Full Circuit of leh laddakh (10 day trip)

Day2: Travel from Jammu to Srinagar,first half was hectic due to heavy construction work by NHAI,but second half was superb. After crossing d jawahar tunnel,roads were neat n clean,u will feel like u r entering into heaven, natural beauty is damn good, famous Rajma rice(i was missing it since a long time)in lunch along with road side Tea halts with egg mageee. Quick trip from lal chowk to local markets which contains heavy traffic due to festive season of ramjan, local window shopping… Really kashmir is d heaven of my country.Along with that a trip of more than three hours of Shikara ride with kashmiri kava nd fruit chat was absolutely relaxing n having a different feeling (obviously on a positive node).Floating market with huge number of tourist (even dere was heavy traffic congestion of boats..prashant was thinking 4 google map 😛 😀 ..it was joke 😉 )was also an awesome experience.
Now staying in houseboat where ur house is floating in dal lake is itself a gr8 nd life time experience.Surely i m in deep love with J & K nd its people.
*वास्तव में जनाब कश्मीर के लोगो की मेहमान नवाजी का ये अंदाज देखकर दिल बाग बाग हो गया।
So this was like an easy part of d trip, tomorrow our target will be Kargil nd slowly slowly v r moving to d tuff part of our journey. But surely with God’s grace v will do it successfully.
Time 4 sleep now.
P.S. No trip can be completed without clashes nd heated argues among ur travelling partners, but obviously it is a part of d journey nd is definitely increases bonding with ur friends 😀 😀
#bgkidiary …on 10th June 2018

Day 3: Srinagar to kargil, after starting our journey with early drowsy state we moved to our next destination. Initial phase was different from d regular routine as we were in houseboat so we have to come back via shikara ride (yepee one more chance 4 Shikara ride with morning sun shine).we came to sonamarg which is around 80 km from srinagar. It was very beautiful place n surely a true lap of nature, different shades of valley, roads were absolutely fine, lil bit traffic jam before Jojila pass. It was said by some1 dat u cant predict d weather of hilly arears,we also felt a drastic change in the taste of weather. Sunny, chilly,rainy,cloudy(xcept snow fall) almost all phases v have encountered. Network issues in mobiles are very common over here. (Bsnl n Airtel postpaid connections will work here , nd unfortunately i don hav ny1) This network issues r like..v were unable to connect with eachother,which make me surprised that how ppl of previous generations manage themselves without cell phone, it shows how impatient r v now as compare to them 😀 😀
Srinagar -sonamarg-zero point-Drass-Kargil were our today’s destination.
Zero point is famous for ice adventure sports activity, so v njoyed dat too,along with yummy magee n kashmiri kava {best kava of my life till now although best is yet to be come… 😉 }
In between our journey from zero point to kargil,we went in “Kargil war memorial point” which was one of the best part of the day. Seriously hats off to Indian Army that we are breathing openly any part of country, they are our shelters nd r protecting us like anything. Today when i was out of network then i found myself as an isolated man who has no connection with rest of the world, and they guys (respected gentleman will be d right word) were staying away from their families nd protecting d nation from enemies, they surely r our real life superheros n deserves huge huge n huge respect.
So after kargil war memorial we took our lunch (which was at around 5 PM nd obviously not good 4 health) in between the route. Finally v came to our guest house (thanks to Prashant 4 arranging d same )
Now late nite snooker is in progress as tomorrow our target is around 150 km.
Time 4 more snooker now.
#bgkidiary… on 11th june

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Day4: Today v started our journey from Kargil. Route was- Kargil -mulbak- fatula-lamayuru- khaltsi-Alchi as v have to stay on Alchi Nhpc guest house which is around 150 to 160 km from kargil. So we were aware dat journey is short hence v started our day with lil bit laziness and as compare to other day, today we got more time to sleep 😀 v found more travellers in our guest house n discussed their experiences also. After having a healthy breakfast (Srry hanumanji no fast today, as travelling is hectic nd Deepak,ashu told me that dont go for fast 😛 ) from our chutak Nhpc guest house, v started from kargil at 9:15 AM.As few members were feeling not well,hence v took some medicines from kargil market. In between the route first v went to lamayuru monestary and later on Alchi monestory which r famous in the region. Along with that v took our lunch in Khaltsi where a restro named as “samyas restro pure veg” (It was tuesday so pure veg 😦 ) was very nice, I will recommend this place for others too. After that v came to Alchi nhpc power station (benefits of being power guys :D).For nubra n pangog visit inner line passes r essentially required that includes an online form filling with submission of chalan money in j n k bank leh, so we completed all those online formalities today(Thanks a ton to nhpc staff 4 providing immense support) so that v can plan those areas accordingly. Now plan 4 dinner followed by rest.
#bgkidiary #laddakhdiaries #indusriverbank …on 12th june 2018

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Day 5: Today our journey was of very short length as v have to go from Alchi power station to leh only. It was around 60-70 km, hence v were sure that v will only cover d local areas of leh.Best thing was all travellers were very fit n energetic :D.V started at 9:30 AM in morning. Our route was Alchi- Nimmu-leh. In between our route first v got confluence (sangam/meeting point of two rivers) of indus nd zanskar rivers, it is an incredible sight in nimmu valley. From top view v can see d shades of two rivers clearly.Along with that v got the magnetic hill, which is on srinagar-leh higway this place attracts ur vehicle in a manner that u can park ur vehicle on neutral and ur vehicle will move from downward to upward side due to magnetic phenomenon(it is still a mystery as well, because ppl were saying dat it attracts water as well),and later on v visited d “pattharsahib gurudwara” (I am always a fan of gurudwara),Here i got d best (although best is yet to be come…:D ) tea of my trip. In gurudwara one can also go 4 “langar” (lunch) it generally starts at 12:30 PM but due to lack of time v skipped it, as v have to go for inner line pass activity. For inner line pass v had already filled all d online (link is http://www.lahdclehpermit.in

) forms yesterday, so v just went to DC office.Staff was very co-operative, although it was lunch time still they completed our process calmly (thanks to them).
On the starting of leh v got one place “Hall of fame” where presentation of ladakhi culture nd army’s role in ladakh is available(v cud not cover it as some maintainance work was going on)
After completing d pass work v went to leh main market which is itself a good place for general roaming.V took our lunch on a veg resto (cud not remember its name because it was dry day in leh today so v again cud not be able to get non veg food 😦 ).After our lunch now v roamed here n dere in leh market,followed by few window shopping.
Our next target was Rancho’s school (remember 3 idiot movie) situated in shey. Actual name of d school is “Druk white lotus school” after d movie it was also named as Rancho’s school. It is around 13-14 km in leh -manali highway(NH -03).I m not sure abt exact visiting hours but v just reached dere around 5:00 pm nd fortunately v got d slot to visit it. V saw d wall where last scene of 3 idiot was captured(where chatur was peeing… :D) nd crowd was mad to click dere photos near to dat wall,so i was thinking that one day this wall will be more popular than china wall 😛
After the school our next target was to visit “shanti stupa” timings for shanti stupa is morning 8:00AM to evening 9:00 PM. And it was around 6:00PM and it was on our way so v visited it at evening time. it is on high area of leh. V visited nd stayed dere 4 long time (search of peace…;)). It was end of our today’s plan (v want to visit leh palace but due to lack of time cud not make it).
Now our today’s accommodation was again in Alchi Nhpc power station, but for that v have to go back 60 km, so v decided to stay in leh As v all r bachelores (xcept Vivek sir 😛 :P) so v booked a quick boys hostel from hostelworld, n v all r loving it , Now time 4 some soft drinks (u know wat i mean 😉 😀 ) followed by dinner.
Tomorrow’s plan is for Nubra…
#bgkidiary …on 13th june 2018

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Day 6: Today our target was for Nubra valley (up to Hunder). It was around 150 to 160 km from Leh.V started our day at 6:00AM(not exactly..due to some last moment packing n all). Our route was Leh-sout pullu-Khardungla pass- North pullu- khardung -khalsar-Dikshit-Hunder .

After roaming around d leh city (one traveller forget his id card in hotel, but thanks to the hotel staff,they called us nd v came back n collected it , which shows ppl r very helping nd co-operative in nature). So finally we started our journery effectively at 6:30AM. V could find very less number of travellers in d route(v got army trucks as well but it can not be avoided).Now V were moving towards high elevation.Sout pullu is at 15300 ft which is around 18 km from leh. People were saying that u may feel lack of oxygen in d high elevation, so we were little bit concious for that.Even Nhpc’s Dr suggested to take a specific medicine (Diamox).Few of d travellers took this medicine for acclimatize d environment. But I thought lets see…i should not take this, frankly speaking I did not face any issue with the height.After south pullu v moved towards khardung village which also covers khardungla pass.Khardungla pass is situated at an elevation of 18340 ft and claimed to be(Source Ashu) d highest motorable track of d world. This is d place where travellers use to face d breathing issue(nd sometimes contains oxygen cyllenders), but v were safe nd no1 faced ny of such issues(even v did not contain ny cyllenders with us), so guys who so ever is going to ladakh don be afraid, i think its all abt mental game, jst be confident that u can do it. Along with this I saw lots of small segments of car (Alto 800 ,santro,i10) so i found that there is no issue with small segment cars. Roads were in good condition only a patch of 5 to 6 km(up to khardungla pass) was lil bit in raw condition.Still i will say low segment cars can cover d journey (Manish n Sid bhai u were rite 👍) very comfortably.In between d route we took lots of photo session(natural as well as personal ). After Khardungla pass the elevation starts decreasing drastically. So after d khardungla pass v reached to north pullu(16800 ft) nd had our breakfast(v were hungry so i will say it was gud) over dere.In between khardung village (14730 ft) nd Diskit v found world’s highest ATV (motor bike ride in sand) rides, v were in dilemma that v should do it or not but prashant suggested dat v must do it, n it was good decision, v njoyed it nd one who is visiting d ladakh must do dis adventure support.V reached to Hunder (In Nubra valley)at day time where sand dunes n camel ride is famous but it starts at 3:00PM so v just visited one river i don know d name but it was gud place for peace. V spend around one hr overe dere. After dat v took our lunch in one restro (It was not dat gud) after lunch v went to sand dunes nd camel safari.Here camel safari contains camel with two humps. It was a gud experience(but really not better than my Jaiselmer camal safari exp).This place is very beautiful where i got All panchtatv {vayu,jal prathvi,nabh,agni (In d form of our internal zeal to complete d trip successfully 😀 ) photo attched :P}. After this v decided to visit diskit monastery.These monasteries r famous for culture tradition nd heritage of buddhist.Our hotel is very near to Diskit monastery. So after dat v directly came to our hotel (Lhasthang hotel) nd finally now done with our dinner ( wow dis time v got a gud non veg..thanks prashant 4 booking dis hotel !!! )
Tomorrow ‘s plan is for pangong lake 😊
#bgkidiary …on 14th june 2018

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Day 7:15/06/2018: Today our target was to visit the pangog lake(where ending scene of 3 idiots was captured.) We were in hotel Lhasthang in Diskit ,food wise it was good but in dat village timing for electricity was only 4 hrs (7:00 PM to 11:00PM) which is lil bit a matter of concern n surprising dat v r claiming ourself as a nation which has electricity in every village but still dis basic necessity is yet to be fulfilled (not favouring/againt to ny political party) nyways it was a dark nite with infinite stars, i talked with them till late nite 😉 there was a crystal clear view of d stars /galaxies. Morning v took our breakfast in hotel only,nd started our journey at 7:00AM. There is one direct route from Diskit to pangog, previously this route was closed, but v confirmed with some travellers who were coming from pangog to Diskit and they confirmed dat it is fine and is of around 160 km. Route was Diskit-Agham- shyok-durbuk-tangtse valley-lukung.Route was good but dere were lots of heavy patches. (I will not recommend 4 small segment of vehicles because of its low ground clearance it can hit, although i saw few santro ) In between d route v took our breakfast in one random roadside dhaba. Along with that i talked one traveller who was going from pangok to diskit nd i was surprised that he came without inner line pass nd no1 stopped him yet.This route was very beautiful. In d route v took lots of natural as well as personal photos. V were thirsty so inspite of buying water bottles, v directly filled our bottles from a running source of water,which was surely better than a packaged drinking water.I m saying again that route from durbuk to pangog was absolutely very nice and we were almost lost in d beauty of nature, It had different shades of hills.Color of lake was blue n i just tried to taste it nd it was sour, but it is really a must watch place to visit.In the ending scene of 3idiots movie chatur calls to Rancho with his airtel mobile connection but guys frankly speaking dere was no airtel connection in pangog 😛 Also kareena came from Rancho’s school to pangog lake by scooter i was surprised how?? We took two days for this journey 😛 .Our plan was to stay in pangog, but we were done with all areas up to 1:30PM, so v decided to move forward. Hence v came back to tangtse valley and from here v have to take Leh -manali highway. In between d route v saw one SUV(Mahindra) and its clutch plate was broken, so its all abt luck n positive attitude to complete d circuit otherwise nything can b happen with ny vehicle {Alto’s,i10’s, hero honda splender,apache bikes(but surely not with kareena ka 3 idiots wala scooter 😛 ) are completing d circuit successfully)}.Our target was to cover atleast changla pass.It is at an elevation of 17688 ft and claimed as world’s second highest pass.(First one was Khardungla that we have already covered on day 6) After dat v have also covered shakti-karun-upshi-Lato.Lato was our last destination because v were tired, here v booked a on d spot hotel, where we found good quality of home made food(although it was veg) this hotel was on Leh manali higway.I found some old things like cd player, old honda generator,wooden roof,by observing this Deepak n me were able to relate our old childhood memories.Finally after our dinner we all talked a lot (jokes/poems/shero shyari.. kyon vivek sir 😉 :P)

Now our next target is manali, which is still more than 400 km from lato.
#bgkidiary
P.S. There was no internetetwork connection(even few of d travellers talked with dere family with the help of using d cell phones of hotel staff.. bsnl was working here ) in lato, hence this is a post dated page of bgkidiary.
…on 15th june 2018

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Day 8: We want to cover our journey up to manali.So theoreticallly v decided to start it sharp at 6:00AM, but practically v make it at 7:00AM. Route was Lato- Rumtse- taglangla-debring-Pang-Sarchu- Baralachula pass- zingzing bar-patsio-Darcha-Jispa-Stingiri-keylong-Tandi-Sissu-Koksar-Rohtang pass- Manali.

In leh -manali higway condition of d roads were not gud(but most of d places it is very nice n beautiful.. as per d photo it was awesome location in NH-03 😀 ;)), may b it is due to adverse weather conditions. Every year BRO/Nhai works on it,still lots of heavy patches of broken roads were dere.In morning v took our breakfast in Pang, i was in d impression dat it would b a large place, but i was wrong ,I talked with locals of Pang n they told that it is a small village, nd i was surprised dat dere were no schools, ppl use to go in leh 4 dere higer secondary nd senior secondary education (v need more Phunsukh wangdu over dis region). Here v got two passes one was taglangla pass (elevation 17582 ft) and it was also written in milestone as second highest pass, but changla pass( elevation 17688 dat v covered it on day 7) would be d second highest (winner is surely khardungla pass-18340 ft) The other pass that v encountered today was Baralacha pass,there were lots of snow views after Sarchu. Sarchu itself is a place mainly for camping.There were lots of camping stations. Sarchu is d gateway to himanchal pradesh nd it ends d journey of J & K state,I truely loved d journey of j & k state nd hospitality of d ppl.Now v were in himanchal, one minute if u r thinking dat now all ur phones will starts working then plz forget it, u will get d signals after crossing keylong (that is true only for BSNL customers, others will get it either after crossing Rohtang or 10 to 12 km before Manali )V took our lunch before zing zing bar, it was a road side dhaba nd hav not much options, v took rajma chwal (actually it was ready made available food item n v don want to kill our more time in waiting)but yes it was fine(perhaps v were hungry so it seems to b fine).There were lots of running water patches having good flow of water, while crossing these patches it seems like u r travelling through a water boat 😛 but due to these patches d roads were in pathetic conditions. Sometimes u will not be able to recognize d road,as it will b a part of dry river.
From this route d height of places varies, very frequently, somtimes it increases or sometimes decreases, thats wy v were feeling the change in atmospheric temperature (sometimes cold or sometimes hot .. kabhi khushi kabhi gam 😛 ).Jispa is also a place where lots of camping as well as cottages were available. Actually travellers who r going from manali to leh, usually takes their breaks in Keylong, Jispa or Sarchu so dat before reaching d leh they can aclamatiz themselves for environment, thats wy lots of modern staying options were available here. In between d route v got Rohtang pass (13058 ft) as well. Here lots of snow fall (perhaps few hours back) v jst came here n took very few photographs (very chilled environment nd very difficult to bear it), This pass is famous 4 huge traffic jam but fortunately v cud not enconter it.Meanwhile I was just counting that in last 2 days of our traveling,v have coverd Zojila pass, Khardungla pass, Changla pass, Baralachula pass,Rohtang passe, in which khardungla was d father of all. Thus after crossing d Rohtang pass continuously rain had been started, which lead to a traffic jam, so v decided to finish our dinner first so dat v can avoid d jam, but i think rest of d ppl were as smart as us 😛 i think they also followed d same strategy because even after d dinner v faced d same traffic jam… Our halt is at A D power guest house Manali (Tx to Ashu 4 dis) but v were struggling to reach at d guest house due to heavy traffic n less internet connectivity.After lots of struggle finally v reached to our manali guest house around 11:30PM, nd achieved our target from Lato to Manali.It was tiring day nd 4 me d bst sleep of d trip.
No plan 4 tomorrow(17/06), but aim is to reach delhi latest by monday.
#bgkidiary …on 16th June 2018

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Day 9-10 : Day 9 is clubbed with day 10.Finally ZERO displacement with huge experience as an output.A much awaited trip (8-18 june) comes to an end, which no1 want to finish so early.Few travellers were getting emotional, as we were all together in these 10 days(Yes 10 days,now a days it rarely happens dat v spend 10 days with our family as “Roti bhi to khani hai babu bhiyaa papi pet ka sawal hai” ; ) but here v did it altogether),it was nice n memorable trip of life. My friend baba told me dat this trip is like a war against nature( u will have to be fit n healthy) nd u r spending lots of time with different travellers, hence along with all fun nd enthusiast environment, definitely dere will be clashes,argues in thoughts, decisions and of course this all charm 😀 was present in our trip, but ultimately with God’s grace v achieved it successfully.

It was relaxing day and after reaching manali u will feel like ohh now u r at home(Delhi).After having our proper rest on A D guest house, followed by good lunch (finally v got good yummy chicken again),v started around 2:00 PM with lots of laziness.There was lots of traffic jam in between d route.Manali-Delhi route is well known to all of us so not much explanation is requird, one traveller was going to Roorkee, so v took a halt at Ambala so dat he can catch d bus,nd after dat, finally v reached Delhi by 7:30 AM. I am still in metro n will b at my destination in next one hour.In these 10 days v finally completed d whole circuit covering below locations.
Delhi->Jammu->Udhampur->Srinagar-> Sonemerg->Zero point->Drass->Kharboo-> Kaksar->Kargil->Alchi->Nimmu->leh->sout pullu->Khardungla pass-> North pullu-> khardung->khalsar->Diskit->Hunder->Diskit->Agham-> shyok->durbuk->tangtse valley->lukung(pangog)-> shakti->karun->upshi->Lato->Rumtse->taglangla->debring->Pang->Sarchu-> Baralachula pass-> zingzing bar->patsio->Darcha->Jispa->Stingiri->keylong->Tandi->Sissu->Koksar->Rohtang pass->Manali->Ambala->Delhi.
Total travelling distance was around 3318 km.
Thanks guys… (Prashant,Deepak,Ashutosh,Vivek Sir) 4 all d co-ordination nd support so dat v cud complete this life time memorable trip.
Thanks to Shekhar ji Amit ji Naveen ji Rajesh ji nd Siddharth bhai 4 mentoring n helping us for all pre requisite activities so dat v did it. 😀 😀
P.S. Highly recommended 4 u guys Bharat, Manish, Raghvender , Abhishek Suhit, if time permits then plz go 4 dis life time exp u will njoy it. 😀 (bade bhiyaa ka to tuff hai ab parivarik aadmi ho gaye hai wo 😛 )
#bgkidiary #happyendingofladakhdiaries …on 17 and 18th June 2018