Fire in my belly started when two of my close friends started discussing about Leh Ladakh some 8 years ago and they did make it some two years later and the fire kept burning like an Olympic torch till the date I kept on date with the Himalayas
I was waiting for the right moment to make it happen and kept all the doors opened when I got the knock on the door from Dr baskar gang through Dr Saravanan and dr Muthukumar
We made the initial preparations before COVID in 2018 but the COVID got it over all the aspirations for next three years
and we finally could think it could happen in September 2022 thanks to the perseverance of few members including myself. All these long years, keep motivating myself by reading travel magazines and overdrive magazines…simply amazed by little girls taking big bikes and big guys riding Scooty and making it to the highest motorable roads in daunting conditions.
And the dawn happened somewhere in the June -July 2022 and all the preparations started taking place with booking flight tickets .
Our itinerary was for eight days and it included a flight from Coimbatore to Chandigarh through bangalore and from Chandigarh to Manali by tempo traveller and from there to Leh Ladakh by bike and car and the return is direct flight from Leh to Delhi and Coimbatore
Day1
We started from CBE airport on 28 th of August with a nice breakfast from Annapoorna hotel in airport.
We made it to Chandigarh by 2pm and we got into the streets in no time after having pani poori and hot tea from Chandigarh airport
We knew it was a planned city by le corbusier and the city swears by its reputation of clean and happiest city. Tall trees on either side and roads divide perpendicularly and the roads were straight as a dart. But the climate was horrible..sizzling hot temperature around 45 degree in winter months is unimaginable. We thought that erode weather was better than Chandigarh and keep muttering to ourselves of having made a wrong choice
The moment, we crossed Mohali, and entered Himachal, the climate changed drastically from sizzling hot to salubrious cool weather and all the agony just whittled away as we kept moving on to Himachal
The water gushing out of the canals in HP were turquoise blue and everywhere there is green and made our moods beam with joy. We had a delayed lunch at hilltop restaurant in Bilaspur ,HP where the mists shrouded the restaurant Although the food was costly and service poor, the ambience of the hotel made for all the mishaps
We started towards Manali and the journey was nothing but exhilarating. The roads were in bad condition with lot of potholes and the roads bore the brunt of mudslides, cloudbursts and sogging of water due to heavy rains,, Himachal is most vulnerable to the natural disasters and we were a testimony to it,
For every 100 odd metres, there is either a tea shop or punjabi dhaba or wine shop which festoons the roads and it does not look like a normal ghostly ghat road we used to in our part of country, but full of energy and fervour with truckers and tourists plying and preying on the roads shops,
And then we crossed the mandi,there was a underground tunnel through which we crossed mandi
At about 2AM, the markets were lively, loading and unloading hundreds of apples, the hub of apples market. Then we crossed Kullu at about 2:30 AM but we missed the beautiful Kullu as it was dark,, we could hear only the water gushing in the Beas river where the river rafting begins, abd finally at about 3am, we reached Manali, a distance of 300 kms covered in 12 hours, and we were left in the lurch with the luggage.
Somehow, we made it to the hotel which is some 1km from the main roads. It was pitch dark conditions and even the friends who were ahead a few metres away could not be seen but we could hear the lovely gushes of water everywhere,. The rooms at sri Krishna palace was more than what we could ask and had only four hours to sleep and we dozed off in nice ambience
Day 2
Today we planned to start to Leh by mid noon after a short trip to Manali market. Had a morning tea and went around the hotel to see beautiful places. As we heard the gushing sound of water in the midnight, we went to see streams of water flowing through the resort and enjoyed its beauty and soaked our legs in the cleanest of waters. Next to our campus, we saw lovely apple orchards teaming with apples. We jumped over the fence and poached and pounced on the apples before being warned.True to its adage, though the idol is small, the frame is too big…, the small apple tree holds hundreds of apples in its tree.
After a small visit to Manali market, we proceeded to keylong. 
Today is a short journey… hope to cover 80 odd kms to keylong via Atal tunnel and take rest. The group of 16 is divided into four groups with our group taking the Innova and the rest of them have eight bikes and an SUV with the guide leading the bikers in his RE and a reserve SUV toeing behind all of us. What an arrangement!
On the way to Atal tunnel, in Manali, there was a point where the highest Zipline was perched. We went there and two of us took the risk of cruising along the zipline and thoroughly enjoyed a 2 km two way ride in the highest place.
We were entering the Atal tunnel and it was a matter of pride for the proud Indians. The tunnel was 9.2 kms long and was covered in 15 mts and provides all weather connectivity to Manali and keylong bypassing Rohtang pass and cutting short the distance travellled by 2 hours.On exiting the Atal tunnel in the north point from Manali, we could see the huge Chandra river flowing majestically through the Himalayan wilderness
On the way to keylong, just few kms off the tunnel, we could see the tent stay which was quite picturesque. We were asked to stay in that beautiful place but we opted for keylong as it is at a higher altitude so that we could acclimatise better.
Keylong, at 10000 metres above sea level, is the first place for acclimatisation.Keylong is a small town but houses lot of government offices and schools and to reach our resort, we have to trudge along our vehicle in the tiniest roads . Quite a decent hotel to stay in such a high altitude . Had a nice dinner with campfire in chilling conditions besides the apple orchards.
Day 3
The morning dawned and so our tryst with apple trees. Here the orchard wast owned by the hotel management and we pounced on apples and clicked photos and warmed up for a long long journey towards Leh . We planned to cover some 250kms to reach tsokar from keylong and everyone getting ready for a tiring battle. Of the 250 kms to be covered today, approximately one third would be offroader with trails of sandstone, pots,mud , slush and streams, in full flow crossing the road… , and so need to be extra careful in crossing the roads.
We would be crossing some three high motorable roads and got strict instruction from the team not to alight from the car wherever we wish and to strictly follow the group as the high passes can make us sick due to lack of oxygen and may warrant some medical assistance .
On the way to tsokar from keylong, we crossed an important bridge, which is the longest bridge ,called Darcha bridge across the river Baga, built by BRO under the project Deepak.
Starting from Keylong, we saw two beautiful lakes …one is Deepak tal , with crystal clear water and surrounded by barren mountains, it looked awesome. We acquainted with few foreigners and localities. Immersed in the beauty of the place, we tasted momos and coffee.
Next stop is Suraj Tal, which was also beautiful and a sight to hold . These two lakes are just beneath the baralacha la, from where two rivers Chandra and Baga originated and these two merge together downstream. Baralacha la is 15900 feet above MSL . We could see the glaciers, atop the pass, melting and giving rise to steady stream of rivers, a beautiful sight in fact. We needed more than two eyes to capture and behold the beauty that the Himalayas offered.
Initially we planned to stay in Jispa which is 20 kms from Keylong. Since the accommodation was not that good, we changed to keylong;other option was to stay in Sarchu, the notorious spot for AMS, due to its higher altitude and the stay was in a tent….we rejected both and opted for Keylong and the choice seemed to be right as no one suffered from symptoms of AMS till then, though our oxygen saturation hovered around 92 to 94%. Everyone was comfortable till then.
From baralachala and two exquisite lakes, we proceeded towards sarchu and reached around 1pm .. the way was full of tents in sarchu . Played havoc in some persons in the form of AMS.. we got into one of the nice dhabas in sarchu for lunch. The beauty of these Dhabas is that they have the beds to lie and we could lie down and take rest before embarking on higher altitude passes .
After a heavy meal( we got noodles, omelette,aloo paratra) we started towards Nakeela and lachunlung la. We had to cross the steep ascending gata loops, which had 21 hairpin bends. Reached Nakee la,(altitude of 15547 feet). Clicked a few snaps and again headed to another high pass,Lachungla, (altitude of 16616 feet). 
Both these high passes did not have much effect on us other than mild headache and nausea. We cruised from one stop to another with ease.
Roads were desolate, mountains were barren with change of hue from brown to black, and mud to metallic green and various shades throughout. vegetations were unheard of here and people were not seen anywhere and we saw only the occasional heavy trucks plying. Tarmac roads were great at times and we laid down on the road admiring the beauty of the Himalayas
As we gain heights and increasing altitudes and with oxygen dropping in the atmosphere, we all started to have pinch of it, headaches become throbbing, saturation kept dropping, nausea kept irritating and temperatures started soaring in us, we could all feel something happening to us. Was it due to AMS or the acetozolamide we started taking from day 2? No idea..But symptoms started to worsen Next stop was at pang which was at an altitude of 15500 feet,. Had coffee and snacks with constant headaches( may be a symptom of cerebral edema, which is the main feature of AMS). The roads from pang to debring was a bikers ’ delight...Beautiful Tarmac roads with literally no traffic and barren lands everywhere. There was “nothing but the wind” in the roads. Carmakers in Autobahn would love to test the cars and Schumacher’s would vouch to drive here.. such an absolute delight of about 80 kms at a stretch by roads. We hardly find a place in our cities , back home, to play cricket or football.. come to Leh with extreme fitness and you are bound to have boundless space on either side of the road to show your mettle,, It is heavenly around Leh and Ladakh. At debring, we took a right turn to Tsokar away from the Leh road. Need to travel around 20 odd kms to our druke hotel at Tsokar. As everywhere, the roads were desolate and we were bound to take an off router as the roads were being laid. And it was getting dark and cold, we went on and on and never reached our hotel. We were lost and we found ourselves in a No man’s area with pitch dark and extreme cold. Nothing but darkness.. no lights… no men.. no hope,,, we were stranded for almost half an hour after travelling about half an hour in a no man ‘s area,,Saw one vehicle gleaming towards us and asked them for help and soon got to know that we were completely lost . Took a U turn backward and Travelled half an hour to reach our hotel with severe headache and extreme cold and dropping saturation .Though We were all fully armoured with thermals, fleece, down jacket, jerkins, monkey cap, baclava,gloves, woollen socks and shoes. All these seem to have little effect on us and everyone gasped for oxygen , struggled with cold,diarrhoea and throbbing headaches with some of them severely tachypneic.. advised everyone not to walk or strain too much and to go to bed early with full protection
Insomnia is common and so is nightmares in these extreme low temperatures and low oxygen states. Soon Night was gone and the day broke with bright sunshine. All were feeling better .
Day 4 After an eventful day with lot of tantrums in and out, every one of us felt comfortable and got acclimatised to low oxygen and we started our last leg to Leh. We started ascending again to Tanglangla., Another highest motorable road at 17700 feet. We got down and had a snap and saw a middle aged monk running and frolicking with a can of beer..With glaciers behind, mountains barren and roads desolate, we saw a huge cache of army personnel in heavy trucks following assiduously. We waved our hands in respect to the great souls, for whom it is a routine, whereas it is an occasional adventure for us. Sweltering heat in the morning and unyielding and never ending cold at night with ghastly winds all day and night (unyielding circumstances) never daunt these brave souls who, by day in and day out, put their heart and soul in maintaining our borders at extreme heights in frigid conditions,. Kudos to these brave hearts . Read somewhere in the mountains: The purpose of the war is to maintain peace. How true those words are! So many catchy slogans all along the Leh highway
Another catchy slogan; If you are married, divorce speed 
And we had a small break at Rumtse, for coffee and snacks, then proceeded to Leh. Drive from Rumtse to Leh was picturesque with Indus River flowing all along, winding down the curves and looking at the mountains, which changes its colours from dark brown to innumerable shades which will delight even a stoic introvert .we crossed an army Cantonment area into thiksey monastery. Thiksey monastery is one of the biggest of its kind and is similar to potalo palace in Tibet. Lying atop, this has twin Buddhas in direct opposition to each other . We spun the prayer wheels which are the hallmark of every monastery and then proceeded to Leh. Our accommodation at courtyard hotel in Leh was very good and a day’s rest at Leh ( around 11000 feet) would allay the effects of AMS and would rejuvenate our further escapades into higher altitudes like khardhangla and pangong tso lake.And we decided to take rest and get ready for next day’s dare devilism.After taking test, went for shopping in Leh market, which bore a striking resemblance to markets in Manali (Vajpayee in its facade) and MG market in Gangtok. All have the similar design and purpose 
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Day 5
Today we are going to Nubra valley. All set go to nubra valley.., Need to cross khardhangla, which is the highest motorable road at about 18430 feet,which is at some 50 kms from Leh. Need to ascend from 11000 feet at Leh to khardhangla la at 18400 feet. All advice us not to spend more than 10 mts there as the oxygen is very low… but we spent more than half an hour enjoying and exploring khardhangla with no distress or discomfort. From khardhangla to nubra valley, it is a steep descent to again around 11000 feet..,Roads were not that bad and the ride was hit with occasional traffic in some parts which was unusual till now. We stoped at aghom for a tea break and saw the beautiful SHYOK river coursing along the valley, SHYOK means death as many have died in its course due to its mighty size. And we had lunch at nubra valley where we planned river rafting initially but let it go due to time constraint.
Then we went to Dikshit monastery with Maitreya Buddha sitting majestically along the SHYOK river At Milkha Singh point, along the nubra valley, there was ATV ride which was very wonderful. We took two ATV for four persons and rode it with full zeal. Then came the Hunder sand dunes which was beautiful to watch and saw hundreds of camels strolling the sand dunes…We went for camel ride..5 to 6 camels manned by a single person and some were ferocious..it was bit frightening initially and they are doublehumped camels.., And after all these activities in an eventful day, we went to our stay in sandalwood resort tent stay at the Hunder..there were 12 luxurious tents arranged like beads in a necklace. The tents were very nice and cosy and with its attached bathroom , it caters to all our needs. With the sun set, bitter cold sets in the open space, everyone was jostling for cosy comforts in the tents. With Bluetooth speakers blaring and the camp was set firing with the bamboo sticks and wines wiring down the throat, the chillness gone momentarily and a sense of warmth prevailed everywhere and there begun the introductory note of every member of the whole gang.After the party, everyone thanked and wished many more to follow .
Day 6 and 7
From nubra valley, we started towards the pangong tso lake very early in the morning. It could take a minimum of seven to eight hours and so we all set out early .we turned back and started heading to pangong tso via Dikshit monastery, Hunder sand dunes and Milkha Singh point with the SHYOK river majestically on its course.., We had lunch in dibruk which is near tangste army Cantonment area. There were temporary halts for half an hour as the roads were relaid in several paths on its way.., We saw pangong tso lake at a distance from our car and its colour was distinct and impressive from the muddy colours of SHYOK to the turquoise blue colour of pangong tso lake We were enamoured by the beauty of the lake as we travelled further and further into the roads with the lake in tandem with us forever playing hide and seek with us just as Rajeshkanna and Sharmila Tagore in “mera sapno ko rani kabu Ayegi thum” song..,,
The lake is about 140 kms in length and one third of it is in India and two thirds in Tibet. Our resort is 15 kms from China border and we need to travel almost 40 kms along-side of the lake to the resort, A sight to behold and delight all along . First we alighted in the shooting spot area. Beautiful place where “the three idiots” movie was filmed. And we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our stay in that point...posed crazily as the three idiots in pangong tso. We were in no mood to leave that magical spot as calls from the driver and other gang members keep coming relentlessly.But all nice things must come to an end and with heavy heart and soul, we limbered slowly towards our Innova .
All along the way from shooting spot point to our resort, we saw glaciers melting and streams of water gushing down the road into lakes at many points..the gushing of water is very high in the evening due to more intense melting of glaciers due to direct sunshine and it would be prudent to cross the heavy streams before it swells in the sweltering heat. Cars and bikes would be drawn into the lake by gushing waters if we are bit careless.
With all these beautiful and dangerous sights, we kept moving and reached our resort, The Horizon hotel, which is in the last village of India,Meerut..Here too, it was a stay in the tent similar to that of sunshine hotel in the Nubra valley. We had tea and pakoda as evening snacks and moved to the lake in extreme cold conditions with full attire and saw the moon at a very close distance . We took a leisurely stroll along the lake with moon and stars twinkling in the dim light, After dinner, went to the room and lied down on the bed and saw the panoramic roof open through which we can see the stars glittering and our moods swaggering to the celestial beauty. The next day, got up early to see the sun emerging from the lake and it did but hurriedly all of the sudden. After breakfast, we started towards Leh, the fag end of our memorable tour. On its way, we came across the Chang la, another highest motorable road at about 17560/- feet. Here the huge chunk of glaciers was at a touching distance and the glaciers and the clouds started kissing each other.. We moved towards Leh and had a nice rest and late in the evening, there was thanksgiving to the organisers and went to bed
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Day 8
Day 8
It was the end of the road. Packed things and off to Leh airport and then to Delhi and from there to Coimbatore. Everything got over so quickly. We were totally away from the world for most of our tour.No tower, no calls, no news, no nixes, no irritating stuff,,,All the world is for us and we enjoyed to the core.Finished the tour with evening snacks at Annapoorna and off to home
JULLEY
JULLEY
JULLEY
JULLEY
JULLEY
Trip appadiyae kannula vanthu poguthu...padika padika tripla irukra mathiriyae feel aguthu ..semma screenplay sir
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