[nanduchitnis]

The picture graphically show how tough the road conditions are for motoring.

Excellent narration, excellent road pics.

Super !

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by mdsaab

WOW! this is truly heaven on earth! outstanding pictures. Absolutely breathtaking views of the snow capped mountains, travel bugs have already started biting. the land slides look pretty dangerous. its really cool that they were cleared efficiently and quickly too.

Originally Posted by Ragul

Great narrative .. shared from the heart!

Some lovely pics there too! What camera and Lens?

--Ragul

Thank you mdsaab and ragul.

@ragul - I hope you are not pulling my leg. No major camera gear or lens, only a Canon 5 megapixel digital camera. The place itself is so beautiful even if you click blindly you would get great pictures.

Originally Posted by parsh

Thats one superb travelogue. We were ourselves contemplating going to Leh-Ladakh in Innova and how good/bad it would be. Reading your travelogue gives us quite an incite. The last time I had been to Rohtang pass was in mid-May when the road was not bad mostly with snow everywhere, but the pics here depict quite a different story. And ofcrouse Superb Pics

Thank you Parsh. We did the entire journey in Leh and surrounding places in Innova. There were no problems at all. But the skills required for driving on these roads are special.

Originally Posted by nanduchitnis

The picture graphically show how tough the road conditions are for motoring.

Excellent narration, excellent road pics.

Super !

Yes sir. That is the reason i am totally floored by the task you and maam had undertaken on a bike in 2007.

[amitwlele]

Continuing with the journey - Day 5 of the trip.

Quick recap - As mentioned in the last post we reached at our hotel in Deskit via Khardungla Pass in the afternoon on Day 5 . The evening plan was to visit the Sand Dunes and Siachen Hospital.

Below is the place where we stayed a Deskit. The man in the picture is the owner and ex-army man.





We started our journey again at 4 PM. The sand dunes are located between Deskit and Hunder village.

Stratight Road for a change



Two Hump Camels


Guys relaxing after taking some tourists for a ride



Yours truly on the camel at the extreme right. Check out the tense face in the snap. We were all lined up for the customary snap but the camel had different ideas and turned his neck and i skipped a heart beat.



Some snaps from the sand dunes







From the Sand Dunes our next stop was Siachen Hospital. As i have mentioned earlier in my posts the journey to Ladakh every year is accompanied with visits to different regiments. In Siachen hospital as well we celebrated Raksha Bandhan with the injured Jawans recuperating in the hospital.

During the interaction with the doctors stationed at the hospital got to know the real impact of High Altitude on our Jawans stationed at Siachen posts. It was scary and here we were worried about getting aclimatised to high altitudes before the start of our trip. I would not get into the details of it but would only say that we should be thankful to our Army for protecting us while stationed in these extreme terrains while we are comfortably seated in our homes.

Some snaps of the visit to Siachen Hospital







One night before the Full Moon Night.



From Siachen hospital we proceeded back to Deskit Village to spend the night. Next day we were going to return to Leh.

To be continued in the next post Day 6 journey from Nubra Valley to Leh.

[amitwlele]

Day 6 - Nubra Valley to Leh

After spending the night in Deskit we got ready to travel back to Leh in the morning. The route was the same via Khardungla Pass.

Some more snaps from Deskit







Saw some cyclists making their ascent to Khardungla pass. My salute to them







After reaching Leh we planned to visit Leh market and Shanti Stupa in the evening. Along with that we also decided to visit the rellief camps that were built for the people affected with the cloud burst. Our group made individual contributions and we bought food items. This was a very small contribution from our side to the flood affected people.

Some snaps from the relief camps. It was August and the winter was fast approaching. The rebuilding was going on at a war footing as it was not possible to stay in tents once the winter set in.











After that we visited Shanti Stupa. Just one snap as the others are exceeding the size limit of upload.



This completed our Day 6 of the journey. Next day was going to be very exciting. We were going to go to Pangong Lake to spend the night there under the Full Moon.

Day 7 at Pangong lake to be continued in next post.

[mdsaab]

Cycling in the sky! Truly commendable! And your'e absolutely right Hats off to them.
Your visit truly is from the heart, from rakshabandhan to providing help at relief camps. Hats off to you and everyone of the lakshya foundation and those who participated. Thoroughly enjoying your posts. Awaiting the next installement.

[nanduchitnis]

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Cycling in the sky! Truly commendable! And your'e absolutely right Hats off to them.
Your visit truly is from the heart, from rakshabandhan to providing help at relief camps. Hats off to you and everyone of the lakshya foundation and those who participated. Thoroughly enjoying your posts. Awaiting the next installement.

I second mdsaab. He just said what I wanted to post.

The pics tell the story as well as the narration is very informative.

Keep the wheels rolling!!

Rgds

Nandu

[amitwlele]

Day 7: Leh to Pangong Tso

This was going to be the highlight of our journey. We were going to stay at Pangong Lake on a Full Moon Night. We were hoping for the skies to be clear at the night. I think Leh in general and Pangong Lake in particular got lot of publicity because of the movie 3 Idiots.

We started from Leh at around 9 AM. Enroute we would go through the Changla Pass (Third Highest Motorable Pass in the world).

Below are some snaps of our journey from Leh to Pangong Lake.









We reached Changla Pass at around noon time.





Changla Baba Mandir



Beautiful Snowy Mountain view



Road condition leading to Pangong was not too bad with some rocky terrain encountered in between.















On the way we met an interesting animal. Marmot. These are from the squirrel family. Appeared to be quite friendly. Our driver in fact also feeded them.







First glimpse of the beautiful Pangong lake. I was getting desperate to reach the destination.



And as we moved forward the sight kept on getting beautiful as we were able to see the entire lake















The calmness of the lake and the silence at the surrounding is something which on should experience. I was left speechless by the beauty of the place.

We reached there in the afternoon and we had a full nights stay planned. Would continue the Pangong Lake story in the next post.

[parsh]

Waw, mesmerizing and it still continues in the spirited way up.

One thing that struck me in your Day 3 log of travel enroute Manali - Marhi - Rohtang Pass - Kelong - Baralacha Pass - Sarchu, the road does seem quite troubled. And I see quite a few Qualis making the road. It is probably due to their higher GC.

One thing I would ask you is if you spotted particularly Innovas doing that pass through the troubled route and how well were they doing, if you made any observations regarding this.

[nanduchitnis]

BREATHLESS WITH DESIRE !!

With else can I say?

Keep the wheels rolling boy. You are rocking in a different way friend !!

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by parsh

Waw, mesmerizing and it still continues in the spirited way up.

One thing that struck me in your Day 3 log of travel enroute Manali - Marhi - Rohtang Pass - Kelong - Baralacha Pass - Sarchu, the road does seem quite troubled. And I see quite a few Qualis making the road. It is probably due to their higher GC.

One thing I would ask you is if you spotted particularly Innovas doing that pass through the troubled route and how well were they doing, if you made any observations regarding this.

Good question Parsh. But if i recollect my memory i actually did not see any Innovas on that stretch. That stretch of road was really bad and as Milecruncher mentioned it is always that way during that time of the year because of traffic. But interesting point is i did see a couple of Indicas doing that stretch. I distinctly remember this because at that moment i had decided to get my Vista next year. But that idea was quickly shot down by folks at home.
But on a different note while going through T-BHP forums i have also read Swift and other low GC vehicles doing the route.

Originally Posted by nanduchitnis

BREATHLESS WITH DESIRE !!

With else can I say?

Keep the wheels rolling boy. You are rocking in a different way friend !!

Thank you Sir. As soon as i find time from drooling at your amazing snaps (this takes a lot of time) in the other thread i shift back to updating this thread.

[amitwlele]

Day 7 - Pangong lake continued

Quick Recap - We had reached pangong lake in the afternoon and the plan was to stay there for the night hoping to get a clear view of the Full Moon.

This was the second experience of tented accomodation after Sarchu. Every year normally at this time the place is not very very cold. But this year when we were there it was freezing accompanied with cold winds. This was not expected while making the plan for the night stay. But then we got used to it as night progressed.

Our accomodation at Pangong





Common dining area. It was getting very cold and folks were not ready to get out of the tent. So then it was decided to have a bonfire and enjoy under the open sky

After the bonfire was lit some lesser known skills of different people - dramatics, singing etc came to the fore and we had a jolly time.






We also got to know the hidden talents of our drivers. Couple of them were such good dancers that they would have easily given the reality dance show competitors a run for their money.





Unfortunately the sky was cloudy and the moon was kind of playing hide and seek. Was able to capture in couple of snaps but the result was not that great. Here i think BHPians with professional photography gear and skills could have made a difference.





We did not want the party to stop. But then next day morning we had to start our return journey to Leh. So everybody though tired reluctantly decided to call it a day and enjoy some sleep.

Day 8 - Pangong to Leh and visit to Hall of Fame Museum to be continued in next post.

[amitwlele]

Day 8: Pangong Lake to Leh and visit to Hall of Fame museum

After getting a good nights rest in the tent at Pangong we started our return journey back to Leh. THe route again was through Changla Pass.

At Changla Pass during the return trip met some Jawans from Maharashtra. It was good having quick chat with them. In fact they were also happy to talk in their mother tongue (Marathi) which normally does not happen. Its a general tendency of everybody to feel comfortable when we meet someone from our native land (for example when we are out of India in a new place we typically like to talk to some Indians once in a while) and that is what i guess happened during this meeting.

Some snaps at Changla Pass and the return leg







After reaching Leh our next plan was to visit the Hall of Fame Museum. This museum showcases the Ladakhi Culture as well as the Military Heritage. Ahead in the journey we were also going to visit the Kargil Memorial which also has a museum. But that is dedicated mainly to the Kargil war heroes.

At the entrance of the Museum





Information on Geography of Ladakh. I hope you guys are able to read it





Typical gear worn by the soldiers to protect themselves from the extreme climate





Snap showing the border with Pakistan and important points where the Kargil war was fought. Sorry for the flash on the image. The title says - "Here we Fought"



Some of the arms captured from Pak Army during operation Vijay







Snap below says it all about the dedication of the soldiers. I need not say anything more



Inspiring Words



Memorial in the museum for those who laid their lives for the nation





After the visit to the museum our hearts were filled with patriotism and our eyes moist after reading the tales of bravery and selflessness of the soldiers.

We spent the remaining part of the day in Leh getting ready for our return leg of the journey. We were going to follow the route Leh - Kargil - Srinagar.

Day 9 which chronicles the return journey to be covered in the next post.

[nanduchitnis]

The next time I go to Pangong Tso I am sure to stay here for at least 3 days juts for photoshoot.

I should have the pics up by tonight !

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by nanduchitnis

The next time I go to Pangong Tso I am sure to stay here for at least 3 days juts for photoshoot.

Yes Sir. Good Photography skills are absolutely required to capture the beauty of the place. Your snaps of the place would be way better than what i have been able to capture using a basic Canon Digital Camera and no photography skills

[Swanand Inamdar]

Amit, brilliant TLog. Kudos to your Mum in law for taking up such a great cause. To the entire Lakshya Foundation- Great job. This is a great cause you people have taken up.

The pics are great and the narration is actually very crispy. Great journey.
The museam is amazing. The snap which is dedicated to the Armed Forces literally brings goose bumps.

Now thats it! After reading all the logs to Leh, I am going there for sure.