Delhi - Manali - Leh - Bike Trip

The trip itinerary given above looked pretty & flawless and I was proud of myself for having found an itinerary on the internet which could be tweaked to suit my 19 day schedule.
Ganesh, my friend, was in Thailand and Laos on a 2 month “uninformed” holiday and was to return to Delhi on July 14, 2007 and come to Bangalore on July 19, 2007 to get his bike ready for our trip. He works for Intrepid, an Australian travel company in Delhi.
Sameer, my brother, finished his final semester Mechanical Engineering exams on June 28, 2007 and was very keen on doing this trip to Leh.
As for me, I had been dreaming of this trip for the last four years!
The expectations from our trip and our spirits were soaring high. We enthusiastically made a list of things each one of us should be carrying on our trip - scissors to bike spares to video cam to medicines et al.
In the following 2 weeks prior to our departure, we bought 25 kilograms of bike spares, 6 bungee nets, 3 cross bungee cords, 8 bungee ropes, 4 tyre tubes, 3 helmets, 2 huge sleeping mats etc. got our bikes serviced and back in shape. We had booked our tickets to Delhi by Sampark – Kranthi Express from Yeshwanthpur to Hazrath Nizamuddin (Delhi) which was to depart at 10:20 PM on Aug 1, 2007 and the plan was to put all 3 bikes on to the train as luggage as it would then travel along with us.

Aug 1, 2007:

We all met up at the Yeshwanthpur railway parcel & luggage booking office at 4:00 PM. By the time the bikes were packed it was already 5:30 PM. I stood in the queue for over 2 hours to book our bikes. The booking clerk was a pain in the ass. He wanted some money, but when we refused, he just made us stand there for what seemed eternity. The first shock of the trip was when he said it would cost us Rs. 2500 per bike to transport it to Delhi. We were so confident (ignorant!) that it would cost us not more than Rs.1000 per bike!
Got out of the railway station at 8:00 PM, went home to finish packing. Left home at 9:15 PM and reached the railway station at 10:00 PM. The bikes were loaded on to the seal coach and the hamalis were paid Rs. 400 for the work done.

Aug 2, 2007:

Travel to Delhi

Aug 3, 2007:

7:00 AM: The second major shock of the trip came when there was a cloud burst just past Agra Cant station and it was raining very heavily all through our way to H. Nizamuddin station. It was a very gloomy day and our spirits were dampened when we heard that it was and had been raining heavily in Delhi for the last couple of days. We were mentally prepared to re-book our bikes back to Bangalore if the weather had been as bad. Anyways, we decided to take a call on that after we reached Delhi.
11:30 AM: We reach H Nizamuddin and loaded our entire luggage into a taxi and head back into the station to collect our bikes. After running around a while and pushing our bikes a long way, we reached the other side of the station (which was more or less like a slum) to reach a manned level crossing. The gates were closed and opened only after one and a half hours!
1:30 PM: Filled petrol and started riding towards our hotel in Karol Bagh.
3:00 PM: Dumped our luggage in the room and headed straight to get our bike’s side panniers (carriers) fixed. Got the tubes changed on both the thunderbirds. Bought additional bungee cords, foot pump, plastic fuel cans, sleeping bags etc.
8:30 PM: Came back to the room and repacked all the new spares. We decided to leave Delhi early morning, provided the weather held up.

Aug 4, 2007:

5:00 AM It was raining very heavily and our chances of starting off that day looked hopeless. We hit the bed again.
7:00 AM The rain had stopped but the sky looked very gloomy.
9:00 AM Packed the luggage on to the bikes only to find that Ganesh had a problem with the weight distribution and was finding that his front wheel was rarely on the ground!
9:15 AM Finally started riding out of Delhi.
11:30 AM Stopped for lunch at a dhaba when it started raining.
12:30 PM Reached Panipat. Terrible/fuck all roads!
1:00 PM Just out of Panipat, Sameer’s bike had a problem with a lot of noise emanating from the clutch case. Drained all the oil out…but couldn’t figure out the problem.
2:30 PM Rode to Karnal about 30 odd kilometers without oil in the clutch case and got it fixed at the royal enfield authorized showroom
7:00 PM Reached Chandigarh. Some good roads after Karnal. Overall, a terrible day of riding. Couldn’t cover much distance.

Aug 5, 2007:

8:30 AM Started for Manali
6:00 PM Reached Manali. One needs to pay a green fee of Rs. 100 for a pass valid for one week at the entrance of Manali town. My backside was hurting badly!

Aug 6, 2007:

Rested in Manali

Aug 7, 2007:

9:00 AM Topped up our tanks with fuel and started riding towards Rohtang Pass which is 52 kms from Manali.
10:30 AM Got caught in a terrible traffic jam on the mountains, which robbed 3.5 hours of us.
2:00 PM Just out of the traffic jam, pulled over for lunch (maggi noodles)
3:00 PM Reached Rohtang Pass
4:15 PM Khoksar – Tea
6:30 PM Tandi – Last fuel station on the Manali – Leh route. The next filling station is 365 kms in Leh.
7:00 PM Keylong – Halt for the night

Aug 8, 2007:

8:00 AM Started from Keylong for Sarchu/Pang
10:00 AM Darcha – Tea
12:45 PM Baralachala Pass
1:20 PM Reached Bharathpur bridge and found that a truck had got stuck. The stream was knee length deep and was too risky to try to cross on our bikes, especially with the load that we were carrying. We decided to stay back in the tented accommodation at an altitude of approx. 4700 M above mean sea level. Bad decision! My first brush with AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). Had a throbbing headache and breathing was quite heavy even without realizing.

Aug 9, 2007:

7:00 AM Started riding from Bharathpur
9:00 AM Sarchu
9:45 AM Gata Loops
10:15 AM Nakeela Pass
10:45 AM Lachulungla Pass
11:45 AM Reached Pang. Had food and Slept for about an hour. My headache got worse. Was running temperature. Decided to stay back in Pang in the tented accommodation.

Aug 10, 2007:

7:30 AM Started riding from Pang.
8:15 AM More Plains
10:30 AM Tanglangla Pass
2:00 PM Leh

Aug 11, 2007:

2:00 PM Started riding to Khardungla
2:45 PM South Pullu – Check post
3:30 PM Reached Khardungla Top