Our next destination was NAKEELA pass, which was 15,574 feet above sea level, the highest of all the passes we covered till then. All the scenery seemed monotonous now, same blue sky, similar mountains. Slowly, we were riding up onto the mountain, and my same headache. Most of the time, my eyes was closed and my head was resting on Dhyani's shoulder. He was trying his best to keep the conversation going but I was in no mood for any chitchat. Moreover we had nothing much to talk about. Somehow we managed to reach our destination. Siddhu and Ujjwal were running 10 - 15 minutes late, so we had no option other than to wait for them. My back was hurting so I the first thing came to my mind was to search a place to sit and relax. It was like hundreds of drums were beating in my head. Dhyani was concerned about my situation but there was nothing that can be done. Both of us were clueless. All he said was, "hang on Bhai, aate hi honge wo". A few minutes later, they arrived. Both of them were looking exhausted. I was not feeling comfortable so we did a quick photo session and were back on our beasts.
I was the quickest among us to get down from that hill. I was not getting the main reason of my problem, but all I understood was that the intensity of my headache was increasing with the increment of the height above sea level. I took control of the bike, and rushed down the hill as much as possible and within 15 20 minutes, my headache intensity was reduced to half. I was kind of feeling fresh and later it occurred to me that like other passes we crossed over, even NAKEELA was covered with multi coloured flags and small stones were piled up on each other all over the place, but there was no point pondering over it when you're sure you won't get answer to it. I was trying to start some conversation with Dhyani but he doesn't seemed interested. A few minutes later, all of a sudden he asked me to stop the bike. He was feeling sick and the moment we stopped, he ran to one side of the road and puked. Apparently the dinner they had last week was not as good as they thought it would be. Anyhow he took rest for some 10 minutes and we were back on track. It is not a good thing to say or to feel, but looking Dhyani's condition, I was a bit relieved as I was not the only one who was getting sick in this trip. I became pretty sure, Ujjwal and Siddhu might be sailing on the same boat.
Soon we were on to our next destination, which was LACHULUNGLA Pass, which was 16,616 ft above sea level, and the effects were affecting me again. Again I gave my bike control to Dhyani, and I was again resting on the rear seat. Somehow we reached that destination, which was same as NAKEELA, similar view, same piles of small rocks, same multi-colored flags covering all approximately all the area. I was so exhausted, that this time I didn't felt like going for a picture. Siddhu and Ujjwal joined us, we had a quick chit chat followed by a quick photo session and were back on track. All of us were exhausted like anything, back ache, head ache (but their intensity was much less than mine), but determined.
The road was not as smooth as it was earlier and was degrading as we were moving on it. We were now moving across the feet of the mountains, and the view reminded us of "Ali baba Chalis Chor", as all of it looked like Arabian mountains, and I could literally imagine some horsemen riding across those mountains with swords and shields, with gold and silver loaded on them, and the next moment I remembered Siddhu telling me that it was the famous SILK ROUTE. Where ancient Chinese people used to trade silk to India, and the next moment, I could imagine caravan of Chinese people with silk luggage. But my imagination didn't last long. The road was all broken and it was very difficult to cross that area, and moreover the bumps were causing back aches. The surroundings were of the similar mountains but the view was totally different. I tried a lot to capture the view in my camera, but couldn't. It was all compacted, and I guess it was all meant to be felt, and not captured. But that didn't last long, as the bumpy road was disturbing my concentration. As usual we were facing difficulties, but on top of it, we were also enjoying the most.
The path lasted for one hour or so, and by the time we crossed the crooked path, our back ache was at its peak. But luckily soon after we came out of that valley, there was a small camp where all the riders were resting and having their meals. It was almost noon, and we all needed some rest and to fuel ourself. We occupied a table and resting on a chair at that moment was nothing less than a cushion. We all were quiet and tired as hell, so instead to chatting we were just observing other riders.
Usually all of them were foreigners and military personals who were travelling on bikes, and there were some, who were travelling on cars, and SUVs. Breaking the odds, we heard a revving sound of a motor bike. It was a KTM DUKE 200, a newly launched bike in India, which travelled all the way through Manali with other Royal Enfields, but the most amazing part was when the rider took off the helmet, we saw a red head foreigner girl, with a leather jacket. She adjusted her helmet, shouted "YEAHHH" and was on the road. We all looked at each other and all of us were speechless. In our one and a half day journey, we found so many crazy people, all inspiring each other, and all teaching the same thing, it's not about what you do, it's all about how you do it.
We had some discussion about the path while we had our meals, which was as pathetic as most of the other meals and after resting for some time, the riders were back. We put our helmet on, gave HELL YEAHHH to each other, highly motivated, we were back on our route, determined, focused and excited, about our next few hours would be like.
I was the quickest among us to get down from that hill. I was not getting the main reason of my problem, but all I understood was that the intensity of my headache was increasing with the increment of the height above sea level. I took control of the bike, and rushed down the hill as much as possible and within 15 20 minutes, my headache intensity was reduced to half. I was kind of feeling fresh and later it occurred to me that like other passes we crossed over, even NAKEELA was covered with multi coloured flags and small stones were piled up on each other all over the place, but there was no point pondering over it when you're sure you won't get answer to it. I was trying to start some conversation with Dhyani but he doesn't seemed interested. A few minutes later, all of a sudden he asked me to stop the bike. He was feeling sick and the moment we stopped, he ran to one side of the road and puked. Apparently the dinner they had last week was not as good as they thought it would be. Anyhow he took rest for some 10 minutes and we were back on track. It is not a good thing to say or to feel, but looking Dhyani's condition, I was a bit relieved as I was not the only one who was getting sick in this trip. I became pretty sure, Ujjwal and Siddhu might be sailing on the same boat.
Soon we were on to our next destination, which was LACHULUNGLA Pass, which was 16,616 ft above sea level, and the effects were affecting me again. Again I gave my bike control to Dhyani, and I was again resting on the rear seat. Somehow we reached that destination, which was same as NAKEELA, similar view, same piles of small rocks, same multi-colored flags covering all approximately all the area. I was so exhausted, that this time I didn't felt like going for a picture. Siddhu and Ujjwal joined us, we had a quick chit chat followed by a quick photo session and were back on track. All of us were exhausted like anything, back ache, head ache (but their intensity was much less than mine), but determined.
The road was not as smooth as it was earlier and was degrading as we were moving on it. We were now moving across the feet of the mountains, and the view reminded us of "Ali baba Chalis Chor", as all of it looked like Arabian mountains, and I could literally imagine some horsemen riding across those mountains with swords and shields, with gold and silver loaded on them, and the next moment I remembered Siddhu telling me that it was the famous SILK ROUTE. Where ancient Chinese people used to trade silk to India, and the next moment, I could imagine caravan of Chinese people with silk luggage. But my imagination didn't last long. The road was all broken and it was very difficult to cross that area, and moreover the bumps were causing back aches. The surroundings were of the similar mountains but the view was totally different. I tried a lot to capture the view in my camera, but couldn't. It was all compacted, and I guess it was all meant to be felt, and not captured. But that didn't last long, as the bumpy road was disturbing my concentration. As usual we were facing difficulties, but on top of it, we were also enjoying the most.
The path lasted for one hour or so, and by the time we crossed the crooked path, our back ache was at its peak. But luckily soon after we came out of that valley, there was a small camp where all the riders were resting and having their meals. It was almost noon, and we all needed some rest and to fuel ourself. We occupied a table and resting on a chair at that moment was nothing less than a cushion. We all were quiet and tired as hell, so instead to chatting we were just observing other riders.
Usually all of them were foreigners and military personals who were travelling on bikes, and there were some, who were travelling on cars, and SUVs. Breaking the odds, we heard a revving sound of a motor bike. It was a KTM DUKE 200, a newly launched bike in India, which travelled all the way through Manali with other Royal Enfields, but the most amazing part was when the rider took off the helmet, we saw a red head foreigner girl, with a leather jacket. She adjusted her helmet, shouted "YEAHHH" and was on the road. We all looked at each other and all of us were speechless. In our one and a half day journey, we found so many crazy people, all inspiring each other, and all teaching the same thing, it's not about what you do, it's all about how you do it.
We had some discussion about the path while we had our meals, which was as pathetic as most of the other meals and after resting for some time, the riders were back. We put our helmet on, gave HELL YEAHHH to each other, highly motivated, we were back on our route, determined, focused and excited, about our next few hours would be like.
