Leh-docked

kpzen · 14th July 2010, 23:46

2 trucks and 1 SUMO stuck but Wagon R crosses water stream @ SARCHU with ease..

YouTube - Wagon R crossing a water stream @ SARCHU

Scorpio on ice, snow & water

YouTube - Scorpio @ Baralachala

MX6 · 15th July 2010, 00:38

Where the alto has gone, the ikon will go! was thinking of considering a SUV for leh. But guess, the thrill comes from taking my ikon there.
Ramkya and co, be ready for abuses from my wife. She thought my mania has subsided after my south long trip. I'm working on a trip to kashi and have already now started planning for Leh in 2011!

ampere · 15th July 2010, 07:14

The ambulance snap is cool, with it shouting:

Get Away-Get Away and Give me the way!!
A nice loudspeaker to do the job.

kpzen · 15th July 2010, 08:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

Once I closely look at Tandi Petrol station board I see there written "LPG". Is there an LPG station too? or Is it "LPS"? In that case what is LPS?

I think LPS is the name of the FUEL station. Its not LPG for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MX6

Where the alto has gone, the ikon will go! was thinking of considering a SUV for leh. But guess, the thrill comes from taking my ikon there.
Ramkya and co, be ready for abuses from my wife. She thought my mania has subsided after my south long trip. I'm working on a trip to kashi and have already now started planning for Leh in 2011!

Ikon will take that terrain with ease. One of the best cars in terms of comfort & handling both. At Lamayeru, i serious wished to have a Baleno or Ikon on those roads which were like a drifting playground. All i would worry in the Ikon 1.3 would be the power to pull uphill with load and less O2 air.

hvkumar · 15th July 2010, 09:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpzen

I think LPS is the name of the FUEL station. Its not LPG for sure.

Yes, the Tandi pump is owned and run by - hold your breath - the Lahaul Valley Potato Growers (or Traders) Association (or Society)

. That is the name which appears in the bill.

rkbharat · 15th July 2010, 10:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Yes, the Tandi pump is owned and run by - hold your breath - the Lahaul Valley Potato Growers (or Traders) Association (or Society)

. That is the name which appears in the bill.

nice catch Kumar sir, I never cared to read the bill, while I kept guessing what LPS is

tsk1979 · 15th July 2010, 10:56

Guys be very careful before filling at Tandi Pump. Often the fuel is of very bad quality.
Better to fill up at manali, and carry some spare of you are not confident of meeting the range.

ramkya1 · 15th July 2010, 11:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Guys be very careful before filling at Tandi Pump. Often the fuel is of very bad quality.
Better to fill up at manali, and carry some spare of you are not confident of meeting the range.

TSK, thanks for the info.

HVK......... Blistering Barnacles !!!!!! Had I known the ownership, I'd have given it a skip. We had enough juice till Manali but filled up at Tandi. Fortuantely no problems till Ahmedabad, not even a hiccup.

=====
======

MX6 · 15th July 2010, 12:13

I was wondering for a long time who does Ramkya remind me off in this trip. A person with a big heart who tries to stay away from adventure but ends up not only being a part off, but also winning in his own way! And, Thundering typhoons, now you name it!
Captain Archibald Haddock!

ramkya1 · 15th July 2010, 13:30

KOAKSAR - BILASPUR: Koaksar to Rothang is 20 kms, with better roads we were making good time, you can see more greens on the hills now, altitude has dropped 10,000 feets, lots of snow melt streams on the hills and roads. We start climbing, the road again truns ugly, all the way to the top the road is a horror story, somehow did not expect this so near civilization. Remote passes inside deep mountains, so far from humanity and snow-bound is understandable, but Rathang, a money spinning tourist hub to be is such a miserable conditions for years is a sin. In this harsh terrain, we came across, Indicas, Altos, NHC and all kinds of low slung cars grinding up or down, this is real faith in the machine, the underchasis would surely take a pounding. The cabbies here are the craziest lot, guess they must be carting people up and down and trying to make as many trips as possible.

Road up to Roahtng, very bad state, some sections just enough to pass through, the edges very loose. I had to stop and calculatle how to pass through and drive very carefully....

Came to Rothang top, watched for some time large number of people playing with snow, some of them doing crazy antics. It was a festive setting, snow-mobiles roaring, children making snowman, some climbing dangerously high, two youngesters came slithering down 40 feet and started tumbling, we and their family watched in fear, thought they would break a couple of bones, miraculously they came to be bottom only bruised and shocked, snow cushioning the fall.

Sad part at Roathng was how dirty the top has been made, lots of litter and waste all around, you can smell it all around. We found a pani poori guy near a waterfall, constricting the already narrow road, people throwing anything and everything on the water, ugly signs of commercialization destroying nature.

Had a chai + hot conr and started the descend down, fortunately traffic was light, none of the dreaded blocks which zaps 3-4 hours, 10 kms down, stopped at the paragliding spot and then at Rohella waterfalls, by 3pm we were at Mirhi and by 4 at Solang Junction, decision time to stop for the night. Called HVK, got HPTDC Bilaspur number, another 190 KMS away, a difficult target on twisting roads, but we decided to try for it, if we get delayed then halt at Mandi.

It was time to whip the horse, the roads were good but with lots of turns, typical mountain with river on one side, the rain plying on and off, sometimes hard. After a tea stop at Manali at 500 PM, we were zooming, I was taking Wolt at speed on lower gears for control, the RPM mostly above 3.5K, one of the hardest rides I gave it on the plains so far, very confidant having seen its performance on the hills, this beast could take that and some more.

Kullu, 33 kms in 50 mts with acouple of blocks, another 32 kms to Aut tunnel in 30 mts, another 40 kms till Mandi in 40 mts with rains on; when I saw Jiggy's saucer like eyes on a couple of overtakings I did on the twisties, near Hanogi Matha Temple, there was a disapproving look on Prajesh's face too, which I saw on the rear-view mirror, I slowed down

Next 82 kms to Bilaspur HPTDC came in 90 mts, we checked in for the night at 0850 PM. Anyone who has driven this route would probably understand these timings are pretty good.

The room was nice, food was OK, but service was so-so, the bearers understood the language of tips better.

======

TaureanBull · 15th July 2010, 14:14

The roads do look in bad condition. Its really sad to hear whats happening to Rohtang. The roads are set to improve once the tunnel is complete (5-6 years). It will lead to commercialization in Leh/Ladakh too. My heart pains to even think about what could happen there. Of course the tunnel will probably spare the pass because slowly it would go out of use like Banihal pass and people would stay away from it as the road to pass will start deteriorating.

But the future of Leh-Ladakh's untouched beauty is sadly not very bright.

KRRaj · 15th July 2010, 14:20

Great Pics. Look at the traffic down there. Crazy

, so many cabs as well. It would be one hell of an adventure to take my car there

.

Great snaps of the Vultures. Very rare to capture them isn't it?

Sad to see even here people turning it to a dustbin :-(. We never learn.

MX6 · 15th July 2010, 14:29

All. This was exactly how Rohtang was in 2004 when I took my wife there (our honeymoon). Snow was slushy. Plastics strewn all around. This is not a recent phenomenon. 3 months a year, this is the case, everytime Rohtang opens. We being eco-sensitive, ensured that we never litter. The only thing my wife left behind in Rohtang was a gold ring that slipped off her finger and fell in snow, when she removed her gloves to pelt me with snow-balls. When other people left behind litter, we left behind a gold trinket!
And the traffic jam can be unnerving. Surprisingly, we managed to cover that distance in 5 - 6 hours (both ways together and spent lot's of time petting horses and yaks.

Motomaniac · 15th July 2010, 16:02

@ Ramkya - Great pics mate & travelogue. Some of the pics are just breathtaking.

@ All: Yup Rohtang has gone to the dogs. The price it pays for being close to the main tourist hub (Manali) but people needs to understand that it is them who suffer the most as after back breaking journey what they get is much worse than what they could have got.

ramkya1 · 16th July 2010, 08:25

30th June, 2010: 0800 AM: We were off, planning breakfast on the way. On NH 21, Prajesh was at the wheel and had a horrowing time with the cement trucks form nearby cement units. This 40 KM stretch, from Suharghat to Bilaspur, can take 3 hours with thousands of trucks plying for the Acc/ Barmana, Ambuja / Dadlghat and JP/BaghaBalag cement factories. The road was usual mountain twisties, overtaking a nerve-wrecking experience with local taxis doing shumi-stunts in between; KP drove with restraint, the right thing to do there, we only had to reach Delhi that day. I wonder if taking the Bilaspur -Shimla - Chandigarh route would have been better, anyone?

We saw a biker with a jacked emobssed "Kanyakumari to Kardungla" on the way, we saw him at Pangong Tso, this is inspiring stuff, the photos are underneath.

Had Breakfast at a dhaba at 0900AM, jus to break the frustration of the traffic, could do only 30 kms in 1 hour!!!! Got a respite form these truks only at the Naina Devi Temple junction, we took a left to Chandigarh. Kiratpur on the 4 track starts on and off with switch backs; after driving bad roads on the hills, this was heaven. 139 kms later at 12 we reach Tribune chowk, Chandigarh, exactly 118 kms later at 2 pm we break at MC Donaland, Karnal for lunch. After lunch we were flying, good roads, sparse traffic and the Wolt purring, in 125 mts we did 120 kms, reached Azadpur flyover and turned left towrds Ashram for the drop off point for Prajesh, by that time our good friend Guruji had also reached there, we had to hand over the Jerry can back to him, it was great meeting him after a long time. He is the real gizmo man, his Scorp a living exhibition of what all you can add in a car, enjoyed the interaciton and we presented the Great Shovel to him as a token of our love and respect to this humane specimen.

Something of interest to Leh road trippers he said when I showed my toe rope. Said they used one mine last year in Leh, the hooks were not strong enough, they just straightened out on toeing!!!!! Instead he showed 2 sturdy looking D hooks he bought in Delhi fit to carry elephants, said EACH hook would cost about 2500/-, looked like a good investment for anyone traveling to Leh. Guruji, can you please uplod the photographs.

Finally at 0615 we bid adeos and head towards Ghaziabad to my brothers house at Vaishali, reach ther aroud 0645 PM. We were suddenly so tired, me and Jiggy crashed out early.

1st July, 2010: Started at 0530, too many traffic blocks all the way to Jaipur, took all of 4 hours and reached there by 10AM, was so frustrating. I was feeling tired, it was 11 AM, just entering Jaipur expressway and wanted to take a power-nap, kept the engine on and we both took a 45 minute power nap, that was the best thing I did, was so useful to concentrate in the next 700 kms or so. Entered expressway at 1146, exited at 1230, 77 kms in 44 minutes, stopped at Hotel Panghat, Kishangarh for lunch. Started again after lunch at 1 PM, Bhilwara and Chittaurgarh flashed by, we did the next 315 kms till Udaipur in 3.5 hours and took a long chai break there.

During the break met 3 bikers on their way back from Leh and got to talking. They were Chandrasekhar Jakka and son Abhijeet Jakka, Ph. 9324535858, 9773535176 from Mumbai. They have already set a record on Limca Boos as the father-son duo with fastest time on on GQ. This time he said they went past the Marsmik La, climbed up to 20493 feets near the Chang Chemo Ranges and were turned back by the Indian troops, he said this would come up on the Limca book of records too!!!! After hearing this, I had an additional cup of coffee, this was incredible and if true, a phemomenal feat for any Indian biker.

Took another long break at Himmatnagar, 0720 PM and reached Ahmedabad around 0930 PM. It was dark, opened up the Hella's hoods, had a range of 300 meters, putting it on was like day-light, most of the traffic up ahead gave way in a hurry, we could do 51 kms till chiloda in flat 40 minutes, I would never have dared to do something like this with my stock headlights.

I think this is Kiratpur Overbridge still under construciton..

This guy was on the wrong side of the road and driving at speed, mad-cap inviting death...

Will try to upload left over pictures, videos and other stuff later.

Well....... that's the end of the story. Thank you very much for spending time reading, coming this far and encourarging us with your posts and suggestions.

=========

15th July 2010, 00:38	#257
MX6 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands. Posts: 2,877 Thanked: 231 Times	Where the alto has gone, the ikon will go! was thinking of considering a SUV for leh. But guess, the thrill comes from taking my ikon there. Ramkya and co, be ready for abuses from my wife. She thought my mania has subsided after my south long trip. I'm working on a trip to kashi and have already now started planning for Leh in 2011!
	() Thanks

15th July 2010, 07:14	#258
ampere Team-BHP Support Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,957 Thanked: 12,948 Times View My Garage	The ambulance snap is cool, with it shouting: Get Away-Get Away and Give me the way!! A nice loudspeaker to do the job.
	() Thanks

15th July 2010, 10:56	#262
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,717 Thanked: 22,826 Times View My Garage	Guys be very careful before filling at Tandi Pump. Often the fuel is of very bad quality. Better to fill up at manali, and carry some spare of you are not confident of meeting the range.
	() Thanks

15th July 2010, 12:13	#264
MX6 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands. Posts: 2,877 Thanked: 231 Times	I was wondering for a long time who does Ramkya remind me off in this trip. A person with a big heart who tries to stay away from adventure but ends up not only being a part off, but also winning in his own way! And, Thundering typhoons, now you name it! Captain Archibald Haddock!
	() Thanks

15th July 2010, 13:30	#265
ramkya1 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Palakkad, Keral Posts: 1,826 Thanked: 431 Times View My Garage	Koaksar - Bilaspur KOAKSAR - BILASPUR: Koaksar to Rothang is 20 kms, with better roads we were making good time, you can see more greens on the hills now, altitude has dropped 10,000 feets, lots of snow melt streams on the hills and roads. We start climbing, the road again truns ugly, all the way to the top the road is a horror story, somehow did not expect this so near civilization. Remote passes inside deep mountains, so far from humanity and snow-bound is understandable, but Rathang, a money spinning tourist hub to be is such a miserable conditions for years is a sin. In this harsh terrain, we came across, Indicas, Altos, NHC and all kinds of low slung cars grinding up or down, this is real faith in the machine, the underchasis would surely take a pounding. The cabbies here are the craziest lot, guess they must be carting people up and down and trying to make as many trips as possible. Road up to Roahtng, very bad state, some sections just enough to pass through, the edges very loose. I had to stop and calculatle how to pass through and drive very carefully.... Came to Rothang top, watched for some time large number of people playing with snow, some of them doing crazy antics. It was a festive setting, snow-mobiles roaring, children making snowman, some climbing dangerously high, two youngesters came slithering down 40 feet and started tumbling, we and their family watched in fear, thought they would break a couple of bones, miraculously they came to be bottom only bruised and shocked, snow cushioning the fall. Sad part at Roathng was how dirty the top has been made, lots of litter and waste all around, you can smell it all around. We found a pani poori guy near a waterfall, constricting the already narrow road, people throwing anything and everything on the water, ugly signs of commercialization destroying nature. Had a chai + hot conr and started the descend down, fortunately traffic was light, none of the dreaded blocks which zaps 3-4 hours, 10 kms down, stopped at the paragliding spot and then at Rohella waterfalls, by 3pm we were at Mirhi and by 4 at Solang Junction, decision time to stop for the night. Called HVK, got HPTDC Bilaspur number, another 190 KMS away, a difficult target on twisting roads, but we decided to try for it, if we get delayed then halt at Mandi. It was time to whip the horse, the roads were good but with lots of turns, typical mountain with river on one side, the rain plying on and off, sometimes hard. After a tea stop at Manali at 500 PM, we were zooming, I was taking Wolt at speed on lower gears for control, the RPM mostly above 3.5K, one of the hardest rides I gave it on the plains so far, very confidant having seen its performance on the hills, this beast could take that and some more. Kullu, 33 kms in 50 mts with acouple of blocks, another 32 kms to Aut tunnel in 30 mts, another 40 kms till Mandi in 40 mts with rains on; when I saw Jiggy's saucer like eyes on a couple of overtakings I did on the twisties, near Hanogi Matha Temple, there was a disapproving look on Prajesh's face too, which I saw on the rear-view mirror, I slowed down Next 82 kms to Bilaspur HPTDC came in 90 mts, we checked in for the night at 0850 PM. Anyone who has driven this route would probably understand these timings are pretty good. The room was nice, food was OK, but service was so-so, the bearers understood the language of tips better. ====== Attached Thumbnails Last edited by ramkya1 : 15th July 2010 at 13:49.
	() Thanks

15th July 2010, 14:14	#266
TaureanBull Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: New Delhi Posts: 1,071 Thanked: 326 Times View My Garage	The roads do look in bad condition. Its really sad to hear whats happening to Rohtang. The roads are set to improve once the tunnel is complete (5-6 years). It will lead to commercialization in Leh/Ladakh too. My heart pains to even think about what could happen there. Of course the tunnel will probably spare the pass because slowly it would go out of use like Banihal pass and people would stay away from it as the road to pass will start deteriorating. But the future of Leh-Ladakh's untouched beauty is sadly not very bright.
	() Thanks

15th July 2010, 14:20	#267
KRRaj BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 514 Thanked: 35 Times View My Garage	Great Pics. Look at the traffic down there. Crazy , so many cabs as well. It would be one hell of an adventure to take my car there . Great snaps of the Vultures. Very rare to capture them isn't it? Sad to see even here people turning it to a dustbin :-(. We never learn. Last edited by KRRaj : 15th July 2010 at 14:22.
	() Thanks

15th July 2010, 14:29	#268
MX6 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands. Posts: 2,877 Thanked: 231 Times	All. This was exactly how Rohtang was in 2004 when I took my wife there (our honeymoon). Snow was slushy. Plastics strewn all around. This is not a recent phenomenon. 3 months a year, this is the case, everytime Rohtang opens. We being eco-sensitive, ensured that we never litter. The only thing my wife left behind in Rohtang was a gold ring that slipped off her finger and fell in snow, when she removed her gloves to pelt me with snow-balls. When other people left behind litter, we left behind a gold trinket! And the traffic jam can be unnerving. Surprisingly, we managed to cover that distance in 5 - 6 hours (both ways together and spent lot's of time petting horses and yaks.
	() Thanks

15th July 2010, 16:02	#269
Motomaniac Newbie Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Udaipur Posts: 16 Thanked: Once	@ Ramkya - Great pics mate & travelogue. Some of the pics are just breathtaking. @ All: Yup Rohtang has gone to the dogs. The price it pays for being close to the main tourist hub (Manali) but people needs to understand that it is them who suffer the most as after back breaking journey what they get is much worse than what they could have got.
	() Thanks

16th July 2010, 08:25	#270
ramkya1 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Palakkad, Keral Posts: 1,826 Thanked: 431 Times View My Garage	The Last Part....... 30th June, 2010: 0800 AM: We were off, planning breakfast on the way. On NH 21, Prajesh was at the wheel and had a horrowing time with the cement trucks form nearby cement units. This 40 KM stretch, from Suharghat to Bilaspur, can take 3 hours with thousands of trucks plying for the Acc/ Barmana, Ambuja / Dadlghat and JP/BaghaBalag cement factories. The road was usual mountain twisties, overtaking a nerve-wrecking experience with local taxis doing shumi-stunts in between; KP drove with restraint, the right thing to do there, we only had to reach Delhi that day. I wonder if taking the Bilaspur -Shimla - Chandigarh route would have been better, anyone? We saw a biker with a jacked emobssed "Kanyakumari to Kardungla" on the way, we saw him at Pangong Tso, this is inspiring stuff, the photos are underneath. Had Breakfast at a dhaba at 0900AM, jus to break the frustration of the traffic, could do only 30 kms in 1 hour!!!! Got a respite form these truks only at the Naina Devi Temple junction, we took a left to Chandigarh. Kiratpur on the 4 track starts on and off with switch backs; after driving bad roads on the hills, this was heaven. 139 kms later at 12 we reach Tribune chowk, Chandigarh, exactly 118 kms later at 2 pm we break at MC Donaland, Karnal for lunch. After lunch we were flying, good roads, sparse traffic and the Wolt purring, in 125 mts we did 120 kms, reached Azadpur flyover and turned left towrds Ashram for the drop off point for Prajesh, by that time our good friend Guruji had also reached there, we had to hand over the Jerry can back to him, it was great meeting him after a long time. He is the real gizmo man, his Scorp a living exhibition of what all you can add in a car, enjoyed the interaciton and we presented the Great Shovel to him as a token of our love and respect to this humane specimen. Something of interest to Leh road trippers he said when I showed my toe rope. Said they used one mine last year in Leh, the hooks were not strong enough, they just straightened out on toeing!!!!! Instead he showed 2 sturdy looking D hooks he bought in Delhi fit to carry elephants, said EACH hook would cost about 2500/-, looked like a good investment for anyone traveling to Leh. Guruji, can you please uplod the photographs. Finally at 0615 we bid adeos and head towards Ghaziabad to my brothers house at Vaishali, reach ther aroud 0645 PM. We were suddenly so tired, me and Jiggy crashed out early. 1st July, 2010: Started at 0530, too many traffic blocks all the way to Jaipur, took all of 4 hours and reached there by 10AM, was so frustrating. I was feeling tired, it was 11 AM, just entering Jaipur expressway and wanted to take a power-nap, kept the engine on and we both took a 45 minute power nap, that was the best thing I did, was so useful to concentrate in the next 700 kms or so. Entered expressway at 1146, exited at 1230, 77 kms in 44 minutes, stopped at Hotel Panghat, Kishangarh for lunch. Started again after lunch at 1 PM, Bhilwara and Chittaurgarh flashed by, we did the next 315 kms till Udaipur in 3.5 hours and took a long chai break there. During the break met 3 bikers on their way back from Leh and got to talking. They were Chandrasekhar Jakka and son Abhijeet Jakka, Ph. 9324535858, 9773535176 from Mumbai. They have already set a record on Limca Boos as the father-son duo with fastest time on on GQ. This time he said they went past the Marsmik La, climbed up to 20493 feets near the Chang Chemo Ranges and were turned back by the Indian troops, he said this would come up on the Limca book of records too!!!! After hearing this, I had an additional cup of coffee, this was incredible and if true, a phemomenal feat for any Indian biker. Took another long break at Himmatnagar, 0720 PM and reached Ahmedabad around 0930 PM. It was dark, opened up the Hella's hoods, had a range of 300 meters, putting it on was like day-light, most of the traffic up ahead gave way in a hurry, we could do 51 kms till chiloda in flat 40 minutes, I would never have dared to do something like this with my stock headlights. I think this is Kiratpur Overbridge still under construciton.. This guy was on the wrong side of the road and driving at speed, mad-cap inviting death... Will try to upload left over pictures, videos and other stuff later. *Well....... that's the end of the story. Thank you very much for spending time reading, coming this far and encourarging us with your posts and suggestions.* ========= Last edited by ramkya1 : 16th July 2010 at 08:31.
	() Thanks