The bike trip diary : Manali, Leh, Srinagar & around : May/June'08

Ver. 02 : will be updating here a little bit at a time over this week...

Here is the travel diary of the bike trip me & Amit finished this month between May-June'08. It was an extraordinary experience. Photographs

Day

Time

Place

Altitude (Casio)

To / Remarks

Bike Km

Day 0	20:00	Howrah		Train to Banaras
Day 1	11:00	Banaras		Checked in at Hotel
	15:00			Temp : 35 degrees. Visited various temples
	18:00			Boat ride with Hajaari Majhi alias Kallu. Ganga Aarti darshan.

Day 2	04:50			Wake up
	06:00			Kashi vishwanath Darshan
	09:10			Train to Lucknow
	16:00	Lucknow

Day 3	05:00			Wakeup
	06:40			Chandrika devi darshan
	09:00			back to town
	20:00			Railway station. Packing bike off to Chandigarh for 1000/- . The concerned person is not around, and we need to drain off all the petrol. Bike's mile meter is showing 15447kms.	15447
	22:30			Sweaty & tired... but finally on board the same train...

Day 4	11:00	Chandigarh	415m	1 hr late, but there finally. Getting the bike, loading our 40Kgs of luggage & off we go. But the bike sputters off. No petrol u see! Get 325ml for 30/- from a mechanic, but it is so impure the bike makes all kinds of noise. Amit is getting tense. This is just the beginning and bike already problematic, he is thinking... He just wants to escape Chandigarh, but in a while petrol dries off again, this time very close to petrol pump. I get 5ltrs in a can... and off we go. Now no problems, bike is back to its cool self.
	13:15	Ropar / Roopnagar	355m	Lunch somewhere near Ropar, the trip is on!! but Amit's hiking pole is lost somewhere... We went back a few kilometers to search, but in vain... he will be missing it all through the trip & sing songs of longing... :D
	14:15			Off on the road again...
	17:00			Tea...
	21:15			Dinner...
	22:30	Mandi	775m	it is late... We had decided not to drive in the night, and yet the road has been good & we were advised to go ahead and halt the night at Mandi.

Day 5	10:30			Had a nice sleep. Got up late. Check out & head for Riwalsar.
	12:00	Riwalsar	1315m	Checked in at K.D. Gompha
	13:00			Temperature : 27.5 degrees

Day 6	07:00			Tea/pratha & an army haircut!
	09:15			off to Mandi
	10:02	Mandi	775m	Breakfast & petrol tank top up	15696
	11:10			Off on the road again... to bhuntur...	15720
	14:43	Bhuntur	1100m	Tea...	15783
	16:00	Kasol	1515m	Parked bike @20/- per day for 9 days.

Reporting to YHAI base camp at Kasol for Sarpass'08 trek. Group SP-24 : Day 7 to Day 14.

Day 15

06:00

Kullu

rest day...

Day 16	07:00	Kullu		Wakeup.. packup...
	10:30			Checkout
	11:00			breakfast
	11:25			On the way to Bijli Mahadev
	12:15	Dharat		Trek starts at Dharat. Distance to cover 2km+
	14:15	Bijli Mahadev	2380m	well, a tiring climb.. no one would be believe we just completed Sarpass!!
	14:50			returning back...
	15:30	Dharat		pick up our bike...
	16:30	Kullu		lunch...
	18:00			kinda late to start for Manali... but the road is good...
	19:45	Manali		it is too crowded for our comforts! Peak tourist season... we decide to move to Vashist
	20:30	Vashist		Checked into hotel...

Day 17	08:00			hot bath at sulphur spring.
	11:30			To Manali for sight seeing... tank topup	15958
	18:00			Bike servicing at Vashist

Day 18	08:00			D-day! kinda late... checked out & start bike to find a broken Kick spring!! aahhhh...
	09:30			mechanic takes his own sweet time waking up! Repair is done... and then the bike kind of slide while turning & the font brake lever is broken!!! ummmm... wo bhi change hua... so we finally get to start at 9:30am... in between we have our tea & biscuits...
	11:10	Mirhi Dam	3165m	breakfast at last!
		Rohtang La	3850m
		Koksar	3075m
		Sisu	2965m
	17:00	Gondhla	3160m	Got the broken carrier of the bike welded. Tea...
	17:50			start out again. No more welding shop before Leh
	18:15	Tandi	2855m	Tank topup... heard that the working hours here are erratic!	16074
	18:40	Keylong	3050m	night halt...

Day 19

Keylong

Another rest day...

16084

Day 20	07:30			start for Sarchu
	08:40	Jispa	3160m
	08:55	Darch	3230m	breakfast...	16112
	11:50	ZingZing Bar	3900m	start of ZingZing bar...	16139
	12:43	Baracha La	4695m		16160
	13:00	Bharatpur	4510m	maggie...	16166
		KillingSalai	4400m		16179
	15:00	Sarchu	4145m	Lunch & rest. Night halt.	16193

Day 21	07:30			Start out for Leh...
	09:35	Nakee La	4720m		16239
	09:55	Risky Nala		Tea break at Risky nala alias Whisky Nala alias Brandy nala. We did not know, but this place is prone to flash floods.. and many a vehicles have been washed away!!	16244
	10:30	LachulungLa	4850m		16251
	12:00	Pang	4290m		16275
	15:35	Tanglang La	5150m	Sri Krishna temple	16341
	17:30	Rhumtse	4070m
		Upshe	3385m	a late lunch...	16404
	20:15	Leh	3430m	finally some stability! Our home for the next 4 days...	16455