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And guards watching over the traffic movement every few hundred meters… most of them were too nicely camouflaged to be noticed while passing by. Only when I stopped to shoot did I notice them.

The terrain and vegetation varied wildly from harsh rocks, to welcoming grasses and tall pine covered mountains elsewhere. Distant peaks were almost all the time covered with a cold blanket of snow.

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Then we came across the first water crossing of our journey! A small stretch compared to what we saw later. There was a tiny bridge for walking but vehicles had to make it through the water…

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Ride some more and the scenery becomes even more inviting and beautiful. The small villages that were everywhere along the highway till now suddenly vanish and make way for a landscape fully dominated by nature.

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Yes, a Bajaj XCD also went to Leh with the Royal Enfields ;-)

Here’s a photo of yours truly.

Photo by Shrenik.

And another one…

Photo by: Yogesh

A few turns ahead from here I stopped and demanded my camera back. I was missing something important: photographing a glacier up close. Yogesh managed to get a good close up by the time Shrenik stopped the bike and he handed the camera to me. 

Photo by: Yogesh

Photo by: Yogesh

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Another thing that grabbed my attention were numerous small monuments built beside the road in memory of men who laid down their lives while working on building/maintaining the road, or the electrical lines. 

Photo by: Yogesh.

The beautiful road kept leading us on…

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And the picturesque beauty crashed in front of our eyes as we got near Sonamarg valley. If you want to guess when you have reached with your eyes closed, just pay attention to the smells — when the woody fragrance of the forest gives way for stench of horse shit, you know you have arrived!

Sonamarg is a very popular tourist destination. I need not say more. We had lunch here. Maggi noodles and fried egg. Yogesh absolutely loved it ;-) Talked to a few guys who mentioned that we should hurry up and leave as Zojila is just ahead and it was getting late.

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So I quickly shot a few frames of the scenery that we saw while having our late lunch and mounted the bike and rode on.

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Here onwards I kept the camera outside its bag and clicked some photos holding the camera in my left hand while I controlled the motorcycle with my right hand. Be assured, I was doing this only on empty roads and not looking into the camera viewfinder – I have practiced enough to shoot without looking, while on my feet. I also have been riding two wheelers for over 15 years, so riding does not take much conscious effort for me. If you are new to either photography or riding - DO NOT TRY. You’ll end up with a broken motorcycle, camera and yourself. Anyway, I won’t be mentioning all the photos that I shot like this -  there are many. You’ll be able to guess some of them pretty easily ;-)

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We had left Sonamarg and rode for another four kilometers. A guard at the check post greeted us with a “No bikes allowed after 2:30 pm”. We inquired why were we being disallowed in the middle of the day… to learn that there was road maintenance work going on through the afternoon and only military vehicles were allowed through. Al civilians were being turned back.

We had no choice but stop there. At 4:30. When we knew light would last us another three and a half hours at the least. Our plans to reach Kargil had crashed to the ground. A two hour delay that could had been easily avoided had we known there was such a rule for crossing Zojila. Anyway… we soon found a better way to spend rest of the day than feel sorry about the wasted day.

To be continued…