The drudgeries of life
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Dream Trip: Day 3 - Getting Leh'd is not easy ;)
12th of August, 2009... better recalled as Day 3 of the Dream Trip!!
Save for a few instances of tossing and turning around in our beds, we all slept well! It got real cold in the night, and if there were little gaps in the tent, you could feel the outside chill! Brrrr
When I got up at about 5:45 AM, I noticed that Chandu was already up. Grabbed my camera and walked out of the tent! Whoosh! All my sleep was gone in a jiffy... attributable to the colddd as well as the scenic beauty! It was already bright, and it took us no time to figure out that we were literally in the middle of nowhere!!
Chandu standing by our tent early in the morn
Back in the tent, Chandu recounted his horrific loo experience... damn, the water is icy cold, and just thinking about using it to wash the backside was a nightmare!
Lazed around a bit more in the tent before brushing the teeth and washing the face with the cold water that a pipe was spewing out! Next came hitting the loo, and washing the rear side! Committing suicide would've been a better option compared to this torture :P
Even thought the rest room was a makeshift one, it was neat and clean. If people were drowsy when they walked into the rest room, they stumbled out wide awake uttering the choicest of abuses :D
Oh well, that too passed! Tea was a welcome respite from the biting cold. Bargained for the rent+food and everything good wrapped up in a package of Rs. 1370... not bad at all!
Randy with our gaddi just before taking off!
A photography session at the Blue Poppy Camp ensued before hitting the road for Leh. Everyone, including Guru, seemed to be down with a severe bout of headache! The altitude has started to show its effects...
Long way to go...
A beautiful valley along the road
In the main camp site of Sarchu, we had breakfast while Guru got the puncture fixed. Paranthas, Omelette and tea in a homely tent which had well spread out rugs was more that what we could ask for... post breakfast we lolled around there till Guru was ready to go!
The real Sarchu!
Breakfast in Bed! ;)
What lies ahead!
Before the trip, we had read about the Gata Loops, but witnessing this man-made marvel was quite an experience! Imagine 21 loops of a road on a single mountain!! Awesome stuff!
Bird's eye view of a few loops of The Gata Loop
As we had come to expect of it, our Innova went kaput as soon as we crossed the Loops. This time the condenser was leaking. While Guru again tended to the vehicle, we utilized the time to click lots of snaps!
Chhod aaye hum, woh galiyan (arey yaar, Gata Loops kii :p)
At this point I'd like to mention that while Rohtang and the areas we left behind were lush green, the area we had now ventured into was a part of the desert of Ladakh! Dry as hell, it was hard to spot any greenery around!
The AOE like settlement that we had left behind (Credits: Rusti)
The route till Pang was long! We stopped at a clear stream near the sand dunes... Mother Nature enthralled us again!
The Sand Dunes!
The stream was so cold, and it was fun walking around bare feet in it! Guru told us this water was very pure and well, we had a sip of it... truly tasty water! Filled up our bottles with this water before proceeding.
We reached Pang at 1 PM and lunched there! Till now, all the meals we had had were simple homely meals... this one was no different! The menu was made up of Dal, Rice and Aachaar (Pickle)... and we loved it!
On the way we had another flat tyre (Damn this vehicle was becoming a nuisance!), so Guru was again getting it fixed... but though we cribbed about it at Pang, we were later to thank him for getting the puncture fixed :)
Next up: More Plains. Before this trip, we had laughed at the weird name... but now after we had entered it and it seemed to stretch for eternity, we realized why the name "More"!
The More Plains start off...
And when we were bang in the middle of nowhere (again!), we were down with a flat tyre (yes, again!)! Thank goodness, Guru had had the sense to get the tyre fixed in Pang! Else we'd have been stranded out in the desert!
How much More P(l)ain?!
All it takes to dwarf these mighty hills are a few clouds!
One of the few passing vehicles (it was strange that throughout the More Plains, we encountered a maximum of 5 or 6 vehicles!) informed us that there was no repair shop before Upshi, a place 85 kms away :O GULP! Now all we could pray for was not getting a flat tyre!
An "O" in the rocky hill - Mother Nature's creativity
To add to our woes, the roads after Pang were horrible... the worst roads we encountered during the entire trip! While Guru had a nerve wracking time maneuvering the vehicle around the craters and bumps on the roads, we witnessed the horror in muted silence... how come the blogs we read did not mention this part?! We prayed for not ending up with a punctured tyre now, which seemed like an inevitable occurrence! And I resolved to blog about this for sure...
Oh! Did I forget to mention the landslides?!
That's the road in front of us :(
These big guys cleared up the road though :)
We somehow reached Tanglang La, the 2nd highest motorable pass in the world! Yeah right! We now know how motorable it was :P
Chandu and I grab the podium position!!
But Sid beat us to the Pole Position :)
We somehow emerged unscathed (read without an a punctured tyre) from the long bad stretch of roads. Then onwards, the roads were well maintained and we reached a hamlet called Rumtse. We met some folks there who were stranded courtesy 2 flat tyres... it could've very well have been us :s
Everyone had 2 cuppas of delicious tea at Rumtse. Sid was suffering from a splitting headache and his nose was bleeding!
Sexy twilight at Rumtse!
The roads till Upshi were well maintained. Everyone got nostalgic and started talking about their individual work-ex... so Infy, TCS, Polaris, trading et al ruled our talks!
By 8:40 PM, we were on the outskirts of Leh! Our phones, which had been rendered useless after Manali for the lack of signals, were back in action... everyone called home and assured their loved ones of their well being :D Oh yes! If we had survived today's experience, we'd survive anything... or so we thought!
We had jotted down the names of some economical hotels and guest houses in Leh, but all of them seemed to be fully occupied. The locals in Leh attributed this to the pending arrival of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama to Leh... our travel timing seems to coincide with that of celebrities!
After a massive search operation in the Shopping Arcade, Randy and I discovered Siddhartha Guest House at the end of the Fort Road!
For Rs. 200 per night per room (3 people per room), it was dirt cheap... the rooms were ascetic, but nice and cozy!
We couldn't help noticing the fact the we were probably the only Indians there that night... foreigners were anywhere and everywhere you turned your head! An out of this country experience!!
Dinner comprised of Chiken Tikka Masala, Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Momos, Soups (chicken manchow, tomato et al), etc etc! There's something about the mountains that gives you a healthy apetite, not to mention such an arduous drive :)
Settled down in the hotel after freshening up and revisiting a few pics of the past 2 days. Sid's carrying along his laptop ensured that we had a separate folder for each day's pics, and empty cameras at the start of each day!
Randy all set to jump into bed at the guest house!
Things till now were going awesome *touch wood*
We did realize "Getting Leh'd is not easy", but it's totally worth it (Pun intended! ;) )
Tomorrow's the day for resting, and go sightseeing in and around Leh!
Next up (on Saturday, Jan 9):
The Dream Trip: Day 4: Exploring the pLEHces!
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Labels: Blue Poppy Camp, Dream Trip, Fort Road, Gata Loops, Leg, More Plains, Pang, Rumtse, Tanglang la, Upshi, Vacation
20 Comments:
carry on steve......we all are experiencing this journey....which you have brought alive by words & well interspersed pictures...& as i said comments are icing on the cake....so after waiting for the post, now i am waiting for comments... :)
Thanks a bunch, Suraj!
Glad to know you're enjoying this trip :D
I agree... The comments bring out the best part of these travels ;) Me too waiting for them to start pouring in!
i woke up at 5 am .....went outside...n just could'nt believe it...i am in between two hills(may b a dist of 70-80 mtrs from each other with our tents in between)..the sky was beautiful in early morning...truly a senic beauty...thr couldnt have been a better camping site
It took me 30 min to figure out things(loo,water...) in the cold....n i have to agree...Committing Suicide was a better option...My teeth's were chattering at an unimaginable frequency:)
Were fortunate tht the camp owner had few or no customers tht day....else Loo could had become a great issue
The day was truly abt experiencing the nature...Gata Loops,the clear stream flowing along the road,More n More n More Plains(I will leave for Sid to comment abt More Plains :))
i Have to give credit to Guru ..was a very tough n hectic ride.
Kudos to Randy and Steve for finding the Guest house.....it got our budgets on track:)
@Chandu
Start writing your own blog posts man... everyone I'm sure will have their own version! Like how you got up at 5 AM and saw the awesome sight, and all!
It was like a song really... the camp had this serene silence, music to my ears! The pristine beauty of the surroundings spelled out the lyrics! Amazing it was!
hahaha! Water never repulsed me more :P The chattering, I was afraid, might crack up my teeth :P
Yeah experienced the extremes of nature that day... however dry it was, you always felt it was beautiful and serene!
The drive was long, and the roads were bad, but it was worth it... made us cherish the trip even more ;)
Guru sure did a good job today... his vehicle took a lot of beating too :(
Regarding the guest house, with the blasting that Randy got later from the owner, I'm not sure he will agree :P
Oopsie daisy..i passed out thanks to vodka+beer..anyways..a real tough day ..rightly put by steve..wen we started off it was kool ..tasty breakfast and all ..also a bout of frustration hit us .. courtesy guru..long hours at Sarchu..thanks to overcrowded garage and his free opinion ki dukaan ..bakwaas master..anyway more plains really killed us .. suggest steve to add the lovely clouds foto ..mast aayi .. clouds shadow on a hill..gata loops were also amazin..but our experience wit mountains et al was gettin irritatin .. travel sickness i guess is a true phenomenon..rusti made a comment abt mountains not endin..interestin comment ..dont remember tho.. and wen we reached near leh..altitude sickness hit me..man it is bad ..difference in altitude compressin my brain to even smaller proportions(wtf am i talkin)..nose bleed was like icing on the cake..thot was gonna die(silly assuring gestures from junta simply dont help)..and i was not the part of the discussions on experience and stuff(thanks to motion sickness and altitude sickness combined)..reached outskirts of ladakh..had to take a pass b4 enterin..finally reached..joy all around..the soup helped a lot in overcomin all kind of miseries suffered durin the day(oops misery..well if u travel for so long..specially in more plains..aaaaah)..took pills for alti sickness and paracetamol for slight fever..thanks to rustis dad for everything..And finally sleep..such a good thing to do ..(by the way in leh there are no panwaadi for sutta..got it from a proper daily items shop..interstin..).more to follow ..adventures of the leh'd grandpa and randy+sid(chai incident)..chao..
@chandu..well more plains main there were couple of roads..and also the sun was beating down on us(more on me thanks to front seat..tannin about start..racist junta..well aane ke baad pata chala..)neways broken tyre and only army trucks..broken roads..and a slight apprehension tat plains wont end ..wth(wat the heck)..apart 4m tat chandu am i missing anything?abt more plains..do remind me (alcohol seriously kills brain cells..cant remember much)
@Sid
You too must start posting in your blog man! Hilarious stuff! :D
just 2 days in the hills and we're already sick of them, eh?! :P
I remember how you panicked when your nose was bleeding! lol! and we totally forgot about you when the work-ex discussions started :)
I remember Sid had a verbal duel with all of us on the outskirts of Leh... we wanted to get the car repaired, and he being sick wanted to find a hotel and sleep :)
Before Leh, Gold Flakes was the only brand of sutta available (for those interested!)
Lots more to come! Over and out!
This comment has been removed by the author.
@Sid
Thts for the junta to watch out(ur tannin)...as an as the days progress:)
Was sleeping in more plains thanks to blankets also being used as curtains.....Was it u or Manish who made the comments abt cars disappearing
Well..rusti must quote his comment here( it was smthin like..pahad hi pahad hain pe..wt else do u xpect i thot..phew) @chandu i think i and randy were gesticulating about the disappearing cars( abe wo bhi gayab..galat road pe hain)..it was randy suggestion that we took a different track and crossed across to a dirt road which had some vehicles..waitin for comments from ppl who r reading the blog and were non travellers(guys and gals pls post ur views abt our travel)..
First of all i wanna say that I was the only one who shampooed my hair that morning...:)(probably the first one ever in Sarchu camps..:P)...A gr8 feat considering that it was hard to even touch the water..
n ot was definitely a hard day....3 punctures(thank GOD only 3 considering the so called roads we travelled...)....numerous road blocks....car break downs....PHEW!!!
I remember chandu and steve were sleeping at the back seat when we were passing through MORE plains(Thank my blankets guys.:))
n whoever has given that name was right....."MORE PLAINS"....you can travel whole day.....there will still be some MORE to come....
@ Chandu....I was right in saying that the cars were getting disappeared..:).....There were not 1 not 2 but atleast ten different paths vehicles were following...every few minutes we could see a new vehicle on a new path....and in next few minutes they disappeared somehow....each one of them...There were small road blocks after every few kms...We were changing directions every half an hour...I remember there were discussions on which path to follow...."Bhaiya idhar se le lo..yeh sahi raasta lag raha hai"...
and above all ....there was no spare tyre with us in that whole journey through more plains....The least we can say is WE GOT LUCKY....
The three day travel and altitude sickness had surely got to our heads.....But after reaching the city it all got normal....Me n SID also searched some hotels....One of them was quite good...But I must say the deal you guys got us was the best "VALUE FOR MONEY" deal in whole of city at that time..
and after an awesome dinner...we all slept well .... thinking that we have achieved something great today...:)...m still proud of that..
yes you are right SID...There are many views for this BLOG...still not many comments....
C'mon people.....share your views with us......about what you think.
or if you have any questions in case you are planning to go there....
At night i could hear the whsitling sound of wind all throughout and was consistently thinking wow whr the hell are we.Well i woke up around 7am only tht day i guess.. unlike early birds Chandu and Steve and wht i saw was mountain ranges from one end of the eyeline to another and we we nested right between them. I guess we took one of the 1st few tents available. The water thr was like icy cold..and was considering whether to brush my teeth or not. The tea provided by the tent owner was like a lifeline..the best tea i ever had considering the cold.
Gata loops is amazing to look at from above but thts wht was causing the motion sickness if any.
The stream of fresh cold water was amazing and a respite from the direct sunlight tht was burning us. I guess it was wht put the enthu right back into us atleast temporarily. Guru's car needed some filling up of water again in the radiator again. Which gave us time to dip our feet in the cold water...truely relaxing feeling
Wht added to the "moreness" of the more plains was our music CD which kept on playing " Yeh Dooriyaan" frm Love Aaj Kal ...and gave the impression more plains are never gonna end. Damn we shud have taken few more CDs :)
I distinctly remember in more plains we saw a few trucks frm a distance and they suddenly disappeared as if someone said "khulja Sim Sim" and a secret path opened up from them btween the mountains . So Randy said "bhaiya wo rasta lo" ...and our Omniscient driver guru said nahi this is correct. After which we had an argument with him. I remember,when he finally shifted path Randy was the happiest and said " Make ur own Road" :)
Tanglangla may say tht it the 2nd highest motorable pass in the world but there an error thr. Its bloody not motorable. Only 1 km stretch of land on either side of it is fit to be called road. Else thr is nothing like a motorable road ...we jus had to make ou way thru kuchcha roads. And our driver's frustration was clearly showing thr ...as he was thinking " yeh mujhey kahaan le aaye yeh log".
@Chandu
Sid got tanned real bad, no?! I warned him not to sit up front so often, but his love and admiration for Guru was the driving force :P
Btw even I slept thru most of the More Plains... got up when we were down with the flat tyre!
@Sid
Yeah I vaguely remember everyone panicking when Randy (?) suggested that we had taken the wrong route... seriously, it was strange that we hardly saw any vehicles on the More Plains as well as on the climb to Tanglang La :s
@Manish
We know about the shampooing part... you and your hair :p
starting Day 4, you will be renamed to ZULFI (because of one incident at Chey Palace) :P
The 4th puncture almost seemed impossible to avoid, but luckily it didn't happen... we got punctured tyres on smooth roads while on bad roads we never faced this problem. strange?!
Haha in the evening when the sun became hottt, we were using the blankets to keep out the rays!
Yeah you guys too found some nice hotels and with better facilities too, but this was soo economical and it was so homely :) total bhalue phor money :D
If you think this was an achievement, wait for days 5 and 8 (Pangong and Zanskar) B)
@Rusti
RUST analysis zindabad! :D
Yep, we took the tents right up front! The tent fella gave us some hot water to drink, thank God!
The Gata Loops too never seemed to end, but the More Plains made it seem like nothing! LOL! The "Ye Duuriyan" song couldn't have been played at a worse time :P
I think most of the nice stops we made are attributable to the problems with the Innova :)
Hahaha at this point we should've told Guru "Picture toh abhi shuru hui hai, guruu" ;)
I just noticed....The first pic in this post is one of the many pics of CHANDU in "ATTENTION" position...:)
@Manish
LoL! Great observation! A true soldier, Chandu is :P
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