Preface
Hello everyone, after a very long time. It’s been a while since I posted anything on VentureVista. I had to break my blogs of my recent journey to Ladakh in between and let’s continue from here.
Introduction
After traveling on one of the best and the most beautiful flights of the world, here we were in the tiny, yet very huge and amazing valley of Ladakh. We landed in Leh city, which is the HQ of the UT of Ladakh. So Ladakh airport is the only commercial airport right now there and also actually managed by IAF for defence operations. But a part of the airport has a terminal which has a few parking slots for commercial operations.
Landing in Leh
After landing in Leh at around 8 AM, we knew we had to acclimatize the whole day and also our mobile sims stopped working, as we have to buy a new temporary sim till we’re in Ladakh and even in JK. The airport is quite far away from the main city and the market on the Srinagar main road. We took a city bus to reach the centre of the city.
Leh City
We had already booked the hotel in advance and reached there soon. So this would be our rest day to acclimatize for the weather conditions and rapid change in altitude. So we flew from Delhi which is at almost sea level and we straightaway landed at 12,000+ feet which is a massive change. So we need to acclimatize and plan to roam around the city, book the rental bike and get it ready for the next long journey.
We checked-in and straight away slept for the next 5-6 hours till around 3 PM as we had a layover of 3-4 hrs in Delhi at midnight. We had a good rest and started exploring the local market and started finding rental bikes.
Leh Market & Bike Rentals
We came here in the last week of September, which is the closing time of the bike journeys, hence we could get great discounts on bike rentals, hotels and everywhere. There are plenty and plenty of bike rental shops available in Leh city, so that’s not an issue at all. We found mostly Himalayan 410 and Himalayan 450 at some shops. Himalayan 410 was available at the cost of 1000 to 1500 per day and 450 at around 2000-2500.
These rates vary across the season and are more expensive during the peak seasons. You can additionally rent a jacket, shoes, riding gears, winter clothes, saddle bags, all bike accessories. We finally got a good deal for renting a Himalayan 410 for 8-9 days with a free saddle. Shops are available all around the city, so you can easily find them. Beware to check these things beforehand.
Things to keep in mind before renting a bike
- Have a valid DL and permit to Leh
- Make sure the total running of the rental bike is as less as possible (preferably <40k kms)
- Go to a test drive and check the comfort, brakes, headlights (this is very crucial, you’ll get to know this in coming blogs)
- Check the brake pads, chain, oil and other necessary things
- Rent a saddle if you have a luggage to carry
- Make sure the bike is registered only with LA UT. Other bikes of HP, JK are strictly not allowed to travel in Ladakh
- Speak beforehand of advance payment, caution deposit, payment terms, bike damages – if anything happens when you rent, late return charges, contact details, etc.
Local Sim
You can buy a local sim valid for 30 days and also if you have postpaid you can use the same. Prepaid sims what we use regularly doesn’t work here. We bought Jio, even airtel is available and either of them is fine. It costs around 450 or something, make sure you activate it before you depart from Leh. We took the bike and bought some necessary medicines, daily usage items as we were sure that we wouldn’t get anything in the remote areas of the journey.
Getting things ready
Once we were done, we went to the fuel pump and filled the tank completely. Don’t forget to fill up tanks completely whenever you find a fuel pump. Because there isn’t any guarantee that fuel would be available in all the fuel pumps in the remote villages of Nyoma, Tangtse, etc. Once done we went to your rooms as we had planned to leave early as possible to cover the maximum distance in a day. We had our tour planned in the following way and the blog also would come up in the same order.
Tour Plan
Episode 1: Leh – Khardung La – Diskit
Episode 2: Diskit – Hunder – Turtuk – Thang – Hunder
Episode 3: Hunder – Durbuk – Pangong Lake
Episode 4: Pangong Lake – Chushul – Hanle
Episode 5: Hanle – Foti La – Umling La – Hanle
Episode 6: Hanle – Nyoma – Tso Moriri Lake
Episode 7: Tso Moriri Lake – Tanglang La – Leh
Episode 8: Leh – Kargil – Dras
Episode 9: Dras- Kargil – Leh
Conclusion
I honestly can’t believe that I could finish this entire Ladakh circuit with very little riding experience before at the age of 22, but truly a lifetime experience. Can’t wait to share my amazing experiences and lovely moments I captured on my journey.