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I salute you sir for putting together such an EPIC thread, I cant even imagine the time and effort that must have gone into compiling such a wonderful thread with such amazing pictures and detailed information.
It has taken me two days to go through all the pics and info and I have enjoyed it thoroughly.
Getting stuck on the pass for 48 hours must have been tough on your wife and son.... and your wife must be really patient. I cant even imagine going through such an ordeal with my family.

I might have missed it, but what was the total mileage done in the end when you reached back home?

Hey thanks, total mileage for the travel of Kolkata - Ladakh and Changthang -Kolkata was around 8000 km and the Safari VTT-TMT has done till now around 70k km, out of which 90% is on travel itself. Its going super strong and has some great unknown travels lined up all through this and next year.

Adc, I am really falling short of words to describe your travel and the support offered by your family during this herculian travel.

You certainly are one of the unique explorers i have known.
I like the fact that you more often travel to unexplored places. I have read your earlier travelouges as well. They are a great source of inspiration.

Please keep your stories coming.

Again, Thanks for sharing this brillaint report.

My compliments to you for have undertaken such a journey.
Excellent read and brilliant photography.
Was Demchok in your original trip itinerary or was added later past Leh?
How difficult it will be for some other traveler to reach Demchok wrt Permits and Permissions?

Those breathtaking landscapes. Super rendition. What lenses did you carry besides Tokina.
Have you applied any image corrections(tone/contrast) on the photos?

Thanks
Dinesh

Again thanks for all the good words. Good luck on your travels too.



Demchok was out of schedule and as said, heard about Koyoul in Nubra from a person and even did not know the spelling of it as the permit persons filled it out for me.

It is as difficult or easy as your luck would be that day. But then there is no prestige lost in trying out, even if denied.




Tokina 11-16 was bought just a month before this travel as the Safari EMIs ended, and the other lenses were the kit 18-55 and 55-250 was used for mainly the intimate landscape pictures and on the go pictures.

The super cheap "nifty fifty" were used on some portrait situations particularly on the close up shots of the Dah festival.



Have absolutely zero knowledge of PP - mostly use the auto tone or the picasa, one friend of mine showed how to do the S-curve and layers, but got the S-curve and forgot the steps about the layers - have to learn about it from scratch but sitting again in front of computer after a day's work is the biggest hurdle. Used a demo plug in of Nik Viveza for some photographs - that software at least in a very superficial way lets you bypass the photoshop knowing process - but that is a demo and the trial period is over- so some were just done that S-curve and auto tone.

However, some pictures if PP was known may be would have come out better. The RAW images are there for all, so may be on learning PP, would try to process some of the pictures again. Or may be just the Canon DPP would be enough to learn. Will be evaluating those later as I take more interest in photography.

BTW, following our wonderful travel thread too!

I will attempt Demcok when I travel Leh next time. Thanks for the info.

I have been using Corel Draw for a while but recently I have started using Photoshop. In fact I like the simple Tone/Contrast/Color correction under image tab. Quite easy with lot of flexibility.

I hope my travelogue is as informative and as interesting.

Thanks
Dinesh A.

@adc - I salute the determination and spirit of The Wanderers. :thumbs up When you started the thread i had commented that the Safari has been a total 'Paisa Vasool' for you and now after reading the complete story i feel it is not about the money. The experiences that you have gained are priceless and i am sure would be cherised by you lifelong. Thanks for sharing with us. I think i am really lucky to be part of T-BHP reading such brilliant TLs. Keep the spirit going.

P.S. - I have your Arunachal TL open in the other window. Starting through it now.

You bet it is with all that distances and routes given out. Do continue.

One thing I find in the Lahaul-Spiti loop travelogues, that no one takes the turn into the Giabong/Ropa, a left turn along the Kalpa to Nako road. A remote valley in remote place has to be kept in the itinerary - rather than the customary halt at Nako.




Thanks much amit. The experiences have been priceless in these 3.5 years of onwership. As said, Safari VTT-TMT has showed that owning a 2wd let not be an excuse of not going into off beat places all over and everywhere. We are looking forward to our Zanskar travel in October!


That Arunachal TL is another of our best - we put that in this Ladakh travel league, from Sela to Tawang to China border at Bumla to the absolute wild Eagle Nest Sanctuary and then at Nameri - it brings up so many travel memories.

Apart from Giabong, I intend to cover Kannam, Moorang and Thangi on my next trip. I have read somewhere that all these virgin places are quite beautiful but I need to research more.

Thanks again
Dinesh

Mother to Son

While in the process in making the travel website/forum - yesterday came across one image that had been used in one website, The Reading workshop - where people all over the world share ideas and opinions about authors, books and general reading.


thereadingworkshop.com - Mother to Son by Langston Hughes


One of our favourite images of the trip and captioned as "Give me Light" in page 2 of this travelogue - that has been used for the poem "Mother to Son" by the American poet Langston Hughes. [ Langston Hughes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ]

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair





A mother telling his son, never to give up, you may get setbacks but do get up and move forward as life unravels challenges as he grows up in this world - the poet's mother herself fought with slavery in America.

Though did not know about this image being used - symbolically the photo does go along with the poem.





Also on a side note, a South Korean UN funded agency, came across the Orissa-Chhattisgarh tribal and falls travel writeup and wanted to use the images in their magazine - asked them about which image and if any pricing is being put or it is just free - and then thats the last I have heard of them!!

Hello adc Da,

I am reading your thread from last 2 days non-stop you and your family are really the wanderer.

what a coincidence, today while watching Kon Bangea Karodpati I came across a episode on a lady from Sabboo Village, unfortunately she lost her family in that cloud buster incident. The story she told was shocking, I will definitely visit Sabbo on my trip to Ladakh.

Thanks for sharing you experience and pictures.

Keep exploring,
Thanks,
Vishal.

Congratulations, adc, that's a big feather in your cap. But I am surprised that they simply plagiarized your photo and cropped out the watermark, then used it without acknowledgment. Maybe you ought to take it up with them.
Edit: They did acknowledge the photo source, but did they take your permission?

Thanks to you too. Saboo is indeed very badly affected. The storm channel became a huge river and it literally went through the middle of the village in the dark of the night taking all with it. Met up with a travel operator in Leh who lost his own younger brother in Saboo, and he was going to be married in another month or so.

Sad stories all over in Saboo. Everyone was affected.




Thy took it out from the thewanderers.in website, where some of the images are without any watermark or like. But then as said, none of an issue as it's a non-commerical usage and they did give a link back.




This is another case. As said, a South Korean UN funded NGO or something wanted to use the Bonda tribal images [the full pixel sizes for their magazine] from the tribal and falls travel that we had. Asked them for a price or do they want it for free - and they went quiet. Anyway no issues here too!

adc, I think this is one of the most beautifully composed photos I have seen. They say every photo needs to tell a story, and this photo indeed tells a great story. I am curious to know your thought process when you composed this snap.

Your travelogues (I have pretty much read all of them) are out of the world anyway. I am eager to hook up with you and take your advice on the many trips that I plan to do during the next few years. Hopefully we can meet in 2012 when I am in Kolkata.

Reiterating a 5-star for this thread too.

One question adc. As per this article (link below), Kolkata police just can't forcibly grab personal SUVs for election use nowadays. Is there no truth to the article then?

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Metro | Thank Sachin your SUV’s safe