[0xTKB]

Man!!! I lived in Reckong Peo (Kinnaur) for six years from 1997-2002. You just brought back my childhood memories. And that place has changed a lot, but the condition of the road remains the same. BTW, did you visit Kalpa? It is a beautiful village about 12 km from Reckong Peo.

Beautiful pictures I must say & perfect vehicles to explore these lands.

[nilanjanray]

The Malling Nala experience sounds thrilling. That is why 4x4 low range is so handy - works like insurance at times.

Why didn't you give that pretty damsel a lift?

[columbus]

I left Kaza on 20th Friday for Chandratal. You landed in Kaza on 21st. Would have been great to meet you there. We stayed at Hotel Snow Lion. Had a lunch at Deyzor which was excellent.
Our hotel owner requested us to stay another day i.e. 21st as there was a dance festival from the monks of pin valley. The monks from pin valley practice voodoo / tantrik arts and to see them dance is a very rare sight. Happens once in years. The same function in which the cooks of deyzor would have gone.
But unfortunately we had already lost a day earlier and my partner had postponed his flight from delhi by a day. Another reschedule was just not possible.
The weather there changes everyday. On 20th it was an ink-blue sky. While on 21st onwards your photographs show cloudy weather.

The hangover is still there and now your log has added fuel to fire. This was my 4th trip to these areas with Maximus, and by the time i reach back to Bhopal i am planning for the next one. Such is the magnetism of Himalayas.

[getsurya]

Hi Manuuj,

What a travelogue! Amazing pictures and the write up is better than a full blown movie.

Congratulations to Obelix and you for the historic 100001 mark in the most beautiful part of the world, any thing less could not be befitting the companion.

Keep it coming and good lens there, rated 5 stars!!

[Manuuj]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Hi! Enjoying your travelogue & thanks for sharing

Wouldn't have commented now save for the quoted part



Please refrain. No, I am not asking you to take a hit (on your Car) but swerving to avoid on a mountain road can be dangerous. I know you too must be aware & it is just a friendly caution

Good advice Sir! Shall keep that in mind in the future. All the same our speed on these roads was about 25-30 kmph at most and usually in second gear. My first reaction was always to stop the car if i could but if a stone was seen coming down as we were about to cross i would move to the right side of the road.

I think i used the term "swerved" rather loosely.

But your concerns have been noted and are much appreciated!

Originally Posted by 0xTKB

Man!!! I lived in Reckong Peo (Kinnaur) for six years from 1997-2002. You just brought back my childhood memories. And that place has changed a lot, but the condition of the road remains the same. BTW, did you visit Kalpa? It is a beautiful village about 12 km from Reckong Peo.

Beautiful pictures I must say & perfect vehicles to explore these lands.

You were indeed lucky to live in such a beautiful place! We could not go to Kalpa as we wanted to see if we could cross the road block if the road opened up even for a short while at Powari.

When we got there we were told that in about 45-60 minutes the BRO may reopen the road for a while atleast. Thus not wanting to risk being stuck at Peo we crossed over as soon as it opened.

No worries though. Kalpa is on my radar for next time!

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

The Malling Nala experience sounds thrilling. That is why 4x4 low range is so handy - works like insurance at times.

Why didn't you give that pretty damsel a lift?

It sure was thrilling and Low range sure did get us out of a pickle that day! Rain slush and rocks were no match for Obelix that day. I must say there is a certain Jekyll and Hyde personality there.

In normal running the Fortuner is serene and calm but flip that swith and it lunges at the road and any obstacle with a vengeance of a wounded Tiger.

Originally Posted by columbus

I left Kaza on 20th Friday for Chandratal. You landed in Kaza on 21st. Would have been great to meet you there. We stayed at Hotel Snow Lion. Had a lunch at Deyzor which was excellent.
Our hotel owner requested us to stay another day i.e. 21st as there was a dance festival from the monks of pin valley. The monks from pin valley practice voodoo / tantrik arts and to see them dance is a very rare sight. Happens once in years. The same function in which the cooks of deyzor would have gone.
..Such is the magnetism of Himalayas.

Man that is the slimmest of margins to miss each other by! Yes that exactly where the cooks of Deyzor had gone that day.

Maybe we can form a convoy next time. I think HG and Nilanjan are game also.

Originally Posted by getsurya

Hi Manuuj,

What a travelogue! Amazing pictures and the write up is better than a full blown movie.

Congratulations to Obelix and you for the historic 100001 mark in the most beautiful part of the world, any thing less could not be befitting the companion.

Keep it coming and good lens there, rated 5 stars!!

Thank you for your kind words Surya! Lots more to come! Stay tuned brother and thanks again for the kind words and vote of confidence!

[Manuuj]

Kaza to Jispa The Journey continues from Kyoto Bridge..

After the exultation of reaching the milestone at Kyoto Bridge and a celebration with Mango Frooti's we headed off toward Lossar again..


The road looked prettier with some green patches and we closed in on Hanse where we would cross the tame Hanse Nallah


The skies looked as if they would open up soon


Nearing Lossar.. There is a checkpost there where we have to make enteries into the register with our details. Foreigners have to present their Inner Line Permits




That was quickly done and we were soon on our way again..


With the Pajero close behind.


Abhimanyu decided he had been behind me too long and decided to have some fun


The climb to Kunzum La started


Pajero heads toward Kunzum La


It is traditional to make a respectful clockwise round of the pass and rejoin the road again. Legend has it that ill luck befalls those who don't.. we are not about to take any chances!


Kunzum La Pass


We headed down towards Bataal. The weather was awesome! We decided to skip Chandrataal as no one wanted to trek in the rain.


The Bridge at Bataal. We decided not to stop here and move on ahead..


The beautiful Road by the Spiti river from Bataal towards Chota Dhara, Chattru and Gramphoo



Just ahead of Chota Dhara we got to a point where this truck was really struggling..i stood by ahead of it (in Yellow Jacket) hoping he would be able to cross or else we would be stuck here too. After some struggle he managed not to stall again and somehow got out of here..much to his and our relief!


It was a breeze for Obelix. Almost a pleasant foot massage and good tyre wash!




We were getting hungry and looked for a good place to stop. There were good places everywhere and we were confused!


I found a place and parked by the road..the Pajero made a dramatic entry!


Beats the view at any 7 star restaurant any where in the world! What a place for a break and some hot food! It was blissful!


The kettle at work again..it was a good tool on this trip.


They deserved a break too!


The boys were led to believe that staring at Maggi and Baked Beans made them cook faster..


Our Food rations, the stove, Utensils and Lunch. There is also a Garbage Bag off view. We left the place as we found it. This was a very strict policy we had in place. NO LITTERING under ANY circumstances!!


Once we ate we packed up and moved ahead. We had a long way to go till Jispa and it was getting dark now. We crossed Chattru and started the climb to Gramphoo where we would join the main Manali-Leh highway.

We reached Gramphoo quite late in complete darkness and the road was quite broken up. We headed to Tandi to Fuel up but were late and the fuel pump was shut for the night. I wasn't worried as we had enough to get to Leh. The Pajero would need fuel somewhere along the way.. Maybe Pang or Karu would have diesel we thought.

We crossed Keylang soon and made for Jispa. It was also in complete darkness. Power seemed to be a problem on this trip.

We reached Jispa and the same Power problem presented itself again. We went to Padma Lodge and luckily the hotel had a generator.

A quick hot meal around 10:30 and we were all in bed by 11.

Tomorrow was going to be the day that i would finally set foot in Leh!! With these thoughts in mind i went to sleep determined to make an early start in the morning.

Before i went to bed i checked HVK's Logs with my torch, and saw that they had left Jispa at 5:55 Am and reached Leh around 8:20 pm.

Looks like it was going to be a long day with 340 kms of driving and we needed to get an early start!


to be continued..

[Rajain]

Guys

I have been busy at work but a friend asked me to check this TL. Every year one comes across a couple of TLs on Leh. Leh is somewhat the final frontier for us petroheads. Fellow travellers do long journeys and 'make it large' Hemant and group did not stop back at Bangalore upon their return and actually drove up to Kanyakumari. Hats off to them.

All of you having taken the Shimla-Puh-Kaza-Jispa route has certainly added to the extra bit. 5 stars to you. Great for choosing this route. Those are very desolate areas. With each passing town the population density reduces. Simla of course is very touristy but as one moves forward - Theog, Rampur, Kaza, Lossar - its really thin on population. Plus the road from Losaar to Gramphoo is literally non existant. You can literally count the number of vehicles one comes across and in some cases its like being the only one for miles around.

For the 2 SUVs going through water streams, river bed like roads, cooking a light meal in the middle of nowhere and marching on in darkness. Is the multi fuel stove a coleman? And what fuel did you use?

The Obelix having completed 1,00,000 in this terrain speaks volumes about the strength and build quality of the Fortuner. I agree - getting that milestone in that setting is way better than getting it in your daily grind in our city setting.

The 2 SUVs have a long range - with tank capacity of 80 ltrs for Fortuner and 92 ltrs for Pajero - but I see when you found the fuel bunk in Tandi closed you decided not to try him back in the morning. The guy who runs that bunk actually stays closeby and at one point in time he had even put up a phone number to call but I guess he later took it off. I am assuming that your extra fuel can would have helped if you thought either at Pang or Sarchu fuel may not be available in black from any of the shacks or the BRO folks (and its not the best quality anyway). Of course, now Karu has a bunk also (provided it is functional). Still, from Jispa its almost 300 kms of distance.

Great going guys. And good pictures too. Subscribed and rated 5 stars.

Cheers

Rajain

[Manuuj]

Originally Posted by Rajain

Guys...Is the multi fuel stove a coleman? And what fuel did you use?

The Obelix having completed 1,00,000 in this terrain speaks volumes about the strength and build quality of the Fortuner.

Great going guys. And good pictures too. Subscribed and rated 5 stars.

Cheers, Rajain

I dont know the make of the stove but it works on Petrol, Kerosene and Diesel. We used Diesel but Kerosene would have been better!

Thanks for your kind words and encouragement!

A far a the bunk at Tandi goes when i got to it the Fortuner still showed a range of 600 kms which was far more than what I required to get to Leh. I had tanked up at Kaza and Tandi is only 180 kms from there so we had not traveled much.

Even though most of the driving was at high altitudes, dry river beds and almost non existent roads in 2nd and 3rd gear the Fortuner was returning around 9.5-10 kmpl. Though much less than the 13-14 kmpl on highways and 11.5-12 kmpl in cities that it usually returns, it was still fantastic for the driving conditions that it had been through.

The Fortuner sure is a tough cookie. I took it to the most treacherous terrain on the planet and it laughed in my face. Since I've been back i took it for a wheel alignment as i thought surely that would be out after thumping through all the rocks and dirt roads..but i was wrong.

When we left the service station i could have sworn i heard it say.."i told you so"

[Manuuj]

I lay awake in bed. The sun had lit up the sky in a faint blue light and the hills looked purple.

"So this is what Leh looks like.." I thought i would be saying tonight..

I threw the covers off myself and felt the cold pierce through me. It was a rude awakening..i sneezed instantly.

Pulling half the covers back I lay back again. Smoke spiralling up lazily to the ceiling. I thought about all the people who had realized their dream before me. Whose travelogues I had read in hidden Tabs on my laptop at work.

How I had poured over each word and photograph and then commented about my admiration for them, tinged with a hint of wistful jealousy.

ADC with his yearly "Durga Puja" forays into the Himalayas with Wife and Son in tow, HVK with his detailed Logs and Coolcat21 with her breathtaking photography had been my inspiration all along.

There was no apprehension. An uneasy excitement only.

Was i really going to be in Leh tonight?! The trip had been thrilling so far. We were astonished and amazed at every turn and tonight would be the consummation of a long cherished dream.

It was time to go.

Jispa to Leh the journey continues..

Padma Lodge Jispa: Contact: Mr. Lobzang 09418911164/ Mr.Bir Singh (M.D) 09418033211


Ready to leave bright an early for Leh 340 kms away.. today we cross 4 high passes.
Baralacha 16,050 ft (4892 mt.), Nakila 15,547 ft, Lachungla 16,600 ft and the second highest pass in the world Tanglang La at 17,585 feet (5360 meters).


After a quick breakfast checked the tyre pressure's while waiting for everyone to come down and load up. This tyre pump runs from the 12V socket and is an invaluable device to have in these remote areas.


"You ain't stealin' no Hotel towels I hope!!" He looked at me quite suspiciously but what a dignified looking dog.


It was a timely start from Jispa. In a way our first early start.


The road towards Baralacha La through Darcha and Patseo. Darcha check post is the 4th place where we would give our details like we had done just after Akpa Bridge,Sumdo and Lossar also earlier.


The Sun played Hide n Seek


The road after Darcha..Patseo would be next and then Baralacha La.


Looked like a Volcano had just erupted.


These bridges are strong!! Don't go by its beaten down look.


Patseo Army transit Camp just before Zingzingbar. No there in no Bar at Zingzingbar..i checked.


The climb to Baralacha La begins. Was strange to share the road with people today after 2-3 days of having miles upon miles to ourselves.


..but soon we were alone again.




Suraj Taal or Vishal Taal as it is also known.


BaraLacha La 16,050 ft (4,892m) our 2nd pass of the trip.


Baralacha to Killingsarai offered some stunning views!!





Killingsarai is next to Kilang Village hence the name..no "killings" here!


The bridge at Killingsarai..


Just off the road we saw this....and stopped to admire it. Nothing was going to rush us on this holiday!


Some pics from that place






After about 10 minutes we took off again towards a place I felt like i knew just because of all the snaps and posts I had seen over the years on Tbhp.. Sarchu was just around the corner finally..


to be continued..

[roamingrao]

Dear Obelix,

Thanks a ton for toiling on the grinding roads of Ladakh to help realise your master's dream ! Sorry ? not a toil at all ? oh ! okay, sorry, you seem to have made it look like a cake walk !! Congrats on that !

Wishing you miles and miles of more thirst quenching drives to lands never seen by your master and help him see all of India ! And yes, please remind him to pen crispy travelogues like these - he seems to have a way with simple, humorous and flowing captions. In turn, we get to see you too - in all your thunderous glory !!

Your achievement here deserves a five star, which you may pass it on to your master, if you wish to, for sharing this with us !!

[sapeco]

Originally Posted by Manuuj

My other dream is to drive to Goa.. I'm glad you are enjoying this journey..more pics coming up today!

I have no doubt you will turn that dream into reality

Originally Posted by Manuuj

Kaza to Jispa
100,001 Kilometers!! What a place to reach this milestone. Obelix deserved to reach it at someplace like this and not at some traffic jam on the Ring Road in Delhi.

Well said.. Well said. Even i couldn't have expressed it any better. Obelix is one of the lucky few who have had the privilege to experience the real wilderness instead of our smoke filled city roads.


Note from Support: Quotes fixed

[nishantdlv]

Originally Posted by Manuuj

I thought about all the people who had realized their dream before me. Whose travelogues I had read in hidden Tabs on my laptop at work.

This is exactly what I'm doing right now!
Great travellogue Manuuj! Everything's picture perfect!

Even I aspire to climb the mountains through all the "La's" in my car one day! This TL is added to my inspiration list!

Waiting to experience the journey ahead!

[starfanrld]

A great Travelogue for a Great place to visit for sure and maybe make it a Longer Visit.

Although I am from Way down South I would like to make the trip for Sure.

Thank you for sharing your experience and your pics were top-notch.

[gajadonga]

Nice travelogue with good pictures of the landscapes.

The most dreaded route from Kaza to Keylong has been pulled off nicely through. The short break between the mountains with the cooking tools after Chota dhara was good.

Awaiting your entry to Leh after Jispa.

Thanks for sharing.

[kaizanfan]

Manuuj, The tyre pressure inflator that you have, is it Portable LIMI Digital Tyre Inflator - recommended by Guderian? If not, please share the brand and model. Thanks.