Date : 19th July, 2015
Start : Manali (0850 Hrs)
End : Marhi (1700 Hrs)
Distance: 35 Kms
Terrain: Beautiful, Uphill
Two layers of clothing, isn't enough to beat this cold. We are inside a Dhaba at Marhi waiting for the dinner. It's very cold out, normal tap water felt like its coming out of a freezer which we used to wash our hands and face. By the time when the dinner is getting ready, I thought spending some time with my diary.
At 0700 Hrs, we could able to wake each other up from the bed, in spite of chilled morning weather. Never thought it would be so difficult to wake up on the first day of the expedition. Not much to prepare apart from getting our self refreshed followed by a hot glass of tea. We cleared all the guest house bills and lifted our bikes,luggage down the stairs to reach the road of Manalsu Guest House. With in no time panniers and tent were mounted on the bikes along with the first time experimental GoPro cameras. We planned to meet Dev [the bike mechanic] on the way and started our journey towards Leh road. I was carrying the tent along with the panniers with me and was not very happy with the position of the tent. We rearranged the tent near to Mall road for a better balance. Just After crossing Manalsu river from the city bus stop, we were stopped by some one, who was greeting us. That was Mr. Dev indeed. We spent some good moment having a warm conversation over a cup of tea. After a Best of luck from Dev, our journey started again.
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| Bikes towards road, from stairs |
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| Cycle waiting for Panniers |
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| The start of the Journey |
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| On the way to Mall Road |
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| Rearranging the tent |
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| Some more rearrangement |
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| Mr. Dev |
We were on a bike which runs on our muscle power. No reason to delay and we forced to drop our self at a breakfast point. Not sure why the batteries were draining so much from GoPro, not to risk and we managed to put that for charging at the hotel. It was stuffed Parathas on breakfast along with few slices of honey sandwiched bread. Of course we never end our breakfast with out a cup of tea or coffee.
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| River Beas |
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| Distance from Manali |
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| The Smile and Breakfast |
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| Some Friends |
The muscles and bones were back in action. It was only up hill from the breakfast point. Our training definitely helped us, but the cold climate and thin air was taking our breath away. All breathing techniques started failing and we decided to work on our breathing techniques again on the first day. First time on the high altitude, running water droplets from nose and difficulty in breathing made us conscious about High Altitude Sickness. Entire journey today, we met many travelers and tourists sharing the knowledge of mountain sickness problems. Some clarified the concept, some gave us tips and some scared us.
Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) caused by acute exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen at high altitude. It commonly occurs above 8000 ft. Symptoms include headache, fatigue, stomach illness, dizziness, and sleep disturbance.
AMS can progress to
High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) or
High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), which are potentially fatal. In
HAPE fluid accumulates in the lungs causing difficulty in breathing, cough, weakness, congestion. In
HACE brain swells with fluid and sufficient oxygen stop going to the brain. People normally behave very strange in this condition.
Time
was running and in no time we stepped on to Solang Valley. While the
roads were stiff and some time bad with slush, the scenic beauties of
green mountains with snow patches and water falls out of melting snow
streams kept us refreshed. Beautiful curvy roads covered with trees,
musical streams, beautiful valley made us feel like riding the bike in
heaven.
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| Solang Valley |
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| Bike resting enroute |
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| Mr. Final Call |
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| Me Posing at Solang Valley |
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| First Group Photo |
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| Dude will we do it? Yes Macha |
Soon we realized the first mistake of the day, when our stomach knocked us for food. Yes we forgot to parcel our food for lunch,though we had planned it last night. And the bad news was we have to reach Marhi to get some food and it's still far. We were confident of reaching Rohtang the first day, having lunch at Marhi. Our math was completely wrong for this terrain. Thanks that we packed some dry fruits and chocolates. These are the alternatives for lunch, and we are happy at least of this.
Right after some rest, we started again slow and steady. Suddenly we started feeling like the road were never ending. Sometime rain disturbed us with few stops. Kilometers over kilometers we crossed the check post, where all the tourist vehicles and motorcycles are been stopped for permission copy. We were low in stamina and energy. The only reason which made us energized was the respect we got from almost all the bikers, who were going to Leh or coming back. Soon we spotted a dam far away and tried reaching there quickly. Spoke to some people and came to know Marhi was near by. Spent some time along the river bank and at around 1700 Hrs, we reached Marhi. We realized Vijesh left his water bottle at the river bank and I didn't have any intention to go back to bring that, rather than settling down my stomach with some delicious food in these Dhabas.
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| Beautiful Scenic Road |
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| Lets protect ftom Rain |
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| Beautiful Scenic Road |
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| Beautiful Scenic Road |
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Resting near dam
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| Posing with GS |
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| Julie, our Friend |
Here we met couple of traveler groups and one among them had called off their expedition due to cloud burst at Zozila pass some reason. They were travelling from Bangalore on their GS1200R. They were very happy to know about us and our expedition. But they also scared us about mountain sickness problem and handed over Diamox and some Vitamin tablets. Local police at the Marhi check post helped us finding out a place for putting the tent. By the time Santhosh and myself prepared the tent, Vijesh managed to arrange food for the night from a local Dhaba.
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| Our Tent Place for Toady |
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