The essence of motorcycle lifestyle and travelling is what Bajaj Motography stood for, all in all. The whole tour lasted for 10 days, starting off on 20th May, 2018 and ending on 29th May, 2018. For this trip to the roof of the world, 11 Dominar owners were selected through a screening process conducted by Bajaj, a month prior to the event. So now, how did we, Autolife, come around to be a part of Motography? First off, apparently, I happened to own a Dominar and got selected for the trip, and to top it off Bajaj wanted Autolife to be a part of Motography, that’s how me and my teammate Ankit Tuladhar came around to be a part of the journey. The other 10 riders that were selected for Motography were Atish Chaudhary, Prashid Pandey, Suman Maharjan, Rupesh Shrestha, Jampa Dorje Gurung, Dev Shrestha, Roshan Maharjan, Prabin Tiwari, Kosis Parajuli and Abdul uncle, the most senior among us and one hell of a rider. The good people at Bajaj were kind enough to take care of all the travelling process for all of us and all the accommodation, fueling expenses and any other travel expenses were taken care of. In the end, thanks to Bajaj it was all about ride experience and none of had to worry about any of the hassle of travelling.

It wasn’t just all about a motorcycle trip as well, it was even better. First off, Bajaj was generous to all the riders by providing each and every one with riding gears. Each rider got an amazing riding jacket from Alpha Riding Gears with the Motography logo branded on the arms, a badass helmet, gloves and riding boots from Acerbis. To top it all off, all the motorcycles even got impressive sticker job from VS moto. Everything just meant that we were all in for one hell of an experience that we are going to get to keep for the rest of our lives. Not just that, but Motography was something that brought together the aspects of motorcycle riding and the art of story telling as well. The riders were even a part of a competition of a sort, where the two lucky winners who would make the best videos of the trip would get two GoPro Hero 6. All in all, the whole trip was one complete package of exciting endeavors.

The tour started off early morning on the 20th May, 2018; all the riders got together and gathered at Golchha Organization’s office at Naxal at 5 a.m. There we got to meet our two marshals, Pasang Khambache Sherpa and Akhil Thakuri, who escorted us through the whole tour. We even had 2 personnel from Grande International Hospital for medical back up and a mechanic from Bajaj to make sure that both the riders and motorcycles were top notch throughout the whole tour. So, we were all set to travel to the roof of the world and reach our ultimate destination, the Everest Base Camp.

After all the formalities were done, we set out for the ride somewhere around 7 am leaving the Golchha Organization Office. For the first day, we had to get through the border and reach Tibet, so we took the highway through Galchhi to Nuwakot then towards Rasuwa. The first day saw us riding through all kinds of different road conditions and by the looks of the highways of Nepal, we had to get through rough patches and complete off roads at times. All the rocky uphills and graveled roads did seem like a challenge at first because the Dominar wasn’t built for such terrains. But to everyone’s surprise the bike held itself quite well and conquered everything that we threw at them. Finally, after riding for almost 8 hours and roughly 165 kms, we finally reached the Nepal-China border at Rasuwa. But apparently due to some technical issues from the other side of the border, we couldn’t cross our bikes through and get it across. So, we had to leave our bikes there and we left for Kerung on the cars that the guide had booked for us. Our first night was spent at Kerung, acclimatizing to the slight altitude ascend and preparing ourselves for the second day of ride. The weather was chilly and the sceneries were beautiful and the timings were what all of us were not used to, the sun would still be up, as late as 9 pm. Kerung was a small settlement which almost resembled a hill station.

For the second day, the first thing on our head was when are we all getting to ride our bikes again. So, after having our breakfast at Kerung, we headed out to get our bikes across the border. But to our surprise the processings were still not taken care of and we had to wait in the parking lot of the Chinese Immigrations. After an agonizing long wait, which felt like an eternity, we finally got our hands on our bikes around late afternoon and finally, we were back on track. After all the offroading the previous day, we were pleased to see all the wellpitched smooth roads with twists and turns all till Kerung, a heaven for all motorcycle riders. It was already evening and we still had somewhere around 300kms to cover till our next stop at New Tingri. It was a long and tough day of riding which led on to being a late-night ride as well. In between, we crossed one of the highest altitudes of the whole ride, 5200 meters, on our way. Things started getting chilly and all of us were only hoping that we would get to our stop soon. It was already midnight by the time we got to Old Tingri for our dinner, but we were still 70 kms from where we were lodging for the night. After rigorous riding through day and night, we were finally at our hotel at New Tingri.

We were lodged at some of the best places around Tibet and the accommodations were top notch. So, there wasn’t anything to complain about after long hard day of riding. By the end of second day we had already covered 530 kms. For the third day, we headed out to Shigatse from New Tingri and set on the straight open roads of Tibet. Throughout the whole trip, Shigatse was among the more developed cities after Lhasa which was our next stop. So, on the fourth day after 1044 kms of riding from Kathmandu, we finally reached Lhasa. I have to say, that Lhasa had something mesmerizing about it and reflected the beauty of Tibet. It indeed was a beautiful city and over the time, Lhasa has developed quite well. And to add to the beauty of Lhasa, the view of Potala palace was just extraordinary. The fifth day was a rest from all the riding and a day for all the riders to soak up on the beauty of Lhasa and some even visited the Potala Palace.

After a day of rest and getting everyone’s energy revitalized for another day of riding, we set on for our 6th day, the ride to Gyantse from Lhasa. The sceneries on the open roads were just breathtaking and there were times when you realize how a motorcycle can connect you to places, igniting a sense of happiness that only riding can deliver. The long hours of riding didn’t feel tiring with all the amazing sights that we came across and just like it our 6th and 7th day passed by with 1670kms and lodged at New Tingri again at the end of the day. Through all the various altitudes and high winds that almost blowing our bikes off of the roads, we were close to our ultimate destination, the Everest Base Camp.

7 days had passed by and our trusted steeds were still going strong. The Bajaj Dominar is indeed a capable ride and didn’t seem give up, no matter what we threw at them. It even held up well against all the high altitudes and didn’t die out on us. There did seem to be a certain lag in the power output but nothing that would be bothersome. Still going strong, on the 8th day, we started our ride to the base camp. It was amazing how the roads were so well developed; we came down almost 100 turns through a pass on our way to the base camp. Everything just felt ecstatic and the beauty was just beyond something that was describable. The moment all of us reached the base camp, we were just all quiet, sinking in to the mesmerizing beauty of the view right in front of us. Mt. Everest was just right in front of us and we knew that finally we had conquered what we all came to do and realized all the amazing memories that we had created in the past week.

Finally, we are almost at the end of Motography and on the 9th and 10th day we were back on the track to getting back home. After a tiring roadtrip, all of us were left with unforgettable memories from the roof of the world. And in the end, Motography was something that showcased the capabilities of the sports tourer, Dominar. Not only that, but all of us will be taking away one thing or the other from the whole trip; some maybe from the Potala Palace, some from the beautiful sceneries or be it with the massive Tibetan Mastif and the Yaks that we saw on the roads. At the end of the 10 days, there was a bond that was created among the riders which will stay on even after this. Rounding off at 2400kms, Motography was indeed a lifetime worth of memories and something that definitely created a statement of its own.