Day 7, October 7 2007: Kargil – Dras – Zozi La – Sonamarg – Srinagar

Its Sunday. I’d heard from a lot of people that Zozi La is closed for repairs and maintenance on Sundays and no traffic is allowed on the 8 km stretch throughout the day. Enquired with the out Hotel staff who were positive that Zozi La would be open to 2 wheelers for sure. As we moved out of Kargil, our next stop was to be at Dras.

We would visit the memorial of the 1999 Kargil War and paid our tributes to the martyrs and the brave soldiers who fought for our country. Got a quick round up and a brief history lesson on the War from the Army personnel who showed us all the strategic peaks where the Pakistani troops were stationed.

Trust me, they were within touching distance on the hill right behind the memorial, hardly a few kms from the highway. The LoC is barely 15 kms from where we were. Picked up a few souvenirs and headed towards Zozi La. As we approached Zozi La, the roads were again going from Bad to Worse and Zozi La was the mother of all bad roads; 8 kms of dirt and gravel on steep inclines, with sharp valleys, vultures hovering overhead. It did seem to be an off day as we came across less than ten other vehicles going past. I salute those who cross the Zozi La during the rains. I got goose bumps all over just thinking about the water and slush, gravel underneath and two way traffic on the narrow (non-existent) road. Hats off people, you guys simply rock!!
Made our way down at crawling speeds and entered the Kashmir Valley. Greeted by lovely roads and colourful scenes, Sonamarg was a stone throw away. Absolutely fantastic display of colours in Sonamarg, complete contrast from what we’d been seeing for the last few day.

As we rode towards Srinagar, we noticed a few P200s, which signified a Bajaj probiking in the vicinity. Srinagar it was, Paris Bajaj as we found out was the Probiking showroom. Hunted it down in the evening rush on the roads of Srinagar, only to find it shut on Sunday. Anyhow, we moved on and figured our night halt on one of the House Boats on the Dal Lake.

For 400 bucks, we got the most luxurious accommodation of our trip. We would hit the Pro-biking workshop first thing in the morning. Chilled around Dal Lake, took a shikara ride and followed up with a sumptuous dinner at Hotel Adoos. Awesome authentic Wazwan ishtyle Rogan Josh for the hungry and deprived souls. Srinagar we noticed has been turned into a Fortress owing to the insurgency that had crippled the valley over the last 2 decades, every 100 odd meters there were armed personnel. Every 100 m or so, a pair of CRPF/ J&K Police personnel would keep guard. The Army keeps an eye outside the city while CRPF and J&K Police maintain vigil inside the city.


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