Ladakh in October( Off Season)...

Day 2: Jaipur-Delhi-Mandi.

After a good night's sleep, when I received a wake-up call from hotel reception at 4000, I was already awake, and ready to move.

The plan was to start early from Jaipur and reach Delhi airport as soon as possible, to avoid heavy traffic in Gurgaon and Delhi. I started towards Delhi at 0500. Jaipur- Delhi was a nice road, without much traffic during early morning hours. It was a nice & event-less drive. I reached Delhi Airport at 0845, parked my vehicle at airport parking and had heavy breakfast at one of the cafés at arrival T1C waiting-lounge. Flights of my other travel mates were on time both of them landed at 1000, after a formal hi & hello and some tea, we immediately got in our vehicle and started our journey to HP at 1215. We wanted to get out of Delhi as soon as possible!

We wanted to reach Manali. Delhi to Manali is 550km. We started at 1215 from Delhi, so we were very well aware that we can’t make it. We kept our options open for a night stay, a maximum target was to reach Mandi, but no rush! We got out of Delhi. We had our lunch at one of the Haveli at Karnal and then I slept in the back seat.

I woke up somewhere around kiratpur Sahib and then I got a call.

"Hello"

"sir aap kal Jaipur Mai yaha hamari hotel pe ruke they"(Sir! you stayed at our hotel yesterday)

"Ji ha"(yes)

"Aap yaha PE aapna driving licence bhul Gaye ho"(You forgot your Driving Licence at our hotel)

"oh no, What..., please aap kuch help karo" (Please help me!)

Hotel guy was co-operative. I explained to him that, we are going to Leh - Kashmir and I need that original DL anyhow. I asked him to run to any courier guy, pay as much as he asks and send it. It must reach Manali next day. He tried his best and called me... “saab koi bhi courier mai do din toh lagenge hi”(Courier guys will take two days) Huh!! So now I had to do my entire trip without my original DL. I had 10 photocopies of my DL with me and a scanned soft copy on my phone!

Three states! One of them was an ongoing conflict zone (Srinagar-Kashmir) and I had to drive in these states without original DL. Practically, I was not only without a driving licence but also without a proper physical ID proof. All I had was photocopies and soft copies. My mood was ruined, I wanted to forget this. I asked my friend to let me drive, he understood my mood and gave me car keys!

I started driving. That was my 7th trip to Manali. We started climbing mountains. The road was nice with frequent road construction diversions. It is always fun to drive in mountains, only irritation was bus and Volvo drivers, they are crazy drivers without any traffic sense. I was enjoying the drive on mountain roads but other two guys were tired. Our NRI friend, who came all the way from London didn't get any kind of rest or sleep from last 36 hours. We discussed to stop at Bilaspur but decided to push some more. We finally stopped at Hotel Comfort in at Sundernagar. Which was just 10 km before Mandi, so practically we were at Mandi.

PS: So far My DSLR was in the bag. Moreover, news of lost DL was so irritating that I was in no mood to click pictures.

Day 3: SunderNagar-Kullu-Manali-Palchan.

We had a sound sleep at Hotel Comfort In's suite. At 0545, when the alarm buzzed it was the most irritating thing. I thought ..." Kullu tak hi toh Jana hai" and reset my alarm for one more hour and slept.

Finally, at 0645 I didn't have any excuse. I woke up, got out of the hotel to check our vehicle and came to know that, there was some lake just in front of our hotel. I had a small walk there and went back, until that time other two guys were also ready to move..

Our plan was to driver till Kullu and do water rafting, reach Manali, do some last time essential shopping for Manali Leh journey and check in at our hotel in Palachan. Mandi to Kullu is 65 km, Kullu to Manali is 40 km and Manali to Palachan our hotel is 12 km, so it was total 120 km. As far as driving was a concern, it was a very relaxing day for us.

I got my SLR and my friend started driving. We all were in good mood. Amazing climate, beautiful mountains and the playful Beas River was with us but it wasn't a pleasant drive. All the Delhi to Manali Volvos, Tempo travellers, taxis and private vehicle start at evening and they reach Mandi at the same time when we started for Kullu. Moreover, it was a weekend. So entire Punjab was running to spend the weekend in Manali.

So, after all, it was a nightmare to drive on that road. Senseless driving by bus drivers and frequent jams was usual. We kept moving, at every jam I used to get out of our vehicle, click some pics and help other guys to clear the traffic jam. It took us 2.30 hours to finish that 60 km to Kullu.

We did rafting in Beas river. The flow of water was not that thrilling, so overall rafting was dull. We finished it, had breakfast in Kullu and moved to Manali.

We stopped at one the shawl shop and bought woolens for our dear and near ones. Our NRI friend had to do a lot of shopping for all of his friends in London. No issue of space in the car, thanks to Duster’s 475 ltr boot space.

From Kullu, we started noticing posters of "Raid de Himalaya".

Raid de Himalaya is a high altitude extreme adventure race /rally on Manali-Leh or Manali-Spiti road. We knew that we were travelling on the same dates with them. The rally/race happens in collaboration with HPTDC, so during that rally road blockage to give free passage to competitors is highly possible, and it was one of our biggest worries. Some 20KM before Manali, at some hotel we saw all the Raid vehicles, that hotel was the starting line for Raid.

We stopped for a while to talk with some officials. Actually, We wanted to know their flag of time(it wasn't published on their website) on next day so we can plan our move accordingly. One of my old FB friends was a marshal at Raid, I met him took his number to check raid’s timing and status.

At 1230, we reached Manali.

Parked our vehicle at Johnson Lodge & Bar and ordered our lunch. All the waiters and hotel staff were too much excited. Curiously, I asked one of the hotel staff.

… "Kya ho Raha hai kyu itni hadbhad machi hai' (What is happening, why all are excited?)

She replied… " lo aapko nahi pata, aaj Salman Khan, Akshya Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha, Huma Qureshi sab yaha paDon'ti"(Dont you know! top bolywood celebrtites are in Manali today.)

Due to Raid de Himalaya, the presence of top celebrities, and weekend rush, entire Manali was excited! We decided to finish our food as soon as possible and leave Manali. After some time, I realized that I know this girl seating just next to my table. Oops, that was Huma Qureshi (I’m a Fan of Gangs of Wasseypur movies). We talked a little about her movies.

We finished our lunch, bought water, dry fruits, chocolates, tissue papers etc. Withdrew enough cash for two days and started for Palachan. To Our beautiful small home-stay named The Clifftop Cottage!!

It was just 1315 and our hotel was just 11 km far from Manali. We were relaxed. We even planned to do paragliding and other adventure sports at Solang valley. We did some photography on the way.

All the tourist vehicles which went for site seeing to Rohtang Pass were coming back, more and more vehicles were going towards Rohtang and Solang valley! Too many raid official Vehicles were also going towards Rohtang. Roads were too narrow and usual traffic of buses, trucks and military Vehicles was also there. Overall it was Chaos. Manali was really excited that day. This was the result of Manali's excitement. It took us 5.15 hours to pass that 3 km of Solang to Palachan.

Finally! at 1830, we reached Palachan. We parked our car just next to the road and walked towards our hotel which was on a small hill. A small beautiful hill with the amazing view! The Clifftop Cottage, Palchan.

PS: We were not able to click pics of our home stay Clifftop Cottage. Sharing images of My family trip to Manali during April 2017 to get a glimpse of this amazing place.

I called up Kapil Thakur. Owner of Clifftop cottage. I was very well in touch with Kapil during the planning phase of our travel. Kapil was an amazing help to get us SDM permit to cross Rohtang pass. He said to make ourselves comfortable at the cottage. He" ll see us soon. Poor Kapil was also stuck in that jam many vehicles behind us!!!

Physical we were fit but mentally we were exhausted! I wanted some hard drink and food. Luckily we bought two bottles of Old Monk rum to keep it with us during Manali Leh journey in case of emergency! We had it, ordered food and enjoyed the view from Balcony.

It was almost 9.00 pm & that traffic jam was still there moving very slowly!! Kapil came, he joined us for dinner!! We talked a lot about many things (don’t remember what, as I was drunk). It was one of the longest days, and we had to wake up early in morning!

We called it a day and went to sleep in the cosy and comfortable attic room of Clifftop Cottage!!

Day 4: Palchan to Jispa.

Before planning our trip, we did a hell of a research. Everyone was saying that Leh and October don't go together. "It will be cold”, ”snow hogi”(there will be snow), “road block honge”(Road block) some even said, “tyre fat jaynege”(tyres will tear off). Another worry was, we were sharing dates with Raid de Himalayas!

So! We were already at Palchan, staying at the cosy homestay. Our Biggest question was what should we do? Do we leave before "raid" or after "raid"?

We reached Marhi. We stopped at a dhaba which was fully functional at 0515. We heard some heavy noise coming from the distance, they were two KTMs and one RE Himalaya, and within 5 Minutes three Motorcycles participating under Extreme Category crossed us at Marhi Village at 0525.

Vehicles started coming from another side of Rohtang. Four Tempo travellers crossed us from opposite direction, those were the brave souls who do Leh to Manali in 12 hours that too during the night. We stopped our vehicle carefully in a corner to give passage to one of the Innova, and that fool scratched with our brand new vehicle at the right tail light.

Option 1: We leave before raid competitors and let them pass us, on Rohtang top.

Option 2: We leave after them but there were heavy chances that we get stuck in the heavy rush of Rohtang crazy tourists.

We were like… "itni jaldi nikle fir bhi raid wale aa hi gaye" ( We left this early, still raid guys caught us)

We made our mind that… "chalo koi nai"(Nevermind) these are just Motorcycles.

We started for Rohtang top, from distance, we could hear heavy brroooom vrroooom of other motorcycles. All the Raid competitor Motorcycles crossed us, we wished them all the best by giving thumbs up.

There was enough daylight and now we were not worried about Raid competitors. We parked our Duster near one of the yellow board of Rohtang Pass. One couple came by a white Delhi WagonR after us. We asked “ itni jaldi kaise?”(How come this early?), they said one of their friends is participating in Raid De Himalaya. We clicked some photographs for them. We passed more than half hour admiring amazing views at Rohtang top.

We started towards Jispa from Rohtang top.

The road was in bad shape but we were in good mood. We kept stopping for photographs. There was one Raid competitor standing at a turn, we stopped and asked... "all well?" He replied... "oh yes " with a big smile. We wished him all the best and moved ahead. Later, in Leh we came to know that he was Paul Shubhamoy who died during Raid 2016.

We kept moving. We were not in any kind of hurry. We were enjoying mountains and doing lots of photography.

A TATA Sumo was overtaking us at a sharp turn we gave him enough space. There were heavy peeeep poooop peeeep from behind, someone was in a real hurry and really fast. Well, and there we witnessed the first Vehicle of Raid de Himalaya Extreme Category. It was a Suzuki Grand Vitara with Number 2 (later in Leh we came to know it was Suresh Rana a Ten-time Raid winner). We let him pass! Well, actually he made his way and rushed ahead.

Finally, Raid guys were behind us!! It was something 0730. Our night stay was planned at Padma Lodge, Jispa.

We were early...very very early!

We kept moving and reached Gramphu turn. All the Motorcycles, officials and even Suresh Rana were stopped there and waiting for something. We wished them all the best, even they wished us all the best, after all, we were first "private" vehicle going towards Leh that day.

We started making more and long photography stops, parked our vehicle, played with the river, played with AWD, had a brief stop at Sissu, refilled at Tandi pump, clicked that famous 365 km signboard and visited Keylong.

Keylong is a small town with very narrow roads. We thought to have some tea and momos at Keylong but at one of the sharp turn, we got stuck with two or three cars with some heavy duty dumpers. After hundreds of small and tiny forwards and reverse manoeuvres, we managed to get out of that mess.We dropped the idea of tea and momos, got out of Keylong and drove towards Jispa.

At 1140, we were at Jispa, Padma Lodge gate. But didn't enter it.

We were discussing... "ab kya kare?" (Now what?)

"Check in kar le?(Shoud we check in?)... At 11:40???...nah(NO)!!!"

One of us said, let's move ahead...

Ahead means?

Darcha 6km.

Patsio 12Km.

Sarchu 98km.

Our research said none of the above places has stay arrangement after 15 September. So, we checked in at Padma Lodge.

We had plenty of time. We played with the river just behind our lodge, talked with lodge’s Nepali caretaker, shared our booze with him, visited other hotels, talked with two riders, roamed around in Small Jispa Village and talked with locals. We told some of them our plan that, tomorrow we are going towards Leh crossing mighty Baralacha Pass. Those locals were staring each other in astonishment.

One of them said... “ upar ja rahe ho? Sambhal na, kabhi bhi barf gir Shakti hai”(Take care, Snowfall can happen anytime.)

Overall we had a very relaxing and lazy day, practically doing nothing! At night we asked Nepali caretaker for a campfire, had amazing food and Slept.

A long and tough day was waiting for us!!!

Rooms at Padma Lodge were small and cold. I was trying to make myself warm with one thermal, two blankets and one woolen monkey cap, but it was no use. My other two friends, one based at London is used to this kind of cold and other one is a frequent visitor to Canada and UK, so both of them were sleeping peacefully.

I was not able to sleep, at 0230 a vehicle arrived at the hotel, I was able to hear the noise. Earlier that evening, Nepali caretaker told me that they are accepting some guest coming from Leh. I thought to meet them and ask about road condition of Jispa to Leh but then who like to get out of his blanket when the temperature is -1 or -2.

Manali-Leh highway is one of the top toughest roads in the world! It’s beautiful, it’s amazing but it is tough! There are five high altitude pass (mountain gateways) higher than 14000ft on this road. Moreover, many starches on this roads are higher than 14000 ft. Extreme cold, lack of oxygen and due to that AMS (acute mountain sickness) are some of the major threats! Apart from that, Jispa (our night stay) is the last proper town /village. After that, there are only some military post and small dhabas. These dhabas and tent close their business after 15-20 September and go home.

This is not all, October is practically start of winter and if early winter comes, snowfall can block high passes and travelers can get stuck for days or weeks. It doesn't mean that it’s Impossible. One needs to do proper research before taking this journey and if you are travelling during October, you need to be ready for any kind of emergency.

We understood that. We had enough food and water for three days, apart from the heavy woollen clothes, we had three warm blankets, 20 liters of extra fuel and some booze. In short, we were ready to take this challenge!

Day 5: Jispa - Leh.

At 0440, we were ready to move. I was a bit disappointed as for next almost two hours, we’ll have to drive without sunlight. Driving on this roads without sunlight and photography is useless. I told my disappointment to other guys. We decided to take our breakfast at Darcha, which is police check post and a very small village 6 km from Jispa.

We left Padma Lodge at 0530.

It was pitch-black, nothing was visible except a snow cladded mountain far ahead. It was Baralacha Pass which we were going to cross. The temperature in our Odometer was -1, the accurate temperature was -3. Jispa to Darcha is just 6 km, the road was nice, but we were not in hurry. Many supply trucks stayed at Jispa for the night also started, we let them go ahead. After half hour's slow and peaceful drive We Reached Darcha.

Darcha is a small village with a Police CP, some dhabas and dormitory stay options. Every Vehicle going towards Leh have to register themselves at Darcha check post. After Darcha there is no human habitation, once you cross Darcha you are into the wild in real meaning!

We registered ourselves, crossed the barrier and ordered some aloo paratha at one of the Dhabas. We roamed around and found three to four dormitory stay options functioning at that time of the month. We inquired around and came to know that all these Dhabas and Dormitory stays will keep functioning until 15th Oct or BRO’s official announcement of Road closure.

After Darcha (3360M) real climbing started. It was still dark, but roads were good. I was waiting for a small man-made lake named Deepak Tal, at Patseio but we missed it. We stopped somewhere and waited for Sunlight. No! We didn't want to miss anything. We were approaching Zingzingbar, we read a lot about a famous water crossing at Zingzingbar. There wasn’t anything, not a single drop of water. Welcome to October. We were climbing towards Baralacha Pass (4890m). Roads were nice and Duster was amazingly responsive.

While we were discussing this, mild rain started at Sarchu. Locals said that this rain can convert into snowfall anytime. Oops, we had to drive 251 Km more, crossing three more Passes & it was 1330. We immediately packed our luggage and started from Sarchu. Fortunately, the rain stopped.

Sarchu To Pang.

Road after Sarchu was in good condition. We were maintaining a nice speed of 50 to 60kmph. After half hour’s drive, we found some trucks standing in front of a bridge. Truck drivers were trying to do something under the bridge. We stopped behind that truck and went to check what’s happening. One of the iron plates from this bridge was bent. We helped those drivers. One of the truck took the initiative and crossed that dangerous bridge. We followed that truck and crossed that bridge.

We kept moving ahead. After some time, I suddenly realized that we were climbing up. We crossed three or four sharp bends & I stopped! I said oops,... "these are famous hairpin bends of Ghata loops, let’s get back and count them, it should be 21 hairpin bends"

My NRI friend killed my excitement saying...

“chupchap gadi chala. Hame leh bhi pahochna hai”(Keep Calm & keep Driving)

It was fun to tackle those sharp hairpin bends. There were some nice off-road shortcuts but sensing our NRI friend’s mood we didn't say anything.We negotiated those 21 hairpin bends easily. Duster was amazing, full marks to our ride. We stopped for some photography with “god’s eye”. Read this term “ god’s eye” in many Ladakh blogs!

highest point of Manali – Leh highway at 5328Mt. None of us was feeling well. I was in worst condition. I wanted to go to that yellow board and get a photograph but it was like climbing Mt.Everest. It was not AMS, but at this height headache & dizziness is normal. We were not acclimatized properly. We decided to get down as soon as possible. Of course after some photographs.

We moved ahead from the Magnetic Hill, out next stop was Confluence of Indus and Zanskar Rivers. One is a shining blue river. The other is dirty green. Both of them originate in the high Himalayas. Both these Himalayan Rivers join at a scenic setting near the town of Nimmu in Ladakh. This is one of the most beautiful places in Ladakh.

Some of the tourists were going for River Rafting, but in my opinion during October water flow is not that thrilling. We didn't go for water rafting. We had a flying visit to Nimmu village and started back towards Leh Town. It was 3.15pm and the temperature was 31c.

After buying some essentials from Leh market, we got back to our Hotel. Problem with these hotels is they don’t have WIFI in rooms, but only at reception waiting area. We ordered some tea at reception and started communicated with our family (none of us had a BSNL sim, our Vodafone and Idea Postpaid didn't work in Leh).

There was a Message on GJ/RJ HiVayking (HVK) WhatsApp group saying, Raid De Himalaya is cancelled.

What?... Why?...

They (Raid) were about to reach Leh on 12th October, which was “today”. Why was it called off? Road blockage? Snowfall at the high passes? Some accident? We wanted to know! We wanted to know because we had to go back via Manali- Leh highway and if any of that pass is blocked, we had to go back Via Srinagar which was a conflict zone.

Luckily Hotel manager at Ladakh Himalayan Retreat was following raid from the beginning. Some of the press guys had booked rooms at LHR. He was not aware of that news. I called up HVKumar. He told me that some rider in Raid’s Extreme Category has died somewhere around Gramphu.

I asked Hotel Manager to inquire around. The news was true. An Extreme category motorcycle participant named Paul Subhamoy died and Raid De Himalaya was called off!

We had to cut our trip short...

I had two more pegs of scotch and slept.

“Kal ki kal dekh lenge” !!!

Day 7 : Leh To Pangong Lake & Back.

It was decided that we had to cut our trip short and head back via Leh- Srinagar highway.

Ok fine, But without visiting Pangong Lake?

Not At All.

As per our Initial plan we were going to stay for a night at Pangong Lake. Our booking was done at one of the wooden cottages at Spangmik village. We decided to visit this property, have lunch and come back to Leh.

As usual, we started for Pangong Lake at first light. Pangong Lake is some 150kms from Leh. Roads were good. We had a flying visit to Takthok Monastery at Shakti village.

Yes, it is one the most beautiful place on earth. The one well-known factor which makes this lake beautiful, that it keeps changing colors. We wanted to witness all the colors of this beautiful lake. It was very much cold out there, but we were excited.

Pangong Lake, also known as Pangong Tso is a beautiful lake situated in the Himalayas and is 134 km long, extending from India to China. This Lake is situated at a height of 4350 m. The lake is a long stretch, the one-third area of the lake lies within our country and the other two third portion lies with Tibet. It has saline water and even then the water freezes and also because of this the lake cannot have any kind of vegetation or even aquatic life.

We stopped at Lukung, which was a starting point of the Lake. After 3 Idiots movie, Leh and Pangong Lake came into limelight. Earlier this region was considered as an adventure circuit, but now it’s a tourist place. Cafes and dhaba are highly influenced by 3 idiots movie. We spent some time there, had our breakfast at a dhaba named “Rancho’s café” and left for Spangmik.

We were driving parallel to Pangong Lake. It was an amazing experience. Some of the locals were practicing Archery. We stopped there and tried our hands on Archery. It was tough.

We talked with those locals. They were from a small village from Zanskar and operating a small dhaba at the bank of Pangong. As per them, it was already off season and they"ll go back to their village after 15th October.

I asked...

what after that?... What do you guys do during winter?

One of them said...

“tin month ke bad agali season suru hogi, uski wait karenge”.(Next Season will start after three months, we"ll wait for that)

Three more months? How...?

"Leh tourist Season is May to September which is after 7 months."

He said...

“ nai nai Saab, Mai Chadar ki bat kar raha hu, Chadar trek January se chalu hoga” (No, no Sir. I am talking about Chadar trek season, It"ll start from January.)

All of them were working as guides of Chadar Trek on frozen Zanskar River.

WOW!

Chadar trek is one of my dreams, but I don’t consider myself fit to do that. We spent one more hour talking about Chadar trek. I noted down their number and promised to call him when I plan for Chadar Trek.

We spent more than two hours with locals talking about Chader trek.

It was already 1400 and we were hungry. Spangmik was 8 Km from that spot. 8km means one hour of driving in that region. We decided to drop Spangmik, drive a bit more with Pangong and head back to Leh. We wanted to get back to Leh before dusk.

Pangong was changing its colors. We stopped at many viewpoints to witness that.

We took a U-turn, got out of the tarred road and played with AWD. We drove all the way to the lake, spotted some more wild kyangs. We drove some more and spotted a sigh board saying not to drive in this area. Oops Sorry! We got back to the road and headed back to starting point of Lake.

We had nice momos at one of the “3 idiots” themed Dhaba. There were many tourist Vehicles. It was 1600, time to head back to Leh

A local guy came to us and asked for lift till Leh.

Why not!

We started for Leh. We tried to talk to that guy about Life in Leh. As per him, taxi & hotel owners are at the top of Leh‘s socio-economical hierarchy. Car loans for commercial (tourism) purpose are very cheap and easy for locals (maybe perks of 370 Article in J& K).

He told us...

“shayad aap ke vaha youth ko doctor ya engineer banana hoga, yaha leh mai sab ko bhahot sari Innova leni hai and driver banna hai”(May be in your region young guys want to become doctors or engineers but in Leh, they want to buy a lot of Innovas.)

We all laughed at his statement. Maybe it's true. We all know that taxi rates are highest in this region.

Day 8: What now? (Leh to Banihal)

We got back to Leh from Pangong around 1900. We settled down at our hotel, discussing what to do next day.

All of the major sights were covered, we didn't have any plans to visit Turtuk or Zanskar or Paramik. Some of the passes on Manali- Leh was blocked. We received news of light snowfall at Zoji La. We had to go back by Leh - Srinagar HW, no other option! If we delay driving back, chances were high that we get stuck at Leh with all the roads getting out of Ladakh region blocked!

We called up some of our contacts in Srinagar, they said that stone pelting was in full swing. They advised us not to cross Srinagar during daylight and that too on Friday! Some military officers suggested crossing Srinagar after 2300 Point noted! We decided to cover some pending sights in Leh & start driving towards Kargil at 1100, spend the night at Kargil. Next day, cross Zoji La, dinner at Sonamarg and cross Srinagar after 2300!

We woke up 0800 and started one of the longest days of our lives!

Our NRI friend wanted to visit “3 idiot School”. We were early so school was closed. Name of this school is "Druk White Lotus School". The school was damaged in August 2010 when cloudbursts caused flash floods that washed mud and boulders into many school buildings. Aamir Khan made a special effort to lend a helping hand. I found Nothing special about this school accept amazing views.

Thikse Monastery.

After “3 idiots” school we moved to Thikse Monastery.

It is one of my favourite place and the face of Ladakh. It is located on a small hill in Thikse village 19 Kms from Leh. It is noted for its resemblance to Potala Palace, Lhasa. Tibet. Once again we were first visitors.

It is a massive twelve-story monastery complex with a number of stupas, statues, thankas and wall paintings. There is also a large pillar engraved with the Buddha's teachings. In its museum, many sacred items besides a royal sword among other precious objects are on display. As per tradition of Buddhist monastic orders, the successive Lamas are believed to be reincarnations of the original Lama. The successive reincarnations of the Skyabje Khampo Ringpoche act as Head Lama of this monastery. The main prayer hall has a 15 mt high seated Buddha statue. The prayer held in the early morning.

We spent more than two hours at Thikse Monastery admiring and clicking amazing views.

Our NRI friend wanted to understand Buddhism. He had a long talk with one of the monk. I was just chasing around kid monks and clicking pictures with them. We played/prayed with big praying wheels, explored entire monastery, bought some sovereigns.

I wanted to click one particular kid monk but he was in a naughty mood. He was just running around and hiding in the monastery. I took permission of his caretaker and ran behind him, & finally clicked some pictures of that naughty kid.

We had all the time to play with those kids.

After lots of photography, we started back for Leh city for some breakfast.This was my fourth trip to Ladakh & we decided to avoid Monasteries to save some time. But Thikse Monastery will always be an exception.

I "ll surely come again!!

Leh To Kargil (Leh- Srinagar Highway).

We reached Leh, had some tea and breakfast at outskirts of Leh. It was 10.45am.

Our plan was to drive till Kargil and stay for the night. Kargil is 216 km from Leh. As per locals, Srinagar to Kargil road was in excellent condition and we can cover that distance in less than 5 hours. We were not in hurry.

We started from Leh, roads were really in nice condition. It was amazing to drive on those roads. We kept driving enjoying nice tarred road and amazing views!

After two to three hours drive, we witnessed some different kind of mountain formation.

I have noticed this kind of formation during my Spiti tour but it was new for me in Ladakh region. And why not? I was driving on Srinagar – Leh first time.

That formation is called Lamayuru Moonland. It is called moonland by the local due to its peculiar land surface which closely resembles the surface seen on the moon. Lamayuru is a small village and home to one of the oldest Monastery called Lamayuru Monastery.

We started our journey from Lamayuru after 20 minutes.

Once again we were on the road. We were enjoying the drive. The road was in the nice condition, where we could speed up. We stopped at many points for photographs. In my opinion views on Manali – Leh is “Brutally” Beautiful, but Leh –Kargil was “beautifully” Beautiful. I don't know how to explain this statement! But even after my four trips on Manali- Leh highway, I am always scared of that road at the back of my mind. It was not the case with Srinagar-Leh highway.

We were now approaching Fotu LA (4108 Mt).

The highest point on Srinagar- Leh highway. There is a Prasar Bharati television relay station located on the pass. Once again those yellow boards and once again lots of photographs.

Fotu La pass on the Srinagar-Leh highway of the Himalayan Zanskar Range stands at a height of 13,478ft (4,108m) above the sea level. This mountain pass is referred to as the highest point on the highway, going beyond the well-known Zoji La. The drive through the pass was so beautiful, we stopped at many places to get an amazing view of the snow-clad mountain ranges.

After some 15 minutes of driving, we were welcomed by Tourism Development Authority, Kargil. We were officially entering into Kargil district. We were still 75 km away from Kargil.

We were approaching one more pass named Namikala La (3700 Mt.).

Namikala Pass to name among other passes is located at the Zanskar range. A pass that stands at a height of 3,700 mt. It is situated on the way to Mulbekh valley. Namikala Pass is one of the most impressive and important passes and one of the highest passes between Leh and Kargil.

We spent more than 15 minutes here and started driving towards Kargil.

We moved ahead.

We were enjoying our drive.

I noticed one truck with the broken windshield but avoided to inform others as dint want to scare our NRI friend.

We reached Kargil at 3.15pm.

We covered Leh- Kargil 216 Km in 4 hours with two or three long stops, thanks to BRO for those amazing roads.

We reached Kargil at 3.15 pm.

Earlier we deiced to have a night stay at Kargil. We entered in town had some tea and discussed what to do? It was just 3.15pm there was plenty of daylight.

We decided to push some more and reach Drass. Kargil to Drass was just 65 Km. We decided to reach Drass and have a night stay.

We started for Drass.

Roads were nice.

We reached Drass in 3 hours.

We stopped at Drass War Memorial.

Army Men at the gate was surprised to see us. We stopped to chat with him. He told us stone pelting is in full swing at Srinagar. All the vehicles coming from Srinagar have broken windshield. This was a bad news. We were going to pass Srinagar next morning or afternoon. If this is the situation of Srinagar, we can’t cross it.

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 to not to stay 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 the only way out. You cannot 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 11.30pm. He also told us that things are not good even in Drass.

So this was it. We had to move on. It was scary.

When an Army commanding Officer tells you that “things are not good, keep moving” It is serious.

We shared tea with that CO, thanked him and started driving.

We even skipped Drass War Memorial.

We started our journey from Drass. Yes ! We were scared but equally excited.

Yes! We were scared but equally excited.

We were approaching conflict zone and was going to cross one of the major Pass, Zoji La in dark.

After Drass it was getting dark. After some time we met three truck drivers who killed our excitement. All those truck’s windshield was broken, one of the truck drivers was bleeding. We stopped them offered our smoke and inquired how this happened.

They told us the same story. They faced a group of the youngsters at Ganderbal. They threw stones at them without any reason and they had to run. Army CP at Sonamarg Advised those truck drivers to keep driving and cross Zoji la. We wished them good luck and started driving.

After that meeting, we were just “scared” and not “excited”.

There were many trucks coming down from Zoji la, most of them were IOCL tankers and almost all of their windshields were broken.

We reached last Army Check Point before Gumri Zoji La.

We reached the last Army Check Point before Zoji La, Gumri.

It was dark. Army guys were surprised to see a tourist vehicle that late and ready to approach Zoji La in the dark. In charge of that CP denied allowing us to go ahead. We asked him to talk to COsir at Drass War memorial. He called up his CO, COsir confirmed that he advised three guys with black Duster to go ahead and cross Zoji La.

CP in-charge wrote down our name and cell phone numbers. He gave us his personal number and asked to call him in case of any kind of emergency. He told us to ask Army CP in-charge at Sonamarg, to call him once we reach Sonamarg. He was genuinely worried about us.

We shared their tea and said goodbye to him. He wished us good luck.

We were approaching Zoji La.

We started from that check post. We were very much scared and tensed. I normally love this kind of situations, it was an adventure in the purest form. Crossing Zoji la in dark. We were confident about ourselves, as far as driving was concerned but we were scared of stone pelting and all.

Many IOCL oil tankers were coming from Sonamarg side. Almost all of them were with the broken windshield. We asked one or two of them about road conditions, they said till Zoji la, the road is good after that, it is in very bad condition. All tanker drivers advised us to take care & drive slowly after Zoji la.

We kept moving ahead. We met a group of motorcycles from KA before Zoji la.

After an hour of driving, we reached Zoji La top. After all, a photograph with that yellow board was a must. I tried to find that yellow milestone with name and altitude of Zoji La. I couldn't find it.

We started descending from Zoji La.

It was dark, pitch dark. It was scary.

Out Visibility was limited. Head light with high-beam was a little help. Road after Zoji la was in bad shape. There wasn't any vehicle on slopes of Zoji La. It was like, all three of us was driving the vehicle. My friend was driving, I was keeping a close eye on edge of the road and our NRI friend was looking for any upcoming vehicle or their lights. The road had lots of curves. When we turn, our headlight focus on the valley for few seconds. It was scary.

You know you are driving on one of the deadliest roads in the world.

You know that just 2 feet away there is a deep valley, but you are not able to see it.

You know that you are travelling very near to LOC between India & Pakistan.

You know that you are alone.

You read many things about this high pass, and you are on it in the night.

It was scary.

You are scared, but another part of your mind says you love adventure.

That was not a fight between your heart and mind.

The heart was busy pumping blood more than normal rate.

The heart was busy handling adrenaline rush.

You just think of the definition of adventure.

You love to call yourself a traveller.

Your mind asks the definition of traveller.

You think about life.

You think about your kid at home.

You think about your wife.

You think about your parents.

And some naughty over-enthusiastic part of your mind says...

"Come on! this is the life, you are a survivor"

But another part of your mind asks the definition of life.

What is life??

Now there is a fight between two part of your mind.

The Frist part, which is over-enthusiastic says...

"this is life, you are doing something, which is not normal, you are amazing."

The second part says...

" life is at home, with your family, don't come to the Himalayas again".

...& then there was a sharp break, Our car stopped at a corner. I checked the road (and your mind ask the definition of good roads)

With the hell with my mind.

There was an IOCL tanker with the broken windshield and only one headlight. It was my duty to keep an eye on edge of the road and upcoming vehicles & I was busy in definitions. We stopped for a while and asked that IOCL tanker that how far is Sonamarg. He said 10 km more.

I took the wheel. Asked my mind to shut up and started driving. I was talking to myself that this"ll be a hell of a story to tell that we crossed Zoji la at the night. This gave me some positive energy.

We spent one hour at Military CP.

CP in charge offered us to take dinner with them but we denied that offer. We were interested in some heavy nonveg (specially Mutton Rohan Gosh) at some place at Sonmarg. We thanked everyone at that CP and left in search of some hotel or dhaba.

Finally, we find a small dhaba with nonveg food option. We asked for Rohan gosh but it was not available. We ordered some chicken.

There was a small TV in this dhaba, some local young guys in their "pehran" (traditional outfit of kashmiri during winter) watching the news. India today TV channel is well known for their animated cartoon series on current affairs. We , 8 guys, were watching the TV. We three, 4 locals in their "Pehran" and that Dhaba owner.

& then came bellow cartoon on TV. The team of Modisir is attacking Kashmiris and killing terrorists wearing that "pehran" and what not. Oops that Cartoon was funny, but all those 4 locals were serious...

You are trapped in a bad situation here. You always thought that terrorism should be handled with strict policies, you are a patriotic and you supported Burhan Vani 's killing and condemned all the civil unrest after that.

But here you are at the outskirt of Sonamarg with some serious looking locals in their Pehran & our Modisir's cartoon is attacking and killing the terrorist(wearing pehran)....

with song lyrics "bar bar ha abki bar ha,ghus ke mara hai, Seema par ha"...

You are three guys from Gujarat with a Gujrat vehicle and PM's ( who is Gujarati) animated cartoon killing the terrorist. It was tensed moment, we were scared. I wanted to break the ice between us and them, but how?

And then, one of the locals turned to us and laughed loudly saying ...

" yeh news wale kuch bhi dikahte rehte hai, sabhi terrorist nahi hote".

He invited us to share their fire. We joined them. We shared their smoke. They gave us some tips on how to cross Srinagar.

We spent 3 hours at that Dhaba, talking with those locals, We wanted to avoid discussing terrorism and Burhan Vani & they understood it. We had our food, thanked those locals and started from Sonamarg at 10.30 Pm.

We started form Sonamarg at 10.30 pm.

Sonamarg is beautiful, Sonamarg is surrounded by many beautiful snow cladded peaks. We were at Sonamarg first time in our lives but it was dark. We promised to Sonamarg that we "ll come again.

We were all alone on the road. Truck drivers were also parked at the edge of the road and sleeping. We kept moving ahead. It was 11.00 pm in the night. There wasn't any upcoming traffic, roads were deserted. After some time we reached Ganderbal Village.

If you are following news of Kashmir, you must be aware of this name Gandeball. All the truck drivers told us that they faced stone pelting at Ganderbal. Our NRI friend spotted a milestone saying Welcome to Ganderbal.

So finally we were here, at Ganderbal. It was deserted. There was no one to throw stones at us. Roads were empty. It was relaxing, but deep inside my mind, I was also disappointed...

" no one will throw stones at us?, We won't get a chance to run for our life (car) ?, huh".

We stopped at a fuel bunk at Ganderbal. The owner was surprised to see us at 11.30pm.

We asked him in relaxed tone...

"trucks ne to hame dara diya tha, yaha toh kuch stone pleting nahi ho raha hai"

I felt that that fuel bunk guy didn't like that we were relaxed. He said...

"Ganderbal mai log jaldi so jate hai, Srinagar mai nahi sote,Srinagar me patthar pad shakte hai."

There was Toyota Qualis at that Fule bunk, with a sticker " Follow me to Paradise, J& K tourism". See the irony here, a local person was saying that "Srinagar mai patthar padenge & a tourism department vehicle was welcoming us to Paradise. We were approaching paradise...

Finally, at 2100 we were at a small Dhaba at Sonamarg.

Frist thing we did after reaching Sonamarg, was to report at the military check post. CP in- charge was already informed that a Gujarat black Duster with three guys was coming down from Zoji la. CP in-charge at Sonamarg informed CP in charge of Zoji la that we were at Sonamarg CP and all was well.

CP in charge at Sonamarg was a nice person, He offered us tea. We asked him what should we do? He advised us to stay there or at any dhaba for 3 hours, finish our dinner, relax a bit and then start for Banihal. He strictly instructed us not stop anywhere before Javahar tunnel.

We asked some tips on how to cross Srinagar. He called one of the local from their camp. That local draw a rough map on a blank paper with landmarks. It was nice, we got all the details. He clearly instructed us not turn towards "Lal Chowk" in any case. He explained to us that "Lal chowk " was the epicenter of all the protest activities and remain as far as possible from " Lal Chowk"

We decided to follow that Qualis guy, but he told us he is from Ganderbal and going home. He said go ahead, there won't be any major issue if you avoid " Lal Chowk".

We started from Ganderpal and decided to cross Srinagar in one go.

After half hour, we entered Srinagar city.

It was 12.30pm and the entire city was calm and deserted. We didn't even spot any police or Military men. We kept moving. We were constantly in touch with a local rider friend, who was giving us instructions at every crossing. At every crossing one road was going to Lal Chowk.

Lal Chowk was just 1 km away from us.

Nothing happened, We crossed Srinagar like breeze. We were relaxed and stopped at Pampore. We thanked that local rider for help. He advised us not to stop anywhere. He said just keep driving and cross Zawahar Tunnel. Point taken...!!

This was my first time in Srinagar. Beautiful Dal lake & it's Shikara rides, houseboats, well known Mughal garden, Shalimar Garden, Char Chinar and Kashmiri Wazvan dishes( most important Mutton Rohang Gosh). We missed it all. We crossed Srinagar like maniacs.

"Gar firdaus bar-rue zamin ast, hami asto, hamin asto, hamin ast.” “If there is a heaven on earth, it’s here, it’s here,". Srinagar was beautiful, Yes I can say that, even after we crossed it in a hurry.

We wanted to reach Zavahar tunnel as soon as possible. We crossed Srinagar without any major issue, crossed Pampore, crossed Anantnag. These were the well-known names, beautiful places but affected by civil unrest.

Roads were nice, we zipped through this places and reached Qazigund Dry fruit market. surprisingly this market was open at 2.00am.

We stopped for tea. We were the only tourist vehicle at Qazigund. I noticed that when you are scared, locals love to play with your fear.

I went to one dry fruit shop to buy some dry fruit and asked the owner...

" ab to koi dar nahi hai na pattharbazi ka"

It felt like the owner was more interested in scaring me instead of selling his stuff.

He said..." saab ji, yeh Kashmir hai, pattar kabhi bhi pad shakte hai"

I said..." thik hai bhaisab, aap patthar maro hum to chale"

We started for Zavahar tunnel immediately. There was a long queue of trucks at the ticket counter of Tunnel. We joined this queue. One of the policemen came to us and told us to cut the line and go ahead. We thought he is one more local who wanted to have fun with us.

We dined to cut the line. He said very politely... "sir aap tourist ho, aap age jao, ticket leke tunnel cross kar lo" .

We were surprised, we thanked him and rushed ahead, bought the tickets and crossed the tunnel. Finally, we crossed Zavahar tunnel. It was 3.00am.

Javahar tunnel is an engineering marvel, its longest tunnel, it connects Kashmir and Jammu valleys....blah blah bla...we were not in the mood for these things. We were tired & we wanted to sleep.

I asked google baba for next city after Zavahar tunnel and possible stay options. The next city was Banihal. We selected a JKTDC property (hotel Maple) and called them. We said just keep a room ready with an extra bed.

At 4.00am we reached Hotel Maple, Banihal. It was poorly maintained, rooms were dirty. The only good thing about that property was it had good parking space. We just got in those dirty beds and slept.

Beautiful Pangong Lake welcomed us!

After 17 hours of driving, we were in bed. It was one of the longest days of our lives. Leh To Banihal in 17 hours.....

Day 9: Banihal To Ludhiana.

We checked in at JnKTDC property, Hotel Maple at Banihal at 3.00am. Rooms were dirty with cigarette butts and liquor bottles. We didn't think much about it. We just got into our beds(mine was on the floor) and slept. We were awake for last 22 hours. We needed some rest, we needed some sleep.

At 7.00am, our NRI friend woke us up. It was irritating. We were not in the mood to get out of bed just after three hour's sleep.

I clearly said to Our NRI friend,

..."hotel mai aaag lagi hai?...agar nahi...toh hum nahi unthenge"

He said... "hotel mai to nahi, banihal mai aag lag shakti hai".

I just got out of my bed after listening to that sentence. I asked him what he was trying to say? He took me outside. Hotel's caretaker was standing outside. AS per him, local "Masjid" committee had called a "Bandh" for some local reason, after "Namaz", there was going to be a peaceful protest. He added that "peaceful " protest in this region never remains "peaceful". He advised us to move before this protest starts. I was under impression that, once we cross Zavhar Tunnel we were in the safe zone. But here one of the local persons was telling us to leave Banihal as soon as possible.

"thick hai"...

We paid over bills, gave some tips to caretakers and left Banihal. We left Banihal at 9 AM and got stuck in one more ugly traffic jam.

There were lots of military supply trucks, IOCL tankers and Tourist Vehicles. There were some road constructions were going on. It was total chaos and we were stuck in that.

After 5 hours, we reached Patanitop.

We had breakfast at Patanitop, topped up the fuel tank and kept moving. Patanitop was a beautiful place but we wanted to get out of J&K as soon as possible.

We kept driving like maniacs.

We reached Udhampur in no time.

Somehow, we got out of Udhampur city and stopped at a small tea stop at outskirts of Udhampur. We had a power nap in the car.

After Udhampur, the road was amazing. We wanted to cover maximum distance before dusk. I took the wheel and pushed the A pedal.

We reached Ludhiana in 5 hours.

Ludhiana is a well-known city and we were sure that we would get a decent room(with three proper beds) for night stay.

Yes! Ludhiana is a big city but October was marriage season in Punjab. We noticed all the hotels, resorts and party plots were full. We inquired at more than 7 hotels in Ludhiana, there wasn't a single room available for us.

Finally, at 2200, We found a hotel on the outskirts of the city on the highway. Rooms were small and dirty. Owner of the hotel said after 2300, he"ll lock the front gate and go home. We were tried, we checked in. We had food and slept. Late night, I realized someone was crying in the next room. I got out of our room and went to check the next room. There was one aged (more than 85) person sleeping on the bed. He wanted some water, I gave him some water and came back to our room. After that, I was not able to sleep. Early morning I called the owner to open the gate and left.

I was excited to for this place because there are some amazing off-road tracks. Our NRI friend was against the idea of Off-roading, but we used our VETO and went for off-roading, and he took revenge by not taking any pics of our adventure.

The popular Magnetic Hill of Ladakh is said to be a gravity hill where vehicles defy the force of gravity and move upwards on the hill, when parked at the marked location. The hill lies at a distance of 30 km from the town of Leh, at an elevation of around 14,000 feet above sea level.

Day 10: Ludhiana to Kishangarh.

We left early from Ludhiana.

Our hotel at Ludhiana had a crying aged mystery man. When I told about night's incident to my friends, both of them were shocked and thanked me for my decision to leave early.

We started from Ludhiana, We wanted to have breakfast. Our foodie NRI friend had already decided what to eat. We stopped at a Vaishno dhaba and ordered all kind of stuffed Parathas. We wanted to try all the variants of Parathas. Each of us had more than three Parathas.

Our next task was to search for a carwash facility. We found one at one of the big shopping complex/mall on the highway after Ludhiana.

The operator at car washing shop started cleaning our car, after a while, he came to me and asked...

" Leh-Ladakh ja ke aye?"( Are you guys coming from Leh?)

I was surprised, I asked...

"aap ko kaise pata chala" ( How do you know that?)

He replied...

"Leh se aake sabhi log yahi gadi wash karate hai, mai yeh mitti ko pahechan gaya hu" ( People coming back from Leh, always stop here for car washing.)

Ludhiana to Rohtak was a nice road.

It was an eventless drive. I even offered wheel to Our NRI friend and he gladly accepted that. He drove for more than 200kms.

We had a brief stop at Rohtak for some lassi.

Ludhiana to Jaipur was an eventless and peaceful drive.

I choose to sleep in the rear seat. We had to stop at Hotel Hiwayking to take back my Driving licence, which I forgot at the hotel on the first day of our trip. We stopped at that hotel collected my DL and kept moving ahead. We decided to have a night stay at Kishangarh. We booked a nice hotel in advance.

Day 11: Kishangarh to Home

Before booking a room at KishanGarh, We clearly stated that we want a room with three beds and not a mattress on the floor. The receptionist at Hotel 1589 Royal Heritage confirmed that they have a room with three separate beds.

We reached Hotel 1589 Royal Heritage at 1930. We checked in, got refreshed and ordered our food. This time our NRI friend wanted to have Lal Mans and Dalbati. We had nice dinner and called it a day.

I personally liked Hotel 1589 Royal Heritage. Here are some of the photographs of that amazing property.

After a peaceful and comfortable night at Hotel 1589 Royal Heritage, Kishangarh, We started for Ahmedabad at 0900 in the morning. Kishangarh to Ahmedabad was 575 Km, which we covered in 6 hours with only one stop.

We reached home at 1500.

The End

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