Better Leh'd than Never - a 3,004 kms round trip of a lifetime!

[suman]

Hey, thanks guys for the appreciation & the motivation!

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Damn!!! What am I doing in office when there are so many better things to do in life

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

Well office is the best place to sit and plan your trip to Leh...lol

ROTFL....that was hilarious yet so true!!! Some of my best trips have been conceived in the comfort of the "corner" office

[snaronikar]

Wow...just bumped into this. Enjoying the travelogue and pics. Keep posting.

[anujmishra]

Please continue "Free Tour" of J&K for all of us. I am feeling I also present over there.

Yes, it is life time journey. I hope I should do it once in a given lifetime.

[gpa]

Truly wonderful pictures and breath taking sights.

[throttleking]

Originally Posted by naman07

One question, did you encounter any hatchback also doing this trip or only SUV's ?

When i did Ladhak in 2007 on my Royal Enfield, i often came across Indicas in no mans land, plus i encountered Ford Fusion while crossing Pagal Nallah. And i met a guy from pune in Leh city who was doing Ladhak for the third time in his Maruti 800, Bravo!!!

[suman]

We really didn't mind the bad roads as long as the views continued to remain spectacular!






A very short break for a couple of quick pics of the riders



and of The Beast - thoroughly enjoyed its lunch of mud & slush, taken with a quick gulp of 4L!!


We continued on our descent





Past Dropati Kund


and onwards to the second coldest inhabited place on Earth - Drass!!!









Took a quick break for a light Lunch, it was past 4 pm when we got there


We decided to skip our visit to the War Memorial as we were feeling a bit tired - the hanging around waiting for the convoy had delayed lunch etc and had taken its toll



A very short break at the confluence of the Suru and Zanskar rivers and then we moved on towards Kargil



Not much longer to go now.......


We entered Kargil town at 6 pm & proceeded to find our Hotel - Caravan Serai, which was on the top of the town, accessed by a steep road. It had great views and a wonderful owner by the name of Mr Iqbal. He had kept two rooms for us on the Top Floor (we were panting by the time we got there but the views from the balcony were great, all around)


Total Distance Travelled - 217.8 kms; Total Driving Time - 7hrs 02 mins

We spoke to friends & family (did I mention that we have a MTNL connection?) and reassured them about the fact that we had got out of Srinagar safe & sound. They were all very excited about the fact that we were in Kargil though we were quite tired and not so ballistic about it. Decided to have a reasonably early Dinner & crash - next day we'd planned a leisurely start so it was time to catch up on some lost sleep. Dinner was excellent - great Tandoori chicken prepared by the cook from Uttaranchal. Stomachs fed & the light lunch made up for, we turned in for the night.

The next day would take us to our destination - Leh!!!!

[Surprise]

One of the best travelogue that I have read in this forum till date. Iam lucky to miss this travelogue during its initial stages and really enjoyed going through it in one shot. GREAT set of photographs and lovely writing. At this age........ heehheee learnt how poor I am. Keep them coming

[live2drive]

Great pics Suman Ji. Keep 'em coming.

[AVR]

Nice post Suman!

very interesting travelogue...keep them coming!

Hope to be able to write it sometime myself too!

Cheers,
AVR

[aaggoswami]

Excellent pictures! I am taken away by these pictures into a dream world. I never knew that India is so beautiful. Simply Amazing.

About the anger against army, there are news about certain crimes being committed by army jawans. The people of valley are in the favour of the valley being removed from iron grip of army.
And then they must have suffered some sort of accident when the group of trucks were on their way.

I dont know why, but I am having a feeling that I want trip to this place in this incarnation. I will have to wait till I get a my Landcruiser, i.e. if at all I am able to earn a Landcruiser in this incarnation, I will make a trip to this amazing place, till then I will satisfy my urge through the images posted here.

[cvvikram]

Awesome pictures there. Really proud that we are having such beautiful places in India.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[desideep]

Suman jee the trip looks a amazing afair, i plan to do some thing similar but again its not possible to take wify on the bike as it is real hard for a pillion.

i plan to take a jeep or some other suv if not a 4x4 than just a 4x2

i would really like to ask you do you have any pics of Kangla Jal.

oh actually i did Leh last year will post some pics soon on the thread.

[Ravi Kashyap]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Excellent pictures! I am taken away by these pictures into a dream world. I never knew that India is so beautiful. Simply Amazing.

About the anger against army, there are news about certain crimes being committed by army jawans. The people of valley are in the favour of the valley being removed from iron grip of army.
And then they must have suffered some sort of accident when the group of trucks were on their way.

I dont know why, but I am having a feeling that I want trip to this place in this incarnation. I will have to wait till I get a my Landcruiser, i.e. if at all I am able to earn a Landcruiser in this incarnation, I will make a trip to this amazing place, till then I will satisfy my urge through the images posted here.

Come on! You dont have to wait for a Landcruiser. all You need to have is a spirit like a 'Landcruiser'. Years back I did it on KB100 and Trax. Infact near Ropar (in Punjab) the bikes oil pump failed. So we just put in 2T in petrol (like you do it in a Bajaj Scooter) and went all the way to Kardungla and back.
You need the right spirit man.One thing I will never forget is on our way back we saw a maruti 800 strugling its way up near Darch (beyond Keylong). There were two men in it. And one of them was a handicap- on cruches- had polio. This was his second trip on this rout. Now thats SPRIT and I can never forget that scene that day! Once you have decided nothing will come your way for sure.
If you have a bike then belive me there nothing better in the hills. So just get on to your bike and the Landcrusers can be left far far behind. And remember that Landcruser can wait- life cant.
So all the best your trip.

[dkhatau]

sumanji classic pics and what trip you had, it surely inspires everyone on the forum to take such a trip. I surely would take such trip whenever i could. Thanks again for the wonderful pics. Cheers.

[hondadude]

This route to Leh via Srinagar is so beautiful with green meadows, snow capped mountains and blue sky.

Thanks Suman for sharing this wonderful travelogue.

I was showing this to my wife and we were both wondering when will we get to do this!!! This is so damn far from Bangalore ... sigh!!!

Share more pics and details, please!!!!