[trtraj]

Thanks for sharing the info, its really great to read and have good details. The photography is awesome !! especially the Panoramas.

I am planning for a trip via manali, if so is the roads are safer (driving only in daytime) to drive in a scorpio / xylo ?

Thanks

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Anand, superb travelogue. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by majumon

Excellent write up and superb photos. Its really very inspiring to read such wonderful journeys and they are sowing seeds in my mind to prepare for one such wonderful life time journeys. Thank you so much and wishing you many more wonderful trips.

Thank you. Wish you the same.

Originally Posted by roshan_cruise

Excellent writeup and awesome photos.

Keep updating the thread,bro. Please don't leave us hanging.

Waiting for my time to come to do a Leh-Ladakh trip for the first time.

Thank you.
Yes, sorry for the delay - my broadband @home was toggling for a last few days. Waiting for it to be restored, will update soon.

Originally Posted by trtraj

I am planning for a trip via manali, if so is the roads are safer (driving only in daytime) to drive in a scorpio / xylo ?

Thanks

Thank you. Yes, Manali Leh is safe (surely safe in the daytime) and Scorpio/Xylo can easily do it. Wish you good luck.

[rajeevn]

Anand,

That's a riveting T-LOG indeed.

Thanks for reviving all these memories and highlighting the sheer tenacity and guts of the soldiers who man these borders and make these places safe, as also the lion-hearts from the Border Roads Organization, making it possible for us to drive through what would otherwise be very, very inhospitable terrain.

Thanks again, and keep it coming in!

[anandpadhye]

A parting shot of the Gata loops (see one of the short cuts)?


Considering the lack of 4L in the Tucson, I had to drop the idea of the short cuts. And my colleague was continuously telling me that nobody tries those short cuts on the way up, people take them on the way down! I did not really think that was the case, but left it at that. Later, as I was checking out some off-roading videos on youtube, I stumbled upon this Grand Vitara taking the short cut (Sudev ji, is that you?):

http://youtu.be/2_oO1JUKflw

Anyway, soon we reached Nakeela:


An abandoned truck at Nakeela (was it being used for some purpose or just left there as the cost of towing would be more than the residual value of the truck itself???):


The road ahead (it looked like there were multiple paths to choose from, but soon we found it was only one road winding itself randomly):


While crossing this section, something strange happened. My colleague was driving and he started experiencing trouble changing gears, so he gave the car back to me. Even I found it tough to shift to 1st from 2nd. My heart sank. All sorts of thoughts passed though my mind - a clutch failure? In the middle of nowhere? No other car anywhere in the horizon, no civilization...can someone tow us to Leh? Oh well, Tucson being a clutch-based part time 4WD (no center differential), it can not be towed with just the front wheels off the ground. It needs a flat bed truck! How can I even imagine getting suck a truck in this place! After a few seconds, I gathered myself and tried pressing the clutch WITHOUT trying to change the gears. The pedal went in, but did not come back up all the way. Stayed somewhere in between. Then by instinct, I slipped my left foot below the pedal and tried to lift it. It came back up. Then I pressed the clutch again and lifted my foot. The pedal came back up all the way! Some relief! Tried it a couple of time and it always worked. Encouraged, I shifted from N to 1st and got going slowly. Then to 2nd and back to 1st. All seem to be normal. So kept driving with all my attention focused on the clutch. All the beautiful landscape, the ambition of conquering the Gata loops via short cuts, everything just vanished. All I prayed for was that the clutch holds at least till Leh and we don't get stuck in this no mans land!

Luckily the problem did not show up again and slowly I came back to life...I think we drove in this lost state of mind for half an hour or so - till we almost neared Paang:




Note: Why the clutch got stuck is still a mystery. It has never happened in the past and it never happened again. Was it due to something my colleague did (accidentally) while he was driving? I never asked him as I thought he may not take it in the right spirit...and he is good driver anyway...

To be continued...

[anandpadhye]

A bridge before Paang:


Amusing soil formations:






This whole terrain around Paang has some mysterious appeal to it and it was terrific driving through it. Felt like Indiana Jones

At Paang, we stopped for tea. One friend was fond of chai, just like me and we both liked it strong, so everywhere, we asked for customized chai: doodh kam, shakkar kam, powder jyada - kadak chai. Sometimes it clicked, sometimes it didn't. Paang was one of the lucky stops :-)

After Paang, the terrain slowly changed colors:


Endless road:


And "achanak" got onto a table top - it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-L-Y windy:


Wanted to linger around, but we were not sure how much time it would take to reach Tso Kar, so we moved on.

And soon we hit the More Plains.
First view of the More Plains:


Time for photos:






Photographing the photographers:


Straight straight road through the More plains:






One colleague who had been to Leh a few years back was shocked to see this road. He had memories of dirt roads all across the plains and he was telling us how easily we can get lost if we take the wrong one, but no such luck anymore. BRO has this covered now:-)


Trying to capture the vast plains:




It was coming to Sunset. Tucson admiring the Sun, Sun admiring the Tucson :


To be continued (towards Tso Kar)...

[anandpadhye]

Somewhere on the More Plain we turned off right for Tso Kar.
This photo is taken immediately after we turned right (almost 5 O' clock U turn) so the sign board is for vehicles coming from Leh:


We didn't know where exactly was the lake and the camp, upon seeing a lake and a camp, we left the tar road, took a right into the fields cum dirt road and drove towards the camp, turned out it was the right one. It was almost 7PM, so we dumped our luggage and immediately went to check out the lake. It's some 3 km from the camp. We were warned not to drive closer to the lake as tires may sink. Parked on hard ground and went to the lake.

Walk to the lake:


Tuc taking some rest :




The lake and the nearby hills in the evening colors:








Z bridge on the water :


The inside view of the tent (it looks very warm and comfy, but somehow we could not get good sleep):


Next morning, we again went to the Tso, morning sun brings out different colors:


My friend previewing his capture:


Spot that black little spot in the right near the lake - it's a Tata mobile stuck in the sand/mud. We went near it, it seemed to be there since days or months...forgot to take closu up snaps, there were a few interesting things about it...


Reflections:


Spot the Tuc:


Thanks to my friends who have a keen eye, we clicked a few marmots:


And an eagle:




My ordinary Sony caught the flight when the eagle suddenly took off:


A view of the tents before we left:



To be continued (on to Tso Moriri)...

[thecdkfactor]

Awesome TL anandpadhye sir.

Your information on how the roads were built was amazing. Keep the TL coming

[anandpadhye]

From Tso Kar, we continued towards Puga and then onto Tso Moriri (Korzok village):


The road up to Puga is bad. It's being tarred so it's very very rough. Full chances of getting a puncture. Within a few km from Tso Kar, we met a bikers group from Mumbai (they were coming from Tso Moriri), one of the bullet had lost a nut. They asked if we had the particular nut, we didn't, but we had some spare steel wires which we offered. They used it to tie around the bolt thread as a make shift arrangement. Unfortunately, that was all we could offer and had to move on. I was wondering how horrible the bike ride would be on that bone jarring road...


After a while we reached Puga, where we came across a beautiful school. A very neat school with not much other civilization around was puzzling. Then I read the board - Nomadic Residential School. Kids were playing and looked very happy. Later, when we reached Tso Moriri, I was talking to some people who told me that children from all villages stay in this school and it was a great opportunity to get modern and formal education. The people in these villages have a nomadic lifestyle and as a result their children did not have much chance of schooling in the past. This residential school is a great initiative by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Authority. The school administration ran a huge campaign in the last few years in all the villages, pleading parents to send the children to this school and the administration literally collects children from remote areas at the end of winter (March) and drops them back at the beginning of winter (they have a 75 day winter vacation). It's one of the best schools in Ladakh and the children who had never seen Leh or any modern town for that matter in their life so far, recently participated in the Independence Day parade and also in the Ladakh Festival. We did not take any pictures, but here is a very good documentary on the school:

http://youtu.be/-KOu_I8G7IU

http://youtu.be/6UczHI7HGmI

http://youtu.be/rfCHhkn1RQQ

Soon after Puga, we turned right towards Tso Moriri and climbed a small ghat section:


Look at the marks at the center of the road - we were wondering if these were caused by the JCBs and Bulldozers frequently plying there... ]

Soon we reached Kyagar Tso (I am curious about the grammar, this one and the great Pangong lake have "Tso" as a suffix while the others viz. Kar and Moriri use "Tso" as a prefix! Any clue?) :






And the Tso Moriri:


This one is also salty water.

The village on the western bank of Tso Moriri is Korzok where we stayed in a tent. The village has only one satellite phone in a buiding which sort of serves as a business center. It's a Budhist School building with 1 room dedicated as communication center, which hosts the phone. There were lots of kids and I could not stop thinking why they were not sent to the Residential School. Some parents strictly want religious education? Or they were just ignorant? The Residential School is free and I really wished all the kids should have gotten the chance.

I wanted to phone home as we were out of touch since we left Manali. There was a huge queue as this was the only phone (ITBT check post has one and I was told they allow civilians to use it in off-hours). After an hour or so, I got the chance. Had to make 3 or 4 attempts before I could speak. First it did not connect, then there was echo, then one way talk-path...all throughout, the people there were extremely friendly and patient. Other than the operator, hardly anyone spoke Hindi/English, but they vacated a place for me to sit while I was waiting. Very simple and peaceful people. It was disheartening to see the tough life they have to live - extreme poverty, harsh winter, not much agriculture, no education, no jobs, not much interaction with rest of the world. Why can't our government install at least 10 phone there or have GSM coverage I have been wondering. May be because it's a very small village with only handful of households who have no money to pay? Or some technical/security reason?

A view of Tso Moriri from this Lama School:


The road you see in the picture going along the base of the mountain goes to Chumur on the LAC I was told. I would have loved to go there (as far as allowed), but we had just lost one tire a few km before Tso Moriri. The front left Yokohama went kissing a pointed stone which cut the sidewall. This is when a shortcoming of the Tucson surfaced - the spare is in the boot, so we had to unload all the luggage, to replace the tire! But then I promptly reminded myself, that Tucson comes with a full-size spare (with alloy), no compromise unlike some so called SUVs, so the inconvenience of having to unload the luggage is a minor issue. This is no mans land some 200 km from Leh. The nearest tire puncture shop is in Chumathang (at least a couple of hours away). And anyway nothing can be done with a side-wall cut. So a BIG THANK YOU to Hyundai for a full-size spare , no space-saver or RFT crap.

Another pleasant surprise - we changed the tire in flat 30 minutes (it was quite some work at 15000 feet altitude). One of my friends is a smoker and in spite of warning him about the high altitude and AMS, etc, he did not quit smoking so we were praying that he completes the trip without any issue, and in fact it was this guy who was the fastest in loosening all the 4 bolts and removing the tire. In the end, he was also the one who was least tired!!! And he had an interesting theory to explain - "My lungs are already working on reduced capacity due to regular smoking. So I am pre-acclamatized!"

Another interesting event on the way to Tso Moriri:
At a lot of places, there were alternate off-road paths and they seemed better than the actual road, given the conditions:

A Pajero was ahead of us and he was regularly taking the off-road paths, while I was sticking to the main road. Eventually, on an uphill U shaped climb, he just turned right 90 degrees before the U and started climbing the hill straight away. This time I decided to follow, took a sharp right, shifted to first and floored. As soon as I reached the top, I shifted to 2nd and floored hard, looked for the Pajero but couldn't see him, so I was wondering if he was really really fast and vanished (and if Pajero was really so good off-road that Tucson is nothing in comparison)...and surprise surprise - I saw him in my rear view mirror!!!! We were on a big plateau now with multiple trails to choose from. I picked one and he chose another. I shifted to 3rd and the Tucson pulled away from the Pajero like a Rajdhani express leaving the platform...

The place where history was made (see the multiple paths running parallel? The picture was taken next day on our way back, so unfortunately no picture of the Pajero):


All throughout the trip I was badly missing the 4L and proper off-roading gear, but this small piece of brilliance made me forget everything.

This is a story that I will tell my grand children: "One upon a time there was a Tucson and a Pajero, climbing a hill at 15000 feet, and you know what? Tucson reached the top first and Pajero came behind"

For the record: We were not really racing, and we were not in each others way at any point. After a couple of km, we both stopped for directions and then the Pajero took the lead and we followed him. We stayed in the same resort. In the evening, we both complimented each others cars and driving skills.

To be continued...

[TheG2]

Mesmerizing pics and an inspiring TL. Good to the beast performing so well even after crossing the 1lakh kms mark.

Waiting for the journey to continue..

Best,

[s_pphilip]

Since at this point I only know of you having taken the Tucson this far, please do elaborate on its 4WD capabilities too, some bit of 4WD perspective where ever possible, without diluting the essence, like when and where did you use the 4WD and ESC switch on this challenging trip and how competent the electronic interference's are in overcoming the terrain.
I assume the ESC switches on when it detects wheel spin, conversely due to wheel spin the clutch packs transfer power to the other wheels/rear wheels, but on selecting 4WD it constantly powers all four.
I did review a few 4WD videos on You Tube and there are some, where the Tucson performs pretty well.
This thought came from your Pajero vs Tucson post and I know from the other Tucson threads you rate the Tucson highly as a soft roader.
Most buyers are charmed by this 4WD jargon and very few go this far to test them, so people like you will be the best to get educated from.

[s_pphilip]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

To be continued...

This is the part I am referring to in my previous post for some bit of SUV/4WD perspective.
It is amazing that you are taking time and effort to unfold this thread into a labyrinth of information, so descriptive, insightful and pictorial, makes very interesting read, it makes planning such a trip so easy for us.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by s_pphilip

Since at this point I only know of you having taken the Tucson this far, please do elaborate on its 4WD capabilities too, some bit of 4WD perspective where ever possible, without diluting the essence, like when and where did you use the 4WD and ESC switch on this challenging trip and how competent the electronic interference's are in overcoming the terrain.

The Tucson sold in India has only TCS and no ESP and most importantly, no 4L - at least mine and the other 2 that I have driven (belonging to fellow members Kash and Digital vampire). So to summarize, Tucson offers 4WD (automatic + manually lockable), ABS and TCS.

4WD: works via a multi-plate clutch-based transfer case (and not via a center differential) as you rightly mentioned. So normally, the front wheels are driven and when the ECU (there is a separate 4WD ECU) detects something wrong, it engages the transfer case clutch and sends power to rear wheels. This is the "automatic" 4WD. If you press the "4WD Lock" switch on the dash, the ECU engages the transfer case clutch and sends 50% power to front and 50% to the rear. This "lock" works only upto 40kmph, after which is has no effect.

ABS: we all know

TCS: detects if the front wheels are loosing traction (and spinning) while accelerating and tries to "maintain traction". Now, how it does this is a little gray area. The owner manual says "TCS limits the drive wheels from spinning excessively, thus helping the car to accelerate. It also helps to provide sufficient driving force and steering performance as the car turns. TCS does not actively apply brakes. Be sure to decelerate the car sufficiently before entering curves." So my understanding is TCS simply reduces engine output to control the amount of torque. However, the owner manual also mentioned one "Note": when TCS is operating properly, you can feel a slight pulsation in the vehicle. This is only the effect of brake control and indicates nothing unusual". Now, the two sentences are slightly contradictory in my opinion. Whereas, the manual says ESP applies brakes to individual wheels to stabilize the vehicle. My Tucson does not have ESP, so experience on this.

Now, how did this 4WD+TCS help me in Ladakh - honestly, I can not point out if it really made any difference. At one point on the way up to Solang, I saw all Taveras and Xylos and Innovas, were slowing down or even coming to a complete halt on a rough patch and then starting off again. And in doing so, they were rolling back and burning clutch. So just to try out, I pressed 4WD lock and TCS OFF. When I slowed down and then started off again, Tucson did not roll back. So I thought the electronics and the 4WD worked, but that pleasure did not last long . Once we entered "the real challenge" i.e. Rohtang and then Ladakh, no such accomplishment. Every time I lost momentum in the ghats, I had to burn the clutch to get going again - very embarrassing. I tried everything:
1. I left it completely to ECU (did not press any buttons)
2. I pressed TCS OFF (but left 4WD in auto)
3. I pressed TCS OFF and 4WD Lock (like I mentioned about Solang)
4. I pressed 4WD Lock (but left TCS do it's job)
but nothing seemed to make much difference. So I guess the altitude out-powered everything. Lack of oxygen meant lack of torque and lack of power. That's it. No TCS or any other electronics would do any magic in this situation. What you need is an abundance of torque. So a proper low ratio (4L) gear box is a must. Tucson's low end torque is good but not great (and it's clearly insufficient in Ladakh and Himachal. Now, back in Pune/Mumbai/Mahabaleshwar, Tucson is a king again...he he he)

Don't get me wrong. Ladakh can be done in any car - Indica, Alto, M800...that's not a problem. You burn the clutch, slip, slide, roll back, catch momentum and get going. The point is, if you want to do this terrain in a cool, casual and graceful manner, without having the car sweat at all, then 4L is a must. Torque, torque, torque...

EDIT: To be fair to the Tucson, it comes with a solid, strong engine guard and good GC. Both these are of immense importance in Ladakh :-)

Originally Posted by s_pphilip

It is amazing that you are taking time and effort to unfold this thread into a labyrinth of information, so descriptive, insightful and pictorial, makes very interesting read, it makes planning such a trip so easy for us.

Thank you. Glad that you found the details interesting and useful. I really appreciate.

[nishantdlv]

Congratulations on your travel to the paradise! Nice written travelogue buddy with good photos too!

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Solang...
Attachment 1118522

By the way,which chevy is in the background? Is it the captiva??!!
The facelift isn't launched in India, so which one is that, any idea?

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by nishantdlv

Congratulations on your travel to the paradise! Nice written travelogue buddy with good photos too!
By the way,which chevy is in the background? Is it the captiva??!!
The facelift isn't launched in India, so which one is that, any idea?

Thanks and good catch.
I didn't notice this vehicle when I was there, else would have taken a closer look or talked to the owner. Outlander like headlamps and Chevy logo! No clue...

[nishantdlv]

Sorry, my bad! The new facelifted Captiva was launched on 14th of August this year.




Image courtesy: www.bharatautos.com


But still, I believe the picture you have taken was before the launch! They must be testing it then