Leh Adventure : 6/15

After a relaxing day in Srinagar, we decided to leave early round 7/8am. We ended up leaving at 9am as usual.

We got a tag from Varun and Amit as -"Lazy Riders" "24-Hour riders".As we used to ride through-out the day. Varun had to drive Bolero, so he was stressed too if we were driving at inappropriate time.

Today's journey was from Srinagar to Kargil. Kargil war was fought in 1999 where Indian Army announces complete eviction of Pakistani intruders. The journey was fascinating, we experience Snow, Cold, Rain and damaged roads. We stopped for brunch around 11:30am.

Rajesh S- Snow Slide

We came across Zero-point. Zero-point is the place with two mountains on either side capped with snow. The temperature would have been around 0-5C. Here I lost my Ray-Ban glass. The excitement of experiencing snow and losing Ray-Ban glass got me mixed feeling. But past is past, I should have been more careful.
I forgot about Ray-Ban and enjoyed the Snow.

We had tea here. Imagine Hot Tea at 5C :). You have to drink it fast to have it hot :P.

We had 5 SLR's and we enjoyed the photo-shoot for the first time snow experience.

Landslide in Zojila pass

We had to pass Zojila pass. The pass are nothing but the top of mountain. You have to climb the mountain and have to get down. These mountains are prone to landslide. ie stones might fall over vehicle anytime. We had encountered this and had to wait to get it pass. The transport will be two way and these are risky road. There are no boundaries, if the tire slips then there is no chance of getting back.

I had personally encountered such experience. I along with Nirmal were overtaking the still traffic. The vehicle had stopped due to landslide. We were trying to reach as top as possible. There was narrow way to pass with the vehicles parked due to avalanche. 

There were no place to keep my right foot, I had to go as slow as possible to pass it. I however did not realise the risk factor and passed it with double ride. Nirmal was however were frustrated about it. Yes, a small mistake could have cost us very badly. The slip would send us to very steep down the hill. After passing, we parked the bike can came to that spot as the landslide clearance was in progress and would require to take some time.

It was scary, the path was narrow. Even I felt that I was over confident to do this stunt and realized not to attempt such risky situations again. Let's wait, it is better to be Mr Late than to be Late Mr -> A sign board by BRO. BRO stands for Border Roads Organisation. The roads on these places have been constructed by this organisation.

We reached Drass around 6pm. Drass have a record of having Temperature of -70C. Just cannot imaging that. That will be during night, winter season. We had Tea here. Interacted with Tea shopkeeper, he had shown the Tiger Hill which Pakistan army had captured during Kargil war. He also mentioned that the Kargil war was fought at -50C.

Few of our friends visited War Memorial, Drass while other including me left for Kargil. 

The road from Drass to Kargil was awesome.

We waited for others in Kargil who had been to Memorial in Drass. We actually planned to put some tent nearby, but it was late to spent time to tie the tent. We ended up getting accommodation and good food in Kargil.

Next : Leh 7

Leh Adventure : 5/15

The journey was from Udhampur to Srinagar, which was about 220km. We had breakfast in nearby locality of Udhampur. As usual we had Alo Paratha with Pickle/Curd.

We started around 10:30 am after good rest.We planned to reach early by 7pm to Srinagar. Tough luck, we faced traffic and were stuck for almost an hour. The good thing about ride in north India was the day light was present till 7:30pm so we made a target to reach before the day light.

Few of the roads were bad which made us to slow down where as few were really good. The bad roads were risky though, again with no light and pot holes.

Finally reached Srinagar around 11pm :P.  The plan for the next day was to roam Srinagar and do a little shopping, so we were relaxed. Had non-veg food, we also had rum shots too to keep body warm :P. 

After a long sleep we had breakfast at 11am the next day. Since the day was off for bike riding, we planned to visit good restaurant in Srinagar by local transport.

Mughal Darbhar!

We visited Mughal Darbhar, the taste was delicious. The taste of Kashmir food was felt.  Yummy!.

In the evening we visited Dal Lake, one of the beautiful spot to visit if you are in Kashmir.

Nehru Garden was in the middle of the Lake. We took lot of photos here.

The Lake was huge and there were shops on the lake side. It was good experience.

Dal Lake

After Dal Lake, we went out for shopping. Shopping list included items for Snow, Rain, Cold and all. Also we also made this as opportunity to buy stuffs for near and dear ones.

The Bike were serviced as Varun and Amit (Mechanic) were involved during the first half.

We had not rode the bike completed for the day. Had a good walk around the city.

The discussion, bargain with shopkeepers was fun. They were all businessman, it was good learning how to interact to customers.

Next : Leh 6

Leh Adventure : 4/15

Due to the night ride, we were tired. We got up late, had breakfast in Mandi itself.

We left Mandi around 10:30am to Pathankot. Pathankot,Punjab is 205km far from Mandi.

There were dhaba throughout the route and we had our lunch in one of these around 2pm. We reached Pathankot at 6pm.

After quick tea, we set to Udampur,Jammu. at 6:30pm.
During the ride, 2 bikes got issue. It was ignition problem with one and the other went out of fuel. Even though the payment for mechanic was bit high we were in safe position. Because we knew that the roads were challenging and in few cases bikes can have problems. The rent for the mechanic was 1600rs per day for 8 bikes.

We had to wait for the bikes to get repaired. This was a good test of patience. It was already dark and we were waiting for the bike to get repaired. We somehow had a laugh by discussing funny things keep aside the frustration in these unavoidable situations.

We were also happy that we are facing problems in the beginning like out of fuel and all. Since we were riding in the highway we had gas stations nearby and thankfully not in isolated places or middle of forests :P which we are going to ride soon.

After a wait for almost one and half hour, we resumed our journey.

Reached Udhampur around 1:15am. This was very difficult journey as there were no proper street lights, divider without indicator. I was almost about to crash the divider for which I did not have any clue , I was cautious there after.

Since, we were not in package trip we had to choose the hotel on our own. As we reached very late and all of us were exhausted, we choose one hotel which turned out to be costlier. Off-course it was as good as room rent cost, but we did not wanted AC neither TV. Just a bed to lie down till next morning and the luggage to be safe was our requirement.

The day's journey was about 320km, this was possible as we were riding in the highway. The average speed was 80km/hr.

We knew late start was not good as we did not wanted to ride at dark because it was risky with narrow road with pits and pot holes, blind curves, steep gradients and no street light as we rode in remote/forest area.

We also thought about issue that bike will encounter such as Disc issue, battery issue, out of fuel and all. We had Gyan, fun discussions ;-).

We all needed good sleep to start fresh next morning.

Day 3 Completed.

Relax mar aur pose dey! :P

Next : Leh 5

Leh Adventure : 3/15

Manali is a beautiful place where the mountains are capped with Snow.It is located in Himachal Pradesh. The river flows in the middle of the city, we saw many tourist, locals having a good time playing on the river side. Manali is a good tourist spot, there are more Bike Rent shop than hotels.
I loved to interact with locals to know more about them. I was informed that the peak revenue time for them was from March to August, so they have to earn as much as possible later due to the snow fall there will not be any business.

We woke up at 7am, it was wonderful feeling to see the beautiful mountains. Morning Tea, breakfast were at the same place. Since we were 14 members', it required some time for all of us to get ready and to get started.

The breakfast was Alo Paratha, Pickle, Curd, Cheese :).

At 11am, we met Varun who was in-charge of Vehicle which we were about to rent. We had rented 1 Bolero, 2 - 500CC Royal Enfield, 5 - 350CC Royal Enfield and 1 - 350CC Thunderbird.

I took 350CC Royal Enfield Electra model. From our team, formation was Rajesh S and Shamgha/Yogesh - 350CC Classic, Rajesh R and Rakesh - 350CC Electra , Nirmal and Prashanth - 350CC Electra. The 500CC bikes were ordered by Charan's team.

We were riding for the 13 days ie from June 7 till June 19. The cost per bike was
350CC : 1300rs/day
500CC : 1600rs/day
Bolera : 4300rs/day

This had a huge impact on our trip budget but the Bike ride was planned. Bolero was rented so that we can keep our luggage,tent and stuffs also if any person falls sick he can make use of Bolero.

We were set for the test ride to get comfortable with the bike and also to mentioned if there is any issue with bike to Varun. We visited Solang Valley which was about 15km from stay. We did not spend much time in Solang valley and returned back to do more of shopping as suggested by Varun for the adventures trip.

We reached back to the stay around 3:30pm where we had lunch after which we started to ride.Around 5pm, we packed everything in Bolero and were set to go out in Bike.

First destination from Manali was Mandi, which was 110km far. The road was good, but it was with twist and no boundaries ie.. if you fall you go up straight. Risky road but was fun. We had to make journey in the dark as we had left late for Mandi.

The planned destination was Dharamshala, which was 100km far from Mandi. We did not go there as it would be very late.

We reached Mandi around 10:30pm, got accommodation and good food and had a good sleep.

Day2 Completed.

Bullet!!!

Next : Leh 4

Leh Adventure : 2/15

JOURNEY BEGINS...

I booked my tickets bit late hence there was timing difference of flights. I was alone to travel Bangalore to Chandigarh also the vice versa, whereas others were in groups during the journey.

This was my first Flight experience. Even though this was a domestic flight roughly about 3 hours, it made me curious and also nervous. Once after the take-off, I got adjusted and was in comfort zone. The view from 37,000 feet high was amazing, I could see the land from Eagle's eye view.

The anxious first time moments started to fill in.

I reached Chandigarh bit early, after a wait for 10mins other friends joined me.

My flight from Bangalore was at 9:50am, and reached Chandigarh around 12.40pm.

In the morning, we had ordered Ola Cab for the commute from Marathalli to Airport. Rajesh R, Rakesh and I planned to book Cab. There was an offer such that the first ride from the app was free and we tried to utilize this opportunity. The obstacle : Ola Cab Driver refused to take us to Airport as he told that he won't come to airport as this was free ride. We got terrified by his response and thought of taking this matter with the authorities after the trip.

Since, for most of us it was the first flight. We woke up at 5am (almost 4 hours early than the flight). Because of this we thought of taking Bus as we had time and ignored other cab services as the request for Cab would cost us time. We took the Bus around 6am and we were able to reach airport around 8am. 

We met other friends in airport, had a chit chat with them, introduced to each other as we will be the family for the next 15 days sharing fun, happiness, tuff times and also frustrations.

After reaching Chandigarh airport at 12.40pm, we spend some time talking also collecting the luggage from cargo. By 1pm we were ready to explore North India. We had hired a tempo which was 14 seater, the journey was from Chandigarh to Manali. We also had to do shopping a bit as we did not buy all the necessary items like bike armour, rain-coat, gum boots, etc.

We had lunch in Punjab Pal Dhaba, the food was delicious especially Butter chicken, Tandoori Chicken and Roti. We purchased the Guard for the bikers, gloves, eatery items, rain coats and other basic requirements from Chandigarh. We left Chandigarh to Manali around 5pm.

Punjab roads were too good. The best thing I liked in Punjab is the shops, house's are at-least 15m far from road giving space to parking. The road was in good shape with no pot holes, and less density of the people made it a calm place. The weather was harsh, it was hot around 30C. It was good to experience new state and also to interact with people there.We had tea, dinner on the way in dhaba.  The route was bad after we left Chandigarh, the professional tempo driver was handling the road better by going at 60km/hr speed.

We reached Manali at 2:30am. It was cold around 5C. We wondered how fast did the temperature vary from Chandigarh to Manali.

Stay in Tent was expected and we got the experience. It was cold out there, blanket was as thick as bed itself which helped us to protect from cold. This made the thrilling start.

This was just the beginning.

Chandigarh Airport! : Team 3

Next : Leh 3

Leh Adventure : 1/15

THE BEGINNING...

Travelling is the best investment we can make out our busy life. It provides a break to work life and provides a lot of memories to cherish for life. Leh Ladakh is definitely a must visit place once in a life time.

The best time to visit the top most India is on June to August, so that most of the passes will be open in this time frame. I like to travel and got to know about the Leh Ladakh plan from my ex-colleagues. Initially, it seemed to be a budgeted trip but I knew it was a worth a shot and hence decided to go for it.

We planned the trip by early February so that we can book the flight ticket with good discount. The estimated budget was 50K (Including all stuffs). There were three groups of 7 each. One from Hubli and two from Bangalore. Most of the folks knew each other from working in Sankalp semiconductor (colleague and ex-colleague). Involvement in work made me to focus less on plan, similarly with others too. The Leh plan was made by Ram Charan (2nd Team) and we (3rd Team) followed the same.The first team - Hubli had different route plan as they were getting their vehicle.

We were not worried much about the trip regarding the stay, purchases advance of trip. February passed, march passed, May made us excited and also anxious to worry about the weather conditions there.It was Mid May where we created XLS, check list to get stuffs to Leh.

By June 3rd we were all good with the check list.

Our Trip was from June 6th to June 20th.
We were 14 members ie... 2 Teams from Bangalore.

Intro to Family :
Ram Charan, Ajay, Tushar, Aditya, Santhosh, Vyas, Kishore, Nirmal, Rajesh S, Rajesh R, Rakesh, Shanmugha, Yogesh and Myself were the family.

Expectation from the trip :
Bike Trip over Manali to Leh and back via different route.
Enjoy the bike ride.
Night Tent/Camp stay.
Challenges during ride.
Snow fall.
Other tuff weather conditions like dust storm, rain etc...
Testing out patience level during ride on passes.

Basically a complete package of Adventure trip.

T-shirt in Leh!

Our route was : Manali - Mandi - Pathankot - Udampur - Srinagar - Drass - Kargil - Leh - Pangong Tso - Leh -  Khardungla - Hunder - Leh - Tanglangla -Sarchu - Baralachla - Keylong - Rohtangla - Manali


Next : Leh 2

First Marathon!

TCS Marathon is a huge event happening every year in Bangalore. TCS Marathon run - is for charity and many companies in Bangalore are supporting this event. TCS marathon has different categories such as World 10K, Open 10K, Majja Run (5.6km), Champion run (People with special ability) and senior citizen run.

I was always fascinated by the Marathon runners and decided to run for open 10k. ARM sponsored the Marathon for all its interested employees for the run. I was excited about this marathon and practised for about two months to complete the race by an hour. Completion by an hour means running at 10km/hr, but this was the second priority. My first priority was to run 10k without a stop either a walk, just running throughout.

I have been practising for about two months and I could compete 10k in thread mill at the speed of 9km/hr. I did not wanted to stress more as I didn't wanted any health issues. Last two weeks before the race were pretty relaxed as I was not practising and there were many parties which I attended.
I also tried to balance between the party and marathon practice but it was bit difficult to hang on.

Somehow, I was bit confident about my ability to run and marathon seemed a very good opportunity to test my stamina.

Race Day!
Oh my God! 12k people were in competition for Open 10K. I was in F section which was for the first time runner's. The other sections are categorised based on their previous timings. Once the race got started I was running at my pace and did not bother about the others.

Till 5Km, I kept running until I felt exhausted also pain in my leg. Now there was some issue, I was sure that I need to complete it at my best so I tried to walk some distance to gain the stamina and then run till I can, and then repeat. I was wondering why I could complete the 10k during the practice in thread mill and why not here. There were lot of things that was running on my mind, May be I did not practice on road, May be I did not practice with many folks, May be I could have cut down some parties, May be I could have tried little harder.... By then I thought lets think about these thoughts later but now lets focus on the completion of the race.

I tried to run harder but every time I felt pain in my legs I walked for a little distance and then got back running. Finally I managed to cross the finish mark by 59mins and 13 seconds. I was definitely happy with my performance about the timing but at the same time I was bit disappointed that I could not keep running through out which was my priority.

Post race, I sat back and thought of all the reasons I could think of to make myself better runner.
Now, I have a list ie to-do list for enabling a better health, better me!.
This marathon is going to transform myself.

This marathon will be a changing event for me and lets hope I will stick to the plan.
Mission : Half Marathon by 120mins (By November 2015).

Marathon was fun, but it's just the beginning!