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Manali to Leh: The Road You Must Travel

Author: Mahua Kapoor
by Mahua Kapoor
Posted: Sep 22, 2019

I found something better than mountain-hiking. My friends Riya, Prem, and I are bad trekkers. We’re always unprepared and drink too much the previous night. On one such occasion, I didn’t have the energy to walk up the stairs, let alone the glistening, cold mountains. I didn’t know what was making me more nauseous the altitude, Prem’s bad jokes or the hangover, which is probably why we quit for a Manali to Leh bike trip. The joke was on us. This bike tour is perhaps the hardest thing we ever did.

The real attraction

My motorcycle cult taught me that this bike route is a rite of passage for us. It has the versatility and challenge of a military boot camp course, going from the lush greenery of Manali to the beautiful barren Leh-Ladakh, and from deep valley to Khardung La, the highest motorable pass in the world. So we signed up for a group trip. It’s always better to go with someone more experienced, especially on such extreme adventures. You don’t know if you’ll need help with something more than flat tires or acute mountain sickness. Riya knew someone who travelled with the organisers before and she had heard good things, which was good enough for me.

Getting started

We started in Kullu. After a long Volvo ride from Delhi, we finally got our Royal Enfields. From cramped feet and mild suffocation we were breathing sweet, open air. We checked into a hotel after arriving at Manali early morning. It was misty cool outside my window. My friends and I met the others and we tested our bikes. Some of us left to visit the Vashisht temple and monasteries. We had to shop lightly, as we were already carrying our camping gear and spare bike parts. Riya, Prem and I wanted to discover the taste of Manali and devoured Sidu and Chha Gosht in street cafes.

Stops are important

Manali, as I later realised, was a great acclimatiser. We were leaving the valley for altitudes much higher than 3000 metres; we had to stop for petrol, cash and food when we still could. The difference between Manali and Delhi was an Activa in comparison to the Enfield or Harley-Davidson that is Leh from Manali. After the first pass, Rohtang La, the day tripper traffic, sun, noise everything just melted away. It was just me and the road, unadulterated. I climbed higher and higher, the snow-capped mountains danced closer and closer. We rested in a Swiss tent in Jispa at dusk.

Bumps, not roads

From Jispa, we were riding to the Search Plains by crossing the 16,000 ft Baralacha-La Pass. We had to navigate narrow, slushy unpaved roads and freezing temperatures. Soon, it didn’t matter if we knew each other, we were waiting for the people behind us, sharing water with those who were feeling dizzy and coughing. We crossed Gata Loops, a series of 21 harrowing hairpin bends. And if you have driven past Nakee-La and Lachalung-La and survived, you can achieve anything in life. Congrats! You may have as well moved a mountain.

Ride high

It was all worth it when we reached the More Plains. My altitude-addled brain started to clear like the skies, which by the way, were never bluer. The More Plains are endless. It’s like nature couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a plain or a mountain or just too much sky. Even the mountains on either sides were jagged, like they couldn’t decide on one height. We rode slowly and listened to lot of early Coldplay. There was no-one around, only some random yaks.

Not so Leh-ame

Whether your pilgrimage is from Srinagar or Manali, all bikers end up in Leh. After a couple of days of just raw riding, not speaking much, and the light at the end of the tunnel that was the More Plains, I thought that reaching Ladakh would kill some of that tranquility I had collected on my way there. But Leh’s most popular attractions are hardly noisy and bustling — like the literal Shanti Stupa and Leh Palace. And it turned out we needed to get off and take a break.

La Khardung La

Ice ice everywhere and we were freewheeling. There were some loose stones and gravel and it was slippery so we had to be careful. The road was plunging so it was like riding a really heavy sled that you had to balance carefully. I didn’t care that my fingers and nose were numb and pink from the cold. I didn’t care that my breath was fogging. I was literally in heaven.

Pangong pong

I quickly learned that one doesn’t zip down to Nubra valley. One steers through more rocky, narrow mountain roads to Pangong Lake. Even so, we took the risk of enjoying the faded and colourful prayer flags against the deep blue river, like the distracted crew of the Titanic before she hit the iceberg. Lucky the lake wasn’t frozen and there were no icebergs. It was so serene, that hearing Bollywood’s 3 Idiots references there felt surreal. Later, we even stopped by the Lotus Valley School from the movie. The local animals are very friendly but don’t ignore the many ‘don’t feed the animals’ sign boards. We saw and picked up an empty crisp packet or two, which sent Riya on a rant against humanity. We spent the night at the lake, under the faintly starry sky and night turned to day in a place where time stands still.

Making the right choices

We rode our bikes for a total of some 30 hours through the trip. Sometimes we rode fours hours in a day, sometimes over seven and it would have been impossible if we weren’t staying at good hotels on the way, and had tents with functioning toilets. If you want to further economise your trip you can eat from dhabas, though the organisers provided us with breakfast and dinner all 11 days. From Pangong we returned to Leh, where we would take a flight back home. Before we knew it was time to head back, but I think we’ll all go back one day.

About the Author

Mahua discovered her love for motorbikes early. But on holiday, inspired by the ‘susegaad’ lifestyle, she decided to try Cycling in Goa instead

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Author: Mahua Kapoor

Mahua Kapoor

Member since: Sep 12, 2019
Published articles: 2

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