[debuda]

Amongst Indian driving enthusiasts (both car and bike) Ladakh has a sort of cult status. Many Indian motorists consider a drive to Ladakh as the holy grail of driving adventure.

So how come I waited till the ripe old age of 61 to make my maiden car trip to Ladakh? There are several reasons, but the most significant one is that I did not possess a suitable vehicle earlier. Soon after acquiring a XUV, I started thinking about a drive to Ladakh. Doing several long drives over 6 months, especially a drive to Nathu La and North Sikkim, gave me the confidence to take my XUV to Ladakh.

When I discussed the plan with my childhood friend Major Amitava Ghosh, he was excited. We drew up a tentative itinerary together. Both of us being ex-servicemen, we arranged most of our en route accommodation in Army units. The date of our departure was frozen when Maj. Ghosh received an invitation from his old Artillery Regiment, presently based near Uri in Kashmir, to attend their Raising Day on 14.05.13.

Dhiman Shah, a friend of mine from Jamshedpur, was keen to join our trip and we gladly took him on board. Barely a week before commencement of our trip, my elder daughter Debashree Mukherjee and her friend Iram Ghufram decided to jump on the bandwagon from Delhi and they were more than welcome. My wife needed to travel to London where her brother was to undergo surgery and so she was not a part of this team right from the conceptual stage.

Being the only hard core driving enthusiast in the team, I drove the entire distance of 6,576 km myself.

A brief travelogue of our 25-day, 6,576 km expedition follows. Like my earlier travelogues on Team-BHP, I shall try to use less words and more pictures.

Three cameras were used for the pictures I’ll be posting here. A Canon EOS 5D Mk III with a 16-35 mm lens was brought to the table by Iram. The other two were my old faithful Canon SX100IS and my newly acquired smartphone Micromax Canvas HD A-116. Almost all the pictures posted here were clicked by me. But a few were clicked by Iram and my daughter Debashree.

Day-1 (07 May 13) : Dhiman and I drove 130 km to Ranchi and spent the night at the home of Major Amitava Ghosh.

Day-2 and Day-3 (08-09 May 13) : Dhiman, Amitava and I drove from Ranchi to Delhi (1357 km), spending a night in a hotel near Kanpur.



The 180 km long Yamuna Expressway from Agra to Greater Noida is a big boon. I drove the entire distance on cruise control. Here, Amitava and Dhiman are posing near the Agra end.




Day-4 (10 May 13) : At Delhi.

Day-5 (11 May 13) : Dhiman, Amitava, Debashree, Iram and I drove 634 km from Delhi to Jammu and put up in an Army unit. Roads from Delhi to Jammu are excellent.

Day-6 (12 May 13) : The 5 of us drove 301 km to Srinagar. The 3 men put up in an Army Unit at Badami Bagh and the 2 girls went to a houseboat on Dal lake.



The girls taking out their woolens after crossing Jawahar Tunnel.




XUV looks happy to reach Kashmir.




Our first glimpse of the Kashmir Valley.




Poplar lined avenues – so ubiquitous all over the Kashmir Valley.




At Dal Lake.




At Dal Lake.




At Dal Lake.




Day-7 (13 May 13) : The 3 men drove 90 km from Srinagar to Boniyar (near Uri) and put up in an Army Unit. The 2 girls stayed back in Srinagar.



View from our officers’ mess at Boniyar. The lovely river is Jhelum, flowing down from Srinagar, towards the Pakistan border at Kaman.




Day-8 (14 May 13) : The 3 men drove from Boniyar to visit an Artillery field gun battery and then to the Indo-Pak trade gate (border post) at Kaman near Uri, and back. Special permits were required for these visits and the same were issued to us by the Army.



On the way to Kaman trade gate.




Bottoms of trucks about to cross into Pakistan being inspected.




At Kaman border post. The hill in the background happens to be in Pakistan.




The 3 men posing in front of the short bridge joining India and Pakistan.




This poster on the Pakistani side reads : “From home to home; We extend a very warm welcome to our Kashmiri brethren”. Needless to say, the key word here is “home”.




The two fauji friends posing in front of the Kaman gate.




The Jhelum river flowing into Pakistan at Kaman. The hill on the RHS of the river is in Pakistan.




The Army mess at Boniyar.




Day-9 (15 May 13) : The 3 men drove from Boniyar to Srinagar (90 km) early in the morning (started at 4 AM) and picked up the 2 girls at Dal Lake at 7 AM. Thereafter, all 5 us drove to Kargil (208 km from Srinagar).



Debashree and Iram returning by a shikara to a Dal Lake ghat from their houseboat.




The altitude of Srinagar is just about 5,300 ft. From Srinagar, the road to Sonamarg and then onwards to Baltal (one of the starting / finishing points of the Amarnath Yatra) is quite good. Thereafter road is quite steep (climbs to 11,700 feet at Zozi La) and road condition at places is bad – full of craters and large puddles due to melting snow. A considerable part of this stretch was unpaved and was very muddy and slushy due to recent heavy rains. The condition of the roads near Zozi La was not good.

This route is very scenic, especially near Sonamarg, Baltal and Zozi La. The Kargil war memorial at Drass is worth visiting. After Drass the highway is excellent but one cannot drive very fast as there are stretches which have got damaged due to landslides or streams.

The altitude of Kargil is 8,900 feet. We found the temperature there to be 25-30 deg C during the day time and about 15 deg C at night.



On the way to Sonamarg.




On the way to Sonamarg.




On the way to Sonamarg.




Glacier near Sonamarg.




Glacier near Sonamarg.




At Sonamarg.




At Sonamarg.




At Sonamarg.




Near Baltal.




Ice walls appear on both sides of the road as one climbs towards Zozi La.




Boulders being cleared from the road.




Nearing Zozi La.

[debuda]

Some stretches near Zozi La are quite bad and treacherous. The engine bottom guard in my XUV got damaged here and started rubbing against the ground.




Getting ready to jack up the XUV to attend to the bottom guard.




I had to saw off a broken part (plastic) of the bottom guard which was rubbing against the ground.




All smiles after rectifying the problem.




Near Zozi La.




At Zozi La




At Zozi La




At Zozi La




L to R : Cdr Debashis Mukherjee, Mr. Dhiman Shah, Ms. Iram Ghufram, Ms. Debashree Mukherjee, Maj Amitava Ghosh.




Beyond Zozi La.




Beyond Zozi La.




Huge puddles due to melting snow.




After crossing Zozi La, one enters Ladakh. Surroundings become even more scenic.




We stopped at a Dhaba to have Maggi Noodles.




The Kargil War (OP Vijay) Memorial at Drass.




The Kargil War (OP Vijay) Memorial at Drass.




Wonderful roads.




Kargil.




Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.




At Kargil.

[deepak_misra]

Originally Posted by debuda

Being the only hard core driving enthusiast in the team, I drove the entire distance of 6,576 km myself.

That is quite a feat driving so much yourselves. Didnt you get fatigued? Beautiful photos - particularly the one of the old man in Kargil.

Deepak

[daisyb]

Beautiful pictures of Kashmir Debuda. Waiting for your Ladakh pictures.

[Dodge_Viper]

Originally Posted by deepak_misra

That is quite a feat driving so much yourselves. Didnt you get fatigued? Beautiful photos - particularly the one of the old man in Kargil.

Deepak

Faujis and fatigue never go hand in hand .
Wonderful photos debuda. Was amazed to see the Indo-Pak border post. Thanks for sharing.

[mobix]

Great TL Debuda. Absolutely love the first photo "After crossing Zozi La, one enters Ladakh. Surroundings become even more scenic".
Looking forward to rest of the TL & photos.

[rkg]

Debuda Ji

excellent photographs.

Iam posting some photos of Sonamarg in March last week( 28th march,2013). Hope you wont mind it.

[narsi_6989]

Originally Posted by debuda

Amongst Indian driving enthusiasts (both car and bike) Ladakh has a sort of cult status. Many Indian motorists consider a drive to Ladakh as the holy grail of driving adventure.

So how come I waited till the ripe old age of 61 to make my maiden car trip to Ladakh?

Ahh.. Here comes one of the most awaited T-Logs of Team BHP.
Was a silently following the developments in XUV Niggles Thread and was expecting this log for sometime now. Nice start Debuda Ji and the pics complement it. Keep it coming sir.

Subscribed and waiting for more

[debuda]

Day-10 (16 May 13) : It was a day of rest, relaxation and acclimatization at Kargil. Debashree, Iram and I enjoyed some wonderful Wazwan cuisine (mutton rogan josh, gushtaba and methi maas) at a restaurant in Kargil town. I also took a number of pictures which you can see in my previous post.

Day-11 (17 May 13) : We started from Kargil after breakfast but the car broke down almost immediately. The details of the breakdown and its rectification can be seen here. Subsequently, we drove 140 km to an Army Unit in Nurla (about 100 km before Leh) and spent the evening / night there.

Road from Kargil to Mulbekh was quite good but deteriorated thereafter. Some stretches near Fotu La were bad. But crossing the Fotu La (13,500 feet) was no problem as there was no ice / water / slush / mud / craters unlike near Zozi La.



My own efforts to get the car going failed.




Thereafter my XUV was towed 2 km to a M&M workshop where it was set right.




Monasteries atop hills is a very common sight all over Ladakh.




After Kargil the landscape started changing dramatically as you’ll see in this and the next few pictures.
























At Fotu La I came out of the car to take some pictures and almost got blown away – it was so windy!




The altitude of Fotu La shown by my Garmin GPS matched the official altitude perfectly.




At Lamayuru.




Near Lamayuru there are some mind-blowing landscapes – no wonder they are called ‘moonscapes’.




Moonscape.




Moonscape.




I noticed that the ‘moonscapes’ were not made of solid rock but an agglomerate of soil and boulders.




Day-12 (18 May 13) : Before we left the Army Unit near Nurla, its Commanding Officer gave us a guided tour of the surrounding areas. Thereafter, we drove to Leh, about 110 km away. The road from Nurla to Leh was quite good.



The C.O. took us to the top of a plateau near Nurla which had some awesome views. We used Maruti Gypsies (using 4x4) to drive up the plateau.




On the plateau.




View of the Indus river from the plateau.




A pebble beach by the Indus.




The Indus flows along the road for some distance.




Another ‘moonscape’.




37 km from Leh.




A tributary joins Indus.




A pleasure to see freshly black-topped roads.




Shanti Stupa at Leh.




The Leh Palace.




A woman at Leh.




Mosque at Leh market.

[srishiva]

Beautiful pictures with high contrast. Really gives a different view of the valley with greenery and snow in the mix.

Cant see the pictures inline in the above post

[adc]

Welcome back debuda and with the first of the 2013 travelogues from Ladakh.

Among the others, particularly liked some of the portrait pics from Kargil.

[Rudra Sen]

Lovely pictures Sir! Extremely well covered all the way.
Attaching a pic from your lot. Which lens was used here? 10-22mm?
Wide angle distortion is pronounced here as camera was aimed more toward the sky. It's surely not a problem but I'm getting a little confused here. That's why the question.

EDIT: Sorry Sir. I missed this one totally. Yes, with full frame 16-35 will look like 10-22 on small sensor camera.

Originally Posted by debuda

A Canon EOS 5D Mk III with a 16-35 mm lens was brought to the table by Iram.

Originally Posted by debuda

A tributary joins Indus.

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

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by debuda

Micromax Canvas HD A-116. Almost all the pictures posted here were clicked by me.

Hello sir,

Thank you for these wonderful pictures. Even I have recently bought Micromax Canvas HD A-116 & the 8 MP pictures taken by camera of phone are decent enough.

I read your update on your car's breakdown due to in moisture in Fusebox in your ownership thread. It would have been quite a scare but hats off to Mahindra for the back-up offers & attending to your issue almost immediately.

By the way, can you give us some tips on how do your keep yourself fit physically & mentally at this age?

Thanks,

[rajeevn]

Debuda,

Thanks for such a crisp and well-written T-LOG on Ladakh. The views are breath-taking and you have also given us a glimpse of the border between India and Pakistan. I have never "seen" India and Pakistan in the same picture before!



Your T-LOG, Sir, coming on the back of so many other equally sensational ones at T-BHP, inspires me to just go ahead and do this trip this year. I have a Skoda Yeti and that should do just fine on this route, provided I take care of underbody scrapes.

Thanks again for a great writeup and pictures, and this wake-up call.

[sameervg]

Hello Debuda,

Great travelogue and amazing pictures. This thread will be motivation for others who are thinking of driving to Kashmir valley and Ladakh.
I am sure you would have experienced real driving pleasure of 6576 KMs total drive.

This thread will help me to get home ministry approval for looong drives. Hahaha...

Cheers !