So finally Here goes the trips stats
Chennai-Leh-Chennai at EveryTrail
Plan your trips with EveryTrail iPhone Travel Guides
Total Kms driving : 8300 Plus
Vehicle : Santro Limited Edition
Total Cost : Rs 75,837.00
Break up of the Cost :
Fuel (Petrol)
Total Rs 26,444.00
Food :
Enjoying food All over the india was truly fun
Total : Rs 8, 044
Accomodation :
Most of the nights were spent in magic cars and our lonely tent , others as below
Total Rs 4,750.00
Activities :
White river rafting , Snow Sleding , Shikar etc..
Total : 4240
Road Toll:
Total : Rs 2,504.00
Other Vehicle Exp
Total : Rs 22,860
Misc Exp :
Total Rs 1,995
Other Stat's
Most Challenging Drive : Changla Pass in Snow
Most wonderful Drive : Lamayaru - Leh Highway
Most serene places : Tajiwas Glaciers
Most beautiful Place : Pangong Lake
Fastest Drive : Ahmedabad - Vadodra Highway
Slowest Drive : All MP Roads
Most Km Driven in a day : 1300 Kms
Least Km driven in a day : 20 (Sonamarg)
Highest altitude road : 17,586 Feet , Changla
Lowest Altitude : 50 feet , Mumbai outskirts
Coldest Place : Pangong - 20 C
Hottest Place : Hyderabad - 42 C
Best Dhaba Food : Pathankot
Worst Dhaba food : Actually None (Truly india)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
CLC: Chapter 10 Destination Home
The sad part of the journey has already started begun, We were on the way back to our home. Rather than trying to reach we were actually planning for next trip. We crossed Gurgoan in no time and were heading towards Jaipur.
In the middle of night we didn’t find any other travelers except the truck guys who were traveling all the way. We filled fuel in outskirts of the city and filled our water cans. We were heading towards Jaipur and we could feel winding flowing at 40 C. It was little tough coming from Subzero temp couple of days before and then to drive in extreme heat.
We didn’t have a disappointing start in Golden Quadilateral, right from delhi the roads were wonderful and the best thing was it was continuing. After driving for couple of hours in lonely dark road we reached jaipur. We initially thought we would spend few hours in Jaipur to visit the forts but apparently it too early in the day and we had thousands of kms to travel.
We crossed jaipur and headed towards Ajmeer. We could still feel the warmth even after maximum airconditioner running. As highway was good we didn’t have any problem covering good amount of distance. We didn’t have any direction issues as there were plenty of sign boards to guide us. We were close to Ajmeer and we took a diversion which was not that convincing for us. We weren’t sure if we were still on the golden quadrilateral. We thought we will take a break for hour , so that we might get company early in the morning .
We happily enjoyed the quick nap in our magic car and in no time we could feel the early light. After catching a quip nap for an hour we headed towards Ahmedabad. Morning was little breezy and that wasn’t a bad idea to drive without Air condition. After driving for good couple of hours we were now enjoying the Sand storm ride. Heavy winds were carrying good amount of sand across the roads, lack of houses and villages made even worse.
Covering distance was not an issue now, we were clocking an average 100 plus Kms and we were crossing villages and town in no time. It was time to refuel and we though we would also take a small break for chai. After filling fuel and getting fresh we had chai. We also had to sip couple of Nimbu Pani to reduce last night’s hang over. We were again on road driving towards Gujurat. We spotted many villagers who wearing colorful turbans and sari engaged in their on work as we headed further.
Golden quadrilateral was going strong so did we. We reached outskirts of Ahemabad in the evening. We thought of having some food as it was already 4 in the clock . We had already driving more than 10 hours for the day and we knew we would be driving all the way. Interestingly we couldn’t find a good Dhaba in place like Ahmedabad. By the time we reached the city most of the restaurants were closed for lunch and they might no open for couple of hours.
We saw many Pav Bhaji guys preparing veggie for their Bhaji and we knew it wouldn’t be ready even in an hour. We were exhausted by now just because of food. We would have tired not less than 10 restaurants before, we though of just having few loafs of bread. Thinking of given a last try we headed towards a restaurant in corner of the road. When we asked if we would get something to eat, the barer discouragingly said we would only get south India. He didn’t expect such a big smile from us , we were then inside the restaurant waiting for our dosa’s. We couldn’t wait to see the Masala Dosa to be in our table , even when we had completed the Sambar idli’s. It wasn’t a bad choice to have dosa, infact anyways would have served us at that time.
With no problem ahead we were heading towards other part of Gujurat. We had immense faith in Modi that we knew the roads wouldn’t be bad. We crossed many towns along the highways and were driving around 140 Km per hour in Surat- Mumbai highway. The beauty of golden quadrilateral was so good that we didn’t mind even to take a small break. We covered 100 plus kms in less than 45 min, That was so encouraging that after driving only for few hours we covered many hundred kilometers.
We had a late night dinner in one of the Dhaba in outscripts of Mumbai, Yes we were close to the Master city now. With numerous options to eat we didn’t have problem to get couple of roti and panner. After dinner we headed towards Mumbai. Our wonderful drive was halted by rouge truck drivers who have covered all the 4 lane of the road. Crossing hundreds of truck took more than an hour for mere 10 kms. This made us to think of next message what we should carry during our trip . “Highway Driving Etiquettes” is what we would focus on our next trip hopefully we get good sponsorship.
We initially thought of enjoying some late night Chat in Juhu Chowpatty and have a drive over new bandra- worli sealink. That was never a good idea , we finally decided to take bye pass through Thane and take the magnificent Mumbai-Pune highway. After getting helps form many police guys we managed to catch right highway and we reached the Mumbai-Pune highway. The toll was little high obviously we didn’t mind to enjoy the ride. We again clocked 130 plus and got indulged in small rallies. We didn’t get carried away to drive fast as still we had to drive a long way.
We reached pune in early hours and were struggling to get the Sholapur highway. By now we got convinced that we would reach hyd by end of day. It was already more than 3 days on road and also we have covered 3000 kms. With guidance of old uncle’s who were enjoying their morning walk we managed to reach main pune city. Trying to head to Sholapur highway we ended up in an one way were energetic police guys were ready to catch us. They were infact too early for a Saturday anyways they were enjoying the saying of Early birds get their worms.
They asked for Vivek’s licence and started arguing that it was not him in the photos. Even as we managed to convince that the photo was taken 10 years before still they wouldn’t believe. With no option of reversing our age we agreed to pay 100 bucks and headed further. We took a 15 min nap in Sholapur highway as sun was directly hitting on us.
By now we have left golden quadrilateral, if we had similar roads all over India it would really be an incredible India. The much promised Silver cross project doesn’t seem to have happened as we were heading in under construction single road. By this time our average speed has come down to 60’s.
We thought of having some Maharastrian Poha and chai in side by Dhaba . We weren’t lucky, we had to walk after chai as Poha took more than 40 min to be prepared, We still wonder why it took so much time. We managed to drive in not so good road but we covered good amount of distance. After driving all through the day we were in outskirts of the city.
We felt that we should probably take a sabbatical from our current job and continue our journey. We reached outskirts of Hyderabad and halted at a Dhaba to have a late lunch. It wasn’t bad to taste pappu after many days. We were again on the road heading towards Hyderabad which was by now only couple of hundred kms away.
Crowded vehicles with their annoying horn welcomed us in the city. We were able to spot many vehicles which we going in all 360 Degrees and all possible direction. Finally it was time to break from our trip. Vivek and Amit would end their trip in Hyderabad whereas rupesh still had to drive to Chennai.
Rupesh was planning to drive the same night which would make 4 plus continuous nights on the road only difference he would not have a company. After having a good bath after many days laziness started to crib and Rupesh decided to halt for a day before heading Chennai. We met some common friends and had dinner in spicy village from where our trip started.
Rupesh started early in the morning next day driving alone to Chennai. He had done hyd- Chennai many times but this was different, He was driving back after 8000 plus kms. Interestingly he ended up in a small collision outskirts of the city. A learner who was just getting used to his car collided with our darling that too in a signal . Hearing that we have clocked 8000 plus kms and didn’t even have dent, the learner readily agreed to bear the damage cost. We were little worried that our beloved darling was hurt, Anyways he didn’t have any problem before reaching his home.
After coming back to office which seemed like a school annual vacation rejoining we called each other to check. The first thing was about our next trip, yes we are planning our next trip. Next time could be even bigger or a similar trip but all we need is another source of income because the current job wouldnt take us
In the middle of night we didn’t find any other travelers except the truck guys who were traveling all the way. We filled fuel in outskirts of the city and filled our water cans. We were heading towards Jaipur and we could feel winding flowing at 40 C. It was little tough coming from Subzero temp couple of days before and then to drive in extreme heat.
We didn’t have a disappointing start in Golden Quadilateral, right from delhi the roads were wonderful and the best thing was it was continuing. After driving for couple of hours in lonely dark road we reached jaipur. We initially thought we would spend few hours in Jaipur to visit the forts but apparently it too early in the day and we had thousands of kms to travel.
We crossed jaipur and headed towards Ajmeer. We could still feel the warmth even after maximum airconditioner running. As highway was good we didn’t have any problem covering good amount of distance. We didn’t have any direction issues as there were plenty of sign boards to guide us. We were close to Ajmeer and we took a diversion which was not that convincing for us. We weren’t sure if we were still on the golden quadrilateral. We thought we will take a break for hour , so that we might get company early in the morning .
We happily enjoyed the quick nap in our magic car and in no time we could feel the early light. After catching a quip nap for an hour we headed towards Ahmedabad. Morning was little breezy and that wasn’t a bad idea to drive without Air condition. After driving for good couple of hours we were now enjoying the Sand storm ride. Heavy winds were carrying good amount of sand across the roads, lack of houses and villages made even worse.
Covering distance was not an issue now, we were clocking an average 100 plus Kms and we were crossing villages and town in no time. It was time to refuel and we though we would also take a small break for chai. After filling fuel and getting fresh we had chai. We also had to sip couple of Nimbu Pani to reduce last night’s hang over. We were again on road driving towards Gujurat. We spotted many villagers who wearing colorful turbans and sari engaged in their on work as we headed further.
Golden quadrilateral was going strong so did we. We reached outskirts of Ahemabad in the evening. We thought of having some food as it was already 4 in the clock . We had already driving more than 10 hours for the day and we knew we would be driving all the way. Interestingly we couldn’t find a good Dhaba in place like Ahmedabad. By the time we reached the city most of the restaurants were closed for lunch and they might no open for couple of hours.
We saw many Pav Bhaji guys preparing veggie for their Bhaji and we knew it wouldn’t be ready even in an hour. We were exhausted by now just because of food. We would have tired not less than 10 restaurants before, we though of just having few loafs of bread. Thinking of given a last try we headed towards a restaurant in corner of the road. When we asked if we would get something to eat, the barer discouragingly said we would only get south India. He didn’t expect such a big smile from us , we were then inside the restaurant waiting for our dosa’s. We couldn’t wait to see the Masala Dosa to be in our table , even when we had completed the Sambar idli’s. It wasn’t a bad choice to have dosa, infact anyways would have served us at that time.
With no problem ahead we were heading towards other part of Gujurat. We had immense faith in Modi that we knew the roads wouldn’t be bad. We crossed many towns along the highways and were driving around 140 Km per hour in Surat- Mumbai highway. The beauty of golden quadrilateral was so good that we didn’t mind even to take a small break. We covered 100 plus kms in less than 45 min, That was so encouraging that after driving only for few hours we covered many hundred kilometers.
We had a late night dinner in one of the Dhaba in outscripts of Mumbai, Yes we were close to the Master city now. With numerous options to eat we didn’t have problem to get couple of roti and panner. After dinner we headed towards Mumbai. Our wonderful drive was halted by rouge truck drivers who have covered all the 4 lane of the road. Crossing hundreds of truck took more than an hour for mere 10 kms. This made us to think of next message what we should carry during our trip . “Highway Driving Etiquettes” is what we would focus on our next trip hopefully we get good sponsorship.
We initially thought of enjoying some late night Chat in Juhu Chowpatty and have a drive over new bandra- worli sealink. That was never a good idea , we finally decided to take bye pass through Thane and take the magnificent Mumbai-Pune highway. After getting helps form many police guys we managed to catch right highway and we reached the Mumbai-Pune highway. The toll was little high obviously we didn’t mind to enjoy the ride. We again clocked 130 plus and got indulged in small rallies. We didn’t get carried away to drive fast as still we had to drive a long way.
We reached pune in early hours and were struggling to get the Sholapur highway. By now we got convinced that we would reach hyd by end of day. It was already more than 3 days on road and also we have covered 3000 kms. With guidance of old uncle’s who were enjoying their morning walk we managed to reach main pune city. Trying to head to Sholapur highway we ended up in an one way were energetic police guys were ready to catch us. They were infact too early for a Saturday anyways they were enjoying the saying of Early birds get their worms.
They asked for Vivek’s licence and started arguing that it was not him in the photos. Even as we managed to convince that the photo was taken 10 years before still they wouldn’t believe. With no option of reversing our age we agreed to pay 100 bucks and headed further. We took a 15 min nap in Sholapur highway as sun was directly hitting on us.
By now we have left golden quadrilateral, if we had similar roads all over India it would really be an incredible India. The much promised Silver cross project doesn’t seem to have happened as we were heading in under construction single road. By this time our average speed has come down to 60’s.
We thought of having some Maharastrian Poha and chai in side by Dhaba . We weren’t lucky, we had to walk after chai as Poha took more than 40 min to be prepared, We still wonder why it took so much time. We managed to drive in not so good road but we covered good amount of distance. After driving all through the day we were in outskirts of the city.
We felt that we should probably take a sabbatical from our current job and continue our journey. We reached outskirts of Hyderabad and halted at a Dhaba to have a late lunch. It wasn’t bad to taste pappu after many days. We were again on the road heading towards Hyderabad which was by now only couple of hundred kms away.
Crowded vehicles with their annoying horn welcomed us in the city. We were able to spot many vehicles which we going in all 360 Degrees and all possible direction. Finally it was time to break from our trip. Vivek and Amit would end their trip in Hyderabad whereas rupesh still had to drive to Chennai.
Rupesh was planning to drive the same night which would make 4 plus continuous nights on the road only difference he would not have a company. After having a good bath after many days laziness started to crib and Rupesh decided to halt for a day before heading Chennai. We met some common friends and had dinner in spicy village from where our trip started.
Rupesh started early in the morning next day driving alone to Chennai. He had done hyd- Chennai many times but this was different, He was driving back after 8000 plus kms. Interestingly he ended up in a small collision outskirts of the city. A learner who was just getting used to his car collided with our darling that too in a signal . Hearing that we have clocked 8000 plus kms and didn’t even have dent, the learner readily agreed to bear the damage cost. We were little worried that our beloved darling was hurt, Anyways he didn’t have any problem before reaching his home.
After coming back to office which seemed like a school annual vacation rejoining we called each other to check. The first thing was about our next trip, yes we are planning our next trip. Next time could be even bigger or a similar trip but all we need is another source of income because the current job wouldnt take us
Thursday, June 17, 2010
CLC: Chapter 9 Party in Gurgoan
We were out from our bed early in the morning. Zojila haunting experience started running in our mind we were ready in our car quickly. We saw that magic cars windshield was frozen. No wonder we were in world’s second coldest inhibited place. We quickly switched on our heaters to have a clear windshield view. It was taking some time to make the thick layer of ice disappear from the windshield, Mean time we checked our tires and underbed of the car to confirm everything is still fine.
We crossed Drass in no time and were heading towards mighty Zojila. We were still in our jackets ,skull caps and gloves. We were getting ready for the worst thing ahead. We wanted to start as early as possible when the snow is still fresh and passing vehicles has not created slush.
For our surprise we did find any vehicle waiting to cross Zojila . Surprisingly we even didn’t find any vehicle coming in other direction. We weren’t sure if Zojila is closed again. Its close to 10 day now before we crossed this exciting pass. Sun has started coming in, it was much warmer now. We were ascending the slope now, we still spotted some snow. We quickly overtook couple of trucks to make sure they are not hindering when the slush comes.
After driving through considerable amount of distance we couldn’t believe that , if this was the same road which gave us much trouble. We weren’t fully convinced that we might not have trouble, we were still expecting the worst ahead. When we passed half the route we realized we wanted more challenge. No we weren’t planning to drive in the remaining snow, but yes we felt the earlier Zojila was better. Almost at the end of the pass we got some trouble in driving mud slush, but by now we were much experienced in these conditions, Infact we were now Changla Trained professionals.
In no time we were in Sonamarag, our favorite place where we were stranded for couple of days. Still the small town was crowded, we spotted many bikers as it was getting warmer. We had our parathas in the same restaurant which we enjoyed many day before.
We wanted to step on the gas pedal as we had a long way to go, Our first target was to stop at Jammu. We had a slight feeling that we might not stop for next 4 days till we reached our home. We aren’t kidding actually we didn’t stop from Drass to Hyderabad some where around 3000 plus Kms.
We reached Srinagar in no time. This time we are in middle of day and almost summer has began. The feeling wasn’t the same what we had few days before. Now the same Srinagar was much warmer or rather it wasn’t like anything we saw. We were quickly getting into our favorite driving costume. We were already in our jeans and tees.
The streets were now very crowded and gave a similar looks of Hyderabad. People used to Hyderabad traffic can definitely imagine this. We didn’t want to spend even a little time there, we headed fast towards Jammu. As the sun started to show intensity we were happily driving in our boxers.
We crossed Shangrila , the place where we rested before and driving through many tunnels and turns we reached Jammu. Now it was a time to decide if we really needed a stop. The decision was unanimous we continued our journey even though we have already driving 400 plus kms in Ghat road.
The road from Jammu towards Chandigarh was good a one and we had already driven that. After reaching Jammu outskirts we decided to take a break for dinner. We had Rotis and ma chole ki Dhal . No wonder we have some many Dhabas in Punjab and I guess each one of them are good. After almost full stomach we decided to start our Buttermilk drinking habit . We ordered for Namkeen lassi, after few minutes we see a four 2 liters container with buttermilk. We were just stuck by the quantity of butter milk being served. We managed to complete them with huge struggle.
We were again on road driving through the deserted road as clock was moving close to midnight. We crossed pathankot and wanted to head towards Hosiarpur . We were stuck amidst howling dogs trying to find the highway. Under construction roads were bearing Take diversion board and no wonder we were totally lost in direction. After struggling for good 30 odd min we decided to try our luck one last time, If not we decided to park the vehicle in side of the road and take a nap till day comes.
We were lucky , we stopped couple of guys who managed to show us road. We were again cruising in the highway towards Hosiarpur . We managed to cross Hosiarpur and we headed towards Chandigarh without much problem. After driving many hours we had a problem. Head light of our car went off, We parked our car under one of the street lights. We managed to check if there was any contact issue from the electric relay. We managed to make our hands dirty trying to fix the issue, This time we weren’t lucky we couldn’t fix the issue.
After trying for good one hour we parked the vehicle in Truck lye bye. The clock showed 4 AM. We took a quick nap till we had day light. We again started heading towards Chandigarh when the clock was showing 5.40 in the morning. The Pleasant morning made us to drive with our windows down. After driving couple of hours we reached Chandigarh.
After getting fresh we headed straight to Hyundai service center in Mohali. We requested them to fix the issue quickly as we had to drive a long way. Service manager was impressed with us as we came from leh and were heading towards Chennai. He fixed the issue in couple of hours. Thanks to Hyundai for its service.
We got caught again by Chandigarh police. There is definitely something wrong we were caught twice for some weird reason. This time we couldn’t argue with the police guy as he was making his stand right. We couldn’t answer his question , rather how could we. He aksed us “why Chandigrah’s special traffic rules are not published in Chennai local paper.’ We paid the fine and headed towards delhi.
We again crossed our familiar route of Ambala, Kurushetra,Panipet and reached delhi around evening 4 o clock. We headed towards Gurgoan to meet Ramji on the way. Ramji’s was already making arrangement for a big party, No wonder he is our group Leader(Engal Anna)
We crossed the amazing toll gate to reach Gurgoan, where hundreds of cars crossed at the same moment. We didn’t have much trouble in locating Ramji’s house, one being it was in prime location and other being he was spotted us right from the 13th floor balcony. We managed to see him from a good amount of distance.
We were so used to Ramji’s party that we wouldn’t say no to him, We have spent weeks just sitting in his couch enjoying food and beverages. That’s was in US now what’s awaiting us in Gurgoan. We were quickly joined by few more guys. It was good relaxed couple of hours after many days of driving. We enjoyed Songs, Shere, Jokes and of course the wide range of beverages. The party was so relaxing that we felt that we just had to drive form Gurgoan to Chennai.
We started right after the party just after midnight as we had a non drinker driver. It didn’t really matters if other guys were slouched apart from driver
We crossed Drass in no time and were heading towards mighty Zojila. We were still in our jackets ,skull caps and gloves. We were getting ready for the worst thing ahead. We wanted to start as early as possible when the snow is still fresh and passing vehicles has not created slush.
For our surprise we did find any vehicle waiting to cross Zojila . Surprisingly we even didn’t find any vehicle coming in other direction. We weren’t sure if Zojila is closed again. Its close to 10 day now before we crossed this exciting pass. Sun has started coming in, it was much warmer now. We were ascending the slope now, we still spotted some snow. We quickly overtook couple of trucks to make sure they are not hindering when the slush comes.
After driving through considerable amount of distance we couldn’t believe that , if this was the same road which gave us much trouble. We weren’t fully convinced that we might not have trouble, we were still expecting the worst ahead. When we passed half the route we realized we wanted more challenge. No we weren’t planning to drive in the remaining snow, but yes we felt the earlier Zojila was better. Almost at the end of the pass we got some trouble in driving mud slush, but by now we were much experienced in these conditions, Infact we were now Changla Trained professionals.
In no time we were in Sonamarag, our favorite place where we were stranded for couple of days. Still the small town was crowded, we spotted many bikers as it was getting warmer. We had our parathas in the same restaurant which we enjoyed many day before.
We wanted to step on the gas pedal as we had a long way to go, Our first target was to stop at Jammu. We had a slight feeling that we might not stop for next 4 days till we reached our home. We aren’t kidding actually we didn’t stop from Drass to Hyderabad some where around 3000 plus Kms.
We reached Srinagar in no time. This time we are in middle of day and almost summer has began. The feeling wasn’t the same what we had few days before. Now the same Srinagar was much warmer or rather it wasn’t like anything we saw. We were quickly getting into our favorite driving costume. We were already in our jeans and tees.
The streets were now very crowded and gave a similar looks of Hyderabad. People used to Hyderabad traffic can definitely imagine this. We didn’t want to spend even a little time there, we headed fast towards Jammu. As the sun started to show intensity we were happily driving in our boxers.
We crossed Shangrila , the place where we rested before and driving through many tunnels and turns we reached Jammu. Now it was a time to decide if we really needed a stop. The decision was unanimous we continued our journey even though we have already driving 400 plus kms in Ghat road.
The road from Jammu towards Chandigarh was good a one and we had already driven that. After reaching Jammu outskirts we decided to take a break for dinner. We had Rotis and ma chole ki Dhal . No wonder we have some many Dhabas in Punjab and I guess each one of them are good. After almost full stomach we decided to start our Buttermilk drinking habit . We ordered for Namkeen lassi, after few minutes we see a four 2 liters container with buttermilk. We were just stuck by the quantity of butter milk being served. We managed to complete them with huge struggle.
We were again on road driving through the deserted road as clock was moving close to midnight. We crossed pathankot and wanted to head towards Hosiarpur . We were stuck amidst howling dogs trying to find the highway. Under construction roads were bearing Take diversion board and no wonder we were totally lost in direction. After struggling for good 30 odd min we decided to try our luck one last time, If not we decided to park the vehicle in side of the road and take a nap till day comes.
We were lucky , we stopped couple of guys who managed to show us road. We were again cruising in the highway towards Hosiarpur . We managed to cross Hosiarpur and we headed towards Chandigarh without much problem. After driving many hours we had a problem. Head light of our car went off, We parked our car under one of the street lights. We managed to check if there was any contact issue from the electric relay. We managed to make our hands dirty trying to fix the issue, This time we weren’t lucky we couldn’t fix the issue.
After trying for good one hour we parked the vehicle in Truck lye bye. The clock showed 4 AM. We took a quick nap till we had day light. We again started heading towards Chandigarh when the clock was showing 5.40 in the morning. The Pleasant morning made us to drive with our windows down. After driving couple of hours we reached Chandigarh.
After getting fresh we headed straight to Hyundai service center in Mohali. We requested them to fix the issue quickly as we had to drive a long way. Service manager was impressed with us as we came from leh and were heading towards Chennai. He fixed the issue in couple of hours. Thanks to Hyundai for its service.
We got caught again by Chandigarh police. There is definitely something wrong we were caught twice for some weird reason. This time we couldn’t argue with the police guy as he was making his stand right. We couldn’t answer his question , rather how could we. He aksed us “why Chandigrah’s special traffic rules are not published in Chennai local paper.’ We paid the fine and headed towards delhi.
We again crossed our familiar route of Ambala, Kurushetra,Panipet and reached delhi around evening 4 o clock. We headed towards Gurgoan to meet Ramji on the way. Ramji’s was already making arrangement for a big party, No wonder he is our group Leader(Engal Anna)
We crossed the amazing toll gate to reach Gurgoan, where hundreds of cars crossed at the same moment. We didn’t have much trouble in locating Ramji’s house, one being it was in prime location and other being he was spotted us right from the 13th floor balcony. We managed to see him from a good amount of distance.
We were so used to Ramji’s party that we wouldn’t say no to him, We have spent weeks just sitting in his couch enjoying food and beverages. That’s was in US now what’s awaiting us in Gurgoan. We were quickly joined by few more guys. It was good relaxed couple of hours after many days of driving. We enjoyed Songs, Shere, Jokes and of course the wide range of beverages. The party was so relaxing that we felt that we just had to drive form Gurgoan to Chennai.
We started right after the party just after midnight as we had a non drinker driver. It didn’t really matters if other guys were slouched apart from driver
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
CLC: Chapter 8 Hunt for blue Eyed Villagers
We were ready to have a stroll in leh towards market. We were planning to do a bit of shopping before finishing our dinner. We had one more important work to do, we didn’t want to travel through the pathetic roads of Madhya Pradesh. We were working on an option of traveling on the golden quadrilateral.
First we stopped at the Internet café , where we did a quick browsing of the roads which we should take if we are going on the golden quadrilateral. We thanked the lady of the internet café for suggesting us Summer Harvest the restaurant we were going for the straight third time.
We called tashi to say that we would be starting back our journey a day early from leh as the manali road is not open. Tashi to our surprise agreed to join us during our dinner. Casually speaking we say that it would be little boring for us to take the same route. Tashi gave us a surprise saying that we could actually drive along Indus where multiple villages fall.
These Aryan villages are said to inhabited by descended of Alexander era and they would have sharp features. He said that people would have sharp nose and are blue eyed. We were exited because we not only got an alternate route but also an interesting thing to watch during our return journey.
We returned to our home stay and started a quick plan, We weren’t sure if we should continuously drive from leh to Chennai. We weren’t crazy we have already driven 4 continuous day and this would be a day extra. After much of a consideration for zojila we decided to have our first day break at drass, so as to cross zojila during the day.
We started our journey at a decent time in the morning, after neatly arranging the things in our darling we were on roads again. We again crossed the wonderful black roads and magnetic hills before taking the diversion into the Aryan village.
As the availability of food wouldn’t be there till we cross those villages we decided to have our lunch in Khalste. After having couple of roti’s and kadi we were at the check post. We finally used our permit which was got after much struggle here. After passing through the checkpoint we got the first view of mighty Indus.
We started driving on the lonely road gazing and admiring the Indus. The amount of flow of water just amazed us. Though one side was a gushing water stream other sides of the road were just rocks. These huge rocks were so seasoned from the water flow, they resembled lying hippopotamus.
We were so used to the lonely roads, not spotting a single vehicle even for hours didn’t bother us. Our first site of unique villages we felt from the green lands which were irrigated by this mighty river. These villages were one of the amazing this we have ever seen. Houses erected on the giant rocks beneath which the might river is flowing, between them are these green fertile land. We also spotted some occasional bridges connecting the houses from the water falls separating them.
We were by now just driving not seeing the roads but just admiring these villages. Soon we crossed a tiny waterfall which was falling exactly on middle of the roads. We were by then into a village, we were just drooling their eyes to check their color. We then say to each other no they weren’t blue we still have to go further.
We crossed many villages of equal beauty. We did see some beautiful kids whose eyes weren’t blue but they were really pretty. We crossed few more army checkpoints, where they treated us by giving apple juices.
We were suddenly halted by a flowing stream of water right in the middle of road. We could easily spot a 3 feet flow at the end of the road. We weren’t sure if the water would be strong enough to pull our darling. Rupesh goes ahead to measure the depth of the flow in the road and their force. We quickly apply our thought since it’s a cold water the density of the water would be more hence it might drag heavier. We tried to keep the car with maximum weight with just one person guiding and other still in the car. We slowly move in the stream crossing the same, we were really excited with another new experience.
We wouldn’t have driven much we again got a similar stream of water, but this time it is little stronger and the space between the falls and road is even lesser. But we were little used to these condition by now, we crossed the stream in similar manner.
By now we would have steered 100 bends on the hilly road we still haven’t reached our destination. Evening had started falling and we were driving on the hill which was just 10 km away from Pakistan. We finally crossed all the checkpost but we were steeply climbing now. We weren’t interested to cross a snow peaked mountain, but we didn’t have much of a choice.
Driving further high we spot again an amazing set of villages who are managing their agriculture in a wonderful way. Person who have slept would have though that we were driving somewhere in Peru in ruins of maachu pichu. After clicking few snaps we headed towards kargil.
While descending down we were passing through an incredible landscape. Its definitly difficult to find such an landscape. We also enjoyed the unique things, we saw , sun, moon, snow, mountain, river, barren lands, rocks, all the same time.
By the time we reached kargil, clock was showing 7.00 PM, our destination was Drass which was around 2 hours of drive from there. We wasted close to an hour hunting for a gas station. At a gas station we again meet a stranger who immediately recognized our effort of driving. We exchanged contacts and he promised to check if he can publish our trip details in the magazine
We didn’t have much of a progress as we were halted by a stuck traffic. One of the army trucks had derailed and their recovery work has halted the traffic. It took a considerable time in clearing the traffic and again we were admiring the heavy flowing river. By then the river was roaring as it was silent late evening. We occasionally opened our windows to hear the roaring river.
We were little skeptical if we would get a place to stay in the small town as it was close to mid night now. We manage to get accommodated at Jammu and Kashmir tourism bungalow. The care take was generous enough to give a Rs 400 room at Rs 300. We didn’t have much of an activity to do as we managed to grap few hand made sandwiches in car itself. We quickly fell into sound sleep not thinking of journey ahead.
First we stopped at the Internet café , where we did a quick browsing of the roads which we should take if we are going on the golden quadrilateral. We thanked the lady of the internet café for suggesting us Summer Harvest the restaurant we were going for the straight third time.
We called tashi to say that we would be starting back our journey a day early from leh as the manali road is not open. Tashi to our surprise agreed to join us during our dinner. Casually speaking we say that it would be little boring for us to take the same route. Tashi gave us a surprise saying that we could actually drive along Indus where multiple villages fall.
These Aryan villages are said to inhabited by descended of Alexander era and they would have sharp features. He said that people would have sharp nose and are blue eyed. We were exited because we not only got an alternate route but also an interesting thing to watch during our return journey.
We returned to our home stay and started a quick plan, We weren’t sure if we should continuously drive from leh to Chennai. We weren’t crazy we have already driven 4 continuous day and this would be a day extra. After much of a consideration for zojila we decided to have our first day break at drass, so as to cross zojila during the day.
We started our journey at a decent time in the morning, after neatly arranging the things in our darling we were on roads again. We again crossed the wonderful black roads and magnetic hills before taking the diversion into the Aryan village.
As the availability of food wouldn’t be there till we cross those villages we decided to have our lunch in Khalste. After having couple of roti’s and kadi we were at the check post. We finally used our permit which was got after much struggle here. After passing through the checkpoint we got the first view of mighty Indus.
We started driving on the lonely road gazing and admiring the Indus. The amount of flow of water just amazed us. Though one side was a gushing water stream other sides of the road were just rocks. These huge rocks were so seasoned from the water flow, they resembled lying hippopotamus.
We were so used to the lonely roads, not spotting a single vehicle even for hours didn’t bother us. Our first site of unique villages we felt from the green lands which were irrigated by this mighty river. These villages were one of the amazing this we have ever seen. Houses erected on the giant rocks beneath which the might river is flowing, between them are these green fertile land. We also spotted some occasional bridges connecting the houses from the water falls separating them.
We were by now just driving not seeing the roads but just admiring these villages. Soon we crossed a tiny waterfall which was falling exactly on middle of the roads. We were by then into a village, we were just drooling their eyes to check their color. We then say to each other no they weren’t blue we still have to go further.
We crossed many villages of equal beauty. We did see some beautiful kids whose eyes weren’t blue but they were really pretty. We crossed few more army checkpoints, where they treated us by giving apple juices.
We were suddenly halted by a flowing stream of water right in the middle of road. We could easily spot a 3 feet flow at the end of the road. We weren’t sure if the water would be strong enough to pull our darling. Rupesh goes ahead to measure the depth of the flow in the road and their force. We quickly apply our thought since it’s a cold water the density of the water would be more hence it might drag heavier. We tried to keep the car with maximum weight with just one person guiding and other still in the car. We slowly move in the stream crossing the same, we were really excited with another new experience.
We wouldn’t have driven much we again got a similar stream of water, but this time it is little stronger and the space between the falls and road is even lesser. But we were little used to these condition by now, we crossed the stream in similar manner.
By now we would have steered 100 bends on the hilly road we still haven’t reached our destination. Evening had started falling and we were driving on the hill which was just 10 km away from Pakistan. We finally crossed all the checkpost but we were steeply climbing now. We weren’t interested to cross a snow peaked mountain, but we didn’t have much of a choice.
Driving further high we spot again an amazing set of villages who are managing their agriculture in a wonderful way. Person who have slept would have though that we were driving somewhere in Peru in ruins of maachu pichu. After clicking few snaps we headed towards kargil.
While descending down we were passing through an incredible landscape. Its definitly difficult to find such an landscape. We also enjoyed the unique things, we saw , sun, moon, snow, mountain, river, barren lands, rocks, all the same time.
By the time we reached kargil, clock was showing 7.00 PM, our destination was Drass which was around 2 hours of drive from there. We wasted close to an hour hunting for a gas station. At a gas station we again meet a stranger who immediately recognized our effort of driving. We exchanged contacts and he promised to check if he can publish our trip details in the magazine
We didn’t have much of a progress as we were halted by a stuck traffic. One of the army trucks had derailed and their recovery work has halted the traffic. It took a considerable time in clearing the traffic and again we were admiring the heavy flowing river. By then the river was roaring as it was silent late evening. We occasionally opened our windows to hear the roaring river.
We were little skeptical if we would get a place to stay in the small town as it was close to mid night now. We manage to get accommodated at Jammu and Kashmir tourism bungalow. The care take was generous enough to give a Rs 400 room at Rs 300. We didn’t have much of an activity to do as we managed to grap few hand made sandwiches in car itself. We quickly fell into sound sleep not thinking of journey ahead.
Monday, June 7, 2010
CLC: Chapter 7 Conquering Mighty Chang-la
We started the day late but it didn’t help us. We were taking about the khurdang la right from the start of our trip. Road not being open for khurdang la and nubra was really bad. Khurdang la is the highest motor able road in world lying at 18,800 ft and missing that was not what we anticipated. The chances of road opening to manali were also bleak.
We weren’t sure if should just stick on to the local site seeing or still take our chances of atleast going to pangong tso. We got mixed news of road being open for pangong. Finally we believed in our success mantra “Trust” , then we headed towards the blue lake. We were also planning to go to Tso morriri but we weren’t sure as this was lying in manali route.
We were trying to take few photocopies of the permit so that we can handover them to army security if required. We wanted to make sure we had full fuel and air is proper in our tires. We requested for direction with a Buddhist monk for gas station, He made sure that he guided us till we reached gas station. After filling gas we filled air manually with our portable air kit.
We quickly drove few kms as road was good. We crossed many monasteries shey place being one of them. We soon see that we were moving steadily on the slopes of the snow peaked mountains. We soon switched our GPS to track our altitude , it immediately showed 14,000 ft. We were really excited as we were coming close to 15,000ft. By this time we saw few vehicles coming in front of us, we tried to stop then and enquired about the road. Most of them said its difficult to pass as the entire road is covered with snow.
Zojila expierence was still fresh in our minds ,but still we headed ahead, We soon started driving in snow. Now the roads were getting narrow, even a small slip on the sides would be a disaster. Visibility was decreasing as we were reaching close to 16,000 ft. What ever we could see was just snow and occasionally a black patch which we could call as road. Vehicle was totally out of traction and control, we were just moving in inches as two of the guys were showing way for the driver. Anxiously driving further we were totally excited when we reached 17,000 ft. By the time we reached the peak point our GPS was showing 17,586 ft and then we stand on the peak of second highest motor able road in world.
We were stopped temporarily by army guys as cleaning work was going on the road. Giant bulldozer was sweeping the roads so that we can altealst slide if not drive on the snow. After a quick chat with army veteran who has spent 17 years in the same place we get a tip to cross chang-la around 9.00 Am in the morning next day.Amit was mean time feeding the stray snow dogs. Dogs definitely would have enjoyed the fun more than the biscuits it had.
Immediately descending down first we spot a completely frozen lake , could be a river. We could distinguish as it was just snow everywhere. Driving further we were surprised to see a completely different landscape which had no resemblance to those snowy mountains we crossed. Still puzzled we head further to get surprised more.
After driving along a well paved road we were passing a completely dried river. The beach sands were still holding the traces of water flow. Heading further we were experiencing sand safari, yes the road were completely covered by loose clean sand and our car was just floating in them.
By now we were getting little skeptical as we had only 10 km to reach pangong tso. We didn’t spot a single person for almost couple of hours now. We again enjoyed driving alone in the road rather all kind of roads. Now we were passing through rough patches of road where most part of the roads were covered by boulders. We were just couple of kms away from the lake still nothing has been spotted.
We were afraid if the lake was really still there and would we get something to eat there. We finally spotted few workers in a truck, we checkd with them if we could find some stores there. We crossed a model village and then we reached this amazing blue lake completely serene.
We headed straight to a small restaurant that just had some maggi and eggs to serve us. Our initial plan was to pitch a tent along the lake, but the weather doesn’t seem to be conducive. After a quick lunch we checked with them if we can find place to stay. They had a small place we thought that was great.
By this time it was snowing in the lake, it was a salt water lake hence it was not freezing at least for the eye. We were already struggling to catch our breath, air was really thin there. We were experiencing little headache and nausea due to lack of oxygen. We had a stroll over lake we felt it’s better to view lake from our room.
Honestly it just the experience rather than words for the lake. Such an amazing serene place. Even when the brown mountain surrounds the lake, water was still spotting a blue look. The water in the lake was crystal clear every single detail in the water bed could be seen easily. The best thing would be is just sit around the lake and spend months just seeing the color change of the lake.
We really didn’t feel that we were under a roof as bed,pillows were really wet due to mist. We ensured with the restaurants guys that we got few roties and dal for dinner. We played cards for some time . We couldnt even laugh thinking of rupesh duck hunting effort, Every time we laugh we were running out of oxygen.
We managed to learn some Ladakhi with the local girls in the restaurant. After finishing dinner we struggled to get some sleep as the place was really cold over there. After rolling for some time and making ourselves warm we managed to catch some sleep.
Morning was early as the sun light came early but still we were just managing to handle the cold weather. Thanking and catching few picks with locals we started our journey back. As this was early we could spot some mongoose kind of rats which we getting first rays of sun.
Now it’s again the time to return back to the wonderful road which we struggled to pass a day before. We had to drop tso morriri as manali road wouldn’t be open for another 10 days at least. After driving through all sorts of road we are stopped at the army check post.
Army guys requested us to put chains to our wheels, we apologized saying we didn’t have one. Seeing the vehicle number plate many guys from madras regiment quickly came for a chat. They suggested us that we would wait till the army conveys goes ahead as they might clear some snow. The road was worse than yesterday because there were heavy winds blowing which were depositing snow on the pathway. Army guys were little cautious as there were couple of deaths due to avalanche in the same areas couple of days before. We came to know from them that temp on the way were planning to pitch in the tent was -20C. Guess that would have been the end of out trip
By now we were copying old tamil songs for the army guys who were just passing time by seeing only snow. We were hearing details of siachen and their brave stories. After waiting for close to an hour we spot army convey who quickly arrives. We followed them till the check post . Though we had few problem we handled them as by then we were pro in these condition.
We were happy to spot the army souvenirs shop being open. Being completely satisfied with 17,586 feet road and the heavy snow condition we almost bought everything in the store. Probably we are still wearing them while writing and reading this blog. Unarguably our memory and experience is the best sovereign we carried. We even thought of updating our resume with details such as Chang-la trained professionals.
While descending down we were indulged in a small fight with local cab driver. Later we realized that the driver was speeding as there were sick people in the cab. We offered to help them but they said they were good.
The best of the Pangong tso trip was that we could see everything in one single journey, Snow, mud,mountains, river, lake , Even places where half sun rays falls. Still wondering the landscape we reached leh again. We headed back to the summer harvest for american chopsey and Wanton soup.
We weren’t sure if should just stick on to the local site seeing or still take our chances of atleast going to pangong tso. We got mixed news of road being open for pangong. Finally we believed in our success mantra “Trust” , then we headed towards the blue lake. We were also planning to go to Tso morriri but we weren’t sure as this was lying in manali route.
We were trying to take few photocopies of the permit so that we can handover them to army security if required. We wanted to make sure we had full fuel and air is proper in our tires. We requested for direction with a Buddhist monk for gas station, He made sure that he guided us till we reached gas station. After filling gas we filled air manually with our portable air kit.
We quickly drove few kms as road was good. We crossed many monasteries shey place being one of them. We soon see that we were moving steadily on the slopes of the snow peaked mountains. We soon switched our GPS to track our altitude , it immediately showed 14,000 ft. We were really excited as we were coming close to 15,000ft. By this time we saw few vehicles coming in front of us, we tried to stop then and enquired about the road. Most of them said its difficult to pass as the entire road is covered with snow.
Zojila expierence was still fresh in our minds ,but still we headed ahead, We soon started driving in snow. Now the roads were getting narrow, even a small slip on the sides would be a disaster. Visibility was decreasing as we were reaching close to 16,000 ft. What ever we could see was just snow and occasionally a black patch which we could call as road. Vehicle was totally out of traction and control, we were just moving in inches as two of the guys were showing way for the driver. Anxiously driving further we were totally excited when we reached 17,000 ft. By the time we reached the peak point our GPS was showing 17,586 ft and then we stand on the peak of second highest motor able road in world.
We were stopped temporarily by army guys as cleaning work was going on the road. Giant bulldozer was sweeping the roads so that we can altealst slide if not drive on the snow. After a quick chat with army veteran who has spent 17 years in the same place we get a tip to cross chang-la around 9.00 Am in the morning next day.Amit was mean time feeding the stray snow dogs. Dogs definitely would have enjoyed the fun more than the biscuits it had.
Immediately descending down first we spot a completely frozen lake , could be a river. We could distinguish as it was just snow everywhere. Driving further we were surprised to see a completely different landscape which had no resemblance to those snowy mountains we crossed. Still puzzled we head further to get surprised more.
After driving along a well paved road we were passing a completely dried river. The beach sands were still holding the traces of water flow. Heading further we were experiencing sand safari, yes the road were completely covered by loose clean sand and our car was just floating in them.
By now we were getting little skeptical as we had only 10 km to reach pangong tso. We didn’t spot a single person for almost couple of hours now. We again enjoyed driving alone in the road rather all kind of roads. Now we were passing through rough patches of road where most part of the roads were covered by boulders. We were just couple of kms away from the lake still nothing has been spotted.
We were afraid if the lake was really still there and would we get something to eat there. We finally spotted few workers in a truck, we checkd with them if we could find some stores there. We crossed a model village and then we reached this amazing blue lake completely serene.
We headed straight to a small restaurant that just had some maggi and eggs to serve us. Our initial plan was to pitch a tent along the lake, but the weather doesn’t seem to be conducive. After a quick lunch we checked with them if we can find place to stay. They had a small place we thought that was great.
By this time it was snowing in the lake, it was a salt water lake hence it was not freezing at least for the eye. We were already struggling to catch our breath, air was really thin there. We were experiencing little headache and nausea due to lack of oxygen. We had a stroll over lake we felt it’s better to view lake from our room.
Honestly it just the experience rather than words for the lake. Such an amazing serene place. Even when the brown mountain surrounds the lake, water was still spotting a blue look. The water in the lake was crystal clear every single detail in the water bed could be seen easily. The best thing would be is just sit around the lake and spend months just seeing the color change of the lake.
We really didn’t feel that we were under a roof as bed,pillows were really wet due to mist. We ensured with the restaurants guys that we got few roties and dal for dinner. We played cards for some time . We couldnt even laugh thinking of rupesh duck hunting effort, Every time we laugh we were running out of oxygen.
We managed to learn some Ladakhi with the local girls in the restaurant. After finishing dinner we struggled to get some sleep as the place was really cold over there. After rolling for some time and making ourselves warm we managed to catch some sleep.
Morning was early as the sun light came early but still we were just managing to handle the cold weather. Thanking and catching few picks with locals we started our journey back. As this was early we could spot some mongoose kind of rats which we getting first rays of sun.
Now it’s again the time to return back to the wonderful road which we struggled to pass a day before. We had to drop tso morriri as manali road wouldn’t be open for another 10 days at least. After driving through all sorts of road we are stopped at the army check post.
Army guys requested us to put chains to our wheels, we apologized saying we didn’t have one. Seeing the vehicle number plate many guys from madras regiment quickly came for a chat. They suggested us that we would wait till the army conveys goes ahead as they might clear some snow. The road was worse than yesterday because there were heavy winds blowing which were depositing snow on the pathway. Army guys were little cautious as there were couple of deaths due to avalanche in the same areas couple of days before. We came to know from them that temp on the way were planning to pitch in the tent was -20C. Guess that would have been the end of out trip
By now we were copying old tamil songs for the army guys who were just passing time by seeing only snow. We were hearing details of siachen and their brave stories. After waiting for close to an hour we spot army convey who quickly arrives. We followed them till the check post . Though we had few problem we handled them as by then we were pro in these condition.
We were happy to spot the army souvenirs shop being open. Being completely satisfied with 17,586 feet road and the heavy snow condition we almost bought everything in the store. Probably we are still wearing them while writing and reading this blog. Unarguably our memory and experience is the best sovereign we carried. We even thought of updating our resume with details such as Chang-la trained professionals.
While descending down we were indulged in a small fight with local cab driver. Later we realized that the driver was speeding as there were sick people in the cab. We offered to help them but they said they were good.
The best of the Pangong tso trip was that we could see everything in one single journey, Snow, mud,mountains, river, lake , Even places where half sun rays falls. Still wondering the landscape we reached leh again. We headed back to the summer harvest for american chopsey and Wanton soup.
CLC: Chapter 6 Drama of Permit
We left kargil early in the day as we had to reach leh by 2.00 pm to make sure we get our permits. The start of the journey wasn’t that great as we were immediately passing through under construction road. We filled fuel in Kargil as that would be the last gas station before leh.
After riding through pathetic road for many hours we covered a mere 50 km, The reason being we were over cautious. We managed to climb Fotula the highest point in leh Srinagar highway which was at a height of 13,497. Though we knew we would be climbing much higher distance in couple of days we were little happy to click a snap over there.
Once we crossed Fotula, dry brown lands started welcoming us. We were just seeing barren Brown Mountain all over the place. Snow has completely melted leaving wonderful trace of them being there. Though we could still spot the snow capped mountain in longer distance it was just the brown dried mountain which were catching our attention.
After traveling for quite a while our eyes couldn’t miss the most crooked road. We should be definitely giving the superlative term as their crookedness was no match. It would be 100 San Francisco crooked streets in wild. After clicking few snap we were enjoying the lazy day happily absorbing the bright sun.
After racing through the crooked road, Yep we literally did, We were down the slope in few minutes. As we didn’t have our breakfast we were planning to have some chai at least by mid day. We saw a lonely dhaba down the slope we stopped in there for chai. We were gazing at few firangs who were already enjoying their black tea. All of a sudden our eyes fell on the fresh Sabzi made in Mr. Sanjay Dhaba. It was very attractive which made us order some aloo paratha. We enjoyed paratha and gobi sabzi and then headed towards leh.
We were little relaxed as we had just 50 km to leh and clock was just ticking 1.00 PM. Then most amazing road was awaiting us. It was fresh black road out of nowhere. It seemed like this fresh well laid roads leads no where as we couldnt spot even a single person or rather a single living creature for 50 kms. An initial view of the place will mislead anybody.
We then spot the magnetic hill which we were looking for. It’s said that the place defies gravity and vehicle would move upwards in the slope. We quickly park our car put them in neutral gear and watch what happens. All of a sudden vehicle starts moving upwards not just few millimeters but a good distance at 20 Kmph speed. We were surprised not sure how its happening we tried again in a complete slope, This time the vehicle is just still . We get convinced by now yep there could be magnetic force. We are not sure if it’s just the optical illusion as claimed or really a magnetic force behind that.
We reached Leh outskirts where first time we spot Indus River, Again we didn’t know that we would drive a whole day along the might river. We became too much complacent and we decided to visit hall of fame. The hall of fame did give us good entertainment as we were able to lay our hands is ammos, AK47 and other machine guns. Unfortunately we didn’t check our watch, what a bad thing for us it just few minutes to 4.
We suddenly realize that we had to get the inner line permits which will allow us to visit our next places. We reached District office 15 minutes past 4 just to find closed rooms. We curse each other and are lost not knowing what to do. All of a sudden we get a spark saying that if D.O office is closed we still can get a permit from SP’s office. We hurried towards SP office again to find a new rule. The permit can be issued in SP’s office only if we have an affidavit. Then we find where district court is, so as we can get an affidavit.
So why are we doing so much to get a permit, Next day is Sunday and we would loose two valuable days just to get permit and we cannot afford that. Once we reach court we don’t find anybody except a security guard. We patiently narrate our story saying we have traveled 4,000 Km and missed DC office just by 15 min. He takes pity on us and calls a layer, they are somewhere in city. After many calls we find a lady called Sayara banu who was near the court with her kid. She comes to court and helped us writing an affidavit. But the checkpoint was we need to get a notary attested on the same. Her husband is there in the market who can attest the stamp paper. By this time clock was already showing 5.
We decided to spilt amit was sent to stop SP from leaving office. Yes “Stop” till we get the affidavit attested. We called the lawyer to check where we should come to get attested and then we head towards Golden bakery which was our destination. With much struggle in the new city we find golden bakery, we call him just to find that there are two golden bakeries in the city. Common things shouldn’t be this bad, we found the next golden bakers and get attested. Mean time Amit tries to narrate the whole story to SP and convince him to stay for few more min.
Amit calls us to let us know that now affidavit is not required, they just require hard copies of our identity which is in the car. Struggling though the one way and weak signal we miss read his message. We reached SP office after 15 min by then SP is gone. But luckily he has signed the papers for us. We were able to collect the permit after submitting our identity to other police men who were just waiting for us.
Yep this was total drama from which we visited all important offices of the city and all have covered most part of city just in 20 min. Amazing isn’t it. Now comes the most amazing part in the whole episode we have met 6-7 people who had helped us but didn’t even bother to get a penny. For that matter we didn’t even pay for the stamp paper and the attestation. City minds could never take this and we couldn’t believe that people could help to such an extended. We called and thanked everybody over phone
We headed towards market and called MrTashi the person whom we met in kargil in roads. By now we were convinced that we can only meet best persons in leh probably Tibetan warmth. Tashi was happy to hear us on phone and immediately met us in market. We asked his help in getting a hotel. He in turn takes us to a home stay which we would remember for a very long time. He also insisted that we have a tea at his house sometime.
The home stay was best place we stayed in this trip. Abundance of Tibetan crafts and excessive decoration made us soak into them. After having complimentary tea we decided to taste momo’s in the city.
We walked few kilometers to land in summer harvest which was one of the best restaurants in leh. We tried Momo’s which was as Tibetan as it could be. Wanton soup and American chopsey was delight. After pretty full stomach we headed back to home stay. The walk was much relaxing. We knew we were back in civilization as our mobiles phones started ringing again.
We didn’t plan for the next day as the statuses of roads being open were not good. Before calling it day, we played cards for some time. Cozy beds beckoned us and we didn’t get up till late in the morning
After riding through pathetic road for many hours we covered a mere 50 km, The reason being we were over cautious. We managed to climb Fotula the highest point in leh Srinagar highway which was at a height of 13,497. Though we knew we would be climbing much higher distance in couple of days we were little happy to click a snap over there.
Once we crossed Fotula, dry brown lands started welcoming us. We were just seeing barren Brown Mountain all over the place. Snow has completely melted leaving wonderful trace of them being there. Though we could still spot the snow capped mountain in longer distance it was just the brown dried mountain which were catching our attention.
After traveling for quite a while our eyes couldn’t miss the most crooked road. We should be definitely giving the superlative term as their crookedness was no match. It would be 100 San Francisco crooked streets in wild. After clicking few snap we were enjoying the lazy day happily absorbing the bright sun.
After racing through the crooked road, Yep we literally did, We were down the slope in few minutes. As we didn’t have our breakfast we were planning to have some chai at least by mid day. We saw a lonely dhaba down the slope we stopped in there for chai. We were gazing at few firangs who were already enjoying their black tea. All of a sudden our eyes fell on the fresh Sabzi made in Mr. Sanjay Dhaba. It was very attractive which made us order some aloo paratha. We enjoyed paratha and gobi sabzi and then headed towards leh.
We were little relaxed as we had just 50 km to leh and clock was just ticking 1.00 PM. Then most amazing road was awaiting us. It was fresh black road out of nowhere. It seemed like this fresh well laid roads leads no where as we couldnt spot even a single person or rather a single living creature for 50 kms. An initial view of the place will mislead anybody.
We then spot the magnetic hill which we were looking for. It’s said that the place defies gravity and vehicle would move upwards in the slope. We quickly park our car put them in neutral gear and watch what happens. All of a sudden vehicle starts moving upwards not just few millimeters but a good distance at 20 Kmph speed. We were surprised not sure how its happening we tried again in a complete slope, This time the vehicle is just still . We get convinced by now yep there could be magnetic force. We are not sure if it’s just the optical illusion as claimed or really a magnetic force behind that.
We reached Leh outskirts where first time we spot Indus River, Again we didn’t know that we would drive a whole day along the might river. We became too much complacent and we decided to visit hall of fame. The hall of fame did give us good entertainment as we were able to lay our hands is ammos, AK47 and other machine guns. Unfortunately we didn’t check our watch, what a bad thing for us it just few minutes to 4.
We suddenly realize that we had to get the inner line permits which will allow us to visit our next places. We reached District office 15 minutes past 4 just to find closed rooms. We curse each other and are lost not knowing what to do. All of a sudden we get a spark saying that if D.O office is closed we still can get a permit from SP’s office. We hurried towards SP office again to find a new rule. The permit can be issued in SP’s office only if we have an affidavit. Then we find where district court is, so as we can get an affidavit.
So why are we doing so much to get a permit, Next day is Sunday and we would loose two valuable days just to get permit and we cannot afford that. Once we reach court we don’t find anybody except a security guard. We patiently narrate our story saying we have traveled 4,000 Km and missed DC office just by 15 min. He takes pity on us and calls a layer, they are somewhere in city. After many calls we find a lady called Sayara banu who was near the court with her kid. She comes to court and helped us writing an affidavit. But the checkpoint was we need to get a notary attested on the same. Her husband is there in the market who can attest the stamp paper. By this time clock was already showing 5.
We decided to spilt amit was sent to stop SP from leaving office. Yes “Stop” till we get the affidavit attested. We called the lawyer to check where we should come to get attested and then we head towards Golden bakery which was our destination. With much struggle in the new city we find golden bakery, we call him just to find that there are two golden bakeries in the city. Common things shouldn’t be this bad, we found the next golden bakers and get attested. Mean time Amit tries to narrate the whole story to SP and convince him to stay for few more min.
Amit calls us to let us know that now affidavit is not required, they just require hard copies of our identity which is in the car. Struggling though the one way and weak signal we miss read his message. We reached SP office after 15 min by then SP is gone. But luckily he has signed the papers for us. We were able to collect the permit after submitting our identity to other police men who were just waiting for us.
Yep this was total drama from which we visited all important offices of the city and all have covered most part of city just in 20 min. Amazing isn’t it. Now comes the most amazing part in the whole episode we have met 6-7 people who had helped us but didn’t even bother to get a penny. For that matter we didn’t even pay for the stamp paper and the attestation. City minds could never take this and we couldn’t believe that people could help to such an extended. We called and thanked everybody over phone
We headed towards market and called MrTashi the person whom we met in kargil in roads. By now we were convinced that we can only meet best persons in leh probably Tibetan warmth. Tashi was happy to hear us on phone and immediately met us in market. We asked his help in getting a hotel. He in turn takes us to a home stay which we would remember for a very long time. He also insisted that we have a tea at his house sometime.
The home stay was best place we stayed in this trip. Abundance of Tibetan crafts and excessive decoration made us soak into them. After having complimentary tea we decided to taste momo’s in the city.
We walked few kilometers to land in summer harvest which was one of the best restaurants in leh. We tried Momo’s which was as Tibetan as it could be. Wanton soup and American chopsey was delight. After pretty full stomach we headed back to home stay. The walk was much relaxing. We knew we were back in civilization as our mobiles phones started ringing again.
We didn’t plan for the next day as the statuses of roads being open were not good. Before calling it day, we played cards for some time. Cozy beds beckoned us and we didn’t get up till late in the morning
Sunday, June 6, 2010
CLC: Chapter 5 Haunting Zojila
Finally Zojila opens at 2:00 PM clock after two days of wait. We were being sent amidst high warning that the roads are still not good. We could say we were among first 20 vehicles to go.
Zojila welcomes us with huge steep where our tire almost slips, We were expecting the worst but really didn’t know what’s waiting for us. Within few distance we were passing through slush because of melting snow and washed away roads. Couple of smaller vehicles going ahead of us were stuck. We did help one of them by giving them excess water for their radiators.
But our struggling progress didn’t last for a long time. Our vehicle got stuck in mud and was totally out of control. Adding to the worst we were ascending the slop and we had to step on the accelerator. Most of the time the vehicle would loose traction, two of us would get down and manage either by pushing the vehicle or by placing stones under the tire.
As we were climbing close to 13,000 ft pushing the vehicle was also becoming tough. Out of control means a catastrophe. Once we crossed with mud pool we though the worst was over but we were wrong. We were now passing through 20 feet of snow on the both the sides and good amount of snow on the road. The vehicle was again loosing traction on snow, Most of the time only driver used to sit and others would help in pushing the vehicle or make passage on roads. As few vehicles have already passed there were pathway in someplace but we werent sure if the middle path had fresh snow.
If we got stuck by a mortar in axle it would turn be a disaster in such condition, we were cautious, we were anxious, we were also exited to cross Zojila. After struggling in similar condition for more than hour we finally crossed the haunting Zojila pass. By this time our shoes and socks were completed socked in mud/snow and wearing those means hyperthermia
We saw huge line of trucks standing after the top pass. As the pass has just opened the officials were not allowing truck traffic to get in. Poor truck guys,they have been waiting for four days now, We were sure they would be still waiting for two more days. We could easily spot at least thousand trucks.
After a haunting experience we started enjoying the scenic beauty of the valley lying after the dangerous pass. We had no doubt that it was worth an effort crossing such passes for seeing this unique beauty. We then traveled a good amount of distance in no time while drying our shoes. The roads were really good. Thanks to BRO (Border road Organization).
After hundreds of kms we reached drass, famous for indo-pakistan war back in 1999. Few interesting facts which we didn’t know were it’s the second coldest inhabited place in world, temp dropping -62 C in 1995. Honestly we never knew this fact. We were totally taken back by “Tiger Hill” which was last point Indian army took from Pakistan during the war. Army guys are really super human to fight is such an extreme condition. Tiger hill was all covered by snow. Imagine people fighting at 22000 feet , highest battle field in world.
This is was also our first meeting with Madras regiment people of army. Few army guys were so happy to see us,they recognized us from our vehicles number plate . They were so happy to see civilians from their place thousand of kms away.
We made sure we visited the War memorial. It was an emotion journey reading though the stories of each brave men who lost their lives. Photos of Smiling Captain Vikram Batra just before dying left an everlasting feeling in our heart. Every citizen of India should truly thank these brave men.
After an emotional journey we headed towards Kragil , another infamous place of 1999 India Pakistan war. On the way we spotted few Buddhist monks struggling with their car. We helped them fix their headlamp as they were struggling to drive in dark. One of the person from them was Tashi , he was from leh and we said that we would meet him in couple of days. Tashi made sure he gave his number and requested us to call once we reach leh.
It was already getting dark we reached kargil late in the evening. As they were lot of passengers who had to stay in sonamarg would be resting at kargil which is a big town before leh. We were little skeptical weather we would get a place to stay. We didn’t need a fancy place we were ok even if it’s just to stretch our legs. We spotted few bikers whom we saw in sonamarg and luckily we got a room to stay. The place was decent enough to spend few hours before we started again.
Zojila welcomes us with huge steep where our tire almost slips, We were expecting the worst but really didn’t know what’s waiting for us. Within few distance we were passing through slush because of melting snow and washed away roads. Couple of smaller vehicles going ahead of us were stuck. We did help one of them by giving them excess water for their radiators.
But our struggling progress didn’t last for a long time. Our vehicle got stuck in mud and was totally out of control. Adding to the worst we were ascending the slop and we had to step on the accelerator. Most of the time the vehicle would loose traction, two of us would get down and manage either by pushing the vehicle or by placing stones under the tire.
As we were climbing close to 13,000 ft pushing the vehicle was also becoming tough. Out of control means a catastrophe. Once we crossed with mud pool we though the worst was over but we were wrong. We were now passing through 20 feet of snow on the both the sides and good amount of snow on the road. The vehicle was again loosing traction on snow, Most of the time only driver used to sit and others would help in pushing the vehicle or make passage on roads. As few vehicles have already passed there were pathway in someplace but we werent sure if the middle path had fresh snow.
If we got stuck by a mortar in axle it would turn be a disaster in such condition, we were cautious, we were anxious, we were also exited to cross Zojila. After struggling in similar condition for more than hour we finally crossed the haunting Zojila pass. By this time our shoes and socks were completed socked in mud/snow and wearing those means hyperthermia
We saw huge line of trucks standing after the top pass. As the pass has just opened the officials were not allowing truck traffic to get in. Poor truck guys,they have been waiting for four days now, We were sure they would be still waiting for two more days. We could easily spot at least thousand trucks.
After a haunting experience we started enjoying the scenic beauty of the valley lying after the dangerous pass. We had no doubt that it was worth an effort crossing such passes for seeing this unique beauty. We then traveled a good amount of distance in no time while drying our shoes. The roads were really good. Thanks to BRO (Border road Organization).
After hundreds of kms we reached drass, famous for indo-pakistan war back in 1999. Few interesting facts which we didn’t know were it’s the second coldest inhabited place in world, temp dropping -62 C in 1995. Honestly we never knew this fact. We were totally taken back by “Tiger Hill” which was last point Indian army took from Pakistan during the war. Army guys are really super human to fight is such an extreme condition. Tiger hill was all covered by snow. Imagine people fighting at 22000 feet , highest battle field in world.
This is was also our first meeting with Madras regiment people of army. Few army guys were so happy to see us,they recognized us from our vehicles number plate . They were so happy to see civilians from their place thousand of kms away.
We made sure we visited the War memorial. It was an emotion journey reading though the stories of each brave men who lost their lives. Photos of Smiling Captain Vikram Batra just before dying left an everlasting feeling in our heart. Every citizen of India should truly thank these brave men.
After an emotional journey we headed towards Kragil , another infamous place of 1999 India Pakistan war. On the way we spotted few Buddhist monks struggling with their car. We helped them fix their headlamp as they were struggling to drive in dark. One of the person from them was Tashi , he was from leh and we said that we would meet him in couple of days. Tashi made sure he gave his number and requested us to call once we reach leh.
It was already getting dark we reached kargil late in the evening. As they were lot of passengers who had to stay in sonamarg would be resting at kargil which is a big town before leh. We were little skeptical weather we would get a place to stay. We didn’t need a fancy place we were ok even if it’s just to stretch our legs. We spotted few bikers whom we saw in sonamarg and luckily we got a room to stay. The place was decent enough to spend few hours before we started again.
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