[abhayankara]

Leh Ladakh Day 09 (May 25 2019): Leh
Total distance covered: 55 kms
Driving time: NA

It was a relaxed for us today, we got up and had cup noodles which we got from Bengaluru. This day we had planned to visit few places around Leh and local sightseeing. We first went to Toyota showroom to change the filters and for some basic check-up.

Few pictures of the day..

Permits for our next two days journey

After our visit to Hall of fame, we went to market and did few more shopping. We finished our dinner outside, came to hotel and slept.

[abhayankara]

Leh Ladakh Day 10 (May 26 2019): Leh -> Diskit
Total distance covered: NA
Driving time: NA

Today's plan was Leh to DIskit via Kardung la. Our team and Chandru decided that we will not drive but hire a TT, we got in touch with some driver and booked a TT for all 11 of us. A big mistake, it was suffocating not to take our own vehicles. But we all got good rest for two days. We visited Kardung la, Nubra valley and stayed in Diskit.

Few pictures from the day..

[abhayankara]

Leh Ladakh Day 11 (May 27 2019): Diskit -> Leh
Total distance covered: NA
Driving time: NA

We started our journey by 08:00 AM and places to visit planned was Pangong tso lake.After a long drive of ~4 hours on a rough road , finally when we take a glimpse of the blue/green waters of lake Pangong Tso , the smile comes on our face. Finally we have reached our destination of the trip, so much of 10 days struggle was worth the wait.

Few pictures for the day..

We reached back hotel by 07:30 PM, went out for dinner and slept. Starting tomorrow our return journey starts. This was the last day we opened our cameras for the trip.

[abhayankara]

Leh Ladakh Day 12 (May 28 2019): Leh -> Srinagar
Total distance covered: 425 kms
Driving time: 13 hours

We were already homesick and wanted to reach home ASAP. We started our journey by 05:10 AM, and we took the same route which we had taken on our onward journey. But the views and scenery were not the same what we saw on our onward journey.

land slide, so we were stopped




They were guiding me to pass or not

We reached Srinagar by 06:15 PM, did some shopping and returned to hotel. Later call it a day.

Leh Ladakh Day 13 (May 29 2019): Srinagar -> Amritsar
Total distance covered: 482 kms
Driving time: 15 hours 10 mins, including pit stops

This day was full of driving, and we were stuck in some jam. Except that the journey was uneventful. We reached our hotel by 09:30 PM, locating hotel was very difficult and it was in some small galli. Finally when we reached hotel there was no car parking, due to this every one was frustrated. Reason being you cannot unload all the luggage and take to room nor you can park the vehicle in some random place. We made it crystal clear to the hotel management if we get the parking we stay else we are not. Luckily they had a backyard where he managed to provide us parking. This was the only day we got so pissed off, might be because of full day journey or probably homesick. But at the end everything was sorted out and we were happy.

Leh Ladakh Day 14 (May 30 2019):Amritsar -> Jalandhar
Total distance covered: 85 kms
Driving time: 3 hours 15 mins, including pit stop

We got up leisurely visited Golden temple, Jallianwala bagh and finally Attari border.

After this we started our journey towards Jalandhar, we stopped somewhere close to Jalandhar for dinner and reached hotel by 10:30 PM.

[abhayankara]

Leh Ladakh Day 15 (May 31 2019): Jalandhar -> Jhansi
Total distance covered: 870 kms
Driving time: 13 hours, including pit stop

Route: Jalandhar -> Ambala -> Greater Noida -> Agra -> Gwalior -> Jhansi

From Jalandhar to Bengaluru, Gmap was showing close to 2550+ kms, which has to be covered in 3 days. We all got up and were ready by 8:00 AM , also finished our breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast was included in the tariff. The advantage of having breakfast at the hotel where we stay is that we can save lots of time, else we would spend more time to find good restaurant or sometimes skip the breakfast.

Due to continuous travelling our bodies were so used to back and forth motion that at one instance we also saw the impact of it not once but twice. We were loading luggage to the car and because of the swinging effect Akhin slipped and somehow controlled did not fall luckily. This was the second time he slipped during our return journey. We all had a good laugh, with no target set for the day we all started our journey from Jalandhar by 8:40 AM.

In no time we were on the NH 44 and were cruising in good speeds. We targeted Jhansi for the day and reached there by 09:45 PM. We were tired, we finished our dinner and crashed to bed.

Since it was Sunday we had to skip TajMahal, Agra.

Leh Ladakh Day 16 (June 01 2019): Jhansi -> Hyderabad
Total distance covered: 1066 kms
Driving time: 12 hours 50 mins, including pit stop

It was roughly ~ 1700 kms to Bengaluru which we had to complete in two days. We all started our journey back home at 7:30 AM. In no time we reached NH 44 since the morning traffic was less inside the city. We did not have breakfast at the hotel, thought we will stop en-route which was a biggest decision we made and realized later.

Nischal took the driving of Fortuner and Chetan S Cross. The roads were more or less very good but had some diversions. Since the traffic was very less, except for few patches. Nischal and Chetu could easily sail at a constant speed doing 100+ kmph.

By 09:30 AM we were on the outskirts of the Sagar and we were hungry. We started searching for restaurants and to our surprise such a NH was not having any decent restaurant. Finally we stopped at pathway retreat for breakfast only to be told that the cook is yet to come and it would take more time to prepare food. So we decided to move forward and search for other options. We decided that we will stop for brunch at a good restaurant which never came until we reached Nagpur ORR.

By 11:00 AM we crossed a toll plaza after Parras village in MP. We found a shop keeping some snacks and quickly stopped after the toll. We all had some snacks here. After about 20 mins break we started our journey. I took the driving of Toyota Fortuner and Sandesh on the navigation seat. Nischal went back to take some rest . We started again and decided not to stop anywhere till we find a good restaurant for lunch , we were already lagging behind although we had covered the distance at a very good speeds.

After Seoni we entered Pench national park, after this a real bad patches of roads started with full of potholes and turns on the road. The road was full of surprises and we were really tired without food. Finally we stopped at MHKS highway plaza for lunch, this is on the Nagpur ORR, it was really a heavenly feeling after we saw that restaurant, it was very clean, excellent infrastructure, good food. Next to it there is a Bharat petroleum bunk, we filled fuel to our cars to the brim and started back again our running towards Nizamabad.

We wanted to drive till Nizamabad and end the drive for the day, but while we were checking for the accommodation HVK said he can arrange stay only at Adilabad or Hyderabad. There was no point in stopping at Adilabad since we would be reaching Adilabad by 06:00PM. We were in no mood to halt there as we wanted to cover the distance as much as possible this day. Later all decided that we will drive till Hyderabad.

Finally we reached Hyderabad hotel by 10:00PM and the final ODO reading said 1165 kms. Finally the drive for the day was over and we checked in the hotel Treebo, there was absolutely no fuss in finding the hotel. It was well marked and we followed the route suggested by HVK. The only problem was hotel did not have parking , so found some parking outside the hotel there and parked our vehicles. After checking into hotel, the restaurant hotel did not have much options for food. Hence we all walked to a nearby restaurant and had our dinner. Finally concluded our day with a long walk back to hotel.

Leh Ladakh Day 17 (June 02 2019): Hyderabad -> Bengaluru
Total distance covered: 577 kms
Driving time: 07 hours 30 mins, including pit stop

After 16 days of travel our destination for today was home sweet home, namma Bengaluru. I got homesick in fact all team members, all we wanted was to be at home at the earliest. We (me, Akhin and Sandesh) got up leisurely discussed about our experience in the trip, over a cup of tea. Quickly we all got freshen up, packed our bags and hurried for breakfast. We had complimentary breakfast at the hotel, meanwhile Sandesh cleared the bills of hotel after his breakfast.

Finally we started from the hotel by 10:45 AM, the route was simple take the NH 44 to Bengaluru, it felt very happy to be heading back home after a long vacation. Nischal took the driving of T-Fort and Chetan S Cross.

As soon as the journey started Sandesh got back to his routine work on updating accounts and since this was our final leg of the trip, he started finalizing the calculations of the expenses. By the time we stopped for tea, he had complete figures of the expenses, break ups and final cost to each person. I really appreciate his efforts in keeping the records of the complete expenses through the trip and maintain it.

We did not stop anywhere for lunch, the plan was to have some south Indian food. So the plan was to have our lunch in Nandi upachar, Devanahalli. By 4:10 PM we were in Devanahalli and stopped at Nandi Upachar for lunch. After lunch Chetan, Janardhan and Pradheep parted and they were on their own.

By 6 PM we reached Nischal’s house, we parted ways. I boarded a cab and reached home by 6:40 PM. While in cab I had induced tears of joy, that awesome feeling completing the trip. No words to describe that. Finally we have completed our journey successfully which a dream of many.

Total expenses for each person came around ₹ 51,000 including all expenses plus vehicle service cost.

Few quick pointers:

1. I have tried to avoid uploading army convoy vehicles and other army related pictures

2. I am not sharing any checking done to us and where abouts
a. We were checked twice, and it was a through check, including dog squad. We had to remove all our luggage from the vehicles and load them back. This process itself took us about ~ 1 hour.
b. The checking was done very strictly
c. Few times they even took our ID xerox and photos of us and vehicles.

3. There were immense efforts put from all our team members for making this trip a successful, trip execution was not that easy as I write this blog about our experience

4. We all are Manipal (master’s) friends whom I know more than a decade, we have done N-number of trips together, hence synchronizing and travelling was not an issue for us

5. When you travel in two different cars you have to be cautious in synchronizing

6. Carry enough food, snacks

7. Xerox of photo ID

8. We took spare car keys, we exchanged keys between two cars. S-cross spare key was in T-fort and vice versa.

9. This could help us if we loose our keys

10. Never drew beyond our limits, halted wherever we felt comfortable

11. There were no compromises made

This was very long pending blog from my side, during a week long shut down in our office because of lockdown, I penned most of this blog, did some photo editing. But it took my complete this weekend to finish uploading this forum. But happy that finally the blog is up. I had set my target to complete this today and hence I might have missed many information. Please feel free to ping me to ask for any information you require.

With this I conclude my blog here, happy reading!

Lastly thanks to this wonderful forum for giving me an opportunity to share my experience here, thank you Team-bhp

Thanks you,
Madhusudan (Abhayankara)

[Rudra Sen]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[amods]

Great log and thanks for sharing ! Thoughtful of you to not share army details. I know it is hard to plan such trips, but any particular reason you did not choose manali for return ? Also, I have read multiple negative reviews about HVK about things like him being arrogant and wanting to follow his recommended products, routes, hotels et al. How was your experience ?

[shashi792]

Wow, nice travelogue. Like you said, the difficult part is not to let your temper take charge. Driving at different road conditions with different driving skills (perspectives on driving through certain stretches are different for different folks) for 15 days is not a easy task.

I know, people have done the Leh in vehicles with lower GC than S-Cross. Did you guys have some difficulty with S-cross. T-Fortuner, I think can handle all these things.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by abhayankara

Few quick pointers:

At any point, was the Fortuner’s vehicle use authorisation letter checked? Is such a paper actually required or is it another arbitrary ‘requirement’ created to extort out of state vehicles?

I am asking because all my cars happen to be in my firm’s name. What is the procedure here? Me signing off a letter authorising myself to drive my own car sounds a bit silly.

[Mangesh Borkar]

What A road-trip, wow. Very well planned and coordinated. No Rush, adequate time to all spots.Fabulous. Thoroughly enjoyed the Details and suggestions.
TC, drive safe.

[abhayankara]

Originally Posted by amods

Great log and thanks for sharing ! Thoughtful of you to not share army details. I know it is hard to plan such trips, but any particular reason you did not choose manali for return ? Also, I have read multiple negative reviews about HVK about things like him being arrogant and wanting to follow his recommended products, routes, hotels et al. How was your experience ?

When we started our return journey from Leh, we were informed that Manali route is not yet open. Hence we took the same route which we took on the onward journey.

About HVK: It took some time for us to understand his working, initially we were also not okay with him deciding our route, stay and sharing our location every hour. But he has a reason for doing that. Sharing and updating our location gives him information about our where about based on which he used to share us the road updates and suggest better routes, also plan our stay.

Coming to stay/lodging we were happy with the bookings except one in Amritsar. He was booking our stay on the outskirts which helped us reach there and leave next day easily.

One has to understand few things, for us he is the only one assisting but for him he will have N no. of teams travelling to different destination. Assisting and managing all is not that easy. For the amount he charges he does so much that it is not at all a justice.

Our experience with him was good, yes he is arrogant replying sometimes but okay we got our requirements fulfilled without any issues.

This is purely our experience.

Originally Posted by shashi792

Wow, nice travelogue. Like you said, the difficult part is not to let your temper take charge. Driving at different road conditions with different driving skills (perspectives on driving through certain stretches are different for different folks) for 15 days is not a easy task.

I know, people have done the Leh in vehicles with lower GC than S-Cross. Did you guys have some difficulty with S-cross. T-Fortuner, I think can handle all these things.

Thank you.

Coming to the performance of the vehicles, both performed seamlessly good. But once S cross got struck in the middle on Mughal road after Peer ki gali, but Chetu managed it well and soon was back on road.

Coming to FE: Toyota Fortuner ~9kmpl, S Cross - ~17kmpl

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

At any point, was the Fortuner’s vehicle use authorisation letter checked? Is such a paper actually required or is it another arbitrary ‘requirement’ created to extort out of state vehicles?

I am asking because all my cars happen to be in my firm’s name. What is the procedure here? Me signing off a letter authorising myself to drive my own car sounds a bit silly.

After Jalandhar Toyota Fortuner was stopped for documents check, once they noticed that it was a KA registered by cops. First thing he asked was license, documents and authorization letter.

But in your case I do not know what the law says.

Originally Posted by Mangesh Borkar

What A road-trip, wow. Very well planned and coordinated. No Rush, adequate time to all spots.Fabulous. Thoroughly enjoyed the Details and suggestions.
TC, drive safe.

Thank you.

There is a typo in blog, We passed Agra on Friday and it was closed that day( not Sunday)

[Tulok]

Congrats on completing one of your wishlist! I hope you will soon get another chance to take your better half and make it a life time memory.
Nice write up.

Who is HVK? Travel consultant or something like that? In case if I am planning to do a similar trip then how do I get in contact with him? How will you rate him?

Regards
Tulok

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by Tulok

Who is HVK? Travel consultant or something like that? In case if I am planning to do a similar trip then how do I get in contact with him? How will you rate him?

Regards
Tulok

http://hivayking.in/

I have availed his help back in the day when he didn't have this site or the routO maps.

He was very courteous and helpful.

HV Kumar is actually a veteran of Indian highways. If you have any questions about any road in any city or town, chances he'll be able to help you out down to how far is the nearest fuel station and when are you likely to come across a food joint.

I can't believe people are now talking about his rude replies? Doesn't seem like the guy.

[SJM1214]

Amazing t" log with nice photos. IMO, Hiring a TT for Khardung La and Nubra was a bad decision. You guys had capable vehicles and drivers. Driving own vehicle to Khardngla Top and getting clicked with that famous yellow board is fun.

Originally Posted by abhayankara

Thanks, Shreyas (team-bhp handle: SJM1214) for your wonderful guidance through the trip and support.

My Pleasure, thanks for the mention.

[abhayankara]

Originally Posted by Tulok

Who is HVK? Travel consultant or something like that? In case if I am planning to do a similar trip then how do I get in contact with him? How will you rate him?

Tulok, you can find all the information about his service and contact details in the below link,

http://hivayking.in/

Originally Posted by SJM1214

Amazing t" log with nice photos. IMO, Hiring a TT for Khardung La and Nubra was a bad decision. You guys had capable vehicles and drivers. Driving own vehicle to Khardngla Top and getting clicked with that famous yellow board is fun.

My pleasure.

Yes you are right Shreyas, it was a bad decision to hire a cab. We should have taken our own vehicles, we missed that driving experience .


Note from Support: Quotes trimmed. Please don't quote large posts entirely. Thanks!