[sudev]

Nice travelogue. Yes as correctly pointed out that tributary is Zanskar river. Slightly ahead of this is the magnetic mountain and Patthar Sahib Gurudwara.

Lovely faces. Shows how much patience you took in snapping pictures.

[A.G.The Rambler]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

That's Zanskar river Sir. Chaddar trek route during winter. ADC can throw more light here.

Originally Posted by sudev

Nice travelogue. Yes as correctly pointed out that tributary is Zanskar river. Slightly ahead of this is the magnetic mountain and Patthar Sahib Gurudwara.

Yes, this is the confluence of Zanskar and Indus at Nimmu.

[debuda]

Day-13 (19 May 13) : All 5 of us proceeded from Leh to Pangong Tso, about 160 km away. One needs permits to visit Pangong Tso, Khardung La, Nubra Valley, etc., and we had got the same made at Leh on 18 May. The permits for the 5 of us cost Rs 1600 (Rs 320 per head – Environmental fee Rs 200, Department of Wildlife Protection Rs 100, District Red Cross Committee Rs 20). Our permit was checked only once about 30 km from Leh while driving to Pangong Tso. Thereafter, it was never checked, even when we drove to Khardung La and Nubra Valley on 21 May.

On the way to Pangong Tso we visited the Thiksay Monastery.

The road from Leh to Pangong Tso was mostly good though near Pangong Tso there are a few broken / narrow stretches. The ascent to Chang La is quite steep and though the road surface is good, it is narrow at places and one needs to drive carefully, especially at the numerous hairpin bends

The highlight of the drive to Pangong Tso was crossing Chang La. It was awesome to cross a pass at 17,600 feet. But it was much easier to cross it than Zozi La though the altitude of Zozi La is much less. The reason is that the road at Chang La is much better maintained and one does not encounter much slush, mud and large craters. The day time temperature at Chang La was minus 4 deg C.

When we reached Pangong Tso, all of us were amazed – never ever had we seen a lake which was so deep blue in colour that it appeared filled not with water, but ink! Situated at an altitude of 14,270 feet, this gigantic lake is 134 km long – but only about one-third of this lake is in India and the remaining two-thirds is in Tibet (China).

Despite our gradual ascent from the Srinagar side and reasonable degree of acclimatization, Iram could not take higher altitudes and fell sick (headache, nausea, giddiness, etc.) during this trip. By the time she reached Pangong Tso (14,270 feet) after crossing Chang La (17,600 feet), she was quite unwell. Fortunately, there was a dispensary run by the Army at Pangong Tso where Iram was made to lie down and given necessary medication and oxygen.

After the 4 of us enjoyed Pangong Tso to our hearts’ content, the 5 of us headed back towards Leh and spent the evening / night at an Army unit at Tangtse (about 45 km from Pangong Tso). The altitude of Tangtse is about 14,000 feet and Iram recovered to some extent after a good night’s sleep and medication.



I caught this lovely reflection at a pond near Shey Palace.




Thiksay monastery.




View from atop Thiksay monastery. Note the large number of stupas, ubiquitous all over Ladakh.




Inside Thiksay monastery.




At Chang La.




Beautiful icicles.




As you have figured out by now, the XUV is my most favourite model!




Almost all the tourist vans in J&K are made by Force Motors.




Ice covered roads near Chang La.




Near Chang La.




Close to Pangong Tso, one passes through sand dunes which are almost at street level. Due to strong winds the sand keeps flying (and getting into air filters!).




Pangong Tso -- I tasted the water and found it salty, though not as saline as seawater. Whitish salt deposits can be seen on the banks of the lake.




























These FRP igloo-like structures at Pangong Tso house Army personnel and a full fledged MI Room (dispensary) which provides free treatment to civilian tourists also. Iram received treatment here.




Day-14 (20 May 13) : The 5 of us left Tangtse in the morning and returned to Leh. Before entering Leh (15 km before Leh) we visited the Shey Palace. At Leh, the 3 men had been staying at an Army unit and the 2 girls in a home stay lodge. Since we reached Leh by noon, the 3 men went out for local sightseeing in the evening.

In view of Iram’s high-altitude sickness, Debashree and Iram decided not to join us for our trip to Khardung La and Nubra Valley on 21 May and stay back at Leh.



The ‘famous 5’ pose at Tangtse.




About 25 km before Leh we saw dozens of tourist vans turning from the main highway into a side lane. We followed them and found that hundreds of tourists were visiting a place where some parts of the Hindi film ‘3 Idiots’ were shot. Incidentally, the Pangong Tso also featured in this film and apparently helped to popularize it as a tourist destination.




The Shey Palace.




Inside Shey Palace.




Close to Leh I saw some kind of a ceremony going on at a ground near the highway. It turned out to be a funeral ceremony.




Traditional Ladakhi attire at the funeral.




Traditional Ladakhi attire at the funeral.




The Shanti Stupa at Leh.




A temple in the Shanti Stupa complex.




View of Leh town from Shanti Stupa.




At the Shanti Stupa.

[dZired]

A very detailed write-up accompanied by some very fine clicks. Great going debuda.

The portrait shots are indeed superb and the 'moonscapes' seriously appear to be out of this planet.

Hooked to this thread.

[BoneCollector]

Sir,Superb set of pictures and nice write up. This is giving me an itch to visit Leh-Ladakh as and when I also go in for a proper SUV.


Beautiful place to visit and I really love the way you present your travelogues, more of pics to do the talking.

[Sleeplessdriver]

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[aviorp]

Beautiful pictures and superb narration. Its inspiring to see you work on those small technical glitches and rectifying them on your own. Even better, is your passion to drive and explore. Your steed looks a class apart in this territory. Waiting for the rest of the log to unfold. 5*

P.S : First Ladakh Travelogue for this year I guess.

[vdi]

Mind blowing pics sir. Hope to visit this place in 2014

[debuda]

Day-15 (21 May 13) : The 3 men left Leh for Nubra Valley at 6 AM. Debashree and Iram stayed back at Leh to obviate recurrence of Iram’s high altitude sickness problem. First, we needed to cross Khardung La which is just 45 km from Leh. But the road is steep and quite treacherous at certain places. There was lots of ice and slush, even flowing streams across or along the road. Also, I found too many boulders, some very large, strewn across the road. I think clearing these boulders is a daily task for the BRO bulldozers. Imagine one of these falling boulders hitting your car!

The XUV ‘conquered’ Khardung La without too much huffing and puffing. Incidentally, the claimed altitude of 18,379 feet (5602 m) is bogus. The altitude shown by my Garmin GPS was 17,656 feet which is very close to the actual altitude measured scientifically. One can check the Wikipedia article and other authentic references to verify this. Actually, Khardung La is only marginally higher than Chang La.

We crossed Khardung La at 7:40 AM and the temperature then was minus 6 deg C. It was completely deserted at that time – not even one person could be seen anywhere near K-top.

While descending from K-top towards North Pullu I realized that the return climb to K-top would be more treacherous than the climb from the South Pullu (Leh) side. This is because there was more ice / slush / craters on that side. And indeed, while returning from Nubra valley I experienced wheel spin on a couple of occasions while climbing to K-top in 1st gear.

While going from Leh we had crossed K-top at about 7:40 AM and while returning to Leh we crossed K-top even earlier at 7 AM. It was a very wise thing to do because I encountered almost nil traffic at that time. When there is little traffic, one can maintain a good speed (momentum) while ascending. Otherwise, one often needs to slow down or even stop to allow other vehicles to pass and one has to struggle to build up speed again. Of course, AWD or 4WD SUVs have a big advantage in this respect. Anyway, my FWD XUV managed to cross all the high altitude passes without much difficulty though there was a perceptible drop in engine power at altitudes greater than 13,000 feet.

After crossing Khargung La we descended towards Diskit and started to enjoy the views of Nubra valley and thousands of acres of high-altitude deserts, complete with sand dunes and thorny bushes. Near Diskit there was a huge diversion through unpaved roads as the main highway had got completely blocked due to massive landslides. There wasn’t anything much in Diskit (after seeing other parts of Ladakh our expectations were probably set too high) and we decided to continue driving further to Hunder.

Hunder was a disappointment as all we saw there were some sick looking double-humped Bactrian camels, that too in captivity. This Bactrian camel thing seems to be just an over-hyped ‘tourist attraction’. Some local businessmen own a handful of these animals (which they must be breeding) and hordes of tourists descend upon Hunder to gawk at these hapless animals and ride them for fancy fees. Most of these camels had large chunks of fur missing and we were told that this shedding of fur was a natural phenomenon during summer.

After ticking off the Bactrian camel checkbox in our itinerary we decided to start our return journey towards Leh. We had lunch at Diskit and thereafter continued driving as there were a few hours of daylight left and we wanted to spend the night at a place not far from Khardung La (so that we could cross it unhindered early next morning).

We found accommodation in a small village called Khardong (probably Khardung La was named after this place) which is just 32 km from K-top and we spent the night there. Khardong is at 13,000 feet and wasn’t too cold – early morning temperature was 4 deg C.



Bogus claims of altitude at Khardung La.




View from K-top.




Khardung La completely deserted at 7:40 AM.




Altitude of K-top as indicated by my GPS.



Ice and slush on the road near K-top.




Near K-top.




Near K-top.




Nubra valley.




Nubra valley.




Road near Diskit.




Near Diskit.




At Diskit.




On the way to Hunder.




Sand dunes at Hunder.




Sand dunes at Hunder.




Bactrian camel at Hunder.




Bactrian camels at Hunder.




Sand dunes at Hunder.




Day-16 (22 May 13) : Started from Khardong at 5 AM after a good night’s sleep and started for K-top. As I had anticipated, the climb to K-top from this side (North Pullu) was a bit more treacherous as some of the steep inclines were covered in ice and slush (the apparent reason is that this side is less exposed to the sun). Another problem I found with Khardung La was that on either side of K-top there are kutcha (unpaved) stretches of 20-30 km which become extremely dusty when dry. If one is following one or more vehicles, the car’s air filter would breathe copious amounts of dust and visibility also would be adversely affected. By crossing K-top very early in the morning both ways we avoided this problem.

We reached Leh before 9 AM and picked up the 2 girls to proceed straightaway towards Kargil. The option to spend the night at the Nurla Army unit was there but since we had started early and were making good progress I continued driving till we reached Mulbekh (180 km from Leh; 258 km from Khardong) by evening. There is a J&K Tourism bungalow at Mulbekh and we were the only guests there. The tourist bungalow is not very well-appointed but we had a reasonably comfortable stay.



Approaching Khardung La from North Pullu.




Near Khardung La.




Indus river.




Moonscapes.




Rocks in Ladakh display various colours due to the presence of certain minerals.




Almost everywhere in Ladakh one has to drive on ghat (hill) roads.




Typically Ladakh.




For a car / bike enthusiast, the road itself can be the destination.




In Ladakh one comes across unique and striking landscapes almost at every hairpin bend!




The J&K Tourism bungalow at Mulbekh.




Awesome view from the tourist bungalow.

[debuda]

Day-17 (23 May 13) : All 5 of us started from the tourist bungalow in Mulbekh early in the morning. Destination for the day -- Srinagar.



We were making good progress, crossed Kargil and Drass easily, but when we reached this Police checkpost before Zozi La at 11:30 AM, we were told that we could proceed towards Zozi La only after 2 PM. This would have meant a loss of 2.5 hours. Then Maj. Ghosh spoke to the officer and introduced ourselves and we were given 'special' permission to proceed to Zozi La.




Note the greenery near the Police checkpost.




Crossing Zozi La was once again a pain. Road conditions about 25 km before Z-top and 25 km after Z-top are quite bad. There are huge water filled craters and streams flowing ALONG the road! Boulders are falling all the time. Some inclines are very steep.




Out of all the high mountain passes I crossed during this trip, I consider Zozi La the worst. I have renamed it Godzi La!




Soon after crossing Zozi La we got stuck in a horrible traffic jam for 3 hours. This was caused due to a landslide which was being cleared by BRO. After being completely stuck for 2 hours, traffic started moving slowly and we crawled to a spot where stones and pebbles were still falling from the mountain and then the traffic came to a halt once again. It was a most harrowing 6-7 minutes when our car could have been damaged any time. We were so scared that we forgot to take pictures! After 6-7 minutes traffic started crawling again and we got out of the 'shooting stones' area. This pic was taken well after we got out of the jam.




Jaan bachee to laakhon paaye!




A very common sight on the roads of Kashmir. BTW, almost all the 'mutton' in Kashmir is sheep.



We finally reached Srinagar in the evening, quite tired but thankful for emerging out of Godzi La in one piece!

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by debuda

We were making good progress, crossed Kargil and Drass easily,

Sir a small question, why didn't you consider the other side (Leh - Manali) to come down?

[SDP]

Debuda, the pace at which this travelogue is going, I am pretty sure that you have intentions of completing it before the weekend! That's actually a fantastic way of putting up a travelogue rather than dragging one on for months together and flooding it with a few thousand pictures, which all seem to look similar beyond a point.

Lovely narration and absolutely brilliant pictures. Loved the deep blue sky. Was wondering, were you using a polarizer or is the sky indeed that deep blue?

[daisyb]

Excellent pictures Debuda. We did kashmir, but did not have enough time to do Leh/Ladakh. We will do it one day

[Mudhalaipatti]

Lovely pictures and great narrative. I presume a detailed report on how XUV handled the heights is coming just around the corner. Especially it's water wading capability considering the low air intake point for XUV. Also how did the filters manage the dust storms.

[bnzjon]

Sir Ji, your pictures do all the talking.
Very interesting travelogue and believe me, I have gone through the pictures many a times since morning. I have an itch now to take up Chennai to Ladakh in the near future.

Thanks for posting your experience.