re: Humbleh'd II (Indo Polish Himalayan Expedition to Ladakh & Himacal Pradesh) HVK Scorpio Aug 12, Bombay-Behror, 1402 kms
Aug 13, Behror-Rampur, 692 kms
Aug 14, Rampur-Chitkul, 144 kms Aug 15, Chitkul-Pooh, 207 kms
This was a drive to explore Ladakh, not Himachal Pradesh, we convinced ourselves, as we left Chitkul at 830 am. Jeep Captain was already ahead of us, since we had agreed to pick up TS at Recong Peo before 9 am.
Why was TS at Recong Peo? All foreigners need Inner Line Permits to go beyond Recong Peo towards Nako & Tabo, since they were close to the China border. What we heard was that normally foreigners are permitted only in groups (and for them, permits are issued at Shimla or through a tour operator), but if they are travelling alone (like TS was), they have to obtain individual permits at Recong Peo, the district HQ for Kinnaur Valley. So TS, on landing in India, had directly proceeded to Recong Peo by bus and got his permits done so that he could join us for the rest of the trip. More on TS later.......
It was good that we left Chitkul this day - the next day, as Lalu mentioned, our friends Glenn and Saji were stuck all day in a landslide that closed down the Chitkul-Sangla road as heavy rains pounded the Baspa Valley.
Jeep Captain called us to caution us that the Karchcham-Powari road was full of slush and warned the small cars to be extra careful. The Baby Alto got stuck in mud in the Sangla-Karchcham road itself, but by the time we reached worse sections in the roads near Tapri, the small cars were driving like rally champions on 4WD Gypsies!
We followed a formation with my Scorpio leading the way, followed by the Bolero Stinger so that in case any of the small cars got stuck, they could be easily pulled out by either of the SUVs. The Karchcham-Powari sector of NH22 is being widened and the ensuing construction debris and landslides have combined to make this quite a difficult patch for any car. Definitely to be avoided at night when "spotting" becomes difficult. I don't think one can expect any improvement for some more months to come.
The Powari Petrol Pump is the last one for the next 225 kms, the next one being at Kaza only. So everyone is advised to top up fuel here. Normally from Powari itself, you get some fabulous views of the lofty Kinner Kailash, the pride of Kinnaur Valley, but today it was completely overcast. After some deliberation, we decided to take the detour to Kalpa (3000 mtrs high) which has the best views of Kinner Kailash (7000 mtrs+). Jeep Captain was requested to stay back at Recong Peo so that we could catch up with him.
Although Recong Peo is the last large "town" being the district HQ for Kinnaur Valley, do not expect any great facilities here (even the small hotels there are very seedy). There are 2 roads from here to Kalpa, and both of them go past apple orchards as you near Kalpa and any driver will be excited by the twists, turns and the shady coniferous trees that line both sides of the narrow road. Kalpa has some good resorts, but the best one has to be the HPTDC Kinner Kailash resort, which is located at a vantage point directly overlooking the peak. Alas, the clouds still played spoil-sport and to dampen our disappointment, we decided to take an unusual break for lunch. This was also our first meeting with TS, who was the inspiration behind this Ladakh trip. As Jeep Captain had explained earlier, he, TS & myself had started planning this drive over 6 months ago, also led to the drive being christened as the Indo-Polish HImalayan Expedition 2011!
There was a not-so-pleasant telecon with a senior ITBF person who advised us against travelling in Kinnaur Valley in the rainy season since there are many landslides and road blockades, but we told him we knew our onions and affirmed our decision to go ahead much to his displeasure. Lunch was a jolly affair, but took a heavy toll on tme and we could leave Kalpa only at 230 pm.
Back to Powari, NH22 is a pleasure to drive on, with its winding roads, spectacular mountain views, the raging muddy River Sutlej down below and the roads itself interspersed with landslides, slush and craters. Wonderful drive past landmarks like the Kassanga Waterfalls. Lalu and I were reminded of our near-death escape in 2009 during our previous trip, when the workers detonated the mountain side without warning us that the road was under threat, and the blasts happened just as we drove past, bringing down one boulder larger than the Scorpio and effectively closing down the road too! That was a 20-second escape, so to say, we would have been under that boulder!
We crossed the Akpa Bridge check post where all foreigners have to show their Inner Line Permits and we vehicles register for passage. Roads were mostly excellent, even though in many places it was dirt road. Our original plan for the day was to proceed till Nako or Tabo and meet up with the MUmbai Roadsters led by KM-VTEC, who should have caught up with us by now - there was no way to communicate with them since we had no mobile connectivity. But the sun was already setting when we reached Pooh and we thought of staying back there since I knew of a hotel in town. The hotel did not have rooms to spare, the PWD Rest House was not prepared to hire out rooms to tax-payers like us and so we went searching for some guest houses deep inside Pooh town. Some narrow alleys, seedy guest houses, 1 broken rear view mirror and lots of hot words later, we decided the town was jinxed and decided to carry on further to Nako. That detour cost us 1 hour and it was 715 pm by the time we returned to NH22 at the outskirts of Pooh.
That was when we had our encounter with the tempestuous Captain Gouri of the Indian Army....... |