When
May 30 to June 8, 2009
Who
Abha, Aoyon, Nidhi, Anup, Chanchal
How
A 3-year young Tata Safari being driven (mostly) by Aoyon
View Delhi to Leh in a larger map
May 30, 2009
The trip of our dreams finally happened! We had planned so much beforehand that it was almost guaranteed to be canceled. And sure, there were plenty of last-minute hiccups. But hey, it is May 30 (Sat), 7:30 PM and finally we are on our way!
Started from Delhi around 7 PM - stopped at the famed Murthal dhabas for dinner. Night-halt at Panchkula.
May 31, 2009
We actually manage to be up by 5 AM - on our way by 6. We cross Chandigarh, and are soon climbing the hills. Breakfast somewhere on the way. We hope to reach Manali for a late lunch, but finally give up and stop at a lovely river-side dhaba just before Manali for food and rest. The water is lovely, and the place is almost empty. There is no menu - our host insists on telling us the menu verbatim - after all, menu card main kyaa rakkha hai? As luck would have it - the place gets filled up by the time we leave. But at least for a while, we had the river entirely to ourselves. Welcome to Himalayas.
We reach our hotel (Nagesh, approx 2 km just before main Manali Mall), and decide to walk down to the Mall. The walk is rejuvenating after being cooped up all day in the Safari. But the road is dusty and not at all like a hill-road is meant to be. Nevertheless, we feel on top of the world.
Safari boot is full till top - 5 odd-back-packs, a carton of mineral water bottles, a big box full of energy bars, chocolates, nuts, chips et al (enough food to let us survive in case we get stranded en route), and now a pair of rubber boots - apparently, when it rains, the road to Leh is covered with water at lots of points, and you need to go in water to assess its depth.
June 1, 2009
I am impressed with us - we wake up at 4 - and are out of the hotel before 6. I am even more impressed with everyone else. We are stuck in a traffic jam at 6:15. Whereever eyes can see, it's cars, cars and cars. We ramble along with everyone else, in a procession. But the vista surrounding us is amazing. There are flocks of sheep on the mountain-sides. A hill-boy arrives carrying a pot of tea with plastic cups for the people stuck in the jam.
Today, our destination is not too far - Keylong - which is only 220-odd km from Manali. So we are not too worried about the time. Finally, traffic thins, and we are moving to Rohtang at a more comfortable pace. At Rohtang, it's chilly, and white. Snow - as close or as far as the eye can see. There is nothing else but snow. But covered with humans of all shapes and sizes - multitudes of humans - that was apparently a record weekend at Rohtang ever. After like 2 hours of dragging the car at a pace which a snail would be ashamed of - we manage to park the car. We have an amazing breakfast of Maggi (with and w/o veggies) right there, and move forward.
Onwards to Keylong ... All of a sudden, there are no more crowds, forget that, there are no more cars at all - there are the Himalayas on all sides, just for us. Beautiful vistas, at many places, the road is covered on both sides with ice (the ice is getting cleaner by the minute), and the Safari just manages to get through the narrow ghati.
Wow .. the views keep getting better and better.
All of a sudden, there is this amazing grassy meadow next to a river, and we just have to stop here. It would be a perfect camping-site if we come back next time with the tents. Nidhi and Chanchal have dozed off, and I dither about stopping, after all, we will surely see more views, and Nidhi has not been able to sleep much before. But then Anup is keen, and then Aoyon actually reverses the car and drives all the way over the road-side kaccha raasta, to stop right at the edge of the meadow.
It sure was too good to be missed. And we did not come across such a perfect place in the rest of our trip. We sat there for more than an hour, and not a single car crossed us by. We get out the omlettes (packed with foresight by Anup), the pickles, the chips, the works. The only thing missing is nice hot tea. Some people can not appreciate the beauty of a place without thinking of food. Call me one of those. :-)
We just relax, lie down, chill. It is a great place to just be. Finally, we have to be on our way. But we were very glad to have to go forward only to Keylong, otherwise we would have had to shorten our break.
Keylong at 4 PM. Home sweet home. At least for tonight. We are looking forward to a long restful evening. But not so soon. The hotel guys (HPTDC, Keylong, booked online from HPTDC's site) tell me that they have my name of the reservation chart, but they still need a printout of the reservation in order to let us checkin. Shucks- I forgot to keep the printouts. Now what? They tell us that there is an internet cafe in the small market. We go there - the net is down since morning. Then someone directs us to a Govt run Institute which has a dedicated internet connection for their computer training center. They are very helpful, and let us download our reservation sheets and take printouts. So finally in the hotel.
Nice light dinner at the hotel, followed by a lacklustre game of 29 - we are feeling the AMS already. We go to bed early - have a really long day ahead since we plan to reach Leh directly tomorrow.
June 2, 2009
We start at 4 AM.We hope to be at Leh by 7 PM latest. It is definitely doable - a distance of --- kms.
We stop at the last petrol pump before Leh.
The views are unbelievable. We cross Suraj Tal. It is impossible to believe even now that we were really there.
We cross Baralacha La?
We stop every 30 minutes for a pee-break - once even in 15 minutes - Chanchal actually asks me if I have ever got myself tested for diabetes.
We cross Sarchu - where the camps are just getting set up. This is the favorite (and mostly, the only available) night-halt site en route, and it is extremely windy out here. In my pre-trip research, I had found that Sarchu is way too high and people get serious AMS by stopping here. Not for nothing is it called vomit Hilton. Instead if we could just drive on to Leh, we could avoid much of AMS. Well - the best laid plans ....
My headache which had started in Keylong is progressively getting worse. Nidhi is zoned out. Chanchal and Anup look in control. Then all of a sudden, Aoyon stops the car and says he can not drive any further. He is feeling nauseous as hell, and can not sit straight. Anup takes over the rein, and we move forward.
We cross the famed 7-bends road - but noone is in the right frame of mind and matter to appreciate the vista. After 30 minutes or so, (at 1 PM) we see a place where there are some tents. We stop for a break.
This is Pang. There is a big tent run by a laddakhi lady and her daughter. We go inside and pass out on some charpoy's. Then we eat some measley Maggi.
1 hour on - Aoyon is still feeling awful. We decide to halt here for the night since we will not get any other place to stop at before Leh. In fact it was extremely lucky that we found these camps at all.
Late afternoon/Evening - everyone is much worse. Nidhi and Aoyon are the worst. Chanchal, who had not got hit with AMS initially, is now feeling quite bad. Even Anup is not his usual chirpy self. Then someone gets to know that there is an Army hospital camp nearby. Anup and Nidhi go there - they fill Nidhi up with some oxygen. Then Aoyon and I go there, and get Aoyon filled up with some oxygen. The Docs there scold us for not having taken Diamox earlier. We in turn scold the Docs in our company for stopping us to take it. Chanchal still insists that Diamox is useless.
By the way - from the Docs we get to know that our halt is located at 5000ft +, even higher than Sarchu!
Evening - it's cold and dark. We are huddled up in our sweaters, leather jackets, thermal wear, jeans et al under maybe 4 layers of cotton quilts. The lady in charge of the camp is very sweet, she brings us food and tries to feed us herself, by giving a spoonful of khichdi to each one of us in turns. None of us can take in more than half a spoon. I feel really bad that I couldnt do justice to something she made with so much love for some foolish travellers from Delhi who she will never see again. Finally she tucks us in bed and almost makes me cry.
Everyone is slow and unhappy and sick. I try to suggest a game of cards as noone can sleep anyway. I get such dirty looks as if I am laughing at their sickness. I get the cue and get quiet after that. We all sleep fitfully.
I get up twice in the night to throw up. It is way too cold outside. And there are dogs which frighten me. Cant believe a day which started in Suraj Tal could have ended this way.
June 3, 2009
Morning. 6 AM or so. We are awake but not refreshed. Chanchal seems to be even worse than last night, and Aoyon is quite downbeat. Nobody believes that this nausea and headache will ever go away. The safari outside is covered with icicles. Suggestion floats - Shall we give up and go back? It shows our state that this idea is not immediately rejected, but is actually considered for a while. Then of course we decide to move on.
Then luck favors us - Aoyon drinks some ORS, and immediately feels better.
And we move ahead. The scenery is amazing, but we hardly have the eyes for it. The stones of myriad hues - the amazing purples, the unbelievable greens, and the enchanting pink. We cross Baralacha La, not daring to stop at all since this is the highest point of the road, and AMS may be even worse here.
Then more sooner than later, all of a sudden, Leh looms ahead. We enter the city, find our way to the hotel, and crash! It has been the 4th consecutive day of driving and we are totally zoned out. It is exhilarating and unbelievable that we made it finally.
Lunch at Oma-Sila (the hotel). Followed by rest and sleep.
Dinner outside? Dont remember
June 4, 2009
The day at Leh! It is good to be alive. We are all feeling great again! Chanchal felt so sick on the way in, that she is considering to take a flight on the way back. We had originally planned to spend 3 days in Leh. Now one extra day was spent towards Leh, so we have only today and tomorrow,
Another change of plans - we consider driving via Srinagar on the way back! That is a longer route, so will take 4 days min. We decide to leave tomorrow itself, so that we dont have to take extra leave.
But today we shop. we eat. we relax. and we climb up the monastery.
June 5, 2009
Drive from Leh to Kargil - Not good.
We start comfortably in the morning, around 11. The drive is not nice - it is like driving through a quarry. It is sand and dust all the way. However, we have a pleasant surprise on the way. There is a very small tea shop en route which makes us the best Maggi of our lives. In the evening, we reach the kargil hotel - a quaint building made of wood. We plan to leave at 4 AM in order to reach Srinagar well in time. We havent decided about the night stay - we may stay in Srinagar, or try to reach Jammu on the same day.
June 6, 2009
Drive from Kargil to SriNagar via Draas
We get up at 3:30 AM in order to start at 4. There is power outage, so we get ready by the candle light. At 4, we all get in the car and start. At 4:05, we are again static.
We are stuck in a long traffic Jam at 3000 meters altitude at 4 AM in the morning. The axle of a truck has broken and it is blocking the whole road. Attempts to tow the truck have failed. We realize that no help seem to be forthcoming, so we switch off the engine, pull up a blanket, and try to nap!
Finally it was close to 6, when we started trailing the traffic and got moving.
Onwards, we made good time, and were finally relaxing and hoping to reach Manasbal by early lunch. I was reading the map and happily proclaiming that we were about to cross the lowest pass en route - the TanglangLa.
And then - just like most days of our trip - we hit a snow storm. Crossed the pass through gales of snow coming at us. Was it crazy?
So we grazed through the snow - in middle of crossing that pass in middle of the snow storm, where roads were turning slushy and slippery, and even ice panes were forming on road surface at places, and the wiper was removing snow from the windshield by an armful - we got honked from behind by a CHG-numberplate. He could have been driving through fog on a January evening in Chandigarh.
Finally, the pass finishes, and the snow ends, and the colors that define Kashmir start appearing. Our jaded eyes which had seen only gray for the last many hours, brightened up, as the trees turned up, first snow-laced white, and finally green.
If we had thought that it was the end of all our worries .. we were oh so wrong.
It was the time of the Shopian tragedy, and the protestors were all over the place, raising their voice against the CRPF allegedly responsible for the acts, and the whole armed forces and Government machinery in general.
When we had started from Leh, the protests had already started in Srinagar. But everybody out there had assured us that the tourist vehicles will not be bothered. Now, we were still 30 odd km frm Srinagar, and we are pelted at with stones. There are not too many people around - just some youngish lads, mostly hiding in the trees. But they will not let us through without giving us a good stone-bath. We turn around.
At the next crossing, we find a cop and tell him of our experience. He utters an exasparated "but I just moved them away" sigh, and goes back to his job. We find out that we can reach Manasbal without crossing the stone-circle, and accordingly take the new route.
Manasbal has a renowned lake. More importantly for us, it will provide a place to spend the night - at the Armed Forces Guest House. Thanks to our Fauji friends. It is crazy but it turns out to be a very exciting evening in the Army mess, in the company of faujis, who make us feel exhilarated and pointless at the same time.
June 7, 2009
Drive from Srinagar to Pathankot
Next morning, we leave early to avoid the protestors. The excessive presence of army on the roads is eerie, and scary, even though it should be reassuring. We are not apprehensive of the army guys, but of the reasons why so many of them are visible here.
We quickly cross Srinagar, and move on to Jammu. We have plans to stay for the night at a Business hotel at Pathankot. We make reasonable time, considering the narrow roads and continuous oncoming traffic. We cross into Punjab, and I make a most ill-advised comment - we should be at our hotel by 8 PM.
Well what do they say - never tempt fate! The very next moment, Safari's front left tyre has got into a big drain, and we are totally stuck! It is 3 hours, arrival of 50-odd locals, and a crane that finally gets us out of the ditch. And it is 11PM when we reach our day's destination.
June 8, 2009
Back home!
Finally an uneventful day. We start around 7:30 after a good breakfast at the hotel, and burn some great roads to finally reach Delhi by 3PM. Whew! An amazing-crazy trip, but we would be wary of sitting in a car for many days to come.
