards Bangalore at sometime 3:30pm. Just made it to Mettupalayam by 11:30 and crashed there.

Somewhere before Chinnar

Next day by 8am we started towards Bangalore via conoor. Ride was really excellent. ( after almost more than a year so much riding in 4 days makes my arms ache and fingers swollen, not sure what is it, probably because of the different motorcycle or probably I getting old? but I am happy strangely no aches on the back or butt :) )
All together, the ride was excellent indeed.

At GK's place after Lunch ready to go!

Updates after a long pause

2011-06-08T00:19:00.000-07:00

Its been a long pause in my blogs, mainly due to not many travel trips recently. Had been busy with personal stuff and a job role change at work. Wondering how things can get busy and time becoming so precious. I have to do something to squeeze the best out of the available time.

cheers

Blue Screen of Death with EpiValley Photon+ USB Modem

2009-09-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

Address: 1000007E, {c0000005, 804e13d5, b40a49ec, b40a46e8}

Well I was getting this BSOD from the day I got the Photon+ USB Modem. I tried calling the Indicom customer support, but I got a standard answer that 'If the card works on my laptop then We cannot help you' hmm the usual answer from any developer. "Hey It works on my environment/system"

I had been quiet busy these days debugging AIX and mainframe dumps, so was living with the BSOD. Finally today I thought to spend some time on the Blue Screen.

Symptoms:
1. BSOD as soon as one plugs in the USB Modem.
2. Well actually this is how to recreate the dump.
Plug in the USB Modem on a running computer and you get a BSOD after the modem is initialized. and before the drive letter is assigned to the USB (Data portion on the same device)
3. If the USB modem is plugged in the computer while restarting then there is no blue screen.

So the suspect was some driver which emulates a CD ROM drive on USB.

Here is the dump what I got. you can use the standard windows WinDbg for debugging crash dumps.
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: COMMON_SYSTEM_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x7E

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 804e13d9 to 804e13d5

STACK_TEXT:
WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be wrong.
b40a4af0 804e13d9 86791020 86c7ed01 00000000 nt+0xa3d5
b40a4b24 ba6db6c5 86791020 0004d014 b40a4be4 nt+0xa3d9
b40a4c30 ba6dcc0f b40a4cd8 00000006 b40a4cb4 drvmcdb+0x56c5
b40a4c8c ba6dd5b5 b40a4cd8 00000006 b40a4cb4 drvmcdb+0x6c0f
b40a4ce4 ba6db3a8 ba6e6cf4 ba6e6df2 ba6e6dfc drvmcdb+0x75b5
b40a4d0c ba6d643c ba6e6db0 ba6e6db2 ba6e6db4 drvmcdb+0x53a8
b40a4d5c 804e1be8 8670a658 ba6dbbab b3c94474 drvmcdb+0x43c
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 nt+0xabe8

FOLLOWUP_IP:
drvmcdb+56c5
ba6db6c5 ?? ???

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 2

SYMBOL_NAME: drvmcdb+56c5

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

IMAGE_NAME: drvmcdb.sys

STACK_COMMAND: .cxr 0xffffffffb40a46e8 ; kb

BUCKET_ID: WRONG_SYMBOLS

Followup: MachineOwner

The problem seems to be with the Drive Letter Access module, since the carsh happens after the modem is initialized and before the drive letter is assigned the the USB drive.

WorkAround.
1. Remove the provider software for drvmcdb.sys :) on my computer it was IBM DLA, others might have it on a different software.

Cons.
Once the driver software for the Photon+ modem is installed you dont need to access the drive. so I am planning to live with not using the data USB feature of the Photon+ for the timebeing.

But, ofc there is no more BSODs :D

Weekend Ooty-GSbetta Ride

2009-06-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

Bangalore - Ooty and places around

Widget powered by EveryTrail: Share GPS Tracks

It was quiet some time since we were out on a ride, this time we thought to go on a small 2 day weekend ride to Ooty and places around. Ooty had off and on drizzle like rains this time.

Ooty-khty-gbette

Trivandrum - Bangalore

2009-02-03T05:49:00.000-08:00

Nothing great with this ride! just another TVM - Blr jaunts. cochin - blr just took me 8 hrs this time (I bought a beemer F650) :)

From My Beemer

Somewhere on the Palghat - Kovai bypass.

From My Beemer

This one @ home with my niece trying out the beemer

Its been quiet time since I have been on a ride :( Hope to some rides and travel blogs once the summer is over!

cheers..

Year Ending Solo Ride 08

2008-12-27T04:26:00.000-08:00

As usual Dec is the time to ride home, as I had to miss the RJ ride this year. Starting early foggy morning and I am riding down south destination (TVM) and have 2 days to ride. Decided to ride via Munnar so that I can ride those ghats again, I remember being in Munnar that was almost 10yrs ago on a ride with Venu and Pradeep.

Reached at Chinnar (which is the foothills of Munnar from the North) at around 1:30 pm, took a long break there since it was too early to reach Munnar and I had no plans to reach TVM the same day.

Was trying to get some place to spend the night and finally got a decent one at the top station, I carshed out early watching TV and woke up quiet early the next day. Did a small trek on the munnar - kodai jungle trail. Started out around 8am from Munnar towards Adimali/Erumeli, roads are really awesome and nice weather complimented the riding experience.

Had a silly fall on the way down from Munnar, nothing much happened except for my crash bar which broke off. Then after that It was a straight ride to TVM. reached TVM at 6pm and Home.

On second Jan 09 started back to Bangalore, (I remember doing this same ride now for the 3rd year) kind of boring roads from tvm-cochin-kovai-blore. reached blore by 4:30pm.

and that starts the 09 riding season :)

some snaps from the ride

Munnar

cheers
jsr

Valpari 2008. Ride

2008-12-15T02:20:00.000-08:00

Weekend ride to Valpari, nice get together after a long time. Overall the ride was excellent except for few hiccups nothing serious. Weather was just perfect for the ride overall one surprize we had was a small stretch in the map which looked like 10kmts of ghats turned out to be 70kmts :) so total distance stretched to 475kmts.

some snaps from the ride

Valpari 2008

Kemmangundi Ride

2008-10-13T00:43:00.000-07:00

So after four weeks of compiler and linker issues when things are sorted out, makes me fell happy. and that is calling for a ride. This was a nice small ride.

Good things: Nice scenic route to ride, Roads were good to no roads, Weather was really cool, Campfire at night was great (after the disappointment at Kgundi of no beer and no campfire) so we did not stay at Kgundi instead we rode back 30kmts downhill and stayed a small guest house.

No so Good things: Traffic from Kunigal to Bangalore was horrible, lots of *&$#@ heads driving like crazy.

some of my clicks

Kemmangundi Ride

relocation R_X86_64_PC32 Error

2008-09-16T01:41:00.000-07:00

////
Editing post with more information, since I quiet some page visits around 350 for this issue.
////

I was stuck with this error for amlost weeks, till we figured out the solution. Here are some Links that would help to analyse the issue.

Error: relocation R_X86_64_PC32 against 'symbol' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC /usr/local/bin/ld: final link failed: Bad value

This could be a nature of ELF visiblity where global symbols don't resolve locally unless it is made hidden.

OR It could be the infamous bug-7221, which is still open.

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=37473 (see this link on how to fix the issue of no linkage for typedefed un-named class/struct )

//issue

typedef struct
{
 int check ();
} A;

//fix

struct A
{
int check();
};

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=7221

OR look at some useful links below.

http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/amd64/howtos/index.xml?part=1&chap=3

http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Visibility

http://bugs.gentoo.org/108872

http://www.nedprod.com/programs/gccvisibility.html

cheers!

Tvm-Blr Combined Ride

2008-07-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

Trivandrum and Bangalore folks planned for a combined ride this time. Overall nice ride! except for some motorcycle issues with meppa's and Parvez's bike ridden by Boodie, things kept falling off that LB500 first the chain, then the battery cover and then finally the battery.
End result of the ride was most of them got funny nick names and we ended up planning for the next ride! Another nice ride.

Our man Jo has a narration of the ride
http://ridelogs.blogspot.com/2008/07/kalhatty-revisit.html

And lots of pictures this time by most of the riders.
my clicks, not many this time!

kalahati again

clicks from the rest...
http://picasaweb.google.com/antulika/Kalhatty
http://picasaweb.google.com/jovision/KalhattyRevisit
http://picasaweb.google.com/kartik.ayyar/KalahattySBRide
http://picasaweb.google.com/muralidharan.ramamurthy/Kalhatty2008

Kalahati Revisit

2008-03-03T23:49:00.000-08:00

A weekend trip again to Kalahati! Looks like Kalahati has become the SB adda for weekend rides.
Not elaborating the ride much since Jo has already written a nice trip log

My snaps from the trip

Kalahati Again

Where is Kalahati

2008-01-27T23:50:00.000-08:00

Bangalore - Kalahati (Ooty) weekend getaway

View Larger Map

RM 08

2008-01-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

Rider Mania 08.
Bangalore - Hyd dry ride wasn't fun, just a boring routine ride. Silver-Bullets participation was not so big in number but still we think we did mark our presence this year. Return ride was on on 3 stops, that was fun. Some pics from RM 08.

RM 08

Project rebuild

2007-12-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

My old lady! Enfield 500 rebuild!

500 Rebuilt

Weekend Ride to Kalahati

2007-12-18T05:39:00.000-08:00

Nice ride, with a mix of chilly night/off road/small trek/campfire and pardy....... :D
Nov 24th - 25th

Kalahati

Silver-Bullets [TVM-Riders] 5th Anniv Ride

2007-12-18T05:25:00.000-08:00

Silver-Bullets 5th Anniversary ride to Mannavannor 35Kmts off kodai. I am not writing much. overall it was one hell of a ride with lots of rains! Around 20 riders, 3 from TVM and rest from Bangalore.
Oct 27,28,29

SB 5A Ride 2007

Riding to Leh this Summer?

2007-05-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

This summer I am not sure If I can make to Leh, due to some professional reasons have to stay away from India across the Atlantic.
I have enough free cycles this weekend and have been getting frequent requests from fellow rider brothers on routes and questions on how to ride to Leh. I hope to detail down the basic Leh-Srinagar-Manali-Delhi circuit which is of a 18 day ride and hope to answer most of the questions that will be helpful to the First time rider to Leh.
PS: The FIRST ride to the Leh is the BEST :-) one will never forget it!

Well I did ride to Leh twice (When I say Leh It means Khardung La is the Destination, the Highest Motorable Road in the World) and couple of times in Lahul and Spiti.

What motorcycle is the best for this kind of ride?
Anything with 2 wheels and a motor will do! I prefer the Royal Enfield with the AVL engines! (The one on the Thunderbird and the Machismo)

The itinerary.
One will need 18 days to cover the below mentioned route plan, or can cut short few places and reduce it to 15 days. I did manage with a 10 working day leave that works out with pre pending and appending the weekends and one sick Leave!

The Basic Route.
Delhi - Ludhiyana - Pathankot - Udhampur - Srinagar - Kargil - (Leh)
Leh - Nubra Leh
Leh Pangong Tso Leh
Leh - Sarchu - Manali - Changigarh - Delhi

Now if one is not from Delhi, the biggest hurdle is to get your Motorcycle to Delhi in good shape! There are 3 options.
1. Ride to Delhi
2. Use a Courier service
3. Indian Railways
Of the three I always use the advice to use the second option Use a courier service like Gatti or SpeedAge, I had a good experience with the speedage guys are they are reasonable. The Gatti and the SpeedAge office is at Okhla (Delhi) from where you go and pick up your motorcycle.

TIP: If there are more than 2 motorcycles then you can get a deal on them, you have to bargain a bit.
TIP: Carry fuel when you go to collect your motorcycle.
TIP: Take a Clutch and Brake Yoke In case it gets broken in transit.
TIP: While packing when you remove the rear view mirrors, losen the yoke on both sides a little so you have a better chance of saving it.

Lets get back to the Route now.

Leg1: Start as early as possible from Delhi, before you hit traffic in Delhi. Ride till evening and possibly stop before night, It is not really recommended to ride at night unless you are racing to get there. (Well the best part is the Journey itself, so forget about the destination and enjoy the ride) Get breakfast from some good dhaba near Panipat or Karnal. Well stay at Ludhiyana or ride further it depends on how much more daylight you have. Any ways there is no hurry so there is no real need to rush to Pthankot, but Its your call! Listen to your Butt and back :)

Leg 2: Start Day2 ride early, Its going to be fun as you will hit the mountains and will be riding the mountains for the next 15 days! The Leg2 can be done in 2 days or if you are starting from Pthankot you can do this in one day. At Pthankot you hit the mountains.
You really don't have to go to Jammu unless you really want to, or else you can take a deroute and reach Udhampur. Udhampur is a really nice cheap mountain town, now either you can stay at Udhampur or you can ride to Srinagar.
TIP: Do not ride to Srinagar too late, you will be asked so many questions by the cops and the Military.
One can spend a day at Srinagar at Dal (House Boat) it is worth it and don't forget to enjoy the food at Srinagar.

Leg 3: Srinagar - Kargil
Srinagar - Kargil is an awesome ride with two to three mountain passes to cross, the ZojiLa, FotuLa... make sure to start early, ZojiLa crossing is fun sometimes Military don't allow two way traffic, but make sure you cross ZojiLa as early as possible.

Places of interest on the way:
Mattayan: Kargil war base camp, lots of memorials. Pay your respect to these brave men.
Drass: Second Coldest Inhabited place in the World
Magnetic Hill: Optical Illusion (check that out yourself)

From Kargil if you have 2 days more then one can explore Zanskar Valley, Zanskar is tough nice offroad and beautiful valley. After Zanskar you have to ride back to Kargil stay down for the night and then start to Leh the next day.

Leg 4: The next ride would be around 280kmts from Kargil to Leh. I bet this would be one of the most enjoyable ride, amazing scenic road green mountains fades away to grey and brown.

Guess if you start early by around 6am one should be easily in Leh by 5pm with enough photo breaks. Enjoy the mountain kingdom, read some books on Leh and its history :)
Enjoy the food and hike to places of interest when in Leh, don't forget to try out Mutton Thuppa :)

Leg 5: Leh - Nubra Valley - Leh
On the Leh - Numbra route you will cross the Khargung La, the highest Motor-able road in the World. It is motly snowed all around the year.

TIP: Do not spend a lot of time at the KTop, headache hits soon because of lack of oxygen.
Ride down to Sumur and stay there, there is only one Hotel in Sumur, but mostly you will get a room to sleep there, No phone or cell phone range here till you reach back Leh.
Places to see around
Nubra desert: bactrian camels, high altitude desert sand dunes
Hot water Spring

Leg 6: Leh - Pangon Tso - Leh
Leh Pangon Tso is 150kmts, and no petrol pumps on the way so get your tank filled up to cover 300+kmts. You will cross the Mighty changLa en-route this is the Second highest Motorable Road in the World, a pretty tough challenging ride, get ready to see some snow at ChangLa.

TIP: Take the red route on the map below. Live Search gives you a longer route the blue one
Click to enlarge the map to see the place names. Spangmik does not have hotels, but one can find good cheap accommodation with homely food, in the village (well Spangmik village is just 5 houses ) I am not acting the spoil spot here, Pangong Tso is amazing! I cant explain one has to be there to see the mighty Pangong Tso.
Well one really cant go from Kharu to Sarchu directly, because of unavailability of fuel en-route, so you have to head back to Leh.

Leg 7: Leh - Sarchu - Manali This is a two day ride with night stay at Sarchu, ride with crossing most of the mountain passes fun ride, the most tough ones are the BaralachaLa and Rothang Jot. Rothang is the shortest of all but geuss what It is really unpredictable when it rains there and when it fogs up really bad.
TIP: Don't do Rothang at Night, mostly It is fogged up and the Fog is "dense"
TIP: Tent camps at Sarchu is bloody expensive, so you can ride down to Bharathpur 30kmts from Sarchu to find some good cheap Tent camps, check out for 'Kathmandu Cafe' this is the last one that you see in a stretch of tents. (They are good friendly people, When you are there tell them my name 'Jayan' ;) )

Live Search route map, pretty accurate

Leg 9: Manali - Delhi
and back to Delhi! end of trip!

General Tips:
Luggage: Cramser or Panniers
Carry a Took Kit
Learn to Repair/Replace a Flat tire
some help here Flat HOWTO
AMS: carry diamox (Don't worry, Taking this route has a slower ascend rather ascending from Manali, so chances of AMS is minute)
Headache AMS related ( Diamox + Disprin) take twice a day, not more than that. (But I will strongly advice you consult your Doc before the trip)

Some useful Address and Information

SpeedAge Express Cargo Services
Dooravani Nagar, K.R. Puram, Bangalore East
Bangalore - 560 016, Ph: 32934596, 080-28514702

Manali
Hotel Beas (HPMC)
Just near the Bridge across Beas River

The Dove Nest
Hotel & Restaurant
Solang Valley, Solang Bridge
Manali - 175131
Distt. Kullu (HP) India

Srinagar
Lucky Peacock (Houseboat)
Ph: 0194-2459323

Leh
Overland Escape (Adventure Tour - Travel)
Tundip Dorjey
P.O. Box: 25, Fort Road
Leh, 194101, Ladakh, India

Nazer Inexpensive Adventure
Nazer View Guest House
Old Road Leh - 194101 Ladakh (J&K) India
Tel 91-1982-53083

HOWTO: International Drivers Permit from India

2007-02-02T23:32:00.000-08:00

Wanted to share my experiences in getting an International Drivers Permit from an Indian RTO, well the procedure is really simple but the bureaucrats in the Govt office make is looks like an impossible task without a help of a middle man (an RTO agent/broker)

Mandatory documents required for the issue of an IDP from India.
1. A valid Indian Driving License
2. Passport with Visa stamped
3. Air Tickets (well an itinerary printout will do)
4. Medical certificate is required but I did not need it (I was not asked for one)
5. A fees of Rs 500/-
6. 3 Passport size photographs

Procedure:
My experiences with the Trivandrum (Kerala) RTO was not very pleasant, I had to spend 2 full days in the RTO office to get the work done. (Because I did not want to go through an Agent, Usually the Agent takes some amount of money extra and sometimes he demands for Rs1K extra, and says man I have to give this in the RTO office or else your work will take at least 5 working days. )First you have to go the helpdesk/PRO officer and ask him for a Form for IDP, after filling the form and pasting the photographs attach all the photocopy of the documents and give the form back to the PRO.
The PRO signs the Form and will ask you go and pay fees of Rs 500 at the cash counter.
Then submit the filled forms at the counter and he will give you a receipt.
The receipt will say which section did the file move to, you have to personally go to that section and ask the guy there that It is really important for you and please can you sign this for me.
The file then moves to the RTO desk.
Stand in a Q to see the RTO and get your documents verified (personally) He signs the document and then This file moves back the same guy on the previous section. This guy has to make your IDP, after that again this move to the RTO desk.
Again you have to stand in a Q to see the RTO to get it signed. (There is a good chance that the RTO will ignore you.. don’t lose heart, keep walking in front of his office and make sure that he sees you)
In my case the RTO got tired of my determination to get the IDP the same day, he called me in after making me wait for an hr and signed it for me :-)
Then you have to run behind the clerk who will take it to the Dispatch section.
That’s it.. collect it from the Dispatch and enjoy ...

ride/drive safe!
adios

Hampi.... The Lost Empire

2007-01-27T23:06:00.000-08:00

To the Ruins of Vijayanagara Empire.

No rides for the next three months for me :-( A small weekend ride to Hampi, the ruins of the mighty Vijayanagara Empire.
From the busy schedule in office and my travel plans abroad (for work) I managed to squeeze out a weekend for a ride with my buddies to Hampi. A quiet pleasant ride to Hampi and next day exploring Hampi was exciting. According to plan I had to ride back the same day doing a night ride to Bangalore 380Kmts, Parvez and Amit too joined me to ride back to Bangalore, Kamlesh and Shashi stayed back another Day in Hampi. Night ride was really cool except for Parvez's small toss rendering his bike in a non ridable condition to Bangalore, Parvez rode pillion with me to Bangalore and we left his bike at Hiriur near Shashi's home.

Hampi_Jan26_2007

2007 First Ride

2007-01-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

I was thinking of writing a trip log, but Kamlesh already did it so I am not repeating the same.. Silver-Bullets Bangalore chapter first ride with me, Shashi, Kamlesh and Vaas.

Lying between Shivanasamudra falls and Mekedatu falls is Bheemeshwari, A perfect picnic spot, but we were not interested in that, it was just the ride, breakfast, lunch and the ride back. The twisting roads were not properly banked resulting loosing rubber from my foot rests :)

Recollecting 2006

2006-12-31T00:38:00.000-08:00

Recollecting my 2005 31st December, was in between a ride TVM-Bangalore, did not do much just had a good sleep and early morning rode to Bangalore. I decided to spend the 31st Dec 2006 in Bangalore and I am here writing this log.
2006 was a trippy year for me lots and lots of them, starting with the TVM-Bangalore ride on 1st 2006.

1. TVM - Bangalore (Solo)

1.1 TVM - Ponmudi with Silver-Bullets

ponmudi

2. Bangalore - Ooty.

3. RiderMania 2006 Chennai [Bangalore-Chennai]
3 participants from Silver-Bullets
myself, Jay and Sarath

4. Leh [Delhi - Leh - Delhi]
myself, sojish and GK
The Ride of the year! amazing, Special thanks to Sojish and GK for making this ride possible. This was one of the BEST ride of my lifetime, and I really appreciate the quality time of 3weeks we spend together! kudoos to Sojish and GK.
And at last Sojish has completed the detailed log of the trip. *amazing* pretty long but a good read indeed.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Exposures From the Himalayas (2006)

5. BN Annual meet Goa [ Bangalore-Goa]
This one unforgettable how can I? 660kmts in 22hrs, heavy rains all day! thanks to all them who made it for the ride!
Thanks to Kamlesh for taking the lead at night and leading the group safely to Bangalore :)

BN Goa 2006

6. Kerala year ending trip [Bangalore - TVM]

TVM-BLore 2006

lot of miles!
hoping for a trippy 2007, but It wont be as trippy as 2006, have plans :)

--
ride hard!

Last Ride of 2006

2006-12-29T00:20:00.000-08:00

Vacations ending... :( Have to go back to work from Jan 2nd. We (me, Parvez, and Vasanth) are riding back to Bangalore from TVM. Vasanth and Parvez are in between a South India trip visiting Munnar, Iddiki etc..
Plans to ride to Bangalore tomorrow 30thDec.
will update from Blore
--
tchau

Xmas solo ride, Bangalore - TVM

2006-12-23T04:09:00.000-08:00

Year ending vacation approved. Urge to spend time at home was itching from the last year. Good reason to ride home! Got my Enfield 500 serviced and decided to ride to TVM excatly 720Kmts from my house in Blore to my Home.

Well no pictures taken on the ride, It was just a ride home, Started off at 6:00AM, breakfast at Dhramapuri, lunch at Kovai, evening tea at Cochin and at 8:30 PM I am in TVM, these were the only breaks taken en route, yeah a butt breaking ride, but enjoyable one.

Plans to ride back to Blore on 30th with some BNers. Will update as my vacation goes..

tchau
--
jsr

Travel

2006-11-26T22:41:00.000-08:00

Team outing? yeah one of those corporate drama of spending money at the cost of the customer's billed hours.

So what is traveling? Is that just traveling to some well known location and getting one photographed at various locations and subsequently upload them to a photo sharing site, share it with friends. Is that all travel is?

Traveling always amazed me but I hate being a tourist. When I think of my past, I never participated in class tours, never participated in a school excursion. I never understood why I used to hate them, but today when I am aware of my cognition, I am trying to reason those behavior. Maybe because I hated to be a part of the guided tour, or maybe because I wanted to travel to those places on my own.

When I go to a new place, I prefer to be the part of the place, to drink a bowl of Thuppa when in Leh or eat dosa and fish curry when I am in Kerala. So I travel for the heck of traveling, I know few of my acquaintance who really has travel in there blood and do it in a spiritual level. I am sure that majority of the travelers are pseudo travelers and I am sure It takes a lot to authentically say that "I love to travel", I am yet to discover that.

tchau

My new acquisition

2006-11-07T08:38:00.000-08:00

Finally the search is over! bought a Royal Enfield Bullet 500 1999 model from a friend of mine.

Description--
1999 Royal Enfield Bullet 500
Brembo Disc Brakes
Classic Military Crash bar
Single Seat
Goldie exhaust system
Rear Carrier

some pics

500

Goa Logs

2006-10-06T00:10:00.000-07:00

Bangalore - Goa was a breeze! halted at Udipi, met with the Silver Bullets and rode together to Goa. Return leg Goa - Bangalore was bit messy. Rain ride from Goa to Shimoga. i.e around 9hrs of rain ride after 4-5 hrs of heavy rain even my FieldSheer was leaking and the Duckback rain gear also gave up. Completely soaked and had to ride 22hrs to get back to Bangalore. but it was fun....
some pics of the ride ..

BN Goa 2006

and some more from pacha's DSLR
http://picasaweb.google.com/pqrshanth/BNMeetGoa

Goa...

2006-09-28T04:21:00.000-07:00

We nine Nomads from Bangalore are riding to Goa tomorrow! Finally the wait is over for a motorcycle ride after the long Himalayan ride. October 2nd is a holiday, long weekend always calls for a Ride. Goa around 20 Nomads.. and lots of fun :)
As planned we meet with with guys from SBMC at Udipi and then ride to Goa on 30th.

Back in Blore on 2ndOct evening.. till then

tchau!

Nostalgia

2006-09-25T00:36:00.000-07:00

When I went home last week, I found loads of old photographs and decided to purchase a Scanner. Well I bought myself a new HP scanner and this is what I scanned last night. I am thinking of making things more organized, scanning all the old pics and uploading them.

Oldies

Sep 19, 2006 - 13 Photos

The above pics are from the Munnar Trip with my friends Pradeep and Venu, I am not sure what year did we do that trip. Looking at my somewhat fertile head at that time I think it is somewhere in 1999 or 2000. I remember that was a Onam weekend we rode to Munnar Tea Gardens from Trivandrum.

Some more trip pics when I used to work/trip in chandigarh. Those were some of the great trips of my life, no plans just ride. I could not afford a riding jacket/boots but used to have fun in the cold clims with just a T shirt and a local jacket, that was too a kind of raw fun :)

Oldies 2

Sep 19, 2006 - 10 Photos

BN Sunday Breakfast ride

2006-09-10T00:13:00.000-07:00

BN Bangalore breakfast ride to A1 Plaza near Hosur.
I was surprised to see 6 Nomads near the Nandi Toyota showroom at 6:45am. We (myself, Prithivi and Sasidhar) reached by 6:45. I was expecting everyone to line up at maybe 7 or worse 7:30, but this is really great riding sprint man... all on time and we started off at 7:00am.
Good breakfast and rode to Shulagiri, a nice little village.. and back to Bangalore by 12:30.
Shulagiri..
Bangalore Nomads.. (I think Kalmesh has a better picture.. )
some more pics

BN Annual Meet Goa plans

2006-09-03T23:53:00.000-07:00

Got my motorcycle, got it serviced, changed the Chain and Sprokets and some minor adjustments here and there.. Getting geared up for the Goa Ride!
Plans: Ride from Bangalore to Goa, enroute catch up with Jay and Anil Riding from TVM maybe at Udipi and ride together to Goa.

Himalayan Motorcycle Expedition 2006

2006-08-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

The only Zen you find on tops of mountains is the Zen you bring there
- Robert M. Prisig

Riders
Jayan S R (aka JSR), Sojish, Gopakumar (GK)

Machines
JSR – Royal Enfield Bullet Machismo 2005 with minor modification for the trip ceat secura sports front tire 3.25 - 19, and Goldie free flow exhaust system.
GK – Royal Enfield Bullet STD 350 2005 stock.
Sojish – Hero Honda Karizma 2002 stock

Ride Itinerary
Delhi -> Pthankot -> Srinagar -> Kargil -> Leh
Leh -> Nubra -> Panamik -> Hunder and back to Leh
Leh -> Pangong Tso -> Spngmik and back to Leh
Leh -> Manali -> Sarchu -> Chandigarh -> Delhi

Total Distance: 3500Kmts
Number of Days: 18

One starts to enjoy and love the mountains from the second trip. The first trip to Leh is always filled with surprises amazement and wilderness. The second trip is like you expect things and you know how the weather behaves and you can expect how the next hairpin bend is banked, you know how AMS feels….

My first trip was amazing in every sense, suffered fatigue and AMS, one day completely blacked off at Pang. I don’t even remember how many hrs I slept at Pang. But I did make lot of friends on the way and they remember me even today :-)

At 1pm Aug 5 2006, we are still stuck in Delhi’s maddening traffic, somehow we managed to get out of Delhi and reached Panipat for lunch at a decent dhaba. Our night halt was planned at Pthankot or Samba that was little ambitious to ride around close to 500kmts. We were all blasting we were at 100+Kmph most of the time on the 4 lane GT Karnal road. We were riding in formation myself, sojish and GK..

Just 25 Kmts from Ambala suddenly GK was missing from my rear view, we slowed down and finally stopped and called him. bad news. he said his bike just stopped and he hear lot of clatter after starting it again.. Boom I had a suspicion that did it seize. Or something really bad has happened to his engine. We checked the manual for the nearest RE service station and Ambala had one. Those guys there are really fast and were eager to fix the bike and let us continue the ride in fact some of the guys there was a part of Himalayan Odyssey backup team. They stopped there other work and changed the cylinder block and pistons in just half an hr. We are back on the roads but were riding slow, and scrapped our plans to reach Pthankot and decided to ride till 11:00pm and stop where ever we reach by that time, and we reached Ludhiyana at 12:30 since I got a flat tire on the way at 11:00pm.

That was once incident packed day 1 which will demoralize most of the first time riders and put one down, but we were strong to get along with the ride now slow and steady.

We planned to do Ludhiyana to Udhampur and it was a breeze with no major hiccups, we reached Udhampur by evening 6pm, Udhampur is a small town on the mountains. We found some good and cheap accommodation for a night and some good beer. We were so lucky that the day we reached Udhampur rains have stopped :) it was raining since the past 10 days in Udhampur.

We started from Udhampur early in the morning to Srinagar, This was too an action packed day, caught another puncture off 180kmts from Srinagar, it took us an hr to fix the puncture. As we started to ride the mountains we were stopped by 2 other bikers Max and Torson they got a flat tire, stopped there talked to them shared biking stories etc. after getting the flat rectified Oh where is the fscking wheel nut ???? damm we lost it.. Great what else do you need on a mountain top. Max left to the near village to find a wheel nut and we started to ride again towards Srinagar.

Met Max and Torson at Srinagar and we hired a house boat on Dal Lake for a day in Srinagar. We needed some rest too after 3 days of riding. Next day we were just fooling around in the house boat doing nothing. The House Boat guys asks “Aapko yaha kuch dekhna nahai hai?? Yahin pade rahoge?”

Day 6 we were ready to ride. Started off early and reached Kargil with enough sun light to spare :-) Srinagar Kargil ride was awesome lots of mountains, The greens fading away to brown and grey mountains. We saw the Tiger Hills where the Kargil war occurred, met some of the Army folks. (Indian Army We salute you!!!) and lots of memorials [we stopped and spend some time at most of the memorials. and paid out respect to the men who lost there yesterdays for our today] We just passed through Drass, Drass is a very small mountain village in fact Drass is the the Second coldest inhabited place in the World, minimum temperature recorded is -60 is 1995.

Kargil – Leh was the one of the best Leg of the Ride, myself and sojish were ripping to glory on the mountains. The roads were good! On the last leg to Leh we were almost always in the 90 – 110 kmph range. Sojish too got the feel of the mountain roads. So We were ripping. Sojish is more of a traveler rather a Biker, but myself I am a hard core biker who can fix bikes and like to get my hands dirty and I love to travel yes but the seeing places/ride is like 40/60 for me. But somehow the Himalayan mountains caught somewhere inside me that is the reason why I am here the second time. We stopped at some 45kmts to Leh and was waiting for GK to catch up. We spend some time there enjoying the Himalayan planes and surrounding mountains. Not a single green (I love that) and all shades of Grey. Took some photos and left to Leh.

I was really happy to see the amazement and wildness in the faces of Sojish and GK that we made it to Leh. We stopped again at the first sight of the BRO boards saying “Welcome to Leh”. We were all so happy and had the sense of achievement of reaching Leh after the action packed ride. GK was till nursing his dislocated knee, but he was feeling better after he saw the welcome board.

Reached Leh and I had mixed emotions because I see Airtel hoardings on the way, 2 lane roads, hmm the place is getting modernized… but I loved the old leh which I visited in 2003. Narrow roads a very small town. BTW our roaming did not work, we went to the AirTel office to inquire they said that it is a new Cell circle and roaming do not work. I know exactly why it did not work being in wireless telecom business 2 years gave me enough gyyan :) So we did not argue with them. I was happy though because my roaming did not work.

Checked in at Sidharthat guest house, he is my old friend from the last visit, shared some riding stories and his, how is business grew in the past 3 years. I really love the simple life of the people in Leh. (below is the view of Leh town from Santhi Stupa)
Next day was a rest day in Leh, We explored Leh did some shopping bought some souvenirs from Tibetan market. Rode to shanti stupa. Shanti Stupa is a nice little monument on a mountain which has a complete view of the Leh valley.

Nubra Valley and Hunder Desert
Our next destination was Nubra valley. Nubra valley is an amazing place, Sand dunes bactrian camels surrounded by snow capped mountains, can you believe that? It was a surpise to Sojish, I really loved the look at Sojish’s face when he first saw the sand dunes. Nubra region comprises of the valley and the Shyok rivers, both above and below there confluence. The two rivers meander lazily in this broad and fertile valley, often you see shifting channels in the sandy bed flowing North west to join Indus in Baltistan.

The altitude if this valley is at around 10,000ft/3050m, This valley expands to both the river banks at Hunder and Panamik.

The challenge reaching Nubra is crossing Khardung La(The highest motorable road in the World some groups argue that MLa is the highest but it is not motorable), at 18,380ft/5600m The weather was great when we reached Khardung it was all snowed and freezing wind chill was high, since we were all acclimatized we did not have AMS, but I had a slight heavy head because of the rarified air. The view from Khardung La is just awesome one can see all the way over the Indus valley and the Zanskar range.

Some gyyan on Nubra

Nubra means green. This lovely and fertile valley was originally part of the trade route between Tibet and Turkstan. It was the envy of the rulers of Turkistan who tried to capture it several times. With the best climate in Ladakh, fruits like apples, apricots walnuts are abundant here, also ample grain and mustard.

We stayed in Sumur, Sumur is so small there is only one hotel. We stayed there it was very basic but clean and homely. The guy asked me “Aap kya khaoge?” I told him Namkeen Chai, Ladhaki roti aur makkan(butter). He was surprised aap namkeen chai loge? Phir to sahi hai :-)

Namkeen Chai – (Salt Tea) brew made from some herbs and yak butter.

There was no power at that place, I asked the guy there. Bhai, yeh bijili kab aayaga? I was surprised with his answer, “Sirji, ek mahine se yahan bijiji nahi hai.. pata nahi kab aajega” LOL..

Next day morning we head to explore Nubra, went to Hunder and the sand dunes explored places, took a camel ride in the sand dunes. And we left to Leh, climbing Khardung La from the Nubra side is tougher than from the Leh side, because here the curves are more steep and long sweeping ones.

Worse part was it started to hail at the time when we started, temperatures were like in the -10 degs with pretty good wind chill. That ride was really unforgettable my secura soprts were good, but Sojish was skidding sliding all the way and fingers were paining because of the extreme cold. We made it to Leh sound and safe.

Pangong Tso (Hollow Lake)
Tso means Lake in Tibetan and pronounced as ‘so’
Our Next destination is the world famous Pangong Tso. Pangong Tso is 140kmts long salt water high altitude lake at 14,500ft/4420m. It is also called as the land locked sea. 40Kmts of Pangong is in India and rest angles into Tibet. This is a military area and permits are necessary to visit this place. Tourists are not allowed beyond Spangmik village that lies 7kmts from the head of the Lake.

The major challenge to reach Pangong Tso is the the mighty Chang La (Chang La is the third highest mountain pass in the world) situated at 17800ft/5425m ChangLa is always snowed and freezing as this day when we crossed it. There is a major nala( stream) to cross en route. If one is brave enough then you can cross it or else you can detour some 6kmts where you find a small bridge to cross, and we did that, I didn’t want me and my bull to be washed away by the fury of Indus.

This time Pangong Tso was not in its full glory because of the cloudy weather, usually one could find the lake resembling a clear sheet of glass perfectly reflecting the glory of the mountains. Actually the mood of the Pangong Tso changes dramatically every now and then. This time it was more of a Turquoise green in the evening and early morning it was bluish.

We decided to ride on the banks of Pangong Tso to Spangmik and camp there No paved roads to Spangmik that was awesome, just ride on the banks of Pangong Tso. We reached Spangmik I had an impression that it was a village, but no just 4 to 5 houses. We stayed at a Shepard’s house. I was touched by the simplicity of the life those guys lead, there have there own small wheat field and lots of sheep, what else do you need to live? Bread butter and meat

Spangmik has no electricity no water supply (drinking water is from courtesy the snow capped mountains) Indian Army has a small school which has till class 9th, after that the children go to Leh to peruse higher studies, and to most of the kids I spoke had had only one dream to join the Indian Army. I could see the glitter in there eyes and the determination to join the Army I admire those kids…

We spend lots of time at Spangmik the next day talking to them and trying to explain from where we come from. And also tried to explain how large the sea is. Those people have never seen the sea or planes. I promised them to send pictures of the sea and the city.

Rode back to Leh and and reached by evening. Rested well had some beer and bid adieu to the people we made friends with and promised to see them next year.

Leh - Sarchu - Manali - Delhi
Our next leg of the journey was the return trip to Delhi via Manali. The route was the usaual one which I have traveled twice Leh – Sarchu – Manali – Delhi. This route is doable in 3 days and we did the same.

Early morning wake up and all set to go, then Sojish realizes that the ATM has run out of cash. And these days they don’t give money of Indian credit cards. Fortunately I had some $25 with me. We went and changed it to Rs and we tanked up. Leh Sarchu ride we were taking it easy started eary from Leh and myself and Sojish were again in blast mode, we blasted till Upshi for some 50Kmts. After than Tanlang La, Baracha La, Lachung La was all a breeze. Stopped to quick snaps and rode. More Plains is all washed away this time, routed on more plains some good offroading and we reached Pang.

Pang tent camps were fun, which was the place where we were hit by AMS last time. I was drinking tea and having some Maggie then I hear a voice from behind, “App pahahe bhi yahan par aaye na, aur mere tent pe rahe thee.” I was amazed to know that they still remember me. I then went to there tent had some namkeen chai and talked about things that I was doing these years and they shared there stories. [BTW Sojish has a different version of this story, which is more interesting. LOL]

After Pang we are going to hit Sarchu by evening according to plan, we start off from there to Sarchu. Sarchu is in Himachal Pradesh and that is where we leave J&K and enter HP. Sarchu is beautiful in its own, Rocky Mountains and lonely place to give you a perfect eerie feeling (as Sojish says) but I don’t feel eerie but I just love the Rocky Mountains and reminds me of Tolkien’s Rocky Mountains.

We have planned to stay at Sarchu’s HP tourism tent camp, and when we reached Sarchu there was no tent camp this time by HP tourism. I thought to myself ‘Great now ride 30 more Kmts of mountains in the night to reach the next tent camp’ It was already 7pm by that time and was getting dark. There is no other option either camp or ride 30kmts, camping was not easy because we did not have food and It was very windy and cold. So we decided to ride to a place near to zing zing bar (that is the next place where we can get some tent accomodation)

Crossing streams at night is tough and scary at times. We somehow made it to the next tent camp at Kathmandu Café [I remember this place very well, and know the people there] Do you believe this? Tesring even remember my name after 3 years, and we had only met once. That was really touching. Had namkeen tea some Maggie and slept off in the windy night. This place is actually on a mountain pass (Baralacha La) and quiet high at an altitude close to 4800mts. (Here is a pic of Kathmandu Cafe and my friends, these are the nicest people I met!)
Woke up next morning and treked to a near by mountain for the nature’s call. Bread and fried eggs for breakfast and started off to ride to Manali. Roads were lunar at many places stretching to more than 50 kmts. I got fedup after some time stood on the footrest and blasted offroad.

Checked in a Beas hotel, and next day ride to Chandigarh, met some old friends in chandigarh. Chandigarh Delhi ride was mundane, I hate plains :-) reached Delhi by afternoon, shipped the bikes and flew in kingfisher the next day to Bangalore.

Reached office the next day and started the mundane work again. This weekend I spend most of the time doing laundry cleaning my riding boots and jackets. I am eagerly waiting for my bike…

That was one hell of a ride I loved every moment of it, every puncture every mountain and all the valleys. Maybe next time we will make it again to mountains Leh, Zanskar, Spiti or maybe Nepal and Katmandu to meet Tesring, since He has invited me to his place in Nepal, and I bet I will have a very warm welcome there...

Day by day trip log at : jsrleh2006.blogspot.com
Some more pics at: jsrleh2006.fotopic.net

tchau.
Happy riding!

First Leh Ride

2002-09-13T03:11:00.000-07:00

[have been thinking to put the logs and pictures of my first most memorable motorcycle trip for long, now today since I have got nothing better to do here is the trip and pics all in one place]

Chandigarh - Leh- Chandigarh
Riding the Himalayas

Day 1 - 24th Aug2002
It was 6:30am we are at Nalagarh, 50kmts from Chandigarh, having tea. It is not cold, but one feels comfortable in jackets. Riding to the the Highest Motorable Road in the World, KhardungLa is 48kmts form Leh.

Plan was something like, Day one ride Chandigarh to Manali covering 320kmts, thought we will take a shortcut country road to Sunder Nagar and then join the Manali Highway. That was not a great idea thought, road were very narrow, hilly and at some places roads were nonexistent. Himachal Tourism hotel was booked in Manali. Second Day Plan was to ride from Manali to Sarchu, Himachal J&K border. At Sarchu we were planning to pitch tents. This leg we had to cover 240kmts. Day three planed was Sarchu - Leh 260kmts.

Myself, Bijesh and Pradeep were riding on two motorcycles a Yamaha RXZ and a Suzuki Shogun. I was on my Shogun riding and Pradeep was pillion, Bijesh riding alone. We halted at Sunder Nagar to have some breakfast, we had some bread and eggs. and then Left to Manali. We reached Manali by 5:30pm. The weather was just fine no rains, pretty sunny but not warm either. We had booked rooms in the Himachal Tourish hotel in advance, Hotel Beas. I was feeling feverish, because of a sore throat. Popped some Nimislude and and slept off.

Day Two 25thAug

Woke up at around 5:30am, I was feeling much better and was ready to ride. From Manali the real trip starts. I saw a slack in in my chain, so I adjusted my chain and checked to RXZ's chain hat was also picking up some slack. I readjusted the air mixture of my carburettor to cope with the altitude lack of oxygen. The Weather is very unpredictable here, We were hoping that we wont meet the rain gods on the way. thought we had full protection, all the luggage was packed in waterproof material and had good rain coats and Gum Boots. But still it is a pain riding the winding roads wet in freezing temperatures. From Manali we see a board BRO roads begins here, and the Climb begins to Rothang La. The first mountain pass that you will come across. It is 51kmts from Manali. As the ascend started Bijesh's RXZ started giving problems because of lack of atmospheric oxygen, It started sputtring badly and was not at all climbing. We unpacked the luggages took of the tools and I started adjusting the Carburettor, tried all the permutations and combinations but still it was sputtring, but much better that before. We did not have a spare Smaller Jet, So I had no idea what to do. So we started from there to Rothang, Because of the Bike we were late by 2 hrs than schedule. (But motorcycle trips are about breakdowns, the what if this happens, what if you pick up a flat) riding ain't fun on a BMW with two trucks as backup)

Had Aloo Paranthas for breakfast from a Dhaba at Rothang, Saw a Army convey to Leh, met a guy from Trivandrum too. He came running when he saw the KL registration on my motorcycle. We talked to him for some time and then we left to Keylong. Keylong is the only next town that you will see until you reach Leh, We were hoping to find a mechanic to fix the carb. The next is you see a board at Tandi, Next filling station is 360kmts from here! We topped up our pertol tanks and also the spare cans of 6lts each that we were carrying. We reached Keylong the mechanic did not have spare small jet, but he had an idea to put some copper wire in the jet so that I will lean the mixture. Viola It worked, We were happy and were riding again from there.

I was really tired by that time. We had lunch from Keylong, and left for Sarchu, which was again 150kmts. rode for couple of hours the Road is really not there in this section after Darcha, We started from Darcha and the weather was changing it was getting chilly and dark, We had no other option other than to ride to sarchu so that we can find some accommodation. Switched on my 65 watts halogen and started to ride very slowly, the roads were climbing and there is no tar on the road just broken rocks. I was just cautious that I don't get a puncture by the sharp rocks. Stopped at around 8:00pm at Kathmandu dhaba that is 26kmts from Sarchu. As soon as I stopped my Bike I was feeling dizzy, this was because of the low air pressure and lack of Oxygen. This is the same place where Sachin Rao(BS Motoring, his article on the Leh ride did help us a lot on this trip) stayed. We talked to them about Sachin and all of them knew him very well and they became so friendly that even refused to take the bill for our tea and snacks. So we offered them the Sweets that we purchased from Chandigarh, It was really a nice feeling to meet such friendly people.

They Advised us not to proceed since the Road is blocked because of a glacier melt and broke on the road, It is dangerous to go at night, and offered us a night's stay. We were in a mood that we reach Sarchu and left. That was the biggest mistake we did, After half way there was water on the Road and on close examination we found it was not mud rather ice. We got scared stopped the bike and found that the road ahead is slushy till the knee with ice, water and mud. I was almost panting due to lack of oxygen, same was with Pradeep and Bijesh. We made up our mind to start to sarchu and started to move the bike slowly and we took 2 hrs to cover 18kmts. We reached Sarchu by 10:30pm, exhausted. My legs were shivering because the effort made to control the motor through the mud. just woke up the tent guys had Rajma Roti and just dozed off without even taking off my jacket and riding kit.

Day 3

Woke up at around 6:00am, The last night's ride was real tiring. We were feeling sort of ok and made up mind to ride, ate breakfast, packed luggage and left Sarchu hoping to make it to Leh, Leh is another 260kmts from sarchu. We entered the Himalayan Planes, the scenic beauty of this place is just great. Saw the board Gatta Loops starts here. Now we were again climbing steeply to TanglangLa (The second highest mountain pass in the World) the climb was really tough. I could feel the lack of oxygen due to heavy panting. I was like gasping for some breath. Pradeep and Bijesh were riding ahead. We were descending again the Gatta Loops, and saw Bijesh and Pradeep stopped, I too parked the motorcycle, Bijesh was not feeling well he started vomiting. I was thinking hope it does not get worse and we make it to Leh. We exhausted water, so filed out bottles from a nearby stream, drank lots of water popped up a Diamox, and started. After an hour again vomiting got worse for Bijesh and he was entering unconsciousness. We just made it to Pang. It is 85kmts from sarchu. Pang has some tent camps! We went in a tent ordered tea and I just fell on the bed. Suddenly my head was paining like hell. Felt someone was pulling my hair. The aunty in the tent made us salt tea, and said you will feel better. I was lying down the bed and could see Bijesh vomiting again, It was getting worse. He even vomited the diamox!. Even Pradeep was sort of unconscious and was laying down. It was evening now, and said to Pradeep, We will stay here tonight and proceed tomorrow. Karma a small kid in the tent suggested that there is Army camp near by, we will go and see the Doc, He will give you Dispirin. Myself, Pradeep and Karma proceeded to the Doc. He was really nice, Checked out oxygen level in the Blood. Pradeep's level was ok, mine was bit low. He said not to worry and gave us medicines. We took medicines for Bijesh too. Woke up Bijesh and gave him medicines, He vomited that too. That was bad sign, anyway we forced him to eat something and made him drink lots of water, and dozed off hoping it will be better tomorrow. This place is real cold. We were covered in two blankets and a Razzai, but still Bijesh was shivering. The Aunty was so generous that she came and covered him with a another Razzai.

Day 4

I woke up at 6:00am, That was a good sign I thought. The headache was gone but there still was some dizzyness. I had some tea. There is no toilets in Pang, There is river behind said Karma. It was chilly in the morning with a slight drizzle. I took some hot water in a bottle and went to the River Bank. Pradeep and Bijesh woke up and was havnig tea by the time I came back. They were feeling much better. We took breakfast and tea. Got things packed by 10:00am and started to Leh. I was riding alone and Pradeep was riding the RXZ. I stopped on the way to take some snaps. Had a smoke and then again rode, We covered 45kmts and reached Upshi. Had some tea, took more snaps and left to Leh. From here we enter the Himalayan Planes, just beautiful. Pradeep was riding ahead but I coud see him at a distance. I saw Bijesh waving both his hands like he found something. We saw the Welcome to Leh board!! Viola We made it. We reached Leh by 4:00pm took the first Hotel, unpacked and I was thinking of a hot water bath (after 4 days). Took a hot water bath and we all rested for some time. Bijesh had to see a Doctor to get some medication, his condition was not very good, Nausia and headache was still there, We stood for 2 hrs in the line to see the Doc. He gave prescription took medicines and Bijesh dozed off. Myself and Pradeep went out to have Dinner. We planned what to see around Leh the next day, and slept off....

Day5 : Next day myself and Pradeep set out to explore Leh while Bijesh decided to take a day off at Leh in the hotel and relax. We set out to explore Leh do some shopping and return back by evening to the hotel.

Day6: We rode to Khardung La
Day 7, 8, 9 11:
Was spend in a relaxing ride back to Chandigarh. Well this was one of the most beautiful ride that I cherish in my riding history!

Even today when myself and Bijesh get together we somehow end up talking about this ride and all the fun we had.

Pic: Bijesh, Pradeep and Myself

Rest of the picture gallery