Leh Ladakh biking expedition -- Challange that one can enjoy

Leh - Ladakh Biking Expedition 2009 - Shridhar Purandare



Hi ,

I, Shridhar Purandare, am back with most beautiful expedition I have done in my life, Leh Ladakh biking expedition.This was expedition because hardly few courageous guys dare to do this on bike. My family and friends supported it heartily. Many many thanks to them. Many thanks to Hrishikesh Tambe and Sameer Phansalkar for their planning and guidance. Their prior experience helped us a lot. From packing to driving everywhere both of them are genius.

As this blog is going to get pretty big I will divide it in 20-22 parts.

When we were planning for the expedition and we were asking many friends to attach with us,I was really stunned to receive "NO" from some of my friends only because they thought its not safe. I can not understand safe life. Only thing I can understand is enjoy life.What ever but I respect their view point. I hope my blog can convince them to do this expedition.

Some misconceptions about Jammu And Kashmir that I want to clear:

1. It is dangerous to go there. (Not at all. Thousands of Foreign as well as Indian tourists visit these parts and we Indians fear to go there. This is ridiculous. It is part of India and we must visit these places.)

2. It is inconvenient to reach these parts.( Not at all. Flights are available till Leh which is district place and from their onwards you can hire vehicles)

3. Terrorists will shoot us : There are no terrorists in J&K. Indian Army is posted there only for your safety. They take all precautions to make your journey safe. They feel good when someone visit these places and appreciate them.

One Important tip :

Before planning the route make sure that you do not start the expedition from Manali.
As you gain about 6000ft in one day and thats not good for your body. You become a victim of High altitude sickness and waste few days in sleep. We did find many such cases wasting few precious days due to this. So do not start from Manali. Also do prepare and get informed about this area before reaching their.

So always start expedition from Jammu so that you gradually gain height.

Step one : Plan hard

Plan for route, bike maintenance, fitness, packing, mental preparation and everything that you can think. Plan to pinpoint details and follow it. All of it comes handy and priceless when you get stuck in worst conditions.

Here I will mention few things that you look at.

1. Service your bike from good mechanic.(Change chain socket,brake liners,break pads,acceleration cable,oil,tires and tubes)
2. Make sure you have all the papers for your bike.
a. RC/TC book
b. Insurance
c. PUC
d. Driving License
3. Make at least three photo copies of all these.
4. Get good 100% water proof raincoat jacket and trouser.
5. Get as less cloths as you can.
6. Take only high altitude ration (chocolates/dry fruits)
7. Take all medicines( Pain killers, High Altitude Mountain sickness medicine)
8. Take copies of map, identity card (with photo)
9. Create list with name,bike number,residential address,mobile number,land line number of all participants and distribute it to all friends and family.
10. Keep some copies of this list with you.
11. Keep some spare parts of your bike with you
a. Spark plug
b. Break lever,Clutch lever,cables
c. Head lamp
12. Keep all original papers of your bike with you.
13. Pack your luggage pretty will. Roll everything you can. Less the luggage more the comfort.
14. Take toolkit, spare tubes, puncture kit, pump to remove petrol, duplicate keys of you bike.

One small bag for utility things and one big sack for rest. In 7 people we shared 5 big sacks. We took tarpaulin to cover bags that we used to tie to foot rest. Hrishi picked up good ropes .

Some shops to purchase useful things

1. Raincoats : Champion sports
2. Tarpaulin,M-Seal,Ropes :any shop in Bohri lane
3. High Altitude Ration: Daga brothers
4. Haver sacks : Peak Adventures

Do not forget to get anklets ( mostly water proof ) and two water proof pairs of gloves.
You can contact anyone of us to get more information as I may miss some information here.

Our expedition team:

Hrishikesh Tambe(aka Langada Tyagi(LT)), Sameer Phansalkar(aka Samfan), Shridhar Purandare(you all know Lambda), Anand Lohakare(aka Andy), Nikhil Upadhye(aka Badbadya), Shrikant Shimpi(aka Seedalya) and Ashutosh Khandkar( aka Khalid). All are servicemen except Khalid.

Before we all met:

I was knowing : LT and seedalya
LT was knowing : Samfan,Badabadya,Andy
Samfan was knowing: Khalid

Good luck cafe near Deccan usually was our meeting point. We used to discuss topics like difficulty,insurance, seedalya's RPL(random pointer logic : Patent registered 1997) and many more things. I and Seedalya used to ask lot of questions to LT and he used to give answers to our stupidest question calmly!!!.

After spending a lot of time with them now I know them partially. So now I should market their skills in front of you.

1.Samfan is an all rounder. He knows everything about bikes and camera's. He checked our bikes before leaving. Thankfully he reminded me to add foot guard and foot rest to my Yamaha Gladiator.

2.LT is harcore nature boy. He can give competition to Bare Grills. He is very short tempered though. He used to sledge with every sentense.

3.Khalid .. All of us still suspect that he is businessman.

4.Seedalya .. Entertainer no 1 ... He is expert in doing stupedist things on the earth.

5.Andy,Badabadya : Talk less think more ...

Nice team right !! We had all the species needed to make this journey wonderful.

All the preparation took almost 2 months. I, LTyagi and Samfan did the flight booking almost 45 days before of our starting date of 3rd June 2009.Rest booked railway or flight tickets according to their convenience. Nikhil was going to join us from Shrinagar.Shrikant joined us from Jammu while Ashu and Anand joined us from Delhi.

I need to tell you about bike transport here as it is most important part....

1.About Bike transport from Pune to Jammu

Medium : Railway parcel
Quality: Poor ( Damaged all of our bikes)
Cost: 2800/- including packing
papers needed: RC book, Insurance, PUC

2.About Bike transport from Delhi to Pune:

Medium : Blue Dart
Quality: Good
Cost: 2000/- including packing
papers needed: RC book, Insurance, Driving Licenses

Now I will take you towards our journey day by day. Be patient and do not miss single day as you will miss the link and fun. Enjoy!!!!!!! here we go ..........

3rd June:

Amogh Ranade(Friend of samfan) dropped me,Hrishi and samfan to airport on 3rd of June. Tambe dropped plan to carry extension board due to lack of space in his sack. Both Hrishi and samfan told us not to carry any eatables except HAL( High Altitude Ration). But their own sacks were filled with Laddus and Chakalis. As always Air India plane to delhi was late by 45 minutes.As there was nothing else to do than eating those laddus we did that with highest priority.

Announcement from Air India said technical difficulty so while getting into plane we discussed about our life insurance.

We were at Delhi airport by 7pm. We did not bothered to find hotel in heat. We went directly to departure terminal. Airport provides shuttles between arrival and departure terminals. Now problem was of food and sleep. As all the hotels were accessible only if someone has checked in. And our checkin time was at 5am. There was no place where we can sleep. I tried to get phone number of Pizza Hut guy through a policeman at the gate.

Finally we got pizza delivered outside and we were delighted. Between Hrishi was busy in exploring his Canon 500D. We felt sleepy by 11pm. I laid the tarpaulin on the floor as if it was railway station and slept on it. Sameer to followed me. By 5am airport got crowded like Mumbai local. We boarded Jammu flight by 8am. Any single damn thing on Airport is 8-10 times costly, I do not why.I found Delhi airport most Gorgeous by many ways which i will not discuss here.


4th June:

We arrived by 11pm and reached Railway station to receive bikes. Shrikant (aka seedless) was already there with few liters of Petrol. Railway parcel service was not kind at all with our bikes. My bike's foot rest, Sameer's bike's accelerator lever and many more things were broken.We fixed all of it and went to next petrol pump nearby to fuel our bikes.

Todays destination was Patanitop which is about 120 km from Jammu. About 60 km patch from Jammu was really really hot. While driving I felt my body burning. We reached Patnitop by 6pm just missing the road once. No casualties, no other damage. I was driving with my own pace which was much more that of our group so I got few tips on driving.

5th June:

We left for Shrinagar by 8am. By 5pm we were at the shore of Dal lake. Houseboat was already booked so we were free for sightseeing. After dinner we proceeded towards houseboat. As Samfan did forget his jacket in Pune, he went for shopping.

Within an hour it started raining heavily. We had planned for 3 extra days for such things. Now was the time to utilize one. Everybody decided to make a stop by Sonamarg on 6th June.Houseboat was pretty comfortable.


6th June:

Path : Shrinagar -> Sonamarg


Everybody was charged up for real biking over 10000ft. This path was all about turns, waterfalls, river, ice, snow peaks, greenery and cold. On the way mistakenly I burned chain of my jacket in Kangri( Thing used in Himachal to keep body warm). From that point on I had to wear another raincoat over my jacket to prevent cold and rain. We used to stop for tea often.

Tea was the most essential part of this expedition. 2700 km of driving through all this challenging stuff was only possible due to tea. I almost drank 10-15 cups of tea everyday on this expedition.

Sonamarg was more beautiful than what it was at my first visit. It was snow everywhere. We booked JKTDC hotel near Thajiwas glacier. View were astonishing from our rooms. We kept clicking until it was dark.

7th June:

Now it was time for Kargil. Time to remember the greatness of India soldiers in Operation Vijay. We were moving along NH1 D on which Pakistan tried to watch over Tiger Hill. We also visited the Kargil war memorial. I was stunned by the stories of Indian Army told by one Jawan there. He was very upset over India's politics and strategy at the time of war. Brave heart thats what I call the Indian soldier. They all climbed 16000 ft and above peaks in the night. Do read all the information on the war as it will grow your will power.


We also do crossed zozila pass on the way. It was pretty slipy road full of mud. In Jammu and Kashmir every pass has a story. You will find it interesting for sure. Many Jawans had given their lives to make those roads. When it is hard to breathe at that height they worked whole day to make that part of India accessible to other Indians.Indian army is there for you all to visit such beautiful places.


Further we went towards Kargil to find some hotel. We did find one near bridge of Leh. Hotel D'Zozila is good one for stay and food.

8th June:

It was Padum on the menu but fate was planning something different for us. We left Kargil by 8am as we were needed to cover 240 km till Padum. We knew that road was bad. Just 20km from the Kargil and we had our first puncture. Sameer's bike's rear tyre gave up. It took 40 minutes to fix it. He put new tube.We went ahead not more than 20-30 km again tyre started making noise. We stopped and Samfan checked it and found washer inside break liners. New break liner was placed. Everybody was convinced that Seedlya put it inside!!.

This valley was new for all of us. The beauty was mind boggling. We did find few children running around. They were as beautiful as the valley. We found farms,snow-peaks,river and many more things at same place. I have seen Taj Mahal, Eiffel tower,Picasso's Monalisa and many more things but still all this natural and fresh things were more beautiful to my eyes. The nature at its purest form.As we moved further the road got worse and beauty got better. Samfan's bike's rear tyre gave up once again. We recalculated the aim to Rangdum. We were still 20 km short and it was 4.30 pm. Here it gets cold very fast as Sun sets.

We decided that I,Khalid and Nikhil will move forward 20km to Rangdum and look for good accommodation while rest will try to replace the tube. We three drove 20km in almost 90 minutes as the road was not there at all. It was only rocks everywhere. For last few km stretch I left Khalid and Nikhil behind. I found JKTDC bungalow but no one was there and gate was closed. There were many shops over some distance.I went there to ask for stay.Guy there was very helpful. He said stay for seven was very much possible in his home. When I asked for charge he said "Apako jo Marji dena hein". I was surprised because hotelier can never give this answer.

After reiterating for charge he finally said Rs 100 per person. Tea was on the cards as always. In between Nikhil and Khalid put one bike at the Rangdum exit so that rest can identify where we went. On the way they tried for the bungalow too. This time the care taker appeared from somewhere. There was sign that the bungalow was not used for decades. We took it for Rs550.
We all waited in the shop for other members. Tea,Maggy and Rajama chawal was on menu. After drinking few cups of tea we felt better. It was around 8.30pm and we were worried about others. 9pm was fixed as alarm by team. Finally they arrived but Samfan's bike which they left behind. Only rear wheel was there with them.

We were eager to here the tragedy. Hrishi and Samfan replaced the tube within no time. They started filling the air with foot pump.For half an hour, one by one they tried to pump air but it was all in vain. They thought pump was not working. We found one guy in the shop who claimed that he will try to fill the air. Within few minutes he came back with the wheel saying that tube was having hole. We did not believe in first place but when we saw by ourselves we give curse to the seller. It was purest form of bad luck.

We gave him another tube and on the next day tyre was ready to roll. The night was coldest of all with temperature going minus.

9th June:

Today first thing on our mind was to fix samfan's bike. We also decided not to go to Padum bu to return Kargil. At about 8am we left for return journey. Marmots were the attraction along the way. We spent good time on first 20km 's scenary as we did not enjoyed it yesterday.

We fixed the bike and reached Kargil till 6pm comfortably. In such area its very important that you leave early so that you can get ample time to see,click and enjoy along the way.

On the way Seedalya drew first blood. He took samfan's bike with him. Bike suffered most.

10th June :

It was time for dream biking , Kargil - Leh road. We as always left by 8am after completing breakfast. We decided to take lunch at Lamayuru. The road is best in the J&K except few spots. Beauty is nonparallel around the roadway and we found us quite unstoppable on this road. I was unable to continue the journey due to habit of stopping at various points for clicking some pictures. That made me the last runner. Finally by 6pm we were at thew boarder of Leh. Love at first sight is very true and I love Leh. Leh is one of the one most beautiful place I have ever visited. On one side you get the view of Himalaya rising 20000ft over sea level, Sindhu river on the other side mesmerizes you.

To make this more crispy you get the hearty hospitality everywhere. People in Ladakh are helpful,kind and simple. Food is delicious and not at all expensive. Hotels here give one of the best views in the world.

I do not have more words. We checked in into Singhi-Palace on old Leh road. Hotel was good and food was better. Next day was planned for Khardungla Pass.

11th June:

If you ask any biker whats your goal/dream/aim. You will probably hear Khardungla Pass most of the times. It is worlds highest motor able road at 18380ft. BRO ( Border road organization) parents this road. I am really proud of BRO for making such amazing roads at this height. We left by 9am to Magistrate office for permissions. It took us 90 minutes to get those.We hurriedly left towards Khrdungla. Heavy snowfall stopped us for few mins. Driving on 1st and second gear for hours is skill and needs patience. If you try to push your bike you can break it or burn it. Steadily we were driving, through snow we were driving, with skidding tyres we were driving, for our passion we were driving, for all the bikers in the world we were driving.

Within last few km the road extracted all skills out of us. But we made to top and I was not able to believe that I have done this. We clicked lot pictures and drank lots of Kawa. I,Hrishi,Khalid and Seedalya climbed up 100ft above all to view few more Himalayan ranges. Views from the top stunned us.

We were on our way back by 4pm. With just 15km remaining to reach Leh we were cruising. We decided to wash our bikes and then go to hotel. Unfortunately one doggy came in front of Hrishi's bike and seedalya was behind him as pillion. Both of them fell but Hirshi seriously injured his knee. His helmet saved his life. Our plans were reformed by our experts in no time. Samfan with Kalid took Hrishi to Hospital. I and Nikhil continued regular plan to wash the bikes and went to service station.

In the mean time Andy's bike got puncture. Seedalya very partially injured with Andy fixed it and came for washing their bikes. By 8pm we all were in Hrishi's room for detailed description and to hear change in plans.

As we were having 2 days to spare we decided to spent one day for Leh local sightseeing while Samfan and Hrishi will consult doctor. We also got to know that Khalid who was seeking revenge has dropped Hrishi out of his wheel chair. When all came back from hospital Samfan and Khalid were busy telling everybody how Hrishi fell from wheelchair.

Hrishi also planned to leave our group on Sunday and return back to Pune for MRI scan.

12th June:

Monasteries and Sindhu ghat was on our plan. Except Hrishi and Samfan we all were off to Hemis monastery. We found pray wheels everywhere on that day. Hemis is the biggest and richest in Ladakh. Its around 50 km from Leh. There is very big copper statue of Buddha. It was founded in 1630. After that we moved to next one Thiksey monastery.

On the way Nikhil to enjoyed falling off the bike. His bike's fiber was shattered. We found this more beautiful than Hemis. Spectacular Budha statue is the attraction. Views from the top of Thiksey are scenic too.

As it was getting late we moved fast to Sindhu ghat where Sindhu festival's preparation was going on. Even if the river bank is small but the beauty can stun you. By 7pm we were back to Hotel in Hrishi's room for Doc's report. X-Ray was normal so only possibility was of Ligament injury. As Hrishi's was not able to drive we decided to give him farewell by taking him to Pangong lake next day by 4 wheeler.

13th June:

Scorpio was booked to take us to Pangong lake. We all were ready with packed breakfast by 7am. Hrishi was happy to come with us and we were happy to be with him. The distance to cover was more than 400 km so we took less stops on the way.

Hrishi and Samfan were describing us beauty of Pangong lake. We were eager to verify it. Luckily Samfan's friend from army was posted in Ladakh. He gave us permission letter for boating in lake. He was delighted to see us all coming this far on bikes.

As we were approaching Pangong lake(PL) excitement was at peak. Astonishing views of Pangong lake be dazed us. For 3 hours camera's were making noise continuously. This salient lake was very new to me. Just imagine blue water front with Himalayan mountains at back. Clouds changing the color of water every minute. Truly paradise !!!!. We also noticed that stay is available at the shore of this lake. That was gifted curse for the lake. Gift for people and curse for lake as pollution can take its beauty away.

On the way we passed Chang-La pass. We also experienced heavy snowfall. Our driver was very much skilled to drive on snowy road. We were back by 7pm. As we were going to leave for Tsomoriri lake on the next day we filled out tanks at Leh. On the journey there is no petrol pump for 400km.

While we were busy looking at our photos, Hrishi was busy canceling his reservations and making them as before. He said for such beauty he can sustain severe pain. He was determined to continue the expedition. I salute to spirit of Hrishi to continue and of team to allow to do him so.

14th june:

As per Samfan's opinion today's road was worst of all. Distance was 200km . So we started much earlier at 6am. Most of the road was good courtesy to BRO.

At the last patch I saw one lake. I was surprised to see that we reached Tsomoriri lake so early. But Samfan removed my confusion. This was Tazang-Tso lake. it was very small in comparison with Pangong but equally beautiful. Sand patch on this road took toll of Khalid who was riding with Hrishi as pillion. Khalid did receive severe sledging from Hrishi(Sledging expert).Due to sand nobody got hurt. Hrishi decided to drive bike by himself.

We went forward slowly as last 20kms patch was the worst road. We reached Tsomorir lake by 5pm. Lake was similar to Pangong except background mountains were covered by snow.

This was again time to get stunned. Work for camera rest for bike. I and Samfan bargained for stay witht he owner. Views from the rooms were astonishing. You will find "amazing,astonishing,beautiful,stunned,be dazed,paradise" these word a lot in my blog as the beauty deserves much more than what I can text.Rooms were good and kept us warm enough for good sleep.

15th june:

We decided to reach Sarchu near Rohtang pass which was 180 km far. But nature had different plans for us. On the way to pang we missed the direction and completed second highest motor able pass Tanglang -La on 17600 ft !!!!!!!!. Samfan our leader and Hrishi's GPS couldn't guide us well.

We almost covered 70 km extra that too high elevation road. Time for different plan and different destination Pang. By 6pm we reached within close proximity of Pang. We found magical creations along the river bank. We were traveling on national highway and road was troublesome full of sand diversions.

We got shared tent at Pang easily. Omelet(minimum of 6 eggs) with lots of tea was on my menu . We thought that at least on next day we can reach Sarchu and went to bed. 'Tsunami'(name of the owner of tent) served very good food.

16th June:

We woke up early to leave Pang. As were now in Himachal Pradesh we were bit relaxed about snowfall and rain. But only after traveling few distance after Sarchu at madhavnagar we stopped due to heavy snowfall on the way. One glacier dropped on the road blocking us for few minutes.

After few minutes we again stopped due to heavy snowfall at Zingzingbar. Hrishi was very much excited to travel in such condition. Finally he took us out of tents and on the bikes.Our bikes started filling unwell due to cold weather and bad petrol that we got at Pang. I and Samfan decided to stop at Zingzingbar and relax for the rest of the day. Everybody followed us into tent.

Fortunately tent was sufficient for stay of 7. I went directly to sleep after eating omelet-rice and few cups of tea. Rest of the guys were trying their cooking skills. Snowfall completely overpowered our will power.

17th June:

After completing morning activities( in snow covered area for first time) it was time for tea and biscuits. I spent few hours waking everybody and then few more hours starting my bike.

We tried pushing bike, kicking 1000 times, starter 100times and many more things. But bike was now immune to our activities. We pushed it until slope was there for few km. Samfan was very angry and started repairing air filter, corroborator, jets and spark plug. Still it did not start.

Then he tried to replace spark plug and it worked !!!!! My bike's spark plug got short. Now with new heart my bike was roaring to go. Same was the case with other bikes. We moved forward to base of Rohtang pass. Pass was closed due to bad weather. We remembered Samfan's suffering on Rohtang pass. We almost waited for 2 hours for pass to open for bikes. We completed lunch in nearby hotel.

After few mins we got call from Police to move forward. ASAP we left towards pass. We never thought it will be break records of worst road(sorry it was not road at all !!!!, still rods coming out of road, 2 feet deep mud pond of about 20 ft in length)and worst weather (snowfall ,rainfall and hailstorm). We also broke record of best driving skills through 1 ft deep mud,ice and water. We crossed the pass somehow with all bikes in good condition and thanked God for that.

Rohtang pass was the most horrible road I have ever seen. Snow was not removed from the road. We were sketting on our bikes. Drum Brakes, Disk brakes and foot brakes were not working at speed of 10kmph.

We reached Manali by 8pm to find that Hotel in which we booked 3 rooms were only having 2 free. Hrishi found alternate in few minutes. By 9 pm I was in my room taking hot water bath.I was thanking my heart and body for continuing through this toughest journey.

With Dal -Rice as dinner we ended our day.

18th June:

It was time for Vasitha at 11am. Natural hot springs relaxed our body taking all pain away.

Rest day was spent servicing bikes,sleeping and eating. We moved to tents as rooms were booked for that day by some other guests.I sneaked into sleeping bag by 8pm while others went for shopping and eating.

19th June:

Sleeping bags were comfortable than most of the beds. I had very nice sleep after good rest day. Today's distance was the longest of all about 300km and with good road we did not encounter any problem.Heat was the only problem now :(. We stripped of Jerkins,Extra pant and other extra cloths along the way.

Lots of water breaks made our journey comfortable. 1000s of turns made my shoulder ache.We also wandered about 30 km to find hotel. But hotel was surprisingly best in the slot. Almost three star.

We got fresh and had dinner. All of us were very much tired and went to bed.

20th June:

We left Chandigadh by 9am. It was expressway all the way to Delhi. We drove at 80kmph avg. With just 1 breakfast break and 6-7 water breaks we reached Delhi by 12pm. We rushed to railway station to parcel bikes to Pune.But rules at railway parcel office at Delhi are different than those at Pune. They need railway ticket of everybody to load the bikes. We did try to convince them but we failed. We found alternative with Blue Dart -DHL.

Our hotel was near Carol baugh already booked by Magesh(Samfan's brother in law) who was in Delhi for his own work.The Blue Dart office was 6 km farther. We got fresh at hotel and removed all stuff tied to bikes. By 9pm packing of our bikes started and we returned by Metro. I was pleased to see such good facility in India. Clean, Air conditioned and spacious makes metro special.

I and seedalya separated our cloths into different bags as he was returning back by train.I felt asleep quickly.

21st June:

We woke up by 9am got fresh and went to Udapi restaurant for breakfast. After 2 plate idali and Lassi my stomach stopped asking for more.

Mangesh had arranged for taxi and we thought it will be Innova. But the taxi was Santro.Four of us sitting with one big sack on thighs and one small in between legs.We became unmovable for next 40 minutes journey to Indira Gandhi domestic airport.

Flight was on time and landed us in Pune before time. By 5.30 pm I was at my aunt's place in Sadashiv peth with a cup of tea in my hand :).Home food tasting better than anything and T20 world cup final ended my expedition in very sweet way.This expedition was all about planning, passion and successful implementation.

This blog, this journey and these friends all are very very special to me. Very thanks to all for patiently reading/watching. For any kind of help you can contact me anytime.

Do leave your comments/suggestions as it will be helpful to improve my next blogs. We will meet soon.

Shridhar Purandare
shridhar.purandare@gmail.com