Eating a quick breakfast we started towards khardungla which is the highest motorable road in the world, its at 18700 feet above sea level. At this level the oxygen is so scarce the motorcycle like a bullet has difficulty negotiating the steep climb in first gear. I fiddle with the carburator to let in more air in the engine. With full throttle and quarter clutch, burning the clutch plates we somehow manage to touch. khardungla and congratulate ourself for the torture finally being over. But was it??? Downhill was even more torture.
Sitting behind Abhishek and falling twice, once in water and once on rubble, we reach at the bottom hill of khardung la.
Surviving solely on paracetamols we continue riding through amazingly beautiful and slowly changing landscape. From snow clad mountains we descend towards river bed plains and get into giant red colour canyons and again into river bed greenery and as if out of 'aliice in wonderland' enter desert, desert like real rajasthan desert in the mid of himalayas, from yaks, the traditional animal changes to double humped black camels.
By night 8 we are at Khalsar in the Nubra valley. One bike has gone missing but we are able to find it after a little effort.
We stay at tirith camp, the most beautiful camping site I have ever seen in my life. A little expensive but right out of heaven, our tent is surrounded by exotic wild flowers of the himalayas and the camp is surrounded by snow clad mountains which shimmer gold at sunrise. The area where we dine is a small canopy of trees and apricots and apples fall from the trees. So many of them that people here don't bother to pick them, I pick plenty of them and eat till I am satisfied.
At night we all jumble up and share jokes and I take my last paracetamol for the day and am off to sleep.
gawd that is the most beautiful place ive seen....dining under a canopy of trees and apricotsa nd apples so much in plenty that nobody bothers to pick em up....how much more WOW can it get ???
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