[laluks]

Day 1
23 - July - 2012

Behind the meadows you can get into thick tree cover






A cutie pie in the meadows




The cottage


That's the call from Fauji


HVK in a relaxed mood


We almost discussed for an hour


Clicked a grass - even grass was beautiful



What a place! Peaceful!!

continued...

[laluks]

Day 1
23 - July - 2012

We ordered Lemon Soda and ended up ordering quite a few items


We left Sanasar by 12:30 PM.

A typical roof construction in those areas


Beautiful


A refill


Look at that Vehicle


Chicken and Fish Stall


We turned towards Kishtwar


Road conditions towards Kishtwar






continued...

[laluks]

Day 1
23 - July - 2012

The bark of this tree was beautiful




Winding roads on the mountains - Lovely








Some Dam should be nearby!


Scorpio waiting for me to return


The beautiful road continued






continued...

[laluks]

Day 1
23 - July - 2012

The bridge far away is the Dodda Bridge






We will take a left to the bridge today


And after a few days of drives we will return back to this place via the right road!


The road to Kishtawar








Kishtwar is another 44KM



continued...

[laluks]

Day 1
23 - July - 2012

Bus service from Dodda to Kishtwar


Welcome to Kishtwar District



The roads to Kishtwar














continued...

[laluks]

Day 1
23 - July - 2012

Roads to Kishtwar






Some township before Kishtwar




We reached Kishtwar - tomorrow we drive towards Killar


Traffic jam in the city


What a style! Bollywood Hero


Abandoned construction


We stayed here for the night


Scorpio parked for the day!


continued...

[laluks]

Day 1
23 - July - 2012

There were no cook available there to prepare us dinner. But we were quickly made some hot tea. It was nice to catch up the gossip over hot tea. The Famous Five sat there chit chatting for a while.

By 19:00 hours we set out in search for Dinner.

Scorpio was looking cool with the setting sun's rays!


We found a posh hotel, Hotel Kishtwar. Note the Merc!


Information


Food is mostly the flavor of big cities and not the local one. Chicken and Chapathi - I was already thinking. This drive is very different. All meals are served at the right time, that is so different of an HVK drive

By 21:00 hours we were back at our place. I crashed on to bed immediately. HVKs laptop refused to boot up. So he too retired early.

A comfortable nice drive!

Tomorrow is the challenge, the scare, the adventure, wait for the story...

[lloydofcochin]

That's pretty good speed Lalu. The road to Kishtwar looks inviting. I guess this & ADC's travelogue would be a good reference point to travelers there.

I guess the rush of tourists in there is bad news for terrorists. With road warriors like HVK driving around they would be running for cover

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by lloydofcochin

I guess the rush of tourists in there is bad news for terrorists. With road warriors like HVK driving around they would be running for cover

Having visited Kashmir in the worst of times, especially in the years 2003 & 2003, the State is totally transformed & seems to be on its road to recovery, judging from the normal economic activity, minimal army presence & drastic fall in bandhs, hartals & killings.

Going to a place like Kishtwar would have been unimaginable even a year ago, since the Doda-Kishtwar region was a hotbed for terrorists & saw several large-scale massacres. What we saw during our trip now was quite amazing - peace indeed appears to have returned to the Valley!

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Having visited Kashmir in the worst of times, especially in the years 2003 & 2003, the State is totally transformed & seems to be on its road to recovery, judging from the normal economic activity, minimal army presence & drastic fall in bandhs, hartals & killings.

Going to a place like Kishtwar would have been unimaginable even a year ago, since the Doda-Kishtwar region was a hotbed for terrorists & saw several large-scale massacres. What we saw during our trip now was quite amazing - peace indeed appears to have returned to the Valley!

You are spot on HVK. The majority of Kashmiris want peace in their state and are happy with tourists visiting there since tourism is a major source of income for them.

The Army, esp the Rashtriya Rifles have done a remarkable job in neutralizing the terrorists and I believe that the current administration under Omar Abdullah is doing a pretty good job.

More of tourists going in and as the locals have economic prosperity whatever little support there is for terrorists would naturally evaporate.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

But RJ cops were not sleeping.
At one of the towns - Kotputli, I think - a RJ cop stopped me after seeing my MH registration number.
"Documents dikhaao", he says
"Kyon?", that is me
"Documents?"
"I am with my family, driving from Bombay to Delhi"
"Why do you want to see my documents?"
"What for should I show you my documents? I have all documents"
"But I cannot simply show you documents"
And I drove on, he was speechless of course.

Try the politician style flying kiss with a wave and drive bye.. it really works!!

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by laluks

Thanks Jignesh.
Like most of you I too do work for a living. I wish I could stop working for money, but that is still a far fetched dream for me. Traveling, Photography and Writing are some of the anchoring points that I cherish in my life. I prefer it that way.

Hello Lalu,

It is indeed good to have interest in hobbies like Traveling, Photography, Writing other than working & Earning which will go on probably forever...

I always loved travelling & have also travelled a lot in past. But since last 2 years driving bug hit me (courtesy T-BHP & other sites) & I set off on a 10 day road trip, but things went awefully wrong midway. Anyways I am now gathering back confidence to undertake long road trips again.
Travelogues like these will keep on boosting my confidence.

Anyways, very lovely photographs & write-up here, please continue.

Thanks,

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by laluks

Like most of you I too do work for a living. I wish I could stop working for money, but that is still a far fetched dream for me. Traveling, Photography and Writing are some of the anchoring points that I cherish in my life. I prefer it that way.

But you know what Lalu sahab, what is envied most is that you can slam your laptop shut in the middle of a pointless meeting (eh which meeting is not anyway) and say "I'm outta here" and join Kumar sir ji on these amazing trips . It would be great to see how you did that and the priceless expression on the faces in the meeting when you walked out of. Hope there is a video of that. Please keep posting .

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Having visited Kashmir in the worst of times, especially in the years 2003 & 2003, the State is totally transformed & seems to be on its road to recovery, judging from the normal economic activity, minimal army presence & drastic fall in bandhs, hartals & killings.

Going to a place like Kishtwar would have been unimaginable even a year ago, since the Doda-Kishtwar region was a hotbed for terrorists & saw several large-scale massacres. What we saw during our trip now was quite amazing - peace indeed appears to have returned to the Valley!

+1 billion. Give the common man a decent means of livelihood with dignity and without exploitation and his empty mind will cease to be the devil's workshop. It is really reassuring to see and hear that J&K can now stake its rightful claim to this nation's prosperity. Additionally our corporates should think about expanding to these areas not in the whole hog way but reasonably sized operating units. If not manufacturing which can upset the environment but back office services in a bigger way to allow the young minds in J&K to earn a decent living.

[W.A.G.7]

Thanks to both of you, for sharing such beautiful pictures and information. Kashmir is a paradise indeed. Must visit, some of the most beautiful landscapes and nature over there. Rating this thread 5 stars right away

Originally Posted by laluks

Spine Chiller Drives!
Attachment 966707

Absolutely mind blowing travelogue!!! This single picture alone made my day today in the office! Superb!!

Originally Posted by hvkumar

My Scorpio, despite its 3,17,000 kms, is always ready to go

That's the only expression sir! In only 7½ years that too!! That's some incredible driving around in India. I missed meeting you in the Mumbai Pune mega meet, but next time I will surely like to meet you in person.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

How was the car prepared for the trip?
My Scorpio, despite its 3,17,000 kms, is always ready to go, like a jet fighter scrambling at the smallest of alerts on the Indo-Pak border.

Away from the pictures that are saying more and the picturesque narration let me ask a question about the Scorpio.
Is the engine on the OE pistons and bearings? Would like to read on the maintenance log of the Scorpio if it exists in the forum.
Kudos to HVK Scorpio too.