[chandan]

Originally Posted by KRRaj

Thats Great News!! . Maybe I can dream after all to get my Getz over there.

So, did you drive all the way from Sakleshpur to there? Your location says Sakleshpur, so curious. :-)

We started from Bangalore & will be finishing in Sakleshpur,that's where we live.

To make you feel better,my Getz just completed 5 years & 96k on the odo.No problems whatsover in the whole trip.Hope it continues that way till we reach home

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by Ushuaia

Guess @Chandan is rite, terrain around some of the treacherous stretches differ from day-day.

I guess come September you have @Souvik starting from B'lore with few cars in tow; he will be in his Swift and has completed the route earlier.

If all goes well (went through knee and hip surgery earlier, have to go under the knife in August) then I am in too in September in my Zen.

I am thinking wild about doing it again in Sep/Oct, may be it will pan out. I think, Souvik and Co wold be a big convoy, about 30 cars and 15-20 bikes; I'd avoid tagging with such a big convoy for many reasons.

About the Surgery, wish you all the best.

=======

[Ushuaia]

Thanks Sir,

I plan to do it alone from Hyderabad, target is 12 days ex Hyd. Destination doesn't justify the rush but, got to do it this year. If cant get those many days then will hop over or tag with someone for a short while in Leh.

Sir, Please let me know once if your plan for Sept firms up.

[sami316]

Hi Ramkya Sir,

Thanks once again for this awesome TL and specially for the PDF Map.

[unni.ak]

Ramky, congrats! You have done something which a lot of people yearn for (me included!). This drive is one of the must does in India if you love traveling. Hoping and wishing that you get to do this many more times.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by KRRaj

Thats Great News!! . Maybe I can dream after all to get my Getz over there.

So, did you drive all the way from Sakleshpur to there? Your location says Sakleshpur, so curious. :-)

Chandan's Getz has has a fantastic journey from Sakleshpura via Bangalore, Pune, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Sriganganagar, Bhatinda, Faridkot, Amritsar, Pathankot, Dharamsala, Manali, Keylong, Sarchu and Pang to Leh. He managed to cross Rohtang in treacherous conditions and the pass closed down immediately thereafter. He was stuck in Jispa for 2 nights, his roads blockaded both ways by rock landslides. And after completing his circuit in Ladakh, he managed to reach Srinagar and was stranded there by a curfew today. On hos way back home starting tomorrow.

Who says small cars cannot do it - here is Chandan, his wife and the Getz who have conquered the toughest road in the world at the most difficult of times

[arindamray]

Ramky, simply wonderful. Thanks to Prajesh also for those mesmerizing photographs.

However Ramky I liked your previous avatar picture more

[amikacin]

Ramkya sir congrats for successfully completing this trip.

The narration was simply superb and pics outstanding.
There are many Ladakh TL running simultaneously now but it is the beauty of that place
that no two persons can capture it in the same way. One can not but sit back and admire the beauty of that area.

[Bapu]

Welcome back Sir )

Low Altitude Sickness not bothering you??

I guess we should meet up soon. Will be coming to A'bad tonite. Will call up and confirm.

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by Bapu

Welcome back Sir )

Low Altitude Sickness not bothering you??

I guess we should meet up soon. Will be coming to A'bad tonite. Will call up and confirm.

Hai Jay,

LAS is a problem now, planing to climb up again sometime Sep/Oct to become normal

Great to hear from you. As you have done this years back in your bike, you would find the present conditions a little easy. I guess when you did Leh the conditions would have been much worser?

Sure, we'd meet up.

=====

[PatienceWins]

Great travelogue and pictures. Five stars!!

Originally Posted by chandan

We started from Bangalore & will be finishing in Sakleshpur,that's where we live.

To make you feel better,my Getz just completed 5 years & 96k on the odo.No problems whatsover in the whole trip.Hope it continues that way till we reach home

Thats great!! Now I can dream of taking my Getz there. I thought Getz cannot do it with the low ground clearance.

[maddy42]

Leh group: Ramkya sir, KP and Prajesh: Hats off guys. That was a well written travellogue. This is a sort of inspiration for many of us out here to undertake this trip. Would be an awesome time.

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Leh group: Ramkya sir, KP and Prajesh: Hats off guys. That was a well written travellogue. This is a sort of inspiration for many of us out here to undertake this trip. Would be an awesome time.

Maddy, Patience, Bapu, Arindam, HVK, Unni, Sami, Ushuaia, Raj, Fifan, Nix, TAUREANBULL, MX6, SPK, Motimaniac, RKB, Ampere, TSK, MotoM, Hotstuff, Rudraji, NFS, Raj, Rjstyles, Abkaree, Hemantthisgreat, Prashant, Capt Dey, Joshguy, Naren, SST, Pradeep, Mile Cruncher, GD, Jeepcaptain, Lordofgondor, gavinimurthy, Suman, Kaushik, Sanjaykaul, starvagabond, Longdrivelover, benbsb, gondadude, Styler, SaurabM, Vkocher, recshenony, MJ, download2live, others I might have missed and the lurkers who did not post, those who could not post and the mods who deleted a couuple of my alcohol related words and took pains to inform me

The credit goes to the reader and poster who responds. Without you, this would be the rambling soliloquy to satisfy a singular soul. In a mad, bolting and ever time-crunching time, taking time out to read BB's is a demanding job, going through all the posts needs big investment of motivated energy........ here I go rambling, what I want to say is... thank you guys for blowing life into this thread!!!

BB's are what the writer thinks is cool and trendy, an optical instrument; you will read it to the degree that you agree. I think whatever I wite is too much, the reader need to experience the experience; IMHO the understanding of snowing is good, getting a feeling of being snowed on is what the lines and photos should ideally invoke.

More ramblings would follow (if provoaked)......

------

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

More ramblings would follow (if provoaked)......

here is my provocation. in fact 300th post in this thread

can you please share more information on the preparations you did for the trip, the stuff you carried and a retrospective of if you would do the trip again what you would do different.

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

here is my provocation. in fact 300th post in this thread

can you please share more information on the preparations you did for the trip, the stuff you carried and a retrospective of if you would do the trip again what you would do different.

Wow.. 300th post...

Mmmmmmm..that's a prod and a big list, but I'd try, from the top of the mind...

Preparations:

1. Reading up on blogs, BB's and travalogues, been doing it for the past one year. Made my own PDF map, uploaded here in this thread somewhere. Was useful to mind-map the lay of the land, distances and timings and get an idea of the difficulties that can come up.
2. Got the Wolt fully prepared, new set of Yokos, change of all oils, usual check up of all bolts and full service. Got repaid, not even a hiccup on the whole journey except for starting trouble.
3. Bull guard to mount the Hellas, needed testing and adjustment, frustrating time spent here, burned fuses, wires and got it right at last.
4. New Ice, Amps and components etc., Prajesh and Jiggy were the musice-on-the-road guys, I love the engine song; but really enjoyed the change.
5. Family could not come, so searched for partners, filtered and filtered, started with a list of 8, narrowed down to 3, was lucky; got real team-thinking guys in Jiggy and Prajesh.
6. Bookings at hotels etc., just finalised 5 days before start.

Stuff we carried, have an excel somewhere, will load later, here goes.

1. Spapre fan belt, power steering belt, fan belt bearings (was worried about it), puncture kit, 1 ltr engine oil, 1 ltr coolant, all other engine fluids 500 ml each, havey duty wire guaze 1 aq mtr, wooden plans, shovel, tool kit with extra spanners and a monkey spanner, 12V air pump, 10 mtrs of nylon rope, 3-4 pieces of 2 sq mtr heavy duty taurpaulin type sheets with eye-lets, toe rope, sleeping bag.
2. Started working out 30 minutes daily, used to do it on and off but did that more religiously from May, I think it helped me to counter AMS quickly.
3. Lots of food including energy bars, dry fruits and stuff.
4. Medicines, have a long list, was very useful and the first-aid kit we made was handy to help a seriously fallen biker.

What would I do different, if I have a choice?

1. Would spend at least 20-25 days on the area between Srinagar and Manali, if wishes were cows.. I'd be owning Amul by now
2. Would choose Aug-Oct, roads and conditions would be better, specially to Padam.
3. Spend about 10 days on the road from Srinagar-Kargil-Padum.
4. If I can find some one or some way to take Wolt up to Srinagar and someone to drive it back from Manali and back, that would be ideal. The interesting part of the drive for me was from Srinagar to Manali, Ahmedabad-Delhi is a boring drive.
5. Take 4x4 into this terrain, fly in, acclamatize of 3-4 days, hire a Gypsy from Leh and try other routes which we could not do this time.
6. Fix a solar panel and somehow charge all batteries, carry more momory, take more photographs and videos. Use it for heating water, food and for light if need for camping out arises. Working on the project right now.....
7. Carry full tents / equipment and camp out, needs right-thinking partners for this and reduce the expenses on stay.
8. Take a BSNL post-paid connnection.
9. Carry a rain coat, just in case it starts snowing / raining heavily, you can get out and enjoy.

Well... that's the top of the mine, organized lists later....

======