Day 8 - Continued:
I headed towards Sonamarg which was my destination for the day, completely unaware of what was waiting for me. Well, the first thing I saw waiting was a road block, a soldier and a nozzle of AK47 staring at my visor. Not a pleasant sight, and next was the extended left arm of the officer pointing towards the nearby road. I was a little adament and I pointed towards the direction I wanted to go.
Slowly the AK47 was waved in front of my face and the nozzle was pointed left, where he wanted me to go. What more options do you have when it happens? You dont want to die with road to heaven in front of you, do you
Slowly I pulled up, entered the road and finally reached a parking space, which was full of vehicles!! Atleast 1000 people sitting there cursing the army folks. Met a few people from Bangalore who were shocked at the concept of riding alone from Bangalore.
The road ahead was blocked as there was a communal riot and people were throwing stones sitting atop mountains at the tourists!! I was worried and was stuck. Road back to Srinagar was blocked too as the stone pelting was slowly spreading everywhere. Wow, what an end to my dream ride! I was sitting at a corner, thats when I saw a few bikers. Finally some hope, greeted them and we had lunch together. The size of the group had grown to 11 bikers in no time. 4 airforce officers, 2 friends from UP and Punjab and rest from Bangalore and Chennai.
All the vehicles were asked to go back to Srinagar by evening. We being bikers, got permission to head to Sonamarg somehow and happily we trotted ahead. We were stopped immediately at the next checkpoint. We were reluctant to stay back and were trying to convince the officials to let us through, when another pair of bikers came in. They were locals and were let through by the army men after due warning. We were fighting with the officers and that when we saw the pair that went 10 minutes back, zoom back at double the speed they went at!! One big dent at the fuel tank and the pillion with injury to the back, shouting mad@rc&*d log and other abuses to the stone pelters!!
Courage melted and we quickly turned back in search of shelter for night!
The group:
Thanks to the presence of airforce guys, we got to stay at the Rashtriya Rifles camp. It was a wonderful experience, and really enjoyed the hospitality provided to us. Made good friends in the form of paaji and Abhi bhai, had lots of fun. We were to leave in the early hours when the namaz and fasting were being taken care by the locals so that we could escape from the raining stones. Went to sleep hoping for the best.
Day 9: Ganderbal to Sankoo : Raining stones and snowWe were up and running at 2 and the terms were clear. Stick together till we cross Sonmarg. And we did. It hurts to say, Sonmarg which was one of the destinations I was looking forward to was full of broken glass pieces from vehicles. We could see blood at road and there was no human in sight! The Amarnath yatra tents were burnt and it was a sad sight. We had to push forward and get to Zozilla which we knew would lead us to safety. Thankfully Zozilla was in the best of behaviours, and let us cross it without much fuss.
View from half way into Zozila climb
Smiling curves of Zozilla
A group reunion
My first close snow encounter
Look at the size of the snow formation!
Rough, dangerous roads
And the road ahead
Had breakfast and the much required break at Marhi and wean ahead towards Kargil. We separated at Kargil as I had plans to go to Zanskar and the rest of the group was headed to Leh. The roads are fantastic and it was a breeze riding till Kargil. Had my first fall of the ride on a hairpin curve when the bungee cord which held the saddle bags on the left snapped. Knee guards did their job and I headed forward with nothing but bruised ego.
Entering Ladakh
The local don
Roads along the river
Yeah baby
Paid my respects to the jawans who gave their lives for us.
En route Kargil:
I split from the group and headed towards Sankoo which was another 40 Kms ahead. Found the JKTDC guest house and called it a day.
The day was exciting and tiring. Filled the growling tummy and went to sleep. Tomorrow I had a back breaking ride of 200Kms and Padum was calling.
Coming up next,- CBR Zanskarified
I headed towards Sonamarg which was my destination for the day, completely unaware of what was waiting for me. Well, the first thing I saw waiting was a road block, a soldier and a nozzle of AK47 staring at my visor. Not a pleasant sight, and next was the extended left arm of the officer pointing towards the nearby road. I was a little adament and I pointed towards the direction I wanted to go.
Slowly the AK47 was waved in front of my face and the nozzle was pointed left, where he wanted me to go. What more options do you have when it happens? You dont want to die with road to heaven in front of you, do you
Slowly I pulled up, entered the road and finally reached a parking space, which was full of vehicles!! Atleast 1000 people sitting there cursing the army folks. Met a few people from Bangalore who were shocked at the concept of riding alone from Bangalore. The road ahead was blocked as there was a communal riot and people were throwing stones sitting atop mountains at the tourists!! I was worried and was stuck. Road back to Srinagar was blocked too as the stone pelting was slowly spreading everywhere. Wow, what an end to my dream ride! I was sitting at a corner, thats when I saw a few bikers. Finally some hope, greeted them and we had lunch together. The size of the group had grown to 11 bikers in no time. 4 airforce officers, 2 friends from UP and Punjab and rest from Bangalore and Chennai.
All the vehicles were asked to go back to Srinagar by evening. We being bikers, got permission to head to Sonamarg somehow and happily we trotted ahead. We were stopped immediately at the next checkpoint. We were reluctant to stay back and were trying to convince the officials to let us through, when another pair of bikers came in. They were locals and were let through by the army men after due warning. We were fighting with the officers and that when we saw the pair that went 10 minutes back, zoom back at double the speed they went at!! One big dent at the fuel tank and the pillion with injury to the back, shouting mad@rc&*d log and other abuses to the stone pelters!!
Courage melted and we quickly turned back in search of shelter for night!
The group:
Thanks to the presence of airforce guys, we got to stay at the Rashtriya Rifles camp. It was a wonderful experience, and really enjoyed the hospitality provided to us. Made good friends in the form of paaji and Abhi bhai, had lots of fun. We were to leave in the early hours when the namaz and fasting were being taken care by the locals so that we could escape from the raining stones. Went to sleep hoping for the best.
Day 9: Ganderbal to Sankoo : Raining stones and snowWe were up and running at 2 and the terms were clear. Stick together till we cross Sonmarg. And we did. It hurts to say, Sonmarg which was one of the destinations I was looking forward to was full of broken glass pieces from vehicles. We could see blood at road and there was no human in sight! The Amarnath yatra tents were burnt and it was a sad sight. We had to push forward and get to Zozilla which we knew would lead us to safety. Thankfully Zozilla was in the best of behaviours, and let us cross it without much fuss.
View from half way into Zozila climb
Smiling curves of Zozilla
A group reunion
My first close snow encounter
Look at the size of the snow formation!
Rough, dangerous roads
And the road ahead
Had breakfast and the much required break at Marhi and wean ahead towards Kargil. We separated at Kargil as I had plans to go to Zanskar and the rest of the group was headed to Leh. The roads are fantastic and it was a breeze riding till Kargil. Had my first fall of the ride on a hairpin curve when the bungee cord which held the saddle bags on the left snapped. Knee guards did their job and I headed forward with nothing but bruised ego.
Entering Ladakh
The local don
Roads along the river
Yeah baby
Paid my respects to the jawans who gave their lives for us.
En route Kargil:
I split from the group and headed towards Sankoo which was another 40 Kms ahead. Found the JKTDC guest house and called it a day.
The day was exciting and tiring. Filled the growling tummy and went to sleep. Tomorrow I had a back breaking ride of 200Kms and Padum was calling.
Coming up next,- CBR Zanskarified
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