[lucifer1881]

Not so long ago in a land close, close by....

Madness! The Elantra is 15 years old, and has been having issues. The engine switches off for no apparent reason. Error codes light up all over on the OBD. The car is mothballed for over a month.

In a desperate move, the throttle body controller is replaced. The car is serviced. She runs well, no problems. Lucifer has a chat with the old girl. She seems to understand him well. She will take him on yet another journey. She has the will. He hopes her heart is strong enough.

At the crack of dawn on 7 September 2018, Lucifer's spirits dip a little. The journey is arduous - it has brought tougher cars down to their axles and laughed at the 4x4 ability of jeeps. He loves the girl. She loves him. Sometimes, perhaps, love is all you need....

With a tankful of petrol and a prayer on his lips, Lucifer and his wife begin their drive

Chris Cornell's song comes to mind:

I've seen angels fall from blinding heights
But you yourself are nothing so divine
Just next in line

I've seen diamonds cut through harder men
Than you yourself but if you must pretend
You may meet your end

Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you
The odds will betray you
And I will replace you
You can't deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you
Are you willing to die?

Was I? Willing to die? No.

For other threads on the brilliance of the Elantra:

1. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...es-bhutan.html (Where no Elantra has gone before - 5500 kms, 6 States & Bhutan!)
2. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...chal-more.html (5,278 km drive across 7 States - Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal & more)
3. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...lum-caves.html (Three and a Half Men & their Women: The one with Gandikota and Belum Caves)
4. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...icker-log.html (Satpura - Quick Jaunt, Quicker Log)

[lucifer1881]

The route map

The internet is a funny place. You hardly ever find two people agreeing on anything. But when it comes to road conditions in Spiti and Ladakh, everyone instantly agrees that they are bad. Forum upon forum, pages upon pages told me that these roads are not meant for a sedan, leave alone one as long as the Elantra. The front and rear overhangs will beach the car.

Then I was struck by an epiphany - "Road conditions are a state of mind", to paraphrase a certain politician. Should you throw caution to the wind, and gun for it? No. There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. But if the "road" is good enough for an Innova, then it is good enough for sedans.

Does it depend on the skill of the driver? Sure. Everything does. However, I have never ever done off-road driving (and, no, going off the tarmac a little does not count as off-roading). I consider myself to be an average driver. With a bit of mental fortitude and oodles of common sense, I believe anyone can drive across the roads I did. Even if they look like this:

Approaching Killing Sarai between Khoksar and Sarchu

Until this happened, my plan was to get to Ladakh and then come back via Sach pass and Dalhousie. An inner voice told me to shelve that and get home via Srinagar. I listened to the voice. I got home.

[lucifer1881]

This trip, like all trips to the majestic mountains should, took months to plan. It almost didn't happen when the car developed issues. Millions of hours were spent fine tuning the itinerary. It had to be perfectly planned. It had to be perfectly executed. Less than perfection was never an option.

For those who cherish the many twists and turns as events unfold over days (aka Test cricket), this travelogue attempts at being your just desserts. For those who believe in the TLDR version (aka T20), here goes:

1. Total drip duration: 16 days
2. Total distance covered: 6233km
3. Who did the journey: My wife and I
4. Route: Hyderabad - Bhopal - Murthal - Sainj - Chitkul - Kaza - Chandertaal - Sarchu - Leh - Hunder - Leh - Patnitop - Chandigarh - Agra - Nagpur - Hyderabad
5. Toughest sector of the drive: Chhatru to Khoksar
6. Most pleasurable sector of the drive: Shimla to Sainj
7. Interesting people met: Shubhra Mittal (the only woman hitchhiker in India who has been on the road for 10 months), a group from UK taking on the Himalayas in auto rickshaws, Devashish from Gurgaon who walked across the mountains from Kunzum Top to Chandertaal, a man who decided to quit his IT job and open his microbrewery, soldiers in Drass who were making their way up to Zojila to man the lines, and a myriad of fellow travellers who had some great stories to share.
8. Most annoying people met: Tourists who don't respect the sanctity of these sensitive and wonderful places, the Mahindra Great Escape convoy that had no spatial awareness - one driver in particular just would not let me pass.

The highlight of the trip has got to be the night sky, especially the milky way in Kaza and Chandertaal.

https://youtu.be/05uJT43CGD8

The most difficult night was the one spent in a tent in Sarchu. The terrain most brutal to the car was Killing Sarai. The toughest drive was Leh to Patnitop in a single 15-hour stretch.

And the one advice I would like to give the minister of transport is to dissolve NHAI out of shame since it takes over 8 hours to cover the 270km between Jammu and Srinagar. For comparison, it takes less than 8 hours to cover the 420km on the excellent roads between Leh and Srinagar, which are built and maintained by the Border Roads Organization. Truly, they are the nations Bro.

[lucifer1881]

Every journey to the Himalayas from Hyderabad entails 2 days of extremely boring driving to get there. Things start to get interesting from day 3. And with a vengeance they do.

But it is not all dark clouds and thunderstorms. That's inspite of the fact that our new fangled highways, while extremely good at getting us quickly from point A to point B, are extremely dull, drab and dreary to drive on. You might as well put a brick on the accelerator and read a book.

The gorgeous highway between Bhopal and Guna is the exception. It is just what you need after 800km of pretty boring driving. It revs you up by encouraging you to rev that engine all the way to the red line, not because you have to but because you want to.

Somewhere between Bhopal and Guna

Couple of things:

1. The Eastern Peripheral Expressway and the Yamuna Expressway are both fantastic roads.
2. The Outer Ring Road in Hyderabad, though years older, is still the best expressway in the country.

After driving on the two newest expressways, my appreciation for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation simply grew leaps and bounds. They managed to truly make a world class road that not only India but the world would be proud of.

[lucifer1881]

Anyway. Let's get on with it. On day 03 of the trip, we get to the mountains. We start bright and early from Murthal and get on the Himalayan Expressway between Chandigarh and Shimla. It must be a gorgeous piece of road, especially between Solan and Parwanoo, if not for the rains that washed it all away in August. What's left of it, is not bad. And the views are breathtaking.

https://youtu.be/IBI6CycIQ14

We reach Simla around noon and decide to spend a couple of hours on Mall Road. Why? Because there really was no rush. We only had about 2-3 hours of drive to reach Sainj, our stop for the night. This was also the only part of the trip where we were tourists, for one cannot be a traveller in Shimla.

Stop for breakfast, a stone's throw from Shimla


Taking a break after the walk up to the Mall Road


At the wax museum


Lucifer took the ball away, and that's why Argentina lost


In deep conversation. Expect a major policy announcement soon


Looking at the mountains from Cafe Simla

Then began our drive to Sainj, on what is possibly the best driving road in India - sweeping left and right handers, smooth tarmac, amazing views and great weather. Which other road offers this much?

https://youtu.be/4Ie7J-D0aps

Well, one other road does. And I shall get to it. In a travelogue, as in life, timing is everything.

She gets some well-deserved rest, for after this it is all about the rough and the dust

[lucifer1881]

https://youtu.be/vudZzqSW5Nw

What a lovely morning it was when we began our drive from Sainj (a little before Rampur Bushahr, Himachal Pradesh) towards Chitkul. The road was an absolute dream and the clouds made the drive even more magical.

A quick pitstop to get the air pressure checked, for who knows when the next air pump will be available

https://youtu.be/3y4VlHti4sI

The beauty continued all the way to Karcham until we took the turn towards Chitkul. Then the landscape got even prettier, if that was even possible.

https://youtu.be/mPcUW6S4K9M

A mountain cut straight from a science fiction movie, the unbelievably gorgeous valley below, and a car that seems to revel in these twisties - what more could a road trip ask for?

Between Sangla and Chitkul

Then we reached Chitkul. And that's when the sheer beauty of the Himalayas socked us in the face. It must have been a proud moment for the man who invented the High Definition display. His life's work was complete. What else was there for him to do? Surely, 1 billion colours is all we will ever need our displays to be capable of. Then God whispered, "Hold my drink!"

The Chitkul Valley. No digital camera or display can ever capture the entire gamut of colours here.

The valley was bathed in glorious sunshine as we checked into our hotel.

Which hotel did we check into? Zostel, of course. If you mean to travel, and there is a major distinction between a traveller and a tourist, then you check into the likes of Zostel, Stops Hostel, etc. These are places where you meet the most interesting people, hear the most interesting stories and spend the most interesting moments. Obviously, it is not for everyone. Then again, Chitkul is not for everyone either. There is no internet connectivity here. Only BSNL works. And the nearest airport is a good 12 hours away in Shimla.

Show me a better place to have lunch

We took a walk along the river. We wanted to never come back to our rooms. We just wanted to live there forever. But two things happened - it got terribly cold as the clouds moved in, and it started to rain. This made us realise two things - as city dwellers we make tall claims of wanting to be one with nature, and when nature gets a little too difficult we wish to retreat to the comfort of our homes.

https://youtu.be/4lhfVDLjNH4

[lucifer1881]

It's now 4 days that we are on the road - the car, the wife and I. Of the three, the car has been the only one performing at optimum in conditions she was never designed to operate in. The two humans, chuffed as they are, are getting used to the lower oxygen levels as they get higher and higher into the mountains.

On the 5th day, the threesome drives into the Spiti valley - a valley about which much has been written and spoken in the hallowed circles of the travellers who have made it there. With good reason, too. Most of the valley is a high altitude desert. But where there is water, there is vegetation. Where there is water, there is cultivation. Where there is water, there is life.

We started our drive from Chitkul around 7am. The plan was to get to Kaza with a short detour to Gue to have a look at the famous Mummy.

What a day, what a lovely day!

Traffic jams suck. This one, I don't mind so much

The Kinnaur valley is a beauty, as the pictures above show. But the Spiti valley is something else. It is one of the most remote locations in the world - getting to Kaza is at least a day and a half of travel from the nearest airport, which in the modern age is baffling. The roads are some of the best and some of the worst you will encounter in your life. The weather is weird - you can get a sunburn and a frost bite at the same time if some of your body is in the sun and the rest is in the shade.

Why do people travel there? The answer is much deeper than you think. You don't go to Spiti because you want solitude or you want to be one with nature or whatever. The urge to get to Spiti is similar to the urge of the first human who left the tribe and decided to explore what lay beyond the ridge. There really is no reason to visit Spiti unless Spiti is reason enough for you to visit.

This, I can confidently say, is one of the last bastions of the traveller. In the days I spent there, I found no tourist. No annoying person with a DSLR around their neck. No person who decided to engage in an impromptu display of their 4x4 skills. No person who did not know the real danger of being stranded there, for help would probably arrive too late if ever. Spiti is not for the faint-hearted, it is not for the uber macho. It is for those who truly respect the harshness of the desert and the stark severity of the mountains.

As we make our way into Spiti, the landscape changes - it is no more the lushness of the Kinnaur valley. This is a land like no other - irrigated by the mighty Spiti river, and flanked by the angry Himalayas. The two are locked in perpetual battle, a battle for the ages. There is no winner. It is a stalemate. But in this stalemate lay some of the most wonderful landscapes a human being can ever hope to reach.

The changing landscape as we drive into Spiti from Kinnaur

https://youtu.be/MT8DCc9iMI8

https://youtu.be/zlBaD4KpeHQ

The long and winding road

Remember the plan to visit Gue? This was the first of the applications of common sense on this trip. On this particular mountain, the climb was steep - much more than the climb from Pang to Tanglang La. The car had trouble breathing. There were instances of the engine struggling. A decision was made instantly - Gue will have to wait another day. We shall drive to Kaza and call it an evening.

https://youtu.be/KIy7SAw1nvE

We stop in this apple orchard for lunch


Getting close to Kaza - just a few more kilometre to go

Our first stop in Kaza was the filling station. This was the last filling station until Tandi.

The world's highest fuel retail outlet

And this is where we met the first of the interesting people on this trip.

A convoy of 7-8 auto rickshaws was taking on the Himalayas from Shimla to Leh

They were a group of Brits who had decided to drive from Shimla to Leh in Tuk-Tuks. The autos were brightly coloured, and added that extra zest to our trip. The convoy kept us company from Kaza till Leh - apparently, we had the same route plan. It was, however, a little embarassing when these Tuk-Tuks overtook us with aplomb when the tarmac disappeared. Hardy beasts, these.

We check into Traveller's Shed - a lovely place and very highly recommended. I bump into a couple of travellers from Israel who had been in India for over a month. Kaza was their last stop. Their next hop was Thailand where they would spend two weeks before getting back to Tel Aviv. Both were social workers, and it was fantastic spending an hour with them over chai.

On wife's suggestion (aka insistence), we took a nice walk to the market. Kaza market is something else - it has amazing goodies on sale and extremely fair prices. And what did I spot in the market?

Lo behold! A hair salon named after me. Kaza is my spirit location.

Our pockets sufficiently lighter, we returned to our hotel. And here we meet possibly the most interesting person I have ever met.

Wife poses with Shubhra Mittal, possibly India's only woman hitchhiker

Shubhra is a dentist by qualification and was practicing until about a year ago. She has been on the road for 10 months now, hitchhiking across the remotest parts of the country. Her experience with those who gave her a ride as all been positive. She speaks very highly of truck drivers - they are some of the best people to hear stories from and know about places that no one else knows of. There have been instances when she has had to walk for 10 hours straight because the place was so remote that there was no one else around.

To me, the trip was already a success. More than what you see, a trip is defined by the people you meet. The scenery and sightseeing helps, no doubt. But when you meet people like Shubhra or the Tuk-Tuk convoy, it makes you truly appreciate the many choices that life has to offer. There is never a dearth of something to do - find what works for you and keeps you happy, and then keep doing it.

The Milky Way as viewed from our hotel's terrace - not a bad way to end the day, eh?

[lucifer1881]

Day 6. Definitely the second most gruesome drive of the trip. Kaza to Chandertaal, driven mostly on stones and pebbles.

The day began with a visit to the Kaza Buddha.

The view of Kaza town from near the Buddha

The roads were absolutely fantastic until Neked.

Then the tarmac disappeared. And we did not find it until we got on the Manali Leh highway a little before Khoksar.

https://youtu.be/8FNCRjrEnk8

Locals do Kaza - Chandertaal in 3 hours. Locals also change their suspensions every year. Their tyres last only 25000km. I, on the other hand, had to get back home. My trip was only about a third of the way through. I drove sedately, and took a good 6 hours to reach Chandertaal.

Breakfast at Losar

https://youtu.be/2b5yRFZ_1V8

And then we reach heaven.

Chandertaal - the first look. Love at first sight indeed.

I assume God must have felt pretty good about herself when she made Chandertaal. And we have a very good forest officer to thank for ensuring the lake stays as pristine as God intended it to be. This particular forest officer is the recipient of several awards for his film on snow leopards. There is no trail in Himachal that he has not done. May his tribe increase!

A picture is worth more than a thousand words




The customary pictures


Has any other Elantra been to Chandertaal? Has any other Elantra been at 4290m above sea level? Has any other Elantra even dared to dream?

There have always been dreamers - people who see not what is but what can be. There have always been doers - people who make what can be what is. This is how trips become possible. This is how the next frontier gets conquered. This is how the fantastic today becomes mundane tomorrow. Because we dream. Because we do.

https://youtu.be/fz9hFjfgpAw

https://youtu.be/EZka3Q8QLCY

If the night sky in Kaza was a treat, then the sky at Chandertaal was a 7 course meal, accompanied by a live performance of angels singing to the creator's tunes.

The Milky Way at Chandertaal


The state of the wife as night fell - she needs all the warmth the stove can provide

It was a bitterly cold night indeed. And we would be in a tent. The morning promises to be interesting.

[lucifer1881]

How cold does cold get? Cold enough to form a layer of frost on your car.

The Elantra at 5am

Ram, our caretaker, came to the rescue. Ram is an interesting character - totally in touch with his mountainous roots and extremely modern in his outlook. He owns an apple orchard in Kalpa. This is a second job to supplement his income in the summer. Once the tents pack up at Chandertaal, it is apple harvest season. Ram knew all there was to know about SPF 100 sunscreens. And by the end of our stay, he ensured that we knew all about SPF as well. There was not one topic he could not hold a conversation on. And he loves cars. His current drive is the SX4, which he loves due to its high ground clearance. He is planning the new Gurkha next.

Splashing warm water over the Elantra cleared the frost. I was apprehensive - what if the windscreen cracked? But the apprehension gave way to comfort very quickly - Ram is local. He knows what he is doing. Soon, we were off.

Today, we made the run for Sarchu. For this, we had to cross the dreaded Pagal Nullah at Chota Dara between Chhatru and Batal. This nullah has driven the most hardened warriors to tears. It has beached gypsies and jeeps. Many a tough guy has been humbled. How will the Elantra fare? She had been out of her comfort zone for a week now. How much more can she take? On the plus side, Ram seemed confident in the Elantra. He believed the car's light weight would help us sail through.

The dawn breaks

Between Batal and Pagal Nullah

https://youtu.be/2J2ItSiniTE

Before that question could be answered, there was this small nullah before Pagal Nullah to get through. An Innova just in front of us got properly beached - stuck between a stone behind its differential casing and a stone in front of the chassis cross member. Fortunately, some truckers came by. The knew a trick or two. 40 minutes later, the Innova was out.

The Elantra? She performed admirably. Guided by the truckers, I drove her in the line they suggested. A few underbody hits, but she got through. Tough cookie, she is. But tough enough to conquer the mightiest of them all?

As it turned out, Pagal Nullah was a damp squib after this one. Yes, the nullah is quite long but the water levels were low enough. The stones could be seen. And as I drove across it, I was given the thumbs up by drivers of SUVs and Gypsies. The world was awestruck at the fortitude of the Elantra. I could only beam with pride at my girl.

There are no pictures or videos of this drive - the heart was totally in the mouth and all we wanted to do was get across the nullah safely and quickly.

https://youtu.be/qlVQ4ZS_4yg

Pagal Nullah done. Should be all rainbows and unicorns from here.

It wasn't all rainbows and unicorns. We stopped at Chhatru for chai. Good we did, because that chai came in very handy in holding nerves when we made the climb to the Manali Leh highway. We bumped into Devashish again. Remember that guy who had walked across from Kunzum Top to Chandertaal?

Until now, the roads were bad but they were no worse than what I had anticipated them to be. But nothing had prepared me for this leg. It was "are you freaking kidding me" stuff.

Water crossings, stones, slush, mud, loose soil and on-coming Himachal Transport Buses - this stretch had it all. This stretch made me question my wisdom of bringing a sedan to a jeep terrain. This stretch made me question my bravado - was I finally crossing that line into stupidity? This stretch aged me 5 years. There are no pictures, and no words can do it justice. But if there is one stretch that almost made me cut my trip short and return home via Manali then this was it.

The Elantra spoke to me. She told me not to worry too much. I just needed to nurse her through this rough, be patient and she will get me through. She did. I heaved a sigh of relief when we joined the Manali Leh highway. Took a breakfast break at Khoksar, much needed to calm those nerves.

The gorgeous road between Khoksar and Sissu

The good news is that 2/3rd of the Manali Leh highway is now as smooth as a baby's bottoms. The bad news is that the 1/3rd that isn't is going to test man and machine to their limit. Especially, Killing Sarai. She is always in a bad mood, and she loves to eat cars for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The climb to Baralachla was a joy - that tarmac should be given a Nobel prize for its brilliance. But from thereon until Sarchu it was all a bad dream. This is perhaps the only stretch on which BRO has given up, conceded defeat to the mighty Himalayas. This round belongs solely to the mountain. You doff your ego and move on.

[lucifer1881]

If Chandertaal was cold then Sarchu was a walk-in freezer. The tent did its best to keep us warm but the wind never let up. We slept in some semblance of comfort with a jumper on and two blankets.

As the sun rose, we made our way to Leh. A special shout-out to whoever first thought of equipping cars with automatic climatic control. It is an absolute beauty, a feature you appreciate more in the cold than in the heat. It may be a negative whatever outside but the ACC keeps you at your desired temperature.

-2 C outside. 24 C inside.

Many question the rationale behind our 5-5:30 am starts. Some believe it is too early. Others believe a vacation means sleeping in. To them, I say, "Look at the pictures below. You won't find these sights any other time."

Mountain Antelopes. Reclusive creatures came out in droves to greet us.

We spent quite some time marvelling at these beautiful animals. Well, at least as much time as they let us look at them before disappearing in the wilderness. We had spotted mountain antelopes on our earlier visit to Ladakh in 2009. This redux was more wondrous than the last time.

Breakfast Stop before Gata Loops. The Elantra looks gorgeous, doesn't she?


Yep, it was that cold - a jacket and a wind breaker were called into service simultaneously

The Gata Loops are now beautifully tarred. The ghost of Gata Loops keeps a silent vigil over proceedings. Multiple offerings of water bottles adorn his shrine. Every mountain deserves its ghost. This one, perhaps, is the most benign of them all.

What tarmac from Pang to Leh! Smooth as a whistle.


And things get even better at Tanglang La.

https://youtu.be/MZ7EfdfPsfs

https://youtu.be/RTT7ycgwyu4

It took us about 8 hours to reach Leh from Sarchu. But it was a very tiring 8 hours of driving indeed. All I had strength for was to get the permits stamped at DC office, have lunch, get back to the hotel and then crash for 14 hours straight.

[lucifer1881]

A friend of mine described Hunder to me thus:

It is God's POC before finalizing earth design. It has river, desert, forest, snow-capped peaks.

He is right.

https://youtu.be/Rixtouee7P4

I asked my guest house owner the time it takes to reach Hunder from Leh. He told me the road is very good and locals do it in 4 to 5 hours. But since I was not used to mountain roads, it may take me 6. Sigh. The locals also do Chandertaal-Kaza in 3 hours. I had my fingers and toes crossed.

As it turned out, it was not needed. The road is such a joy, especially from North Pallu to Hunder, that it took me 3.5 hours to reach Hunder. Obviously, we did not really need to stop at Khardungla since we had done this on our previous visit. Well, we did stop. But only for this one picture.

The Elantra at Khardungla. Has any other 15 year old Sedan with over 160k on the odo conquered this?

Once we reached Hunder, the desert talked to me. I ran up it in pure ecstasy. The place made me appreciate the true meaning of the John Denver song "Rocky Mountain High".

https://youtu.be/XwLKJV2JoVY

The sheer expanse of the dunes boggles the mind. Plus, these dunes are at 10,100 feet above mean sea level. God was having a very good day when he designed this place.

In deep thought, contemplating the nature of life and futility of death. Alone but not lonely as the desert stretches into infinity and beyond.

And, I did mention the river, right?

The river snakes its way through the desert. Tell me, this isn't straight out of a science fiction movie?


The Bactrian camel, a vestige of the trade along the silk route


The Hunder desert



Our stay at Hunder - a luxury stay, for now I am old and need my creature comforts.


Our resort had its own private river

Some chai and pakodas refreshed us and we made our way back to the dunes around 5pm. By this time, the place was crawling with tourists - those same annoying people with DSLRs around their neck and their constant cacophonic chatter. There should be a law in this country against speaking at any volume that carries your voice further than 10 feet.

When yours is the only sedan among 70 odd cars


A parting shot of the dunes


We also caught the local folk show set up for tourists

[lucifer1881]

Providence was smiling on us. There were signs everywhere that this trip was going to be one of total epicness. First the mountain antelopes greeted us. Now, it was the turn of this Mormot.

Somewhere between North Pallu and Khardungla

I did not realise how much my guardian angel looked after me until I got back. The 16 days I spent on the road were perfectly sandwiched between the floods in Shimla in August and the super floods in almost all of Himachal in September.

We made our way back to Leh on this day, the 10th of our trip. It was an easy day - frolicking around Leh, reminiscing of the time spent here 9 years ago, some shopping, and getting a good night's rest. It was from hereon that I made dramatic changes to my planned itinerary. No more Tso Moriri and Hanle. These were dropped for another time. The car had been pushed. Why push her more than the guardian angel can pull? A new plan was drawn up - get back home via Agra. Why Agra? Why not? The Taj is magnificent. Not for no reason is she a wonder of the world.

It's a Sunday. The Market wears a deserted look. I like that.

What has changed in Leh in 9 years? Lots. The market is now a walking street only. The number of tourists has gone up exponentially. There are many more hotels and guest houses to choose from. But the one thing that has not changed is the hospitality of the Ladakhi. They are a pleasure to interact with.

The Leh Monastery


Sub-post Office at Leh


No words can do justice to this picture



Some sights in Leh


Gesmo, our favourite watering hole in Leh


We have lunch at this quaint little eatery


Leh Market at night as viewed from Hotel Leh View, yet another favourite place of ours

[lucifer1881]

The next two days involved some heavy duty driving. I thought I will take it slow. May be Srinagar one day and then Chandigarh. But the Leh - Srinagar road is a peach. Within 2 hours we were in Lamayuru. Within 6, we were at the base of Zojila. Within 7, we were at Sonamarg - in time for lunch.

https://youtu.be/fzXkc8lEU3Q

https://youtu.be/s3w4k0zjw28

The road was so good that it brought out the 14 year old girl in me.

https://youtu.be/800XOK50-90

Then I came across the wall. This wall was built overnight during the Kargil War to obstruct the infiltrators' view of the road to prevent them from attacking the military convoys. The last time we drove by this wall, we had 2 GREF engineers in the car. This time, we had their stories to keep us company. It was a somber moment. Every generation has a war. Kargil is my generation's. I was 18 when the conflict happened. When I think of the sheer odds that the Indian armed forces surmounted, I get goosebumps.

https://youtu.be/cY3kG2DPp3s

Just as we began our climb to Zojila, we spotted four soldiers armed with automatic weapons. They needed a ride to their base camp before making their journey to the lines. We could fit only two of them in the car - the other two waited for another ride to come along. Soldiers tell you the best stories. These two did as well. Since those stories were shared in confidence, I will not reproduce them here.

Midway to Zojila, as the tarmac disappeared, the soldiers told us that a tunnel was being built under the mountain. If you can't tame the mountain, then you cheat and find a way under it. We also spotted two Migs on their routine sortie. The sound those engines make is orgasmic. I can watch these birds forever.

In 2009, Leh to Sonamarg took us 12 hours - 12 hours of extremely tiring driving. Now, driving from Leh to Sonamarg takes no longer than driving from Nagpur to Hyderabad. Three cheers to Border Roads Organization!

JKTDC at Sonamarg - the best place to stay or have lunch

We started around 2pm from Sonamarg. Should have taken us 4 to 5 hours to reach Jammu, or so we thought. The Srinagar - Jammu highway was very good until Jawahar Tunnel.

The first view of the Kashmir Valley

After Jawahar Tunnel, all hell broke loose. And this is why I have my gripe with NHAI. Yes, they are converting the road into a dual carriageway. But this conversion cannot make life miserable while it happens. After 5 hours of struggling, and with over 150km still to go for Jammu, I gave up. The wife looked up nearest available hotels. We found a decent one in Patnitop and checked in.

The morning at Patnitop

[lucifer1881]

Patnitop to Chandigarh was an uneventful drive. The only take away in this leg was that petrol in Himachal is much cheaper than petrol in Punjab. From Chandigarh, we made our way to Agra. Agra was to be our home for 2 nights - the only instance we spent two consecutive nights at the same location. And when you are in your mid thirties and have been on the road for 2 weeks, you develop an added appreciation for life's luxuries.

This was a good decision. Those two nights were refreshing, and taking in the sights and sounds of Agra and Fatehpur Sikri didn't hurt either.

Fatehpur Sikri - built by Akbar, cherished by all of us to this day








In the Taj Complex

I also realised one thing - 10 years of wedded bliss has not taken the nautanki out of either of us.

https://youtu.be/_7gHJSwMYh8

Or dulled my vivid imagination.

Doesn't this corridor look eerily similar to the corridors of USS Voyager?


The Mughal Express chugs along

[lucifer1881]

The drive from Agra to Nagpur took about 11 hours - a distance of almost 850km. Except for the stretch between Gwalior bypass and Jhansi bypass, the rest is pure cruise control stuff. NH 547 between Narsingpur and Nagpur is still as fabulous as ever (with a bit of tarmac rutted here and there), and the tolls in this are not Fastag enabled.

Nagpur to Hyderabad took the usual 6.5 hours hotel to home. The good news is that save for about 15 km (two stretches of 2.5 km each and one stretch of 10 km), the rest of the dualization work is complete. Once done, Nagpur should take about 6 hours.

The final odometer reading - 6232.8 km crunched in 16 days

It has been six days since we are back from this most epic of drives we have done thus far. It was not the longest road trip we did - that honour still rests with our first ever road trip - Ladakh 2009. But it was the most challenging. In 2009, I had a brand new Bolero - bought solely for the purpose of conquering the mountains. She barely had 4,500 km on it when we reached Leh.

The Elantra, on the other hand, has been a different story. She is a car with multiple personalities - extremely comfortable when you need to get from A to B, superbly fun to drive when you see that open road, and climbs every mountain or fords every stream if that is what you need her to do. I tried very hard to not make this travelogue an homage to my car. But what is a man to do?

As I look back at the years, and the places we have driven to, I can't but think, "Hey, it has been a good life. I have done things that would make for interesting campfire stories."