[SDP]

Fantastic set of pictures Laluks! Especially loved the portraits!

PS: Admire the patience of all the folks who are contributing stories and photos to this thread over a such a extended period of time. The enthusiasm can easily wear off after about 2 weeks of the actual trip and then completing the travelogue can seem like a humongous task. But not for this set of hardcore travellers and nature enthusiasts. Salute!

[laluks]

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

We got stuck near Khaltse on a traffic jam. Our scorpio was parked near an apple vendor and it gave me some time to practise some people clicks.














Being a Roman in Rome , straight on to the oncoming traffic!


continued...

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by laluks

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

Being a Roman in Rome , straight on to the oncoming traffic!

I thought they were the most indisciplined of riders the way these hippies were riding that Bullet, we were crossing each other for some distance after Khaltse....and not wearing helmets too!

[laluks]

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

After the traffic jam at Khaltse we moved onto some good roads.


We stopped near Indus


YP goes all the way down to Indus to collect water sample for HVK




Mission Successful


HVK waits for YP, and updates his logs


YP


Miles to go...


The road ahead




continued...

[laluks]

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

The roads ahead to Leh




Some information for you


Truckers


Bikers


The roads ahead






Beautiful


continued...

[laluks]

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh


Easily, the most photographed road in Leh. This was clicked on the move from inside HVK scorpio.


KSM Vtec - All for you










continued...

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by laluks

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

Bikers

I guess it is peak mobiking season in Ladakh, We saw mobikers all over the circuit, starting from Kinnaur Valley - where we ran into a huge team of foreigners riding Bullets (all mysteriously registered from a town in North Kerala!), the Jap biker near Chandra Tal, foreign bikers in the Batal-Gramphoo route, and many others all over Ladakh, people with bikes sporting registration numbers from various states in India, including KA, TN, MH, etc. In fact, mobike tourists easily outnumbered the car tourists, truly the symbol of driving adventure in the Himalayas. As mentioned earlier, we also met the Car India-Bike India team guy in his mobike too in Lamayuru-Leh-Hunder too! Most of the hired mobikes sport DL number plates, since it looked like all these mobikes are hired out by Delhi-based travel agents who shift them during the winter to Goa for the next season of hire. It is very interesting how Ladakh & Goa are inter-related - many of the hotel guys too work in Ladakh in summer, in Goa in winter!

[laluks]

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

We reached Nimmu by 14:30hrs


HVK Scorpio on NH1D and along the confluence of Indus and Zanskar at Nimmu


continued..

[laluks]

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

In another few minutes we reached Magnetic Hill. YP and AP got a feel of the mystery of Magnetic Hill first hand.

Magnetic Hill




Optical illusion, even the photo feels like there is a climb


After Whisky, Driving Risky.


Rounds of testing


The mountain trail to test your skill and your vehicle's might


Road ahead to Leh




Gurudwara




continued...

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I thought they were the most indisciplined of riders the way these hippies were riding that Bullet, we were crossing each other for some distance after Khaltse....and not wearing helmets too!

@ HVK: Thanks for bringing up this point. I would highlight in my Vambodia Travalogue how irresponsible some of these whites (well dressed and at first sight highly respectable looking, in contrast to the hippies) are and how some Indians have this "Firangi Frenzy". While I have seen the most respectable and adorable ones I have also seen the most idiotic thrash out there.

@ Lalu: Man.. those are some titillating shots. What post process work did you do?

[laluks]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

@ Lalu: Man.. those are some titillating shots. What post process work did you do?

Some whims and fancies with PS

[laluks]

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

Leh was another 23KM from here


Roads were at its best




Hence a Sprint is good


A gompa to the left - forgot which one


Leh Berry Juice factory


The sprint continued...


A new ambulance for Leh Town?


Leh is getting near


continued...

[laluks]

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil - Leh

We got a glimpse of Spituk Gompa


We saw Hall of Fame




Hall of Fame

That's all what I have seen of Hall fo Fame. Nobody let me to go inside and have a look

By 15:15hrs we reached Leh






We drove straight to the workshop at Leh and spent almost the whole evening there getting the Scorpio ready.

By 20:00 hours we went to Shanti Guest House and took all our luggage which was in SS and DB's room and went to the other guest house.

The place was good with enough open area. Had some chitchats and crashed.

Next Day is the rest Day at Leh. All vehicles will get to their spa for further rejuvenation.

[codelust]

In July that "fresh tar" was still road being worked on. It was terrible to drive on, but also heartbreaking since it was one of the loveliest stretches for me during the 2009 trip and it bore no resemblance to what it looked like then. It only gave us a small picture of what the destruction was like during last year's floods and that was horrific enough.

Loved the coverage of Lamayuru from the team, especially JC's pics. We stayed there for a night and it was simply amazing in the night and early morning. Thankfully, the hotel guys were very helpful and friendly and I hope the bad treatment you guys got there was more the exception.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by codelust

the bad treatment you guys got there was more the exception.

The feeling about them was the same even in 2009 when we dined there.