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Old 14th September 2014, 17:44   #61
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Quote:
Originally Posted by NPV View Post
I thought you had a plan to drive with other folks who were interested, didn't that work out ?
And yes you were lucky to escape the fury of floods.
Yeh, that plan never materialized

But I plunged into it anyway and that too with a constrained schedule. Somehow managed the trip by God's grace.
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Old 15th September 2014, 17:03   #62
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Day - 5 Continued

The road from Drass to Kargil is absolute bliss. Barring few kilometers in between, the entire stretch is kind of road that you would die to get on our regular highways.

The snail pace drive till now gave way to some zipping on the runway act. Though we were not traveling very fast but were able to gallop miles quicker as there weren't many traffic on the road.

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First to come was Tololing - Kargil War became Fresh

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Good roads I was talking about

Unfortunately we didn't stop at the Kargil War memorial. Was still quite a distance to travel for Leh and we already were taking way too many breaks for photographs and other sundry stuffs. May be next time.

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Here is a small video of the road condition after Drass till Kargil



Even before we could realize, we were at the outskirts of Kargil.

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It was somewhere around 11 and we were Hungry. Then we saw the advertisement of Army Mess that is open for civilians as well. For those who are not aware, it is at the outside of Kargil City from leh side and you will see it on your left before entering the city.

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Flooding river inside Kargil Town

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Still some distance to go

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Had some Butter-Chicken and Paratha at the cafeteria. Made some phone calls back home and we are ready to move again after 30 minutes.

To Be Continued...

Last edited by BeingCynical : 15th September 2014 at 17:06.
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Old 15th September 2014, 18:24   #63
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Day - 5 Continued

When we entered the Army Cafeteria, there was a big Convoy that was getting ready to move out of Kargil. By the time we were done with our food, there were Army Trucks that were moving out of the base as well.

There you go. We were sandwiched between 50 Army Trucks at least. Initially it was getting little irritating but looking at the precarious road till Mulbek and the erratic Risky Jobs on the road, we gradually realized how beautiful bodyguards these Trucks were for this stretch. In fact we were smiling like Sashaya Cats by the time we exited Mulbek town. A big thanks for that Army Convoy

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We followed them like this for good 10 Km

Here is a small video of us following the Army Convoy



After Mulbek the roads improved again and we started to cover distances quicker

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Soon it was time to ascend the second 'La' of the trip and both the travelers and the beast deserved some break

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Beast getting ready for the challenge

After 15 minutes of black smoke and screeching sound of the beast we were at the top of Namika La. It was windy like hell as if it is nobody's business at the top. Didn't spend much time and started descending for our onward journey.

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Look at the wind

To Be Continued...
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Old 21st September 2014, 08:16   #64
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Day - 5 Continued

After spending just 5 minutes atop Namika La, thanks to the gusty wind we made our move for the descend. From here on the roads till Leh is in excellent condition. I can't remember a stretch more than 1/2 Km that is bad between Namika La and Leh

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By now the entire Vista has turned into brown or at times even darkish brown

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Good winding roads and brown vistas kept the company

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To Be Continued...
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Old 21st September 2014, 08:43   #65
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Day - 5 Continued

Soon we were at the foot of our second Pass for the day. Fotu La was up head to be ascended.

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After 15 minutes of screeching sound of the beast and good amount of un-burn diesel, we were at the top of Fotu La.

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A break somewhere in between the ascend for a photoup

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Yours' Truly

It was windier up here atop Fotu La than what it was on top of Namika La. So stopped quickly behaving like top grade models and moved ahead. Soon we were at Lamayuru

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Army Base


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Beast Posing

To Be Continued...
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Old 22nd September 2014, 09:41   #66
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Day - 5 Continued

Never stopped at the Lamayuru Monastery. Had a look at it from outside and moved on.

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Still some distance to go

Soon we were at the famous Lamayuru Moonland

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Spent a good 10 minutes in enjoying the Vistas and moved on

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Though the roads remained in good condition it narrowed down a bit for some period. We moved on.

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To Be Continued...

Last edited by BeingCynical : 22nd September 2014 at 09:42.
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Old 27th March 2015, 22:16   #67
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Hello BeingCynical,

Me along with few of my friends were planning this trip some time in Sept-Oct this year, Mean while I wanted do a ground work.

Found your T-LOG, went through it completely, What an amazing T-LOG, I was glued to it till I am done.

I was not sure if i could do this road trip, but after going through your T-LOG, the feeling is like "I SHOULD DO IT" at any cost.

Thanks for the Detailed description with the pictures. I would need further inputs on the Directions, roads, Maps.

Even i would be travelling from Pune.

Once again Keep up the great work, Enjoyed reading your Travelogue.

Cheers
Josh

Last edited by joshuakeys : 27th March 2015 at 22:17. Reason: Editing
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Old 29th April 2015, 15:20   #68
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Hello BeingCynical,

Sorry for bumping into an old thread, but why did you stop updating on your trip? Was reading every word of it & sudden stop on Page 5.

Please do share your experience. I'm planning the same with my beast as well & would love to know the entire experience.

Regards,
Rohan
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Old 29th April 2015, 15:25   #69
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Guys, extremely sorry to have left it in between. Lots of reasons for it so I better not blabber each one of them.

I will restart it again by tomorrow and this time I will finish it to the conclusion.
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Old 30th April 2015, 14:22   #70
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Awesome beginning. I am planning the same trip next year (except that the starting will be from Bangalore) and hope to look for pointers here.
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Old 3rd September 2016, 16:13   #71
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

This is horrendous. I simply can't explain how I managed to sleep over this travelogue for two years to start again. No excuses could be enough, so judiciously I am not doing that. I rather should go to the narration.

When I left it last time around, we had just reached Leh. The stay was already arranged in Air-force mess by my sister. All that we needed to do is to reach the air base and call upon the person whom we were asked to. Little did I know, we were in for a pleasant surprise. The person in discussion was the commanding officer at the Leh air base. I am sure, we all must have seen him action at least. His name is Vikram Shekhawat - the man who flew the helicopter above Nariman Point during the infamous 26/11 terror attack. A brave man with confidence oozing out to prove his mantel.

Had a nice chat with him over Chai and Pakoda. Discussed his heroics on that day and how he respected the call of the duty even when his elder daughter was struggling for her life in ICU. According to him, once he is back from the operation, his daughter's condition started to improve dramatically. Perhaps the blessings of an entire nation worked for him, he said.

Discussion with such a man of substance literally made time fly. We couldn't even noticed when we hit dinner time. Had our dinner and crashed to our beds.

Since we were travelling on a stringent time frame, we didn't have any acclimatization day reserved. Nor had we reserved any day for local sight seeing. Tomorrow we were planning to wake up early and head for Hundur through Khardungla.
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Old 3rd September 2016, 16:23   #72
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Day - 6 : Leh - Hundur - Leh

We woke up early and got ready to roll out of the air base by 5:30. Long day ahead and the first thing that we were supposed to do was to tank up. And the city of Leh didn't disappoint us with its morning beauty either. Some snaps of the city roads and how a sleepy city wakes up to the morning call.

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We tanked up and hit the road that leads to Khardungla. sunshine greeted us by then. The hills were magnificent, more so with the spread of this natural mustard yellow color of the sun rays.

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We moved on..

To Be Continued...
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Old 3rd September 2016, 16:54   #73
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Day - 6 : Leh - Hundur - Leh

The roads initially were good. All tarred and well maintained. Good roads and that too leading to the 'World's Highest Motorable Road'? Have we messed up with our directions? Should we damn this 'Map My India' navigator once more? Before we could have time to think for all available options, including throwing the navigator out of the window, one gentleman with Viku Mahatre look and get up appeared from nowhere.

Me : Bhai Sahab, ye rasta Khardungla jata hai na?

Viku Mahatre : I am at sea...

Me : Bhai Saheb, jata hai na?

Viku Mahatre : What am I doing here?

Me : I cleared my throat and asked the same question again, albeit with a tone reserved for the father of that girl who introduces her boyfriend with tattoos at all inappropriate places, desperately hoping Viku Mahatre to open his mouth.

Viku Mahatre shook his head this time. Got out of his slumber finally.

Viku Mahatre : Main sahab Darbhanga se aaya hun kaam karne. Mujhe pata nehin.

A Cadbury five star advertisement moment for us. Thankfully a Sherpa type chap on his cycle came to the rescue of us. He heard our question, looked at the direction we were heading, gave a Vascodegama on a world exploration mission look, thought as if I have asked him to prove Albert Einstein wrong in next five minutes and finally said yes.

Are you sure, I asked. The Sherpa this time didn't waste any time in vigorously shaking his head and stamping our sense of direction. Relieved, we moved ahead, only to stop again for a bio cum photography break.

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Yours Truly

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Little did we know what lay ahead for us. We were just happy that we are still on good roads and have taken our direction tips from none other than the modern day Vascodegama.

To Be Continued...

Last edited by BeingCynical : 3rd September 2016 at 17:02.
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Old 13th February 2017, 15:38   #74
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Excellent and detailed TLOG BeingCynical. Looking forward to see the last leg of the journey and the return route to Pune as I am also planning a road trip with my new Safari Dicor. By the way, hilarious description of the trucks overtaking on highways. That's exactly how I feel the pain of seeing wannabe Schumachers blocking all 3 lanes.
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Old 22nd May 2019, 16:17   #75
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Re: Pune to Pune via Ladakh - The White Beast conquers everything in between

Buddy, what made you stop posting on this thread?
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