India has varied terrain with diverse habitation. Resultantly, the country also has roads of various kinds and at various elevations. The excitement to ride to the world’s highest motorable road, however, has some special bragging rights. Thanks to beautifully laid-out tarmac and internet connectivity, the exercise isn’t as taxing as it used to be a couple of decades ago. Well, we recently came across a post shared by Bajaj Auto on their Linkedin handle, which reveals the hardships of a two-wheeler ride to the world’s highest motorable roads back when Mr Raj Krishan attempted this on a Bajaj Chetak scooter.
In case you are wondering if Raj Krishan went on the new electrified Bajaj Chetak, the answer is no. He used the old ICE-powered Bajaj Chetak scooter, instead. As revealed by Raj, he started his journey from Hisar, Haryana, and it took him 16 long hours to reach Leh from Srinagar, making his way through the fatal Zoji-La Pass. While the journey was extremely tough he reveals, the air in Leh city was very thin with very low oxygen saturation.
To ensure that he acclimatised himself before heading to the important stretch of the journey, he stayed in the city for 2 days. Later on, after receiving permission from authorities to climb the mighty Khardungla Pass on his Bajaj Chetak scooter, Krishan started his ride to the summit.
He told a media outlet while sharing his photography, “This picture is from the point in my journey where I successfully touched the highest road in the world during those times. The best part about my journey was my return to Hisar after 42 hours of driving continuously for 734 km. I am almost 60 years old now but this experience continues to bring joy to me even today.”