23rd July 2009, 19:15
| #61 |
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
| Tanglang La & reaching Leh After crossing Morey (thank GOD), the climb for Tanglang La began, and I was again getting excited as we’re climbing to the second highest pass of the world. The road was pretty decent, mix of gravel & sand. The climb wasn’t steep and it was a smooth sailing to the top. I had heard about the amazing views from this pass, and they definitely were.       After a few Km from Tanglang La, the road became so very smooth. It was like driving in the plains. Started ripping the car, small settlements like Gya & many other flew by and within no time we're in Upshi. Stopped here for a quick snack of dal roti and omelet. After that it was a straight dash to Leh.     Headed straight for Changspa Rd. and within no time we're carrying out luggage inside Asia Guest House. Settled here for the evening/night. I called up Suman Da to inform him that we've reached Leh successfully.  And I'd like to thank him again for telling me to check out Wonderland Rest. for food. Their dishes were amazing folks, I hogged like a pig in there. Roamed around the lane, and found that this area was favored mostly by foreigners. This suited us, as it was pretty quite and away from busy markets. Went to sleep a bit early, around 11, as we'd to go to Nubra the next day.Next stop, Khardung La & Nubra Valley. A teaser pic of myself, my car and nature's beauty:  |
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23rd July 2009, 19:27
| #62 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
| Quote:
Regarding the vehicle, Alto's a lot lighter then Esteem man. But no worries, you're gonna sail through easily. The roads would be better when you start (fingers crossed). Quote:
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23rd July 2009, 19:46
| #63 |
| Senior - BHPian  | lordofgondor, there's a small request from a rohirrim Please resize the images to 1600x from now on so that they cover my desktop when I steal them!  |
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23rd July 2009, 19:52
| #64 | |
| BHPian  | Quote:
 . But seriously, A black car lookes very sexy when its comes from a long drive on a rainy day. The Dirtier, the Better . | |
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23rd July 2009, 20:24
| #65 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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24th July 2009, 11:42
| #66 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
| Quote:
 Please send me your mail id in a PM, and I'll mail across some pics. Quote:
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24th July 2009, 11:51
| #67 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Where is today's dose of Ladakh to break monotony of work? It's already Midday  |
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24th July 2009, 12:35
| #68 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
| Days 5 & 6: Leh, Khandung La & Nubra Valley Day 5 was spent resting, getting permits and the car checked. Decided to visit Shey Palace & Thiksey monstries as we felt pretty fresh and no tireness. View from Shey Palace  The Gold plated enormous statue of seated sakyamuni   The Thiksey Monastry  Took a few strolls down the Changspa Rd. checking out the various restaurants & bakeries lining it. Many bakeries are best avoided as they serve stale items, but the one at Wonderland & Babylon were good. We decided that Wonderland was the best place to enjoy yummy and fresh food and it was our joint for the days we were in Leh. For Thai food lovers, Zen restaurant is the place to be. But ambience wise, Le Pizzeria steals the cake, especially for dinner. Imagine sitting next to a log fire on a cold night, and enjoying a candle light dinner with your better half, amazing. And don't worry, it serves dishes other than Pizzas. Then came the say when I'd be driving down the world's highest motorable road (allegedly) and explore the beautiful Nubra valley. Our plan was to visit Sumur, Panamik, Hunder and take a night halt at Diskit (Olthang guest house). And what a nice excursion it was. We saw so much variety in the color of mountains, shades of green, pink, red, rust and of course black & brown. I'd never seen a snowfall earlier in my life, and now I have both Khardung La and Chang La to thank for making it snow big time on me. Ok, enough talk, now some pics.   My better half enjoying the snow fall.    More on Nubra coming up... |
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24th July 2009, 12:36
| #69 | |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
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24th July 2009, 12:48
| #70 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian   Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gurgaon
Posts: 3,856
Thanked: 3,229 Times
| Quote:
 both the journey pics and "pun" above. | |
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24th July 2009, 13:27
| #71 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
| Day 6 Continued: Nubra It had started snowing from South Pullu & we could see the snowflakes falling way beyond North Pullu. I was feeling exhilarated after catching my first snowfall. Bad road, ice slush & water filled potholes were very kindly excused and now we’re on a different plane while entering Nubra. Stopped at Khardung village for breakfast, which was veg momos & maggi. Wife struck a conversation with the lady serving us, and I went for some photography.  The Khardung village  Soon we’re in Nubra, and were amazed by the mind boggling beauty of nature. Add to that the great condition of the road, it was perfect. Reached Khalsar around 11 AM, and stopped there for a few minutes to decide which way to go. Whether to Sumur-Panamik, or to Diskit-Hunder. And I for a change impressed my wife by displaying that my grey cells still have juice in them. Told her that since we plan to stay in Diskit, let’s go towards Panamik to avoid backtracking later. So off we were to Sumur, thinking about the hot water springs of Panamik.      The drive to Panamik was pretty surreal, with dreamscapes surrounding us all around. Inquired about the location of the hot springs and reached a quite spot from where there was a slight climb to the spring. Climbed the climb and quite frankly we’re shocked to see water flowing through pipes from a brick and concrete structure. I was like, “man this is gonna be like Vashisht”. Fortunately there was more to it, not much, but still better. Reached the point where water was coming out of the rocks and wife advised not to stay for long as there were plenty of Sulphur fumes in there. It's time to turn back and head to Diskit.  |
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24th July 2009, 14:34
| #72 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Pic 1 takes the cake !! You know what looking at the pics and your user id, I seriously feel the Pic 1 is indeed the land of Gondor !  |
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24th July 2009, 17:05
| #73 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
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24th July 2009, 17:24
| #74 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Toronto
Posts: 166
Thanked: Once
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24th July 2009, 17:42
| #75 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
| Reached the Y point before Khalsar, and took the road to Diskit. This one’s pretty interesting. The road has been built over the riverbed of what must have been a humungous river sometime. As far as the eye can see, there were round boulders around.  We passed Diskit, and decided to move straight to Hunder. I wanted to stop and book Olthang first, but wife was too excited to watch the Bacterian camels & ride them. Hence, we moved ahead. Within 20 minutes we’re in Hunder and can see the desert like terrain below. Soon the sand dunes also came into view. This was quite an amazing sight, with sand dunes, greenery, river and snowy peak all in a single view.    We proceeded to the location where camel rides were going on, and as feared, it was pretty crowded. Anyways, wife was soon sitting on one of those dirty beasts. I was astonished to see how pathetically those camels were being treated by their owners. It was like biting the hand that feeds you, felt badly for the poor animals, but what can I do.  After the ride, we climbed one of the dunes, away from the crowd and enjoyed talking about her experience sitting on a camel after many years.  It started getting dark and so it was time to head back to Diskit, get a nice dinner and a good night’s sleep. But another surprise was in store for us. When we got to Olthang, we’re told that it’s all booked and we’re just late by about 20 minutes for a booking. Luckily the guy arranged stay for us in a guest house close by. We left the car parked at Olthang, dumped our stuff in the guest house and came back for dinner. I left the guy a nice tip and wolla, when I came back in the morning my car had had received a wash. Started back for Leh, and clicked a few snaps from K-Top once more.   Rest of the day was again for fooding, chilling and relaxing. Night came soon and again excitement levels were peaking as tomorrow we'd heading to Tso Moriri. |
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