Apr 27
What a beautiful sight it was! Two big rivers joining forces… one crystal clear and another, bringing eroded soil from higher mountains… signaling that it had rained heavily somewhere upstream.
Winding, twisting roads… hugging the mighty mountains for dear life; the travelers hoping the roads held tight. We had climbed down this road, from Fotu La a few days ago, at night… between 8 to 10 pm. And as we climbed up now, we were realizing what a dangerous road it was that we had not seen in entirety that night.
The monster of a road. Unpaved. Little or no railings/ protection on sides. Slopes that would make any engine gasp for breath and curves that could kill.
As we climbed up, a group of tourers on even more Royal Enfields was riding towards Leh. Without a word, with just waves of hands we exchanged good wishes, and rode on.
Rising up… you pass through the same patch of the mountain, just higher every time, but to gain the altitude of 50 to 100 feet, one has to drive a few kilometers around the mountains.
Beauty everywhere. The color of the river and that of the road are as we saw them. Unusual.
Signs of life started cropping up. The mountains were mostly lifeless till now. Small shrubs started appearing everywhere!
Landscape carved purely by elements. No human intervention. No creatures of the wild. Just land, sun and water. Water's marks left in soft soil.
And it wasn't a small landscape!
From left: Navendu, Yogesh, Shrenik, Sumedh. Obviously, waiting for the photographer to catch up :-P
As the rest of the gang rode ahead, Navendu and I stayed back for clicking more photographs. We were also sure we could catch up ;)
Riding on the edge! I call it "Surewheel Drive"… like cars have fourwheel drive ;)
Yes, it is derived from mountain goat's surefooted trots.
Such cute little creatures… but they made my heart skip a beat as they jumped along the edges while their owner shooed them on.
We would soon be out of Ladakh region, and these houses would disappear… so photographed a few more while looking back on the landscape that we had fallen in love with.
Small fields, and a frozen waterfall.
The whole landscape was so pretty and photogenic!
The frozen waterfall.
A family works on their little patch of cultivable land.
Wild flowers, so many of them! But not an easy food for the cattle. Just look at those sharp thorns.
Last of Ladakh.
A chai break. Landscape was still barren and dry.
More of the magical landscapes, worn by nature's relentless battery of rain, snow and sun.
I photographed this especially for the green line in the center, going from left bottom corner to behind the hill… that's a small canal taking water from a stream and providing the residents in the small settlement in front with fresh water.
As the day was receding, Navendu and I stopped one last time for a photo shoot. Met two guys from Maharashtra, after they stopped seeing the "MH" series license plates on our bikes. Had a chat, and then rode on.
Just before Kargil, we *had* to stop again for a shoot… perfect opportunity for a HDR photograph! This one is made from three RAWs exposed 2 stops apart. And then we rode on all the way to Drass… the same 60 kilometers that took us a whole day while coming was done within rest of the evening when long shadows had started appearing. *phew* What a long ride! We needed rest. Badly.
Ride: Leh to Drass
Wow, months pass by so quickly! Anyway, catching up from our plan to leave Leh yesterday (3 June 2010)… we were ready to roll on the morning of 4th June. Our main concern was the worsening weather, the impending doom if clouds gave way for cold rains or worse, snow! We did not stop for photographing till we were sure that we were well outside the danger zone. Photographed this somewhere near Lamayuru, a good 100 km from Leh. Correction from Navendu: "This is Indus & Zanskar confluence near Nimmu, around 30km's from Leh."
What a beautiful sight it was! Two big rivers joining forces… one crystal clear and another, bringing eroded soil from higher mountains… signaling that it had rained heavily somewhere upstream.
Winding, twisting roads… hugging the mighty mountains for dear life; the travelers hoping the roads held tight. We had climbed down this road, from Fotu La a few days ago, at night… between 8 to 10 pm. And as we climbed up now, we were realizing what a dangerous road it was that we had not seen in entirety that night.
The monster of a road. Unpaved. Little or no railings/ protection on sides. Slopes that would make any engine gasp for breath and curves that could kill.
As we climbed up, a group of tourers on even more Royal Enfields was riding towards Leh. Without a word, with just waves of hands we exchanged good wishes, and rode on.
Rising up… you pass through the same patch of the mountain, just higher every time, but to gain the altitude of 50 to 100 feet, one has to drive a few kilometers around the mountains.
Beauty everywhere. The color of the river and that of the road are as we saw them. Unusual.
Signs of life started cropping up. The mountains were mostly lifeless till now. Small shrubs started appearing everywhere!
Landscape carved purely by elements. No human intervention. No creatures of the wild. Just land, sun and water. Water's marks left in soft soil.
And it wasn't a small landscape!
From left: Navendu, Yogesh, Shrenik, Sumedh. Obviously, waiting for the photographer to catch up :-P
As the rest of the gang rode ahead, Navendu and I stayed back for clicking more photographs. We were also sure we could catch up ;)
Riding on the edge! I call it "Surewheel Drive"… like cars have fourwheel drive ;)
Yes, it is derived from mountain goat's surefooted trots.
Such cute little creatures… but they made my heart skip a beat as they jumped along the edges while their owner shooed them on.
We would soon be out of Ladakh region, and these houses would disappear… so photographed a few more while looking back on the landscape that we had fallen in love with.
Small fields, and a frozen waterfall.
The whole landscape was so pretty and photogenic!
The frozen waterfall.
A family works on their little patch of cultivable land.
Wild flowers, so many of them! But not an easy food for the cattle. Just look at those sharp thorns.
Last of Ladakh.
A chai break. Landscape was still barren and dry.
More of the magical landscapes, worn by nature's relentless battery of rain, snow and sun.
I photographed this especially for the green line in the center, going from left bottom corner to behind the hill… that's a small canal taking water from a stream and providing the residents in the small settlement in front with fresh water.
As the day was receding, Navendu and I stopped one last time for a photo shoot. Met two guys from Maharashtra, after they stopped seeing the "MH" series license plates on our bikes. Had a chat, and then rode on.
Just before Kargil, we *had* to stop again for a shoot… perfect opportunity for a HDR photograph! This one is made from three RAWs exposed 2 stops apart. And then we rode on all the way to Drass… the same 60 kilometers that took us a whole day while coming was done within rest of the evening when long shadows had started appearing. *phew* What a long ride! We needed rest. Badly.
Please finish this trip log, it has been a long long wait.
One correction "Photographed this somewhere near Lamayuru, a good 100 km from Leh". This is Indus & Zanskar confluence near Nimmu, around 30km's from Leh.