19th July, 0330 PM: Have a hazy memory of reaching Caravan Serai, climbing the stairs very very slowly and hitting the bed, AMS was setting in.
Must have slept till 10 PM and drank some water and ate biscuits and went to sleep again. Vaguely remember sounds of my 2 friends ordering about 20 items to eat and heard the world dal-chaval 50 times!!! From the plates I saw outside, looked like some communal dinner for 100 peopole had taken place; these guys are Spartans, youth does have its advantages.
20th July, 0700 AM: Jiggy the alarm guy usually wakes early, he has to wash precious hair with 3-4 different kinds of shampoos, a clean compulsion with warm water. My head was aching, the neurons were lazily spiking on and off. Managed to eat a full omlete and drink lots of fluids, today is going to be another tough day. By 0800 AM I was feeling great, Padum has to be reached and Panzi La conquered, if we could do Zojila, Panzi La could be easy, so we thought.
Met Mustafa, the young owner of Caravan Serai, he has done many contract road work on the Padum route, said it would be tough, but we must ride to Padum, its one of the most beautiful routes in entire Ladakh. Filled gas on the Leh Road and also filled 15 ltrs on the 20 ltr metal jerry can our friend Gurudatt from Delhi has loaned for the trip. If we have to do the 600 KM planned trip, we would need the extra fuel.
All went well till the tarred roads lasted for 19 kms, once we hit Trespone, Prajesh said down all the windows, we have diesel leak in the back. The jerry can was leaking, took out the tool kit, cut out a cycle rubber tube and closed the mouth with that, contained the leak a little but diesel fumes were a problem on this leg. In case you are carrying diesel/ petrol, test the cans for spills, it's very difficult to sit in the cab with the fumes floating around.
The shape of the road for 230 kms, Kargil-Padum, this is the good stretch!!!!
27 kms on reality hit us, all the stories of the Padum road were true, it's one hell of a test for man and machine, this road has been open only for a week, traffic was very thin, was already testing my patience in slow driving, needed to steer clear of sharp stones, boulders and not get stuck in slush. There are no road signs, road is all gravel and stones, you'd make an average of 25-30 kmph, there were water crossings, slush on ice melts and cold winds. The most dangerous things, we learned the hard way, are the sharp big stones on the side of the roads with stilletto like edges.
The vistas were awesome, a photographer could spend 10 days here and ask for 20 more, you can just aim and shoot and come out a winner; no need to compose, just aim and shoot.
At the junction before Sankoo village we came to a road fork and took the upper road, a big mistake, first water crossing was a mean one, I grinded through on 1st, then came many others, somehow reached the bridge and joined the road coming from below and took a left turn to Rangdum. Took 140 mts to do 60 kms till Purthekchy, got the firs stunning views of Nun and Kun Peaks. At Parkachit too there was a fork on the road, one going down to the village and another going up, no boards, we took the one on the upside thinking it's a by-pass. Disaster struck and changed all our plans........