20th June 2015, 08:17
| #16 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! 13th June We decided to go the Hunder Sand Dunes and Diskit Monastery in the Nubra Valley  Wangyal gave us more classes on Nubra after breakfast  The Wild Boars are seen on the move again   The views remained exhilarating  The Hunder Village, which acquired its fame for the sand dunes, the cold desert that surrounds it, Bactrian camels and its breath-taking natural beauty.  Hunder Dok is the last place civilians can go. Beyond this to the Pakistan border is controlled by the Army  People start treking from here to LEH!  Hunder Sand Dunes  This is a high altitude desert  These camels are double humped Bactrian camels and were the main mode of transport when Ladakh was an important stopover, on the ancient trade routes with Central Asia. Now these camels as used for Camel Rides at Hunder Sand Dunes.  Diskit Gompa, built in 1420 AD is a monastery which houses 120 monks.  School for the Junior Monks at Diskit Monastery     Maitreya Buddha at the Junior School below the monastery  Prayer Wheels help spread the prayers as one revolves these wheels and walks around in prayer. Each wheels has prayers written on it and inside it  WB Devaiah is at peace  Prayer Wheels as we entered the Diskit Monastery  Gateway to Diskit Monastery  The Gompa. It is the oldest and largest monastery in Nubra   The restored mural depicting the four heavenly kings  The Monk at the Temple of Disket Monastery  The various deities  The remains of an anti buddhist Mongol demon who was said to have lived and killed near the monastery  The butter lamp  Entrance to the prayer hall  Prayer Hall of the Maitreya Buddha  |
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20th June 2015, 08:43
| #17 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! Disket Gompa belongs to the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) sect of Tibetian Buddhism  In the prayer hall the Maitreya Buddha is flanked by places reserved for the Dalai Lama and the Rimpoche of Thikse, as Diksit is the sub-gompa of Thikse  Locals make the climb to the temple  The Monastery overlook the Disket village  Lunch break on the way back to Lharimo from Diskit  The road across the sands is seen in the distance  Back to our resort  |
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20th June 2015, 13:40
| #18 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! 14th June The Nubra valley is known as the Valley of Flowers. The Shyok River meets the Nubra or Siachan River to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and Karakoram Ranges Here pictures of beautiful flowers of Nubra     Beautiful Sea Buckthorns in full bloom      Wild roses    Iris  Sea Buckthorn and Roses     White Sea Buckthorn   |
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20th June 2015, 18:14
| #19 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! 14th June The place we stayed was Lharimo North – deluxe cottages and camp on the bank of Nubra river, Kyagar village more popularly known as Tegar village, it is 110km from Leh, on the fabled Silk Route. The camp has awe inspiring view of majestic Karakoram mountains surrounding it. Here are pictures from the Resort     Nubra or Siachen River which flows from the famous Siachen Glacier  Birds taking advantage of summer    You can stay in tents too.  Poplar is traditionally grown tree here  Locals are very shy by nature  Summer time is busy for growing vegetables.  We had to pack up and be ready to leave in a short notice. Khardung La was being cleared of heavy over night snow by the army  Some played Texas Hold'em  While a few of us explored beyond the resort The Maney Ringmo/Stone Wall along the traditional Silk Route leading to Central Asia  The sacred Buddhist inscriptions were meant to take away evils from the lives of passers by when circumbulated clockwise   Magpies birds are in abundance. The locals observe where they build their nests. If the nest are unusually higher up, they gear themselves for a harsh winter  The face reflects how harsh life is in these parts. Wild flowers in the back ground  The Samstanling Monastery nestles amongs the woods in Kyagar Village. The Coronation of the boy monk SARS Rimpochee was expected. He is said to be the reincarnation of the great Bakula Rimpochee   Boy monks at the monastery  News comes that Khardung La is open and we returned quickly to the Resort Last edited by KPS : 20th June 2015 at 18:20. |
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20th June 2015, 18:30
| #20 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Vizag/All Over
Posts: 108
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21st June 2015, 19:17
| #21 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! Our journey back to LEH via Khardung La We reached North Pullu by 3.30 pm, only to be told that an army convoy is coming down and we had to wait  Yaks for company  The bikes were refueled the conventional way  Some the unconventional way  Over night snow fall was very heavy    WB Devaiah stops for a photo op. You can see that the road conditions were not great  WB Sachin on a good patch of road  You can gauge that snowfall was heavy on the top  WB Sachin on top of Khardung La  The bikes are lined up for a quick departure  After a quick photo op  We start on our way down    Only to encounter a road block. An army bulldozer had broken down  The weather was getting bad  The army fortunately allowed our bikes to pass through  We did not waste time as it was late and we did not want to chance the weather again  On our successful returned to LEH we had a great party late into the night. The next day we were leaving for Pangong Tso via Chang La Quote:
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25th June 2015, 08:22
| #22 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! 15th June We started our 160 kms journey from LEH to Pangong Tso via the Chang La Pass. The average altitude was around 14000 feet  We take the Manali Road and deviate at Karu  Road to Manali is tarmac  We pass the Shey Monastery    We take a deviation at Karu   The landscape is very barren  Climb becomes dramatic in this vast landscape  You get a sense of the road  The first army check post at Zingral at around 15500 feet  The Madras regiment which was posted here was excited to see us South Indians. Harisha from Coorg ensure we got hot tea and biscuits  No praise is enough for the spirit of the workers of the BRO. They work in such harsh conditions  We leave behind the army camp at Zingral  As we climbed higher toward Chang La    Chang La conquered. WB Vikram and Prasad stand proud  WB Vikram has his moment in the snow  WB Devaiah is happy that we had good ride up  Great views here  WB Prasad and Devaiah stand for the customary photograph  The Madras Regiment soldiers on the top were very happy to see us and greeted us very warmly. The check post at Zingral had wired that a group of South Indians were on their way up  Complimentary tea by the Army is a real welcome in the cold   The Soldiers asked us the take the blessings of Chang La Baba before we started our journey down  We started our journey down behind schedule as we had spent a good amount of time enjoying the army hospitality and chatting  Last edited by KPS : 25th June 2015 at 08:40. |
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27th June 2015, 13:27
| #23 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! It was a long descend from Chang La  The road was slippery and the weather was very cold  Threat of landslides always exists  There was not a soul in sight  Such patches were difficult especially when the pot holes were partly frozen. The cold water numbed your feet  Partly frozen streams on the way to Pangong Tso  We had a steady ride through the barren landscape    We passed wild horses   Winding roads to Pangong Tso as we reached Tangtse Valley   Police check post at Tangtse  We took the opportunity to have our lunch near the Tangtse Check Post  The Himalayan Marmot are actually large ground squirrels were seen as we rode on  The roads were very basic as headed toward the China border and Pangong   The lake is within our reach  Our first view of the Pangong Lake with WB Ranju Bellippa  |
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27th June 2015, 22:09
| #24 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! Our journey to the lake continued  Finally, the Pangong Tso( Lake )  It is situated in the Indo China Actual line of control. It is 5kms at it's widest and is 183 kms long with 2/3 in China. The lake is at 14270 ft.  Our stay was in a mix of tents and well built rooms   The brakish water does not support aquatic life except a few crustaceans and worms which migratory birds feed on. The lake is frozen in winters despite the salinity.  Had the clouds not covered the sky we would have witnessed the extraordinary blue of the lake  The water is amazingly clear  Due to the cloud cover, unfortunately the direct sunlight was in the distance  WB Vikram tastes the water  Our resort is seen from the lake  In the setting sun  We are a happy lot!  There is a restaurant in the barren landscape. As you would guess, it served only Maggi  WB Devaiah takes shelter from the biting cold as he waited for his hot Maggi  The hot meal surely felt good and it showed in WB Sachin's face  After hot meal some decided to explore towards the China border  As we headed towards the China border we came across pashmina goats and lone shepherd from the Spangmik Village, which has only 7 families  The goats in a beautiful setting  Since we were not allowed to go further towards the China border, the Wild Boars decided make use of the fading light to take some pictures. Seen are WB Ranju Belliappa, Cariappa and Prasad Chinnappa  In honour of the Enfield. Seen are WB Abhin, Ranju, Sharma (mechanic), Cariappa, Prasad & Kiran  There was a small island which allowed a great photo with the lake surrounding the Boars  It was getting and the Boars returned to the resort around 7.45 pm  |
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29th June 2015, 07:36
| #25 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! 16th June Some of us wake up early to witness the sunrise  Sun rise at 5 a.m  Morning at Pangong Tso  Some had stayed in the tents  The tents were very thick and were quite warm  WB Devaiah catches the morning sun outside his tent  By 7.30 am we are back on the road back to LEH    We had the last view of the lake  Photo Op for the Wild Boars    By 9 am we were at the Police Check Post at Tangtse  We started our climb towards Chang La  Last of the frozen lakes  Back towards LEH; on the last leg of our trip    The road was very slippery and challenging   WB Devaiah points to the place where a biker was killed two days before    You can never be too careful here  Here is video of WB Cariappa and WB Devaiah heading down Chang La. You get a sense of the road Back on the plains by around 12 pm   We successfully reached LEH by 1.30 p.m. The Wild Boars are happy but at the same time relieved that we had such a successful trip. Seen are WB Sachin Devaiah, Devaiah, Vikram and Cariappa  |
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30th June 2015, 08:19
| #26 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Reliving a memorable trip: 10 friends, Enfields & Leh! 17th June We end our trip on 17th June and catch our flight to Delhi onward to Bangalore  Locals dressed in the best to receive a high ranking Buddhist monk at the airport    I would like to thank my fellow Wild Boars for this wonderful trip and the excellent cooperation and coordination amongst the team members made this a trouble free and enjoyable trip. Special thanks to Deleks our tour organizer The altitude, weather and the conditions did take a toll on us, but it was worth every minute Ranju Belliappa  Vikram  Prasad Chinnappa  Kiran  Abhin Patel  Praveen Devaiah  Sachin Devaiah  Santosh Cariappa  and yours truely, Subbaiah  I do hope you all enjoyed this thread. Cheers KPS |
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1st July 2015, 09:22
| #27 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: mumbai
Posts: 129
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