The first thing which was in my mind when I got transfer to Gurgaon( from Bangalore ) was the trip to Ladakh... I was planning for the trip for last two year but was not able to make it from Bangalore because of various usual reasons ( leaves, deadlines.. blah blah blah )... once in Guragaon I had decided that I am doing it this year at any cost...
But Alas.. once again one of those usual reasons came up and I couldnt get two weeks leaves as per my plan... so it went back to planning stage and I planned for tight 9 days itinerary...
Did not get anyone who would like to join me on those dates and for such a tight schedule ... and my love for solo driving got a chance.....
Day 0 : Delhi -> Chandigarh : Started in evening after office... Plan was to reach Chandigarh and do Chandigarh -> Manali the next day.... but exactly when I loaded my saddle bag on the bike it started raining.... I waited for some time but didnt see any chance of it to stop... so I started my journey in rain itself... got completely drenched by the time I reached NH8.. crossed the toll gate and I was shocked to see dry roads in Delhi...I could still see heavy clouds over Gurgaon in my rear view mirror.... I was already feeling tired by the time I hit GT karnal road.... crossing Delhi was no fun... reached Chandigarh at midnight, found a cheap room and crashed for the night.... No pictures of the day....
Day 1 : Chandigarh -> Manali : I left chadigarh early in the morning and reached Manali by 4 o clock... with lot of brakes... didnt took any still picture on this route... I just have some videos from this route... had dinner at my Fav. restaurant at Manali... "Mom's kitchen" it has been shifted to a new place now from a small shop to a big restaurant.. I had food here two years back when I visited Manali with friends and I could still remember the taste of hot and smooth soups cooked by Mom... it still tastes same... With the hang over of yummy food and dreams of travelling on my dream route next day.. I went to bed...
Day 2 : Manali -> Sarchu : plan was to reach Sarchu today with lot of photography brakes hence I started early from Manali to beat traffic to rohtang pass.. Filled fuel from to petrol pump at manali, only to witness the first view of snow capped mountains... I took out my still camera first time,composed the beautiful scene and pressed the release button... but no sound.. oops it was not in mood to click... and was asking me to format the card.. well I didnt have any picture on my card yet so I formatted the card... but still camera is in no mood to shoot... Changed the card but it's still same... I tried all the things I could do there but my dear Nikon was not responding in a positive way....well I did some video shoot and proceeded thinking I will try to format cards in some cyber cafe or whereever I'll get any computer..... Road to rohtang was not in very good shape and there was lot of mud at many places... I thanked to my new tyres which did a good job here....
Near Deepak taal I found some guys with some SLR cameras, To try my luck I went to them and asked if any of their cameras uses CF card so that i can try it in my camera and find out what is wrong with it... well no one had camera with CF Card but luckily one of them had laptop... we tried to format the card and it worked... I was so happy at that time as I found my lost partner back on the trip... and from here starts my photography journey ...
I was having fun on those beautiful curvy and colorful roads ... well only till I reached my first high altitude pass Baralacha La... right at the time I reached on the summit it started raining heavily... it was around 4 o clock and wind was very high.... more over I started feeling first attack of AMS... I didnt have any place to hide so I decided to drive slowly and somehow reach at bit lower altitude... my hand was almost frozen by the time I reachedbharathpur...... I dried my gloves in one dhaba tant and had tea...
after coming back in control I started again to sarchu... Road was nice and hence I got good speed.. I was in hurry to reach Sarchu and find some place for the night..... stopped on very first tent camp at Sarchu and was hidden under two blankets after half an hour.... it was 7 in evening... no more clicks that evening.... it was not an easy night for me......
p..
...And like Anup uncle alwaz says "Plz dont Adam-Tease"!!!!!
jise dekho ek photo upload karke coming soon likhe jaa raha hai... bhaiya khoon jalaana band karo, log aur photo post karo...
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