With every trip you take, you become little wiser!!!

Being a bad organizer, I even can't even recall the day-wise details of this just concluded Bhutan ride. Thus my solo rides remained unlogged and slipped out of my memory with each passing day. Leh Spiti ride in 2014 offered a nugget of wisdom to express "what travel offers and how it enriches you"...so I scribbled a few lines on FB wall.  And now just scrolling down makes me nostalgic...!

This time, a rider friend, Vaibhava, who happens to be a filmmaker, collected some quotes about travel keeping some film concept in mind....whoa!!

Every word therein turned true...this travelogue will try to co relate those quotes with what we actually experienced, during this ride.

The quote said "With every travel you become wiser"..!
As I see, there is a difference between wisdom and intelligence. And during travel, especially in bike rides, you surely need wisdom, intelligence seldom matters!!

Many of us were not prepared for the tough ride of Spiti valley in 2014. We even had a debate with our group leaders Nitin and Dhaval whether to continue or abandon our ride at Koksar. All of us were drenched in the rain...local people warned us about landslides and flash-floods, the bone chilling wind whip lashed us and our bikes...the general consensus then was "we are not going to be visiting Spiti valley in a hurry, so let's take every kilometer as it comes by". Thus bracing ourselves with brave and positive thoughts, we entered Spiti valley. The brave and positive thoughts started washing away in a few minutes because we were welcomed by a huge landslide near Pagal Nala. Now the way back to Koksar was sealed was sealed and only one option remained..."face the situation, accept it and fight for your way through ....."

Our rider team removed gigantic rocks from the water pass (which had chilled glacial water running through it angrily) and our bikes floated their way out...sheer adventure it was...!

We learnt a very simple lesson in Spiti ride, abot persitance and team spirit.

We planned Bhutan ride counting on the information of excellent road conditions...as we wanted an adventurous ride though not a risky one this time. To our horror and surprise, the entire stretch of roads was gobbled up  by road construction equipment ...actually there were no roads at many places... and unseasonal rains made riding tougher. The road from Punakha to Bumthang was a complete off roading adventure...! But none of us panicked this time.These obstacles were simply challenges...a new challenge was there around every hair pin bend. We just enjoyed...every moment of it. The mood amongst the riders was so upbeat that we actually shook a leg to Hindi and Marathi music, when we stranded for long hours, because of landslides.  Our riders were on perpetual high due to dense fog, muddy roads, pristine greenery...and now road blocs and landslides  were awaited ...as it was a genuine enough reason to start a dance party on the streets of Bhutan...!!! The bone chilling cold water couldn't stop Nitin, Manish Shardul, brimming with child like enthusiasm from jumping into gushing waterfalls....and Rajeshree from jumping ..jumping from raft..!!  And every moment was captured by our ace photographer Nikhil.. off course the photos and films can't add the fourth dimension, i.e the lively moments of this time of everyone's life.

What is this...??are we being foolish, silly, idiots...??
No Nye Never... we became wiser. Our earlier ride made us wiser.

Wisdom was there... in enjoying the situation!!!