[dhiman]

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

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

Could you share some more details please? How often? Were you doing it yourself or at the service centers? Is it a easy DIY kind of job

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by dhiman

Could you share some more details please? How often? Were you doing it yourself or at the service centers? Is it a easy DIY kind of job

Yes Yes its a pure DIY job, in fact you will not have a choice as the tuning will have to be done often depending on the air density. Its just the air screw on the carb that has to be worked upon using the screwdriver and RPM meter.

[lordofgondor]

Hey bro, you got kidnapped, girlnapped in Leh or what?

Gaadi aage badhao!

[KSM-Vtec]

No yaar am kidnapped in office. Will post when i reach home.

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Hey bro, you got kidnapped, girlnapped in Leh or what?

Gaadi aage badhao!

[KSM-Vtec]

This day we would travel the most in terms of height differences. From 14000 feet Leh to 18380 feet Khardungla and ending at 10000 feet Nubra.

All packed up with 70 litres of petrol, we were excited and began our day early. The climb upwards from Leh offered some fascinating views. Clear blue skies, mountains in various shades of brown & white snow and yes – newly laid BLACk tar roads !










We saw a lot of cyclists on our way and were amazed at their energy & lung capacity !

We reached Khardungla quite fast – by approx 10 40, and of course, took a photo clicking break there. This is the highest motorable road in India at 18380 feet & offered fantastic views all round. We clicked lot of snaps & the Demon also got its share of snaps !









Also, on sale were wonderful souvenir T-shirts proclaiming “Khardungla – 18380 feet, the highest motorable road in the world” in the front & “I was there” on the back. We bought those too (just to show off once we were back !!)

I met a couple of other Mumbai-ites there and they told me that their driver told them, “I don’t understand why you people are coming in such a hostile environment. Its so unfriendly”. We tend to feel the opposite. We would not want to miss these sights – it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Interestingly, these views of the driver were echoed by an army guy we met at Changla later during the trip.













After a long photo session, we were back on the road downhill. From the highest motorabel road to the highest desert in the world. What a journey, what a day!!

[KSM-Vtec]

Khardungla to Hunder (Nubra Valley)

As we passed through a few towns, we were just amazed the the greenery there. The colours were nature at its best, God shows us that He is in effect, the best painter !!









The water marks on the mountain looked like nerves of the body, or the nerves on a leaf !

As we descended further, the beginnings of a desert finally came into view. And, it was the strangest desert I ve seen – It had sand, sand dunes, lots of greenery (unbelievable) & a river, yes – A RIVER, running through it !! This was surely something we would never witness anywhere else.












Double humped camels....These are short camels wih 2 humps to store extra water. Nubra is one of the very few places where you’ll find these rare creatures, Bactrian Camels.










We took the Demon on the sand dunes & had some fun. After clicking some snaps and doing some sand dunning, we proceeded back to our hotel (at 250 a night, the cheapest of the trip but very very good!!)







The sand dunes were beautiful & the setting sun threw up a brilliant golden glow on the mountains – a sight to behold.

[KSM-Vtec]

The next morning when checkedout we came to know why the room costed us only 250. The food bill for an evening snack, dinner and breakfast came to 1000 for 2 ppl. I think this was the max we had ever spent on food on a per day basis.

Though one would spend 1k per person for a dinner in mumbai this hotel sounded very exp since we were paying almost half that for the fast few days.

[akas_chauhan]

I liked all the pictures you have posted here. Which camera you were using?

[KSM-Vtec]

Thanx a lot. Its a very basic PnS DCRP Review: Nikon Coolpix L5

Originally Posted by akas_chauhan

I liked all the pictures you have posted here. Which camera you were using?

[KSM-Vtec]

Guys i am sorry i am unable to upload pics due to some technical problem

will have to try again later.

@ Mods- Any idea about this??

[KSM-Vtec]

Day 8 was the day of traversing unchartered territory.

Usually people go back to leh from Nubra & leave for Pangong the next day. What we were going to do was to go through a untested pass – wari-la which led straight from Nubra to Pangong. With no petrol pump on the way, this is where the remainder of our 70 litres of petrol luggage would come into use !!

And so, we left after a nice breakfast & a car wash – yes the demon was clean n dark black again !!!





The desert was hot in the morning sun and we were glad we did the sand dunning n camel ride the evening before !









We took the detour to wari la & were in for empty roads all through – just 2 cars coming in the opposite direction n none going in ours !!! This was the road that TSK1979-Tanveer had confirmed is drive-able & he was our only support. Apart from that, we had no other confirmed news regarding the road. Even HVK had not got an opportunity to grace this route (which he eventually did...lol)













There were no directions all through the road, just small stones on which kms were mentioned – which we took to be the distance to Sakti !

But this road – was one of the most scenic of the trip. I would rate it at par with the manali leh highway. It was all mountain there, it was all greenery & streams here !!

With clear empty roads, sunny skies n greener n streams accompanying us, it was a fun drive.


The view from Wari La.....

[KSM-Vtec]

We had lunch at Karu @ 2:30pm, where we filled petrol and got going.

Pangong was going to be a great destination, but before that i had something else to look forward too and that was a TBHP meet at 15,500 ft above sea level.

At one of the sharp turns up to Chang la i see a white safari parked on the side of the road. This had to be TSK, we had never met before but he did recognised the Demon. Had a quick chat up there and then got going as it was gonna be dark by the time we would reach.





Chang-la - 3rd highest pass in the world. Here the oxygen level was supposed to be 9%. Not sure how true that was but ya it was difficult to breath up there! After paying our homage to the changla baba mandir, we went ahead on the way to pangong.









It was becoming very cloudy & the clouds were following us, at great speed!. Soon it became dark and we were the only car on the road

























We had yet to cross the notorious pagal nullah ! We were prepared to go back to tangstse if the nuaalh was behaving crazy. But before that, we almost lost our way!!!

We reached a point from where we could not see the road going further. We turned to the left and there were huge bolders, turned right and there seemed to be a valley down there. Mihir had to walk a 100 mts down the road with the torch, look for tyre tracks to determine which road to take, because on all directions the road (or the lack of it) looked the same.

Once we found the road, we were immediately at the nullah, which did have a lot of water (but not enough to stop a gypsy), and so we crossed at a crawling speed. But, after that, there was a steep incline which became difficult to cross in the darkness. The only thought that struck me was "i think this is the same spot where LoG had a clutch failure." It was pitch dark allaround, i had all six lights on and my 4X4 engageld in 4L.

It took a few tries and finally we made it up but with a half burnt clutch.The only smell in the air was of the clutch plate burning !!! By this time a security guy has turned up and told us that we were in the right track. This was good news but he also said that we will not get a tent so late.

Finally we reached the camp site next to The Lake, booked a tent, had dinner, took a by the lake in the chilling atmosphere and got back to our tent. We could not wait for the magical next day. With expectations sky high, we went to bed!!!

[KSM-Vtec]

YouTube - On the way to Wari-La, Ladakh - I

Sorry abt the background music guys, please turn down the volume.

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

But, after that, there was a steep incline which became difficult to cross in the darkness. The only thought that struck me was "i think this is the same spot where LoG had a clutch failure." It was pitch dark allaround, i had all six lights on and my 4X4 engageld in 4L.

It took a few tries and finally we made it up but with a half burnt clutch.The only smell in the air was of the clutch plate burning !!!

Yeah bro, it was! And doing that stretch in the night is being big time adventurous, but then that's how motor-heads are. Was the army recovery vehicle posted there?

A half burnt CP, quite a predicament. The plot thickens!!! Awaiting for the story ahead to unfold.

In hindsight, how I keep wishing that I had maintained enough momentum while crossing the nullah.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Yeah bro, it was! And doing that stretch in the night is being big time adventurous, but then that's how motor-heads are. Was the army recovery vehicle posted there?

A half burnt CP, quite a predicament. The plot thickens!!! Awaiting for the story ahead to unfold.

In hindsight, how I keep wishing that I had maintained enough momentum while crossing the nullah.

No dude there was no recovery vehicle there at that time.

It was very difficult for me to maintain momentum coz i couldent see anything.