[Locomotive]

on that GT Karnal road we really struggled to find a non veg Dhaba. almost every dhaba we stopped at was a Vaishnav dhaba. and I always had the impression that Punjabis were hard core non vegetarians!!

also on the same road I got my first ever speeding ticket!! tried to talk my way out of it, Mumbai ishstyle, but no use. Had to shell out Rs. 400 in exchange of an official one page challan!! Luckily I was doing 108 in a 90kmph zone. otherwise the fine would have been anything upto a max of Rs 2000!!

[KSM-Vtec]

Day 3 – 18th May 2008 – Sunday
Ambala – Amritsar


After a good night’s sleep at Ambala, our next target was to hit Amritsar by Lunch. Therefore we decided to hit the roads as early as possible in order to avoid any delays. We started at 7 a.m. and by 9 a.m. we were hungry. It was time for an Aalu Paratha break!!! We had a sumptuous heavy breakfast at some place which was on the outskirts of Chandigarh and moved on with the fear of being stopped by the Punjab police. We were warned by many that they were not like the Mumbai police and there was no way you could mess with them. By then we had already paid the road tax for Punjab since ours was a taxi and we wanted to play it safe.


At 1 p.m. we reached Amritsar city and were looking for a place to stay in. After getting a room we just couldn’t hold ourselves from visiting the Golden Temple and so headed straight there. It was simply awe inspiring. The beauty and serenity of that place can be felt as soon as you step in to the gate. The amount of gold in there is just unbelievable.





It was very hot and so we decided to visit the Jallianwallah Bagh quickly before we could go for lunch. The sight of the dark depths of the well will make you feel the pain and suffering the people would have gone through when they were fired at. Burn in hell, General Dyer !!!!








It was late afternoon and we had to leave for Wagah Border which was approx 45 min by road from our hotel. The Gate for the stadium opens at 3:30pm and one has to be there then to get a nice view. The Parade starts between 5:30 and 6 in the evening. This 2-3 hr wait was the most testing time we had on the entire trip. It was so hot that it was just next to impossible to sit there and we were lucky that for almost an hour there was a thick cover of clouds.








The Parade was so amazing that the feeling of patriotism would be infused in anyone present there. The Jawans would raise their foot higher than their heads and bang them down again with all the power they had. It was an amazing performance they put up. Even the Pakistani soldiers were good at the act. The gates open and the soldier would have some exchanges.









After the parade was over we rushed back to the car and sat there with the A/C on for almost half an hour (this was more because of the traffic jam there). Got back to the hotel and lazed around for some time.

[KSM-Vtec]

It’s a well known fact that the Golden Temple is a must watch in the night and so we went on to see the beauty in the dark. Guys it was just unbelievably beautiful and something that would surprise again when you look at it for the second time on the same day. I guess the beauty can be expressed best by the pics….





We visited the main shrine in the temple and we came out and just sat there for almost an hour looking at the glitter and feeling the serenity, the calm and peaceful vibrations that prevailed there. It was a feeling that can’t be described by mere words.





We left from the temple at midnight and looked from some place to eat. Found a few small hand karts where we had our dinner. Drove in the lanes of Amritsar city for some time and then it was EOD…


It was quite a hectic day, with Golden Temple (twice), Jallianwallah & Wagah Border being our places of visit. A peaceful night & an exciting Day 4 followed… Watch this space for more !!!

[maddy42]

Koushik that was one amazing day. 2 of the greatest places for a feel of india on a day is nice.

Well i loved the pics of the golden temple at night. Looks awesome. Waiting for more.

[Locomotive]

fantastic night shots of the Golden Temple.

[f1fan]

Originally Posted by Locomotive

on that GT Karnal road we really struggled to find a non veg Dhaba. almost every dhaba we stopped at was a Vaishnav dhaba. and I always had the impression that Punjabis were hard core non vegetarians!!

also on the same road I got my first ever speeding ticket!! tried to talk my way out of it, Mumbai ishstyle, but no use. Had to shell out Rs. 400 in exchange of an official one page challan!! Luckily I was doing 108 in a 90kmph zone. otherwise the fine would have been anything upto a max of Rs 2000!!

Maybe a good thing to have on one of these trips is a Speed Radar Detector .I dont want to be caught over speeding.

[KSM-Vtec]

Thanx a lot guys!!!

Will post the rest soon...

[KSM-Vtec]

After a long and tiring day in Amritsar, we decided to take it easy in the morning and not rush. It was around 9 a.m. when we left the hotel not knowing where we were going next.

Dalhousie looked too far and in the opposite direction and on the other had we had dharamshala where we were not sure of what places to visit. It was then that I recollected that once my dad was talking about a place called Mcleod Ganj (MG), just a few kms off dharamshala. We decided to camp there for the night.



We drove down to Dharamshala and the temperature began to fall. We did not need the a/c any longer. We reached MG in the afternoon and settled for a valley view room.

View from our Room


This place is small but very very peaceful and beautiful. Not very crowded but happening, it was unbelievable to see that this place had an active night life.

How can i forget to write about the roller coaster ride we had there. This was the road towards a place called "Nuddi". Guys this was a one way lane so narrow that on the turnings we were afraid that even the Santro would get stuck. And stuck between what – at some places, between walls or even more dangerous - between a fall into the valley on both
sides.

Unfortunately when we left for this short drive, our camera was discharged, and we could not click too many pics. But guys, that is one patch one needs to drive through for sure. You have to be very careful and alert in this section because any over breaking will lead to a skid and fall into the valley because all along it’s a muddy, downhill drive. Yup, it is very very dangerous.





After getting back from "Nuddi", we chilled out for sometime in room in the cozy warmth of the blankets and then went for a short walk in the market. In the night we lit the hukka and drank some Solan whiskey (which was not so good !!).

There was a lounge which was open late into the night with all the foreigners chilling there (on a regular basis, I guess).

All in all it was a very relaxed day with little driving (a bit risky) and more of chilling. A nice break after the hectic & exciting first 3 days

[KSM-Vtec]

Sorry no pics but ill more than make up in the next post....

This was going to be a relaxation day again but ended up an adventurous one. We left from MG for Manali after breakfast and were in a lazy mood due to the weather and pace in MG. It was not going to be a very long drive but it was going to be a different one. All along we were going to face sharp turns, incline and decline roads. But it was going to be a very picturesque drive with a white water river running along side the road and snow capped mountains in sight all the way.

Just as we reached Kullu we were approached by the white water rafting guys and then it was way too tempting to refrain from. We ended up signing up for the entire 14 kms stretch instead of the shorter 5 km one.
Guys this was absolutely rocking, the water was soooooo cold, freezing that your entire body would get numb after every splash of water. Every rapid that we took was fun because you never knew how much water would splash onto the raft and how much of the raft will go into the water. We were almost thrown out of the raft a few times due to the steepness of the rapids.

There was this one patch where the water looked very calm and hence I decided to jump into it. The guide said that it will be difficult to get back onto the raft but I said I will manage and took the plunge. The water which looked calm was actually quite fast, the water which I thought would be just cold was actually icy, the depth which looked shallow was actually never-ending. In short I would like to summarise the experience without any exaggeration by saying that I thought I was about to die. This is exactly what was going through my mind when I was in there in the river. I felt like an idiot for jumping into the river.

Unfortunately we do not have any pics of the entire activity since it was not possible to protect the camera from the water and hence we could not take it.

After an enjoyable, tiring and horrifying experience we drove down to Manali market before it was dark. We roamed around in the market for some time, did some shopping and went to bed so that we could get up early for one of the major highlights/attraction of the entire trip, “The drive to Rohtang Pass”

[Ford Rocam]

What a road trip with a bunch of old friends, it reminds me the similar trip i had with my friends & that was in a Maruti 800. what a great time we had.
Meantime more pics pls.

[f1fan]

ksm-vtec: How comfortable was the overall ride in the Santro. I do understand that it is a peppy car to drive but on long drives generally bigger cars absorb the bumps leading to a much better ride and less body pain. Hence with reference to that, I wanted to know how comfortable was the overall ride

[f1fan]

ksm-vtec: How comfortable was the overall ride in the Santro. I do understand that it is a peppy car to drive but on long drives generally bigger cars absorb the bumps leading to a much better ride and less body pain. Hence with reference to that, I wanted to know how comfortable was the overall ride

[KSM-Vtec]

Will post the day 6 soon.....lots of pics there.

[KSM-Vtec]

Well the ride was very good, this was allmost a brand new car so the perpormance was great. We did 160 at many places on the way back, as far as the bumps are concerned it was not a problem at all because the roads are just mindblowing. I think with the quality of roads available taking any car should not be a problem.

It was just the 2 of us so space was not a problem. Also, we did not drive too much on all days so it was ok. No body pain

Originally Posted by f1fan

ksm-vtec: How comfortable was the overall ride in the Santro. I do understand that it is a peppy car to drive but on long drives generally bigger cars absorb the bumps leading to a much better ride and less body pain. Hence with reference to that, I wanted to know how comfortable was the overall ride

[KSM-Vtec]

The D Day had come and today we were going to drive on the most challenging patch of our entire trip and also for the first time get to play with snow. We got up at 6:30 a.m. and were ready to leave by 7. The view from our parking lot was amazing and we could see a few snow capped mountains from there itself.

The view from our room and the parking lot -





The chilled water from the ice/snow...


On the way up we tied up for the equipment we needed and also for the skiing that we were going to do up at Rohtang. We were told that there could be a lot of traffic up there and so it would be a good idea to not while away any time.

Have a lot of pics for this day so the best thing is to let them speak…….

On the way to Rohtang...









We tried our best...no i am not gonna post the pics of our falls..




The view from our maggie shop...



It was not at all difficult to drive those 100 kms. It is only rash driving, carelessness or someone else committing a mistake (most scary part) that could lead to an accident up there.

Got back to Manali …..was a very fulfilling day from all POV’s and we will cherish these memories all our lives.

Did some shopping and had a feast that night. We were not decided about the plan for the next day, it was going to be Simla or Chandigarh and then to karnal for dinner.