Team-BHP - How hard can it be? Bangalore to Ladakh in a Linea

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You are one lucky guy to have got such a good trip. The best part is that the people accompanying you were women folk. Feeling pretty jealous of you man. That is one trip which I too would like to make sometime. Lets see if it happens or not ;)

Amazing travelogue. Very confidence inspiring for anybody planning to take their sedan a really long way and in to not so sedan friendly terrain:)

Once again congrats Rohit on your amazing adventure. I eagerly followed your tlog and it has been a great experience. You have written it very well with your heart and touched upon so many details.

Your decision to drive in the night to Manali was definitely bit over the top in my opinion but i guess being in that situation is different from sitting and giving opinions on a computer :).

Hats off to your family for certain. Fiat should definitely use you trip for marketing purpose, will surely do them lot more good than their own advertising efforts :D

Inspirational trip, rohittunga!! salute to you and the young ladies!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by supertinu (Post 2920598)

Fiat should definitely use you trip for marketing purpose, will surely do them lot more good than their own advertising efforts :D

They have already used it.. Shared the travelogue in Fiat India facebook home page!! As I type this, just 5 hours since uploaded, the post has already got 75 likes and 12 shares!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sathyaprakash (Post 2919887)

HI nice to hear about your travel plan even I am planning to go to ladakh from Chennai soon, may be we could patch up to do it together.

Sure, Am glad to hear that :D

Connect with me on facebook. wish TeamBHP has Facebook integration

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jignesh (Post 2919900)

Hello Rohit,
It is really good to see you all finishing this trip without any problems whatsoever, specially your co-passengers though in thier sixties, kept in best health during entire trip.

Thanks you once again for writing one of the best travelogues here.

Regards,

Thanks Jignesh. Part of the reason why we were all in good health was that we carried around 75 or so sweet lime and made it a point of having at least 2 sweet limes in a day. That really helped us along with the juicy apples that we got in Manali.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PranavDesai (Post 2919946)

Absolutely fantastic travelogue Rohit, more than physical stamina it is the sheer amount of willpower that you displayed during this trip. You and your co-passengers surely deserve to be felicitated, what with just one driver and going through the most treacherous roads (no roads many a times), that too overnight drives.

Your trip will serve as a great guide to all future Ladakh goers, especially the list of spares, tools, medicines, equipments, etc. shows your level of preparation.

Once again, congratulations to you, your mother, and your aunts for providing us a fantastic travelogue, and more congratulations to Fiat for manufacturing such a sturdy car.

Thanks Pranav for those wonderful words... About the car, well I just can't stop praising the car. If anyone drives my car now, I mean sit in my car, there is no way you can tell that its been to Ladakh and back. Such is the build quality. The only issue was that it smokes like an Indica and thats probably because the air filter is severely clogged. Apart from that nothing else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sommos (Post 2920341)

Thanks Rohit for the absolute fantastic TL. Your writing ability and the pictures are a bonus for the readers. A big round of applause to you and your co-passengers for your absolute will power and strong determination. Another big round of applause for your Linea too, for taking the most treacherous roads in it's stride and also for successfully completing the journey without any fuss.

I'm sure this adventure trip of your's is going to inspire many more in the forum to set out to conquere Leh and next year we may see more TL on Leh.

Thanks for providing all the details about expenses, medicine, hotels etc.

I'm glad Sommos that you enjoyed reading my log. I never expected the response to my log would be this huge. I'm grateful to one and all. clap:

Quote:

Originally Posted by aviorp (Post 2920356)

Super like! Loved your narration and some fascinating pics to go with it. Any specific reasons for skipping Nubra?

We were told by our hotel staff that the roads beyond Khardung La was in really bad shape and this made be apprehensive and took a safe decision not visit Nubra. Perhaps that is strong enough reason to visit Leh again :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by supertinu (Post 2920598)

Looking back I'm glad that I took the decision to drive through the night from Pang to Keylong, because the next day when we crossed into Manali I surfing at a cyber cafe when I found this posted in another blog. This happened a day after we reached Manali.

"Cloud burst in Lahaul Valley today at about 8 PM in dark night.
Juley..
Just received a call from my brother-in-law from Tandi that he and his friends are sleeping in Cars after taking dinner in a food Dhaba there as the roads are closed due to occurrence of heavy cloud burst in the area at about 8 PM which resulted flash floods in the each and every Nallahs towards Keylong and Jalmah. Even the link road from Tandi Petrol Pump to the villages of left bank is closed by the flash floods. The factual position of roads and the losses to agricultural land and houses can be ascertained in the morning when the valley is lightened. My advise is to confirm the road status who have planned from Manali early in the coming morning"

Quote:

Originally Posted by supertinu (Post 2920598)

Hats off to your family for certain. Fiat should definitely use you trip for marketing purpose, will surely do them lot more good than their own advertising efforts :D

Looks like I'm the PR agent for Fiat which I totally don't mind !!!

Congrats on completing the travel as well as the travelogue :D

Thanks for the breakup on the expenses and the list of things that you took. Will help with my planning for Leh in 2013. By the way how was the weather in Ladakh when you went? I read that you climbed most of the passes with a/c but I am presuming that's because of the dust outside. Apart from the Kidar Guest, did you check others by any chance?

Excellent travelogue. Nothing else to say clap:
Thank you so much for the detailed item list, medicine list, routes, expenses etc. This can be used as a guide for those who are planning for a Ladakh trip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by motomaverick (Post 2921701)

The weather was unusually dry and hot when we visited Ladakh. In fact it was so hot that we deferred our plans of visiting Shanthi Stupa for 3 hrs so that the heat of the day would subside a little. Since Leh is cold for most of the year, most guest houses don't have a fan and we were literally sweating inside our rooms. The weather at Khardung La, Chang La and Pangong Lake (as expected) were chilly as they are situated at a very high altitude. Also the route from Zoji La all the way to Ladakh was extremely hot with the ambient temperature hovering around 30 degrees and this coupled with the dusty and dry conditions (courtesy the road widening works that are going on) forced us to drive with the AC on throughout.

Actually there are a lot of good guest houses on the outskirts of Leh. But I did not look into any of them because I had already booked Kidar Guest House in Bangalore by transferring some amount as advance to the owner's bank account. But rest assured that there are plenty of good and affordable accommodations available. However I suggest you to take Kidar as its affordable, clean and very picturesque

Awesome travelogue, What pictures man!

BTW there are tempo travelers that ply through the night on the Leh-Manali highway. They start at around 11 pm from Leh and stop for a couple of food breaks and reach Manali at around 6pm.

Very courageous attempt. This will give many friends in this forum to attempt these stretches in a sedan. Nothing is impossible.

Could you give us some details of sump guards, like how much it might cost, any specific make etc. The information would be very helpful.

Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by A.G.The Rambler (Post 2937718)

Actually the Linea comes with a solid metal engine guard from factory itself. It is not an aftermarket accessory that I've installed in my car. However if your car doesn't come with a default engine guard and if you are hell bent on installing a sump guard, then I guess the only option left is to fabricate one from scratch. Any competant sheet metal worker should be able to design a custom made guard, which in my opinion is absolutely necessary if visiting Leh in a ground hugging car like a Linea.

Or another solution (a wild one) that I could think of is to get an engine guard of a Linea/Punto which costs approximately Rs 1600/- and then modify that to suit whichever car you own. stupid:

Quote:

Originally Posted by rohittunga (Post 2937841)

I drive a Manza and it does not come with a sump guard. Thanks for the information. Will try to inquire from where i can get this in Kolkata.

Quote:

Originally Posted by A.G.The Rambler

I drive a Manza and it does not come with a sump guard. Thanks for the information. Will try to inquire from where i can get this in Kolkata.

I think the Manza comes with a guard. There is a plastic piece joined near the bumper and then behind it there is a metal sheet with a small square gap on one side.

Just went though your entire Travelogue in one go. Absolutely amazing!

Its been said a lot of times, but hats off to your co passengers and you.