Ladakh with family was planned for long time, but for some reason or other we could not execute it, meanwhile we kept travelling to keep the flame alive. 2014 was the target and I was sure to get 2 weeks off, which is not possible otherwise mostly.
Talked to few friends for the convoy, but most of them backed out a month before the trip. But we have done many trip alone as a family and we decided to do Ladakh the same way, and I had the experience of 5 trip to Leh already, so it should not
be difficult.
The other thing I was working for this trip was, getting a used Grand Vitara, here again, could not find a good sample. So what, SX4 has done it in past, this is just another road trip to the ladakh for SX4.
Couple of weeks before the final day, posted on FB for any family to join in and heard back from a friend Vipin as he was interested in the trip, though unfortunately he could not manage to get 2 weeks off. But true to his driving spirit, he decided to join us for a week for the Zanskar part. This was one of the best thing that happened to us in this trip. It was really a pleasure to have such a wonderful family as a company and awesome friends for Nandini (my daughter).
It was time for Vipin to get his XUV Five Oh Oh ready for the first trip to the land of passes. We had few conversations on the plan and finally we decided that Vipin will start on 6th of June from Jaipur and will take a night break somewhere near Rohtak. I started from Guragon on 7th Morning, while Vipin started at same time from Rohtak.
We were in touch on phone but could only meet together around Lakhanpur. While I was waiting for Vipin to join, I saw a black SX4 with few very known stickers at back, and this guy took a U turn and came back to us. Turned out to be another friend heading to Ladakh with family. World is so small and my SX4 I guess is so famous .
Talking about small world, another friend Amit was also on his way to a grand trip to Kashmir with family and we met him just before Pathankot. It was kind of multiple meets on first day .
My first trouble came in the form a puncture, and a big one. Luckily there was a puncture repair shop near by and the guy fixed with great patience. I was little worried as I missed the tyre tube this time and I was not very confident driving on a tyre with big puncture surgery. Started searching for a tube shop while Vipin was still trying to catch us. Though the puncture repair managed for the whole trip and brutal Zanskar tracks.
From Lakahnpur onward, we had a smooth drive, going via Jammu bypass, except of few small traffic jams, it was all fine.
Our day ended with two rooms at my all time favorite Kud JKTDC, which luckily was available, despite of peak season.
A day ended event-less and meeting wonderful people. No Pics on this day, as always
8th June: Plan was to start late as we only had to reach Sonmarg. After morning stuff we left Kud around 9 Am. The first challenge was to cross the Ramban-Banihal section which was already in news because of bad roads, and true to the news, it was a big mess, mostly because of slow traffic and wrong overtaking by taxis.
Reached Qazigund toll at around 1 Pm and had our lunch at a local dhaba, crossed Anantnag, got stuck in jam for more than an hour due to an accident and finally reached Dal around 6:00 Pm. I knew that from Dal to Sonmarg can easily be done in max 2 hours, we decided to take a short break at Dal for quick pics. Left Dal around 7 Pm, meanwhile wife started calling few hotels and got a very good deal at Hotel Devine Inn.
Reached hotel by 9 Pm, and finally felt the chilled air for the first time in the trip. Checked into the hotel with lovely rooms, TV and wonderful food.
Tomorrow will the tough day, and indeed it was.
Vipin and family who gave us a great company for the first half of the drive. We missed them in the second half. Nandini was literally crying when we parted at Kargil.