Leh 2006

Two years ago, this day, I began my 16 day long biking journey towards one of the great mountains, the Himalayas. The trip remains an unforgettable experience in my life. While I'm planning for a similar trip in coming 2009, a small revisit to those days.

Excerpts from the Day 1 log.

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Day 1: 02-Sept-2006. Reached Delhi by 10:00 am. Learnt that rains had just stopped there. Took a pre-paid taxi for Rs.250 from Airport to GATI office in Delhi south only to get disappointed. Only Arun’s bike was found there while my bike was transferred to Delhi north office. Took delivery of Arun’s bike, filled some petrol that was brought in a can from a nearby petrol pump, saved some fuel in the can for my bike, took an auto-rickshaw for Rs.200, went to GATI office in Delhi north, collected my bike after all the formalities. We started loading/packing our stuffs in the bikes immediately and were ready by 4:40 pm when the sky was getting darker with clouds. We decided and left Delhi to begin our wonderful journey. Within few minutes, there was a heavy downpour. After just 5 mins shelter under a huge flyover, we continued our biking in the rains. Had a small ‘chai’ break in a petrol pump on the way and also filled our bikes tanks with petrol. Ride, ride and ride all the way through rains, bad roads, heavy traffic and reached Panipat at around 8:30 pm. Panipat, a famous historical place. We had done only 100 kms so far. Somehow we had left Delhi and that’s what was satisfactory to us. Checked into Rainbow Guest House on Panipat Highway (on the right hand side) and retired for the day.
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