Day 7 Leh
We slept like logs. Woke up late and had a delicious breakfast. Mahe guest house was sheer value for money. Good large size room with window opening to the Stok range. Attached Bath with running HOT water, decent furniture, superbly clean linen and to top it all delicious food. The vegetables come from the garden infront, food is cooked by the women in house. You can tell them your taste..spice.. no spice..and they will make it to your specification. Just like home. The catch is Veg is fantastic and Non-Veg not so good.
Rijin the owner of the GH said that he will get the permits for us for a nominal fee. We were also not very keen in going to DC office and spend an hr or two in getting the permits. However on seeing names like Turtuk, Chushul, Hanle, Tsaga la he said that its better that you personally go there
![Smile](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.png)
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So after gorging some fantastic Aloo Parathas and omlettes we were at the DC to get the shock... Saab aaj DC office close hai
![Shockked](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/Shockked.png)
. It was some local holiday which we were not aware of . DC office close means the complete plan goes haywire. My mind was furiously working what to do... replan the whole trip. Then came the good news that because of tourist rush the DC office would open at 2:30 in the afternoon for permits. Phew !
It was already 11 and we decided to give Maximus a much needed bath. Toyota now has a service center at Leh. I thought that i will get the Fort checked up and get a top wash. We had a good chat with the General Manager there about issues in working at Leh. The most severe conditions these vehicles have to face. Another issue they had that Ladakh has now a booming tourism industry and locals don't want to work as mechanics since the pay is nowhere near what they can make in one season time.
A local Travel operator had brought his Etios for some fitments. He owns vehicles from all the three brands Toyota, M&M and Tata. Some interesting things he narrated about vehicle scenario in Leh.
1. Toyota rules. Innova has a waiting period of 3 months and some times more. A qualis running 2 lakhs kms in Ladakh commands a resale price of 5+ lakhs.Toyotas are the only vehicles which have proved there mettle in these severe condition.
2. Mahindras come next. Locals say that Scorps, Boleros and Xylos do have issues which crop up time to time but are manageable. But being cheaper than Innova they are maximum in number.
3. Tatas are a complete failure there. None of the TATA SUVs are a success there. Worst performance from Safari where most of them were sold off with in a year or two because of numerous problems.
Another interesting incident he narrated where a Team from M&M had come to Leh in winters when the temp went down to -20 deg to check their vehicles performance in extreme conditions. All the M&M vehicles had starting issues. However an Innova lying under cover for last 1 month fired up in half crank..!! Needless to say people are mad about Toyota.
I will again repeat here that these are NOT my inferences. I am just narrating what was told by the Travel operator.
The mechanic said that Maximus has no issues and only needs a bath which unfortunately will not be possible here since their pumps are not working. So off we went to Choglsmar area where there are couple of car washing joints. After a refershing Bath Maximus was came back in his original colur after a gap of 7 days.
We still had some time so decided to checkout Shey palace.
A pano of Leh valley from Shey palace
The DC office was swarming with people. We did manage to place our forms at the top. The clerk asked : Aap govermnet employee hain ? me said yes. Chushul bhi jana chahte hain ?? me said yes. hmmm..OK go. Paid the fees and got the permits from upstairs. Made 25 copies and enjoyed our lunch at Leh view restaurant.
Came back to the hotel and slept for a while. In the evening strolled in the market. Leh has very nice relaxed atmosphere. Choose from many of the specialty cusine restaurants and enjoy the meal with some nice music and dimm lights. Though we came back to our hotel and had our dinner there.
Tomorrow we set out to make our date with K Top.