[Part 6] Ride on NH-1

Day 12: Khaltse

After ride on rough roads, it was time for smooth rides (we thought it will be smooth rides L). Our plan for the day was to visit Kargil, pass through Zoji la pass and stay somewhere near Sonamarg. But as always we could not stick to our plan (that was expected result :P)

It was perfect day to start our ride, had nice sleep last night, filled our tummies with good food, decent roads ahead, pleasant weather, what else required to start ride…!!! Started our ride from Khaltse around 8.00AM, we were just 140 KMs away from Kargil. 

Roads were very good, but only thing was hair pin curves…!!! Could not hit more than 50Kms/hour speed, one common thing we used to see when we enter each village was this bell which was too attractive J

Reached Kargil Retreat Camp around 11.30AM and thought of having lunch in military camp. Though it was early lunch, after seeing menu decided to have lunch at this canteen. Tried Idly / Sambar, later only I came to know we should not try south Indian food in north India..!!! After finishing our lunch headed towards Kargil Memorial. 

Kargil Memorial also known as the Vijaypath is located on the Srinagar – Leh National Highway. It was built by the Indian Army in the honour of the soldiers and officers who sacrificed their lives after bravely fighting during the 1999 Kargil War between India and Pakistan. The special thing about the War memorial is that it has been built on the theme of the India Gate.  

Kargil Memorial is one of the must visit places in this stretch.

From Kargil headed towards Zoji La pass which was around 43 Kms. Road was not so good once we crossed Kargil. It was mud road with hell lot of dust, even traffic was bit more due to heavy trucks.  Even luggage’s tied to bikes were tumbling down because of bad road…!!!

Road was worse in this stretch but nature around us was beautiful. Nature at its best J

Reached Zoji La pass around 4.00PM, we need to enter our details in this check post. When we stopped to enter our details in check post, talked to one of the tourists who were coming from Srinagar and asked them about the road, they told us its very bad and in bikes its not advisable to travel at this time (Since it was already 4). But we didn’t had any option other than continuing our ride, we just continued (what we thought is already we crossed many toughest routes so it will be ok). 

Road condition is very bad in Zoji la pass, main problem is dust, road will completely cover with dust when vehicles move, visibility of road was 0%…!!! Somehow we managed to continue our ride. At one point road will divide, vehicles move towards Srinagar will take one road and vehicles coming from Srinagar will take another. When we crossed this point now traffic was bit ok but road condition was same. Land slide was happening at one point, same time they were clearing the blocks and allowing the vehicles to move. Ullas & Deepu managed to cross this point with their bikes, here road was bit slippery so I was crossing by walk and Vagee was riding my bike, when I was crossing all of a sudden rocks started falling from top and people around me started shouting run... run…  Oh god…!!! Seriously I don’t know how I crossed that pass, when I crossed and looked back the road was completely blocked by land slide and the person who was clearing the block said they are not going to clear it for the day, they will start working again in the morning.

My legs were shivering literally, our rest of team was left behind and they were at other side of the block. Later they took different route and joined us near Sonamarg.

I will not forget this day in my life. It was like rebirth for me…!!!  I should thank Punjabi family who dropped me in their vehicle till Sonamarg since I got separated from team. After many circus joined our group near Sonamarg…!!! Waited for more than 30 mins to join our group. When we started from Sonamarg it was around 7.00PM so we decided to continue our ride and reach Srinagar which was 80Kms away from Sonamarg.

Finally reached Srinagar around 9.00PM, one more challenge in front of us to search for hotel to stay. Took help of some localities, one person informed us to directly go near Dal lake there we will get many hotels to stay. Finally we managed to get hotel, by the time we reached hotel it was around 10.00PM.

It was the long day of our entire journey; we managed to cover 340KMs…!!! 

Day 13: Srinagar

Srinagar it was bit boring place after visiting many beautiful places in this trip. Heard many things about Dal Lake but after seeing that lake realised it’s not worth to visit that place.

Took long ride across the lake but didn’t see any interesting sites around this lake. Because of long ride on last day, other guys took time to get ready. By the time we finished our ride across the lake and breakfast it was around 11.00AM again went to military camp, but they didn’t allowed inside due to security reasons.  So we thought of leaving Srinagar and start our ride towards Amritsar, but our team members wanted to go for shopping. Deepu, Vagee and me came back to hotel and started packing our luggage’s and rest of team went for shopping. 

We tied our luggage’s to bike and we were waiting for rest of the group.  Rest of our team turned back after finishing shopping at 2.00 PM, by the time we left Srinagar it was around 3.00 PM. Our next destination was Amritsar which was around 460Kms from Srinagar. So we decided to cover distance as much as possible, stop somewhere near Patnitop and reach Amritsar before 3.00PM next day to visit Wagah border.  

Started our ride from Srinagar, once we reach Anantnag which is around 55 KMs we need to take right deviation, Vagee and me took right turn and we were waiting for our rest of the team, unfortunately our  team missed to take deviation and went straight. Thank god mobile network was available in this region called Deepu and asked them to come back.

Waited almost 30 mins, finally we grouped up again and continued our ride. Managed to reach Patnitop and thankfully got hotel to stay. Did nothing much on this day, covered 180 Kms and halted for the day.

Day 14: Patnitop 

Actual challenge was in front of us now… we wanted to cover 280Kms to visit Wagah Border. I guess this was the only day we started our ride early as per plan. Left Patnitop around 5.00AM and headed towards Amritsar. Once we crossed Srinagar temperature was crossing around 40 degree…!!!

Due to long ride, short sleep and hot weather we were totally exhausted… stopped many times for quick breaks. Did nothing on the way, it was just ride, ride & only ride…!!!

Finally we managed to reach Amritsar around 3.00PM, done some circus to find out hotel. Just dropped all our baggage’s at hotel and thought of finishing lunch and head towards wagah border. We were so fortunate to meet one person at hotel, he only arranged vehicle for us to go to Wagah border and he took responsibility of our entrance to Wagah border.

Wagah Border is 30 Kms away from Amritsar and it is Indo – Pak border. It is famous for Flag ceremony.  

Wagah Border Flag Ceremony it happens every day throughout the year at sunset. It attracts more than one thousand people from both sides. If we reach early then we will get proper seat to witness the ceremony. Passport holders will get VIP entry (If we know any military officer then also you will get VIP entry). If we go through general entrance there will be separate seats for men, women, and no restrictions for VIP entries. It’s better to be early and occupy the seats, as I heard some time it gets very crowded. 

The procession happens with solid military precision and lasts for around 45 minutes. We can see well dressed, six-seven feet tall, Indian "Border Security Force" soldiers in khaki, and Pakistani "Sutlej Rangers" soldiers dressed in black, taking part in the ceremony.

Because of huge crowd & extreme heat I was totally exhausted could not click good pics of the ceremony L

We were very happy, at last we could make up for this ceremony with all the struggles. Came back to hotel and took some rest. Next we planned to visit Golden temple.

Golden Temple of Amritsar is also known as Swarn mandir or swarna mandir, is the famous pilgrimage place for Sikhs. The Golden Temple has a unique Sikh architecture. Built at a level lower than the surrounding land level, The Gurudwara teaches the lesson of equality and humility. The four entrances of this holy shrine from all four directions, signify that people belonging to every walk of life are equally welcome.

Deepu suggested that we will go late night so that crowd will be less. Golden temple will be open 24/7 to visitors… J we had been to golden temple around 12.00AM. It was awesome experience to see the temple under lights.

Day 15: Amritsar

A long ride from Srinagar to Amritsar burn out all our energy, thank god we managed to visit Wagah Border and Golden temple as we planned. Only place left to visit in Amritsar was Jallianwala Bagh memorial garden. Morning woke up arramse and visited Jallianwala Bagh around 10.00AM. 

Jallianwala Bagh is a public garden in Amritsar, and houses a memorial of national importance, established in 1951 to commemorate the massacre by British occupying forces of peaceful celebrators on the occasion of the Punjabi New Year on April 13, 1919 in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.

Once we were back from Jallianwala Bagh memorial garden it was time to pack up from Amritsar and head towards Chandigarh. Finished our lunch at Amritsar and started our ride towards Chandigarh. From Amritsar to Chandigarh it was ride 235 Kms we estimated to cover it 5 hours. But due to heat we took almost 6 to 7 hours to reach Chandigarh (Including our stop at McDonald’s J ). 

Reached Chandigarh at 9.00PM but we struggled a lot to find a hotel to stay. First time in entire trip police stopped me (in fact I was riding my bike without helmet L) and paid Rs.200/- fine for riding bike without helmet.    

After all difficulties found some hotel to stay, by the time we settled at hotel it was around 11.30PM…!!!

Day 16: Chandigarh 

 

Finally it was time to windup our trip. Visited almost all the places which we planned (even dropped couple of places which was there in our list due to time constrain). No such plans for final day, our flight was at 5.00PM, initially we thought of roam around Chandigarh but keeping heat in mind we dropped plan of going for a ride and decided to go for a movie.

Climax of this trip was not so simple… after all we had been to adventures trip and how can we expect smooth ending out of it…!!!    

We started from hotel morning around 9.30 AM we thought of having breakfast out-side and then go for a movie. Not even 15 mins while searching for good restaurant again police stooped my bike…!!! This time I was wearing helmet and had all vehicle documents with me, so without any fear just stopped and showed all documents. All of a sudden he started righting slip for me when I asked what’s wrong at that time he said your pillion is not wearing helmet…!!!

 

Straight away he took my bikes RC book and asked me to go and pay the fine in RTO office and then come back to collect RC book. They were not ready to accept the fine at the spot. We tried to convince him but nothing helped.

Chandigarh roads are very confusing for me, Opps… those sectors very difficult to understand. Finally managed to find RTO office, but that office was crowded like anything. By the time we paid the fine amount and collected bike documents from the police it was around 2.00PM.

Now next challenge was to drop our bikes in Gati courier and come back to hotel and pack up things. When we reached Gati Courier and dropped our bike time was around 3.00PM. Total Kilometres we travelled in this trip was 2870… J

We thought  of having lunch after dropping our bikes, but that also didn't happen due to time constrains. Due to all these drama didn't had food on last day of our trip…!!! When we headed towards Airport, heavy rain started and took more time to reach than expected.

Finally reached airport on time... J

Overall it was wonderful ride and one must do it at least once in a life time.

Special thanks to Deepu for managing entire trip and thanks to everyone in the team for making this trip as memorable one J