[KSM-Vtec]

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

[.anshuman]

Awesome Pics KSM, Very nice. You were very lucky, despite a stuck transfer case and a snapped accelerator cable you were able to continue the journey at such a remote stretch.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Awesome Pics KSM, Very nice. You were very lucky, despite a stuck transfer case and a snapped accelerator cable you were able to continue the journey at such a remote stretch.

Well it was luck at its best i must say. BTW that was not all, we also faced a lot of trouble at the MASS in Leh town. Will write more abt it soon.

Sorry guys have been very busy with work and also with another road trip that we did this month. Will post further soon....

[KSM-Vtec]

Pangong Lake – often described as heaven, paradise etc – in indeed a once in a lifetime experience. The peace, serenity, colours, beauty cannot be described. They’ve to be seen to be believed.

It is at this lake that we woke up on Day 9, after an adventurous drive the previous night ! And what we did was to set off in different directions with our cameras !




















We clicked the lake in darkness, in the first sun rays & in proper sunlight – and it looked different in each case.

Early morning, after our independent photo clicking sessions, we went towards spangmik, found a solitary place, stopped and did photography there. Noticed that there was no road, but just rubble n stoned here !!! The Demon got to wet its “feet” in the lake. Here, we got the feeling that we could spend our whole day at the river bank just gazing at its beauty & serenity !








































We went back to our tent, a tad disappointed coz we still had not seen the famous “blue-green” colour combo of the lake.

[KSM-Vtec]

We thought it would not happen, after having come so far we will not be able to see the supreme painting. We had breakfast and just after that we got to see what we had been longing for, the sun was up & the blue-green was on display. This led to another long round of breath-taking photos, as more and more tourists showed up !






























And then the drive back to Leh, again… Lush greenery & stallion sightings made it fun!!!

[KSM-Vtec]

After spending some great time at Pangong we headed towards M La to try our luck but unfortunately on reaching the check post we were told that 3 other civilian cars were stuck on the track. We would have to wait till all the 3 were got out, this could take anywhere between 2-4 hrs since there was only 1 recovery truck.

Initially we decided to give it a shot and see how long it takes them to bring out the first car. The recovery mission for this one had started abt 45mins back and there was no sign of luck.

We waited there for abt 30 mins and then decided against it since we were anyways not very sure is we will be able to make it to the top with our half burnt clutch.

A slipping pressure plate would mean a loss of at least 1 day, 3 cars being stuck was no encouragement hence we decided to back out and head towards Leh town.

[MileCruncher]

Kaushik: Some really good pictures. Do you have any pictures of the resort at Spangmik? We went only about halfway before turning back dissuaded by the condition of the track.

As regards to M-La, our good agent had nicely screwed us up by not even getting the Permit. But since we were staying in Tangtse, not sure whether we would gone in our 2WDs. May be its for next time in a 4x4.

[KSM-Vtec]

Thanx a lot!!!!

Well unfortunately we did not click any pics there as we were running out of battery as we were not able to charge them at the lake in the night, we had also used them on the previous day during our drive from Nubra to Pangong via Warila (impact of the temperature on the battery also showed up like it did in Sarchu)

We had made it a point to get the permits in place as we were clearly instructed by HVK on the same.

I am sure its not an impossible run to M-La and with 4X4 it should be much easier.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Kaushik: Some really good pictures. Do you have any pictures of the resort at Spangmik? We went only about halfway before turning back dissuaded by the condition of the track.

As regards to M-La, our good agent had nicely screwed us up by not even getting the Permit. But since we were staying in Tangtse, not sure whether we would gone in our 2WDs. May be its for next time in a 4x4.

[Devil on Wheels]

great pics Kaushik. And an excellent write up.

[Indian Ranger]

Kaushik,

Great pictures and wonderful trip. Gypsy's ruggedness is very well shown and liked all the pictures featuring it. Narration is very apt. Keep sharing

thanks

[KSM-Vtec]

Thanx a lot guys!!!

Ruggedness of the Gypsy wow i am still not out of it.

Originally Posted by Devil on Wheels

great pics Kaushik. And an excellent write up.

Originally Posted by Indian Ranger

Kaushik,

Great pictures and wonderful trip. Gypsy's ruggedness is very well shown and liked all the pictures featuring it. Narration is very apt. Keep sharing

thanks

[KSM-Vtec]

Well i did START writing the travelogue in the same year as i did the trip in but unfortunately due to the heavy work pressure i will end up concluding it in the next year.


Sometimes i think that it would be a good idea to stretch the log until my next trip to Ladakh in June 2010 i guess...lol...this for sure would be a great way for me to remain engrossed in the grandeur of the paradise.

Happy New Year!!!

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Kaushik, that was fast - you started writing the travelogue before the first anniversary of the trip!

[KSM-Vtec]

The third & final leg of our trip started today – the return journey !

We left Leh & moved towards Srinagar. First Stop – Magnetic Hill ! Well, for our vehicle, it did not work – we went downhill, not uphill. We’ve heard of other cars moving uphill, ours did not, sadly. There was another army gypsy along with us & they too experienced the same. Well, no magic for us, I guess !















After a wonderful breakfast at Kargil, we moved towards Drass bypassing a “you are under enemy observation” board ! We were trying to figure out behind which mountains the Pakistanis will be until the soldier at drass informed us that is was an old, outdated signpost !






















Drass War Memorial – well, it defi makes you patriotic. Listening to the soldier narrate the stories of the fights & bravery that Indian army showed, makes you proud of them. We saw Tololing, Rhino Horn & Tiger Hill & could just imagine how tough it must ve been to fight on these mountains & terrible terrains and achieve victory for India. The martyrs deserved a salute & we gave them that before leaving.

[KSM-Vtec]

Zojila Pass was a long story which will need a separate post


We reached Sonamarg by sundown and planned to take the night halt there. But there was no electricity / phone cable was down resulting in zero electricity, so we decided to move to Srinagar. We reached there by night and we got to know that a curfew was on. We booked into a very nice hotel opposite the Dal lake and slept peacefully after a wonderful dinner!!!

[ramie2400]

Amazing pics kaushik,i envy you for this would love to go some day for a ladkah trip