[vittal]

We had to be careful with the route to avoid trespassing into the neighbouring country. We kept track of the telephone lines, and also, a couple of local taxi drivers who were driving parallel lent their support too. The road was worse than expected with total off-roading. It was hard driving at 2nd gear and a few stretches to 3rd.

Route enroute Mann to Chushul

https://youtu.be/lmcXqMPiXeg

[vittal]

We drove through many bad stretches with water and stones and small water crossings that thankfully were safe. We spotted Kiangs and Yaks along the way and were too happy to get some very beautiful shots of them with our zoom SLR lens. The Kiangs were too scared and often ran away the moment our car stopped for a shot. However, I managed to walk with the yaks while my wife could take my picture.

[vittal]

We reached Chushul check post where I proudly clicked a picture that I dedicate to my dear father who was posted at Chushul during the Indo-Sino war of 1962. I am sure my father would have been very happy to see my picture after decades if he was alive.


Pic dedicated to my father who was posted here while in the armed forces





The Chushul checkpost would have been difficult to locate, but for a localite who guided us. The tarmac road tempted us to take it, but the kutcha rasta led us to the checkpost.

We drove down from Chushul via Tara post and other army memorial points and villages nearby and Tsaga la (supposed to be a mountain pass, but we didn't really observe a major ascent in the road) to reach near Hanley, where we were too relieved to see smooth roads. We reached Loma check post. Here we took a left turn towards a village, Rangoo, about 6 km from Loma. I was too tired after the hectic drive, and my wife took over for me to have a nap. She drove us down to Hanley. My wife drove past the check post at the Hanley, realizing she reversed the vehicle to get back to check post. The reverse took the wrong direction only to find our XUV stuck at an angle, as the road was slightly elevated from the check post. She had the presence of mind to hold the hand break, and we were lucky to have a tempo of 6 labourers who just stopped to help us lift and straighten our XUV and saved it from going turtle. We thanked God that we were saved from any vehicle damage. It took a long while for my wife to come back to normal.

At Hanle, we realized that our HSRP was lost somewhere along the Pangong - Chushul road. Our car underbody was hit and had begun to make noise.

[vittal]

We drove down 5 km from the checkpost to Padma Homestay, which was highly recommended. We parked there and were served dal chawal for lunch. It was 03:00 pm, and we decided to go to the Observatory. We drove down to the lower office to meet the engineer in charge, who was in touch with us even before we started our trip.

We were offered tea, and we drove to the top of the hill at Hanley at an altitude of 15000 ft where the Observatory was situated. We met Mr Angchuk, who was kind enough to explain to us the astronomical phenomenon with the help of a power point slide.

We actually went with great expectations of being able to do star gazing but were disappointed to learn that the observatory telescope had no eye piece and was being controlled by engineers and scientists at Hoskote. It is one of the worlds' highest sites for infrared and gamma ray telescopes, managed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru. But for the enthusiasm of the telescope, we wouldn't have had the enthusiasm to take that difficult drive . The engineer in-charge was too sweet and hospitable. After us, we saw few cars with tourists parked to visit the Observatory. The hilltop, however, provided us with a good view of Hanley. We thanked the engineer in-charge and descended down to the home stay before sunset. We were served hot tea, which was an energy booster and refresher.

We drove towards the check post to see the Monastery at Hanley, the lower Gompa had a deity other than Buddha, and the lama did not allow us to enter here. We observed the lama chanting from the religious text, and the offering was beer cans and alcohol. We felt it could be another cult in the Ladakh region. We wanted to sit in the monastery; we could drive right upto the entrance. We walked up to the Gompa and requested the lama to open the shrine that was closed. In the opening, there was a picture of a guru. We bowed and returned back to the home stay.

We met a few other travelers a couple from Mumbai on their honeymoon and a biker who was a travel journalist. We all met during dinner and had a common topic on travel and culture. A good sense of humour and laughter lightened up our day. We retired for the day a bit later than usual as the dinner was a bit delayed.

[vittal]

12-Aug-2019 (Monday) – Hanley – Loma – Nyoma – Sumdo - Tso Moriri - Sarchu

Summary of the day:

Distance Travelled during the day: 361 Km
Time taken: 13:15 hours (Start time: 07:15 am to 08:30 pm)
Route taken: Hanley – Loma – Nyoma – Sumdo - Tso Moriri - Sarchu
Places visited: Tso Moriri, Puga hot springs, Tso Kar



With our fellow bikers at the Hanle homestay. Note: Our number plate is missing










Our lady host at the home stay

[vittal]

We left the homestay after breakfast of plain parathas with butter, jam and tea. We drove along the same route upto Loma. Here the route that led to Nyoma had to be taken. We drove along the semi tarred roads that were also narrow, adjusting to traffic from opposite sides. We had a really difficult time overtaking and getting a pass from 3 Army trucks that were towing carriers with heavy tankers loaded on them. The road was rough with lots of stones and gravel, and the trucks moved at a very slow pace. We had to inch behind them until Sumdo, where the trucks halted before proceeding further. We took a left turn at Sumdo to go towards Tso Moriri. After Sumdo, the roads were narrow, but the tar roads were better. As we drove along, we spotted Marmots peeping out but did not stop to take a shot. The Marmots along this region seemed to be scared and were running away.



A crystal clear picture with the reflection of the kiang pony's along the way






















sheep grazing along the way






A lone tent pitched on a huge field













Raja is in total awe and refuses to leave the place






A lone tent pitched on a huge field

[vittal]

We saw the Tsagar Tso enroute a little before we reached Tso Moriri. We reached the lake. The sun was shining bright, and we clicked pictures at Tso Moriri and returned the same route. We did not plan to stay at Karzok; hence we drove back.











Trying to gather all the energy and aura of Tso Moriri

[vittal]

Enroute an Iranian solo backpacker requested a lift. We gave him a lift until Sumdo, while we exchanged talks about each other's culture and country. He was on a long travel to North India.

We dropped him at Sumdo and drove along Puga hot springs and Tso Kar. After taking our pictures at Tso Kar, we finally emptied our jerry cans into the car. We filled 40 litres of diesel.

I was determined to reach beyond Pang. We drove down Debring, Moore plains and reached Pang at 04:00 pm. It started to rain at Pang. We had a quick tea here and proceeded further. Enroute, a local taxi warned us that there was a landslide 2 km ahead and filled with water and advised us to retrace. I proceeded further, and the rains intensified. The landslide spot blocked half the road with a stream of water flowing across. The shovel we had bought on our Spiti trip came in handy here. I pulled my car over, used my shovel to start removing the boulders and flattened the surface. A couple of Lorry driver onlookers also came for help and together made the mound a bit flat. We later let 3 Lorries pass by to flatten it further. The truck track marks helped our vehicles pass by. It was an incredible feeling of having cleared the landslide and helped fellow travelers who were trapped enroute. The ice-cold stream water had seeped into my shoe, and I slowly became aware of the wet feeling in my shoe. I continued to drive as it was. It was starting to get dark, and there were mountain passes and Gata loops that needed to be crossed before we reached Sarchu. We continued to drive.

The underbody hit, had our stone guard hanging, and we had to go slow in order to reach plains safe without further damage. We started on our 21 km of gata loops, and the time was past 08:00 pm. My wife was in prayers as it was night driving along the most difficult stretch in this region. We descended to a few kilometres stretch of plains and reached Sarchu at 08:30 pm. It was raining heavily at Sarchu. We checked into the available tent accommodation. The altitude was 13000 ft, much less than Pang, and we were relieved to stay here. We were served dal chawal for dinner. We had a small serving and tucked ourselves in the warm rajais provided, and retired to sleep.

[vittal]

13-Aug-2019 (Tuesday) – Sarchu – Tandi – Keylong – Rohtang – Manali – Mandi

Summary of the day:
Distance Travelled during the day: 345 Km
Time taken: 13:30 hours (Start time: 07:30 am at Sarchu and reached Mandi at 09:00 pm)
Route taken: Sarchu – Tandi – Keylong – Rohtang – Manali – Mandi
Places visited: Nil (only drive-through)


We had parathas for breakfast at Sarchu. Two bikers from Surat wanted to use our air compressor to fix their puncture. They also made use of our puncture kit and repaired their bike successfully. We felt happy we were of help to people in many instances during this trip. We offered a lift to an Army officer, a Gentle Iranian man, we cleared the landslide and helped people cross the landslide and now these youth fix the bike puncture.


Our tyre inflator was helpful to a fellow biker held up at Sarchu




Sarchu tent accommodation, a freezing night spent











We drove from Sarchu asap to be able to cross Baracharla before noon. We were fortunate to cross Bharatpur Nala by 09:00 am, the water level was shallow, and we could manoeuvre with much ease. The sound created by the stone guard prolapsed hitting against stones was very worrying, and I could not drive with a free mind.

As we crossed Bharatpura Nala, we drove towards Darcha, Patsio, zing zing bar, Sissu, Tandi, Keylong finally Rohtang. The ascent to Rohtang was difficult after crossing Khokhsar, as we had a very rough stretch throughout the climb. It was nothing more than 1st and second gear.




As we reached Rohtang top, the roads were better, but the clouds started to descend, causing heavy fog and visibility reduced to less than 50 metres. We had our flashlights on and drove very slowly. Thankfully as we descended, the mountain road was clear and sunny. We reached Marhi after lunchtime.

We had regained our network connection when we crossed Rani Nala on top. My wife coordinated with the Mahindra service centre at Mandi to ask them if they could help at Manali. We visited the Shimla automobiles workshop at Manali, where they helped by replacing the nut for the stone guard and also mentioned the balance pipe was cut at the right rear and could be replaced only at Mandi. The Manali workshop person directed us through an inner route up to Kullu to reach the highway. This route was scenically surrounded by the apple orchards and took almost the same time to reach the highway.

We left Manali at 06:00 pm and reached Mandi at 09:00 pm. The Mahindra Service station had a night duty service, and the team of workmen with the supervisor helped repair the cut and replace the nut. Yes, you read it correctly. XUV 5OO was repaired at 9:00 pm at Mahindra authorized service centre! So, eventually, we did not do much repair work or spend on our cheetah. We were extremely thankful to the team for the care. We checked in to a nearby OYO about 2 km from the Mahindra workshop. We had a warm water bath and retired to sleep.









Rough roads





A stranded truck in the middle of Bharatpur nala








Suraj tal after crossing Baracharla




















At mandi Mahindra workstation servicing at 09:00 pm, with underbody damage in our car









Kudos to the Mahindra service centre manager and team

[vittal]

14-Aug-2019 (Wednesday) – Mandi – Delhi

Summary of the day:
Distance Travelled during the day: 464 Km
Time taken: 10:45 hours (Start time: 07:15 am at Mandi and reached Delhi at 06:00 pm)
Route taken: Mandi – Kiratpur – Ropar – Karnal – Delhi
Places visited: Nil (only drive-through)


We started early from Mandi after breakfast at the hotel. We planned to reach Delhi by evening. We drove to reach Kiratpur, enroute there was a Jam because of an accident, and we drove back around 10 km to take another route via Nalagarh. The detour was not an excellent highway, yet we had no other choice. We reached the plains and via Nalagarh, Roop Nagar, Ropar, and we reached the highway to Delhi. Enroute, we stopped at a Verka booth to have lassi and curd. We reached Karnal and saw that apart from the only Oasis that existed for decades, many more new food courts were opened at Karnal.

We reached Murthal around 03:00 pm and had our lunch at Pehalwan dhabha, as we didn't want to miss the chance. We thought it might take years to come back on this route from Bengaluru.

We purchased a pickle of Farm fresh Pachranga achar from Panipat and reached Delhi at 05.30 pm.

[vittal]

15-Aug-2019 to 21-Aug-2019

This was a planned stay for us in Delhi. We utilized these days to finish our personal work. We took adequate rest on 15-Aug after reaching Leh, Ladakh and also being a holiday. The following day we went to the RTO to get a duplicate HSRP and within the next 4 days, we got the HSRP fixed in our XUV 5OO. We also got our vehicle serviced at Authorised Mahindra Service Center, Noida. This was essential so that we could have a smooth drive back from Delhi to Bengaluru. Since my laptop went kaput during the Leh Ladakh trip, I purchased a new one from Lenovo an authorized dealer at Nehru Place. This enabled me to pursue my PhD research work uninterrupted. It was nostalgic for us to visit Nehru Place after a few years and have a big glass of Lassi & delicious Rajma chawal at Sona Roopa, Nehru Place. Retrieving data and then copying it into a new external USB hard drive took a while. After finishing our pending work and recouping our energy, we were now prepared for our homebound journey from Delhi to Bengaluru.

22-Aug-2019 (Thursday) – Delhi – Nagpur

Summary of the day:
Distance Travelled during the day: 1082 Km
Time taken: 16:00 hours (Start time: 05:00 am at Delhi and reached Nagpur at 09:00 pm)
Route taken: Delhi – Nagpur
Places visited: Nil (only drive-through)

23-Aug-2019 (Friday) – Nagpur – Bengaluru

Summary of the day:
Distance Travelled during the day: 1080 Km
Time taken: 15:00 hours (Start time: 06:00 am at Delhi and reached Nagpur at 09:00 pm)
Route taken: Delhi – Nagpur
Places visited: Nil (only drive-through)


We drove back from Delhi to Bengaluru with our hearts full of wonderful memories, breathtaking panoramic vistas and pride in having completed the tour to Leh and other valleys in Ladakh. We were overwhelmed and grateful to the Almighty for protecting us throughout the journey, particularly at the water crossing (Nala), 21 gata loops, landslides, and driving through tough terrain without even a puncture. Our families back home in Bengaluru were all waiting for us to celebrate our silver jubilee the next day.

We would love to visit Leh, Ladakh again and hopefully via Srinagar the next time.

Until Then

Juley!

[vabhian]

Excellent travelogue with so much information. I am sure it would have taken you days just to draft this, ignoring how many days it would have taken to reconstruct from your memories Thanks a lot for taking time to share it with all of us here.

[streetfighter]

Loved the narrative combined with nice pictures You long post is truly inspiring and motivating me to take a road trip there. Thank you for sharing your travel with us, wish you many more safe miles !

[prabhu.reddy92]

Hi Sir,

Excellent travelogue, enjoyed going through every part of it.

Being your student in Alliance University, proud and happy to see you here.

[Excommunicado]

Very well written Mr. Vittal sir. I can only imagine the combined feeling of exhaustion and excitement throughout this arduous yet beautiful journey!
I am glad you completed it successfully with minor niggles. I'd like to quote Gen-Z here -"Mad respect for you!"

P.S.: Your pictures with marmots are heart-warming and had you not mentioned their name, I would've mistaken them for capybaras.