[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

In planning this sector, I have to thank SS-Traveller for his inputs and photos which gave me confidence that not only the Scorpios and Boleros, but also the Swifts and the Altos. In his TL, he had up several photos of the "road" and also described road conditions in detail.

You are welcome. At least, I managed to put my own tyre-prints on a part of the country where MH43A-5084 had not gone before - that must be a record of some sort! However, if you had asked me then whether an Alto or a Swift would make it through there, I would have flatly said "NO".

Originally Posted by hvkumar

..."lunch" at Chushul, but there was no restaurant, not even a tea shop there.
All I knew was that I had to climb up the steep Tsaga la, and I navigated looking at that squiggling track up the mountains afar!!! Later on when I saw Google Maps, I realised that the "road" all the way from Chushul was hugging the border with China with only the high mountain between us.
Tsaga village looked quite big, it even had a bypass, and some way ahead, we got to the Tsaga check post where we all regrouped after the permits were checked.

One of the most inhospitable terrains, the stretch from Chushul to Tsaga. If you looked up to the mountains on your right as you climbed to Tsaga La, you would have seen dozens of Indian Army observation posts. We were told at the Chushul check-post not to use cameras till we crossed Tsaga La.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

We asked for dinner. She said No. We asked for Tea. She said maybe. We asked for hot water. She raised her eyebrows. Toilets? She guffawed. I guess you mentally get the picture now!

Tea & hot water (and Maggi) were never an issue for us, what with the LPG stove and 5 kg cylinder we carried. So, getting tea/hot food was never a reason to worry...

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Just one last tip for anyone doing this circuit - there is ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE to get tea or food en route, so if you crave for tea, carry it along with you - in a Ladakh flask, of course! And follow my policy of always having your own food provisions.

Originally Posted by laluks

Are these the Brahmini Ducks or Bar Headed geese? Looks a lot like the latter!

They're bar headed geese (Bar-headed Goose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

Originally Posted by hvkumar

...went to the Nomadic Life Camp and negotiated some fine rates...

Sad to hear that they treated you all so poorly just because they had a group of foreigners to cater to. We did notice a number of new homestays coming up further up the road from the Nomadic Camp, when we stayed there in June - I guess their monopoly is about to end from the next season.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

...this was the straight third day when we could not use laptops - because we had stayed sequentially at Pangon, Hanle & Tso M, all of them being too high altitude to let a laptop operate safely. So we were downloading photos, GPS coordinates, etc in extra flash memories we had especially carried for this situation.

Indeed. Extra memory cards & extra batteries are so important in these high altitude cold regions. My camera batteries had their charge capacity reduced by half, and just because I had the inverter running to charge one battery while using the other, I didn't run out of batteries. I wonder if you folks had a similar experience.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

One of the most inhospitable terrains, the stretch from Chushul to Tsaga. If you looked up to the mountains on your right as you climbed to Tsaga La, you would have seen dozens of Indian Army observation posts. We were told at the Chushul check-post not to use cameras till we crossed Tsaga La.

We did not cross any Chushul check post. After Merak, it was directly Tsaga. That may be because the direct road approaching Chushul village had a broken bridge (just before the village) and we had to detour through the neighbouring village (with the help of the kids) to get into Chushul. So we did not know about the restrictions and we photographed to our heart's content. Did not find anything censorable there.....and we missed seeing all the observation posts, but I am sure they did not miss us

Sad to hear that they treated you all so poorly just because they had a group of foreigners to cater to. We did notice a number of new homestays coming up further up the road from the Nomadic Camp, when we stayed there in June - I guess their monopoly is about to end from the next season.

In any case, there are 2 more tent camps next to Nomadic Life Camp and I heard they are cheaper - and equally good. Moreover, snooty folks at places like NOmadic Life Camp are going to see the power of the Indian tourist in the coming years and unless they change their attitude from salivating before foreigners, they are going to be in serious trouble. Another point which can be made here is that these resorts are sold aggressively through travel agents who price them at 2-3 times than what you can bargain for them on the spot. Even during our last trip in 2009, we got an astronomical quote of some 2.5K from one travel agent, we eventually did a walk-in and got a tent for two at Rs 800. This time, we bargained for Rs 500 per head (or Rs 1000 per tent) which I think is a good deal for a place like Karzok.

Indeed. Extra memory cards & extra batteries are so important in these high altitude cold regions. My camera batteries had their charge capacity reduced by half, and just because I had the inverter running to charge one battery while using the other, I didn't run out of batteries. I wonder if you folks had a similar experience.

Yes, batteries ran out faster than the Scorpio could but we had inverter in my car too, so that did not matter. We also carried extra memories so that we could switch them whenever we could not download them onto our computers because of high-altitude.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

We did not cross any Chushul check post.

You didn't present your permit at the Chushul Police Post? I thought I saw a pic of the place earlier on. And there's an ITBP barrier too before one climbs up Tsaga La / heads towards Rezang La Memorial. Did you manage to bypass that too?

...places like NOmadic Life Camp are going to see the power of the Indian tourist...

Right - NO point getting MAD; getting even is more important!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

You didn't present your permit at the Chushul Police Post? I thought I saw a pic of the place earlier on. And there's an ITBP barrier too before one climbs up Tsaga La / heads towards Rezang La Memorial.

Right - NO point getting MAD; getting even is more important!

No. The photos we have uploaded are of the Merak Check Post and the Tsaga Check Post (after Tsaga la & Tasaga village, towards Loma).

We passed the 2 memorials after Chushul, but there was no barrier.

The checkposts we crossed between Lukung & Hanle are:
Merak, Tsaga, Loma

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

We passed the 2 memorials after Chushul, but there was no barrier.

This is the place at Chushul.


We came up to Merak at 7 am, and the people manning that checkpost were fast asleep, with no response to my calls and honking. Didn't get around to presenting our permit to them.

[laluks]

We passed by this Police Check Post. I have a picture of that board. Nobody bothered to come out and stop, nor we thought it was needed.

In fact in front of this only we were asking some local guy for directions forward.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

One of the most inhospitable terrains, the stretch from Chushul to Tsaga. If you looked up to the mountains on your right as you climbed to Tsaga La, you would have seen dozens of Indian Army observation posts. We were told at the Chushul check-post not to use cameras till we crossed Tsaga La.

i think i do remember seeing these observation posts (they were like very small bunkers in the face of the mountains) somewhere in this section ..but dont remember where exactly it was. In fact me and YP also discussed and wondered about the need of so many posts so close to each other.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by laluks

We passed by this Police Check Post. I have a picture of that board. Nobody bothered to come out and stop, nor we thought it was needed.

In fact in front of this only we were asking some local guy for directions forward.

Looks like I missed it completely! Thanks for pointing out, Lalu. Was it before the Chushul town?

[laluks]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Looks like I missed it completely! Thanks for pointing out, Lalu. Was it before the Chushul town?

This one was after Chushul Village, after we were shown the correct route by those kids. This came between the exit of the village and before the fork where we took left towards Rohit Post.

[BolBolero]

Day 13: PangongTso to Hanle 29th. August 2011

PANGONG TSO
Cold, cold, cold. Thats all we could feel in the tents at 6:00 am in the morning. Many of the team members had already woken up and were admiring the beauty of the Famed PangongTso!

After a steaming cup of tea, make that two cups, headed out to the lake which was just at the edge of the campsite across the road.

Some photos clicked by SSj at PangongTso.

On the banks of PangongTso



SSj, HVK & BolBolero


Changing colours!


AR @ Marsimik La Tent Camp


BolBolero @ Marsimik La Tent Camp


Pangong Tso through the lens of BolBolero

Early morning colours of PangongTso




SSj @ PangongTso


Mood Swings!






Marsimik La Tent Camp @ Lukung, PangongTso


View of PangongTso from the tent camp.


The Rides at PangongTso



to be continued...

[BolBolero]

Day 13: PangongTso to Hanle 29th. August 2011

continued..

We departed from PangongTso at around 9:00 am. Stopped awhile at Spangmik for some photos!

Convoy on the way to Spangmik


Close up of the waters





BolBolero's Bolero!




Convoy heading towards Spangmik


PangongTso @ Spangmik


Snow covered mountain @ Spangmik


TS @ Spangmik


Convoy @ Spangmik


PangongTso @ Spangmik








Army Patrol boat on PangongTSo




TS


Anku


to be continued...

[BolBolero]

Day 13: PangongTso to Hanle 29th. August 2011

continued...

An unscheduled halt at the Merak check post, as TS and for that matter any foreigner was not permitted beyond the checkpost towards Chushul!
Everyone made the most of the One hour halt at Merak, while HVK & JeepCaptain drove back to get some sort of transportation for TS who would be heading back to Upshi to join us again the next day.

View of PangongTso @ Merak


Mountains @ Merak




PangongTso @ Merak


Moved on towards Chushul at around 12:30 pm.

Kijangs on the way to Chushul


PangongTso enroute to Chushul






Seeing PangongTso for the last time before it fades away from sight and into China!


A small water crossing


Chushul War Memorial






Baby Alto, Discovery Bolero and BolBolero took a break here to pay our respects. Unknown to us, HVK and the Mumbai roadsters were waiting for us a few kms ahead, wondering what had happened to us. On finally catching up with them, we were subjected to HVK's phenomenal temper. Can't blame him, cause this was the first time he was travelling on this road and was unsure of the time it would take to reach Hanle! The anger was directed at all of us, while his gaze was sorely fixed on no_enthu_da!
no_enthu_da, HVK and all the others, my apologies for the delay caused!

Mountains enroute


More kijangs


RezangLa War Memorial No we did not stop here to pay our respects!



A pair of Kijangs


Ladakhi Nomadic Horseman


Ladakhi Nomadic Lady!


HVK Scorpio on the way to TsagaLa


Colours of the Sky


A tricky water crossing, especially for the small cars


TsagaLa/ ChaggaLa at 4:15 pm


to be continued....

[BolBolero]

Day 13: PangongTso to Hanle 29th. August 2011

continued...

It took us nearly an hour to cover a distance of 35 kms from TsagaLa to Loma.

Yaks or Dzos??


Colours of the Mountains







The IPHE convoy!


Kijangs at full throttle!





Black necked Cranes


Mountains before Loma checkpost



Bridge after the Loma Checkpost.


We reached the Loma checkpost at around 5:20 pm to be greeted by some very friendly ITBP folks, who wished us well on our journey! (A far cry from the earlier episodes that the IPHE folks encountered)

to be continued...

[BolBolero]

Day 13: PangongTso to Hanle 29th. August 2011

continued...

After the Loma checkpost we finally hit tarmac and everybody was just flying!

Tarmac!


A little bit of Hundar Sand Dunes maybe!


Views on the way to Hanle













Hanle Monastery


The convoy waiting for JeepCaptain to catch up!

And this was the place, where, while we were waiting, HVK broke into an impromptu dance. Such was the joy of having completed this stretch!

We headed into Hanle village and finally managed to get accommodation in a quaint village house after much time spent searching! The lady of the house, initially was reluctant to let out her room on realising that we were 14 of us, but relented after looking at our dejected faces!

After her initial reluctance to prepare dinner for us (not even maggi!) she relented and prepared tea first and then some very simple, but delicious Dal and Rice. It was the most satisfying meal in a long time and most of the others would agree with me! AR even managed to get some curd for himself!

By the time we were were through with dinner, the days drive took its toll and everyone just managed to get into their allotted beds/ mattresses and were in dreamland in no time! (Musty smell, fresh paint smell, etc., be damned!)

Total Distance covered: 185 kms.

[BolBolero]

GPS Tracks

Day 13: PangongTso to Hanle




13 PangongTso to Hanle.kmz