25th August 8:30am we are ready to go.
Wanted to get out of the room ASAP.
Outside I saw Shyam(codelust's) note under the wiper of the safari. They were staying at Sun and Sand, and I decided to sync up with them. But no go, they werent there
First stop?
Permits of course.
I had heard lots of stories, permits for 7 days, no M.La permit etc., etc.,
But all that turned out to be untrue.
We got permits for 14 days(21 days max permitted for indians)
We got permits for Man Merak Mla chushul hanle etc., without issues.
Now if we wanted we could go beyond Spangmik. No issues.
The process took a lot of time as the photostats were closed and I had to go far to get ID etc., photostated.
However by 11am or so we were done.
Next stop? Food.
On suggestions from Anup and Suman, tried out Leh view restaurant, expensive, but atleast eatable, unlike the junk we had had last night.
Leh was an expensive city!
Next was room shifting and a nice hot shower.
The sun was very strong. We decided to delay our Gurudwara Pathar Sahib vist to evening.
First we went to Tata workshop to get the beast washed and get air filter cleaned. Black smoke issue was quite a bit due to choked filter.
What a coincidence, shyam was also there getting his swift washed.
Anyways, the line was long, so we fixed up 6:30pm as car wash time, and just got the Air filter cleaned.
The resulting dust storm was the biggest Leh would have ever seen.
I had never imagined the air filter could hold so much dust.
Infact, till date I have never ever seen such a dirty filter.
Evern after couple of minutes of compressed air blast, dust kept coming out.
The air compressor area was common with car wash, and all the guys ran away from there.
After that we took the runway.. errr sorry highway... to the Gurudwara.
Few pics near the indus view point
The topography was totally barren
More sceneries
Play of light
"Its a highway, not a runway, said a Himank Yellow sign board".
Liars, I would say
The sun going down
More pics of the runway
We visited the Gurudwara, and decided to keep Magnetic hill and the 500 stairs to the nishan sahib at top of the hill for the next time. It was our 3rd high altitude day, and we did not want to exert.
Moreover, the service center was waiting.
Onto the car wash now.
Since we were getting only external wash done, charge was 100rs, and boy what slush we generated.
But thanks to the wash the white elephant was finally looking clean and nice.
Time to have another lousy dinner at Leh, and head back to our hotel! But not before a tank up.
Went to the most crowded pump, and found only premium fuel. Well no choice.
FE? 8.82kmpl for Manali - Leh (Last tank up at manali, then 33liters at Pang)
We had to sleep by midnight, as tomorrow was the long drive to K.Top and Nubra valley.
Leg one of the Leh Trip was about to begin, and we were rearing to go.
MY back was also feeling fine, thanks to no bad roads, and I hoped this would continue!