Aug 28
Ride: Khaltse to Leh
Time to get some wind in our helmets!
Took a merry long time to pack up as it was sunny and we had a short distance to cover. Finally, we were on our way…
And munched on some yummy twisties!
As we approached towns and villages, the barren land suddenly turned green.
We were greeted by enthusiastic kids giving us side fives ;-)
This sight made me stop.
A rose bush twice my height and in full bloom.
Hundreds, no thousands of five-petal roses!
And we were back on the road again… crossing creaking metal-wood bridges shared by fully loaded trucks.
And at times unable to believe roads so good could ever exist!
Of course, with the sun now out… we had to be careful not to go any darker!
Unbelievable roads through equally unbelievably beautiful scenery
What seemed like middle of a rocky desert was much closer to being chilled…
And an obligatory people + nature shoot.
The roads less travelled, so less that **run! There’s half a dozen girls cycling hurtling down the road at breakneck speeds!**
I was shooting a panorama then, hence missed photographing them.
And then after long twisting roads… we saw a stretch of really good tarmac. Of course, we ripped. A good 100+ kmph.
And like all good things, the beautiful highway turned into just about tolerable road. (Hey, another traveler!)
And it kept getting worse…
Until there were no roads at all!
So I started photographing the architecture instead of the highway ;-) Beautiful houses everywhere. Even the smallest ones are crafted with love for art and beauty.
As Leh came closer and our hands wanted to twist the throttle a little bit more… Border Roads Organization surprised us with this!
On the way we saw the mighty Indus river, mellowed down by summer.
And the first live yak!
Checked into a nice guest house called “Zik zik”
Within minutes, we made a mess out of the neatly kept place!
Rest of the day was spent lazying around the guest house, walking around the city and just chilling in general.
And finally… finally, we ordered a mutton Thukpa!
(Funny tho, we were told they have bigger noodles, but wherever we ate this same dish, the noodles seemed just the usual “hakka noodles” we get here) hmm… anyway, I enjoyed Ladakhi food thoroughly! There were many more times we’d eat just the thukpa soup and momos ;-)
We were finally here! The dream of visiting Leh on motorcycles was complete! (Almost, of course!)
Comments (5)
Aug 28, 2010
Ashish Sarode said...
Wow man very beautiful photos :)
Dec 17, 2010
dr chandu labba said...
U r a wonderfull photographer. Lot t learn from u. U've a vision t please mass. As compared t my photography who tried t plz individuals but always failed. I'm a insatiable birdy in this field of photography n I think must take lesson from u.
Dec 17, 2010
Harshad Sharma said...
@Dr. Labba: Thank you sir! I learn every day, and share what I can :-)
Dec 20, 2010
rahul said...
pic with road in road going to infinity with riders on it is great shot...
Dec 20, 2010
Harshad Sharma said...
@Rahul: Thank you :-D
