Riding To Y Junction

This is a view of the Penga Teng Tso lake on the way to Bum La as seen from the North end.

The local tourist jeep drivers asked us to move out of their way so that they could break the ice on the track and make it easy for us to ride on. Some of them asked politely. Others started closing down on us and honked threateningly. We stepped aside and let them all pass.

Turns out that was a bad idea because when the going got tough, they all got stuck. This picture was clicked while we were waiting for the jeeps to make their way up the slippery frozen slopes. Some drivers got out and started to strap on snow chains. Others fished out nylon ropes and tied them around the tyres in the hope of getting some traction on the snow and ice.

We waited patiently for the jeeps to get their shit together. After sitting tight for a good half an hour and seeing one jeep after another fail miserably, I decide that enough was enough. I told Denzil Nunes that it was time for us to show them how things gets done.

We got on our motorcycles and started overtaking the stranded jeeps, sometimes getting off the track to squeeze past them. Tourists got out of the jeeps and started taking pictures and videos of us ploughing our way through the snow and ice. The WTF look on their faces was priceless.

After passing all the jeeps we rode up to Y Junction where we were told that the road to Bum La was closed. We were asked to register ourselves. I felt a sense of achievement when the soldier manning the Y Junction check point opened a register to a new page and wrote the date at the top of the page. He then looked up at me and said in Hindi, “Sir, you are the first to reach Y Junction today.”