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!
P.S.: An earnest Request - If you liked this post, please share it on
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Labels: Blue Poppy Camp, Dream Trip, Fort Road, Gata Loops, Leg, More Plains, Pang, Rumtse, Tanglang la, Upshi, Vacation
The Dream Trip: The Planned Itinerary
My diary entry dated 13th of July, 2009, has the following bullet point:
- Planning starts for Leh-Ladakh trip planned for August 8)
And start it did! We always loved long weekends, but what we were planning entailed not just 2 long weekends, but 2 long weeks! Was it even possible? We're budding managers, we'll manage it... somehow!
On 15th of July, we came up with a rough plan for what the 2 weeks would look like... or so my diary says! Damn, were we excited or what!
From then till the 9th of August (the day before we finally took off), minds vacillated, people backed out; the plan was fine-tuned, it underwent lots of changes but ultimately it survived :)
This is how the final itinerary looked:
Day 1 - Delhi to Manali (500 kms), 16 hrs
10/08
Day 2 - Manali to Sarchu via Rohtang, Keylong, Darcha and Baralacha La (270 kms), 12-13 hrs
Day 3 - Sarchu to Leh via Gata Loops, Pang, More Plains, Rumtse and Upshi (250 kms), 12-13 hrs
Day 4 - Roaming in and around Leh
13/08
Day 5 - Leh to Pangong Tso, and back, via Chang La and Pagal Nala, (Round trip of 350 kms), 14 hrs
Day 6 - Leh to Sumur (Nubra Valley) via Khardung La and Panamic (150 kms), 6-7 hrs
Day 7 - Sumur to Leh via Sand dunes and Deskit (250 kms), 8 hrs
Day 8 - Leh to Chilling (50 kms), Rafting on Zanskar till Nimoo (30 kms), Nimoo to Kargil (160 kms)
15 hours in all
Day 9 - Kargil to Sonamarg via Drass (100 kms), 6 hrs
18/08
Day 10 - Sonamarg to Srinagar via Sonamarg Glacier (120 kms), 5-6 hrs
Day 11 - Srinagar to Pahalgam, and back (Round trip of 200 kms), 8 hrs
Day 12 - Srinagar to Gulmarg, and back (Round trip of 120 kms), 10 hrs
Day 13 - Srinagar to Jammu (300 kms), Jammu to Amritsar (220 kms), 15-16 hrs in all
Day 14 - Amritsar to Ghaziabad via Ambala and Murthal (400 kms), 8 hrs
Well that's how it looked... and happened! Tiring, yes... but worth it, absolutely!
Bing Maps helped me generate a sexy image of the route we took! Here it is:
Before I take you back in time, a few words for the 5 awesome companions (Chandu, Manish, Randy, Sid and Rusti) who made this trip not only possible, but also a superb success:
We had our share of doubts, but we set out to prove them wrong...
We had our share of fears, but we conquered them like warriors B)
We had our share of problems, but we managed them all like true managers ;)
We had our share of risky moments, but we survived and laughed:D
We had our share of bad moments, but it was this Dream Trip that triumphed!
We had our share of critics, but we shut them all up :P
We had our share of fun, but we kept finding scope for more!
We accomplished not just any 14-days long trip, but the Dream Trip of a lifetime :)
Cheers!!!
Story time, folks! Fasten your seat belts :)
I present to you "The Dream Trip"... (next post on Wednesday, Jan 6th)
NOTE: I tend to be garrulous (my apologies for that!), so please feel free to skip the parts where you feel I'm rambling :)
P.S.: An earnest Request - If you liked this post, please share it on
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appears at the end of the post:
Labels: Amritsar, Dream Trip, Gata Loops, Gulmarg, Itinerary, Jammu, Kargil, Keylong, Leh, Manali, More Plains, Nubra, Pahalgam, Rohtang, Rusti, Sarchu, Sonamarg, Srinagar, Vacation, Zanskar
