Almost Ladakh - Ride and Roll

Day 8 started in beautiful riding conditions. We made it a point this time to have the camera handy, so that Kavi (riding pillion) could pick up some cool action photographs. We made good time getting to Keylong and the only incident was in crossing a stream just before Keylong when I goofed up and put Kavi down. She was not badly hurt though, and a couple of local chaps helped me lift the bike up, but ... let's just say ... she did not find it funny!!! ;-)

We had breakfast in a local eatery in the bazaar in Keylong. Meanwhile, we got ChuniLal to take a look at Bhatti's Enfield which seemed to have a problem with the kick. ChuniLal could not fix it ... but fortunately it was not a show stopper and we continued. We had full tanks and 3 spare fuel cans when we left Manali. We lost 2 of the cans at Rohtang when we left the bad bike there for the night. To add to that, we lost fuel from the bikes when they were riding in the trucks and would not sit straight. So we decided not to take te chance and fill up a little bit in Tandi. This done, we moved on. The ride was uneventful most of the way, and the scenery was beautiful. This was infinitely more enjoyable than the truck ride.

We took quite a few stops for pictures before a stop for tea at Sissu. Post this was the worst section of the road, upto Koksar. There was some work being done to fix the road, but this only made it worse. On our onward ride, this part of the road was wet because of the overnight rain. This time, the road was dry and dusty. We had to stop quite a few times just because trucks would go past blowing dust into our eyes! Eventually we reached Koksar, where we took a break to wash up and get something to eat before the last and most difficult part of the ride.

Abby was having a problem now ... his bike's silencer had gone kaput and was loud enough to keep the whole district awake! The solution ... some cotton in the ears :). This did lead to an interesting incident with the local police when Abby started his bike. The conversation went something like this ...

Local police (on bike parked some 20 mts away, waving hands irritatedly!): Bandh kar ...
Abby (still revving, to keep the engine from dying): Kya? Sunai nahi de raha!
LP (Growing irritation): Bike bandh kar.
Abby (Speaking in gestures now): Sunai nahi de raha!
LP (Grrr ...): Bike bandh kar.
Abby (Cotton in his ears): Sunai nahi de raha. Ek minute, main udhar aata hoon. Vrrooom ...

... The next instant, Abby was next to LP who (obviously worried about losing his eardrums) decided to not pursue the matter anymore and left the place themselves!

After Koksar, the weather was a little overcast and it was enjoyable till we were getting close to the top, when it started to get cold again. The gas stove was tied onto Bhatti's bike, and somewhere along the way it came loose. The cylinder fell off the bike and Bhatti carried on with only the burner. Chavan and me came up behind and saw the cylinder lying in middle of the road. Since it was open and leaking gas, we decided to just leave it there and carry on (The funny part was when we went to return the burner ... the expression on his face when we told him we had "misplaced" the cylinder!).

By 04:00 PM, we were at jinx point (also known to the world as Rohtang pass), where Zappy's bike decided to die again ... the battery once more! Tried some jump-starting, but soon realised that it would not last. We got ourselves some food at Rohtang and decided to just roll the bike downhill for the remaining 50 odd kms upto Manali. The kicker was when the local guy in Rohtang took one look at the bikes and figured that they were from Shankar's garage. The guy obviously had a reputation for giving out bad bikes ... but us inexperienced daft lot did not have the sense to get the bikes checked from another place, or even to verify Shankar's credentials! Anyway ... no sense complaining about that now! Leh was a faraway dream until next year ... and we had enjoyed the trip anyway ... :-)

Stomachs full ... "70, Rajput regiment" was on it's way. 2 bikes rode in front of the bad one warning for traffic and 2 bikes rode in the back (people ready to get down and push if there was an upslope)! This configuration went fine till we got tired of pushing (It was strenuous business). Then Zappy came up with the brilliant idea of pushing the bad Enfield with the front tyre of a good one. This was a lot easier although a little more dangerous, but danger was not the first thing on our minds now!

Around 07:30 PM we reached the end of our ride. We had decided to confront Shankar and did, but after a little bit of arguing decided that it was not worth spoiling our evening arguing with the jerks. We got our deposit back and left. The most exciting part of the trip was now over, and we went to the hotel room in Manali to get ourselves some drinks and relax.