Kapurthala to Keylong - Part 3 of my 2wheeler Odyssey

Written By Admin Monday, September 5, 2022 Add Comment Edit

We reached Kapurthala on a sunny day and the rain gods looked tired from being overworked.

The Singhs gave us a very warm welcome with typical North Indian warmth and hospitality and during our stay they made sure we were well fed, well rested and ready for the next shift.

Our first job was to get our bikes serviced and checked, which we did at the local Royal Enfield dealership. They did a great job and refused to charge us, saying it was their honor and privilege to take care of our bikes! While they were looking after our bikes

Local print and electronic media came to interview us. They couldn't wait to see why the son of the legendary Shami Kapoor is riding a horse when he can fly so well! The answer, folks, will be in the book Aditya will write about this journey.

A local school in Saini invited us to give a talk about why it is so important for their students to travel.

Expand your mental horizons. We were also taken to the magnificent Kapurthala Palace Museum, which is not yet open to the public.

The morning before we left, we were invited to visit the school run by our hosts, where we were congratulated and Aditya gave a short speech to motivate the students. Then the local electronic media took us down the highway to say goodbye and picked it up for broadcast on their news channels.

This was our next stop at Mandi and the rain god could have been lonely without us and we got drenched in torrential rain for the last two hours after reaching our destination and stayed in the first hotel we found. Luckily it was a nice hotel and we slept here too with towels and hopefully our clothes would dry before we left for Manali next morning.

After a good rest and drying of clothes, we leave for Manali in a beautiful morning. It was a wonderful journey straight from Kapurthala, with the river Beas meeting us along the way and also being a companion at times. Our target was "Ride Inn" a motel in Manali, but far from it

Crazy hordes of tourists flock to Manali. It was in an apple tree and the view from the hostel was great. After two days of air diving we went to Leh, Ladakh. It was in Manali ( 2050 m ) they started taking "Diamox" for the prevention of OGB (acute sickness, altitude sickness), according to the doctor's advice.

We enjoyed the ride to the Rotang pass (Ko 3979 ) , but the descent was dangerous because it had rained the previous evening and the road had been replaced by mud and rocks. This is where I had my first ^accident , albeit a slow one, when I hit the front brake, a hard disc brake and flipped over. Aditya immediately came to help me get on the bike and continue the journey. His presence boosted my morale and he had to come to my aid after I fell. Fortunately, all of these accidents were in slow motion and were the result of my reflex action of hitting the front brake hard (having driven a Yezdi with drum brakes on both wheels for years).

When we reached Khoksar, we stopped as a bridge to cross the Chandra river, and it should

The cross has been fixed. After four hours of waiting, we met some interesting travelers at the cafe. I was most inspired by a family of four men (age 74) and three women (below 60) traveling in a Maruti 800! This was my fourth trip to Ladakh! I met another young couple from Pune at the Royal Enfield, who decided not to have children for at least five years, to cycle together unchained. Dedicated traveler!