Leh Diary - Day 4 And Day 5

Day 4 : D day( Keylong-Jispa-Darcha-Baralacha La- Sarchu - Pang)

200 Kms

17-Aug-2014

The best thing about life is that no matter how tasking the previous 24 hours were, it gives you an opportunity to set things right again. Another beautiful morning, pleasant sun and mountains right in front of us were inviting us to move forward. 

We had to move back some 15 km(Tandi) to refuel to be on the safer side. Empty roads for the first time in daylight was the highlight as I went back to my favourite seat in a car. Amit took the loyal Fazer and Anshuman joined us in Safari with thumping dance numbers. Shweta and shaily took turns to spread their wings on the bike and I was already in awe with whatever my eyes got to see. 

After another dose of bread omlette and maggi at Darcha (11000 ft), we were ready to cruise. 

I pressed the accelerator but it showed no sign of speed, changed gears and pressed again, still the safari showed no signs of speed. So here it was, day 4's challenge, the Safari had surrendered and engine icon appeared on the speedometer panel. By now, I had realized that this aint gonna be easy. I pulled over immedietly, opened the bonnet. Engine was HOT!

Underestimating the gravity of the situation, we stopped for lunch at Sarchu (14000 ft). The engine refused to cool down. 

With hope and courage, we resumed post lunch but had to pull over again after 4-5 kms. This time there was smoke coming out of the bonnet. This was the last nail in the coffin. No mobile network, no mechanics and not much of tool kit we were carrying, it was endless stretch of mountains and nobody. All we could do was look for help. But to whom? Patience was the key as we waited for half an hour.

Thankfully the angels arrived, Happy singh and company. Here I would take a pause to thank those wonderful souls. Punjabis are a gem.

"Oye ki hoya Paaji?"

"Paaji, Gaadi kharab ho gayi!"

And all of a sudden we were 10 people working on the machine. 4 more vehicles stopped, all of them Punjabis, offering help. Suddenly the grim faces were smiling. They helped and they moved ahead wishing us luck. Long live Sardars.

We decided to wait for another half an hour at the deserted place. Another platoon of local drivers offered help with strange jugaad technologies(a condom as a cello tape :P), but they messed it up, causing more damage. Stupid ignorant fellas. Another half an hour wait did little to improve our confidence(We had no other option, going back was out of scene). So we marched ahead.

 Standing right infront of us were the dreadful Gata loops, the curvaceous, torturous and daunting 22 hair pin loops(16000 ft). Just when we thought we had it covered, panic struck. Shit! Not Again!  Safari refused to buzz, and that too right in the middle of Gata loops.  Nowhere to go(absolutely nowhere), we just prayed(We couldnt do much). And let me tell you, prayers in those region never go unheard, simply because you are at 17000 ft, much closer to the gods (So when in problem, remember the almighty). Another long wait made everyone restless. But "sabra ka fal meetha hota hai".

 A paramillitary commander who had left his job few years back was there to help us. Another hour passed as we struggled with the safari. By now the sun was behind the mountains and the temprature was beginning to dip fast. In the end the Jugaad technology came to our rescue. The commando assured us that it would be fine and he would drive with us till Pang. Thank God, I muttered.

I have no idea what others felt, but I was scared. Refusing to take any extra passengers, I polietly asked Amit and Anshuman to follow us as I marched ahead. Jai mata di!

Finally we reached the dreaded place of the tour- Pang (15000 ft)! With no other option left but to halt, we decided to stay in a camp. Little did we know that it would be almost(not really) death by cold for few of us.

Such was the pressure drop and chill that people refused to sleep the whole night. 

Amit-"ye mere life ka sabse tough raat hai, log yahan marne aate hain kya?"

Shweta-"Agony, shock, freaking cold, altitude sickness."

Shweta at 2:00 Am - "Chalo chalte hain yahan se, Anshuman ka Bike ja payega?" (She had no idea how cold it was outside when she said this).

Somehow I was fine, I went out and got the bag of medicine.Before I moved inside the tent,I looked at the stars, they were so close and clear. I was more troubled by the thought that Safari might create a scene again than by all falling sick.I handed them the medicines and closed my eyes. I could still listen to their conversation almost all night. They really were in shock and agony.

 We survived another day. Signing off from Pang.

Day 5 (Pang-Murray Plains- Leh)

200 Kms

18-Aug-2014

Amit- Down and out/Surrendered

Shweta - Down and out/Surrendered

Anshuman - down but not out, experienced to handle such extreme conditions

Shaily - Better of the lot

We knew we had to get out of Pang as soon as possible. The next challange was going to the washroom :) ! We all cleared level 1 ;)

I volunteered to ride the Fazer as Anshuman was down, but Amit refused to buzz. He needed rest. Anshuman had no choice but to gear up for the drive that  made him chill to the bone. But before he could ride the bike, Fazer required another 30 kicks to start, even more! Not only fazer, Safari was dead as well,the engine of the car was cold as ice( Well, the coolant pipe was damaged again. I can smile as i write this now).

"Chalo Dhakka maaro". 

Everyone watched as i tried my best to get the engine started and thankfully it did. Phew! You have no idea, how relieved I was.

Another 20 kms and we could see smoke coming out of the bonnet again. 

"This wont go far", everyone of us knew this. But before you give up, try once more! We looked for options, primarily help. And help was right in front of us!

Big Help! 

"Bhaiya coolant pipe fatt gaya hai".

 It was a no brainer for the truckwallahs/construction workers (building roads) to read our minds. Luckily they had some equipments too! They cut an iron pipe and fixed it in place of the coolant pipe. "This would be good to go. This had to work". I told myself.
The godmen(read construction site workers) told us that another 3 hours and we will be between habitation. That pumped us. We could manage to breathe now.

Driving through the murray plains (40 Km stretch) was a stress reliever. But the apprehension had got better of us. We were extra careful.

"Stop, I need to puke"! 

Shweta's tolerance was breached, Amit also needed a doctor, We all needed some breakfast and Safari needed periodic rest. We took a break just before Tanglang La (18000 ft). 

Another round of bread omlette and maggi disgusted everyone but that is all you get at 17000 ft.

It was 1000 hours. Jyoti was supposed to land in Leh at 0800 hours. We knew he would be trying to contact us(He didn't know where to put up in Leh, had no details whatsoever, and his prepaid connection wont work in LEH) but who was gonna tell him what we were going through and what was ahead of us.
Tanglang la was supposedly the last lap, the last hurdle. We carried on.

Amit was off to sleep by then, Shweta was impatient after 2 rounds of puking, I was cautitious and Shaily was busy with the camera. With regular breaks at 30 Kms, we marched ahead, even turning off the engine a few times to avoid overheating. Finally we reached the Second highest motorable pass(Tanglang la) of the world. The view was breathtaking, and we were breathless. 

We clicked nice shots. Luckily, Safari was in good health, which gave me enough confidence. 

As we descended, passengers started to get chirpier. With some fruits to eat, shweta was alive. Amit too was getting back to normal.

We were back :)! 

Smiles were back. With empty roads, mountains on the left, Indus on the right and interesting road signs (Be gentle on my curves) made the moment light. The headache was gone now.  A little more than enough of oxygen supply and sights of people on the road made us feel better. 

Meanwhile in Leh, Jyoti knew nothing. He waited and waited and waited before we made contact. That was around 1200 hours. Finaly, everything was falling in line.

A little late but safe. On the way there were Army camps, monastries and hell lot of vehicle repair centres. One noticable thing was cleanliness, it seemed like we were far away from the rest of India. 

We rushed to pick Jyoti. 

Welcome Aboard.

Three cheers for making it to Leh (safely) - Hip Hip, Hurray! Hip Hip, Hurray! Hip Hip, Hurray! We shouted and headed for the hotel.
We needed food, and some rest. But wait, Safari needed some attention. So we ran from pillar to post to get it serviced.

Bad News- The service station was a small one and they did not have the spare part we were looking for.

Good News- We had Rum and Whiskey.

Great news - We could breathe a sigh of relief and contact our Family and friends.

Take rest guys. Driving  800 kms was not a pain in the ass, infact it was the most fabulous and thrilling journey I had ever undertook. I needed rest. We all needed some rest. See you Tomorrow. Leaving you with a memory of heaven to cherish.

To Be Continued..