A land like no other, bounded by two of the world’s mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the Karakoram. The district is bounded by Pakistan occupied Kashmir in the West, China in the North and Eastern part and Lahul Spiti of Himachal Pardesh in South East. An amazing world of cold barren desert mountains of various colors, different temperaments, rivers.. streams… stones… sand…glaciers…lakes… yaks… prayer wheels…age old monasteries… stupas… momos…Buddhism… maggi noodles… basic living!

1. padhaaro .co m
http://www.padhaaro .co m/blo g/lustro us-ladakh-delhi-leh-bike/
Lustrous Ladakh: Delhi to Leh on a bike
Renuka Manghwani
A land like no other, bounded by two of the world’s mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the
Karakoram. T he district is bounded by Pakistan occupied Kashmir in the West, China in the North and Eastern
part and Lahul Spiti of Himachal Pardesh in South East. An amazing world of cold barren desert mountains of
various colors, dif f erent temperaments, rivers.. streams… stones… sand…glaciers…lakes… yaks… prayer
wheels…age old monasteries… stupas… momos…Buddhism… maggi noodles… basic living!
T his trans-himalayan district of Jammu & Kashmir has now become a f avorite of both adventure f reaks &
culture enthusiasts and attracts travellers f rom all corners of the globe, trekking, cycling, biking, camping f or
days together. We actually saw many more f oreigners than Indians here. Our sojourn began f rom Delhi
at midnight. It was a smooth ride to Manali via Chandigarh.. a f ew halts… a f ew picture sessions. We reached
Manali the next evening, showered & were out in the Manali market in no time..
Agenda : Shopping!!!! Af ter a nice evening in Manali, we lef t early morning on one of the most amazing routes
that one can travel.
Highlight of the entire journey…Manali – Leh Highway: T he 485 km route opens only f or 4 months in the year,
June to Sept. Every turn in this route of f ers f ascinating, breath taking views, amazing landscapes, clear
skies… unbelievable sights! Seemed like we were driving thru a “Museum” of the mountain ranges, they were of
ALL kinds! Lush green terrain in Manali.. brown, black, grey mountains towards Leh… the colors though dull
were unique and pleasing to the eyes, a f ew of them seemed like God had painstakingly painted each one of
them in various colour combinations.. neat strokes of brown, grey, rust, black, dark brown, amber, maroon a
real paradise f or any artist visiting Ladakh…a f ew of them were covered with snow, melting to f orm small
streams of water that added even more lif e to the barren giant mountains… some were covered with sand,
conf using the human eye if it were in the mountains or the deserts…. some seemed so calm & serene, lay
there like a quite innocent baby smiling away… while some stared at us with vengeance, roaring and angry, like
something was troubling them… some were in very dif f erent, weird shapes, wild mountains… some were
dusted with the shade of the clouds, making the colour combination even more interesting… they seemed
almost unnatural.. like someone had just painted these scenes and created a set around us… depicting the
various ‘Moods’ of the mountains!

2. Trust me..
NO pics,
NO
Pang o ng Ts o Lake | Imag e Cre d its : Prave e n
description, NO words can do justice to what we experienced.. to the pure, unadulterated, natural beauty that
Ladakh has to of f er. Adding more spice to the museum of mountains…. were the river streams…. desert
valleys… glaciers…. green strips… dried river beds… layers of stones… sheep grazing… amazing clouds… all
sprinkled in between the “Giants” only to make the entire look even more scenic! T his route is a MUST DO… at
least ONCE in a lif etime.

3. Our next stopover was at
Sarchu – which has only
tents as accommodation,
adds to the adventure! We
reached Leh at night,
wading through the serene
village houses, gompas and
Tanglangla – the SECOND
Highest Motorable Road in
the world. Next 4 days were
planned in and around Lehthe capital of Ladakh. We
didn’t rest the
recommended one day to
acclimatize as we’d driven
f or 3 days to reach Leh
and we also had the ‘Holy
Diamox’ (medicine f or
altitude sickness) which
was taken as an OAT H by
all 7 of us, in case any ONE
Enro ute Sarc hu
f aces altitude sickness, the
rest have no choice but the
return back to base! T hough a couple of people did experience a bit of vomiting, head aches, nausea but
nothing really much to write about.
T he 160 km, 4 hour rough
and dramatic drive f rom Leh
to Pangong Lake is via
Changla – the worst T HIRD
Highest Motorable road in
the world. Pangong Tso is
situated at a height of
4,250 M, is 134 Km long
and is shared between India
& China. Two third of the
length of this lake lies in
China. In Winter, the lake
surf ace f reezes completely
despite being salt water.
T he deep… bright… rich
shades of blue and green
can give Nerolac, Berger or
Asian paints a run f or their
money… errr… their
colour!!! It’s a real
Masterpiece… a true visual
treat!
Chang la Pas s | Imag e Cre d its : Bhis ham Pratap Pad ha

4. A 150 Km,
5 hr drive
via the
Worlds
HIGHEST
motorable
Road –
Khardongla
(18380 f t)
through
the
Nub ra Valle y | Imag e Cre d its : Dmitry Rukhle nko
spectacular ancient Silk route took us to Nubra Valley- f amous f or double humped camels, sand dunes, hot
water springs, the Desert Mountains in the T RUE sense. T his route also leads us to Siachen and we did get
tempted to drive along and a wave a quick ‘Hi’ there (yeah rite).. but we lesser mortals – the civilians- are not
permitted due to security reasons.. sigh!!! Travelling to Pangong & Nubra also required special permits without
which you would be looked upon in suspicion and if lucky, only be packed back by the Army Jawans, who
incidentally had a nice time taking our driver WANCHUNG’s trip, asking him if it really was a name or something
to eat!!
T he next 3 days were slotted f or the return journey. Since the Manali-Leh Highway was : 50% No roads, 30%
an apology f or a road & only 20% was something that can be called as a road, we drove back via Kashmir. T he
highlight on this route was passing via Kargil, where I HAD to click a “Patel Snap” – as in a ” We Were Here”
kinda pic. T he f reakiest part was when we were passing Kargil and we see a sign board pop up to our right that
states ” Caution, you are under enemy Observation – Saawdhan, dushman aapko dekh raha hai”… suddenly
the otherwise noisy Innova goes silent and all eyes move to the huge mountains laying behind the sign board…
just wonder how many km.. or maybe meters away is Pakistan Border .. or a Pakistani soldier!!!
Dras, the next town, is the second coldest place in the world, where the temperatures drop to -60C in the
winters… how brrrrr is that??!? Our next halt was at Srinagar! On asking directions to a hotel, we were greeted
with very ‘f riendly’ lines like ” jao, khuda ke hawale jao… bedarr hoke jao… allah bharose jao ” made us wonder
if we should FREEZ E right there or actually JAO!!! We stayed in a comf y hotel opposite Dal lake. Next halt was
at Patni Top, a peacef ul, serene hill station. As we moved out of the Ladakh sector towards Kashmir.. the
landscape began to change … f rom brown to green… f rom dry to lush…. f rom barren to rich trees.. Its
amazing how ONE state which is completely mountainous still of f ers such varied views. Next morning
breakf ast was hot parathas in Jammu. Finally out of J&K, we passed ‘Aavar (our) Punjab’.. Pathankot, Ludhiana,
Jalandhar, Ambala.. bef ore we reached back to base, Delhi late night.

5. T his 11 days trip had ALL the adventure that one can think of , were stuck in a landslide between Dras &
Sonmarg f or 8 hours… had 2 punctures, so were stuck f or 6 hours on manali- leh route where we have NO
network, NO humans, NO f uel stations f or at least 100 km around us… so while a f riend gets a lif t to go f ix
the tyre, we have a semi picnic on the road, only till it gets dark, chilly, rains, thunders and we all get back in the
car till 11 PM, wondering if we gonna spend the rest of the night in there.. thankf ully our f riend was back with
help. Once, on a turn of a wet road, our car skid and perf ormed a 360 degrees turn.. thankf ully nothing
happened! Not a scratched and except f or the mild shock we 7 were in.. all our parts were absolutely intact! Of
course we had 15 punctures in 8 days.. and that got the boys level on tyre puncture repairs to a complete
dif f erent level. While they did the needf ul.. we girls would walk of f f or some site seeing or a photo session
(heck whose complaining?;)
Did I mention that the entire Kashmir route had a Army Jawan stationed with a gun at every 50 meters.. with his
eyes piercing through the Innova while we whisked past.. I think it f elt saf er, having this kind of security around.
Enroute, over a chai (and of course a puncture) we got chatting to a couple of them. Also f aced some f looding
on the highway in Pathankot, due to which we had to take a 2 hour detour into the city. We had a truly
mesmerizing, memorable and pleasurable one! Tiring and exhausting but exhilarating and rejuvenating!