[Wolfheart]

TSK1979

As usual, I hate you man!

[Speed-Freak]

Hey Tanveer,

This is by far one of the best write-ups that i have read, it was so enticing, i was glued to my screen for a good 1 hr, i was trying to imagine the breathtaking scenes from the valley.

Kudos to you and your white elephant and not to forget your wife who is as adventurous and supportive.

Keep up the adventure

Cheers !!!

[somu_john]

Awesome Snaps, i have decided Leh is my next destination, Breath taking views and inviting roads.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Wolfheart

TSK1979

As usual, I hate you man!

LOL

Originally Posted by Speed-Freak

Hey Tanveer,

This is by far one of the best write-ups that i have read, it was so enticing, i was glued to my screen for a good 1 hr, i was trying to imagine the breathtaking scenes from the valley.

Kudos to you and your white elephant and not to forget your wife who is as adventurous and supportive.

Keep up the adventure

Cheers !!!

Thanks speed_freak!

Originally Posted by somu_john

Awesome Snaps, i have decided Leh is my next destination, Breath taking views and inviting roads.

Okay, inviting roads? What roads?

[rjstyles69]

Boy of boy tanveer awesome is all I can say !! Time and again I envy you coz you simply have the gorgeous Himalayas at your disposal for high altitude trips.Not the same scene here in the south.

Such places definitely leave you with some unforgettable reminiscences which can be talked abt for a long time. Hats off to your better half too am sure she would have made for wonderful company to complete this epic journey.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Boy of boy tanveer awesome is all I can say !! Time and again I envy you coz you simply have the gorgeous Himalayas at your disposal for high altitude trips.Not the same scene here in the south.

It is there just add around 2000 KM one way and 4-5 more days in schedule.

@tanveer hats off to your better half for being as much travel enthusiast as you are. Also hats off to you for managing so many leaves. Usually leaves are on paper but bosses are real hurdle.

[tsk1979]

Thanks guys!
Well from BLR you need to add around 6 days.
As for leaves, I got only 7 working days off for this journey.

I hope, some day I can get a month off. Then I would like to visit all the high altitude lakes accessible by vehicle(around 11), and 2-3 lakes accessible only after trekking.
then I will also visit Zanskar valley, and Spiti, not to mention chandertaal lake.

And yes, my better half is indeed a better half in every sense, tolerating my driving, and staying in all sorts of places! We work as a team, and on all trips she takes care of the packing and food checklists!
Without her planning, we would have had to spend all these days without lunch!

[KPS]

Dear Tanveer,

Excellent post.

Nine of us friends from Bangalore did a biking trip at Ladakh in the first week of June'10. We hired the bikes and rode about 800 kms. I can relate to a lot of the pictures you have posted. Our original trip was to start from Manali (1300 kms) but we got snowed out. Hence we had to cancel that sector, drive back to Delhi and fly into LEH and restarted our biking from there. There are so many posts on LEH this year so I really do not know if I should start a new thread.

Anyways, having been there, all I can say is that this is a must do trip for all. Keep it as part of your bucket list!

Cheers

KPS

[contactme27]

After reading the whole thread, I only can say your write and trip was awesome. I wish I can do that myself in my innova. Now you made me to re-think on this trip.

[tsk1979]

Thanks guys.
Here is a video made from snippets of multiple wild a.s.s videos

YouTube - Wild Asses - The Collected video

[Styler]

Hi Tanveer,

It was a great write-up and great pictures.
How many people were you in this trip ?
You should atleast post a picture of all the brave souls on this trip with your brave Vehicle too.
I went to Leh too this year, with my wife and 2 kids (8 & 3). We cannot be as adventurous as you guys because it will be asking too much from the kids.
We also went from Kashmir, left on 6th of June from Delhi. Reached Leh on 10th June after a few days in Kashmir. We were also hoping that we would be able to come back from Manali, but since the roads did not open till 17th, My wife & Kids flew back from Leh and I drove back from Kashmir.
You're lucky, you guys don't have kids along. So my advice is do all such adventurous trips before you start a family.
Hope to meet-up you and the other travelers at team-bhp at some meet-up in Delhi.

And can you please post a link where we could see your route and trip logs on OSM.

Styler

[tsk1979]

Hi Styler, it was the two of us, me and my wife.
As for OSM, just go to openstreetmap.org and start zooming in. you will see the entire ladakh region mapped.

[DirtyDan]

You seem very well prepared for this trek. Did you have a plan for how to handle a serious breakdown, especially in the more remote areas?

I have visions of leaving my vehicle up there for 6 weeks until Rahoon and his Yak caravan show up with a mechanic and my new widget. The widget turns out to be the wrong one, the yaks get cranky, Rahoon has to visit his sick auntie and it is another 5 months before I drive out of there.

I jest and I shouldn't. It can get dangerous up there if you break down.

Here is a shot of Nubra valley near where your lake loop begins. I was there in late July 2007. Weather was a sunny 28 degrees. The same general area looks a bit different with a little sun.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

You seem very well prepared for this trek. Did you have a plan for how to handle a serious breakdown, especially in the more remote areas?

I have visions of leaving my vehicle up there for 6 weeks until Rahoon and his Yak caravan show up with a mechanic and my new widget. The widget turns out to be the wrong one, the yaks get cranky, Rahoon has to visit his sick auntie and it is another 5 months before I drive out of there.

I jest and I shouldn't. It can get dangerous up there if you break down.

Here is a shot of Nubra valley near where your lake loop begins. I was there in late July 2007. Weather was a sunny 28 degrees. The same general area looks a bit different with a little sun.

I am sure you are aware that its the 21st century. There are satellite phones in the remotest of villages, and army trucks pass the remotest areas atleast once a week. So dependence on Yak is very less, except in tourist areas where they are a source of livelyhood for their owners.

Moreover, out of 3900kms, only around 200 was in "remote" areas. So you have to take some risk and hope that if a breakdown occurs it happens not in those "remote areas".

[amikacin]

Hi Tanveer, as usual a great write up. Had been following it for last few days.

Your posts have indeed been an inspiration for many and need less to say have increased our knowledge about the Ladakh region.

The photos were simply superb.

Ladakh has fascinated me since i was a little school going kid of 10 or so,
tracing the boundaries in the geography atlas and dreaming about going there some time.

Narrowly missed the chance in 2005 with my classmates .
If everything goes alright may be next year it will be me and my WagonR scaling the lengths and breadths of ladakh.
Until then will have to survive with tbhp.

Kudos to both of you for sharing so much with us. Keep it up.