[BolBolero]

@ HVK, what a narrative and some really great information that everybody should make a note of.

@ deky, thanks a lot for the info regarding Army convoys!

@ no_enthu_da, JeepCaptain, laluks (only one?), lovely photographs and videos!

@ ramkya1, I was carrying a 50ltr motor oil plastic can, which had an inner push cap and an outer screw on cap. No problems of leakages or fumes escaping whatsoever.

[JeepCaptain]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Well, I have been there 4 times every Ladakh visit and found them very good - fast, good mechanics, have spare parts, are super-cheap, etc.

Am thinking of going to Ladakh every year just to do major repair works to my Scorpio!

HVK Sir, I am with always you . Lets goto Ladakh every year to fix your Scorpio and my Bolero too!

SHALL WE?

Cheers
JC

[BolBolero]

Day 9: Kargil to Leh 25th. August 2011

A pictorial of the drive from Kargil to Leh!
Some photographs by SSj.


Maitreya Buddha @ Mulbekh


BolBolero & his Bolero near Haniskot


Group photo at FotuLa Top


Some stones collected by SSj


Local Ladies at Lamayuru Gompa


The moonscape at Lamayuru



Lamayuru Gompa, entrance to the Prayer Hall


NJ and a child monk @ Lamayuru


Colours of the Mountains!




Basgo Village.


to be continued...

[BolBolero]

Originally Posted by JeepCaptain

HVK Sir, I am with always you . Lets goto Ladakh every year to fix your Scorpio and my Bolero too!
SHALL WE?
Cheers
JC

Hey JeepCaptain,

My Bolero also needs TLC from the ASC at Leh! So you can count me in too!

[laluks]

Wow! The readership has crossed a lakh.
What a thread! One stop over for all Ladakh drives.
Vast amounts of tips and information and tons of pictures.
Wonderful team spirit, and this thread still keeps the IPHE team together sans the geographical distances and timezones.

What a wonderful platform. Thank you readers for being with IPHE team.

And we have much more to scale. Together we will ... Read On



The photo is of the trail KSM Vtec, Turbonator and others have left on their previous visits on the mountain near Magnetic Hill

[BolBolero]

Day 9: Kargil to Leh 25th. August 2011

A pictorial of the drive from Kargil to Leh!

Mulbekh


HVK Scorpio, JeepCaptain Discovery Bolero & BolBolero Bolero @ Mulbekh


Prayer Wheel @ Mulbekh


Maitreya Buddha at Mulbekh



JeepCaptain and his Discovery Bolero on the road!


Khangral Village




View from the road @ Khangral


doctorque, SSj and BolBolero


no_enthu_da and NJ in the Baby Alto


Army convoy in the distance


View of the mountain


FotuLa Top



SSj, JeepCaptain, BolBolero, JP and TS (squatting)


NJ, no_enthu_da, TS, AR, and SSj


View of a rock Face @ FotuLa



to be continued....

[BolBolero]

Day 9: Kargil to Leh 25th. August 2011

The pictorial continues..

Lamayuru in the Distance!



BolBolero with Lamayuru in the background!


Road leading to Lamayuru!


Local Ladies @ Lamayuru Gompa!


Eagerly waiting for Lunch at the restaurant @ Lamayuru!




Interesting cave like formations in the mountains!

The most photographed child @ Lamayuru! Everybody has got his snap on their camera, right?

Lamayuru Gompa, top!



Moonscape @ Lamayuru!





to be continued.....

[BolBolero]

Day 9: Kargil to Leh 25th. August 2011

The pictorial continues..

Some more of the moonscapes @ BRO roadblock.





Colours of the mountain




doctorque & NJ @ roadblock, on top of the world; oops top of the truck!


JeepCaptain


BabyAlto, Discovery Bolero & Bolero


Some more moonscapes @ roadblock



Khaltse Checkpost!

We stopped here to show our papers, only to see many other cars, mainly tourist taxis zoom past, without bothering to stop and show papers!

After Saspol, the Bolero suddenly started losing power and the temp needle began climbing dangerously close to the 'H' mark! Realising that something was definitely wrong, I decided to stop at the top of the climb to check. On opening the bonnet, saw that the coolant was boiling over and there was practically no coolant left. This was serious. Luckily for us the Discovery Bolero and the Baby Alto had decided to stop for..

This! The road between Saspol and Nimmu!




SSj


Customary pose on this road!
SSj


AR


BolBolero


Customary Jump on this Road!
BolBolero


SSj


AR


NJ


And NJ gets the award for the most stylish jump!

Baby Alto, Discovery Bolero and Bolero

We waited for nearly half an hour at this spot and while the photography session was on, the Bolero cooled down, assisted by more than 5 lts of water poured into the coolant reservoir, which found its way into the radiator and 1 lts of concentrated coolant.

SSj and AR, before departure!



to be continued....

[BolBolero]

Day 9: Kargil to Leh 25th. August 2011

Basgo Monastery??


Basgo Village



Magnetic Hill. Didn't work for me!



Vista just before Leh!


We reached Leh at around 6:20 pm and were at the Leh Ling Motors work shop by around 6:25 pm. HVK had already informed the workshop about the bushings required for the Bolero, so we were able to get that fixed quite fast. Unfortunately the mechanic to work on the window glass was not available at that time, so I would have to come back again the next day for getting that problem attended to.

Left the workshop at around 7:55 pm and headed to Shanti Guest House to pick up the two Swifts and the two Senior Citizens who had stayed back in Leh. Headed to Jorchung Guest House, which was more or less occupied solely by the IPHE group and reached there by 8:30pm.

Total distance covered: 229 kms.

[motomaverick]

Really stlylish jumps on the straight road , certainly the award should go to NJ for the most filmy jump

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by BolBolero

Day 9: Kargil to Leh 25th. August 2011

Some observations on the photos uploaded by Bol BOlero.

This is the Mulbekh Maitreya Buddha - a very unusual Buddha, looks more like a Shiva than a Buddha!
Why?
- Buddha wearing a sacred thread? Buddhists typically tie sacred threads around hands, not slung from shoulder which is a Hindu "brahminical" ritual
- So many rudrakshas around neck & in hands, so characteristic of Shiva, the only image I have seen of Buddha with rudraksha is the popular one of him with one in his hands, more as prayer beads
- Very rare image of Buddha without clothing - but Shiva is also without his upper cloth
- Kamandalam by the side - always carried by Shiva
- 4-handed Buddhas are uncommon, but Shiva is mostly seen with 4 hands, and one always dangles a rudraksha!

The Lamayuru Gompa is one of the must-visit gompas in Ladakh, with its colourful paintings, rich tapestries and impressive location. You get the best views of the moon scape in the Lamayuru Valley from its terrace, so don't forget to go all the way inside and up. However, this annoying practice of levying visitor fees is something of recent origin and it is irritating that you have to pay money to visit a place of worship. And this after the gompas are richly funded by foreign contributions and pilgrim donations anyway. Unfortunately, many of the gompas love "gora" foreign tourists more than Indians, one more testimony to the fact that despite so many dissimilarities, Ladakh is indeed in India!

This is at the same spot as Magnetic Hill. Popularly used by Off-roaders to test their (and the vehicle's) mettle! Can be scary since no vehicle can climb all the way and starts sliding back and if you are not a good driver, you can careen out of control and tumble down all the way. Typically, they execute a reverse turn and then come back forward back all the way down. KSM-vTEC has done this risky climb when he visited Ladakh in his GYpsy earlier. And during our 2009 trip, Rajuvinder Singh did it in his Pajero too.

An amazing oasis in the middle of brown-yellow barrenness, it was truly an incredible sight as we turned the corner.

The only decent-looking restaurant in Lamayuru just before you go towards the Gompa, next to the car parking lot. Very snooty owner and waiters, they love only "gora" foreign tourists, very poor service and unacceptable "attitude" towards Indians. I have been there twice and I find they are like that always. They mess up orders, delay delivery and over-charge for food. If I remember right, they even tried to push an extra item into the bill which we had never ordered. Avoidable place, but one does not really have a choice in Lamayuru.

Amazing place - in the midst of huge mountains, all of them with the usual black and brown rock facades, here is this unique geological phenomenon, made of yellow-coloured brittle and sandy rocks or top surface. The fissures remind you of volcanic lava. Don;t you think the Lamayuru Valley itself looks like a mouth of a volcano!!!!

It worked for us - unlike BolBolero - and we could drive our Scorpio both forward and reverse without touching the accelerator on what was an up-slope but in reality was a down-slope in what is one big optical illusion. Great fun! Don't let the actual physics of it spoil it for you!!

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by BolBolero

Day 9: Kargil to Leh 25th. August 2011

The pictorial continues..

Some more of the moonscapes @ BRO roadblock.
.........................
...........................
to be continued....

Hai Bol Bolero,

Lovely photos and customary snaps, a jump is good when it's cold and windy. My profile picture is from the same Nummu road. Did you people take the upper road which leads to the Hangroo Loops, looks like it. When we went, the lower one which goes near the monastry was getting repaired.

The Magnetic Hills worked for us, I believed it fully and started arguing with people it's real until I found out that it's an optical illusion. I saw a Discovery show of another site in the US where vehicles are pushed over a railway track by Ghosts, the team proved with evidence that it's also an optical illusion, details here:

Railroad Crossing Ghosts

--Ramky
=====

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Hai Bol Bolero,

Did you people take the upper road which leads to the Hangroo Loops, looks like it. When we went, the lower one which goes near the monastry was getting repaired.


--Ramky
=====

The upper road is closed now - maybe it is getting repaired - and all traffic has t take the lower road that goes past the Lamayuru Gompa. This road is also very curvy.

[ramkya1]

[quote=hvkumar;2594223]The upper road is closed now - maybe it is getting repaired - and all traffic has t take the lower road that goes past the Lamayuru Gompa. This road is also very curvy.[/quote}

I think lower road goes very close to the Moonscape, the one on the top was so far away and would not give any close photo op for a shutter bug.

Does the lower road also lead to the Loops, I think it would join somewhere near the bridge at the end of the loops, not sure.

---

[hvkumar]

[quote=ramkya1;2594229]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The upper road is closed now - maybe it is getting repaired - and all traffic has t take the lower road that goes past the Lamayuru Gompa. This road is also very curvy.[/quote}

I think lower road goes very close to the Moonscape, the one on the top was so far away and would not give any close photo op for a shutter bug.

Does the lower road also lead to the Loops, I think it would join somewhere near the bridge at the end of the loops, not sure.

---

Yes, I have been on both roads, the lower road virtually cuts through the moon scape, whereas the upper road gives you only a small view. The upper and lower roads meet after climbing down the slopes, just before you reach the Khaltse bridge across the River Indus.

Some exact coordinates. It is 26 kms on the upper road to the Khaltse bridge, and the lower road merges into at 5 kms before. The lower road is only 15 kms to the merging point.