Team-BHP - Self-Drive Expedition Travel-Ladakh and cold desert Changthang in "off-season" Oct 10
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Quote:

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller (Post 2400785)
Interestingly, apart from the "cut off hands of Chumur", there is also a (?wooden) statue in Chumur which apparently grows hair and nails year by year. Any idea about this legend?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979 (Post 2400808)
Chumur to hanle is only one route through kyun tso. From chumur to korzok, their may be two, but harsh had to take diversions due to landslides and track broken.


Chumur and Kyun Tso was missed this journey and would try it out next travel if possible.



Quote:

Originally Posted by Coooolcat21 (Post 2401413)
I keep going thru the pictures over and over again in anticipation of what I shall be seeing on my trip to Leh.

Hey thanks much. surely you will.




Quote:

Originally Posted by DKG (Post 2401484)
I realise words and pictures can't quite encapsulate what I experienced in Kashmir.

And what a beauty of a travelogue you have started, following each and every word from that. Kashmir was indeed perfect this season. 5 stars to your travel and thread!




Quote:

Originally Posted by rkbharat (Post 2402663)
BTW why was that pickup slipping? Is it snow? I know some of the sections has pretty steep inclines

It was slipping as it lost momentum going down to the stream and getting up due to the load it carried and bald tyres slipping on the road though most probably it was a 4wd, and we did too - was surprised myself as the incline with the rarified heights would inititally make your calcutations wrong.

Wari la hair-pins and sweeps are clutch busters, plus as I stopped for photography, I was making a hand-brake start though the spot from the look of it looked flat plateau-like among the inclines. As a result stopped taking breaks later on. Similarly you can see we getting stuck in one of the stream crossings and a big stone behind tyres, with hand brake start and clutch burning pulled this 2wd drive out.

All said and done, Wari la is doable - it is that burnt deisel and clutch smell, the engine whine at 1st gear for over 1.5 hours, the absolute desolate feeling and "what if" kind of things that make this journey different!

Quote:

Originally Posted by adc (Post 2402910)
A journey through amazing mountains, desolate deserts -- let say as people after looking at images have said: If you combine Little Rann of Kutch and Ladakh, you get to the plateau desert land of Demachok and Koyoul - what a journey it will be and was!

This is the section that I'm most eagerly waiting for to unfold. Come on mate, the mystery of the tales ahead is killing me! :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by adc (Post 2402943)
It was slipping as it lost momentum going down to the stream and getting up due to the load it carried and bald tyres slipping on the road though most probably it was a 4wd, and we did too - was surprised myself as the incline with the rarified heights would inititally make your calcutations wrong.

Wari la hair-pins and sweeps are clutch busters, plus as I stopped for photography, I was making a hand-brake start though the spot from the look of it looked flat plateau-like among the inclines. As a result stopped taking breaks later on. Similarly you can see we getting stuck in one of the stream crossings and a big stone behind tyres, with hand brake start and clutch burning pulled this 2wd drive out.

All said and done, Wari la is doable - it is that burnt deisel and clutch smell, the engine whine at 1st gear for over 1.5 hours, the absolute desolate feeling and "what if" kind of things that make this journey different!

So true, Wari La inclines are illusive, it does not looks steep but its much steeper. We did it in September 2009 and we were lucky that whole stretch was tarred a day before we reached.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkbharat (Post 2402986)
So true, Wari La inclines are illusive, it does not looks steep but its much steeper. We did it in September 2009 and we were lucky that whole stretch was tarred a day before we reached.

It is illusive. Attaching a description and map as found on the 60kph site.


Quote:

For the uninitiated, Wari La is a 17,300ft high pass in Ladakh and is pegged by the army to be alternative route to Nubra Valley (in lieu of Khardung La). However there is a catch, the route isn’t yet complete, including a few bridges and even the cab drivers in Nubra Valley and Ladakh hesitate in doing this route and villager from villages located on the foothill of the pass, prefer to take Khardung La route to Leh, even though it is almost double the distance for them!
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Quote:

Originally Posted by lordofgondor (Post 2402970)
This is the section that I'm most eagerly waiting for to unfold. Come on mate, the mystery of the tales ahead is killing me! :D

Just a day more, would be taking out the pictures tonight and tomorrow surely it will be up.


But then here's a snap of us heading towards Koyoul - and it most probably exacerbates the eagerness, for us also. Most of the images are still unconverted even after 7 months and that's a shame!!


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Leh -> Nyoma -> Loma -> Dungti -> Fukche/Koyoul

Now, as said, heard of the name of Koyoul from the guest house of Hundar [see the previous travel post], and the description that I heard from there was enough for me to get up early morning next day to go fill up permit papers with the name written as "Koyoul" .

Now October being the "off of off-season" and with me asking for all the offbeat permits, the permit gentlemen by this time had known me. And when they saw me in the morning again, they thought okay you are returning now - a permit for Dah-Hanu was what they though I would apply now. This was day also we were supposed to go start the return journey, i.e., go to Dah-Hanu and then to Kargil and then to Srinagar for Delhi.


But no! we are going to Koyoul! Now for the first time, they said you can write but this is not just off-beat like Hanle or Chusul or Turtok, this is "off of off-beat"!


They themselves wrote it down on the paper, I did not even know the spelling and was forwarded to the Additional DM. Presented myself in front of her when ordered, she asked me why do I want to go there? Who are we? this is sensitive territory!

My only reply was that we travel and we travel to the furthest part and that we just want to see. We are The Wanderers!


Anyway, the interview last around 30 seconds or so, the papers when signed and gave okay, I was like in cloud whatever you can say. Thanked her, thanked the permit people. called up wife in hotel to be ready, we have got the permits!! We are heading to the land of the most unknown, to the land as the local person in Hundar said, a land so different and beautiful that even Lehites consider it a different place - even most of the people of Leh haven't been there!!


But then there was more drama in store. The journey was attempted over 3 days, the first day that we left for Koyoul, including one more attempt at Kyun Tso, we had a puncture near Nyoma and the way it was the same tyre that got cut after Chandrataal and was somehow patched.

With now the tubed spare tyre doing its job and there was no extra tyre - there was absolutely taking these journeys with extra spare. So again we went back to Leh after travelling all the way to Nyoma.

The next day was spent in buying up a new tyre as now 2 of 5 tyres were in bad condition and we were in Leh itself.

Thus after a gap of a day we finally left Leh.

The following description would thus cover these days i.e, the first attempt and rear tyre puncture which made us return to Leh, and then again going towards Koyoul from Leh after a day in between was lost procuring a new tyre.



Just a brief idea of these places, [Koyoul, Dungti and Demachok]. From Loma, beyond Nyoma, the right turn goes to Hanle whereas the left turn goes through the checkpost of Dungti to the ultra-senstive areas of Fukche and the adjoining small village is named Koyoul. Beyond Koyoul and Fukche is the track to Demachok, the border town with China, an absolutely forbidden place for travellers.

Quote:

Demchok or "New Demchok" is a small village and military emcampment in the Indian-administered part of the disputed Demchok sector south of Aksai Chin, in the Ladakh district of India. The Line of Actual Control (LAC) passes along the southeast side of the village, following a wadi just upstream from the nearby Indus River. Across the wadi, less than a kilometer away, is the Chinese-administered village, called Dêmqog, in the Ngari Prefecture within Tibet. This village was on an old route linking Ladakh and Tibet, currently closed. The village lies 36.5 km east of Ukdungle.

Though the Kailash Mansarovar is 300 km away, the route there is mostly through plains and there is demand to improve and open a road linking China and India through Demchok.

One can again through these maps to get an idea of where Demchok and Fukche is. The vardhan.harsh map shows till Fukche and Demachok is another 35 km beyond.

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Very luckily we got the permission from a smart, young Major [will come to the interaction with him later] at the defence post of Fukche and we see China a mere 10 feet away and see Indus as it enters from the Tibet. Its not without any reason that my son is one of the biggest fan of Army along with us!

As said this was a journey of the journeys and what follows is THE BEST JOURNEY TILL DATE. So let's roll...



With a Koyoul permit in hand, we headed out of Leh early morning. This was big journey, it is close to 300 km and in Ladakh that is big distance. Plus one more attempt at Kyun Tso if possible was in.
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And with the turn from Upshi towards Nyoma with River Indus beside.


A beautiful day again and we close to Nyoma for some Maggi breakfast and to get info about Kyun Tso from the Nidder village side.

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With warnings of getting stuck even with a 4wd and no one being there this time of month, we ended up having Maggi and biscuit breakfast here in Nyoma and then headed towards Loma for Koyoul.

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But then just as we crossed the Nyoma BRO camp, we had a flat, as described before. As I again went about the fully tiresome process of changing a Safari tyre with the stock equipment, the local labourers came up and lend me a hand. These people from all different states were looking forward to their return journey back to their wives and children as they left to be earn some living here.

It was humanity at its best and they all obliged for a photo for us to keep them framed and we remember their selflessness every time. All places that we have travelled, we have met the real common people everywhere and have got the best of support from them, here it was no exception.


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And then back towards Leh again, Koyoul travel abandoned for the day!
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but not before some brilliant mineral mountain views!
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So, as described above, with no spare now and it was a tense return to Leh in the night. With 360 km around travelled [Leh-Nyoma-Leh], we reached Leh back to our hotel, Shanti Palace late in the night. Did not even want to think what would have happened if we had suffered a flat again while returning in the dark night along the Nyoma-Leh road.


Anyway tired and hungry, again the wonderful couple owners of Shanti Palace, surprised to see us in the night, soon had a dinner for us ready. Next day it was spent in Leh itself, bought a brand new BF Goodrich A/T. Koyoul has to be done and now we have 6 tyres - 4 good, one tubed spare and another anyhow patched up, the another extra.

Thus after a day's gap, the journey began again - for Fukche/Koyoul beyond Loma and Dungti.



contd...

2nd attempt:: Leh -> Nyoma -> Loma -> Dungti -> Fukche/Koyoul



Clouds gathered and the blue clear sky that we luckily got through the first 20 days of October was missing. But then we had a mission, a travel to the unknown part of Changthang, the land of Koyoul and Fukche
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The weather was becoming worse now as we up on the inclines after Upshi, the Safari 2wd started losing grip.
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And crossed a memorial dedicated to a Army officer from Bengal, "Sarkar-dada"
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After a particularly tense slide more into the journey, we had to make a u-turn and stopped here for deliberations. In fact the Safari is now pointing towards Leh! Was the journey again abandoned for another day?
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So after spending some time to go or not go, some like 1 hour was spent at that lonely rock crossing, to see how the weather progressed - to go or not, when suddenly remembered about Sela Pass journey that we did during our Western Arunachal travel in winter month of Dec-Jan 2009-10. So how did the Sela pass journey thoughts and experience help us to come to a a decision?!!



contd...

Wow you folks are something ! Steely determination I must say !!

Leh -> Nyoma -> Loma -> Dungti -> Fukche/Koyoul contd...

We waited for sometime, may an hour or so, the weather was bleak but holding out. But what suddenly I remembered was the weather while going towards Sela Pass on a cold winter day of December end [ Sela Pass windward-leeward - Western-Arunachal-trip . As soon as we crossed the pass, the weather that side was clear as it could be - the windward-leeward funda.

So our journey started again with U-turn, on the hope that the other side would be clear, the same windward-leeward funda. We were again on the direction of Koyoul
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And on the other side, it did clear out. Hip, hip, hooray!
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And finally on the descent towards Mahe and Nyoma, it was all clear with no snow but definitely cloudy
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Nyoma and Loma [permit papers checked] crossed in a jiffy, we take the right turn towards Koyoul - there's no turning back now.
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contd...

Leh -> Nyoma -> Loma -> Dungti -> Fukche/Koyoul contd...


And what a land it is! Desert sands to yellow marsh grass to blue Indus to wild horses to brazen rocks and hills. Images don't capture it all but then still just watch!
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And we moved along this once in a lifetime journey on the land beyond Loma and Dungti
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contd...

clap:clap: Excellent stuff, man. Hats off to you guys.

You truly deserve the title "The Wanderer".

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful travelogue.

Rated 5*.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DKG (Post 2406681)
Steely determination I must say !!

For these lands, for anyone determination would comes easy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joy (Post 2407259)
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful travelogue.

Thanks much to you all for reading and the wonderful words!

Lets continue...

Leh -> Nyoma -> Loma -> Dungti -> Fukche/Koyoul contd...


Black-necked cranes and more Kiangs
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A nomad family, we waved each other as we moved on
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A nomad tent, the harsh winter condition that they stay over there is impossible for us to even understand or fathom
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Textures and colours still continue to captivate
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And Indus that we followed since the start of the journey, we go down to the banks in the desolate lands beyond Dungti.
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And we moved on and some sandy areas crossed gingerly
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Late afternoon at around 3 pm we finally approach Koyoul after a journey of 10 hours for the 280 kms around . It is a very small village of few houses around 2 km by side of Fukche, the military post.
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But then the experiences have not ended for the day, wonderful moments and interactions still continues..





contd...

Leh -> Nyoma -> Loma -> Dungti -> Fukche/Koyoul contd...


Koyoul is the tiny village with few houses 2 km by side of Fukche.
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The one and only small food joint but then with satellite telephone facility! The menu is is given direct on the board - tea and maggi but thats like gourmet for us, tired and hungry that we were
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And some random images as we roamed about a little around. For us, it was amusing to see how son suddenly got philosophical kind in his little evening walk at the cold desert village of Koyoul, Changthang, Ladakh
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And super hungry and tired that we were, we had some like 2 bowls of Maggi and some cups of tea. This was delayed lunch and early dinner combined together.
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But now we have a situation. This tiny village, unlike Hanle, does even have a home stay. So where do we stay? Of course if not nothing we have our Safari VTT, but then the owner of the food joint did something wonderful.

Local government officials who come down from Leh during the summer months stay in the tin sheds. Though with beds, on a late October night with howling and biting cold winds, this was going to be tough. We used up all our blankets that we had and still we were shivering. The local person even gave his new blanket that he bought - overwhelmed again we were by the gesture and kindness by people of this land.


This was the coldest night we have spent and it multiplying factor was the gale force wind that picked up since late evening. With all the blankets, the cold was still there very much. The tin shed shook in the wind. Son was first made comfortable as much possible. We hardly could sleep, we shivered under the blankets but then my primary worry took away whatever sleepiness was there in me. Was worried about the battery and freezing diesel, so by 3:30 am onwards I was in the Safari VTT running the engine - dozed off and on and just waited for the night and coldness to end.


Asmita and Anik[bambi], wife and son, rough it out at just below zero temperature at a temporary tin shed at the village of Koyoul as strong winds shook it all through the night. I had to stay in the Safari with engine idling from 3:30 am as diesel was freezing fast and battery being the other concern -- there's no homestay in Koyoul.
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I finally again dozed off in the Safari VTT around 5:30 am somewhat to be awake fully some 1 hour later for a day that was again eventful to say just mildly.



contd..

Quote:

Originally Posted by adc (Post 2407305)
Textures and colours still continue to captivate

Indeed they do! Man o man, the terrain is so awesome. Did you get to check/inquire, how touristy this section is during season (August)? Just thinking, would it be tough getting permits to Koyoul during season?

And the views of the Indus are amazing. Thanks for bringing out the "unexplored" lands in such vivid details. :thumbs up

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordofgondor (Post 2407339)
Did you get to check/inquire, how touristy this section is during season (August)? Just thinking, would it be tough getting permits to Koyoul during season?

These are absolutely non-touristy, my feeling very few ever comes over here first due to the distance, the desolateness and the biggest hurdle of them all - getting the permit. With Fukche airbase/military post there and with China just beyond those mountains, it does require some luck/conviction at that moment in the DM office to get the permit - particularly more so in the season times.

But then there's no harm in trying, and best of luck to you on the permit thing!


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