Ladakh: Four Idiots & One XUV500: Part-2. (Sonamarg to Lamayuru)

We booked dormitory stay at JKTDC, Sonamarg and paid in advance. We reached JKTDC resort and approached caretaker.

He asked 2500 more apart from 800(200/- per bed). As per him, our booking was for a dormitory stay which is situated 4 km far from Sonamarg and only reachable by a horse. I knew that caretaker was lying but we didn't have any other way to talk to him. I convinced him at 2000/ - extra, paid it and asked for a receipt. He denied giving any receipt. We checked in at Dormitory room which had total 10 beds and a dirty attached bathroom.

We checked in and finished our lunch.

We were tired but equally excited.

We just got out of our hotel and started exploring Sonamarg village.

While we were playing with the river, I found some plastic bottles and plastic wrappers in it. I got one polythene bag and collected the plastic scrape in it.

After Cleaning the river, we moved ahead. There was a beautiful ground.

We turned a slight right and entered in that ground. Some locals were playing football on that ground, some of the tourists were enjoying the mountains. We spent some time playing with our vehicle and clicking photographs.

My main reason for getting out and exploring Sonamarg was Army and Police CPs at Sonamarg.

I wanted to visit Army and Police CP at Sonamarg. I wanted to know, is there any timing restriction for approaching Zoji la in the morning.

We went to Army CP. Army guys informed us that they would allow vehicles to Zoji la pass after 0900. I requested them to allow us to cross at 0700.

They smiled and said... "thick hai, jaldi nikal jana" (ok, you can leave early).

We got oral permission to cross Sonamarg CP at 0700 next morning. I wrote down the name of the person who was going to be posted at Army CP.

We were about to get back and I got an idea, why not to have some taste of Sonamarg - Leh highway. We crossed that CP and drove for two more Kms.

At 1900, We reached JKTDC resort and got in our room. I got in the bed and slept. I don't remember we eat or not. A warm bed was calling us and we took the call.

Day 4 (14/05/2018): Sonamarg to Lamayuru

We sept like kids. It rained at night.

We woke up at 0630 and got ready to move. We were going to drive till Lamayuru Village, which was 225km. We had an entire day at our disposal. I was not thinking much about distance and time sheet. I knew we were going to stop at each an every glacier and have long photography sessions. Our only target was to reach Lamayuru before the night

We started from JKTDC at 0700. After half hour of a drive, we stopped at first glacier.

We played with those Ice walls, talked with some truck drivers and clicked hundred of photographs. I had a hard time to convince Dilesh, Vicky and joy that we "ll have many ice walls and glaciers on our upward journey.

We were approaching Zoji la.

We were 10km far from the Zoji La top and it started raining. Visibility was decreasing, it was tough to drive on those curvy roads with low visibility. However, we carried on.

Rain couldn't stop us.

We stopped at some more Ice walls. It was raining. However, I got out and asked others to join the fun. All of them got out and we had a riot of snowballs.

We were stopping at each and every ice walls.

We were having fun.

Our distance vs time sheet was lying somewhere in the luggage room(boot space) of the car. I took a mental note to reach as soon as at Zoji La top but not to compromise with our fun.

We were approaching Zoji La.

After a while, we were on the block paved road. It meant we were at Zoji la top. We parked our XUV at one of the Maggi stalls and started playing with snow.

We started at 0700 without any breakfast or tea from Sonamarg.

We were hungry.

We ordered Maggi and tea at one of the Maggi stalls.

It was one of the tastiest Maggi of our life.

We finished our breakfast and rushed to Zoji La top board.

We stopped there and as per ritual clicked some photographs.

We got down from Zoji La.

Road was in bad shape, so we kept our camera aside and concentrated on driving. We reached Gumari check post. We registered ourselves and continued our onward journey.

We were excited. We crossed Zoji la, played with snow and had photo sessions.

I forgot my fever and heavy cough due to this excitement and activities. At Gumari CP, my cough and fever reappeared. We had to stop just after Gumari CP. Other guys went to have some fun with the river. I remained with the car for some rest.

We were approaching Drass.

I wanted to consult a doctor for my cough or at least a medical store to get some cough syrup.

We reached Drass. We didn't find any doctor or Medical store.

We reached Drass War Memorial.

I remembered the name of Commanding officer of Drass war Memorial. During my last trip, I had a brief conversation with CO Sir.

Some Extract from my Last trip's Travelogue.

We asked that Army Man what to do. He advised us to meet their CO (Commanding Officer). We approached their CO. CO was a nice cooperative person.

He advised us not to spend the night at Drass. He told us to keep driving, cross Zoji La and reach Sonmarg.

We told him...

“For that, we have to cross mighty Zoji La in pitch dark”.

He said...

“yes you’ll have to but that's the only way out. You can't cross Srinagar during the day. It is very risky”.

He insisted us to reach Sonamarg and wait for two or three hours and cross Srinagar after 2330. He also told us that things were not good even in Drass.

I approached CO Sir,

he immediately recognised me and said with a smile...

" kya Shreyas fir se aa gaya, nai?" (Shreyas, you came again?).

He remembered my name. He invited me into his cabin. He noticed my condition and called their medical personnel. The medical guy checked my throat and told me that I have a serious throat infection. He gave me some medicines and asked me to consult a proper doctor in Kargil or Leh.

I shared tea with CO Sir, thanked him and went to see Drass War Memorial.

We left Drass War Memorial and kept moving.

Army medicine did a miracle on me. I was back in my original mood. We stopped again at some bridge and spent some amazing time.

We reached Kargil, crossed it and stopped for a while to have a bird-eye view of Kargil town.

It was 1400, all of us were starving. We didn't have anything with us to eat in our car. That was a mistake.

At the outskirts of Kargil, there was only one small dhaba kind of food joint. That dhaba had only two things available, mutton momos and Samosa. If we want proper food, we had to go back to Kargil. No...a Big No ! We ordered whatever was available and finished it.

On 14/05/2018 at 14.30, we were at Kargil.

I checked my distance vs time sheet. We were perfectly on time. As per our plan, we were going to stay for a night at Lamayuru, a small village on Srinagar Leh highway.

We were 102 km far from Lamayuru.

After our lunch of Momos and Samosa, we started again. We all were relaxed and refreshed. After a while, we reached Mulbekh village. Mulbekh is situated 45 km from Kargil and 260 km from Leh in Ladakh region. Mulbekh is famous for its two gompas and the nine-meter tall statue of Maitreya Buddha.

We stopped for a while at Maitreya Buddha statue and played/prayed at praying wheel. Personally, I found nothing impressive at Mulbekh. At Mulbekh, We spotted one brave cycling family.

We moved ahead from Mulbekh.

We started climbing up.

We were approaching one more pass named Namika la.

Within no time, we reached Namika La pass.

There was no getting down from Namika La.

We kept moving ahead. We were enjoying beautiful views and tarred road.

We kept moving.

One more pass was waiting for us.

Fotu la is actually the highest point between Srinagar and Leh. However, Zoji La takes all the glamour and credit due to its strategic location.

At 1630, We reached Lamayuru.

Lamayuru is a small village in Ladakh, midway between Kargil and Leh on NH1-D, the Srinagar-Leh highway. Lamayuru is home to one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh, dating back to the 10th century. Local legend has it that the place was once a lake that dried up. The village has around 100 houses scattered around the Lamayuru Monastery.

We stopped at one of the crossings, parked our car, made two teams of two persons and started searching for a hotel/guesthouse/ homestay for our night stay. We were early, most of the stay options didn't even start functioning.

Finally, we found a decent guesthouse.

Greenland Guesthouse on the main road.

We got a nice deal, 1200/- per room (twin sharing) including dinner and breakfast. It means 600 per head. That was an excellent deal. We got running hot water and wifi, what else one needs?

To be continued...

Ladakh: Four Idiots & One XUV500: Part-1. (Ahmedabad to Sonamarg)

Ladakh: Four Idiots & One XUV500: Part-3. (Lamayuru to Leh)