At 2 ‘O clock I went looking for a restaurant and asked for a traditional Kashmiri dish, Rista with Kashmiri bread. Rista is pounded minced meat balls of lamb or beef simmered in spicy red gravy. A must try delicious dish, although very expensive for a budgeted trip.
By 02:30 pm I bid adieu to Sonamarg and was on my way to one of the dangerous roads in the world, Zoji La. This was a dream ride I had been waiting for all my life. The roads became narrower and slowly the landscape changed from beautiful lush green to deadly slushy, rocky and snowy landscape.
I reached Balthal Base Camp which was at my right and took the left steeper climb for Zoji La. Soon I could see amazingly large camping site on the right side. Balthal is around 15kms from Sonamarg. Probably due to acclimatization, I felt tired and it became difficult to breathe. Despite the cold I felt peculiarly hot in my inners, warmers and feather jacket topped by a raincoat. I was completely geared up in anticipation of cold climate. I stopped here for a while. Seeking blessing of Lord Shiva to conquer the Himalayas on my Royal Enfield. I
Lack of proper roads, steep slopes with hair pin bends made maneuvering very difficult for all vehicles. At times, despite using accelerator and brakes, cars ahead of me skid backwards on the slushy steep slopes. I was forced to be extra careful and ride slowly at a steady pace. I enjoyed riding here in this condition and nothing discouraged me from enjoying the snowcapped mountains around me either. There was a time when I faced a long stretch of slush so deep that if I dropped one foot down for balance, muddy slush would easily gush into my ankle high boot. I was in no mood to soil my boots or my socks so I decided to concentrate on my riding and made it through on 1st gear. My happiness knew no bounds and felt like a pro-rider! I hadn’t expected the heavy traffic I met out here. Back in 2006 we hardly found a handful