Plains,
Ups & Downs
The
only thing I remembered from the last 10 hours was puking twice (without even
drinking :p ). I never thought that a human body behaves in such’a manner in
less oxygen zone. It feels weird when you wake up in the middle of the night
just for puking - - but I am thankful to the tentwala who kept that tumbler
beside me.
This
was the first time in our trip that Sumit woke me up and asked me to get ready.
The weather was so chilly; mercury would have frozen in the thermometer. I came out of the tent just for 2 minutes and
went right away inside the bundle of quilts. Within next 10 minutes I was
forced by Sumit, vidit & tentwala to come out of the tent and get ready. We
decided to move slowly and stop at the Army medical camp nearly 15 kms from
Bharatpur as told by tentwala. Co-incidentally we met the same riders, whom we
encountered at our first naala crossing (refer chapter 4 ).They told us to move
with them and asked us not to waste more time as the conditions can worsen with
time if one is under altitude sickness attack. Finally, at around 6 30 in the
morning we were ready to roll but not in our best senses.
Now
everything was all set but Vidit’s bullet betrayed us. Sumit and Vidit made
failed efforts to kick start it for like 15 minutes. In the meanwhile, on guy
came to me and asked me to have a photograph on my bullet. I said “bhai I am
not well, agar main bullet se utar geya to maine so jana hai “. He ran towards
his car and brought me a dozen tablets, one for every problem a person can face
in a place like that. It was surprising but I wanted to get myself checked in
the Army Medical camp first before taking any medicine. Then I asked sumit to
start the bullet by moving it downhill with 2nd gear and release the clutch.
The method worked and we left Bharatpur camp at 7.
We
started very slow at the speed of 20Km/hr and it was very difficult to ride as
my eyes were getting closed. The only thing that kept me on bullet was the
thumps from my bullet & heart. We crossed nearly 10 km from Bharatpur in
one hour and Vidit stopped just to have a check on Sumit & me but I asked
him to continue as I didn’t want to waste even a single minute. Our speed kept
of decreasing as we covered only 4 Kms in the next half hour. I was getting
happy as Army Camp was just 1 km away but blistering
barnacles!! There was nothing but
only plains and there was a signboard “Army Camp – Sarchu 10 Kms “.
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| Landscape on our way from Bharatpur to Army Camp |
It
was total disappointing and frustrating moment especially for me. I wanted to
stop and sleep but I had to ride 10 more kms to get some. The only thing which
was going through my mind was Tony’s words “Altitude sickness hui to medicine
lena, agar so gaye to sote reh jaoge”. Sumit was leading us, I was in middle
and Vidit was just behind me and we were riding at a very low pace. The last
ten kms to Sarchu were nearly plains with fewer ups and downs. Half the way (5
kms to sarchu), my condition deteriorated and my eyes got closed while riding
and boooom!! I hit the rocks lying ft away on the right side of the road . I
don’t remember for how much time my eyes were closed and how I reached here.
As
vidit was riding behind my bullet, it was easy for me to get some help in form
of water and time. We stopped there for 10 minutes and started moving. In the
next 45 minutes, we were at Sarchu Army Camp which is at Himachal Pradesh and
J&K’s border. Sumit and me went inside the camp for medication. The camp
looked very dull from outside but it had all the facilities one can have at
that time. Both of us were given oxygen from oxygen cylinders and to my
surprise, I was back with tons of energy within 2 minutes. I asked the Army doc
“ doc can I have it for 5 more minutes”?? I was expecting a simple answer “ oh
yes why not!!!” but to my surprise the doctor said “ tum yahan aaram karne aaye
ho ya adventure karne , bhaago yahan se and bina ruke pahuncho Leh!! Jyada tbiyat
kharaab hai to wapis chalejao !!”.. For the next 2 minutes I was in shock but I
realised later that he was right. He also added that “keep sipping water after
a gap of 10 – 15 minutes as our body takes Oxygen from water rather than
atmospheric air as it is an oxygen less zone”… Just next to the army camps and
the border, there are some tents installed by the locals. We stopped there for
some food and rest. I dozed off within seconds without taking any thing….
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| Entry of Army Camp at Sarchu |
I
got up at 1 in the afternoon – the weather was sunny with cold winds. The only
music you hear there is the melody created by the voice of chilly winds, moving
trucks and thumps by the bullets passing by. I had my first meal of the day as dal chawal
and was feeling better than before. We started our journey at around 2 o’clock and decided to make Pang our next pit stop.
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| View from our Sarchu Tent |
From
Sarchu, the route headed to the Gata Loops also called the jalebi bends, a
series of 21 hair-pin bends that raise the elevation quickly by 460 m (1,509
ft). From there, the route slowly wound up to Nakee La at 4,920 m (16,138 ft),
with stunning views of snow-capped peaks all around. The sky was also different
now. It was a very deep blue that looked almost unreal. That effect comes about
as there is hardly any water vapour in the air that produces the haze in the
sky that we are all too familiar with when looking at the sky near the horizon
on the plains. But up here, with the humidity so low, the rich, cobalt blue of
the sky was a sight to behold, especially with no clouds whatsoever. And it
made the contrast with the brown and red mountains all that much more vivid.
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| Jalebi Bends starts |
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| On Our Way to Pang |
After
coming down from Nakee La, the route quickly wound back up to Lachung La at
5,080 m (16,663 ft). Small amount of falling snow was the best part of the day.
We had to stop there to enjoy this new experience of ours as at that point of
time, your eyes just see the falling snow particles which seems to be talcum
powder and your ears hust listen to the thumping sound of your machines and
your brain just responds to your eyes and ears. The air is so rarefied up here
and humans are not meant to be up at this altitude, but here we are having
built a road for regular traffic to pass through.
 |
| On our way to Pang 2 |
From
there, it was a short ride to Pang at 4,520 m (14,826 ft). This would be the
highest place that I've slept at. We reached Pang at 5 in the evening and we
directly went to the Army camp for the next check-up. The doctor their
instructed us the same as the Bharatpur Camp doctor and asked us not to go
ahead and stop for the night there itself. Pang , it is village same as
Bharatpur but having more tents then Bharatpur. We took tent for 3 of us and started
unloading our machines.
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Tents in Pang
|
The
night spent a Pang was no different than the one spent at Bharatpur. I was
acting subconscious but a little recovered if I compare with the last night.
The next morning was chilled and sun came very early, nearly at 6. It was very
difficult for me to answer the nature’s call as I weak and didn’t recover
fully. We started our journey to Leh at around 7 30.
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Pang Exit
|
Pang
sits at the bottom of a plateau and a series of hair-pin bends brought us up to
4,780 m (15,678 ft) and the More
Plains. It's strange that there
is a 40-km stretch of almost flat terrain up at this altitude. The road was
initially brand-new tarmac and it made for a sublime ride in the morning chill.
You feel like you are riding on the NH1 from Delhi to Panipat at the starting
of More plains but the condition of the road is not up to the mark in between.
I was riding slowly and at number 3 and trying to cross the bad part of the
road clearly as my rear tyre was stuck in the sand twice in the bad part. After
some time I saw Vidit wth his dead bullet standing on one side of the road and
waiting for me. His machine was dry and there we felt that the jerry cans which
we bought in Manali for extra fuel was not just an extra weight to us. The
jerry cans were loaded on Sumit’s machine and we were not able to see him. Thus
started the chase. For the first time on the More Plains my bullet was on 60
kmph as I was in pursuit for Sumit. After about 15 minutes of chase I was able
to see sumit nearly 300 mtrs ahead of me. I kept on shouting his name but no,
he was riding like he had to win some kind of race. I was able to catch him in
30 minutes and then we had to come back for Vidit and we were surprised to see
that vidit was enjoying Maggi with tea at some dhaba. We stayed there for some
time, had our brunch and started moving again. The pavement ended and we were
off-roading to the end of the Morey Plains. At the northern end of the plains,
the route started climbing to the last and highest pass of the Manali-Leh
Highway, Taglang La at 5,350 m (17,548 ft).
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| Welcome to More Plains :) :) |
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