7th September 2009, 15:09
| #136 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Delhi
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7th September 2009, 15:49
| #137 | |
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7th September 2009, 16:02
| #138 | ||||
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
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Do you plan to drive down or fly to Ladakh? Last edited by lordofgondor : 7th September 2009 at 16:03. | ||||
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7th September 2009, 19:12
| #139 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
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| Hey folks, I am gonna commence reliving the journey that was and still is in my mind. But before I continue, I'd like to rectify a glaring error I'd made regarding the day number and the location we're in. The mistakes started while I wrote the posting titled Day 9: Pangong stays a dream & a nighmare occurs at the following link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1408575-post89.html Here's what happened, Day 9 - Car clutch plate issue at Paggal Nullah and drive back to Tangtse. Eventually the car being driven to Army workshop for repairs. Day 10 - Drive from Tangtse to Leh to get a new CP. Day 11 - Drive from Leh to Tangtse in the bus with the new CP. Rest of the day spent in Tangtse as workshop was under inspection by the Brigadier. Day 12 - Getting the car fixed and the drive back to Leh. Day 13 - Rest day in Leh So I am gonna start from Day 14, which is one of the saddest days of my life because I had to leave Ladakh and start my journey back to Noida. We just kept wishing that a miracle would happen and we'd get another 15 days to continue immersing ourselves in Ladakh. Alas some good things have to come to an end. So we started back from Leh around 6:30 AM, having decided earlier to take the route through Kashmir. The plan was to stop at Srinagar, via Kargil, for the day. The distance from Leh was ~434 Km so I knew we had a long day ahead of us. My assumption that the road to Srinagar was good told me that it would be a comfortable & speedy drive, but it prove to be wrong. We took NH1-A (or was it D), and were soon greeted by smooth & wide tarmac. We're surrounded by barren, rocky mountains and I was ripping through them.         We kept debating whether to stop at Alchi to check out the caves, but decided against it. Around 9:30 we stopped at a place where there were quite a few small dhaba type joints for breakfast. There we enjoyed omeletes, rajma chawal and sweet lassi. With our tummies full and spirits soaring, we moved ahead towards Lamayuru. Then came these set of loops, which I believe are called Kangroo Loops, and I knew I had to click them.   In about 30 minutes, we're at the ancient monastry which was quite a sight and it kept us guessing how do we get to it. I decided to click a few pictures and get on with it.   And after Lamayuru, the road vanished and was replaced by a dirt & gravel track. Apparently road widening was in progress, and it was gonna make our journey to Kargil a nightmare. On top of that, every two minutes a truck would come from the opposite side and we'd to come to a stop/crawl to let is pass. In all, the drive from Lamayuru to Kargil wasn't something I would like to write home about. It was slow, frustrating and very muddy. I was hardly able to go above 20 Km/hr! It was around 2:30 PM when we reached Kargil, and paid our tribute to the soldiers who had made huge sacrifices to protect our country. We're starting to feel hungry but couldn't find a good place for vegetarian food, so kept on moving ahead. In coupla hours we're at Drass and continued without a stop in the town. What I was concerned was to reach Zoji La before it got dark. By the time we started our ascent for the pass, sun was already preparing to go down and it was getting chilly too. We saw these coupla mountain peaks completely covered with snow and started deliberating if this was Amarnath or not.    I even used the binoculars we're carrying to find the Holy Shivling, but couldn't spot it. We decided to move ahead not having reached a conclusion. BTW, I noticed while starting the ascent, that no other vehicle was going our way except a few army trucks. I thought it was something good as I'd have an open road to drive on. I couldn't have been more wrong. Soon the road vanished, streams started free flowing filling deep potholes with water, making them real hard to spot in the fading light. It was kinda nervous times for us and the fact that a large number of trucks were coming from the opposite distance, making us stop every few metres didn't help at all. But the dynamic duo continued unfazed, and reached the top. While descending, we reached a fork, with one route going downhill and the other uphill. I stopped a trucker and asked him for directions. He told me that it was better that I take the one going downhill since I had a "choti gaddi". I followed his advice and was kinda perplexed at the number of trucks coming our way. It was only later that I came to know that trucks leave in a bunch from Sonmarg around 2PM. I was also getting concerned about the state of the track. It was steep and filled with mud & potholes. Luckily we're going down so no precarious issue of traction, but those trucks were having a hard time climbing up. Then I took a hairpin and saw a huge jam of trucks in front of me. Apparently a truck had been stuck on the climb for sometime. The trucks behind that truck were grouped together and waiting for it to move ahead. I was afraid that we're gonna get stuck in there as these trucks will keep moving one after another. So it was time to be cheeky. As soon as a truck moved past me, I vroomed and tried to get past as many trucks as possible before the road gets blocked by one of them. Some truckies understood what I was upto and helped me by stopping/giving way, while some asked me to stop well in advance. All in all, it took me ~3 hours to descent from Zoji La to Sonmarg and by that time it was well past 8. So we decided to call it a halt in Sonmarg only. Then came the trouble of finding accomodation as it was Amarnath Yatra time and Sonmarg was filled to the brim with yatris. After 30 minutes we found an available room in a dingy hotel opposite the JKTDC hotel. The room was cramped/smelly/lotta bugs, but we had no choice. Our dinner was to be at the KKTDC restaurant, as the manager had enticed me to have the tantalizing Mutton Rishta when we'd been inquiring for room availability from him. And it was really yummy. I still remember those spicy meatballs, filled with local herbs. Wife had a simple affair of dal chawal and guess what, it turned out to be a complementary meal for us. I guess the manager was impressed by the tales of our travel or something like that! Some misc. pics Last edited by lordofgondor : 7th September 2009 at 19:19. |
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7th September 2009, 19:38
| #140 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Delhi
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7th September 2009, 19:49
| #141 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | Quote:
Last edited by SS-Traveller : 7th September 2009 at 19:50. | |
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7th September 2009, 20:04
| #142 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Delhi
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8th September 2009, 07:36
| #143 |
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8th September 2009, 09:04
| #144 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: New Delhi
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| LoG, enticing stuff, as always! Quote:
 I do believe I'm the oldest member here. Drove to Leh via Srinagar and returned via Manali just two years back! I suspect it's not your constitution holding you back; it's your mind!  | |
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8th September 2009, 09:14
| #145 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Abhinav, keep it going! Sorry to hear about the Zoji La mess! Quote:
. Did Leh this year - 48 & counting.Basically, you need to Just do it!! | |
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8th September 2009, 10:23
| #146 |
| Senior - BHPian | L.O.G awesome stuff as always. But the trip ended a bit too fast. BTW I think you should be named "Freebie King"  |
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8th September 2009, 11:33
| #147 |
| Distinguished - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gurgaon
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8th September 2009, 17:42
| #148 | |||||||
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
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Zoji La was quite an experience. It only troubled us from the perspective of our time being wasted, but other things were pretty interesting. I mean we saw truckers literally scared of having to take their monsters over those sharp inclines with little traction on the surface. I even saw one trucker being scolded by a few others for bringing his out of shape truck to there!!! Quote:
On a serious note, I really wish that I'd come back via Manali route instead of via Kashmir. I really don't have any fond memories (except paying my tribute to our soldiers at Kargil) of my return trip. It turned out to be a bad timing with the start of Lamayuru-Kargil road widening and Amarnath Yatra rush. But watch out for more...Quote:
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9th September 2009, 12:33
| #149 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Pune, Vadodara
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9th September 2009, 13:41
| #150 | |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
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Been kinda hectic in the office since return so I am being delayed in posting what I want to but I definitely will do that soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these pics. Chang La   Somewhere near Tangtse      | |
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