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7th June 2022, 12:24
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| BHPian  | Fairy tale of a Bimmer - Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes "When the road ahead seems impossible - start the engine"       Driving ~8500 kms is much easier that writing a travelogue of 8500 words!! I will refrain writing a lot of words and instead let the photos tell the story of 2.1/2 travellers who went on to witness the breathtaking beauty of this place called Ladakh - Land of high mountain passes. While I am not good at telling stories, Ladakh is a place where you make stories to remember. "The goal is to die with memories not dreams" Not mentioning a lot of technical details in this post, a bit of it just so that a fellow traveller can refer to some pointers towards the planning and some really important answers. Let's start this story with an image that represents the land. Peace and the struggle. All the credit goes to the men in uniform and BRO ( Border Road Organisation ) to make this place what it is.  Peace and Protection Ladakh is known for shades of blue alongside green patches and colourful mountains. Let's celebrate the majestic nature this region offers with some snaps. No camera on earth can truly capture the depth and vividness of the landscape offered here, these pictures are going to represent just a tiny piece of the beauty.        The Plan It was a bucket list item for a loooong time but driving to Ladakh from Bangalore with family ( especially with a kid ) is no small plan to do! It needs 4 weeks to cover the place properly and 40 weeks to plan ... Thankfully though, my family was super excited about the adventure and we started slowly fleshing out the plan. First was the route, ideally one should complete the circuit of Srinagar - Leh - Manali to experience the beauty. Our plan looked like this, trust me, it looked impossible initially   Planning had 3 different items -
We decided to drive up through Srinagar and drive down through Manali. Planned exactly 30 days drive, ~8500 kms including sightseeing! This is what our Ladakh plan looked like on Map!   The Preparation The bimmer had a change of breakpads in March 22 end and got it's 3rd service completed. The car informed that it would be another 12000 kms before it needs a service. However, for safety, I sent it for a thorough checkup. It was a paid checkup although the car is covered under BSI as the nature of the service was adhoc and purely on customer request.  However, one thing that was noted is that - the rear tyres lost a lot of threading depth and would hardly be safe for another 2 thousand kms. Treads inwards were completely gone, the car did around 22.5k kms barely. I knew RFTs would have less life but never expected them to last for barely 20k! Anyways, to make the drive peaceful, decided to change all the tyres. The real struggle started here! Due to pandemic and then war, the supply chain for imported tyres have completely been disrupted. Finding 4 tyres together was proving to be a real struggle. Finally, a Bridgestone SELECT dealership got new tyres and luckily was very close to home. Made a visit and got all the tyres changed at roughly 1.2 Lakhs including everything. BTW, BMW quoted almost 1.5 lakhs for the exact same job  245/50/R19 Run flats   Next thing to ensure and one of the most important preparation for this road trip was to get all necessary permits to avoid any surprise on road. As we planned to drive to most corners of the region including some restricted regions like Turtuk and Hanle, we had to plan everything in advance and keep some buffer dates as well to tweak plan during the trip if required. Reference Inner Line Permit ( ILP )  Recording Equipments All of us including our 9 year old are shutter happy. But as we had to carry a lot of stuff we had to leave a few equipments and choose what we absolutely need. We are hobbyist photographers and believe in - "the best camera is what you have". Without any more buildup, here is a list of cameras we used in order of their usage ( descending order )
A closer look at some of the equipments   Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:26. |
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7th June 2022, 14:46
| #2 |
| BHPian | Fairy tale of a bimmer | Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes The Journey DAY 1 We started from Bangalore early on 30th April 2022. Destination was Pune for the night. All happy and pumped up Good morning Bangalore.   The bimmer eats miles! We reached Pune before evening.  DAY 2 From Pune we started after a hearty breakfast. Destination was Vadodara. My experience of this route was good as we drove on this stretch in December 2020 during our Rajasthan road trip in the bimmer. But we were up for a shock. We realised the effect of pandemic on traffic, precisely why it was smooth back in 2020! We were shocked to see such traffic on expressways, that too on a Sunday! We reached Vadodara around 8.30 pm. And no, no pictures for Day 2!!! DAY 3 Our favourite part of the country to drive. Both Gujarat and Rajasthan provides the fastest expressways in the country. Our destination for the night was Jaipur. The pitch black tarmac and winding like serpents, these are the attributes one associates with the roads in this part of the country. We drove through some heavy wind scattering sands everywhere.    We stopped at Udaipur for a delicious lunch. Udaipur offers heritage boutique hotels tucked away from the crowd in almost every kms!  We noticed a new cafe themed on heritage automobiles. Stopped there for a quick coffee break. We really liked the place, it's built for travellers.   DAY 4 We started after an elaborate breakfast. But before that, we took a photo of Jalmahal during sunrise that we missed in 2020. We were staying right opposite to Jalmahal, so it was barely crossing the road and go to the other side.  We saw empty Amber fort and immediately put our car in the perfect spot for a picture!!  Destination for the day was Amritsar. This was the first city in our trip where we stayed more than a night. We reached Amritsar by 7 and still had a lot of energy left, however, in order to roam around the city next day, we finished a heavy dinner and went to bed by 10pm. DAY 5 We started the day late for roaming around the city and started with a historic location - Golden Temple and Jalianwala Bhag.  Way to golden temple  A panaromic view from outside And few glimpses of the temple complex    Jalianwala Bhag  We went to Atari Sahi Qila to witness the borderline madness.  Keeping the flag Safe, our first line of defence, BSF  DAY 6 This was a long day. Destination was Sonamarg. There are road constructions going on in lot of places. After crossing Jammu we had to go through a lot of broken patches as we were diverted from the NH 1. We reached Sonamarg late, around 8.30 pm. We were tired and went to bed after a brief dinner. DAY 7 This had to be a memorable day as we were about to enter Ladakh today. Our destination was Kargil. But before we start our climb towards Zoji La, we wanted to enjoy the green hues of Kashmir. This was so soothing for the eyes.     Then came a shocking moment. We were stopped at the check post and asked to return for the day as Zoji La was closed due to a landslide and road widening work! However, a guy informed us that they might open it for a very short time during lunch. This was around 10 am, so we had to wait for 3 hours. The moment a guy at checked post waved hand at exactly 1 pm, I floored the A pedal  and we were past the check post! But who knew we would be stalled again! BRO at work in clearing some debris and levelling the road. We were stopped briefly for half an hour and we were leading the pack. The guys made sure we have to get on some football size stones!!  But then, that couldn't possible be a challenge for the bimmer. We won finally and reached Zoji La. What a moment!   Somewhere between Zoji La and Dras.  Stopped at Kargil War memorial briefly. We feel proud at the same time sad every time we visit this place.   A celebration before entering Kargil - we were finally in Ladakh!  Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:25. |
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7th June 2022, 17:45
| #3 |
| BHPian | Fairy tale of a bimmer | Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes DAY 8 The big DAY! We were entering Leh from Kargil. The drive was short and the surroundings were breathtaking! Somewhere after Kargil  Lamayuru   Somewhere after Lamayuru  Now, we were in the sight of Leh!!!   Reached hotel but couldn't stop photography. We also became kid like him     As if these were not enough, I got the big guy out to see the mountains up close and the views were dramatic! Mountains, up close   And then, sunset ...    DAY 9 Our first and only day at Leh local sight seeing. We saw Likir, Alchi, Uletopko, Sangam, Hall of Fame, Leh Palace, Shanti Stupa. We had already seen magnetic hill, Lamayuru, Gudwara while driving to Leh from Kargil. Likir    Towards Alchi [ Photography not allowed in Alchi ]  Indus  Sangam  With some pose  Uleytopko  Hall of Fame   Leh Palace  Looking out from Leh Palace   Namgyal Tsemo Monastery  Thiksey Monastery  Back to hotel and greeted by the vivid colours of sunset  Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:26. |
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8th June 2022, 11:03
| #4 |
| BHPian | Fairy tale of a bimmer | Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes Shanti Stupa  View from Shanti Stupa, Sun plays hide and seek when we were blessed with full colour pallet  Some more landscape shots en route    Stakna Monastery  DAY 10 We wanted to see Stok Palace and planed one night stay in Chulli Bagh. This is a property away from the city and right in the lap of nature, within an apricot orchard. This place is highly recommended. Unlike Grand Dragon or Indus Valley, this place offers nature in abundance! Accept that you won't get some creature comforts and luxury of urban living. Stok Palace   Chulli Bagh    Due to stringent rules by law enforcements couldn't fly drone till this point, after confirming with hotel front desk and management, we got the little bird out. And boy, what a view and perspective! Posting a panorama and a wide angle shot, such an insanely capable flying equipment...   Once you are at Stok, don't miss Kurphuk Monastery and the gigantic Buddha statue beside the monastery. It's a beautiful place and you can see Leh at a distance from the base of the statue.  Guarding Stok    DAY 11 We drove towards Nubra. We were really excited, we would be crossing Khardung La today, a feat for the G01 bimmer. We couldn't stop at Khardung La, it was so crowded, yellow board Innova and Scorpio only  However, we could take a pit stop just after crossing Khardung La and it was much more scenic than the Khardung La top!      We stopped at a random location just for a quick break, it turned out to be a perfect spot for a brilliant view of the road down on left and blue serpentine Syok river on the other side! This was pure bliss!!!    A glimpse of the desert from a distance  DAY 12 A drive to Sumoor and Panamik hot spring. We visited Samstanling Gompa on the way back. A view of the Nubra valley ( dry river bed too ) from Panamik hot spring  Samstanling Gompa on the way back   And a super excited kid  Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:27. |
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10th June 2022, 19:18
| #5 |
| BHPian | Fairy tale of a bimmer | Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes It was now time for Hunder, the cold desert. This is the first time, we were disappointed! Hunder is not exactly as vibrant as we thought or may be it was because of over crowding the desert. You will feel bad about the camels, the way they are treated, the way they are abused  Anyways some snaps for the reference here, we didn't take a ride here but our son did. Hunder desert      Time for Diskit now... This is an amazing Monastery, people visiting this place, please don't be afraid to climb so many steps, it's not that tiring at all. The view of the large Buddha statue from here is breathtaking! We took few snaps of Diskit from the Monastery and then few snaps of the Monastery from the gigantic Budhha statue. Guarding Diskit, as seen from Diskit Monastery   The statue, up close  Monastery, as seen from the Budhha statue   breathtaking surroundings    DAY 13 We drove to Turtuk, Thang and visited Syok War memorial on the way back. Turtuk is the last village in the Indian territory and Thang is a place from where one can view Karakoram and a small part of Pakistan. View from Thang  Karakoram as seen from Thang  Part of a Pakistani village  Way back, in turtuk, enjoying a stream of cold water  Syok war memorial was something unexpected for us, we never imagined we will see something like this in such a harsh terrain. Kudos to our people in uniform, not only this place is well maintained, guests are so well treated here (not that a lot of people visit this place ). The memorial  The surroundings    DAY 14 We drove to Pangong TSO from Hunder, we chose this route to make sure we cover Wari La as well, We covered Chang La while driving back to Leh from Meruk. This was second best drive in the entire trip, the surroundings were beautiful and colors were as vivid as paintings. Before Tangste   Tanste, this was one of the most scenic road in the entire trip    We got super excited on first glimpse of blue, probably just an inch of blue from far away and then it vanished! After driving 2 kms in disbelief, finally we came beside the most vivid shade of blue we have ever seen, all of a sudden. OMG, can't explain what we felt but this was outlandish, unbelievable and what we thought, out of the world  Parked our car at first place we saw suitable  And then the blue that takes breath away    We had to go to Meruk, which was a good 30 kms away from the place where we stopped and there are no roads in the last few kms, literally no roads!!! We didn't stop at Spangmik to pose as Idiots this evening, we planned to come back next morning while going back towards Leh. Mission Meruk started and pictures that we took next day would show what a place it was. Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:28. |
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10th June 2022, 22:30
| #6 |
| BHPian | Fairy tale of a bimmer | Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes DAY 15 Behold.... Here comes Meruk ....       Tents where we stayed  No roads, in fact this place was most drivable, roads near our tents were only boulders, this bimmer didn't sweat, not even a drop!    Somewhere between Meruk and Spangmik      Spangmik     On our way towards Chang La, a partially frozen lake  Chang La  Around 30 kms of road are getting widened before and after Chang La, the condition of the road (slush) was quite bad and slippery. It will worsen further during summer when more snow melts and due to rain fall. However, there is a silver lining in everything. After the bad patch of the road, greeted with this other worldly view. Gives a perspective about how small we are in the larger scheme of things.  DAY 16 As per our original plan, we were supposed to travel to TSO Moriri. However, we felt tired and decided to change our plan and take complete rest in Leh. We planned to visit TSO Moriri while coming back from Hanle. DAY 17 We started our drive towards Hanle. After a good day of rest and hearty meals in the hotels. The roads A good stretch of 10-15 kms of Road before Mahe was under construction and the condition of this stretch was un bearable due to large stones and narrow clearance. Btw, we did stop at Chumathang Hot springs but honestly, this particular place is highly overrated and not maintained well. Tourists have urinated everywhere and it stinks, there aren't any clean public toilets and even the small restaurants that were open, didn't have any washroom. This was the most inconvenient part of our trip. However, we forgot about all these the moment we reached Nyoma. It was a treat to our eyes! Also Nyoma had a Canteen maintained by Military police and feels outlandish in such harsh terrain. Here we experienced snow capped peaks, river, grassland, neat tarmac and sand storm , OMG!Sandstorm in one of the coldest spot and the most scenic strip of tarmac     Clean and swanky Nyoma Cafe run by Military police  On reaching Hanle we rushed to the Observatory, remotely operated by ISRO from Bangalore. They don't allow anyone post 5 pm, at least that's what the rule says. There were a couple of engineering support folks and they were kind enough to let us enter the room which houses the telescope and also explained about the architecture and controls. Hanle observatory    Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:29. |
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12th June 2022, 14:26
| #7 |
| BHPian | Fairy tale of a bimmer | Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes we were awestruck by the surroundings   Hanle Gompa  DAY 18 We had to drive all the way back to Mahe to take the detour for TSO Moriri. The roads are aweful, I would rather say, there are no roads till TSO Moriri  . But the moment we saw the first patch of BLUE, we were like we could drive again no matter whether roads are there or not. This is a tiny reservoir before TSO Moriri and identified as Kyagar TSO. It's a beautiful place to spend some time for having freshly brewed coffee outside your car and soak into the nature. Kyagar TSO   TSO Moriri is still a few kms away from Kyagar TSO. It's untamed beauty and not commercialised yet. But it would take your breath away on first glance. Also icing on the cake was less tourist ( We couldn't spot anyone else except us from the points we photographed. First view of TSO Moriri  Upclose now and full blown!      A few pictures of the Nyoma and Mahe roads    We drove back to Leh and reached around 5.30 pm. DAY 19 Again a rest day just before starting Leh - Manali drive. We would never forget this drive, this was the best drive by far. DAY 20 We started for Jispa. The route was simple, no deviation from NH-3 ( Leh Manali Highway ). Somewhere in NH3, out of Leh  Tanglang La     More plains    At the end of More Plains   Whisky Nala and Nakeela Paas     Ghata Loops   Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:29. |
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12th June 2022, 15:45
| #8 |
| BHPian | Fairy tale of a bimmer | Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes Middle of nowhere  A frozen lake  Ghata loops    Sir Bhum Chum    We had to now cross Baralacha La, we saw cabs rushing down from the pass, must be a snow storm! We had no clue about the severity of the storm, but we wanted to witness snow fall. We started climbing up. It was uneventful mostly, we reached Baralacha La but could feel the silence before a storm. It was almost getting dark at 3.30!!! Baralacha La     Suddenly it started snowing and we became kids! Our son saw snowfall for the first time, while the local cab drivers asked us to leave, we waited and enjoyed the snow fall for some time!   But then, it slowly became scary, it started snowing like hell and light level dipped all of a sudden, we thought this is time to leave and can't stay back any longer before it worsens further!   Coming out of the storm, every drop of water froze, temperature dipped frequently and soon we were at sub zero, came down to take a photo, my hands almost froze!  Suraj taal, partially frozen and looked heavenly  We reached Jispa around 6 pm. We were tired and went to sleep after a good meal. A drone shot of More plains  DAY 21 We started late as we had to cover very less distance today and can't reach hotel before check-in time Few pictures that we took enroute Atal tunnel. A different landscape  At the job  A warm welcome  DAY 22, 23, 24 Leisure at Manali. Cafe, shopping and lot of rest to prepare for the downward drive.    Couple of Drone shots of Lari Sa   DAY 25 Destination Chandigarh. This route is crowded like hell, unbelievable! Still after all the tiredness, got to see a blissful sunset.    DAY 26 Chandigarh to Delhi. Clean route, well maintained expressways. Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:30. |
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12th June 2022, 17:18
| #9 |
| BHPian | Fairy tale of a bimmer | Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes DAY 27 Destination Jhansi. Stopped at Agra Amarvilas for a hearty lunch and the only objective was, wah Taj! It was a hot day and probably the reason for less crowd. Wah Taj   Some family fun too     DAY 28 Jhansi to Nagpur. MP roads have improved leaps and bounds from my last trip in 2020. Pench roads are silky smooth with obsessive curves . Come and enjoy your wheels here. DAY 29 Nagpur to Hyderabad and our last transit point. Raised a toast to celebrate one of our best drives yet.  DAY 30 Back to home, sweet home! Last edited by worldcrawler : 12th June 2022 at 17:31. |
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13th June 2022, 07:09
| #10 |
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13th June 2022, 10:42
| #11 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: Pune
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13th June 2022, 11:13
| #12 | ||
| BHPian | Re: Fairy tale of a Bimmer - Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes Quote:
Quote:
This is a 20d... My only feedback is, "Bravo BMW for making cars with so much passion". Except loss of acceleration ( which is expected for any IC engine at this altitude ), no other effect was noted. I haven't calculated mileage explicitly but according to trip computer, it's ~10.4 roughly for the whole ~8500 kms trip. One thing to note, due to rapid loss of pressure and drop in temperature when you are crossing the high altitude mountain passes, there would be mileage anxiety if you look at DTE as it drops drastically, but once you start coming down and the ambient temperature increases, DTE figure also increases. | ||
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13th June 2022, 12:01
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Anand(GJ23)
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| Re: Fairy tale of a Bimmer - Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes Excellent T"log with amazing Pics Quote:
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13th June 2022, 12:09
| #14 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Bangalore
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| Re: Fairy tale of a Bimmer - Bangalore to the land of high mountain passes Cant wait to spend my meeting time reading and soaking in the pics Worldcrawler . Seem like we did the circuit around the same time. However did drive down from BLR to Punjab much earlier but actual trip from Punjab kicked off from 7th May. Totally agree, doing the trip seemed easier than getting down to writing the tlog. Hopefully i post mine soon too. |
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13th June 2022, 12:13
| #15 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: BLR
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