[graaja]

The Drive through Zoji La in Snow

On the 15th of October, I packed up all the equipment and started my drive back home. I started early from Hanle and drove to Leh. Reached Leh in the afternoon and stayed at the same Indus Valley Hotel for the night.

On 16th October, I drove from Leh to Kargil. On the way, I saw some news about the weather getting worse, and the possibility of snow in the passes that night. Halted in Kargil in the same Zoji La Residency hotel. I was constantly checking for updates in the J&K police Twitter feed.

On the morning of 17th October, the latest news on the Twitter feed was that traffic from the Kargil side would be allowed at 7 AM at Miniamarg. Miniamarg is located about 80km from Kargil and has a check post for entering Zoji La from Kargil side.

So, I left at 5:00 AM from Kargil. As I neared Miniamarg, the scenery was changing into winter scenery. The places that were bone dry and brown on the way to Leh, were all white and covered in snow. The road also was covered with black ice (transparent hard ice on the road which is smooth and has no traction). The drive started becoming dangerous. The car would slide when I hit the brakes. So I started to drive at a very low speed of 20 to 30 kmph so that I do not have to hit the brakes in curves.

I reached a place that had a small restaurant and I saw several cars and trucks had halted here. I too stopped the car and got down to enquire. I found that due to heavy snowing in the night, the road in Zoji La was covered in snow and men were working to clear this ice from the roads. Traffic has been stopped till the road is cleared.

I had no other option other than to wait. While I was waiting I chatted up with some drivers who had stopped there and found that some of the cars had stopped there overnight. These cars were covered with a thick layer of snow on their roofs. The worst-case scenario was that the pass would be closed for the day. I planned to return back to Dras and stay for the night and wait for the pass to open.

At around 11 AM, I heard some of the drivers mention that the road was now cleared of snow and was open to traffic. I saw the cars start leaving, and I too followed. When I reached the Miniamarg checkpost, there was a long queue of trucks stopped by the side and smaller cars were being allowed to pass first. I joined this queue of cars and was soon on the road in Zoji La.

The scenery around me was breathtaking. All the mountains were covered in thick snow. Only the road was clear of snow. I stopped by the roadside for a few minutes to click a few pictures and I saw trucks had been allowed and a couple of trucks passed me. I got into the car and joined the traffic. Traffic was going only one way and was moving at a constant speed. The road was filled with water and slush from molten snow and dust. As I was sandwiched between a couple of trucks, I had to keep moving at a constant speed without slowing down. It was scary to see big sheets of ice breaking away from the cliff surface and falling by the side. The workers who were clearing the road were constantly signaling the vehicles to keep to the side farther away from the cliff side. I must say, the GT was phenomenal in tackling this road. Not once did I feel any difficulty in handling the bad road, water, and slush.

After an hour or 90 minutes (I completely lost touch with time), I reached Sonamarg on the other side. Even Sonamarg which was dry and green on the way to Leh, was completely white and covered in thick snow. I stopped in Sonamarg for about 30 minutes to take in the beauty and to relax with a cup of tea. After this break, I started the drive to Srinagar.

It was a smooth drive to Srinagar and I reached Srinagar in the afternoon at around 2:00 PM. Parked the car at the hotel and took an auto to Ahdoos again and had a hearty meal of Wazwan followed by brownie and ice cream, returned back to the hotel, and rested for the rest of the day. I also met fellow TBHPian ROG_AK who was on a tour of Leh in his Scorpio N. Our original plan was to meet in Hanle. But as another Scorpio N of his friend broke down in Leh and took a few days to get fixed, their Hanle visit was postponed. So, we caught up in Srinagar. I did not get to take a picture with him, but got a picture of my GT and the two Scorpio N's in the parking lot.

Now let the pictures speak about the wonderful experience I had. For me, this was the best day of the road trip.

A few pictures of the winter scenery.












Having tea with ice everywhere.


Vehicles covered in snow. Apparently, they were stopped overnight in the open as Zoji La was closed.




Selfie time with the BMW


Zoji La summit.


A few pictures of the GT in winter scenery.












The situation in Sonamarg.




A few comparisons of the stark contrast in scenery between onward and return. All this from a single night's snowfall!

At the summit of Zoji La


At Sonamarg




With ROG_AK's Scorpio N


Visiting Ahdoo's again.


A small video showing the drive through Zoji La in snow.

https://youtu.be/BZpPvwj5uQw

[graaja]

The Drive from Srinagar to Amritsar, The Golden Temple, and the Drive from Amritsar to Jaipur

Drive from Srinagar to Amritsar

On the night of the 17th October, while in Srinagar, I checked the J&K twitter feed and found that there was a land slide after Banihal and traffic has been closed between Srinagar and Jammu. Though this was bad news, there was also something good. This did not happen while I was already driving which would have resulted in getting stranded on road. My original plan was to leave Srinagar early morning by 5:00 AM to beat the traffic jams near Banihal. But with the news of traffic closed, I had no option other than to wait. I had breakfast in the hotel on the 18th morning and started waiting for the news of road getting cleared. I saw the news at 9 AM. A driver who had parked his car in the hotel told me not to go immediately as there will be lots of cars already stranded and it will take time for this to clear. But I thought that by the time I reached Banihal which would take 2 to 2:30 hours, the traffic should be cleared. So, I immediately packed up and left at 9:15. Made very good speed through the 4 lane highway till Banihal. As I neared Banihal, I saw an endless line of trucks stopped by the road side. This line extended to almost 10 kilometers. Thankfully, when I reached Banihal, it took the usual 60 or 90 minutes to cross Banihal. After this, the traffic was moving at decent speed. I reached Udhampur at around 2:30PM. After Udhampur, it was smooth 4 lane highway all the way to Jammu. I reached Jammu by 5:00 PM and checked into the hotel.

Left Jammu early on the 18th October morning and started my drive to Amritsar. This was an uneventful drive, and I reached Amritsar by early afternoon. Checked into the hotel, rested for a while and visited the Golden Temple in the evening.

The Golden Temple, Amritsar

The hotel I stayed in was Ramada by Wyndham. The Golden Temple was less than 2 kilometers from the hotel. So I decided to walk. I walked through the narrow streets in the market where narrow electric rickshaws plied. It was a good experience walking through the streets. Reached the Golden temple around 5:00 PM. Walked around the temple complex for some time clicking pictures and then got into the queue for darshan. It took an hour to reach the Sanctum. It was a great experience seeing the Sanctum inside the Golden Temple. After darshan, came out and it was getting dark and the lights came on. The Golden Temple in the night with the lights was spectacular. Words can't describe the experience.

Spent some time sitting by the pond immersing in the beauty and after clicking some more pictures, visited the Kesar Da Dhaba in the market to try some parathas, paneer gravy, lassi, ras malai, and phirni. This dhaba is more than a hundred years old (founded in 1916). The parathas were soaked in butter and the paneer gravy was yummy. Rasmalai was creamy and I could not resist going for a second serving.

A few pictures from this visit.

Narrow lanes through the market.




Narrow electric rickshaws plying in the narrow streets. Though it looked chaos, everything was under control and everyone was cool.


The Golden Temple in the evening.






The Golden Temple in the night lighted up. It was a beautiful view of the Golden Temple and the Moon.






A selfie in front of the Golden Temple.


The prasad made of wheat and sugar was soaked in ghee!


Kesar da Dhaba


Butter soaked rotis with paneer gravy and thick lassi.


Rasmalai and phirni.


Amritsar to Jaipur

On the morning of the 20th of October, I started from Amritsar at 7:00 AM and started my drive to Jaipur. This was another good day at the wheels. Roads were very good except for some bad patches before Jaipur. I got to drive on a 250km stretch of NH152A. This was a 6-lane stretch of highway with no tolls in between. The highway had very minimum traffic and I was able to cruise at 100 kmph with cruise control. I rate Yamuna Expressway and NH152A as the best highways I drove in this road trip. By the time I exited NH152A into NH52, the GT had a phenomenal FE of 16.5kpl and an average of close to 80 kph. Both the average and FE dropped once I neared Jaipur and hit traffic and bad stretches of roads that were under construction. I reached Jaipur at 6:00PM and checked into the Airbnb apartment that I had booked for 4 nights.

The smooth 6-lane NH152A.


The GT on NH152A.


The final trip statistics for the drive from Amritsar to Jaipur.

[graaja]

Sightseeing in Jaipur - Part 1

My family arrived on the morning of the 21st October. We spent the next 3 days sightseeing in Jaipur. The GT remained parked in the apartment parking space as I rented a cab for the three days.

Compared to the grand scenic locations in the Himalayas, I felt Jaipur was a little boring with all the tourist rush in all the places, heavy traffic in the city etc. But I got to spend a few days with family and enjoy several tasty Rajasthani dishes.

The main goals in Jaipur were to visit some of the forts and try the famous local foods of Jaipur. Following is the list of places we visited.

1. Amer fort
2. Jaigarh fort
3. Nahargarh fort
4. Jal Mahal
5. Jantar Mantar
6. Albert Hall museum
7. Birla Mandir

Following is the list of local food and restaurants we tried.

1. Raj kachori, dahi vada and rabdi ghewar at Laxmi Misthan Bhandar
2. Dal bati churma and Rajasthani Thali at some famous restaurant near Jal Mahal
3. Kachoris and samosas at Rawat Misthan Bhandar
4. Lal maans at Niros
5. Kulfi Malai at Indian Kulfi Malai
6. Golgappas in a roadside shop in the market.

We also experienced some Rajasthani culture in the forts where we got to see puppet shows, folks playing some local instruments etc.

Jantar Mantar

The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur is a collection of 19 astronomical instruments built by the Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of Jaipur, Rajasthan. The monument was completed in 1734. It features the world's largest stone sundial and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is near City Palace and Hawa Mahal. The instruments allow the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye. The observatory is an example of the Ptolemaic positional astronomy which was shared by many civilizations.

The ideal time to visit this place would be in the daytime when the sun is up and see how the instruments work. But unfortunately, we visited in the evening when it was twilight and the sun had set. So we could only see the instruments and listen to the theory of how they work.

A few pictures of the various dials at Jantar Mantar.



















Amer Fort

Amer Fort or Amber Fort is a fort located in Amer, Rajasthan, India. Amer is a town with an area of 4 square kilometers located 11 kilometers from Jaipur. Located high on a hill, Amer Fort is known for its artistic style elements.

Amer Palace is a great example of Rajput architecture. Some of its buildings and work have an influence of Mughal architecture. Constructed of red sandstone and marble, the attractive, opulent palace is laid out on four levels, each with a courtyard. It consists of the Diwan-e-Aam, or "Hall of Public Audience", the Diwan-e-Khas, or "Hall of Private Audience", the Sheesh Mahal (mirror palace), or Jai Mandir, and the Sukh Niwas where a cool climate is artificially created by winds that blow over a water cascade within the palace. Raja Man Singh had 12 queens so he made 12 rooms, one for each Queen.

We hired a guide who took us through all these levels in the fort and explained in detail about the architecture. As this was during the Navrathri holidays, there was a lot of tourist rush. So I could not click many good pictures of the architecture. A few pictures from the fort are below.



























An artist playing a folk instrument called Ravanhattha.


Puppet show.


Jal Mahal Palace

The Jal Mahal Palace is an architectural showcase of the Rajput style of architecture. The palace, built with local sandstone, is a three-storey building, with the third floor only existing on the eastern side of the palace. The eastern side is not visible from the roadside public promenade, which is the Western side of the palace. The additional lower levels of the eastern side remain underwater when the lake is full.

As the palace is situated in the middle of the lake, and as there is no facility to reach the palace, we had a look at it from the main road. Also, the ladies did some shopping. Just for fun, I and my wife tried some Rajput costumes and took some pictures. This was a fun activity.









Yours truly trying a Rajput costume.

[graaja]

Sightseeing in Jaipur - Part 2

Nahargarh Fort

Nahargarh Fort stands on the edge of the Aravalli Hills, overlooking the city of Jaipur. Along with Amer Fort and Jaigarh Fort, Nahargarh once formed a strong defence ring for the city. The fort was originally named Sudershangarh, but it became known as Nahargarh, which means 'abode of tigers'. The popular belief is that Nahar here stands for Nahar Singh Bhomia, whose spirit haunted the place and obstructed construction of the fort. Nahar's spirit was pacified by building a temple in his memory within the fort, which thus became known by his name.

Built mainly in 1734 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the king of Jaipur, the fort was constructed as a place of retreat on the summit of the ridge above the city. Walls extended over the surrounding hills, forming fortifications that connected this fort to Jaigarh, the fort above the old capital of Amber.

We hired a guide who mentioned the palace in the fort having 9 living areas for the 9 queens of the king. He also showed us a couple of these living areas.













A well that served as water source to the fort.


View of Jaipur city from the terrace of the palace.




Jantar Mantar visible from the fort.


When coming down from the fort, there was a view point where we had a beautiful view of the Jalmahal in the middle of the lake.




Jaigarh Fort

Jaigarh Fort is situated on the promontory called the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles) of the Aravalli range; it overlooks the Amer Fort and the Maota Lake, near Amer in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. The fort was built by Mirza Raja Jai Singh in 1726 to protect the Amer Fort and its palace complex and was named after him. The fort, rugged and similar in structural design to the Amer Fort, is also known as Victory Fort. It has a length of 3 kilometres along the north–south direction and a width of 1 kilometer.











The fort features a cannon named "Jaivana" (Jaivana Cannon), which was manufactured in the fort precincts and was then the world's largest cannon on wheels. Jaigarh Fort and Amer Fort are connected by subterranean passages and considered as one complex. A couple of pictures of the canon are below.





Albert Hall Museum

The Albert Hall Museum in Jaipur is the oldest museum of the state and functions as the state museum of Rajasthan, India. The building is situated in Ram Niwas garden outside the city wall opposite New gate and is a fine example of Indo-Saracenic architecture. It is also called the Government Central Museum. It was considered one of the best 19th century museums for the variety of its collections. It was renovated in 2008 and reopened as one of the most advanced museums in India.

The museum has a rich collection of artifacts including paintings, jewelry, carpets, ivory, stone, metal sculptures, and works in crystal. The collection includes coins from the Gupta, Kushan, Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British periods.

The superb collection is a result of efforts of Hendley who wanted to preserve local skills and crafts and showcase the best craftsmanship of other places for the people of Jaipur. A repository of 19,000 objects was collected by Hendley, including arms and armour, sculpture, international art from Japan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Hungary, Germany, Austria etc., pottery, carpets, jewellery, musical instruments, ivory, woodwork, and stone work. The Egyptian collection houses many objects. An Egyptian mummy is the main attraction of this museum.

As the museum has a huge collection of artifacts, sharing a few pictures of examples of artifacts displayed.

The museum building.




Carpets.


Carvings.


Idols.




Paintings.


Weapons.




Pottery.


Sculptures.

[graaja]

The Jaipur Cultural Experience - Food, Shopping, Folk Art etc.

Apart from visiting the tourist locations, we also experienced some Jaipur culture.

Folk Art:

We experienced some folk art while visiting Amer palace. We saw a puppet show and also an artist playing a local folk instrument called Ravanhattha. The below video captures both these folk arts.

https://youtu.be/GANAuQs7LX4

Food:

Food forms a main part of a culture. So, I made a list of several local dishes to taste and ticked off the list over three days.

Laxmi Misthan Bhandar

We visited Laxmi Misthan Bhandar and tasted their Raj Kachori, Dahi Vada (spelled as Bada in their menu), Rabdi Ghewar, Rasmalai, and Phinni.

Raj kachori


Dahi bada.


Rabdi ghewar.


Rasmalai.


Phinni.


Ghewars and phinnis stacked.


Rawat Misthan Bhandar

We visited Rawat Misthan Bhandar and had Piyaz Kachoris, Samosas, and Jalebis for breakfast.

Piyaz kachoris.


Jalebis.


A basket of kachoris.


A basket of samosas.


Kullad Chai
Followed up the breakfast with kullad chai from a roadside shop.





Pedas from Amer Fort

While going to Amer Fort, saw these street vendors selling pedas. One of them offered a sample to taste. These were juicy and tasty and we bought a box of these pedas.





Kulfi Falooda from Indian Kulfi Falooda

We visited Indian Kulfi Falooda to taste their famous Kulfi Falooda.





Dal Bati Churma and Rajasthani Thali from Royal Durbar

We had dal bati churma and Rajasthani thali from a restaurant called Royal Durbar near Jal Mahal.


Dal bati churma.


Rajasthani thali, with missi roti, gatte ki sabzi and papad ki sabzi.


Gol Gappas from Roadside Vendor

We tasted gol gappas from a road side vendor in the market.


Lal Maans from Niros

We visited Niros for dinner and had the famous Lal maans.





Jal Mahal Ice Creams

Followed this with icecreams from Jal Mahal Ice Creams which is adjacent to Niros





Shopping

We also visited one of the shopping areas and the ladies enjoyed some shopping. A few pictures of the shopping area.









This concludes our Jaipur experience.

[graaja]

Final Leg of the Road Trip, and Conclusion

Final Leg of the Road Trip - Trucker's Life Again

On the morning of the 24th October, I started my drive back home, and family took a flight from Jaipur. I covered the total distance between Jaipur and Coimbatore in 3.5 days.

Day #1, 24th October: Jaipur to Indore
Day #2, 25th October: Indore to Solapur
Day #3, 26th October: Solapur to Bangalore
Day #4, 27th October: Bangalore to Coimbatore

Except for the roads around Aurangabad that were under construction, I had good roads all the way from Jaipur to Coimbatore.

When in Bangalore, I met my friends and fellow driving buddies RSUDARSANAN, RobiMahanta, Dr.AD, tilt, PraveenBalan. It was an awesome evening spent with friends sharing my road trip experience.

I reached home at 10:30 AM on the 27th of October concluding my 28-day road trip.

The GT resting after the 28-day adventure.


The mud pack says it all!


Conclusion:

To conclude the travelogue, I am listing some of the key experiences I enjoyed during this road trip.

• The truck driver's life during the beginning and end of the trip. The satisfaction when reaching the destination for the day and checking into the hotel cannot be explained in words. I enjoyed eating in small roadside dhabas and having tea, coffee, or lassi in small roadside shops.
• Sunset in Dal Lake, the Shikra ride to the floating market, and the Wazwan at Ahdoos in Srinagar
• Exploring Leh and having local Ladakhi mutton dishes at Namza dining in Leh
• The adventurous drive to Pangong Tso lake
• Astrophotography in Leh and Hanle. I used to be out in the field in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, in sub-zero temperatures shooting the Milky Way. This was quite adventurous.
• Birding in Hanle
• The adventurous drive to Umling La
• Driving through the famous Zoji La pass - both in dry state and through snow. The drive through Zoji La in snow was my best day in the trip.
• Exploring Rajasthan culture - visiting the forts, tasting many local dishes and street food, and shopping.

It was a memorable trip in which I created memories that would last a lifetime!

Thank you for your patience in reading this long trip report!

That's all I have for now folks!

Disclaimer:

Many of you may know how I promote a lifestyle of healthy eating. Though I tasted all types of food during this trip, I still followed my IF lifestyle of 2 meals a day with 18 hours of fasting on most days. On some days, it was just one meal. And many of the meals shown in pictures were shared with friends and family Even then, I have put on a couple of kilos of weight (should be from those sweets). But I am back to my low-carb lifestyle after the trip and will be back to my normal weight in a month's time.

[graaja]

Moving thread from Assembly Line to Travelogues section.

[robimahanta]

Amazing stuff Graaja! Kudos to your courage and perseverance. Really happy that you did this dream trip of yours. Great narration and pictures, will be a good ready reckoner for anyone travelling on a tourist circuit of Ladakh from Bangalore. Thanks for sharing.

[mobike008]

Spectacular trip and pictures.

These type of road trips are what dreams are made of and great to see the passion to do such long trips in your BMW.

I especially loved the pictures of your bimmer against the icy backdrops.

Kudos to you for your passion for outdoors.

[batterylow]

Hats off coach, both to you and the GT. The GT is living up to its GT moniker.

[Dr.AD]

Fantastic travelogue @graaja, and of course a fantastic trip! Kudos to your courage and spirit of adventure. I was in Ladakh about a month before your trip and seeing those challenging roads there, I was wondering how your 3GT would manage there. But you proved that with careful driving, you can take your 3GT anywhere!

Hats off to you for completing this dream trip, and for your courage and adventure! Thanks for taking efforts to write such a detailed travelogue too! This travelogue will surely be an inspirational one to many.

[ajmat]

As a notorious tyre buster and slasher, I am truly amazed and humbled on how you managed to get there and back without any mishap.

How was the traction of the tyres in the snow. I am really puzzled as my friends with BMW's have big problems in slowly conditions unless they have winter tyres fitted.

[Axe77]

I can’t imagine any single ad campaign that’s done as much credit to the 3GT as your singular threads on this Forum must have - to demonstrate what a truly capable machine this is. Heck if I was a BMW sales head, I’d be gifting you the next GT just out of good business sense.

On a more serious note, always lovely to see how you truly manage to extract the most out of this wonderful machine. Combined with your incredible eye for photography, always a joy to read these threads. I would have been seriously sweating my load driving through some of the areas you took the GT into - whether on account of road surface (traction) or generally the extreme potholes etc.

Wonderful to see the various cuisines experienced too during this trip. I’m sure IF will have you back in shape before you know it. Well worth it to enjoy all these cuisines but keep some balance by going one / two meals a day only.

Cheers.

[Kashi053]

@graaja, Loved the contrast of dry and snow pics. I always say its not the machine rather the person behind the wheel matters. I know many are appreciating how capable the 3GT is but I seriously feel its you who knew to take the calculated risk by knowing what 3GT can do or not.
Hanle is my favorite place and its so peaceful and vibrant at night.

[megazoid]

Must have been a collection of unforgettable experiences graaja. Glad that you pulled it off so easily. Lovely captures! Btw, in the last parked pic of the car at home, did your boot have luggage?

I sometimes wonder if many awesome things should go together? A Rajasthan after Ladakh is like having both chicken and mutton on your plate. Sometimes creates a barrier in enjoyment. What’s your take?