[digitalnirvana]

Awesome thread Shariq. You have a way with words and your photos are amazingly beautiful. Felt connected with the entire trip and your writing style is to be thanked!

The dog pics are really cute, and the small creatures you saw are probably marmosets

I know Kunzang and Vishal but that is a story for another day

Please do post a few more snaps if possible, we went in the winter (yes, crazy I know!) and the summer sceneries are captivating

Thanks for this thread

[mayankk]

Brilliant Travelogue!
Enjoyed it to the hilt. You took hold and took us through your trip.

Rajma Chawal, FFS!!!

[Noobie]

Originally Posted by anubshar

Awesome travelogue. The pics are really nice. One of my friends is going on a similar trip next week.
Just wanted to know that how did you manage to go past the strict security at srinagar airport without any id proof?

Thank you anubshar. Persuade your friend to share his experience if you can.

As for the airport, I wish I could say that I slipped past the security like some double agent. Alas, I was armed with a FIR from the Leh police station validating my story. In addition to that, my booking had 5 members of which apart from me, all the other had their ID's. So I guess it may have not raised any alarms on their side.

Originally Posted by IndiaSierra

Let me be the first one to congratulate you on this awesome adventure! The pictures are just fantastic and the time-lapse is on of its kind, generally not spotted in other travelogues. I am sure you all had a wonderful experience except the part when some of your team-mates fell ill. I must also mention that the travelogue is wonderfully narrated.

Thank you IndiaSierra.

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

Awesome thread Shariq. You have a way with words and your photos are amazingly beautiful. Felt connected with the entire trip and your writing style is to be thanked!

The dog pics are really cute, and the small creatures you saw are probably marmosets

I know Kunzang and Vishal but that is a story for another day

Please do post a few more snaps if possible, we went in the winter (yes, crazy I know!) and the summer sceneries are captivating

Thanks for this thread

Thank you digitalnirvana for your kind words. I was apprehensive at first of writing this. You just made my day

I'd love to hear that story.

Originally Posted by mayankk

Brilliant Travelogue!
Enjoyed it to the hilt. You took hold and took us through your trip.

Rajma Chawal, FFS!!!

Thank you mayankk. That rajma almost made my heart skip a beat.

[createrkid]

Wonderfully written travelogue! You have a natural flair at writing :-). And LOL at the rajma chawal part, I was on the floor in tears with laughter.

Also, those animals you saw are marmots.

OT: Didn't you have the urge to drive yourself down to Leh? Half the fun is in driving yourself to such a place, isn't it?

[swsumit]

hii

great trip must say ... do plan a trip in September period , you will see a different beauty of Ladakh

[sumitjeet]

Loved every bit of it. I would say no time is too long. 7 years to write this and make this trip is worth waiting for. Hope you and your friends are fine.

[bhansali_hardik]

Brilliant write up with equally brilliant set of pics! Welcome aboard, worth the wait to have something so beautiful in your first post!

[rohan.xj]

Excellent travelogue Shariq👍🏼 your comic timing is superb, would be great to hear more from you on this forum!

Loved the pics, pls share camera/lens that you have used for the clicks.

[vsathyap]

Nice adventure you had there! I can totally relate to some things you have mentioned in the travelogue. Just one question though - how come you guys decided to halt at Sarchu on your onward journey? It's almost common knowledge that if one is planning the Manali route, its best to do the overnight at Keylong which is at a much lesser altitude than Jispa or Sarchu. The next day covering Keylong-Leh will be a marathon nevertheless, but effects of AMS will be substantially lesser.

Please share the contact info of your driver who was kind enough to pick you up from Manali :-). The only way of saying thanks to those hard working souls is to recommend them to other folks here and give them good business during these months. Most of them drive part time during the tourist season and do other low paying jobs in the other months.

[Noobie]

Originally Posted by createrkid

Wonderfully written travelogue! You have a natural flair at writing :-). And LOL at the rajma chawal part, I was on the floor in tears with laughter.

Also, those animals you saw are marmots.

OT: Didn't you have the urge to drive yourself down to Leh? Half the fun is in driving yourself to such a place, isn't it?

Thank you createrkid. And yes, you are correct. They are indeed marmots. They look very similar to beavers by the way.

As for the drive, I agree, it would have been fun. Infact, you can set your own pace for such a place. That said, on the flip side, when you're on the driving seat, you're bound to miss out on some scenic views that may be peaking out on some bends and ladakh has tons of it. So I decided to be chauffeured for a change. But hopefully, next time, we might just drive up there.

Originally Posted by swsumit

hii

great trip must say ... do plan a trip in September period , you will see a different beauty of Ladakh

Thanks swsumit. I hope to visit this place during the winter.

Originally Posted by sumitjeet

Loved every bit of it. I would say no time is too long. 7 years to write this and make this trip is worth waiting for. Hope you and your friends are fine.

Thanks sumitjeet. The boys were fine and kicking once the doc pumped some oxygen into their system. They became more active than the rest of us.

Originally Posted by bhansali_hardik

Brilliant write up with equally brilliant set of pics! Welcome aboard, worth the wait to have something so beautiful in your first post!

Thanks Hardik

Originally Posted by rohan.xj

Excellent travelogue Shariq👍🏼 your comic timing is superb, would be great to hear more from you on this forum!

Loved the pics, pls share camera/lens that you have used for the clicks.

Thank you Rohan. Will surely share my experiences as and when I do travel. We had a Canon 450D, 600D, 700D with standard kit lens 18-55 along with a 200 telescopic as well.

Originally Posted by vsathyap

Nice adventure you had there! I can totally relate to some things you have mentioned in the travelogue. Just one question though - how come you guys decided to halt at Sarchu on your onward journey? It's almost common knowledge that if one is planning the Manali route, its best to do the overnight at Keylong which is at a much lesser altitude than Jispa or Sarchu. The next day covering Keylong-Leh will be a marathon nevertheless, but effects of AMS will be substantially lesser.

Please share the contact info of your driver who was kind enough to pick you up from Manali :-). The only way of saying thanks to those hard working souls is to recommend them to other folks here and give them good business during these months. Most of them drive part time during the tourist season and do other low paying jobs in the other months.

Well, you are correct. We had initially thought of stopping over at keylong or even Jispa. But the fact that the next leg would be a marathon is what made us think otherwise. We decided to spread our journey evenly. Also, we were not expecting it to drizzle there when we made our plan months back. It was more of 'wrong place at the wrong time'

Name: Sonam Mothup
Number: 09469368056
09622137535

Sonam is the guy who I spoke to and who made all the arrangements. Although, it's his brother, Chinjore Ji who was with us throughout our journey.

[motomaverick]

Congrats on ticking off one item from the bucket list. Loved the time lapse video sums up the scenic beauty really well. Now with HPTC starting bus service from Delhi, Leh is even more easily accessible.