[anujmishra]

Great pictures and nice narration.

How did your Laura cross the Pagal Nallah? Infamous one due to sudden streams and rough surface. Or did you take other route?

At this point, how was your acclimatization going on?

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

How did your Laura cross the Pagal Nallah? Infamous one due to sudden streams and rough surface. Or did you take other route?

Pagal Nallah is now tamed, and sent to Pagal Khana , a bridge has been built.

[.anshuman]

Reached Pangong and had some snacking at the Army cafeteria open to civilians. We had to make a urgent phone call, asked around where to find a phone, the nearest PCO was in a village few kilometers away. We drove to the village only to find PCO was close, so the next one was another 10-12 kms away Finally we found the PCO, but a ITBP soldier was on phone since last few hours, chased away the PCO owner and he had locked the phone booth from inside. Waited for some time, the PCO owner refused to intervene, with lot knocking and disturbing the soldier finally moved out.

Our stay arrangements were at a Army base atleast an hour away from Pangong Tso, we changed our plans to stay at Pangong despite long persuasion by our local host- an Army officer, he agreed only if we have next day's lunch with him on our way back, we agreed.

[.anshuman]

More Pictures from Pangong Tso-

[breezydrive]

Excellent write -up & pictures!

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Day 1

Started looking for Dhabas for lunch, for almost an hour's confusion stopped on to a Dhaba just after Pathankot only to find terrible tasting food.

All those good Dhabas have now vanished with arrival of Mcd's, KFC's on the highways. However, there is a canal side restaurant after Pathankot, just before Ravi bridge on RHS. This place is a nice spot as the breeze flowing over the canal creates a pleasant chilling affect in the surroundings.

[avingodb]

Loved this travelogue and awesome pics too, all of them are wallpaper stuff!
congratulations on a wonderful achievement.

[rawkeron]

Beautiful - both in prose and pictures.

Skoda Laura indeed is a competent car. Doing ladakh with 4 adults and a packed trunk takes Skoda Laura to New high in capability and reliability.

I totally enjoyed your log and eagerly awaiting the remaing story. You write well, immersive, I actually felt like I am there driving the car, especially the narration of driving through those perilous passes where traction control worked overtime. Pictures are splendid. The cropped moon was awesome. I believe low humidity and thin helped in getting such a crisp image.

Is the underbody armor a part of the stock car / option or custom built for the ladakh trip?
Is the army guesthouses you stayed open to all civilians or does one need the right contacts inside army ?(one you described with the very helphul attendant)

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by rawkeron

Beautiful - both in prose and pictures.

I totally enjoyed your log and eagerly awaiting the remaing story. You write well, immersive, I actually felt like I am there driving the car, especially the narration of driving through those perilous passes where traction control worked overtime. Pictures are splendid. The cropped moon was awesome. I believe low humidity and thin helped in getting such a crisp image.

Thanks

Is the underbody armor a part of the stock car / option or custom built for the ladakh trip?

Rough road package is standard for Yeti, Laura and Superb. I do not know about Fabia, Rapid does not come with proper rough road package(It's not a proper Skoda anyways). Rough road package is not a jugaad for India, it is designed at the time of development of the vehicle.

EDIT: Even Fiat Punto and Linea come with excellent underbody protection.

Is the army guesthouses you stayed open to all civilians or does one need the right contacts inside army ?(one you described with the very helpful attendant)

Army guesthouses can only be booked by Army officers for their own guests.

[YashD]

Is the rough road package standard or do we have to pay something additional for it?

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by YashD

Is the rough road package standard or do we have to pay something additional for it?

See post #98 .

[YashD]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

See post #98 .

oops, my mistake.
Can you please tell me what else is offered in this package?

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by YashD

oops, my mistake.
Can you please tell me what else is offered in this package?

From what i know, will post more(if any) from owner's manual-

• Higher Ground Clearance
• Differently tuned suspension
• Underbody Protection
• Protection for Suspension Arms
• Protection for Fuel line
• Protection for wires

^ There is some more protection on Indian car i do not see in this pic

Pic source:http://new.skoda-auto.com/en/models/...age=technology

[Akshay1234]

Brilliant thread anshuman, it really takes some confidence to take a Laura to Ladakh. I for one am really surprised that there are NO rattles after the trip, looking at the kind of roads you went on. You must have driven pretty carefully. Also this shows that the 6 speed DSG is pretty darn reliable, and it should not be a deal breaker. Looking forward to the rest.

[supertinu]

Thanks for sharing this lovely travelogue Anshuman. Very well written and amazing photographs as well. Somehow I am running out of adjectives every time I comment on Leh Tlogs .

By the way I think Skoda should use your Tlog as a marketing stunt to kind of get over all the negative image they have about reliability and maintenance cost. I have never sat in a Skoda in my life, but have a extremely negative perception thanks to tons of horror experiences shared on TBHP, this one is definitely in the right direction for the company in some way.

With 2 Tbhp sedans venturing into Leh this year, I am certain that next season we are gonna see more people attempting Leh circuit in cars.

[motomaverick]

Nice thread, lovely crisp write Anshuman. It is raining Sedans in Leh this year, 2nd thread I am reading after Rohit's Linea. I also see that you just luv taking pictures of your car against these lovely backdrops. Well I would not blame you Carry on and show us some of those blue colors of the lake.