Flight to Chang La

Cold September, 7 o’clock in the morning. This was my third visit to Pangong Tso. I stayed at Spangmik where the crowd was thin and the lake was three yards away. After a smooth ride from Leh yesterday (no streams, no snow, less traffic), I had to cross Chang La once again to reach back to Leh. Chang La, whose altitude is higher than Khardung La, was waiting for me, with snow covered roads. Yea, it snowed yesterday night.

A Typical Day at Changla after snow. Army clears the snow pretty fast.

Cold weather had reduced my appetite and I did not feel like eating before the ride. I checked fuel in my bike and it was little less than 4 liters. I have to cover 120 kilometers to reach a petrol pump.

Obstacles even before I kick started. Half hour had passed. I wanted to stay ahead of traffic. Army trucks eat up petrol. And there is always a long procession of them.

Half past seven. Riding Gears on. Temperature was around 5 degrees. Thunderbird 350 was my beast.

I rode. The first 50kms was a cake walk. Zero traffic and well laid roads with less curves. But now, I come face to face with Changla. Even Khardung La has pretty decent roads. But, Chang La? Never.

And with snow, this high mountain pass poses a greater threat to me. Chang La towers at 5,360 metres (I like to quote altitude in metres, coz one can compare it with Everest’s 8848m altitude)

I have not stopped my beast till yet, and I don’t want to. Not till I reach Karu Petrol Pump.

Stones, snow, muddy roads have started to test me already. Suddenly my bike stopped. God knows what happened to it. And behind me was an oil tanker. Oh dear, I have stopped at an inclined road with a disadvantage, a huge rock in front of me. Luckily, the road is a little wide. Wide enough for the oil tanker to drive past me with no harm done.

Phew! A close one. Okay, now Self-start… self-staaaart… It always fails you when you need it most.

Kick-start and off I rode again. I drove past Changla without stopping. I had already paid a visit to Changla Baba yesterday and I got plenty of pictures at Changla from my previous rides. So, why bother?

Chang La photo from one of my earlier rides.

The snow has started melting from mountains and the streams are back on! And, the oncoming traffic is on as well! Time to manoeuvre through them patiently. But I am through with Changla and good roads greeted me again. Oncoming Riders, full of enthusiasm, riding to Pangong Tso greeted me with a friendly sign.

Hold on… a tight turn. Oncoming Qualis. Damn, he is not slowing down. I am sure we will cross each other at the bend. But, I see no space for me to ride. I slowed down, but I couldn't bring it below 25kmph. And he is also riding at full force. We met. He covered the entire road, threw me off balance and I am in dirt. I am sure that I am going to fall down. The entire thing happened within a matter of 3-4 seconds. I am still off balance. 

For once, I want the bike to fall down. Tired from riding for god knows how long and with no stop-overs, I wanted to let go. I left control to my bike's freewill, but with hands still on the bar.

Bike bumped on a rock, shot in the air, and landed back in the asphalt and resumed cruising.

What just happened?? I still couldn’t believe my eyes. I ought to have fractured an arm or a leg. But not a scratch. No wonder Royal Enfield has fan following. No other bike could’ve done that feat.

I don’t know whom to thank. I kissed the bike thank-you and resumed riding. I still didn’t stop till Serthi (Sakthi is the corrupted version by BRO). Infact, I was stopped at Serthi, by 4 tourists from Kashmir who were driving a Maruti 800 (old model). They wanted to visit Pangong Tso.

I said, not on a Maruti 800 bro. Especially not at full capacity.

I don’t know what happened to them either. I wish they hired bikes from Leh!

The One photo I took during the Ride

I quickly took a photo for I knew I will jot this experience down one day.

Stop-over was Two minutes max. I resumed riding with my bike already running on reserve-fuel.

Now, straight roads. I sped fast from Karu tri-junction to the petrol pump.

I made it!! And in record time. I reached Karu by 10:30am. 3 hours - 120kms in Ladakh. I hope it is some kind of a record.

Karu Petrol Pump. I have never been so excited to see a petrol pump. I still have that petrol pump owner’s contact number. 

Who knows when I might need it again.