Ladakh Trip: Day 8 (Jispa -> Pang)

Ride Summary: Distance: 160 km  Time: 11 hrs

We woke up around 6 am to this beautiful view from our tent.
The tents had charging points and pretty neat washroom facilities. Got everything packed; had cereal for breakfast and we were all set for the ride around 8:30 am. Sherab, our organizer, came to meet all of us. We bid him good bye as this was the last time we were gonna see him on this trip.

Today was supposed to be the most exciting day of the trip and it did indeed live up to the expectations. The Baralacha La ! The road between Jispa->Sarchu hardly exists if you ignore Baralacha La. The puddles of flowing water are mind blowing!
Shweta and I were riding slightly ahead of the group but we got our shoes n socks wet on one of the mighty crossings which I am so proud that I did it with a pillion rider without any hassle. Almost all our riders had trouble in that small waterfall, if you will. Their bikes got stuck and needed a little push. This led to a group break of "drying your socks"! What a superb experience!

We ate some snacks we had packed and started the Baralacha La climb. What a superb pass! Mighty walls of snow, ice-icles,

what a unique experience riding through all of this. And once you are done, you get to Suraj Tal, the frozen lake. It's the origin of the river that  flows through Jispa (our campsite one!) We enjoyed taking a lot of pictures.

Shweta and I reached Sarchu around 2 pm. I had maggi for lunch as you know what to expect. Shweta ordered Dal-Rice and was disappointed. We did get to lie down at the Dhaba-like joint and enjoyed some rest while we waited for others. The owners kids were so awesome.

Could not resist taking a snap. At 3:30 pm, already 1.5 hrs later, we were little worried why the other riders hadn't arrived. I thought of checking at the police check point where you need to make an entry of your vehicle to make sure that they hadn't past us while we were resting. When I came out, I saw a group of people fighting, believe it or not. Some car driver had done something nasty that pissed off a rider. He was about to go down the valley and the other riders from his group, chased this car driver. They took the car key, registration papers, and rode away. Yes, literally rode away with the passengers, who had nothing to do with all this, stranded at Sarchu!

Finally, around 4 pm, the riders in my group arrived. They were caught up with some delays of snow-clearing which I luckily skipped. Pang, our destination for today, was still around 75 kms away. Given the road condition, people estimated it would take about 3/3.5 hrs. Since we were done with our lunch/rest break, we decided to move on. It was already getting cold. We started from Sarchu around 4:15 pm.

We crossed into J&K near Brandy Nala. Yes, that's what they call it. The bridge over this nala is called Brandy Bridge. I coudln't get a pic of the it but here I have, a picture of the next bridge and no wonder it's called the Whiskey Bridge!


It was really cold while we were riding. Around 5:30 pm, we got to a camp site. Pang was still about 30 kms away and we had to cross the Lachuang La. I stopped for a quick conversation with a riding group from Mumbai. I advised them to ride with me to Pang rather than stopping at that camp site. He goes "sab riders down hai sir, idhar he rukenge". It was freezing cold, I admit. We decided to ride on. I want to make the reader aware of the fact that 30 kms on bad roads is more than an hour! I enjoyed riding the loops along the way. Hard to tell the roads different from the river water. Everything gels!

I couldn't feel my hands even after 2 layers of gloves. We kept riding. Fortunately, we weren't short of day light. But there was no heat in those weak sun rays. Shweta complained about body ache due to the bad roads. I kept telling her that we will reach shortly. Finally, after a very long day, we reached Pang around 6:45 pm. I rode fast even on bad roads since all I wanted to do is get to Pang quickly, before the light went down and it got really cold. We did the Sarchu-Pang ride in 2.5 hrs; non-stop.

We stopped at Sonam Dhaba in Pang. The owner, Sonam, gave us hot garlic soup, to beat altitude sickness, if any. Shweta resisted and she almost shouted at Shweta likea mother. She litereally forced her to have the soup. And it acts like medicine. Within 5 minutes, you are fresh; feel so much better. Shweta wasn't used to such long rides. I told her to get a nap. There she is in the corner of the dorm!

I decided to hang around in the kitchen. Met a 60 yr old Aussie rider, Steven, who was the 1st rider in the book this year from Manali->Leh. He shared a few pics with me where he rode in 6-8 inches deep snow. Mind-blowing stuff. He offered me a drink. I was cold and I absolutely didn't mind one! Again, Sonam aunty warned us of drinking at high altitudes. We were aware as well; hence I kept it to a single drink.
Steven and I spoke a lot about riding till about 9:15 pm. That's when the other riders arrived and they were like statues!

Some of the group riders were not feeling well. Vomiting, loose motions, body pain etc. I hate to say this but to me, it was the best ride of the trip so far. No one said riding through the cold, in snow-clad mountains is going to be easy. If it's easy, one wouldn't enjoy it and it won't be adventure. To me, this was exactly what I signed up for and boy, was I loving every bit of it!

I wasn't in a mood to sleep early. Hung out in the kitchen where Sonam aunty and other women were working tirelessly. They are so used to this kind of hard work; yet they appeared very happy. I bought a pair of nice, warm socks they hand-made. That felt good! I went to bed around 11 pm or so after giving a pain killer to Shweta for her body ache.