Ahmedabad to Bikaner (Gujarat to Rajasthan)
I came from Mumbai to Ahmedabad by train on morning, and my friend took me from railway station as we started our journey towards Great Himalayas at 7 am in Innova car. During our Lunch time we already crossed the Gujarat Rajasthan border through mount Abu. We took lunch on the way and head towards Bikaner city. We passed by jodhpur to reach Bikaner in night around 9 pm. By now I was travelling for 24 hrs from Mumbai to Ahmedabad to Bikaner. So I was very much tired on first day of journey. We took hotel for 1200 for 3 people. We covered about 800 kms today.
Bikaner to Amritsar (Rajasthan to Punjab)
We started our day in morning at 8 am. We moved towards holy place to Amritsar through sri ganganagar, Firozpur. We reached Amritsar in night at about 7 pm. We took hotel for 1500. As I heard about Golden temple that we should visit the temple in night so we moved to see the golden color of temple in night. As we entered into the temple it was really peaceful feeling inside temple primes.
Atari border
On next day we moved towards very famous place for every Indian i.e. Atari border. We reached there at about 2 pm. We stand in long queue. And place from where you can see the evening parade is also very crowded. There is no ticket to seat at this place so go as early as possible to get the seat in front row. Parade starts at about 5 pm. And it was a really a proud moment for Indians and Pakistanis from their side. You certainly start feeling very patriotic about Indian country.
Amritsar to Dalhousie (Punjab to Himachal)
We started at 7am in morning from Amritsar to Dalhousie through batala, Gurdaspur, Pathankot. We reached at about 1pm so we decided to move to Khajjiar. It was really a beautiful place for mountain lovers. We return back to Dalhousie in evening, it was started raining and guess what it was an ice rain. Beautiful rainbow comes up in sky. We took rooms for 1000 bucks. And it was a hell of scenery from the balcony of room. You can see mountains range.
Dalhousie to Patnitop (Himachal to Jammu Kashmir)
Finally, we entered the Jammu and Kashmir state. I always want to go to this states. And this is the day. And now onwards the mountain road starts. We reach patnitop at 4 pm though udhampur. Now we started to see the many military vehicles on the road. We stayed at hotel for 1000 bucks. The owner of hotel is very nice and generous. As we started our conversation we mixed up very well each other. Then in evening he come with us to show the local place around patnitop. He took us to sanaser. A place like khajjiar about 20 kms from patnitop. You can also get accommodation here. Very nice place to spend evening.
Patnitop to Pahalgam
Today we don’t require GPS to find the way to Pahalgam as the hotel owner of patnitop hotel is riding with us to place on the way to pahalgam. We passed through Kashmir valley to reach pahalgam. We reached at 2 pm.we got hotel for 2000 bucks. This is the first time we saw the real beauty of Kashmir as I always see in the movies and TV. Blue water river, high snow crowned mountains, Green long sky kissed trees. We took ride on horse. Went to local’s house, shared some moments with them, enjoyed Kashmir tea for first time.
Pahalgam to Srinagar
We left hotel early at 7 am. And it was lovely sunrise morning on the way. You find lots of military vehicles on the way. First we went to Gulmarg, the real gem of Kashmir. After some time, we moved towards Srinagar. We reached dal lake about at 5 pm. We took shikara for lake safari. You have to bargain very hard as fare for shikara vey depend upon your skill. We got it for 300 for 3 persons. It was sunset time, lights come up from all around. And suddenly lake come to live.
Srinagar to Kargil
This is the moment we are waiting for. The real hugeness of mountains starts from here. We left before sunrise. By the time of sunrise, we reach sonmarg. During sunrise this place became my favorite places in Kashmir. From here we move towards dangerous road in India Zojila pass at altitude of 11649 ft. this was the really most adventurous road of my life. We finally reached the place where you won’t find any vegetation on mountains unlike green lush mountains in Kashmir. There only mountains, rivers, cool breeze, Open Road, your car and you. And no traffic, horn, pollution, mobile networks. We reach drass at 1pm. We had a visit to war memorial and Highest battle field in the world. It is always proud to be Indian. We reached kargil at 5 pm passing through Fotla pass 13479 ft. we got hotel with suru river in backyard, room cost us 1000 bucks. This is the coldest night I had in my life.
Kargil to Leh
Finally, the day came for what I have done this road trip. We passed through lamayuru, alchi, moon land, converse, magnetic hill, gurudwara pathar sahib to reach Leh. We took room for 1000 bucks. We spent some time for local sightseeing.
Leh to nubra valley
Today we passed the khardung la pass at altitude of 18380 ft. to reach the cold desert at nubra valley. You need to get self-declaration form from photocopy stores near tourist center. Its Brown mountains with blue water river and open white sand dunes with camel. We spent night at diskit. At night you can see whole galaxy above your head.
Nubra valley to Leh to Pangong Tso
At 8 am in morning we left nubra valley to go leh. Earlier we decide to stay at Leh but as we reach early at 12 in noon, we decided to go to pangong tso on the same day. And we also decided to go to hanle and from there towards tsomoriri. So for that route we need prior approval from DC Office. Just be sure of timings and holidays before you go to DC office. Give your ID proofs, Fees in cash. And you are ready with permission. It takes about less than 1 hr for that. We got the permission to take that route. So we start at 3 pm from leh. We get our car’s fuel tank full, took extra fuel as we don’t have any petrol pump in this route upto keylong is about 600 kms. Although if you are lucky then you can find some petrol from locals. We reach pangong late evening at 7 pm. It was all dark so were not able to see the lake that day. We took tent for 2000 bucks with normal amenities. Today we passed two passes – khardungla 18380 ft and changla pass 17688 ft.
Pangong Tso to tso moriri
In the early morning we had first look of such a beautiful lake. Water is so cleared that due to reflection of sky water gets different color during the day time. As sun rises above water starts turning blue, purple. You don’t get any network here and now onward on this route. Not even proper roads, humans, animals. You only find some horses, small grass, trail roads and you. Someplace you find small villages and greenery. At this kind of remote place best thing is to ask every local you see on the way about the road ahead. We passed the chusul, the nearest place to china boarder. From there you go through nyoma. From there if you want to go to hanley then take the nyoma bridge otherwise continue on same road. You can ask the person who is there at checkpost here. But generally they are not locals so they don’t know the roads here. We didn’t go to hanley as we were very tired and today was also ending. So we decided to go to tsomoriri lake via sumdho. Distance from pangong to tso moriri is not much but due to very rough road it took almost whole day to reach tsomoriri. We took the hotel for 1500 bucks. It was damp cold in night here.
Tso moriri to Keylong
We started at 8am in morning to go to keylong. We passed through sumdo, pang, sarchu, tsokar lake. We reached sarchu at noon. After that we reach Kashmir and himachal border at about 5 pm at Darcha. You can see green trees all over the mountains again. Passing through jispa, we reached keylong in night at 7pm. We booked room for 1500 bucks. During our travel today we saw beautiful sunset on leh manali highway. Snow covered mountains. High passes lachung la – 16616 ft.
Keylong to Manali to Mandi
It was actually a last day of ours in this beautiful mountains of Himalayas. Sunrise was very nice from this place. As we left in morning from keylong we were very excited to cross the rohtang pass. We crossed the pass in noon. It was really nice landscape against us. We can see manali from here. We reached mandi at 4pm. Temperature started feeling on our body.
Mandi to Jaipur
After this we have to cover our distance back to home. Roads are nice compared to last few days. We covered about 800kms in day to reach Jaipur in night unlike in mountains where we were travelling for on average for 200 kms for whole day.
Jaipur to Ahmedabad
This is last day of our Road trip for now but not for our journey. Now We have one more wonderful lifetime experience in our mind forever, and plenty more to come in future. So follow on. Things this trip taught me is you should not worry much about your future, have faith in you, people around you. if someone else can do it, then boss you are way better than someone.
