[humyum]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Absolutely mindblowing pictures. And I love your narration. Devoid of all the literary crap that we see around here a lot these days. You just get to the point and leave it there.

Rated this thread a super 5 stars. Hope there's more!

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by Rajain

Hi
At some stage if you have not already planned, please do list out what stuff/equipment you had and what you should have had (and did not have). I mean tow rope, shackle, air pump, spare tube etc.
Also, did you carry any spare fuel or you came back via Kargil? We will wait for the part on Swift's performance.
Great going. Nice pictures and always lovely to see another Leh TL.
Cheers
Rajain

Yes, That will come up in the end. An entire do's an don't along with what to carry on the trip and lessons learnt.

Originally Posted by Nonstop-driver

Some excellent photographs with good narration there Humyum. Every Leh TL is unique in itself and I never get boared to read them again and again. Also, thanks to the good samaritan in you that helped the M800 back on the road.

There are certain things, which possibly I do not like the way you drive, but then it's my own opinion and apologies in advance if you don't agree.
1. Your car seemd to be aquaplaning quite often. Is it related to the high speed driving tendency?
2. The tinted glass issue. It has been over an year that this has been implemented. Ideally you should have stripped off the tint long ago and if required, there are 2-3 threads in the DIY section to help you with.
3. Attempting to pay bribe and actually paying it as you've admitted isn't setting good example.
4. Driving on the wrong site in the event of a jam - this is something which aggrevates the jam situation and quite often we've seen situations where the jam could have been avoided altogether. Then think of the situation when you've yourself caused the jam!

Enough of preaching now, let the further log and pics come!

Thank you. Let me answer your questions point by point

1) I need to figure out why it aqua planed so much this time as I have driven a lot of 1000 and 1500 km trips in a day to Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bangalore before this trip in all seasons with my parents over the years and it has never aqua planed. All the times the speed maintained have been 120's and 130's as with the Michelins, the Swift Diesels power and handling characteristics, it has always been a comfortable experience along with the fact that its never felt strained at those speeds. The swift when it inches towards 140 and beyond it feels strained but otherwise 120 and 130 is an extremely comfortable cruising speed. Also the fact that we do trips which involved reaching places like Mumbai to Junagadh, Mumbai to Bangalore or Mumbai to Jaipur in one day, it makes it boring for me to drive at 80 and 100's. I need to figure out the 'WHY it happened this time and that too multiple times on this trip. Trust me, I am a very safe driver, have not had a shunt in almost 2 lakh plus kilometres I have driven in my life.

2) About the tinted glass, this travelogue dates back to september 2012 when it had just got back from UK like 15 days back before this trip. I thought like always the law will be ruled back and also that since we will be travelling on such a long trip from states like Gujarat and Rajasthan, I thought of letting the light tints be. Completely my mistake, but seizing my car was not the right thing to ask from me as I possibly would have not gone to court in a place like Kashmir when I was on a vacation and got my car out. The next possible thing I did was 'circumvent' and hence the bribe. I agree its not setting a good example, but I was just being honest. I would not usually bribe my way out in Mumbai, but the situation here demanded extreme measures.

3)Well, In these areas I realised, that is how the traffic is diverted. The smaller cars take the outside path and duck in as directed by the cops during events like a landslide or a conked truck on the highway.

Originally Posted by Schoudhury

Wow man, this is simply superb.
The narration is excellent and to top it up with crisp snaps is just icing on the cake.
Could you please share with me the full resolution picture of snap of the India flag on your car, if possible.
Waiting for the rest of the log to unfold .

Cheers

Thank you. Yes, of course, PM me your e-mail id and I ll send you the high resolution picture.

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello,

Great travelogue & equally great photos.

You have set the Driving & photography benchmark a step above for us. These travelogues to Ladakh only motivate me to undertake this jounrey this year itself. Thank you for these spectacular pictures & crisp narration.

Regarding altitude sickness I believe it is advised to take Diamox tablet everyday during the trip. Did you followed this schedule? Also generally it is Air travellers to Leh who suffer from altitude sickness. People who visit by Car are already used to high altitudes.

Thanks,

Thank you. Yes, we did start taking Dimox from the moment we left Srinagar, Atleast 3 times a day the pill was taken and we chose the Srinagar route only because of the reason that we get acclimatized but I guess the hectic tiredness and stress of driving long distances over the days in a hatchback must have played a part in us not feeling well for the first some days at high altitudes.

[(Alok)]

Good going humyum. It is really courageous to drive alone (I mean alone vehicle) in Himalaya. Were you driven all the time or it was changed by Rahul (your buddy)?

Please add information for Fuel Stations also in your posts.

[samarth.bhatia]

Really neat travelogue so far, humyum.
Interesting shots there.

This travelogue inspires me to take my Chevy Beat to Leh. And soon.

I can understand your problem with the cop at Srinagar.

The bits about lack of oxygen threatening to play spoil sport are a bit scary for me. I hope me & my clan don't face that problem. Did you not carry an O2 cylinder?

Also, apart from the hit to the oil sump, did you face any other difficulties with the car? Was the oil sump replaced at the service center?

Looking forward to reading more soon.
BTW, even to a mild patriot like me, the pic with the Indian flag flying outside the car window takes the cake

Cheers!
Sam

[lapsi]

Originally Posted by humyum

1) I need to figure out why it aqua planed so much this time as I have driven a lot of 1000 and 1500 km trips in a day to Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bangalore before this trip in all seasons with my parents over the years and it has never aqua planed. All the times the speed maintained have been 120's and 130's as with the Michelins, the Swift Diesels power and handling characteristics, it has always been a comfortable experience along with the fact that its never felt strained at those speeds. The swift when it inches towards 140 and beyond it feels strained but otherwise 120 and 130 is an extremely comfortable cruising speed. Also the fact that we do trips which involved reaching places like Mumbai to Junagadh, Mumbai to Bangalore or Mumbai to Jaipur in one day, it makes it boring for me to drive at 80 and 100's. I need to figure out the 'WHY it happened this time and that too multiple times on this trip. Trust me, I am a very safe driver, have not had a shunt in almost 2 lakh plus kilometres I have driven in my life.

It looks like the answer to your aquaplaning problem lies in your reply. You have said that since you have to cover long distances you maintain a speed of about 120 - 130. This is OK in ideal conditions but it appears that you maintain this speed irrespective of the weather conditions. I believe that if you had adequately slowed down whenever the conditions were wet or when you saw some water on the roads, you would not have had the aquaplaning problem to this extent.

In addition, there are couple of things which I follow when on highways which I would like to share. One thing is never to set a target time for the destination. A target time leads to stress and makes one hurry which results in a higher probability for making mistakes. It is best to go with the flow and reach when you reach.

It is also a good idea to avoid driving on highways between 2am and 6am. It is better to stop and get some rest during these hours. Even if you are well rested and alert, it is possible that other drivers on the road are tired and sleepy and they could cause an accident.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

[swiftnfurious]

Awesome pics man! Nature captured at it's best!! I wish the car was clean so compliment the pics (ya ya, I know it can't ).

Rating 5 stars!! Thank you for a feast!

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

I wish the car was clean so compliment the pics (ya ya, I know it can't ).

Well, some of us like the Car in its elements, sometimes & on occasions such as this, it appears perfect

Needless to say, a thread is dedicated to it, here

And this thread deserves *****

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Well, some of us like the Car in its elements, sometimes & on occasions such as this, it appears perfect ..

I would have loved if it was a SUV! That would have gone with the character & the location too, rugged! But difficult to imagine a hatch there!

Between, thanks for the link - my car would have already been featured there had I come across it before.

[manolin]

but why would you scoot when the lady asked you for a lift? its quite the done thing in hills.

[abhijitvp]

Very nice travel log humyum. All Ladakh travel logs have some charm in them so as this one. Pics are too good as well as the narration. I am surprised to see you struggling with your Swift on the way to Kargil. Was there any issue with the clutch or it’s because of lack of oxygen or too much of luggage? I am also planning to do Ladakh in my Swift VDi hence bit concerned.

Please share preparation, performance of the Swift and leanings.

Rating this thread well deserved 5 stars.

[aviorp]

Interesting that you started writing the travelogue the very next day you left for the trip. Lost the connectivity somewhere?

Those pictures are just master class. Kudos to you guys for doing this on a swift. One can never be tired of reading the Leh logs. It just rejuvenating and makes one want more.

I'm curious to see how you guys tackled Chang La and the last 30 odd kms before Tso Moriri. Waiting for the rest of the travelouge to unfold.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by humyum

...Thank you. Yes, that would work in case of SUV's which have massive low end torque, but sadely in case of the Swift, she would not even move an inch in first gear without me rev dumping her, On the Zozila pass, even 1st gear could not make her climb some of the stretches and she had to be pushed. Its the massive turbolag that plays a spoil sport in such mountains. The task is to make her reach 2000 rpm in 1st gear for her to maintain the momentum, anything less and you are moving towards a stall. .

I really don't want to spoil the mood here, but my few certain points..

At any case you need not rev the engine to shoot the car at 2000 rpm. Simple logic - the more you raise more vulnerable to loose traction.
Swift has enough low end torque for it to go places ( read as torque to weight ratio and not mere torque figure) .

Ok, let me stop here. Waiting for more details on travel. After a very long time I am following a travel story. Keep going.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by humyum

Thank you. Yes, we did start taking Dimox from the moment we left Srinagar, Atleast 3 times a day the pill was taken and we chose the Srinagar route only because of the reason that we get acclimatized but I guess the hectic tiredness and stress of driving long distances over the days in a hatchback must have played a part in us not feeling well for the first some days at high altitudes.

Diamox three times a day? Srinagar-Leh route is way more slow and gradual climbing than the other side. Three tablets a day probably an overkill. But that also depends from person to person.

Lovely pictorial coverage! But why so slow with your posting?

[motomaverick]

Great travelogue especially the pictures. But no updates for long, come on dude finish the log and give some pointers for others who are planning a trip the mountains this year.

[narsi_6989]

Hi,
Such a nice travelogue and kudos for completing the trip successfully . Please keep the log tricking. I plan to take my Fabia all the way this year and this log will be of immense help. What are the extra precautions to be taken for a Hatch?

[Gotham_City]

Thanks humyum for sharing the Leh experience on the forum.

Some of the photographs are worth million bucks.

Must say, you had some real hair-raising experiences on those hilly terrains. Your swift took those harsh punishments in its stride and came out well.

Not sure, how many of us will have the spunk do such tough terrains in a hatch back.