Days before
The City has been with me since last 8 years. I have travelled the length and width of the country in it and she has never disappointed me. I was determined to take her up there and made her battle ready with protection plates underneath. But Ladkah was a different cup of tea alltogether. The trip to Ladakh was cancelled two times in the last two years for some reason or the other and want of a better suited vehicle. But during those two years the City had fueled my wanderlust to the extent that it no longer served my purpose. The desire to take the
path less travelled had possesed me. The amazing travelogues of this far away mysterious land added fuel to fire.
In came the Fortuner. Maximus arrived in my life on 20th November 2010 and we got leh'ed on 29th July 2011.
The idea of me going to Ladakh was opposed vociforiusly by the Home minister (wife) and vehemently supported by the President and the Prime Minister (Parents). Every trick in the trade was tried to nip it in the bud. But some times a man has to follow his dreams even if he has face the anger of his loved ones. The Home minister relented but parents never approved of the trip.
The preparations for the trip were guided by the enormous amount of information on the net.The travelogues from Tanveer and Harsh were immensely helpful.
The mother documents being the xl file made by the great HV Kumar which was posted on team-bhp for trip and car preparations. Thank you sir !
Also my special thanks to Harsh & Arti for making that superb map on changthang area. That was like bible for us through out the whole trip. The list made by HVK is very exhaustive and requires some time to collect all the items mentioned in it. But trust me Ladakh is a place where you don't want to go unprepared. Almost everything mentioned in the list came handy. Some of the things which we carried
1. Car inverter from Belkin.
Brilliant device. Plugs into DC socket of car and converts to 220V AC. So you can charge your camera batteries, mobile phones, laptops on the go. Needless to say the most used item in the entire trip.
2. 2 nos 1ft x 2ft long wooden planks
3. Tow rope steel with D-shackles on both ends. Could'nt get nylon one.
4. Tubeless tyre puncture repair kit.
5. Foot pump
6. Rubber Gloves. Proved very handy when we had to change a tyre.
7. Battery Jump start cables
8. 2 20L Bisleri cans + 10 2L Bisleri bottles for carrying additional 60L fuel.
9. Gum boots. came very handy at Rohtang
10. 5L gas cylinder with attached burner
11. Utensils for cooking
12. Ready to eat Packages, Maggi, 200ml juice/ matha tetra packs, dry fruits, home made laddos, biscuits, wafers, and what not.
13. Medicines as mentioned in the list by HVK
14. 2 bedsheets. came in Handy at Hanle
15. Blankets
16. Sunscreen lotions and creames.
17. Plastic sheet
Apart from this all the personal stuff like clothing, Camera body, lenses, batteries, charging adaptors cables etc...in short when the Fort was loaded with all this somebody commented " Are you guys going on war"
.
Before i write any further let me introduce you to my friend Vikrant. Vikrant lives in delhi and used to work as Financial Analyst. After getting leh'd, where the idea of starting something of his own, he has now started his own stock brokrage firm.
We know each other through our better halves and before the trip we had just met two times. Though I had been ditching Vikrant since last 2 years by cancelling the ladakh trip at the very last minute he had kept his patience. But as they say You will get Leh'ed when your time comes !
Vikrant is a superb navigator and beacuse of his years of experience in crossing Jams on Agra bypass we managed to cross the jams at Rohtang
on both times.
I was to start from Bhopal and Vikrant would join me from Delhi. I had planned the trip in third week of june so as to cross Himachal before monsoon hits. But that year monsoon arrived a bit early and was in full fury when i was about to start.
Could'nt sleep for days before due to excitement. After a wait of 3 years i was going to Ladakh. My time to get Leh'ed had come...