Places visited: Khardung - la Pass (18380 ft), Diskit, Hunder
It was a fresh morning and we were ready to rock the roads, We packed everything and just took two bags with us, rest we left in the hotel because we had to go back there on 21st.
We left hotel at 7 AM in the morning, went to a petrol station to fill our bike's petrol tank. We also took 20 litres of petrol in plastic drums, sealed it with some jugaad :-). There is no petrol station in Nubra Valley so there had to be enough petrol with us to come back.
Three bikes with 5 people on it, me & kaushik on one(4244), shashank & praveen(4243) on another and Mannu on third (4241) with bags and tank fixed on it.
We were on the way to pass through the highest motor-able pass of the world, Yes Highest 18380 ft!! It was high mountains reaching out to the sky everywhere. Khardung-la is 50 KM from Leh but took 2 hrs to reach because of the roads :P
Once we reached there then the feeling was quite different, we parked our vehicle and went to click some photos and enjoy the beauty. For sure there was less oxygen, as I was breathing from my mouth :-). BRO had written on the board that don't stay here for more than 20-25 minutes.
There were so many tourists present there because the weather was good to visit, but we had to be safe as there were many people who felt down that time and moved to the ARMY camp for oxygen. There was lots of snow in Khardung-la so we went there as well. Praveen removed the cap and jacket for one click and believe me he felt sick just after that. It took another hour for him to be okay.
We continued after on our way to Nubra valley, the roads were so bad and at some places there were not even roads, it was just stones and sand. But this is what we wanted so we were enjoying the drive :-) .
We continued another 50 KM and stopped for lunch at Khardung village, the roads between South Pullu to North Pullu was deadliest, strongly recommended for person with good driving skills.
On the way we also met one guy from London, Olly, I should write about him because we met him everywhere from now after and we helped him when he felt down twice with his Enfield because of the difficult road condition. Olly was alone and we met him nearby Khardung village where we were having tea(Big Cup).
We moved ahead from Khardung and Olly was also coming with us. We had our safari tent booked in Sumur village (recently ruined because of Flash flood) but we went to Diskit and then Hunder to visit double humped camel. I had never seen such camels before so it was a different experience. Hunder was full of sand, it was just like a desert, that is why it is called as Cold Desert.
After so much of fun it was the time to get back to our Safari Tent in Sumur Village, so we moved there. Due to the recent flash flood the roads were completed washed away and somehow we went ahead using temporary roads prepared by BRO.
We reached out to our hotel, Nubra Eco Lodge at around 5 PM and we were hungry but we forgot for a while after watching our rooms, it was so beautiful. We had not expected that much from a hotel which is almost out of the reach from the rest of the country. The surrounding was also great, it was mountains on one side and river was flowing other side. Nice open area to walk on the sands, but our mind was only concentrated on food. Hotel staffs were so friendly, they gave us lunch at 5 PM, then we had tea and then few games of Card before dinner.
On that day we had the best dinner of the Trip, it started from Soup, followed by Paneer chilli, Paneer Kadai, Mix veg, Raita, Rice, Daal and Roti :D. No need to say that we ate till neck :P and directly went to bed.
With the proud feeling of passing Khardung-la Pass, day ended.
Next Day
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