CHAPTER #3 - Next Phase - The first challenge

Okay, so far I have shared my experience till Jispa.  On 9 July 2019, We left Jispa for further journey and our final destination for the day was Sarchu. We have already been told that there would be too much snow on the way to Sarchu. We were ready for that but we were not ready for what we faced just before Baralacha Pass. 

Just for Information, A mountain pass is the lowest point in the mountain range which connects two valleys or two places and is useful for transport of food and other resources. 

As we left Jispa, the road was awesome and was fun to drive on. We drove for like one hour when we came across a pretty long traffic jam. As we were on a bike, it was fairly easy for us to migrate our way through the traffic. Riding a bike has its own perks because we can leave all the traffic jams behind pretty easily. We were happy and full of joy just because we were passing by all the cars while people stuck in cars were looking at us with a little bit of jealousy but that moment of happiness did not last long as we finally came to stop when we saw a large truck stuck on the road and when we got closer, I was literally scared to see the condition of the road. 

It was full of ice-cold water, running down the mountains at full speed. There was no sign of the road. Just imagine, a big truck with so much engine power is stuck in water, what would have been our condition at that time. For a moment, I thought that we are going to be stuck here for the whole day.

Everyone was waiting for the Army and people from the Border Road Organisation. The machinery was on its way from the nearest army base. The plan was to build a temporary road so that traffic could be released. I and my friend were also waiting for the same when an evil thought came to our mind. We asked some people on site there if they could help us in crossing the water as we did not want to get late. Many people on mountain bikes were crossing the water with too much struggle and some even fell into the water. Mind you, the water was too cold as it was coming straight from Baralacha which was full of ice at that time.

Then, with little hesitation, I agreed to cross the water. Rathore wanted to cross and I carried both the bags and can of fuel as we wanted to enter the water with as little weight as possible.  The moment people saw Rathore coming at full speed towards the water, they started shouting, cheering, clapping and everyone was like come on, come on...Don't stop... Finally, Rathore was in the water and unfortunately, the engine got cut off in the middle of water crossing.  Anyhow, he managed to get out of the water. 

I followed him and I was in the water for around 5 minutes and at one moment, I thought my legs are gone because the water was freezing. My legs were literally shivering. I crossed the water and Rathore was waiting for me. He told me to start the engine and went for the loo. I pulled out the choke and gave two full kicks and the engine came back to life. I was full of joy and then, the moment came. The engine gave up on me again. I again tried with a lot of full kicks and self start but everything was in vain. The next worst thing which happened - the battery died due to continuous self start attempts. 

 

We tried charging the battery by dragging the activa up and down the slope but it was too tiring. People started to ask and offered help. One thing which I understood that day is that we meet some of the nicest human beings when we travel. The same thing happened to us. One guy from the mountains tried to help us and he opened the whole engine bay, cleaned the spark plug of any water but we were not lucky enough. 

After some time, we got the news that the temporary road is open and traffic started moving. Then again we got the news that a temporary road is no more. The water was too fast that it took away the whole road down the valley. 

We were trying to start the engine for around 2 hours but we were out of luck and as if nature was ready to scare us again, it started raining. By that time most of the traffic was gone with 5-6 big trucks left. Our worst fear of getting stuck in the mountains was coming close to being a reality and there was no place to stay nearby. 

We finally decided to ask for help from the Army. We were told to wait for some time but that gave us a little hope as we were not alone. Our army was there :-)

After about 40 minutes of wait, the army personnel brought a recovery van. We were so happy. We quickly picked up our bags and all other items scattered and lying here and there on the road and ran for the van. One army person came and helped up in lifting the activa and putting it into the back. The ground clearance of the recovery vehicle was very high so we had to put all our strength to lift the activa. I asked Rathore to sit on the activa while I was trying to hold it in place by pushing with full force as the recovery van made its way to the nearest army base while going over broken roads and potholes. It was a hell of a task to hold the activa as it was sliding and dancing like anything due to steeper roads.

Finally, we made it to the base. The weather was at its best and we could see the snowy mountains of Baralacha pass.

Finally, we opened up the radiator and the air filter was totally gone. It was fully wet and that was the reason for the engine dying again and again. The army was so helpful, they cleaned the radiator with petrol and tried their best to dry out the filter. We also tried removing the whole air filter assembly and run the activa without a filter.  Believe me, without filter, it sounded like some heavy machinery. However, it was not advisable to run without a filter as roads ahead were dusty and might have choked the whole engine.

Anyway, we dried out the old filter and cut the part which was full of water. Eventually, we had to rely on half-cut air filter for journey till Leh because there was no shop for repairing before Leh town. We got some advice from the army like not to drink cold water at any cost at high altitude and not to enter any water crossing with a depth of more than 1 feet. 

Finally, out of care and love, we were offered lunch at the base camp. It was 2 pm and we had some nice yellow daal with rice and chapati. The daal was amazing and we really felt loved by the Indian army and the way they helped us. Salute to our Army !!!

Finally, after we finished lunch, we had a small test run of the scooty and army personnel also had their tries and they were really happy to ride activa in the mountains. Their happy faces made me smile. Life felt so awesome and blessed !!

After a little chat and having the best moments to cherish, we finally secured our bags at the back as usual and said Goodbye !!!! 

Please do comment on the blog, this will motivate me to write better. I hope you all have enjoyed the three posts so far. !!!