[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by rkbharat

fantastic pics Doc

Thank you - though I consider the pics waaay below par for this forum!

Originally Posted by rkbharat

It much much dirtier than our Yamuna :( .

I noticed that too - the workshop dumps its waste directly into the river, including spent oils and greases. It's sad, and I do hope they do something about it soon.

[MaserQ]

What a delightful read and excellent photographs too! Brought back memories of our Jammu-Srinagar-Drass-Kargil-Ladakh roadtrip last year. On our way up the Zoji La pass, we got past the Sonmarg checkpoint at dusk on a cold, chilly evening.

We were behind a long convoy of trucks and one of them broke down. And to top that off, a couple of trucks were headed in the opposite direction, apparently having paid off the cops at the other end of the road. What followed was a long wait, then utter chaos and finally some spirited night driving. It was an unforgettable night! Many thanks for re-booting those memories SS-Traveller!

[v&v]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Attachment 562610
H-4® at Tso Moriri, 6:30 AM on 15 June 2011

The Airtel was useless, but I got your missed call alert when I finally reached Manali. Wishing you bon voyage once again.

Thanks Doc. Back for our trip yesterday evening. Went through your TL. Nice pics and lots of them. Keep it coming .

[SS-Traveller]

Bright sunshine, inky blue skies, bare mountains and a gravelly but smooth road greeted us as we drove out of Kargil at 8 AM.











Rock formations near Mulbekh, and God's fist...




Our first halt in a landslide zone, an hour later...


The face of Ladakh...


Attempts to geotag our locations, and views of road conditions...


















Namika La...


The roads and vistas after Namika La...






Reaching Budhkharbu...


In Budhkharbu...






That's where Budhkharbu is...


The Wet Canteen at Budhkharbu...

The Wet Canteen was where we stopped for tea, and ended up shopping for an hour or more. It's an amazing stockpile of goodies, even stuff you don't get to buy in cities. From canned peas and mushrooms to canned gulabjamuns, from mobile chargers to folding scissors, soft drinks to exercise books, toiletries to kit bags, even poha that rideon had been searching for since Srinagar - they had it all! All in all, an hour extremely well spent for the ladies, without lightening the purses too much.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Good to see a Ladakh TL expounding on the road conditions. Will be very useful for my forthcoming trip. Could you please PM me any hotel numbers for Kargil so as to make advance reservations. Could you also include numbers for the hotel in Srinagar. We have no intentions of staying in a houseboat.
Thanks for sharing.

[SS-Traveller]

The drive from Budhkharbu to Fotu La, the highest point on the Srinagar-Leh Highway, takes hardly an hour.

Mountain goats - 4-legged and 2-legged!



The roads and views on the way...





















Reached...





Fotu La almost sounds like Munnabhai saying "fetch those photos" - and on the other side of the pass is Lamayuru, with its striking landscapes, begging to be photographed! The colour of the mountains changes as the road goes on towards Lamayuru, and the moonscapes are far more glorious in 3-D when seen in reality, than any camera and lens can ever capture.





If there is one place that, IMO, looks utterly different from the photos, it's Lamayuru and its surrounding mountains. But we were still going to try to capture what little we could.

Looking down to Lamayuru, just after crossing Fotu La top


So, Lamayuru, here we come...

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Good to see a Ladakh TL expounding on the road conditions. Will be very useful for my forthcoming trip. Could you please PM me any hotel numbers for Kargil ... Could you also include numbers for the hotel in Srinagar. We have no intentions of staying in a houseboat.
Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome, Jayant.

The hotel at Kargil was the Hotel DZojila - their contact numbers are 01985-232227 / 232360 / 9419176212. HVK also mentioned a Hotel Green Land at Kargil, whose numbers are 01985-232324 / 223388 / 9419176324 / 9469568133. Details of the Nehru Hotel, where we stayed in Srinagar, are available here: Hotel Nehru.

[SS-Traveller]

We only got to see Lamayuru from afar...


...and as close as we could get on zoom.


The road into Lamayuru was undergoing repairs, and we were diverted along the road that can be seen running above the town, to the left of the picture.


Multi-coloured bare-back mineral mountains in shades of green, black, brown and yellow greeted us along the way.


The roads were fairly good, but we weren't paying too much attention to the surface conditions, the scenery was so captivating. The roads you see as a part of the scenery are all we had captured while driving on this stretch...








...except this one coincidental sequence in which we shot each other at the same time, as well as captured the road condition. This was after Lamayuru, towards Khaltse.

Stopped to enjoy the scenery...




...and what a scenery it was!!










Forced to enjoy it a little longer by the column of army trucks coming along the narrow road.


Rideon climbed on...


...and we got looked down upon.


Time to move on...








...to Khaltse, where Rideon picked up a fan following.


97 km to Leh, and excellent wide and smooth roads beyond Khaltse.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Any idea of the route to Leh via Batalik. How much additional distance and do we need permits? And where do we get the permits from?
Any idea of the current road conditions from Kargil to Padum?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Any idea of the route to Leh via Batalik. How much additional distance and do we need permits? And where do we get the permits from?

The road to Batalik is a loop running to the north of NH1D. You can go onto that road just after Khaltse when coming from Leh, or just after Kargil when travelling towards Leh (both diversions are prominently marked). It is a back-breaking dirt track in bad shape, as reported by a senior army officer friend who has been on that track just 2 weeks ago with his family in a Gypsy, and reaching Kargil from Leh takes a good 2-3 hours extra. No permits required to travel on that road though.

Any idea of the current road conditions from Kargil to Padum?

Sorry, no idea.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

The road to Batalik is a loop running to the north of NH1D. You can go onto that road just after Khaltse when coming from Leh, or just after Kargil when travelling towards Leh (both diversions are prominently marked). It is a back-breaking dirt track in bad shape, as reported by a senior army officer friend who has been on that track just 2 weeks ago with his family in a Gypsy, and reaching Kargil from Leh takes a good 2-3 hours extra. No permits required to travel on that road though.

But I thought you need a permit to travel in that road through Batalik & Dah?

How did your MIL find the trip - any special health precautions she took or any medical problems faced? Any tips for old people travelling to Ladakh? (I am travelling next month with 3 64-year olds & 1 81-year old in my convoy!)

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

But I thought you need a permit to travel in that road through Batalik & Dah?

Permit issued from where? Leh?

I didn't notice any checkpost at the beginning of the road to Batalik at the Kargil end, though there is a checkpost on NH1D itself at the Khaltse end (but not on the Batalik road itself). I am assuming that permits are not required for the Batalik road based on a casual discussion with a friend in the army, but J&K Police may think otherwise and this is subject to confirmation.

[amitwlele]

Superb TL. Loved the snaps and especially the captions associated with it. You sure have taken the term bird watching quite seriously.

So no mandatory photo shot stop at the magnetic hill?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Permit issued from where? Leh?

I didn't notice any checkpost at the beginning of the road to Batalik at the Kargil end, though there is a checkpost on NH1D itself at the Khaltse end (but not on the Batalik road itself). I am assuming that permits are not required for the Batalik road based on a casual discussion with a friend in the army, but J&K Police may think otherwise and this is subject to confirmation.

Permits issued by the same DC's Office which issues permits for other sectors like Pangong.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Superb TL.

Thank you, Amit.

Originally Posted by amitwlele

So no mandatory photo shot stop at the magnetic hill?

Funny that you'd ask, but strangely enough, we did not stop for photos at the Magnetic Hill box, at the confluence of rivers or at the Hall of Fame. We thought we would drive back there in the next couple of days while we were in Leh, and in reality we never did it.