The Touring Diary

Disclaimer: All the photos posted for this day have been captured by Sunil sir and Chethan. I have watermarked the pictures just to save piracy and not take away credits from them So from today we were a little eased out less worried about the bikes because as stated in earlier posts that this leg of the trip we would be covering on the scorpio. We started our journey towards Hanle via Chumathang valley. The route to Hanle is from Karu from Leh. We had to cover around 250kms for the day. We had planned to stay in Hanle for the night since we already had got the permits for the same from Bangalore. And the next day was allocated to Chumur and if possible Tso Moriri. The route was a mix of good and bad roads with the Indus river flowing besides the road. As we were heading towards Chumathang Valley, we noticed the change in flora and fona of the place. We saw big green trees unlike the other places where apart fromo grass and small bushes almost nothing else one can spot as greenery. May...

Day 10 Leh - Khardungla (very short day for us, read on to know why) 10th day and by now we had already lost approximately 3 days of planned trip due to unforeseen events, some due to negligence (bikes not getting delivered on time) and some due nature's strength (inundated streams). By this time we should have visited Hanle, Chumur and come back to leh and visit the Nubra valley, crossing Khardungla on the way. And we had to come back to Leh without covering Hanle and Chumur due to problem in permits ( Read this ). We all were very disappointed due to this. Anyways We decided next day we would visit Khardung la and continue towards Nubra Valley and make a stay in Diskit and visiting near by places. We started towards Khardung la/K-top (Alt: 18380ft) which 42 kms from Leh. This was kind of a regulation spot that everybody covers We were pretty eased up as by now we had got acclimatized with the higher altitudes and some of the most treacherous routes. While climbing we stopped for...

Pangong Tso to Chushul to Leh Disclaimer: All the photos posted for this day have been captured by Sunil sir. I had many pictures for the day but I lost it somehow. Big thanks to Sunil for clicking such nice snaps even though going through the hardships of the M-Top More pics clicked by Sunil: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/hianusunil/SunilHim# I have watermarked the pictures just to save piracy and not to take away credits from him for the pictures. Next morning we woke and again our aim was to start early and cross that stream on the way which made us stay overnight at Pangong only. I and sunil sir decided to change the engine oil and the oil filter mainly because of the treacherous ride the previous day when the bike was almost running above 6k RPM. I drained the oil and tried opening the oil filter, to my surprise the oil filter was totally broken in pieces. First the metal strips enclosing the sides of the filter came then the filter net and then the other things came out. Th...

Day 8 the D-day why? Because this was day we had planned to visit the most beautiful, The Pangong Tso Lake , and the toughest of all terrains where a bike can go, The mighty Marsmikla/ Marsimik la (unofficially the highest motorable pass of the world, situated at the altitude: 18634ft ). One of the best links on the net related to Marsmik la: http://www.60kph.com/interact/marsimekla_tips.htm Pangong Tso links: - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangong_Tso - Leh – Pangong Tso Travel Guide Disclaimer: All the photos posted for this day have been captured by Sunil sir. I had many pictures for the day but I lost it somehow. Big thanks to Sunil for clicking such nice snaps even though going thro ugh the hardships of the M-Top More pics clicked by Sunil: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/hianusunil/SunilHim# I have watermarked the pictures just to save piracy and not take away credits from him for the pictures. We woke up at 6 and started packing things. By 6:30 we had reached Paagal Naala. There ...