What did we do instead? Who would have guessed!

Then we went shopping for gum boots and rubber gloves. Because last night’s experience with leather gloves chilling the life out of our hands was enough thrill.

Soon we packed up and were ready to roll. Our regular shoes, still wet needed drying. Sleeping bags provided the right spot…

Soon enough we started seeing signs of a different culture. Kashmir is predominantly Muslim, Ladakh is mostly Buddhist. We knew we had entered the “Land of Buddha” when monasteries perched on mountain tops started making appearances.

Road conditions varied from “awesome road!” to “road? where?” all the way. However one thing stayed constant: the beautiful scenery. Lush green mountainsides gave way to barren landscapes that somehow retained the enchanting qualities.

Scores of “Chorten”s, memorials and temples dotted the roadside.

We rode on… the sky was looking good so far.

And the wheels kept turning…

Until…

After that quick reminder of what the weather here is capable of, we did a reality check:

Not too cold, so we stopped by for a less rushed shoot.

Weathered down by years of sun, snow and rain… the rocky peaks now resembled dunes.

However not all were about to give up…

Snow on the mountain tops resembled sugar topping ;-)

There really isn’t much to talk about this part of the journey other than this: the villages were really pretty… and clean. Cleaner and well laid out than what we saw in Kashmir.

Of course, this was an exception: ruins of a town/fort so high up, just “going home” would be an expedition of sorts!

While I was riding around on my own mobile fort.

The above photo was at Boddhkharbu, we rode on to FotuLa after that. The sun was about to set and it did sink in as we reached the highest point of the pass.

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Following photo has be “artificially” brightened up to show details, it was very dark by now:

Climbing down the pass was quite an adventure. It soon became so dark that we could see nothing more than what our headlights showed. No moon, not a village in sight. It was pitch dark with only twinkling stars hanging in sky.

Now we were advised on not riding at night in Kashmir area for threat from militants. Nobody told us that Ladakh did not need militants to scare night riders… the terrain was enough! We’d ride a few hundred meters on a nearly straight road, and then the road would vanish! Peering through the darkness, I could then see it was sharply turning to right, while climbing down a few meters at the same time. Next turn would be left. Then right. And just to surprise me when I expected next one to be left, road would wind around a big rock and take another right turn.

Yogesh was riding Bajaj XCD around here, now he’s been riding bikes in city and this journey was among his first ones outside city, on harsh roads, in pitch dark. He had nearly slipped twice when I braked hard and he couldn’t stop in time… panic braked and skid over gravel. Yogesh was maintaining a little too much distance. I was leading the group, Shrenik was on the sweep with Sumedh as pillion and Yogesh was in the middle. Our average speed was not more than 15 kilometers per hour!

I was getting frustrated as I knew I could easily ride above 30kmph… fatigue was setting in and yet poor ol’ Yogesh, scared of rear-ending my bike was so far behind, I had no choice but to ride very slow.

Finally, I asked him to let Sumedh ride, and immediately our speed jumped to 25kmph!

Lesson learned: do not ride in dark with people who have less riding experience. It is intimidating for them and frustrating for you. Also, if you are the one less experienced, let someone else ride if that’s a choice. 

I hold no hard feelings against anyone… we were all learning on our way and we made it a point to use the knowledge gained to make rest of our journey better. We (jokingly) banned Yogesh from riding in dark. He (seriously) felt bad, but agreed. But in the long run, it was good for all of us. So, thanks Yogesh!

We finally reached Kaltse by 10:30ish, had dinner at a dhaba and found a cozy guesthouse to spend the night.

Sumedh, Yogesh and Shrenik urged me to continue night photography… I was tired and reluctant. So Shrenik brought my camera and pushed me on. Made at least one interesting shot ;-)

  That was it for the day!

Oh BTW, Yogesh got married on three days back… he claims he may never be able to ride so far again. I think he’s going to go places much more interesting with his new pillion ;-) Wishing Yogesh and Sarita great time together!

Note: Khaltse is also spelled as Khalsi, Khalsti and Khalse. Pronounced as Khall-see.