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Myelf and two of my college batch mates (Prashant Gopinath & Antony Thomas) were going. Planning started in April/May itself. Permissions requested from better halves and received. Leaves applied much earlier and collected as much information as possible after talking to many others who already did similar trips.
It was decided to take my Ertiga for the trip. Car was serviced and battery was changed. Clutch & Tyres were changed an year back. A sump guard was fabricated to protect oil sump (
details in Ertiga official review thread). We made a makeshift flat bed by folding complete 3rd row and the 60 part of the second row. Luggage carrier was fitted back. 10 ltr Diesel cans were purchased and headlights upgraded to 100/90W and after all preparations and discussions Sept 15th 4PM we finally started our trip from Bangalore !!
I Would like to acknowledge the support and information provided by fellow team bhpians
Parag Sanchania, Avinash Binale, Dhanush Menon, Rajain, Arun Josie & Jerry (Star MASS, Chalakudy) here. Thank you guys !!
Purcahsed the Ladak 951 from HivayKings for hotel bookings
Antony created the below Animaps to show our journey in few seconds (best viewed in a computer screen than a mobile device)
1. Click
here for animaps
2. Click on play button
Start time: 4PM Sept 15
End time : 5PM Sept 16
Route taken: Bangalore - Pune - Mumbai - Nasik - Dhule - Ratlam.
Kilometers covered : 1690
We drove for 25 hours continuously. Lost an hour in crossing Mumbai and were out of Mumbai by 6 AM. Had breakfast after Nasik, lunch from Julwaniya Road,MP and reached Ratlam by 5 Pm. After an early dinner crashed to bed.
Rain gave us company all the way till Ratlam
Early morning driving out of Mumbai
Green green everywhere - beautiful Mumbai Nasik road
Lunch break @ Julwaniya Road,MP - 38 degrees
Start time: 5.15AM Sept 15
End time : 8.30 PM Sept 16
Route taken: Ratlam-Chittogarh-Bhilwara-Kishangarh-Hanumangarh
Kilometers covered : 860
Bad road section: None
Breakfast (745AM) at CK HOTEL NIMBAHERA, had good Aloo paratha here
Lunch (1:00PM): Hotel Rajdeep palace, Kishangarh; not very good food.
Roads from Ajmer till Amritsar are 2 lane with few railway crossings in between
Lot of cows on RJ roads.
Found a place to play on sand en route (27°57'48.0"N 74°35'31.6"E). Spent some time taking photos and drifting the car.
https://youtu.be/4QYjJz3GqtA 
S18: Hanumangarh-Amritsar -Pathankot
Start time: 5.40AM Sept 18
End time : 9.40 PM Sept 18
Route taken: Hanumangarh-Abohar-Fazilka-Zira-Amritsar-Wagah-Amritsar-Gurdaspur-Pathankot
Kilometers covered : 450
Bad roads: Hanumangarh- Punjab border & lots of road widening work before entering Amritsar.
Breakfast (820AM) at Some Dhaba after Ferozpur
Lunch (1:00PM): Golden temple Langar
Dinner - McDonalds (ToGo) near Golden temple
We reached Amritsar only by 11 AM due to the road construction work before Amritsar town and city traffic; Parked car in the multilevel parking lot and visited Golden temple & Jalian wala Bhag. Had lunch from the special Langar and came out. Took a local auto to Wagah boarder as we didnt want to park our car with all the luggage inside in an unsecured parking lot, felt the multilevel parking is much safer.
Beautiful sunrise just before entering Punjab
Between Fazilka and Zira, we travelled almost parallel to Pak border and there are a couple of boards indicating Pak border closeby
We took a small detour to paddy fields of Punjab.
This person was very curious to know what a selfie stick is clap:
Golden Temple
Jalian wala bhag
Gobindgarh fort
Long queue to witness Wagah border closing ceremony started by 3.30 PM itself even though it was a working day.
Last bus
Pak side
Ceremony
https://youtu.be/SAhQS-iT_UE
Coming back to India lol:
S19: Pathankot-Srinagar
Start time: 5.30AM
End time : 8.00 PM
Route taken: Pathankot-Jammu-Udhampur-Banihal - Anantnag-Srinagar
Kilometers covered : 430
Bad road section(s): A LOT - Chenani tunnel exit to Banihal (58 km) took around 5 hours.
Breakfast (745AM) at Punjabi Haveli, Domel; had wonderful breakfast here
Lunch (1:00PM): Tourist Cafeteria/JKTDC hotel, Ramban; again very tasty food eventhough items were less.
Dinner - inside houseboat.
We started early from Pathankot and quikly crossed J&K boarder. Border crossing was easy, we were expecting vehicle checking by J&K police, but no one was there. Security was very tight on the road especially before Jammu. We made good progress and reached Chenani tunnel and decided NOT to take it, but instead visit Patnitop. After visiting Patnitop, we realized that visiting Patnitop is probably not worth taking the extra distance and time. It was a nighmare driving from the other end of Tunnel till Banihal; never ending trucks, road construction, narrow to very narrow roads, no roads etc etc. Anantnag-Srinagar section had lot of traffic. Reached our houseboat by 8 PM and retired for the day after a good dinner and some shopping.
Welcome to J&K
Bypassing Jammu..beautiful roads !
Patnitop
Roads or no roads??:Frustrati
Titanic view point
Dirt accumulated over 3500 km of north south drive
Finally reached our destination for the day - Houseboat !!
Start time: 7.45AM
End time : 5.30 PM
Route taken: Kargil-Namik La - Fotu La - Lamayuru - Indus/Zansar confluence - Magnetic hill - Leh
Kilometers covered : 245
S21 was an easy day, not much distance to cover & mostly good roads everywhere. Crossed two passes ( Fotu La and Namik La). We climbed all the way to the top of Lamayuru Monastery and it was tough trek at that altitude. Once we left Lamayuru, we started seeing tourists from Leh in all types of vehicles. Checked in to the homestay early and then visited Shanti Stupa in the evening. Had great Tibetan dinner at Market street.
Kargil town view from other side of town
Posing
So good to see sentences written in mother tongue 3500 km away from home at the back side of a Lorry clap: Can you locate
both the sentences?
Not a single green leaf anywhere !!
Lamayuru Monastery
At the top
Moonland !
Pink rocks !
Road block - we lost more than an hour due to army repairing a bridge. Observed that nobody is ready to give way, whether its Bangaluru or Leh!!
Indus/Zansar confluence
Magnetic hill
Video
Shanti Stupa
Start time: 7.15 AM
End time : 5.30 PM
Route taken: Leh-Khardung la - Hunder sand dunes - Turtuk
We started our day early with a packed breakfast. Traffic was very light because of early start. It started snowing as soon as we started our climb. Roads were a total mess for 8 km on Leh side of Khardung La and 16 km on Nubra side. We noticed loss of power and blue smoke in the rear view mirror again while climbing towards Khardung La. There were 2 instances where my friends had to get out of the car to increase GC and reduce load. Finally reached Khardung La by 845 AM. It was snowing moderately at the pass. Spent some time clicking customary pics and started our descent.
Views en route
Roads towards the pass
Finally - the most important destination of this trip for me !!
View of the pass from Nubra side while descending.
I was concerned on the blue smoke and hence was checking the engine oil levels every half an hour. Reached Diskit and called Parag Sanchania and he confirmed this is very normal. But to be on safer side, I bought 2L of engine oil and topped up, engine took only 200ml and I was relieved. Even the mechanic confirmed the car is working fine.
Filled up Diesel at Diskit and was again relieved to see car giving 15.5 kmpl mileage in this difficult section.
We went to Hunder sand dunes next and took the camel safari. It was a very bumpy ride :Frustrati
Had lunch from a hotel at Hunter and continued towards Turtuk. We gave a lift to a Ladakh Scouts subedar who was going to report to duty at Siachen glacier. He served Ladakh area for last 20+ years and gave us a lot of information on local life, operation Meghdoot & Kargil wars, life of soldiers during a war, some of the army operations that happened along the Turtuk route etc.
Dropped him at his base camp, enjoyed a hot tea with them and continued towards Turtuk.
Thats Pakistan straight ahead.
There was some local function to felicitate the people who returned from Haj and ALL people from nearby villages were on the road - it delayed us by 1.5-2 hours and we could reach Turtuk only by 5:30PM. We drove till Tyakshi village, but Army didnt allow to cross the checkpost :)
Start time: 6.30AM
End time : 8.30PM
Route taken: Tangtse-Pangong-Tangtse-Pangong- Man-Merak-Chusul-Tsaka La- Mood-Hanle
This day was probably the most eventful day of the whole trip. We started around 6:30 AM since it was a long day ahead of us. After around 10 km or so we started noticing a metallic rubbing/vibrating sound coming from engine bay. Initially we stopped at a BRO contractors place to check, but they were of no help. We turned back hoping to get some help at Tangste or Durbuk. En route we met a group of Army men and their captain offered his mechanic's help after listening to the sound. We drove to the Army camp and met with the mechanic, but he also couldn't diagnose the problem. So we came back to Tangste where we have cell phone coverage and started calling people. My mechanic back in Kerala asked to check if sump guard is touching the sump; and luckily that was the source of noise. The sump guard was deformed and 2 nuts were damaged due to the under body scrapping on the previous day. Did some jugaad with the mounting of the sump guard to increase the space between oil sump & guard and the sound disappeared. We lost a good 2 hour in this process but were very relieved to learn that car is fine - The sump guard did exactly what it was supposed to do - protect the engine from under body hits.
Went back to Pangong, but were cautious in driving given that the sump guard is not fully functional.
The first view of the lake
At Pangong we again met 2 people from Thrissur whom we had met couple of times the previous day.
After spending some time at Pangong, we left for Hanle. Here are some photos of the lake
Someone was having fun time at the lakebed
Pangong Tso
This drive was a totally deserted one, having met only a handful of vehicles & people the whole day of driving. While I was preparing for this trip, some one had told I can see one car per hour or so, but that was an overstatement !! Roads were mostly dirt tracks until we hit the Hanley- Nyoma road at Mood around 7:30PM.
Rezang La War Memorial
Just after the Tsaka La, car scrapped underbody again and the grinding sound came back. We tried to do fixes again, but that didnt last; so we removed the sump guard at a checkpost around 7 PM.
The last stretch was on good roads, but again very deserted roads. Driving in such a road with headlights on was a totally different experience.
Checked in to our homestay around 8:30PM. Had a great view of Milkyway (thanks to zero light pollution and clouds) , but couldn't take any photos due to extreme cold
Some of the wildlife we spotted en route
Start time: 9.00AM
End time : 6.00PM
Route taken: Hanle- Nyoma- Puga hot springs -Pologongka La- Tso Kar
I straightened the damaged sump guard using a hammer at the Homestay, but couldnt fit it back. We were told we can request for help from Army at Nyoma. So after visiting the Hanle observatory, we left for Nyoma.
Indian Astronomical Observatory
Views from the Observatory
Hanle Gompa
We reached the BRO camp at Nyoma and requested the chief of the camp (OC) if his men can help us. He was hesitant to do that quoting some not so pleasant recent incidents involving civilian vehicles. We requested if we can do the work using his equipment, and he agreed. We drove Ertiga inside one of the ramps and fitted the sump guard back in 30 minutes.
Met a few very helpful officers there and the commanding officer made sure we had a great lunch inside their mess. :thumbs up
After all these, we didn't want to take one more chance/adventure of driving to Tso Moriri over non existent roads; so we decided we will visit the Puga hot springs and come back and halt at Chumathang for the night. But the road till Puga hot springs was so bad that it didnt make sense to go back; so we changed plan again to continue towards Tso Kar. Puga hot springs was a let down. Reached Tso kar by sun set and there were only 2 tents that were open, rest all were closed for the season. we were probably the only tourists that night in Tso Kar.
Pologongka La
One makeshift bridge enroute
Tso Kar sunet
Went to a near by Army Satellite telephone booth and made few short calls to let the family know that we reached Tso Kar.
It was pretty cold that night, and was very difficult to sleep.
River crossing near TsoKar
Start time: 6.30AM
End time : 5:30PM
Route taken: Tso Kar - Pang - Lachung La - Sarchu - Baralacha la - Keylong
Today we crossed over to HP after spending 9 days in J&K. Woke up very early due to the extreme cold & rooms with no insulation; hot water was not available, hence we got ready very fast as well lol:. Outside temperature was -5 degrees. Car didnt start in first few cranks even though the whole engine side was covered overnight, but after leaving the ignition ON for 2 minutes it started easily.
Saw these structures which are just 2-3 ft high at many places through out the journey, but didnt understand its purpose
Had breakfast from Pang and there we met few bikers from my hometown(including one 18 year old who drove all the way from Kerala in a Honda Deo).
Rest of the days drive was uneventful, Indian oil tankers gave us company throughout the day. Checked in to the hotel around 530PM. In the evening we went for a walk, visited the Keylong market and purchased few goodies for folks back home
Gata loops
Suraj Tal
Baralacha la
Map of the area we found inside a hotel
Start time: 7:00AM
End time : 9:30PM
Route taken: Keylong-Rohtang pass - Manali- Kullu -Mandi - Kiratpur Sahib- Rupnagar
To day we crossed our last high altitude pass and reached back plains. Progress was very slow due to so many cabs near Manali, heavy traffic between Mandi and Kullu and finally lots of cement trucks going to plains. Reached Mandi around 430 PM and decided to push further hoping that will give us some headway in next few days. We were so happy to see 4 lane roads near Ropar. Finally checked in to a hotel around 9.30PM after dinner; but was the worst stay experience in the whole trip.
Our host at Keylong and his pet
Chanderbhaga Sangam
The famous sign
Climbing towards Rohtang pass
Views before Rohtang Pass
The other side of Rohtang pass - Finally some greenery clap:
Pandoh Dam
We closed an empty water bottle tight at the top of Khardung La and kept it inside the car to observe the impact of increase in atmospheric pressure. Below pic shows the impact of losing 5000 meter in altitude and higher pressure.:Shockked: .
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