The Great Escape

Rishikesh Day 1

2013-11-23T21:30:00.000+05:30

Rishikesh Day 1

The first time I heard about Rishikesh was from my parents and I reckoned it (till the time I went there) as a place for “Spiritual journey”. But now the only thing that I am reminded off when I think of Rishikesh is the pristine white sand beach, the gurgle of Ganges, white water rafting and a place where one can explore tranquility and spirituality.

At 6.30 am we started our journey from Gurgaon to Rishikesh in a Innvova . We took a break around 9.30 am to have our breakfast -the mouth-watering (butter laden) paranthas and Chai at Cheetal, mid way restaurant , still scintillates my taste buds.

We reached Rishikesh around 4 pm as generally there is a lot of traffic between Rourkee and Rishikesh. But our destination was not Rishikesh but further 2 hrs by road to Kaudiyala, the devbhoomi of Uttarakhand. After a long day in the car , we were absolutely tired. So we decided to visit "Chotiwaala" and enjoy the delicious meal there. Rishikesh's main attraction Laxman Jhula and the Shiv Murti looked beautiful in the night.

We decided to come back to visit these places the next day.By the time we reached Kaudiyala, it was 7.30pm. Moment we reached Kaudiyala it was a different experience all together – suddenly all the tiredness vanished upon looking the beautiful white sand, the river and the camps. Yes we were going to stay in camps amidst the pristine mountain valley, a star studded sky and the gurgle of Ganges. It was a different world – away from the hustle bustle of NCR. Then came the first surprise – We couldn’t walk down to the camp, a gentleman came to escort us in the raft to the camp. That was the beginning of the Rishikesh experience! I had never expected that Gages could be so pristine and even more surprising was the white sand river beach. It reminded me of the White sand Beach of Bicheno on Tasmania’s east coast. Truly, we have places in India which are no less than any of the exotic locations of the world. The camps were beautiful lit with candle inside and had a comfortable double bed –that was a modern amenity for a “camp”. The first time I went to Rishikesh in 2006, the camp did not even have mobile connectivity. And yes no electricity too. Can’t imagine a life without these, but believe me – the very absence of these essentials made that trip even more memorable. Imagine how will a city dweller feel sitting on pristine white sand, beside the Ganges - under a full moon black sky with zillions of starts and hundreds of constellation. That too without electricity and mobile connectivity? Well one has to feel it, to understand the out of world experience. Even sleeping inside the camp with the continuous gurgle of the Ganges was like a melodious lullaby to my ears.

Rishikesh Day 2

2013-11-23T20:37:00.000+05:30

The desire to see the pristine beauty of the Ganges forced me to come out of the bed early in the morning, as early as 6 AM in the morning. Started my day with tea on the banks of Ganges…it was one the best tea I have ever had…not because of the taste but because of the ambiance of the surroundings!

Morning Tea!!

By then most of my friends (read colleagues) were awake and we were ready with our gears to play beach volley ball. Good fun but alas I injured my wrist a bit. Well what you can expect from a software engineer (read girl) who spends most of the day and even nights in office . We had to stop at 7.30 am as we scheduled to go for rafting that morning. So we had a wonderful breakfast in the camp and we were off to rafting.

The Ganges

It was supposed to be an easy day with small rapids. We started off our journey by crossing the river to reach the road and then we were off downstream where the rafting begins. Well that was the first time in my life that I was doing anything known as an “Adventure sport”. We were to be accompanied by a friendly Guide “Karan”. He gave us a comprehensive safety briefing about rafting. Thereafter we packed our bags (camera and essentials) in the raft and we were ready to gooooo! I was super excited. We had to raft from Kaudiyala – Shivpuri . It was supposed to be an easy day with small rapids.

The rafting begins

The adrenaline rush came when our friendly (well not really!) guide overturned the raft intentionally (off course in still Ganges) and we all suddenly were screaming …well not because we were drowning (it was not possible because of the life jackets) but the water was too cold and we didn’t expect that he will unexpectedly overturn the raft. Well, believe me this was important to remove the inhibitions/ fear we had for the rafting! It was almost like the feeling we have during holi…if someone colours us black and blue and drowns us in water, then we don’t care any further and go full stream without fear to colour other people!! Also this made us enjoy the body surfing in the small rapids. Believe me the water was very clean, unlike what it is in Haridwar. It was a Great day to relax, soak in the sun, and bodysurf and bird-watch (the real one J). This stretch of Rafting is quite safe and even families can go in for this stretch. The raft time was approximately 22 kms from Kaudiyala to Shivpuri. Well we retuned by afternoon back to our camp. After having lunch, we decided to go to Devprayag by road. That’s the place where the Ganages originates. It is one of the Panch Prayag (five confluences) of Alaknanda River where Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river meet and take the name Ganga or Ganges river. We returned back and spend a relaxed night at our camp with born fire, Antakshari and office gossips ! Offcourse not to forget the sumptuous chicken gravy for dinner! We were awake till 12 am on the pristine white sand, beside the Ganges - with zillions of stars in the beautiful black night.

Planning Ladakh Trip

2009-08-30T20:10:00.000+05:30

The Plan

Year 2009, so far hasn't been very good for the economy but turned out to be exciting for us. Our company, in order to cut down expenses, forced 5 compulsory leaves per quarter on every employee. It was the 3rd last week of May and i had no idea of how to utilize my leaves. One day, I was having dinner with my room mate while watching a movie on Set Max. My room mate and i both are bike lovers. He owns a 'Bullet' and i have a 'Pulsar 220'. We were enjoying the movie and trying to plan a bike trip to some colder place, away from the heat of Delhi. Either it was the movie effect or a fantasy, he said 'Ladakh'. While recalling, that one of my friend had the time of his life during a similar trip, i said 'Yes'. Some say that don't take decisions when you are emotionally high or low. But this was going to be an exception. We were very excited and started to plan the trip.

Next day, i shared the idea with my friends in office and within minutes 3 more people joined our group. Everyone started to research about the route, stuff to carry, bike repair, etc. The name of the mail thread was 'Leh Trip'. For first 2-3 days every hour a reply would come. Some non-bikers were simply kept in cc to calm their curiosity. Our plan was to go in the last week of May and extend till 1st week of June. Everything was going fine till i had a minor bike accident, good enough to cancel my trip. Next day, i went to office only to inform that i wouldn't be able to recover till the planned dates. I was surprised that i was not the only one saying 'No'. Out of five, one was overloaded with work, one had told his parents and the answer was an obvious 'No', and the third one was me. The two members who were left, also lost the enthusiasm and the trip was cancelled in a day. The mail thread was down. Everyone was again involved in the routine life.

June came, and my last quarter leaves were wasted thinking about the cancelled trip. By 2nd week of June, i had almost recovered from my injuries and started to think about ways to expense this quarter's leaves. The answer was pretty easy. This time, the group consisted of only 3 people and the period was 2nd week of July. The mail thread was alive again but with fewer members. Three of us started preparing for the trip, but how could we forget "Murphy's Law". Bad luck strikes when you don't want it to. With only one week remaining to the trip, my room mate had to cancel his trip because of personal reasons. Initially, we started with two and now we were again left with two members. This time we didn't cancel the trip and decided to go as per the plan. So, it was my friend 'Nikhil' and I who were finally going to the trip, which was going to be etched in our memories forever.

Ladakh Trip Preparation

2009-08-29T01:07:00.000+05:30

Preparation

We were concerned with 3 things - detailed itinerary, items to carry and bike repair. We had 10 days and wanted to make most out of it. It was decided that we will transport our bikes back to Delhi from Jammu by courier. To save more time we were thinking to start our journey from Manali and transport the bikes till there. But the idea didn't workout because the courier service didn't have an office in Manali and it would take a long time for them to arrange through a 3rd party.

In this 10 days of period we wanted to include all possible places such as Sonmarg, Srinagar and Gulmarg. When we started planning the itinerary, we realized soon that everything is not possible in 10 days, especially when i hadn't driven bike continuously for more than 2 hours and the number of unknown factors were many - bad roads, bad weather, mountain sickness and bike breakdown. Moreover, we won't be able to enjoy much if we keep on driving. So, we dropped the idea of visiting places in Jammu and Kashmir regions, although we would be crossing them. Including J&K might have also diluted the Ladakh experience.

We made a long list of items to carry and started collecting them 3-4 days before the trip. I bought Adidas shoes thinking that i would be able to use them for jogging after the trip. It was a very bad idea to buy those shoes for a trip like this. We also bought saddle bags to carry all the stuff. I got my bike serviced and essential parts replaced. Nikhil had converted his Apache's tyres to tubeless. We were ready for the trip in all sense.

Noida to Ambala

2009-08-28T18:53:00.000+05:30

Day 0 - 3rd July

The day, we have been waiting for had come. At 5.00 PM we started from our office parking. Our bikes, loaded with all stuff were looking brand new, unaware of their future condition :)

It took around 1.5 hours to cross Delhi. After that the traffic was very less and the roads were excellent. On a flyover after Panipat i easily touched 125 kph. We were taking breaks of 15-20 min every hour to relax our backs and have something to drink or eat. After dark, when the headlights were on, i started to feel a pinch effect on my forearms. I thought it's a drizzle. A couple of minutes later some meshy liquid started appearing on all over my helmet shield. It was not rain, but an infinite army of tiny insects which was flying towards the light and getting crushed after an impact with the helmet. I could feel the survivors inside my ears and on my face. I had to switch off the lights and used them judiciously till we reached Kurukshetra.

By 9.30 PM, we reached Ambala, and decided not to proceed till Chandigarh. We took a room near the flyover and had dinner at a Dhaba. After dinner we went to bed at 11 PM. Within one hour we managed to get a good sleep.

Day summary: Noida - Ambala, 4.5 hrs, 225 km.

Ambala to Solang Valley

2009-08-27T21:59:00.000+05:30

Day 1 - 4th July

We left Ambala at 8 AM and headed for Chandigarh. The road was superb and it didn't take more than 40 min. to reach there. We were searching for a place to have breakfast. We crossed many sectors of Chandigarh but couldn't find any market which was open. The irony was that liquor shops were all open in the morning. I don't know if Mohali was in the route, but we finally had Parathas in Mohali. After a good breakfast, we left for Ropar. The roads were good. A few km after crossing Ropar, roads were never straight. We had entered the mountains. I had never driven on curvy roads before. It was fun to drive up and down the hills. We were also stopping for pics. In the below pic i had difficulty in focusing on Nikhil :)
We crossed Bilaspur and stopped at Sundernagar for lunch. The route after Sundernagar was beautiful. All the time a river was flowing with us.
There was also a 5-6 km long tunnel between Kullu and Manali. We reached Manali at 6 PM. I filled my tank there and couldn't believe that my bike had given a mileage of 45. Manali seemed a very crowded place to me, flooded with tourists. Our plan was to spend night with our colleagues in Solang Valley, which was 10 km away from Manali, on the way to Rohtang Pass. We took some shots before starting the ascent.
The ascent from Manali to Solang valley was very steep. It was around 7 pm and we were the only ones who were going in that direction, whereas everyone else was returning from Rohtang. After ~10 km, there was a left turn to Solang valley. We reached there and enjoyed campfire with our friends. The scenery in night from the valley was spectacular. I captured some good shots in the night.
Day summary: Ambala - Ropar - Bilaspur - Kullu - Manali - Solang Valley, 11 hrs, 370 km

Solang Valley to Darcha

2009-08-26T00:35:00.000+05:30

Day 2 - 5th July

We started very late from Solang Valley at ~ 10 am. The road to Rohtang was in very bad shape. There was a traffic jam also, because BRO (Border Roads Organization) was repairing the roads.
From Solang, Rohtang was only 40 km, but it took 2 hrs to reach there. We stopped at Rohtang for half an hour. It was filled with SUVs, horses and people selling long black boots.
Rohtang is the last place to visit for most of the tourists. They generally spend half of the day there and come back to Manali. After crossing Rohtang, we were going down hill and the roads started to deteriorate further. We had to stop at couple of places for directions. I remember a signboard on which there was no sign. After asking BRO people, we took the left turn from there. The right one was going to Chandertal.

On our way to Keylong we saw an oil tanker almost completely submerged in water. We don't know how it got there.
We reached Tandi and filled our tanks. This time mileage was 33. Tandi is the last petrol pump before Leh, which was still 380 km ahead. Despite of all advice we decided not to carry extra fuel with us. It was a right decision. Even if my bike would have given a mileage of 30 till Leh, i wouldn't need extra fuel. Doing mileage calculations on the way proved useful for us.

We reached Keylong at 3 pm and had our lunch. After Keylong roads were in pathetic condition for most of the time. We had planned to stay at Jispa. 2-3 km before Jispa, i saw some guest houses, but i was waiting for the 0 km milestone, which never appeared. Finally we stopped, a few hundred meters after Jispa. There were no accomodation sort of things available there. We didn't want to go back, so we proceeded for Darcha, 6 km away from Jispa.

We reached Darcha at 6 pm and easily got a room. When i asked for the toilets, people started smiling. Pointing their fingers towards the river, they said, it's all yours. We had the fun next morning :)

Darcha is a very small place surrounded by mountains from all sides. I took some pictures of the moon and the mountains.Day summary: Solang valley - Rohtang pass - Keylong - Darcha, 8 hrs, 140 km

Darcha to Pang

2009-08-25T16:36:00.000+05:30

Day 3 - 6th July

Last night dinner forced me to wake up at 6 am. I explored the riverside in search of solitude :)
My stomach was not feeling good, still i had parathas in breakfast. Nikhil didn't eat anything for the same reason. We left Darcha at 8 am. We had no idea that this day was going to be the toughest and one of the most beautiful day in the whole trip. Roads were very good after Darcha. We stopped at 'Deepak tal'. The scene was simply awesome.Roads were more or less good but very often a large stream of water would flow across the roads. Water flow and the stones would make it difficult to cross.I covered my shoes with polythenes to avoid the freezing water, but got stuck in the middle of the flow. I had to change my shoes. I tied the wet ones to the bike. I remember that after this instance, every 2 hours for the next few days, i had to repeat the above procedure of switching shoes. I wish i could have water proofed the part below my knees.

The way to Baralacha La was full of snow. I think maximun snow we saw was at Baralacha La only. At one point both sides of roads had 6-7 m high walls of snow.
The above scene is similar to a shot in a song of 'Jab We Met' movie. Just across these snow walls was 'Suraj tal'. It was marvelous.The sky was crystal clear and mountains completely covered with snow.We couldn't stop for long at the pass because of the sub-zero temperature. After crossing Baralacha La, we had to stop twice before Sarchu, because the roads being cleared. Once we could make our way from the sides.

We reached Sarchu and i got time to dry my socks. We had lunch there. I didn't learn the lesson from the dinner at Darcha and again ate Dal-chawal in Sarchu. I paid the price as soon as i reached Pang :) Maggi emerged as a life saver for Nikhil for the next few days. Sarchu was nothing but a bunch of 3-4 tents.
It was not more than 30 min after leaving Sarchu, that we had to wait for BRO to repair a broken bridge.It took 1 hour for them to repair the bridge. Till we were driving we didn't face any breathing problem, but that 1 hour stay became very difficult for us. It was not more than 10 min after crossing that bridge, we came across a tumbled truck on the middle of the road.
We somehow managed to get away from the left side of the truck. All 4 wheelers were stuck on both sides of the truck. We were the first ones to cross that truck and had been asked by the people to inform the check post at Pang, which was 50 km away, to send some help. If the road is not cleared, people had no option but to spend night there.

We moved on towards Pang and were circling around the Gata loops.We crossed Nakee La and started our descent. I was ahead of Nikhil, unaware of what was going to happen with me. To avoid a pothole filled with water, i slightly turned the handle towards left and applied brakes while lowering the gear. Next second, I was on the road under the bike, trying to figure out what happened. The worst part was that the gear foot rest of my bike was broken.Leh was 200 km away and I had no idea how to fix this. I thought that this could be the end of my trip. We knew that we won't be able to fix this before Leh. Idea of tying the foot rest with ropes didn't work either. With no one around, we were helpless there.

After half an hour i decided to continue the journey with my left foot hanging in air. I tried to support my leg on the half inch of metal left at the joint. But any small bump on the road was enough to let my leg easily go off the support. Switching gears had also become a big pain for me.

We moved forward and crossed Lachang La. Roads were not good till Pang and we had to go down the hills. We reported at the Pang checkpost and informed about the truck accident. They already knew about the accident. I think they got the news on wireless because no one had crossed us till there.

We reached Pang at 5 pm and decided t o spend the night in tents. We were completely exhausted after the eventful day and wanted to take rest. Before entering into the tents, I wanted to check my bike's condition. Each of the tyres had a nail in it. I didn't bother much about it and went inside the tents. In dinner i had Maggi to eat and 'kawa' to drink. Kawa helped to warm up the body.

I went to bed at 8 pm, thinking that the day is finally over now. But the worst was about to come. We had no idea that Pang is an altitude of ~15600 feet. Nikhil and I both were having trouble in breathing, although we had taken Diamox tablets in the morning. Nothing seem to be working at that moment. We were only able to take very short breaths. Whenever i tried to take a deep breath, i felt slight pain in my chest. I couldn't catch sleep for more than 30 min at a stretch. At ~ 2 am i woke up suddenly and felt giddy for 5-10 min. I was helpless and didn't know what to do. I just tried to relax and control my breath. After some time i was normal and tried to sleep.

Life is not easy there. People living there know the value of life. There is no vegetation and farming. People rely on supplies from distant places. People can't make any permanent set up because everything is covered by snow in winters and many areas are avalanche zones. They live for 4-5 months and spend rest of the time at lower altitude places. Tourists are the source of livelihood for them in this period. They warmly welcome every tourist and offer food and shelter. Only people who stay at high altitude areas during most of the time in a year is Indian Army. They are doing a commendable job. One has to leave the city life and experience the mountains to feel the difference.

Day summary: Darcha - Baralacha - Sirchu - Pang, 9 hrs, 160 km

Pang to Leh

2009-08-24T23:37:00.000+05:30

Day 4 - 7th July

In the morning I was feeling much better. My stomach was also stable by now. After breakfast, i checked the tyre pressure in my bike. Because of the nail, the pressure in front tyre was very low. We carried the tubeless puncture kit with us, but didn't have the foot pump. Actually, we had arranged a foot pump from our friends, but didn't carry it because of its size and weight. Anyways, we were lucky that a puncture mechanic was available there. He repaired the front tyre puncture and we were ready to leave Pang by 9.30 am.

First 40 km after Pang is Moore Plains. In Nikhil's words, it's like a thousand lanes highway where you make your own roads :) When we entered the plains there was no sign of roads. We started driving
wherever resistance was least. 40-50 min later we found ourselves in the middle of 7-8 inches high mud and it became impossible to drive in that.
Somehow we managed to cross that and drove towards left and found roads there. After Moore plains, we reached Tanglang La. Roads were very bad before and after the Tanglang La.
Roads started to improve after descending 15 km from the pass. We reached Rumtse and took rest for 30 min. Both of us had Maggi in our lunch there. After Rumtse to Upshi and till Karu, the scenery was terrific. Every mountain was of different shape and different colour. We enjoyed the ride and took many pictures.After Karu, it took only 50 min to reach Leh. We had a feeling of achievement when we reached Leh. The ride for the last 2 days had been very challenging and i was considering myself lucky to reach Leh in a single piece :) We checked in a hotel and took rest for a while. As it was already 4 pm, DC office was closed and we couldn't take permits for Pangong and Nubra that day.

Leh was looking a very peaceful city to me. We didn't roam much in Leh that day. I wanted the foot rest of my bike fixed first before anything else. So, we went to a mechanic straightaway. Welding the footrest and replacing the whole part didn't work out to be good solutions. Finally, a creative idea of the mechanic worked very well. See the picture below :) He drilled a hole and fixed a long nut-bolt in place of the foot rest.After bike repair we filled our tanks and directly went back to hotel. The day was over and Leh was conquered :)

Day summary: Pang - Tanglang La - Upshi - Karu - Leh, 6.5 hrs, 175 km

Leh to Pangong Tso

2009-08-23T01:59:00.000+05:30

Day 5 - 8th July

We were ready by 10 am and went to DC office for the permits. We had heard that easy way of obtaining permits is through an agent because it takes 4-5 hrs to get it done. It's not true. Office opened at 10 and we reached there at 10:20. It took only 40 min to obtain the permits and by 12:00 we left for Pangong.

We went back till Karu and from there started our ascent for Chang La. The route to Chang La was tough. It was perhaps the most difficult pass that we crossed during our whole trip. The scenery was good. Thikse village in the below picture was very beautiful.After crossing Chang La, we stopped at a place for lunch. It was a tent and the only place we found between Chang La and Tangtse. Road to Tangtse was good and one could easily spot horses grazing in greener areas.We reached Tangtse and submitted the permits. The person in-charge there warned us about a 'Nala' 5 km before the lake. He said don't cross the Nala if the flow is fast. We had already heard stories about this nala and were told not to cross it after 1 o'clock in the day, because snow melts and water flow increases. After hearing the same story many times, we were slightly concerned about this Nala.

We left Tangtse at 4 pm and headed for the lake. Enroute to lake we saw a lot of sand in the valley and a few times on the roads also.Finally, we reached the Nala and stopped there. The flow was not looking much but we were not sure about the depth and the size of stones beneath the water. Nikhil decided to get an estimate of the water bed. He removed his shoes and walked into the freezing water. I wouldn't have done that :) He gave the green signal and i started to cross it. It was my luck that the rear tyre got stuck in the middle of the stream. A big stone was present there. Nikhil had to come and push me. Nikhil followed a different path and crossed it easily.Just 2 km after this Nala, we saw the first view of the Pangong Lake. All the stress and pain was relieved from that spectacular view.We reached the lake at 5:30 and decided to stay near the lake in a hut. The colour of the water was dark blue in the evening. We saw some people, playing cricket near the lake. What a place to play cricket!After sunset i went for a walk around the lake. I met a Army person near the lake. He told me some facts about the lake. I couldn't believe that Pangong lake is 135 km long, 45 km in India and 90 km in China. The maximum width is 5 km and measurable depth is 700 m. In winters, the lake is completely frozen by 6-7 feet from the top. Surprisingly, it's not a fresh water lake. Pangong is a salt water lake.
Before going to sleep i took a shot of the lake in moonlight.Day summary: Leh - Chang La - Pangong Tso, 5.5 hrs, 150 km

Pangong Lake to Leh

2009-08-22T18:25:00.000+05:30

Day 6 - 9th July

I woke up at 4:50 am to capture the sunrise, but there were heavy clouds as if it would rain. It didn't rain but sun was visible at 5:45. By that time i clicked some shots.
After sunrise i went back to sleep till 8 o'clock. We had breakfast and went around the lake on our bikes. The scene was so beautiful that anyone would love to stay there forever. We spent some time beside the lake.Finally, we said goodbye to Pangong and left for Leh at ~11 am. This was the first time we were going on the same route twice, so it was pretty easy. Till Chang La weather was cloudy and temperature was definitely below zero. It was the coldest day on our whole trip.

We reached Leh at 3 o'clock, and took rest for 2 hours. I looked at my new shoes, which were now in irreparable condition. I would say buying running shoes for this trip is a waste of money.

In the evening, we set out for seeing some places in Leh. We went to Shanti Stupa. There are 2 ways to reach there - 500 stairs and a road. We chose the easier one :) Shanti Stupa is an awesome place to relax and meditate. Whole of the Leh city can be seen from the top.
Coming down from the stupa, we saw Tibetian market. We went through ChangsPa Lane and did some shopping in the old market. ChangsPa lane is a happening place. It's little hard to spot Indians in this area. There are some good places to eat also. We met two of our colleagues in this area, who were also on the trip but in an Innova. We spent some time together and then went back to our hotels.

Day summary: Pangong Tso - Leh, 4.5 hrs, 150 km

Leh to Nubra Valley

2009-08-21T02:41:00.000+05:30

Day 7 - 10th July

We started for Nubra valley at 10 am. Our first stop was Khardung La. Altitude difference between Leh and Khardung La is ~2.1 km, which is covered in 40 km on roads. Road to Khardung La was easier than Chang La and Tanglang La. On the way to the top, we met our friends who were returning back to Leh.We stayed for about half an hour on K-top. The altitude was 18,380 feet, higher than the base camp of Mt. Everest in Nepal, which is at 17,600 ft. From that height, the valley was looking beautiful. We were almost at the mountain cliff and clouds were right above us. By now we had completely acclimatized, so didn't have any trouble in breathing.
We started descending from the K-top and proceeded towards our next stop, Khalsar. Descent was slightly tougher than the ascent. En route to Khalsar, a convoy of Army trucks was moving along with us. It was difficult to overtake the trucks on the curvy roads. When only a few of the trucks were left to overtake, one of them punctured and we had to wait for around 20 minutes.
We reached Khalsar and as usual had our favourite Maggi in Lunch. Just before Khalsar, we saw a village which was looking very beautiful from the top. Greenery, beside the river and surrounded by barren mountains was a perfect view.After Khalsar, both sides of the roads were covered with sand. We had entered the cold desert. One wouldn't imagine a desert surrounded by snow-capped mountains . It was unbelievable.
By 3 pm, we reached Diskit. We decided to stay in a guest house at Diskit and visit Hunder in the evening. Hunder is only 8 km from Diskit and is famous for sand dunes and double hump camels. It's a nice place, where one can see river, grass, sand, mountains and snow in a single frame.
As i hadn't seen a desert before, playing in the sands was exciting for me. We also left our mark on the sands:)
While relaxing on the sands i was thinking which of the two lives is better - high tech and complicated city life or a simple life with untamed nature. The answer is not so easy :)

Before leaving Hunder, we saw double hump camels. There were 8-10 of them and many tourists were enjoying the camel safari in the desert.We returned to our guest house in Diskit and had our dinner. The food was good, in fact the best meal of the whole trip. From our room, the blue sky above the mountains was looking marvelous.
We wanted to see hot springs in Panamik but didn't have the time to visit. It would have taken at least half day for that. We skipped it finally.

Before going to sleep, i took a last shot of the valley.
Day summary: Leh - Khardung La - Khalsar - Diskit, 5hrs, 120 km

Nubra Valley to Lamayuru

2009-08-20T21:16:00.000+05:30

Day 8 - 11th July

We started our return journey at 10 o'clock from Diskit. Our plan was to reach Leh, take a break and then leave for Lamayuru, which is on the way to Srinagar. A few kms before Khardung La top, it started drizzling and as we reached the top, drizzle converted into a mild snowfall. The atmosphere was looking hazy, covered with dark clouds. We stopped at the top for a while, bought some souvenirs and then descended towards Leh.

Roads were good and steep. I actually switched off the engine and drove in neutral gear for a stretch of 10-12 km :) The view of Leh city from the top was spectacular.We reached leh by 2 pm, had lunch, did some more shopping and set out for Lamayuru at 4. First 80 km were very good. Road was excellent, Indus river flowing beside the road, amazing hills of different colours and sun shining in front of us. Actually, it became a little difficult to drive because of the shining sun and river flowing towards our left side. Turns were already blind and the sun was making them worse :)
The last 30 kms to Lamayuru were horrible. The road was bad and full of mud. A tourist bus ahead of us, was making it worse. We were almost completely covered with mud when we reached there. It was 7 pm when we reached Lamayuru.Lamayuru is a small place and famous for a gompa. We got a room in a good guest house and had plenty of rest, much needed for the next day's long journey.Day summary: Nubra Valley - Leh - Lamayuru, 7 hrs, 240 km

Lamayuru to Srinagar

2009-08-19T23:32:00.000+05:30

Day 9 - 12th July

This day was going to be long, so we started early at 8:30 am. First 110 kms to Kargil were tough. Road was not good and a lot of trucks on the way made the journey time consuming. We took 3 hours to reach Kargil. We didn't stop in Kargil and headed for Drass. Road improved after Kargil and we reached Drass by 2 pm. We didn't stop in Drass also and continued our journey for Sonmarg. As we entered more into the Kashmir valley, the scenery started to turn green.
Everything was going smooth when suddenly bad roads started to appear. The weather also didn't look great. It started to rain also. We were actually confused that howcome weather become so bad.
We decided to stop near an Army camp. Looking at our conditions, the Army person offered tea and biscuits. We came to know that we were heading Zozila pass and weather could remain bad for days here. After staying at the camp for 20 min, we put on our raincoats and went ahead. I must say that the roads before and after Zozila pass were very dangerous. It was scary also :)After reaching the top, we could see the Sonmarg valley. It was a fantastic view. Many helicopters were also flying in the valley. I had never seen helicopters, flying at an altitude lower than mine :)Roads improved after a while, but remained slippery because of the rain. We took 1.5 hours to cross the pass and reached Sonmarg by 4:30 pm. Sonmarg valley is an awesome place. Whole of the world's greenery is concentrated there. Tall green trees on hills on both sides of the road and river flowing in between the hills, the scene was simply amazing. If we had one day extra, we would have stayed in Sonmarg.

The rain had stopped and Srinagar was 85 km from Sonmarg. We covered the distance in 2 hours and reached Srinagar at 6:30. We had been driving non-stop for 10 hours and needed a break. We asked local people for a place to stay. They advised us to stay near the Dal lake gate, because next day curfew was going to be imposed in Srinagar. A lot of tourists stay near the Dal gate, because the highway to Jammu is near to it, and it's easier to leave the city without much trouble in the morning.

We travelled 10-12 km around the lake to reach the gate. The lake was looking beautiful while the sun was going below the horizon.

We got a room in a hotel and without wasting much of time had dinner. I was very tired and slept like a baby that night.

Day summary: Lamayuru - Kargil - Drass - Sonmarg - Srinagar, 10 hrs, 320 km

Srinagar to Jammu

2009-08-18T01:28:00.000+05:30

Day 10 - 13th July

This was the last day of our trip and not an easy one. We had to courier our bikes back to Delhi and catch a train at 7:45 pm. We wanted to reach Jammu latest by 5 pm, so we left Srinagar early by 8 o'clock. As nothing was open at that time, we could't have breakfast. Despite of the curfew, we didn't have any trouble in crossing Srinagar. After 1 hour, we stopped at a dhaba for breakfast.

Scenery was green and roads were almost straight for the first 60-70 km after Srinagar.
After that roads were all around the mountains. We crossed Jawahar tunnel, which is ~ 2.5 km long. It was completely dark inside the tunnel. The width was just enough for a truck to pass.

Driving experience till Patnitop wasn't very exciting because of the heavy incoming tourist traffic and hot weather. Between Patnitop and Udhampur, we took a break of 10 min. By 4 pm we reached Jammu. As soon as we reached Jammu, we called up the courier service. Their office was at the other end of the city. We had to cross the whole jammu city and then come back to railway station. By 6:30 pm we had managed to reach the station. We were happy that we made it before time and didn't miss the train :)

We boarded the train at 7:30. Everyone in our compartment was staring at our dirty clothes. When i opened my bag and people saw petrol pipes, ropes and gear footrest; their face expression was worth looking at :)We didn't trouble anyone much and went to bed at 9 pm.

The train arrived Delhi, right time at 5 am. While on my way back to Noida, i was watching the sunrise of delhi. Our trip was over. I was in Delhi but the overwhelming experience of the trip was etched forever in my memories. My eyes were still seeing the mountains in the buildings of the city:)

Day summary: Srinagar - Patnitop - Udhampur - Jammu, 8 hrs, 300 km

Places of interest in ladakh

2009-08-17T03:26:00.000+05:30

Altitude

2009-08-16T03:32:00.000+05:30

Approximate Altitude in feet of various places on the way to Ladakh

Delhi -- 820
Manali -- 6720
Rohtang Pass -- 13050
Keylong -- 11000
Darcha -- 11150
Baralacha La -- 16050
Sirchu -- 13950
Pang -- 15200
Moore Plains -- 15450
Tanglang La -- 17600
Leh -- 11500
Chang La -- 17000
Pangong Tso -- 14100
Khardung La -- 18380
Diskit -- 10100
Srinagar -- 5700
Jammu -- 1000

Delhi to Ladakh Route

2009-08-15T04:00:00.001+05:30

Day No. | Route | Distance | Avg. speed(excluding breaks)

Day 0, Noida -> Ambala, 225 km, 63 kph

Day 1, Ambala -> Chandigarh -> Ropar -> Bilaspur -> Sundernagar -> Mandi -> Kullu -> Manali -> Solang Valley, 370 km, 45 kph

Day 2, Solang Valley -> Rohtang pass -> Khoksar -> Sissu -> Tandi -> Keylong -> Jispa -> Darcha, 140 km, 24 kph

Day 3, Darcha -> Baralacha La -> Sirchu -> Nakee La -> Lachang La -> Pang, 160 km, 26 kph

Day 4, Pang -> Tanglang La -> Rumtse -> Upshi -> Karu -> Leh, 175 km, 35 kph

Day 5, Leh -> Karu -> Chang La -> Tangtse -> Pangong Tso, 150 km, 35 kph

Day 6, Pangong Tso -> Tangtse -> Chang La -> Karu -> Leh, 150 km, 38 kph

Day 7, Leh -> Khardung La -> Khalsar -> Diskit -> Hunder -> Diskit, 140 km, 35 kph

Day 8, Diskit -> Khalsar -> Khardung La -> Leh -> Lamayuru, 240 km, 39 kph

Day 9, Lamayuru -> Kargil -> Drass -> Zozila Pass -> Sonmarg -> Srinagar, 320 km, 36 kph

Day 10, Srinagar -> Anantnag -> Patnitop -> Udhampur -> Jammu, 300 km, 43 kph

Video of ladakh trip

2009-08-14T00:33:00.000+05:30