[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Is that one at Patlikuhal?

This is on the way to Rhotang after the bridge next to the famous RE service station. You cant miss it, just ask anybody there for the authorised guy.

[lordofgondor]

Climbing Baralacha La on a wild horse, that sounds very interesting. Musta been quite an adventure!

And the very thought of continuing the journey with the accelerator problem sends a shiver down the spine.

[KSM-Vtec]

We woke up (had hardly slept the previous night) freezing .. Mihir stepped out (he ventured first as he was covered from head to toe !!) & suddenly shouted for me to come out immediately with a camera.

The first thing that strikes u is the unbelievable scenes around. Brown mountains, green grass, blue sky all around .. n u r in a valley / plain in the middle … everywhere u look is beauty. Somewhere far, sheep are grazing on the mountain side. A solitary car pass you by on the black tar road – you can just sit there all day and gaze around..but you would probably freeze !! Enjoyed seeing the golden first rays of the sun falling on the mountains !

Hot tea & bread, breakfast done – we set out for a long difficult day. Remember – our accelerator cable was still broken.

Covering the engine with the sacks helped as the car started in the morning without much difficulty. A little ahead of Sarchu was the army camp. We requested them to help us & they willingly and ably fixed the cable & engaged us in army banter.. making fun of each other.. One of them was very wistful regarding not being able to see hi family for a long long time & that made me felt sad. Anyways, car was fixed & we were on our way for he second half of the world’s 3rd most difficult road.

[KSM-Vtec]

What caught our attention first were the rock formations ! Unbelievable shapes sizes.. Long mountain covered with rock formations. See the pics attached ! Its true, man can never create something as beautiful as nature itself creates.

The road ahead was nice, aided, of course, by the scenery around which made it easier to travel. The greenery around increased as we moved along. I would definitely say that it is much beautiful than in snow, but a trip during snow only can prove that !!

[KSM-Vtec]

There were the MORE plains ahead – one of the scariest places to drive through if alone. 40 kms long and a couple of kms wide (or more) of pure dirt, sand, mud. Your car could get stuck in lose sand and you would hve no one to help you. The road, as we know it, stops existing and you have tyre tracks of other cars to follow. And not 1 set of tyre tracks. Multiple tracks in goin multiple ways. Fun ?? Not really… but it offered us great photo n video opportunities.. Have a look…

We emptied our fuel cans n filled our tank here. They were leaking & car smeeling constantly. Had to end it !!

MORE plains were successfully driven thru.. the scenery continued being more n more beautiful.. and the cloud formations were fantastic !

















We crossed Tanglangla – the 2nd highest road in the world. It was at 3, not so very cold…






















Slowly the road started getting better and the greenery /vegetation / trees kept increasing. We also came across some fields which looked beautiful in the mountain backdrop.

[KSM-Vtec]

Reached Leh – could distinctly see more trees here. Climbed the Thikshey monastery & was COMPLETELY out of breath. Had to take at least 7-8 three minute breaks on the way up & then I dint find it good enough – but the pics taken from the monastery came out to be very beautiful !!! … was tired like hell when I came down.

























Locating the guest house was troublesome because of the festival at leh during that time, but once there – we got a great room & a place to sleep…

Next day was for permits, car check & rest before the trips around leh began !!

[pranavt]

Awesome journey man. I'm sure you have a lot of stories to share. Make sure to remember them, the next meet is going to be fun

[KSM-Vtec]

We were finally in Leh. After a good night’s rest, we decided to get our permits for travels to KHardungla, Nubra, Pangong & MArsimikla. There was a bit of confusion as local touts sent us to the wrong office. But, finally we located the right place & got our permits done in abt 60-70 mins.

The day was kept as a rest day & the day to get the car serviced. So, we headed to the local Maruti Service Centre. Well, we ended up spending a lot of time there – almost all afternoon. The guys there were not too competent & Botched up the job, burnt some wires due to a short circuit they did.

A late lunch was done at Leh View Restaurant, which did offer some nice views.. This is where we sat and planned our next few days – khardungla+Nubra was the next day & then to pangong thru Wari la after that.

Then we had a team BHP meet where we met Vikram & his bro in law & discussed both our cars and trips. By this time we were also in touch with TSK over sms.

Also, we were not sure that FE the Demon deliver, so bought another 10l can to go with our existing 2 10l cans .. we were planning to carry 70l of petrol for the next 2 days – went to the petrol pump and were met with the longest line !!!. filled petrol, packed the cans as leak proof as we could, went to our guest house and slept after dinner...

An exciting few days were ahead of us … We had reached Leh.. 1st leg of our trip was done ! and it was unbelievable, only to get more so in the coming days…

[khan_sultan]

Good to see this travelogue KSM. As HVK mentioned before the 1st anniversary of the trip :-)

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

....When i try to get into 2X4 my 4X4 gearbox gets stuck in neutral. It was time to get the tools out and we finally slotted the 2X4 with the screwdriver....lol
....
60 kms before Baralachla, our accelerator cable snaps ! 2 hours of daylight and we are in the middle of nowhere again...

Oh man, if one doesn't know how to fix this small thing than this can be a nightmare getting the t-case stuck in neutral. And the worst part is that not many fellow motorist on the road would be able to help or understand that your vehicle is STUCK in neutral.

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

...we take jute / cloth rassis, tie it to “the accelerator pulley ” pass the rassis thru the vent in the bonnet, thru an open window & accelerate via pulling the rope by hand !!! so, the clutch is controlled by left leg, steering wheel AND the gears by the left hand and the accelerator by the right HAND .. ridden a horse before & pulled the cord around its neck ?? well, similarly, pull the accelerator here.. and doing this we climbed a very dangerous 62 kms to baralachla..
......

Must say that a very ingenious solution that you folks came up with. So, why did the cable snap?

[ir458]

Very Nice pics KSM-Vtec
Thanks for sharing them ..

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Oh man, if one doesn't know how to fix this small thing than this can be a nightmare getting the t-case stuck in neutral. And the worst part is that not many fellow motorist on the road would be able to help or understand that your vehicle is STUCK in neutral.

Must say that a very ingenious solution that you folks came up with. So, why did the cable snap?

Oh ya, even mihir who was with me int he car for so long was thinking that i have lost it when i said that the GB is stuck in neutral...lol

Well the cable would have snapped 1st because it was old(during the restoration process, i was told by the mechanic that there was no need to change it) 2nd insane amount of vibration it must have faced since we were privileged to go all out on those roads...."GYPSY"

Originally Posted by ir458

Very Nice pics KSM-Vtec
Thanks for sharing them ..

Thanx a lot!!!

[Rehaan]

PHENOMENAL pictures KSM !!

Some scenes are very unlike the other ladakh travelogues we have here -- stuff that i have never seen before, like those rock formations. Awesome!

cya
R

[hvkumar]

Fantastic pictures, great new angles and refreshing although we have seen many photos of Ladakh this season.

Kudos to you guys for tackling the stuck gear lever and snapped accelerator cable - tell us more how you sorted out this matter which could have unnerved anyone else and put him down in the middle of nowhere?

BTW, how much did the Sarchu tents cost? Any bargaining?

[dhiman]

KSM

Did you face any engine tuning issue with the Gypsy due to the high altitude ?

Cheers

[KSM-Vtec]

Thanx a lot!!!

Originally Posted by Rehaan

PHENOMENAL pictures KSM !!

Some scenes are very unlike the other ladakh travelogues we have here -- stuff that i have never seen before, like those rock formations. Awesome!

cya
R

Thanx a lot Sir!!! will post about it in detail for sure.

Tents at Sarchu - INR 1000/night for 2 people including a good HOT dinner and b/f.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Fantastic pictures, great new angles and refreshing although we have seen many photos of Ladakh this season.

Kudos to you guys for tackling the stuck gear lever and snapped accelerator cable - tell us more how you sorted out this matter which could have unnerved anyone else and put him down in the middle of nowhere?

BTW, how much did the Sarchu tents cost? Any bargaining?

No engine tuning issues but yes the carb has to be tuned often.

Originally Posted by dhiman

KSM

Did you face any engine tuning issue with the Gypsy due to the high altitude ?

Cheers