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Originally Posted by gearhead_mait Excellent report there, GhostRider! Nice pictures too. |
Thanks gearhead.
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Originally Posted by DriveTrain Congratulations on the epic trip - almost a baptism by fire in your first long trip to the mountains! Your narration and the accompanying pictures are fantastic - just finished it now in one go.
You have managed to do a complete Ladakh trip with almost no planning - hats off to you. My AWD was brought with the purpose of visiting Ladakh and I am still planning , hope to follow your foot steps some day. |
Thanks DriveTrain! I must say that I was lucky to get help and support from a lot of BHPians and HVK. Without which it would have been impossible. Ladakh still remains a challenging destination, and should be done with a reasonable amount of planning.
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Originally Posted by DriveTrain So this seems to be an irritant with the AWD. |
I believe Clouldmobile_deb also had a similar issue a few weeks back and he was able to replicate it in the service station.
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Originally Posted by mr.sinha Very nice write-up, Ghostrider (Sayantan). Just read the whole travelogue now. Must say it was quite a bit of dynamic planning due to the omnipresent challenges and road conditions. Awesome photographs. |
Thank you Mr. Sinha! It was not challenging enough as the high passes you tackled, not to mention the incident near Hanle!
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Originally Posted by mr.sinha One question: In Manali, why did you need permit for Leh? Is this a new requirement these days? Last year, I did not see any permit checking anywhere from Manali to Leh (except at Sarchu where you only wrote down the vehicle number in a register). |
There is a permit required for travelling to Leh from Manali, it is checked before Rohtang climb. This is given from the SDO office, not the tourist office. Day Passes for Rohtang are obtained from the tourist office and usually has a long queue for it. Leh passes can usually be obtained in a couple of hours upon request.
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Originally Posted by mr.sinha Now time for you to seriously think of Sandakphu |
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Originally Posted by alphadog What a fantastic travelogue and its great to see your AWD in its environs!.
Amazing pictures, truly inspires me to undertake something like this.
Two questions- I have a FWD XUV 500, how do you think it will fare, as opposed to an AWD.
Do you know what the ladakh and beyond-permit formalities are for foreign nationals with overseas citizenship card of India?. |
Thanks alphadog. XUV has a decent ground clearance, so you should not have any problems with it. However, some fully loaded XUVs had their skid plates broken. As BlackPearl mentioned - any FWD would have its challenges to tackle tracks off the beaten path, however inviting them may seem!
Regarding permits, I am afraid that I am quite unaware of the requirements, but foreign nationals may required inner line permit. Please confirm with Ladakh veterans!
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Originally Posted by gmhossain Truly, beautiful travelogue! Congratulation on successfully completing your Ladakh trip which is often considered as a pinnacle of Indian road adventures!
Cheers,
Golam |
Thanks gmhossain.
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Originally Posted by predatorwheelz Amazing. Just when I was going through Samba & Co's travelogue and thinking it would be hard to match, in comes another well-documented, tongue-in-cheek narrative with some mindblowing pictures. Make no mistake dude, you write really well! |
Thanks predatorwheelz! Your TLs are among the best I have read on TeamBHP! Feels great to get such complements from you!
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Originally Posted by premjit @Sayantan: Awesome Travelogue. It seems that arrival of the Chameleon has benefited not only you, but also the entire Team Bhp community, cos we can read such informative travelogues and ownership reviews. Super pictures and I am sure you had super fun as well.
Regards
Premjit |
Thanks PC!
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Originally Posted by SS-Traveller @ghostrider28: I thought I'd just sit back and read through your thread, relishing the lovely photographs of Ladakh (always a delight to see them in every Ladakh travelogue). And then I'd thank you and rate your thread appropriately.
But given that I actually lost count of the number of times you've mentioned my handle in that single all-encompassing post of yours (and sometimes made me feel like that number was greater than all the photos you managed to post), I thought it would be appropriate to put in a modest post telling everyone, hey, I know that ghostrider28 went overboard in mentioning me, and no, it wasn't such a big deal.
But some things are for sure... you went into Ladakh during one of the worst periods of the north Indian monsoons, you didn't have group support from multiple cars (unlike the group of 6 cars from Kolkata who travelled there soon after you returned), you were a highway newbie (not anymore!), and at certain points you had me worried (for all of the above reasons). Ladakh responded by welcoming you with open arms, and you both had an experience of a lifetime. Your car obviously gave you a lot more peace of mind than if you had been in a sedan/hatchback, and the varieties of wazwan and Mughlai cuisine that you enjoyed without getting nervous may (I suspect) have been partly because of your confidence in your vehicle!
All's well that ends well, taxi unions and boycotts notwithstanding. |
Thanks SSda! Girgiti did give me a lot of confidence, and got me out of sticky (quite literally!) situations on more than one occassion. It was a great learning experience overall. Hopefully, the learning was enough to get me to Sandakphu and back, alive!
I would have loved to travel with a group. It gives confidence in trying out some crazy things - e.g. - I really wanted to try out this slope up the mountain (this was near Zing Zing Bar probably), but were forced to decide against it since we were alone!
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Originally Posted by petrolhead_neel Wow! Seems like you had great time with "Girgiti" Sir! Stunning pictures and a great TL. Team-BHP is being blessed with a lot of Ladakh travelogues.
Can you please update your ownership thread on how the Chameleon performed in this trip in detail? I am sure there are many potential customers who are following your thread and would appreciate it.
OT: Did you drive past S&S Inc. on Tuesday morning?
Keep revvin'
Neel |
Thanks Neel. S&S Inc falls on my regular route to office, so there is a fair possibility that I was there on Tuesday morning, but I'm afraid that I do not remember exactly.
I do plan to update the ownership thread - with updates from the Ladakh trip. There are a few interesting observations. Coming to think of it, Girgiti will soon complete a year!