Day 1 - Gained 2kgs in Rajdhani Express
27 June
Boy they feed you! The items keep coming and coming and never cease to stop. And impeccable quality too, for a train that is. The Mumbai-Delhi August Kranti Rajdhani Express is one of the premier trains in the country and it does live up to its reputation. No sooner than you board the train that you are served with a snack - samosas, cheese sandwich, barfi, a Jumpin and tea or coffee. The coffee hardly settles down in the tummy and immediately comes a soup, with a bread stick, for good measure. And then of course, the dinner with an amazing rasgulla for dessert. At that point, even the thought of the breakfast next morning would have given me a stomach ache. I was completely stuffed with food by the time I dozed off...
This was just the beginning of an adventure-filled vacation for all of us, away from the pressures and tension of work life and a much deserved break from projects and meetings and deadlines and targets. Vinay, Ali, Ritesh and myself - four of the "Tronix Tigers" embarked on this much awaited trip on a Saturday. We met at Borivili station in the evening and boarded the train - in the midst of a mini chaos at Borivili station. The train stopped in such a way that all of us had to run back a bit to get to our coach. We eventually managed to get in, only to find ourselves in the middle of what initially seemed to be an overcrowded compartment. We let the others in the compartment settle down before we ourselves cut loose - with the first of our numerous GD's on absolutely irrelevant topics. The most memorable discussion that evening was a plan to remake the iconic movie Sholay - only this time from the visibly upset servant, Ramlal's perspective. I cannot divulge any further details of the plot here for the simple reason that I do not want the Censor board asking us to shelve the project even before kick off!
Back on track (literally), first destination: New Delhi.
Boy they feed you! The items keep coming and coming and never cease to stop. And impeccable quality too, for a train that is. The Mumbai-Delhi August Kranti Rajdhani Express is one of the premier trains in the country and it does live up to its reputation. No sooner than you board the train that you are served with a snack - samosas, cheese sandwich, barfi, a Jumpin and tea or coffee. The coffee hardly settles down in the tummy and immediately comes a soup, with a bread stick, for good measure. And then of course, the dinner with an amazing rasgulla for dessert. At that point, even the thought of the breakfast next morning would have given me a stomach ache. I was completely stuffed with food by the time I dozed off...
This was just the beginning of an adventure-filled vacation for all of us, away from the pressures and tension of work life and a much deserved break from projects and meetings and deadlines and targets. Vinay, Ali, Ritesh and myself - four of the "Tronix Tigers" embarked on this much awaited trip on a Saturday. We met at Borivili station in the evening and boarded the train - in the midst of a mini chaos at Borivili station. The train stopped in such a way that all of us had to run back a bit to get to our coach. We eventually managed to get in, only to find ourselves in the middle of what initially seemed to be an overcrowded compartment. We let the others in the compartment settle down before we ourselves cut loose - with the first of our numerous GD's on absolutely irrelevant topics. The most memorable discussion that evening was a plan to remake the iconic movie Sholay - only this time from the visibly upset servant, Ramlal's perspective. I cannot divulge any further details of the plot here for the simple reason that I do not want the Censor board asking us to shelve the project even before kick off!
Back on track (literally), first destination: New Delhi.
Day 2 - DELHI IS HOT!
28 June
To say that New Delhi was incredibly hot would be a gross understatement. "You won't get cold water for a bath, we have only hot water!!" I had never heard that anywhere before! And it wasn't just lukewarm water, it was steaming hot running water without a heater.
We reached Hazrat Nizamuddin bang on time. We took a taxi to Abhishek's place in Vasant Kunj (pronounced Basnat Kunj by many). Abhishek - a colleague of Vinay - was the fifth guy in our quintet to Ladakh. After lunch and a quick nap, we arranged for two MERU Cabs from Vasant Kunj to Janpath - from where we had to board our Raj Travels bus to Manali. We reached the BPCL Petrol Pump at Janpath a good hour before our scheduled departure time. To everyones' surprise, the bus came on time and even left on time - at exactly 5:30. It was a semi-sleeper Volvo in reasonably good condition. It had a TV - but at the time when we left Delhi, only some shady songs were being played. Then it happened...
Vinay asked me to ask the cleaner if he could play some other songs. The cleaner browsed through his mediocre CD collection and played a movie VCD - "Ziddi" - starring Sunny Deol and Raveena Tandon. I must admit, I have seen some really horrible movies during my frequent Mumbai-Pune Volvo trips - but this movie beat all of them hands down. It was so bad that we actually marveled at the ingenuity of the miserable coincidence-ridden & senseless sequence of events (can't really call it a story line). We actually clapped when the movie ended!
We stopped about half an hour before Ambala for dinner at a place called Khatir Resort. Food was very good although a bit on the expensive side. It was quite a long break and it was almost 11 when we left.
The bus was only about half full. I occupied the front-most seat behind the driver to enjoy the road. And tried to sleep.
To say that New Delhi was incredibly hot would be a gross understatement. "You won't get cold water for a bath, we have only hot water!!" I had never heard that anywhere before! And it wasn't just lukewarm water, it was steaming hot running water without a heater.
We reached Hazrat Nizamuddin bang on time. We took a taxi to Abhishek's place in Vasant Kunj (pronounced Basnat Kunj by many). Abhishek - a colleague of Vinay - was the fifth guy in our quintet to Ladakh. After lunch and a quick nap, we arranged for two MERU Cabs from Vasant Kunj to Janpath - from where we had to board our Raj Travels bus to Manali. We reached the BPCL Petrol Pump at Janpath a good hour before our scheduled departure time. To everyones' surprise, the bus came on time and even left on time - at exactly 5:30. It was a semi-sleeper Volvo in reasonably good condition. It had a TV - but at the time when we left Delhi, only some shady songs were being played. Then it happened...
Vinay asked me to ask the cleaner if he could play some other songs. The cleaner browsed through his mediocre CD collection and played a movie VCD - "Ziddi" - starring Sunny Deol and Raveena Tandon. I must admit, I have seen some really horrible movies during my frequent Mumbai-Pune Volvo trips - but this movie beat all of them hands down. It was so bad that we actually marveled at the ingenuity of the miserable coincidence-ridden & senseless sequence of events (can't really call it a story line). We actually clapped when the movie ended!
We stopped about half an hour before Ambala for dinner at a place called Khatir Resort. Food was very good although a bit on the expensive side. It was quite a long break and it was almost 11 when we left.
The bus was only about half full. I occupied the front-most seat behind the driver to enjoy the road. And tried to sleep.
Day 3 - Falls-trek!
29 June
The first puncture of the trip happened at six in the morning. The bus stopped for tea at a small town before Kullu when the driver noticed the puncture. We reached Manali pretty much on time at around 9 AM. After Sunday's experience in Delhi, Manali was a great relief. It was extremely pleasant - maybe a bit on the chilly side. Me and Vinay went out on a search for a good hotel and finalized on a Hotel River View - which, looking from the bus stand, is located on the other side of the Beas River. Our rooms had a stunning view - over looking the south-bound Beas river and the snow-clad mountains in the distance. The river made such a huge gushing sound that it was difficult to hear each other from a distance.
We had our breakfast in our hotel room itself and then left for a trek to Vashist. Vashist is a place 3 kms from Manali and is known for its hot springs. Also near Vashist is the Jogini Falls.
Our trek to Vashist took nearly an hour - two thirds of the way was on a straight stretch of road and the rest was a climb. On reaching Vashist we didn't bother to check the hot springs. We had been there before so no one was really interested in getting suffocated with sulphur fumes again. So we continued further towards the falls. The falls were a further 30 minutes away, but none of the locals seemed to know exactly how long it would take to get there. After several stopovers and enquiries, we eventually reached the Jogini falls. And we were not disappointed. The falls were brilliant - a narrow waterfall splitting two huge mountains. We spent around an hour there and then returned.
Back in Manali, we met our driver to Leh for the next couple of days - Ramrana. We met him at a small garage near the bridge. He looked to be a very genuine person and we agreed 6 AM as the departure time the next day. He insisted that we should leave at 'foreigner wala 6:15' i.e. not the Indian Standard Time 6:15 - which according to him would have been 6:15 plus 1 or 2 hours :) We agreed - Foreigner wala 6:15.
We had dinner that evening at the Sher-e-Punjab at the Mall, where I had the best Dal Makhni of the trip. After dinner, we did some shopping for the trip. Biscuits, cakes, juices, bananas and most important of all - 20 liters of water! All set!
The first puncture of the trip happened at six in the morning. The bus stopped for tea at a small town before Kullu when the driver noticed the puncture. We reached Manali pretty much on time at around 9 AM. After Sunday's experience in Delhi, Manali was a great relief. It was extremely pleasant - maybe a bit on the chilly side. Me and Vinay went out on a search for a good hotel and finalized on a Hotel River View - which, looking from the bus stand, is located on the other side of the Beas River. Our rooms had a stunning view - over looking the south-bound Beas river and the snow-clad mountains in the distance. The river made such a huge gushing sound that it was difficult to hear each other from a distance.
We had our breakfast in our hotel room itself and then left for a trek to Vashist. Vashist is a place 3 kms from Manali and is known for its hot springs. Also near Vashist is the Jogini Falls.
Our trek to Vashist took nearly an hour - two thirds of the way was on a straight stretch of road and the rest was a climb. On reaching Vashist we didn't bother to check the hot springs. We had been there before so no one was really interested in getting suffocated with sulphur fumes again. So we continued further towards the falls. The falls were a further 30 minutes away, but none of the locals seemed to know exactly how long it would take to get there. After several stopovers and enquiries, we eventually reached the Jogini falls. And we were not disappointed. The falls were brilliant - a narrow waterfall splitting two huge mountains. We spent around an hour there and then returned.
Back in Manali, we met our driver to Leh for the next couple of days - Ramrana. We met him at a small garage near the bridge. He looked to be a very genuine person and we agreed 6 AM as the departure time the next day. He insisted that we should leave at 'foreigner wala 6:15' i.e. not the Indian Standard Time 6:15 - which according to him would have been 6:15 plus 1 or 2 hours :) We agreed - Foreigner wala 6:15.
We had dinner that evening at the Sher-e-Punjab at the Mall, where I had the best Dal Makhni of the trip. After dinner, we did some shopping for the trip. Biscuits, cakes, juices, bananas and most important of all - 20 liters of water! All set!
Day 4 - Part 1: Tunnel through Rohtang by 2012, Train to Leh by 2015!
30 June
adjective (noun) - [Grammar] a word used to describe or modify a noun, such as beautiful, magnificent, splendid, spectacular, awesome, stunning, magnanimous.
On the 474km Manali-Leh road route, at every other moment, I fell short of adjectives to describe the scene in front of my eyes. No matter what words I used, I knew that I will end up understating the fact that the scenery was beautiful beyond description. One word that I often used to describe any of the Great Himalayan Ranges is - Intimidating. Whenever I looked at those magnanimous mountains, I realized how insignificant I was in comparison! They are so huge and enormous that I always get a little intimidated by them. Its like telling me - Don't even think about scaling me! And I was and I will always be left in complete awe!
We delivered our promise to Ramrana and were ready at 6:15. We left Manali at 6:35 and our journey began.
Ramrana turned out to be a source of truckload of information. Of course, it was up to us whether to take his information at face value or not. Here are some excerpts:
1. A tunnel is being planned and built near the Solan Valley, which will pass underneath the Rohtang La and come straight out at Keylong. We even saw the mountain near Keylong (just the mountain, nothing else), where the tunnel from Solan Valley would come out. Project expected to finish in 2012.
2. The tunnel would have a railway track alongside the road (yes, you read it right, a freaking Railway track!!), linking Manali to Keylong. Project expected to finish in 2013.
3. A Railway line is also planned to Leh via Manali (now this was the limit!!). Project finish date is 2015.
Amazingly, he had all the project end dates up to date. People in the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of National Highways - kindly take note!
Ladakh Trip Rule #0: Have a Diamox tablet (for altitude sickness) in the morning before embarking on the trip. If you are in two minds, better to have the Diamox. If you are very confident of making it without medication, still, it is recommended that you have the Diamox. If you are Superman, still, why take chances, have the Diamox! This rule, however, does not apply to those who were stupid enough not to know the rule and went to Leh without the Diamox and luckily, made it without any trouble.
One of the important reasons to leave Manali very early is to avoid the heavy traffic that heads to Rohtang. A vast majority of them are tourists who go to Rohtang and not beyond. Hardly one in 50 vehicles would be headed for Leh. So despite of leaving at 6:15, our Qualis was amongst hundreds of other tourist vehicles on its way to Rohtang. And almost all of them stop at Marhi for breakfast. So did we.
Ladakh Trip Rule #1: Every single eatery, no matter how small, no matter what time of the day it is, must serve parathas!
When we left Marhi, we were stuck in a traffic jam some 15 kms before Rohtang. Rohtang had had heavy snowfall just ten days before and that had made much of the road extremely swampy.
Ladakh Trip Rule #2: You may find boulders, rocks, snow, ice, mud, standing water or flowing water in the middle of the road. Presence of tarmac is absolutely not necessary for a terrain to be classified as a road.
We stopped at Rohtang La for a little over half hour amongst hundreds of tourists - most of whom were dressed up like eskimos ready for skiing. It was cold at Rohtang La, but a hot cup of coffee did a good job in keeping us warm there. We started our descent from Rohtang and our next stop was at Koksar for Lunch. Koksar is actually quite an insignificant town where foreigners have to submit their documents to head further. Nothing for Indians. We had momos and siddus there at Koksar and continued ahead...
The road from Koksar travels along the banks of the Chandra river and passes several small towns before Keylong. Just before Keylong, there is a confluence of the Chandra and the Bhaga river - to become the Chenab river. Keylong lies in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh and happens to be the last point on the road to Leh with mobile connectivity. When the network briefly reappeared at Keylong, suddenly everyone was busy fiddling with their cell phones. As we passed by Keylong, Vinay and Abhishek gave their respective status updates.
Our next chai-stop came at Darcha - where Vinay had the infamous Maggi with Omelette - according to him, one of the turning points of the trip!
Ladakh Trip Rule #3: Irrespective of whether you are married of not, never ever miss an opportunity for a shaadi.com photograph.
More information from the Ramranapedia:
Day 9 - Ye kahan aa gaye hum?
Day 10 - The Curious Case of the Magnetic Hill
Day 12 - Wet Wet Wet!
adjective (noun) - [Grammar] a word used to describe or modify a noun, such as beautiful, magnificent, splendid, spectacular, awesome, stunning, magnanimous.
On the 474km Manali-Leh road route, at every other moment, I fell short of adjectives to describe the scene in front of my eyes. No matter what words I used, I knew that I will end up understating the fact that the scenery was beautiful beyond description. One word that I often used to describe any of the Great Himalayan Ranges is - Intimidating. Whenever I looked at those magnanimous mountains, I realized how insignificant I was in comparison! They are so huge and enormous that I always get a little intimidated by them. Its like telling me - Don't even think about scaling me! And I was and I will always be left in complete awe!
We delivered our promise to Ramrana and were ready at 6:15. We left Manali at 6:35 and our journey began.
Ramrana turned out to be a source of truckload of information. Of course, it was up to us whether to take his information at face value or not. Here are some excerpts:
1. A tunnel is being planned and built near the Solan Valley, which will pass underneath the Rohtang La and come straight out at Keylong. We even saw the mountain near Keylong (just the mountain, nothing else), where the tunnel from Solan Valley would come out. Project expected to finish in 2012.
2. The tunnel would have a railway track alongside the road (yes, you read it right, a freaking Railway track!!), linking Manali to Keylong. Project expected to finish in 2013.
3. A Railway line is also planned to Leh via Manali (now this was the limit!!). Project finish date is 2015.
Amazingly, he had all the project end dates up to date. People in the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of National Highways - kindly take note!
Ladakh Trip Rule #0: Have a Diamox tablet (for altitude sickness) in the morning before embarking on the trip. If you are in two minds, better to have the Diamox. If you are very confident of making it without medication, still, it is recommended that you have the Diamox. If you are Superman, still, why take chances, have the Diamox! This rule, however, does not apply to those who were stupid enough not to know the rule and went to Leh without the Diamox and luckily, made it without any trouble.
One of the important reasons to leave Manali very early is to avoid the heavy traffic that heads to Rohtang. A vast majority of them are tourists who go to Rohtang and not beyond. Hardly one in 50 vehicles would be headed for Leh. So despite of leaving at 6:15, our Qualis was amongst hundreds of other tourist vehicles on its way to Rohtang. And almost all of them stop at Marhi for breakfast. So did we.
Ladakh Trip Rule #1: Every single eatery, no matter how small, no matter what time of the day it is, must serve parathas!
When we left Marhi, we were stuck in a traffic jam some 15 kms before Rohtang. Rohtang had had heavy snowfall just ten days before and that had made much of the road extremely swampy.
Ladakh Trip Rule #2: You may find boulders, rocks, snow, ice, mud, standing water or flowing water in the middle of the road. Presence of tarmac is absolutely not necessary for a terrain to be classified as a road.
We stopped at Rohtang La for a little over half hour amongst hundreds of tourists - most of whom were dressed up like eskimos ready for skiing. It was cold at Rohtang La, but a hot cup of coffee did a good job in keeping us warm there. We started our descent from Rohtang and our next stop was at Koksar for Lunch. Koksar is actually quite an insignificant town where foreigners have to submit their documents to head further. Nothing for Indians. We had momos and siddus there at Koksar and continued ahead...
The road from Koksar travels along the banks of the Chandra river and passes several small towns before Keylong. Just before Keylong, there is a confluence of the Chandra and the Bhaga river - to become the Chenab river. Keylong lies in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh and happens to be the last point on the road to Leh with mobile connectivity. When the network briefly reappeared at Keylong, suddenly everyone was busy fiddling with their cell phones. As we passed by Keylong, Vinay and Abhishek gave their respective status updates.
Our next chai-stop came at Darcha - where Vinay had the infamous Maggi with Omelette - according to him, one of the turning points of the trip!
Ladakh Trip Rule #3: Irrespective of whether you are married of not, never ever miss an opportunity for a shaadi.com photograph.
More information from the Ramranapedia:
4. The town of Darcha was initially at a place about a kilometer before where it presently is. A massive landslide wiped out the entire town. One and only one lady survived and she rebuilt the whole village!
5. The pigeons that you see around (yes, there were pigeons en route) have been in the region for ages. They eat grains falling out of military trucks and also small pebbles! (Don't ask me what they ate a hundred years ago when the Indian army didn't send vehicles to feed the pigeons.)
The route from Darcha to Barlacha La was quite simply spectacular. Winding road with snow on both sides and low hanging clouds! On way to Barlacha La was the Suraj Tal lake. See image below. No further comments.
Barlacha La is one of the several important passes on the way to Leh. You may have some difficulty in memorizing the name Barlacha La, but once you get it, you'll actually start liking the name. When you get down there, you'll be in love with the place. And when you get down, at the height of 4892m and light snowfall and near zero degrees Celsius, it will probably be the first place where the altitude issues will start creeping in...Oops!
The route from Darcha to Barlacha La was quite simply spectacular. Winding road with snow on both sides and low hanging clouds! On way to Barlacha La was the Suraj Tal lake. See image below. No further comments.
Barlacha La is one of the several important passes on the way to Leh. You may have some difficulty in memorizing the name Barlacha La, but once you get it, you'll actually start liking the name. When you get down there, you'll be in love with the place. And when you get down, at the height of 4892m and light snowfall and near zero degrees Celsius, it will probably be the first place where the altitude issues will start creeping in...Oops!
Day 4 - Part 2: Oops!
30 June
Ladakh Trip Rule #4: Don't trust people who tell you that warm clothes are not needed for a summer trip to Ladakh!
One crucial piece of information that I had missed in my so-called research for the trip was how cold it gets in Sarchu - if you plan to spend a night there in tents that is. I had asked everyone to get one sweater or a pullover, woollen socks and ear caps without fail for the high-altitude passes. These, of course, were not of much use in Sarchu where the mercury slipped below zero!
As we left Barlacha La, Abhishek's headache had started, Ritesh had started feeling dizzy and for Vinay - well, it was a combination of 4892m plus the cold plus the Maggi with omelette. En route it started getting colder and colder and colder and by the time we reached Sarchu, it was almost freezing cold.
Ramrana suggested that we take the Antrek Camp in Sarchu. We reached there just before seven and after some negotiations, we finalized couple of tents with an attached toilet. The tents were nice and big enough for three people. The toilet had a commode which was a little shaky as it was placed over pebbles. Running water was available in the bathroom but it wasn't of much use as it was chilling cold. The tents were dark and we were informed that electricity (using generators, of course) will be available only for two hours - from eight to ten.
I didn't have any altitude problems, but the cold took me by surprise. As we "checked-in" to our tents, most of us headed straight for the bed and blankets. The chai there helped, but not for long. When dinner was served at eight, although hungry, I was quite reluctant to get out of the bed. But had to. After dinner, One life-saving thing the guy at the camp gave us was hot-water filled rubber bags. We put it under our blankets and it did a great job of keeping us warm.
Sleep was hard to come by at 4253m. It was after a really long time that I had to sleep in my jeans. I hardly slept for 2 hours and same was the case with Abhishek and Vinay. In the other tent, Ali and Ritesh, surprisingly had a good nights sleep.
Ladakh Trip Rule #5: India adopted the metric system in 1956. 1 meter = 3.281 feet. You do the math.
Trip Notes:
Ladakh Trip Rule #4: Don't trust people who tell you that warm clothes are not needed for a summer trip to Ladakh!
One crucial piece of information that I had missed in my so-called research for the trip was how cold it gets in Sarchu - if you plan to spend a night there in tents that is. I had asked everyone to get one sweater or a pullover, woollen socks and ear caps without fail for the high-altitude passes. These, of course, were not of much use in Sarchu where the mercury slipped below zero!
As we left Barlacha La, Abhishek's headache had started, Ritesh had started feeling dizzy and for Vinay - well, it was a combination of 4892m plus the cold plus the Maggi with omelette. En route it started getting colder and colder and colder and by the time we reached Sarchu, it was almost freezing cold.
Ramrana suggested that we take the Antrek Camp in Sarchu. We reached there just before seven and after some negotiations, we finalized couple of tents with an attached toilet. The tents were nice and big enough for three people. The toilet had a commode which was a little shaky as it was placed over pebbles. Running water was available in the bathroom but it wasn't of much use as it was chilling cold. The tents were dark and we were informed that electricity (using generators, of course) will be available only for two hours - from eight to ten.
I didn't have any altitude problems, but the cold took me by surprise. As we "checked-in" to our tents, most of us headed straight for the bed and blankets. The chai there helped, but not for long. When dinner was served at eight, although hungry, I was quite reluctant to get out of the bed. But had to. After dinner, One life-saving thing the guy at the camp gave us was hot-water filled rubber bags. We put it under our blankets and it did a great job of keeping us warm.
Sleep was hard to come by at 4253m. It was after a really long time that I had to sleep in my jeans. I hardly slept for 2 hours and same was the case with Abhishek and Vinay. In the other tent, Ali and Ritesh, surprisingly had a good nights sleep.
Ladakh Trip Rule #5: India adopted the metric system in 1956. 1 meter = 3.281 feet. You do the math.
Trip Notes:
0635: Left Manali 1926m
0810-0845: Breakfast at Marhi
0905: Stopped at traffic jam before Rohtang
1030-1105: Rohtang La 3995m
1215-1245: Lunch at Koksar 3140m
1415: Passed Keylong 3200m
1520-1550: Snack at Darcha 3400m
1745: Barlacha La 4892m
1855: Sarchu (Antrek Camp) 4253m
Accommodation in tents at Sarchu: Rs.3500/- for two tents (5 people)
Day 5 - "I don't think we should stop at Taglang La."
1 July
First day of a new summer month and it was bright at 5 am. We had our breakfast at the camp and left Sarchu at 6:15 am - foreigner wala time that is! Ali had a full breakfast. I had half a paratha. Ritesh asked for bread and he had that with his tea. Vinay didn't eat anything.
Ladakh Trip Rule #6: If you are still not convinced about the Diamox, refer Rule #0.
Things were looking pretty ominous on Day 2. Vinay looked as if he might fall unconscious any moment. The look on Riteshs' face said - I won't exert myself today by even talking! We passed a couple of bridges named the Brandy Bridge and the Whisky Bridge! Around half an hour after we left Sarchu we also crossed the HP-J&K border. We were now in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. We had barely traveled for two hours when Vinay threw up - on our ascent to Nakee La. The climb, needless to say, was treacherous. We decided that our stops at the high altitude passes will be very brief. Soon after passing Nakee La, we realized that our rear left tyre had gone flat. It is always quite a task to change tyres and the effort required is probably more than double when you are over 4000m above sea level. Ramrana, being from HP, pulled it off with considerable ease. It took us exactly ten minutes to replace the tyre and off we were!
We passed Lachlung La without stopping and were eagerly looking forward to reaching Pang - where we were scheduled to have an early lunch. Around 9km before Pang, the right front tyre went bust! Although Ramrana had two spare tyres at the beginning of the trip (one of which was already in use remember), he borrowed another tyre from another vehicle - we later came to know that both would again meet at Pang, get the tyre fixed and return it. The site of the second puncture was a unique one - with some inexplicable rock formations along the mountains. It was as if someone carved out gigantic rock monuments for attracting tourists. While Ramrana showed his tremendous tyre changing speed, myself, Ali and Abhishek pounced on the opportunity for some quick snaps. We eventually reached Pang at ten.
Pang, like Darcha, had nothing to offer other than some makeshift tents operating as dhabas. They were all run by locals - Ladakhis that is. Actually, it could have been Nepalis as well, I couldn't tell the difference! Ritesh choose to stay in the Qualis. Myself, Ali and Abhishek had an early lunch there. Vinay eventually came out of the Qualis to eat something. He had boiled egg-white, which, unfortunately, was immediately rejected by his digestive system as soon as we took off from Pang. And he went to sleep. Again.
Ladakh Trip Rule #7: What goes up not necessarily comes down! Not immediately, at least.
The Manali-Leh Highway never ceases to surprise its travelers. After leaving Pang, the road starts an up-mountain ascent again (using the term 'uphill' on this highway is an insult to the mountains.). Only this time, however, there was no descent back! We ended up on one of the highest plateaus of the world - which was actually a continuation of the Tibetian plateau. Believe it or not, the next 40-odd kilometers were on an absolutely flat piece of terrain. Road existed in parts and some amount of work was going on in adding the missing pieces of road. The flat stretch looked never-ending, but the Taglang La milestones kept on reminding us of the fact that there was still some climbing to be done.
Taglang La is one of its kind. With 13 kms to the pass, you could actually see the pass from way down there. When Ramrana showed us - there it is - our jaws literally dropped! As we started the climb, there was some kind of tension building up in the vehicle. Ritesh - who was still asleep, didn't look all too comfortable with the increasing altitude. And Vinay - his breathing sound slowly started to gather pace. With nearly a kilometer still to go, he was literally panting although he was still asleep. I was sitting in the middle with Vinay to my left and Ritesh to my right. I said a prayer or two. Well aware of the fact that it was a stupid idea to let go of an opportunity to take a snap alongside the Taglang La sign-board, I said, "I don't think we should stop at Taglang La." Looking at Vinay, Ali and Abhishek immediately agreed. We let the second highest motorable road in the world pass by and told Ramrana to get to a lower altitude as quickly as possible.
The stop at Rumtse was a relief. Being a kilometer lower in altitude certainly helped. Vinay finally woke up to have some food there. Even Ritesh looked better. That was the first time during the day that he spoke more than a few words. It felt good.
Although the road from Rumtse to Upshi to Leh is a 900m descent, it was very difficult to tell that. Ramrana informed us that it was a very deceptive slope. Also on that road, given that there are dark brown, light brown, cream and purple coloured mountains on either side, one hardly noticed the road! We stopped briefly at Upshi to pay toll, still some 50 kms to Leh.
The availability of mobile network, after a first-time-in-living-memory outage of nearly 25 hours, brought a smile and a sense of relief to everyones face. To the extent, that it actually brought a renewed energy in Vinay. He was all of a sudden buzzing with activity - sms'es back and forth, calls, status updates! I didn't get coverage as I was still living in the age of prepaid cell phone plans. But I hardly bothered - in fact, I was more than happy to be out-of-reach for a week or so - that was the whole point, wasn't it?
Just 5kms to Leh, we had our third puncture of the trip. Ramrana noticed it when he stopped at the Petrol Pump. As usual, just ten minutes and off we were. When we left the pump, we called Aunty (at whose guest house we were going to spend our next five days) and decided to meet her at the circle before Leh. She reached there in her Alto and we followed her to the Harmony Guest House. We were too tired that day - physically and mentally - to do anything else other than rest. We had dinner at auntys house (actually in her living room) and by ten, we were in deep sleep.
The Manali-Leh trip had just taken two days, but for all of us, it felt like we had been on the road for years together. The trip is a real endurance test - whether your backbone can survive the road (the lack of it, rather), whether your body-metabolism can take the low oxygen levels and, most important of all, whether your mind is tough enough to survive the ordeal.
Tour Notes:
First day of a new summer month and it was bright at 5 am. We had our breakfast at the camp and left Sarchu at 6:15 am - foreigner wala time that is! Ali had a full breakfast. I had half a paratha. Ritesh asked for bread and he had that with his tea. Vinay didn't eat anything.
Ladakh Trip Rule #6: If you are still not convinced about the Diamox, refer Rule #0.
Things were looking pretty ominous on Day 2. Vinay looked as if he might fall unconscious any moment. The look on Riteshs' face said - I won't exert myself today by even talking! We passed a couple of bridges named the Brandy Bridge and the Whisky Bridge! Around half an hour after we left Sarchu we also crossed the HP-J&K border. We were now in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. We had barely traveled for two hours when Vinay threw up - on our ascent to Nakee La. The climb, needless to say, was treacherous. We decided that our stops at the high altitude passes will be very brief. Soon after passing Nakee La, we realized that our rear left tyre had gone flat. It is always quite a task to change tyres and the effort required is probably more than double when you are over 4000m above sea level. Ramrana, being from HP, pulled it off with considerable ease. It took us exactly ten minutes to replace the tyre and off we were!
We passed Lachlung La without stopping and were eagerly looking forward to reaching Pang - where we were scheduled to have an early lunch. Around 9km before Pang, the right front tyre went bust! Although Ramrana had two spare tyres at the beginning of the trip (one of which was already in use remember), he borrowed another tyre from another vehicle - we later came to know that both would again meet at Pang, get the tyre fixed and return it. The site of the second puncture was a unique one - with some inexplicable rock formations along the mountains. It was as if someone carved out gigantic rock monuments for attracting tourists. While Ramrana showed his tremendous tyre changing speed, myself, Ali and Abhishek pounced on the opportunity for some quick snaps. We eventually reached Pang at ten.
Pang, like Darcha, had nothing to offer other than some makeshift tents operating as dhabas. They were all run by locals - Ladakhis that is. Actually, it could have been Nepalis as well, I couldn't tell the difference! Ritesh choose to stay in the Qualis. Myself, Ali and Abhishek had an early lunch there. Vinay eventually came out of the Qualis to eat something. He had boiled egg-white, which, unfortunately, was immediately rejected by his digestive system as soon as we took off from Pang. And he went to sleep. Again.
Ladakh Trip Rule #7: What goes up not necessarily comes down! Not immediately, at least.
The Manali-Leh Highway never ceases to surprise its travelers. After leaving Pang, the road starts an up-mountain ascent again (using the term 'uphill' on this highway is an insult to the mountains.). Only this time, however, there was no descent back! We ended up on one of the highest plateaus of the world - which was actually a continuation of the Tibetian plateau. Believe it or not, the next 40-odd kilometers were on an absolutely flat piece of terrain. Road existed in parts and some amount of work was going on in adding the missing pieces of road. The flat stretch looked never-ending, but the Taglang La milestones kept on reminding us of the fact that there was still some climbing to be done.
Taglang La is one of its kind. With 13 kms to the pass, you could actually see the pass from way down there. When Ramrana showed us - there it is - our jaws literally dropped! As we started the climb, there was some kind of tension building up in the vehicle. Ritesh - who was still asleep, didn't look all too comfortable with the increasing altitude. And Vinay - his breathing sound slowly started to gather pace. With nearly a kilometer still to go, he was literally panting although he was still asleep. I was sitting in the middle with Vinay to my left and Ritesh to my right. I said a prayer or two. Well aware of the fact that it was a stupid idea to let go of an opportunity to take a snap alongside the Taglang La sign-board, I said, "I don't think we should stop at Taglang La." Looking at Vinay, Ali and Abhishek immediately agreed. We let the second highest motorable road in the world pass by and told Ramrana to get to a lower altitude as quickly as possible.
The stop at Rumtse was a relief. Being a kilometer lower in altitude certainly helped. Vinay finally woke up to have some food there. Even Ritesh looked better. That was the first time during the day that he spoke more than a few words. It felt good.
Although the road from Rumtse to Upshi to Leh is a 900m descent, it was very difficult to tell that. Ramrana informed us that it was a very deceptive slope. Also on that road, given that there are dark brown, light brown, cream and purple coloured mountains on either side, one hardly noticed the road! We stopped briefly at Upshi to pay toll, still some 50 kms to Leh.
The availability of mobile network, after a first-time-in-living-memory outage of nearly 25 hours, brought a smile and a sense of relief to everyones face. To the extent, that it actually brought a renewed energy in Vinay. He was all of a sudden buzzing with activity - sms'es back and forth, calls, status updates! I didn't get coverage as I was still living in the age of prepaid cell phone plans. But I hardly bothered - in fact, I was more than happy to be out-of-reach for a week or so - that was the whole point, wasn't it?
Just 5kms to Leh, we had our third puncture of the trip. Ramrana noticed it when he stopped at the Petrol Pump. As usual, just ten minutes and off we were. When we left the pump, we called Aunty (at whose guest house we were going to spend our next five days) and decided to meet her at the circle before Leh. She reached there in her Alto and we followed her to the Harmony Guest House. We were too tired that day - physically and mentally - to do anything else other than rest. We had dinner at auntys house (actually in her living room) and by ten, we were in deep sleep.
The Manali-Leh trip had just taken two days, but for all of us, it felt like we had been on the road for years together. The trip is a real endurance test - whether your backbone can survive the road (the lack of it, rather), whether your body-metabolism can take the low oxygen levels and, most important of all, whether your mind is tough enough to survive the ordeal.
Tour Notes:
0615: Left Sarchu
0810: Nakee La 4800m
0850: Passed Lachlung La 5065m
1000-1050: Lunch at Pang 4630m
1300: Passed Taglang La 5260m
1350-1420: Chai at Rumtse 4268m
1500: Upshi 3500m
1615: Leh 3520m
Cost of a 2-day trip from Manali to Leh by Qualis with stopover at Sarchu: Rs.15000/-
Day 6 - Trek @ 3520m. above sea level
2 July
The Harmony Guest House in Leh was a two-storeyed house with the first and second floors having hotel-like rooms. The second floor, where we stayed, had three rooms in all. We occupied two of those. The room in which Ali, Ritesh and Abhishek camped had a fantastic view of the snow clad mountain ranges to the south-west. None of the rooms had TV. The ground floor was auntys house. Auntys living room, where we had dinner the previous night was very cosy with four small cots acting as sofas. And the cots had some very expensive carpets on them! Outside of the house was a small garden with a variety of flowers. And on either side of the compound were other very similar looking guest houses. The guest house was located off the Fort Road and was a good 20 minute walk from the market. I never managed to figure out who all lived in the house, but one certain member of the guest house was Vishnu. Vishnu, who worked at the Guest House, walked and talked with great enthusiasm. He was from Nepal and had spent a lot of time in Goa before ending up in Leh. "Goa to swarg hai", he once said and made no effort in hiding the fact that working at the guest house sucked big time!
Vinay woke up that morning with a headache and fever, ruling himself out of any excursions. One important task for us for the day was to apply for the Inner Line Permits with an agent. Aunty accompanied us to a "Snow Top Adventure", where I filled a form and handed it over. And we headed for the Leh Palace.
Ladakh Trip Rule #8: When in Ladakh, take it slow and easy!
We strolled through the market road, walked past the ever-crowded SBI ATM and reached the mosque, from where, the way to the Palace consisted of narrow alleys. We walked through what felt like one of those typical shortcuts in Mumbai. The slope to the Palace was not that steep, but at 3500+ meters above sea level, even the modest of climbs can stress you out within minutes. The simple trick was to stop and rest after every ten-fifteen feet of climbing. Take it easy, relax, have a sip of water, enjoy the view as you move higher and higher, take a couple of snaps and again continue. We reached the Palace pretty soon and took our own sweet time to explore each of the Palace rooms and open terraces. The panoramic view of the Leh town was quite a sight. From the top of the Palace, we also observed a trek going towards the Leh Fort (or the Castle). And we decided to take that too! Although it seemed insurmountable at first, we reached the top in less than half hour. I knew that the Castle had a huge statue of Buddha, but the room was locked and we had to be satisfied with only an even higher & spectacular view of the valley.
We came back to the Market Road and had our lunch at La Terrassa!
Ladakh Trip Rule #9: If the sun burns your skin, if you run out of breath too soon and the restaurant servers Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Israeli and Indian food, you must be in Leh!
As we were headed back to the hotel, we were reminded of buying a homeopathy medicine for Vinay. Hunt for a medical shop brought us back to the market. We essentially did a complete circle of the market area. We first walked straight past the J&K bank then took left at the main market road. We found a medical shop there, but didn't find what we wanted. We took another left to reach the road which has the SBI ATM and finally another left through the narrow down-sloping road. A right from the taxi stand junction brought us back on the Fort Road and towards our guest house.
On the Fort road, on the right is Gesmo - an extremely cosy restaurant with a bakery attached to it. They had mouth-watering freshly baked items and an excellent coffee and chai! We had coffee there before heading back to he guest house.
Back at the Harmony Guest House, Vinay's condition had improved, but he wasn't fully ready yet for any trip. He needed another days' rest. We had dinner at auntys house that night too.
Conversation with aunty was always interesting. Add Vishnu to it and you could spend the next five days laughing about the smallest of anecdotes. That night, during dinner, when aunty was telling us that fishing is not allowed in the Indus river but some Nepalis still did fish there, Vishnu immediately queried, "Machli pakda to jail mein dalega?". LoL!
The Harmony Guest House in Leh was a two-storeyed house with the first and second floors having hotel-like rooms. The second floor, where we stayed, had three rooms in all. We occupied two of those. The room in which Ali, Ritesh and Abhishek camped had a fantastic view of the snow clad mountain ranges to the south-west. None of the rooms had TV. The ground floor was auntys house. Auntys living room, where we had dinner the previous night was very cosy with four small cots acting as sofas. And the cots had some very expensive carpets on them! Outside of the house was a small garden with a variety of flowers. And on either side of the compound were other very similar looking guest houses. The guest house was located off the Fort Road and was a good 20 minute walk from the market. I never managed to figure out who all lived in the house, but one certain member of the guest house was Vishnu. Vishnu, who worked at the Guest House, walked and talked with great enthusiasm. He was from Nepal and had spent a lot of time in Goa before ending up in Leh. "Goa to swarg hai", he once said and made no effort in hiding the fact that working at the guest house sucked big time!
Vinay woke up that morning with a headache and fever, ruling himself out of any excursions. One important task for us for the day was to apply for the Inner Line Permits with an agent. Aunty accompanied us to a "Snow Top Adventure", where I filled a form and handed it over. And we headed for the Leh Palace.
Ladakh Trip Rule #8: When in Ladakh, take it slow and easy!
We strolled through the market road, walked past the ever-crowded SBI ATM and reached the mosque, from where, the way to the Palace consisted of narrow alleys. We walked through what felt like one of those typical shortcuts in Mumbai. The slope to the Palace was not that steep, but at 3500+ meters above sea level, even the modest of climbs can stress you out within minutes. The simple trick was to stop and rest after every ten-fifteen feet of climbing. Take it easy, relax, have a sip of water, enjoy the view as you move higher and higher, take a couple of snaps and again continue. We reached the Palace pretty soon and took our own sweet time to explore each of the Palace rooms and open terraces. The panoramic view of the Leh town was quite a sight. From the top of the Palace, we also observed a trek going towards the Leh Fort (or the Castle). And we decided to take that too! Although it seemed insurmountable at first, we reached the top in less than half hour. I knew that the Castle had a huge statue of Buddha, but the room was locked and we had to be satisfied with only an even higher & spectacular view of the valley.
We came back to the Market Road and had our lunch at La Terrassa!
Ladakh Trip Rule #9: If the sun burns your skin, if you run out of breath too soon and the restaurant servers Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Israeli and Indian food, you must be in Leh!
As we were headed back to the hotel, we were reminded of buying a homeopathy medicine for Vinay. Hunt for a medical shop brought us back to the market. We essentially did a complete circle of the market area. We first walked straight past the J&K bank then took left at the main market road. We found a medical shop there, but didn't find what we wanted. We took another left to reach the road which has the SBI ATM and finally another left through the narrow down-sloping road. A right from the taxi stand junction brought us back on the Fort Road and towards our guest house.
On the Fort road, on the right is Gesmo - an extremely cosy restaurant with a bakery attached to it. They had mouth-watering freshly baked items and an excellent coffee and chai! We had coffee there before heading back to he guest house.
Back at the Harmony Guest House, Vinay's condition had improved, but he wasn't fully ready yet for any trip. He needed another days' rest. We had dinner at auntys house that night too.
Conversation with aunty was always interesting. Add Vishnu to it and you could spend the next five days laughing about the smallest of anecdotes. That night, during dinner, when aunty was telling us that fishing is not allowed in the Indus river but some Nepalis still did fish there, Vishnu immediately queried, "Machli pakda to jail mein dalega?". LoL!
Day 7 - Jhinga-la-la-hoom Jhinga-la-la-hoom Bhuur Bhuur!
3 July
Vinay was recovering, but he needed another day to be fully fit. But he agreed to come with us to Gesmo for breakfast. We left at around 9:30 and had one of the most exotic breakfasts ever at Gesmo - Croissants with honey and butter, omelettes, toast, pancakes, fries with tea and coffee! Vinay went back to the Guest House and we went towards the taxi stand. The plan was to head to the monasteries - Hemis, Thiksey, Shey and Stok.
We hired and Omni were off. To go to Hemis, we had to go back on the Leh-Manali highway almost till Upshi. Before Upshi, we took a right for Hemis. We could see the winding road ahead, but there was no sign of a monastery. The Hemis monastery is hidden behind a smaller mountain. The taxi-driver dropped us near the taxi stand and we had to walk up. The monastery was one of the biggest in the region and since it was festival time in Hemis, the annual Hemis festival, the place was buzzing with activity. Hundreds of tourists, a vast majority of them foreigners, had assembled surrounding a quadrangle. The stage was set for a dance programme and eager eyes awaited the dancers with great excitement and expensive cameras. We decided to check out the place first - we visited the shrine of the deity there and roamed around the place. We even visited the museum at Hemis, full of ancient artifacts used by the royal families of the Ladakh Region. We came out of the museum just in time for the dance.
The dance began with a solo performance. The other dancers joined in later and performed a sequence of well-practiced steps. Reminded me of a song from the movie Shalimaar! We saw one dance performance, got bored, and left.
The Thiksey monastery is on the way back to Leh. When we reached Thiksey, there were only around a dozen people there. Even the monks seemed to have disappeared (maybe they all were at Hemis). The top of the Thiksey monastery offers a spectacular view of the valley - mountains on both sides, the Indus river flowing north-bound in between and a green oasis to the right of the river. The road to Leh acted like a border to the oasis as to the right of the road were dry barren rocks. We met an American couple at Thiksey. They were from Vermont and were retired school teachers. They were in India learning yoga at Leh and were also doing some teaching here (not sure what). And they were doing this for few months now!
As we left Thiksey, we were already getting bored of the monasteries. We decided to give Shey a skip and headed straight to Stok. When we reached Stok, the place was absolutely deserted. There was no sign of any human being at Stok. Just as we were about to return, we spotted a couple of foreigners with a tour guide. The guide showed them the way in and we followed. Stok is not a monastery and in its hay days it was a palace. The palace is now converted to a museum. We paid a fifty rupee entry fee to the museum and later regretted the decision. Post-purchase dissonance - as Ali put it. (No one else had ever heard that term before. Not even the other literate guys with a "PGD-whatever alphabets you wish"!)
It was already 5:30 in the evening when we returned to Leh. We asked Vinay to come to the market and we met him there. We then went to the Leh Cafe - easily one of the worst restaurants of the trip. By that time, I was feeling very tired and my legs were aching bad. It was probably the previous days' trek to the Castle and the multiple monastery trip of the day. I left the others at Leh Cafe and went back to the Guest House. I had dinner at auntys place. The others did shopping that night, had dinner at La Terrassa and came back. That night, we also finalized a Innova for the next three days. By then, aunty had also obtained copies of the Inner Line Permits from the agent.
Vinay was recovering, but he needed another day to be fully fit. But he agreed to come with us to Gesmo for breakfast. We left at around 9:30 and had one of the most exotic breakfasts ever at Gesmo - Croissants with honey and butter, omelettes, toast, pancakes, fries with tea and coffee! Vinay went back to the Guest House and we went towards the taxi stand. The plan was to head to the monasteries - Hemis, Thiksey, Shey and Stok.
We hired and Omni were off. To go to Hemis, we had to go back on the Leh-Manali highway almost till Upshi. Before Upshi, we took a right for Hemis. We could see the winding road ahead, but there was no sign of a monastery. The Hemis monastery is hidden behind a smaller mountain. The taxi-driver dropped us near the taxi stand and we had to walk up. The monastery was one of the biggest in the region and since it was festival time in Hemis, the annual Hemis festival, the place was buzzing with activity. Hundreds of tourists, a vast majority of them foreigners, had assembled surrounding a quadrangle. The stage was set for a dance programme and eager eyes awaited the dancers with great excitement and expensive cameras. We decided to check out the place first - we visited the shrine of the deity there and roamed around the place. We even visited the museum at Hemis, full of ancient artifacts used by the royal families of the Ladakh Region. We came out of the museum just in time for the dance.
The dance began with a solo performance. The other dancers joined in later and performed a sequence of well-practiced steps. Reminded me of a song from the movie Shalimaar! We saw one dance performance, got bored, and left.
The Thiksey monastery is on the way back to Leh. When we reached Thiksey, there were only around a dozen people there. Even the monks seemed to have disappeared (maybe they all were at Hemis). The top of the Thiksey monastery offers a spectacular view of the valley - mountains on both sides, the Indus river flowing north-bound in between and a green oasis to the right of the river. The road to Leh acted like a border to the oasis as to the right of the road were dry barren rocks. We met an American couple at Thiksey. They were from Vermont and were retired school teachers. They were in India learning yoga at Leh and were also doing some teaching here (not sure what). And they were doing this for few months now!
As we left Thiksey, we were already getting bored of the monasteries. We decided to give Shey a skip and headed straight to Stok. When we reached Stok, the place was absolutely deserted. There was no sign of any human being at Stok. Just as we were about to return, we spotted a couple of foreigners with a tour guide. The guide showed them the way in and we followed. Stok is not a monastery and in its hay days it was a palace. The palace is now converted to a museum. We paid a fifty rupee entry fee to the museum and later regretted the decision. Post-purchase dissonance - as Ali put it. (No one else had ever heard that term before. Not even the other literate guys with a "PGD-whatever alphabets you wish"!)
It was already 5:30 in the evening when we returned to Leh. We asked Vinay to come to the market and we met him there. We then went to the Leh Cafe - easily one of the worst restaurants of the trip. By that time, I was feeling very tired and my legs were aching bad. It was probably the previous days' trek to the Castle and the multiple monastery trip of the day. I left the others at Leh Cafe and went back to the Guest House. I had dinner at auntys place. The others did shopping that night, had dinner at La Terrassa and came back. That night, we also finalized a Innova for the next three days. By then, aunty had also obtained copies of the Inner Line Permits from the agent.
Day 8 - Stunning as ever
4 July
It was bright at 5 in the morning. As Leh is to India's extreme north and as we were bang in the middle of summer, days were really long in Leh and it used to get dark only after 8 PM. However, even during summer, the chilly evening and morning winds could knock you off. If you had to step out at early in the morning or in the evening, you had to make sure that your ears are well covered. We had to leave for Nubra at 6am.
We were all up and ready on time. Vinay was ready too, pumped up with his new windproof jacket. He was finally going somewhere. Nimas, our Innova driver for the next few days, was there even before six. He saw our copies of the Inner Line permits and declared that the originals were needed for Nubra, photocopies wouldn't do! We checked with aunty and she had not collected the originals from the travel agent. We tried to contact the travel agent at 6 in the morning but couldn't reach him. We thought about it for a while and decided to go to Pangong instead - photocopies would do for Pangong :)
To reach Pangong, we took the Leh-Manali highway till Karu (40 kms from Leh), from where we had to take the road on the left to go towards Pangong. We stopped at Karu for a quick breakfast - bread and chai! At Karu, we saw another group headed towards Pangong - a typical Maharashtrian family which included a couple of kids! We called them the "Barr Group" (Mumbaikars and Punekars, you should get the pronunciation right:) Till the time we reached Pangong, we were tracing their progress vis-a-vis ours.
Chang La is at a height of 5475m and happens to be the 3rd highest motorable road in the world. Since we had not stopped at Taglang La, Chang La would be the highest point of the trip so far where we would step foot. High it was, and to add to the problems, the route to Chang La was covered with thick snow on both sides of the road. The snow looked very fresh. We reached Chang La just before nine and we literally stepped onto an inch of snow. It was freezing cold. At some places on the pass, the snow had become ice and walking on it was a risky affair. We took snaps at the Chang La board, had black tea at the military post there and left. On the way, we spotted a few Himalayan Marmots coolly enjoying themselves on the road side. Wikipedia later informed me that they belong to the squirrel family.
En route to Pangong, we had to submit photocopies at three different check posts. The permits are for both security and safety reasons. They contain each individuals name (with fathers name) and certifies that the people listed in it are permitted to visit the restricted areas of Pangong and Nubra. It is stamped and signed by the Police Superintendent of Leh and is valid for seven days from the date of issue. Although the permit says that it is issued free of cost, the agent usually charges a small fee for his services. We had paid 150 per head for them - quite a margin!
They say a picture conveys a thousand words. Here it is, The Pangong Lake:
Ladakh Trip Rule #10: A lake with crystal clear water can be very tempting. Don't venture into it!
Ladakh Trip Rule #11: A lake with crystal clear water can be very tempting. Don't miss the chance!
I made sure that I collected some souvenirs from the lake. We had lunch there at Pangong at one of the temporary dhabas. And for the first and only time on the trip, I dozed off during a day travel, albeit for only an hour! Now that we were back at full strength our discussions during the return leg went from Hollywood movies to Oscar-winning actors to Maruti Suzuki's failed models to sales patterns of servers to operations in a paint company!
Back in Leh, at the Harmony Guest house, taking a shower had to be a well planned activity. In the mornings, hot water was available only after 6. When we returned from a trip, we informed Vishnu to start the boiler. Then we had to wait for an hour for the hot water. Also, we had to make sure that we finished our chore before the water again became cold!
Leh has several temporary markets that are set up by Tibetians and are popularly called the Tibetians markets. That evening Vinay and Abhishek we did shopping at one of the Tibetian markets. We had dinner at the Hotel Leh View and I had the second best Dal Makhni of the trip!
Tour Notes:
It was bright at 5 in the morning. As Leh is to India's extreme north and as we were bang in the middle of summer, days were really long in Leh and it used to get dark only after 8 PM. However, even during summer, the chilly evening and morning winds could knock you off. If you had to step out at early in the morning or in the evening, you had to make sure that your ears are well covered. We had to leave for Nubra at 6am.
We were all up and ready on time. Vinay was ready too, pumped up with his new windproof jacket. He was finally going somewhere. Nimas, our Innova driver for the next few days, was there even before six. He saw our copies of the Inner Line permits and declared that the originals were needed for Nubra, photocopies wouldn't do! We checked with aunty and she had not collected the originals from the travel agent. We tried to contact the travel agent at 6 in the morning but couldn't reach him. We thought about it for a while and decided to go to Pangong instead - photocopies would do for Pangong :)
To reach Pangong, we took the Leh-Manali highway till Karu (40 kms from Leh), from where we had to take the road on the left to go towards Pangong. We stopped at Karu for a quick breakfast - bread and chai! At Karu, we saw another group headed towards Pangong - a typical Maharashtrian family which included a couple of kids! We called them the "Barr Group" (Mumbaikars and Punekars, you should get the pronunciation right:) Till the time we reached Pangong, we were tracing their progress vis-a-vis ours.
Chang La is at a height of 5475m and happens to be the 3rd highest motorable road in the world. Since we had not stopped at Taglang La, Chang La would be the highest point of the trip so far where we would step foot. High it was, and to add to the problems, the route to Chang La was covered with thick snow on both sides of the road. The snow looked very fresh. We reached Chang La just before nine and we literally stepped onto an inch of snow. It was freezing cold. At some places on the pass, the snow had become ice and walking on it was a risky affair. We took snaps at the Chang La board, had black tea at the military post there and left. On the way, we spotted a few Himalayan Marmots coolly enjoying themselves on the road side. Wikipedia later informed me that they belong to the squirrel family.
En route to Pangong, we had to submit photocopies at three different check posts. The permits are for both security and safety reasons. They contain each individuals name (with fathers name) and certifies that the people listed in it are permitted to visit the restricted areas of Pangong and Nubra. It is stamped and signed by the Police Superintendent of Leh and is valid for seven days from the date of issue. Although the permit says that it is issued free of cost, the agent usually charges a small fee for his services. We had paid 150 per head for them - quite a margin!
They say a picture conveys a thousand words. Here it is, The Pangong Lake:
Ladakh Trip Rule #10: A lake with crystal clear water can be very tempting. Don't venture into it!
Ladakh Trip Rule #11: A lake with crystal clear water can be very tempting. Don't miss the chance!
I made sure that I collected some souvenirs from the lake. We had lunch there at Pangong at one of the temporary dhabas. And for the first and only time on the trip, I dozed off during a day travel, albeit for only an hour! Now that we were back at full strength our discussions during the return leg went from Hollywood movies to Oscar-winning actors to Maruti Suzuki's failed models to sales patterns of servers to operations in a paint company!
Back in Leh, at the Harmony Guest house, taking a shower had to be a well planned activity. In the mornings, hot water was available only after 6. When we returned from a trip, we informed Vishnu to start the boiler. Then we had to wait for an hour for the hot water. Also, we had to make sure that we finished our chore before the water again became cold!
Leh has several temporary markets that are set up by Tibetians and are popularly called the Tibetians markets. That evening Vinay and Abhishek we did shopping at one of the Tibetian markets. We had dinner at the Hotel Leh View and I had the second best Dal Makhni of the trip!
Tour Notes:
0630: Left Leh by Innova
0715: Breakfast at Karu
0850: Chang La 5475m
1130-1245: At Pangong 4420m
1700: Leh
Cost of single day trip to Pangong by Innova: Rs.5160/-
Day 9 - Ye kahan aa gaye hum?
5 July
Ladakh Trip Rule #12: On a road trip, if you see or experience snow, ice, chilling wind, altitude sickness, hot burning sun, sand dunes, camels and monasteries - all inside of three hours, you MUST be in Ladakh!
With the original Inner Line Permit obtained from aunty the previous evening, we were all set for the Nubra Valley. Just like the previous day, we left our guest house by 6:15 am.
The Innova is an extremely comfortable vehicle. For most of the three days in the Innova, I took the last row seat and it was only marginally bumpier than the middle row seat - which was occupied by Ritesh, Abhishek and Ali. I had no problems with the last row as I had a window seat for almost the entire journey. And it was remarkably cosy, even for the scary heights and non-existent roads heading towards the mighty Khardung La. At a height of 5578m above sea level, it is THE highest motorable road in the world. To put things into perspective, it is the Malad to Borivili distance - only difference being that the distance here is measured skywards. Almost as high as the Everest base camp, 3.3 kms higher and you would be at the summit itself! When compared with Leh, the Khardung La is a further 2kms higher! When we saw the mountains from Leh, we never imagined that they were actually more than 2kms higher! Phew!
If you don't feel the altitude at Khardung La, then you probably belong to a different planet. It was below zero - it had certainly snowed there at night, it was windy and every step that I took at the Khardung La was a major accomplishment in itself. There were hardly any tourists there - maybe we were a tad too early. I somehow managed to walk towards the signboard - which proudly proclaimed the fact that it was indeed the highest road in the world. After taking the mandatory snaps there, I sneaked back into the warmth of the Innova. Few more minutes outside, and I might have been down & out. I knew my limitations and my body was being stretched to its limit - shivering with cold and running out of breath. Of course, no one else knew that! Once inside, I was back to normal soon. Thankfully.
Khardung La was the first stop en route to the Nubra Valley. We then passed North Pullu and Khardung village. For breakfast, we stopped at Khalsar. We had parathas (what else?) at one of the joints. As we were having tea, Vinay invited some of the stray dogs there by virtue of opening a pack of biscuits. The dogs caused quite a ruckus there and were eventually driven out by the store owner after Ali spilled tea all over his hand in the chaos. LOL!
The Nubra valley starts from Deskit - which looked like an important town in that part of the world. The Deskit monastery, we were told, is one of the newer monasteries in the region. Bang opposite the monastery was a construction site where a ten-storey statue of Buddha was under construction. From the place where we parked our vehicle, it was a steep climb up to reach the monastery. We spent around an hour there and left.
After Deskit, the road forks into two. The right one goes towards Panamik - the place with the hot water springs. The road on the left goes to Hundar, which is home to the regions Bactrian Camels and sand dunes. The Nubra Valley is nearly 70 kms long with mountains on both sides bordering the north bound river. The valley is easily 4-5 kms wide. On the way to Hundar, as the road tugs itself to the base of the mountain on the left, out of nowhere, sand dunes appear on the right! The sand is off-white and the dunes, although not as high as the ones in Rajasthan, looked very elegant.
We reached Hundar just after noon. The main purpose of going to Hundar was to take a ride on the Bactrian Camels. Rs.150/- per head for a ride of fifteen minutes. When we finished our camel-ride, we all felt that fifteen minutes were more than sufficient time on the back of a camel. The ride was quite nauseating and back-breaking! After the camel ride, we decided to check out the sand dunes on foot. It was a weird feeling to climb up the slippery sand - for every three steps that I took to climb up, I sunk nearly two steps into the sand! It was quite an effort to reach the top. We had our afternoon meal at Cafe125 which proudly claimed that it served Dosas! We left Hundar shortly after 2 PM. During our return trip, we did not stop at the Khardung La, but we did stop near an interesting rock which was titled "The Khardung Frog!". The rock looked somewhat like a frog and it was painted in bright yellow with green spots. Nice spot for a few snaps.
That evening we decided to check out a different restaurant for dinner. We walked into a hotel (can't remember the name now) which didn't have even one empty table. The manager told us that we would have to wait for five minutes. We agreed and spent the next few minutes there watching the Federer v. Roddick Wimbledon Final. When I first saw the TV there, I told myself that this was a vacation in every sense of the word - no routine stuff. There was no way that I would have missed the Wimbledon Final back home. After waiting for several minutes, the manager there informed us that we may leave if we wanted to as he cannot ask any of his guests to vacate the table even if they have settled the bill. "Screw you and your hotel", we left and had dinner at Leh View.
Tour Notes:
Ladakh Trip Rule #12: On a road trip, if you see or experience snow, ice, chilling wind, altitude sickness, hot burning sun, sand dunes, camels and monasteries - all inside of three hours, you MUST be in Ladakh!
With the original Inner Line Permit obtained from aunty the previous evening, we were all set for the Nubra Valley. Just like the previous day, we left our guest house by 6:15 am.
The Innova is an extremely comfortable vehicle. For most of the three days in the Innova, I took the last row seat and it was only marginally bumpier than the middle row seat - which was occupied by Ritesh, Abhishek and Ali. I had no problems with the last row as I had a window seat for almost the entire journey. And it was remarkably cosy, even for the scary heights and non-existent roads heading towards the mighty Khardung La. At a height of 5578m above sea level, it is THE highest motorable road in the world. To put things into perspective, it is the Malad to Borivili distance - only difference being that the distance here is measured skywards. Almost as high as the Everest base camp, 3.3 kms higher and you would be at the summit itself! When compared with Leh, the Khardung La is a further 2kms higher! When we saw the mountains from Leh, we never imagined that they were actually more than 2kms higher! Phew!
If you don't feel the altitude at Khardung La, then you probably belong to a different planet. It was below zero - it had certainly snowed there at night, it was windy and every step that I took at the Khardung La was a major accomplishment in itself. There were hardly any tourists there - maybe we were a tad too early. I somehow managed to walk towards the signboard - which proudly proclaimed the fact that it was indeed the highest road in the world. After taking the mandatory snaps there, I sneaked back into the warmth of the Innova. Few more minutes outside, and I might have been down & out. I knew my limitations and my body was being stretched to its limit - shivering with cold and running out of breath. Of course, no one else knew that! Once inside, I was back to normal soon. Thankfully.
Khardung La was the first stop en route to the Nubra Valley. We then passed North Pullu and Khardung village. For breakfast, we stopped at Khalsar. We had parathas (what else?) at one of the joints. As we were having tea, Vinay invited some of the stray dogs there by virtue of opening a pack of biscuits. The dogs caused quite a ruckus there and were eventually driven out by the store owner after Ali spilled tea all over his hand in the chaos. LOL!
The Nubra valley starts from Deskit - which looked like an important town in that part of the world. The Deskit monastery, we were told, is one of the newer monasteries in the region. Bang opposite the monastery was a construction site where a ten-storey statue of Buddha was under construction. From the place where we parked our vehicle, it was a steep climb up to reach the monastery. We spent around an hour there and left.
After Deskit, the road forks into two. The right one goes towards Panamik - the place with the hot water springs. The road on the left goes to Hundar, which is home to the regions Bactrian Camels and sand dunes. The Nubra Valley is nearly 70 kms long with mountains on both sides bordering the north bound river. The valley is easily 4-5 kms wide. On the way to Hundar, as the road tugs itself to the base of the mountain on the left, out of nowhere, sand dunes appear on the right! The sand is off-white and the dunes, although not as high as the ones in Rajasthan, looked very elegant.
We reached Hundar just after noon. The main purpose of going to Hundar was to take a ride on the Bactrian Camels. Rs.150/- per head for a ride of fifteen minutes. When we finished our camel-ride, we all felt that fifteen minutes were more than sufficient time on the back of a camel. The ride was quite nauseating and back-breaking! After the camel ride, we decided to check out the sand dunes on foot. It was a weird feeling to climb up the slippery sand - for every three steps that I took to climb up, I sunk nearly two steps into the sand! It was quite an effort to reach the top. We had our afternoon meal at Cafe125 which proudly claimed that it served Dosas! We left Hundar shortly after 2 PM. During our return trip, we did not stop at the Khardung La, but we did stop near an interesting rock which was titled "The Khardung Frog!". The rock looked somewhat like a frog and it was painted in bright yellow with green spots. Nice spot for a few snaps.
That evening we decided to check out a different restaurant for dinner. We walked into a hotel (can't remember the name now) which didn't have even one empty table. The manager told us that we would have to wait for five minutes. We agreed and spent the next few minutes there watching the Federer v. Roddick Wimbledon Final. When I first saw the TV there, I told myself that this was a vacation in every sense of the word - no routine stuff. There was no way that I would have missed the Wimbledon Final back home. After waiting for several minutes, the manager there informed us that we may leave if we wanted to as he cannot ask any of his guests to vacate the table even if they have settled the bill. "Screw you and your hotel", we left and had dinner at Leh View.
Tour Notes:
0630: Left Leh
0800: Khardung La 5578m
1000-1020: Breakfast at Khalsar 3324m
1100-1150: Deskit Monastery 3245m
1225-1420: Hundar
1800: Leh
Cost of single day trip to Nubra Valley by Innova: Rs.4605/-
Day 10 - The Curious Case of the Magnetic Hill
6 July
The plan for the last day of sight-seeing was to have a smaller trip - something that would could start late and finish by early afternoon and then have the rest of the day to just loiter around in Leh. Accordingly, we left at around 9 and had an elaborate breakfast at Gesmo. Boy I just fell in love with that place!
We asked Nimas to meet us near the taxi stand at 11 and he was there on time. We boarded the Innova and headed straight to the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is a Museum dedicated to the region and is located on the Leh-Srinagar Highway. It has a section each on the Ladakh region, its people, flora & fauna. More importantly, it has sections dedicated to the military and the Air Forces' influence in the region and also on the wars fought in the region. We spent nearly an hour there. Ritesh found a special liking to the museum and spent a good amount of time memorizing every single piece of information in there. One of us had to actually drag him outta there!
Nimas was unbelievably quiet for a driver. He spoke only when spoken to and even when he had to convey something important to us, he was very economical with his use of words. He never missed an opportunity for a quick smoke whenever we halted for a tea break or for a natures call. At the magnetic hill, however, he suddenly became very enthusiastic in demonstrating the 'magnetic power' of the mountain ahead. Here's how the show at the Magnetic Hill works: The road appears uphill on either side of the point where the board says 'Magnetic Hill'. You park the vehicle at a designated spot, turn off the engine and leave your vehicle in neutral. Abra-ca-dabra! The vehicle starts moving uphill at an astonishing pace! We saw that happen and our eyes popped out! How the hell? Five engineering minds started a GD on what kind of magnetic force on earth was required to pull a vehicle of Innovas size uphill! At the same time, how come our wrist watches and cell phones seem to be indifferent to the incredibly high magnetic forces. (Wikipedia later informed us that the magnetic hill is an optical illusion and that the slope is actually downhill!)
As we headed further ahead on the Srinagar highway, at a particular hairpin, we saw a couple whose Pulsar had skidded and lay there on the road side. Both of them were foreigners and although there were no major injuries, they looked visibly shaken by the accident. We offered help but they gently declined saying that they were all right. We moved on.
The "Sangam" is the place where the Zanskar river joins the Indus river. The Indus looked calm, clear and pristine. The Zanskar on the contrary was rough and muddy. We sat down at some of the rocks at the confluence and observed a group of foreigners river-rafting down the Zanskar. The Indus was much wider than it looked, as none of us could get a stone past the beautiful river! The Sangam was the farthest we went on the Srinagar highway before taking a u-turn back towards Leh. While returning, we stopped at the Pathar Sahib Gurdwara. And for the first time ever, I had food at a 'langar' in a Gurdwara. Our trip for the day was almost over. Last stop was the Shanti Stupa. Ali decided that he would take the vehicle right up to the stupa as he was not in the best of health to walk up. The rest of us decided to climb up the 560-odd steps.
The arduous climb up to the Shanti Stupa took us only around half hour. But by the time I reached the top reach there, I felt as if I have sucked up every bit of oxygen in the entire Ladakh valley. I had to take a break after every 10-15 steps and higher and higher up, the breaks were much longer than the climb itself. Once at the top, all of us silently sat along the edge of the Stupa, overlooking the Leh town and tried to figure out where our guest house was! When we climbed down the Shanti Stupa, my legs were shivering. I sat there for a few minutes before moving on.
As we walked along the Changspa road towards the market, we spotted a Jeevan Cafe there and decided to check it out. The Cafe was on the first floor and had a mini library attached to it. We could pick up any book or magazine from there and read as we had our food. I found that idea to be really cool, especially at Leh, where time literally stopped and there was nothing better to do than have a cup of coffee and read a book at the same time. Ali had walked back to the Guest House. Myself, Abhishek, Ritesh and Vinay spent the next hour or so leisurely there. As we continued to walk along the Changspa, we found several shops there to do some shopping.
Ladakh Trip Rule #13: This is more of a generic rule. If you don't mind spending a hundred bucks more to avoid the hassles of bargaining, never ever go shopping with a good friend who also happens to be a Sales guy! You will have to part ways with the souvenir or the friend.
After several unsuccessful attempts to buy items of my liking at Vinay's quoted prices, I decided to break away. Unfortunately on that day, most of the Buddhist shops, including the Tibetian markets, were closed as it was The Dalai Lama's Birthday. Me and Ritesh however did manage to find a shop, decided what we wanted to buy, did some very basic bargaining, bought the stuff and came out happy. No sales funda or lectures on post purchase dissonance from him. Thanks Ritz!
We dined at La Terrassa and came back to our Guest House. We settled our bills with aunty and also paid the taxi bills. Like every night, Vinay did his tour expense calculations which by now had become an extremely complex spreadsheet. And, most importantly, we started packing our bags.
Tour Notes:
The plan for the last day of sight-seeing was to have a smaller trip - something that would could start late and finish by early afternoon and then have the rest of the day to just loiter around in Leh. Accordingly, we left at around 9 and had an elaborate breakfast at Gesmo. Boy I just fell in love with that place!
We asked Nimas to meet us near the taxi stand at 11 and he was there on time. We boarded the Innova and headed straight to the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is a Museum dedicated to the region and is located on the Leh-Srinagar Highway. It has a section each on the Ladakh region, its people, flora & fauna. More importantly, it has sections dedicated to the military and the Air Forces' influence in the region and also on the wars fought in the region. We spent nearly an hour there. Ritesh found a special liking to the museum and spent a good amount of time memorizing every single piece of information in there. One of us had to actually drag him outta there!
Nimas was unbelievably quiet for a driver. He spoke only when spoken to and even when he had to convey something important to us, he was very economical with his use of words. He never missed an opportunity for a quick smoke whenever we halted for a tea break or for a natures call. At the magnetic hill, however, he suddenly became very enthusiastic in demonstrating the 'magnetic power' of the mountain ahead. Here's how the show at the Magnetic Hill works: The road appears uphill on either side of the point where the board says 'Magnetic Hill'. You park the vehicle at a designated spot, turn off the engine and leave your vehicle in neutral. Abra-ca-dabra! The vehicle starts moving uphill at an astonishing pace! We saw that happen and our eyes popped out! How the hell? Five engineering minds started a GD on what kind of magnetic force on earth was required to pull a vehicle of Innovas size uphill! At the same time, how come our wrist watches and cell phones seem to be indifferent to the incredibly high magnetic forces. (Wikipedia later informed us that the magnetic hill is an optical illusion and that the slope is actually downhill!)
As we headed further ahead on the Srinagar highway, at a particular hairpin, we saw a couple whose Pulsar had skidded and lay there on the road side. Both of them were foreigners and although there were no major injuries, they looked visibly shaken by the accident. We offered help but they gently declined saying that they were all right. We moved on.
The "Sangam" is the place where the Zanskar river joins the Indus river. The Indus looked calm, clear and pristine. The Zanskar on the contrary was rough and muddy. We sat down at some of the rocks at the confluence and observed a group of foreigners river-rafting down the Zanskar. The Indus was much wider than it looked, as none of us could get a stone past the beautiful river! The Sangam was the farthest we went on the Srinagar highway before taking a u-turn back towards Leh. While returning, we stopped at the Pathar Sahib Gurdwara. And for the first time ever, I had food at a 'langar' in a Gurdwara. Our trip for the day was almost over. Last stop was the Shanti Stupa. Ali decided that he would take the vehicle right up to the stupa as he was not in the best of health to walk up. The rest of us decided to climb up the 560-odd steps.
The arduous climb up to the Shanti Stupa took us only around half hour. But by the time I reached the top reach there, I felt as if I have sucked up every bit of oxygen in the entire Ladakh valley. I had to take a break after every 10-15 steps and higher and higher up, the breaks were much longer than the climb itself. Once at the top, all of us silently sat along the edge of the Stupa, overlooking the Leh town and tried to figure out where our guest house was! When we climbed down the Shanti Stupa, my legs were shivering. I sat there for a few minutes before moving on.
As we walked along the Changspa road towards the market, we spotted a Jeevan Cafe there and decided to check it out. The Cafe was on the first floor and had a mini library attached to it. We could pick up any book or magazine from there and read as we had our food. I found that idea to be really cool, especially at Leh, where time literally stopped and there was nothing better to do than have a cup of coffee and read a book at the same time. Ali had walked back to the Guest House. Myself, Abhishek, Ritesh and Vinay spent the next hour or so leisurely there. As we continued to walk along the Changspa, we found several shops there to do some shopping.
Ladakh Trip Rule #13: This is more of a generic rule. If you don't mind spending a hundred bucks more to avoid the hassles of bargaining, never ever go shopping with a good friend who also happens to be a Sales guy! You will have to part ways with the souvenir or the friend.
After several unsuccessful attempts to buy items of my liking at Vinay's quoted prices, I decided to break away. Unfortunately on that day, most of the Buddhist shops, including the Tibetian markets, were closed as it was The Dalai Lama's Birthday. Me and Ritesh however did manage to find a shop, decided what we wanted to buy, did some very basic bargaining, bought the stuff and came out happy. No sales funda or lectures on post purchase dissonance from him. Thanks Ritz!
We dined at La Terrassa and came back to our Guest House. We settled our bills with aunty and also paid the taxi bills. Like every night, Vinay did his tour expense calculations which by now had become an extremely complex spreadsheet. And, most importantly, we started packing our bags.
Tour Notes:
Cost of single day trip to Magnetic Hill, Sangam, Gurdwara and Hall of Fame: Rs.1296/-
Day 11 - Adios
7 July
Knowing that the trip was nearing an end was bad enough. Even worse was knowing that in a few hours, I was going to be transported to a 40 Degree Celsius oven called Delhi. I said to myself - Its not over until its over. And tried to sleep again. That was when the alarm went off!
I decided that a cold water bath in Leh was much better than a hot water bath in Delhi and entered the bathroom with great determination. To my surprise, the water was already hot at 5:20 in the morning. Thank you Vishnu! We later gave him a healthy tip. The taxi came on time - a Maruti Omni. The driver loaded our luggage on the roof of the vehicle. We said our goodbyes to aunty and left.
The Leh Airport is the military airport which is used by the commercial airlines as well. We got our boarding passes and waited for nearly two hours there for our Kingfisher Airlines Flight IT3342. It was a Delhi-Leh-Delhi flight and as the Delhi-Leh flight had not yet arrived, our flight got delayed. We eventually boarded the flight at around 9 am. For some reason, I didn't enjoy the view of the snow-clad mountain peaks from the flight as much as I did when I was standing on the ground. One reason could have been that you could not tell which mountain peak is which when you are mid-air. Plus, from the top, they all looked the same! Nevertheless, I did take a few photographs from the flight. We reached Delhi at 10:30.
Abhishek, who initially had plans of going to work that day, didn't seem too interested in the idea when we reached his place at Vasant Kunj. It was already noon. We ordered Pizza for Lunch and at the same time, booked couple of MERU cabs for the drop to Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway station later that evening. By the time we finished lunch, it was time to catch the August Kranti Rajdhani Express - which was scheduled to leave Delhi at 1655 hrs.
As we boarded the train, everyone had that thought going on somewhere in the mind - Oh no, its coming to an end! In the train, we played cards, had our usual GD on a host of topics and for the penultimate time, thoroughly enjoyed the meal in the train.
Knowing that the trip was nearing an end was bad enough. Even worse was knowing that in a few hours, I was going to be transported to a 40 Degree Celsius oven called Delhi. I said to myself - Its not over until its over. And tried to sleep again. That was when the alarm went off!
I decided that a cold water bath in Leh was much better than a hot water bath in Delhi and entered the bathroom with great determination. To my surprise, the water was already hot at 5:20 in the morning. Thank you Vishnu! We later gave him a healthy tip. The taxi came on time - a Maruti Omni. The driver loaded our luggage on the roof of the vehicle. We said our goodbyes to aunty and left.
The Leh Airport is the military airport which is used by the commercial airlines as well. We got our boarding passes and waited for nearly two hours there for our Kingfisher Airlines Flight IT3342. It was a Delhi-Leh-Delhi flight and as the Delhi-Leh flight had not yet arrived, our flight got delayed. We eventually boarded the flight at around 9 am. For some reason, I didn't enjoy the view of the snow-clad mountain peaks from the flight as much as I did when I was standing on the ground. One reason could have been that you could not tell which mountain peak is which when you are mid-air. Plus, from the top, they all looked the same! Nevertheless, I did take a few photographs from the flight. We reached Delhi at 10:30.
Abhishek, who initially had plans of going to work that day, didn't seem too interested in the idea when we reached his place at Vasant Kunj. It was already noon. We ordered Pizza for Lunch and at the same time, booked couple of MERU cabs for the drop to Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway station later that evening. By the time we finished lunch, it was time to catch the August Kranti Rajdhani Express - which was scheduled to leave Delhi at 1655 hrs.
As we boarded the train, everyone had that thought going on somewhere in the mind - Oh no, its coming to an end! In the train, we played cards, had our usual GD on a host of topics and for the penultimate time, thoroughly enjoyed the meal in the train.
Day 12 - Wet Wet Wet!
8 July
I love the monsoon. I eagerly wait for the month of June to arrive and bring with it the first drops of rain. This year, however, there had been no rain whatsoever in Mumbai until the day I left for Leh. But on that day, I woke up in the Rajdhani Express while the train passed through a rainy and windy Gujrat. The monsoon had definitely arrived. If its raining in Gujrat, it surely must have rained in Mumbai.
Despite of the heavy rain, the train was on time. We had our last meal of trip - breakfast in the Rajdhani Express, packed our bags and did the last bit of calculations of the individual contribution required for the trip.
The last eleven days had been unforgettable. I was in arguably the worlds most beautiful place with the most amazing company that I could ask for. An sms from a colleague reminded me of the fact that I was required to be in office on Thursday, if not on Wednesday evening for a dinner with a visiting client. Is it Wednesday today? I asked myself. I had completely lost track of the days of the week! It was a nightmarish feeling - Back to work! Shit! But as I was about to get down at Borivili Railway Station, a thought came to my mind..."Summer 2011, maybe???"
~Harish
I love the monsoon. I eagerly wait for the month of June to arrive and bring with it the first drops of rain. This year, however, there had been no rain whatsoever in Mumbai until the day I left for Leh. But on that day, I woke up in the Rajdhani Express while the train passed through a rainy and windy Gujrat. The monsoon had definitely arrived. If its raining in Gujrat, it surely must have rained in Mumbai.
Despite of the heavy rain, the train was on time. We had our last meal of trip - breakfast in the Rajdhani Express, packed our bags and did the last bit of calculations of the individual contribution required for the trip.
The last eleven days had been unforgettable. I was in arguably the worlds most beautiful place with the most amazing company that I could ask for. An sms from a colleague reminded me of the fact that I was required to be in office on Thursday, if not on Wednesday evening for a dinner with a visiting client. Is it Wednesday today? I asked myself. I had completely lost track of the days of the week! It was a nightmarish feeling - Back to work! Shit! But as I was about to get down at Borivili Railway Station, a thought came to my mind..."Summer 2011, maybe???"
~Harish
