[Travelator]

What fun are those 600 - 700 kms drives when you know you can do those in fixed number of hours and you know the eateries, terrains, diversions and what nots like the back of your hand. "Kick nahi mil rahi hai" The pandemic had only added to the itch.

Snap back to May 2021: I get in touch with a group that plans self drive trips to Ladakh and back and they have already done it once. They had a few cancellations and could accommodate us if we agreed to join them in 20 days. Skeptical whether we could do it or not at such short notice, we gave it a slip with a heavy heart. BUT.....I made ourselves available for their next season. May 2022. Little did I know that we will end up like Dominic Torreto's family.

Jan 2022 is when they announce the next iteration and we had a houseful within 20 days. (Wow.. I am not the only Mad Titan here).

Why go with an organised group tour:
Over 8 months of youtube videos and innumerable blog posts later, we had realised that the terrain in the hills is nothing less than treacherous, with help difficult to come by. "Roy Cruisers" - Yes that what the organisers are called, have been there twice and and brought back people unscathed. Rajesh Kumar Roy and Rohit are charming guys and the first of their kinds where the founders travel with you on every single trip. So, with two kids of 4 and 9, we didn't want to take chances. Additionally, bookings at places like Sarchu, Nubra, Pangong and places that do not have the luxury of what we consider basic necessity, Mobile Network, was difficult.

The Plan

While the plan looked hectic and sort of rushing, we decided to go ahead as any longer than 3 weeks would not have been possible.

I will detail the trip in three groups as above:

1. Mad Rush
As the name suggests, these 5 days were the days when all that mattered was to cover the distance so that we dont get left behind the next day. Now, that didn't mean you had to drive like Mad Max and the highways to be treated as Fury Road. Throttling was done only at the active instigation of a passing-by vehicle. At every other occasion.. it was "aap bade ho aap pehle jao".

Roads on the NH 48 are fairly good for most parts.
Our first halt was at Pune and the next day we crossed Mumbai's notorious traffic to beach over in Gujarat. It was only near Surat ( Precisely Palsana) where we left NH 48 on to state highway when the road conditions deteriorated, but only marginally. These were awesome roads by the standard of state highways. . The second halt at Kevadia (Statue of Unity) was marvelous.

One wrong turn can lead you into trouble and it gets compounded then that one wrong turn i take by multiple cars behind you. You can neither turn back nor happily gio ahead. That exactly what happened on our exit from Kevadia. In place of the Ahmedabad, Baroda expressway, we went onto take some obscurely narrow roads before joining back on the highway barely a few kms from Rajasthan border. Don't ask me name of places as mobile network was constantly patchy and we relied on the chaiwala, rickshawwla and at time Camelwala to guide us back on track. Having said that, if you plan to reach Rajasthan from Kevadia, stick to the expressways.

One wonderful thing that happened was that we had our own personal cloud wherever we went... and no, I am not referring to AWS of Google cloud, it was "kaale kaale badal". Just before entering Jaipur, we had to take cover under some roadside trees to shield our windshield from the hailstorms.
Jaipur to Gurgaon is one poor quality road but I guess that is not intended to be used anymore after the Delhi - Mumbai expressway opens whenever Gadkari ji gets bored of creating world records on that stretch. Then on to Chandigarh, you can rather fly on the roads. Unless you fly, you will surely be pulled over by some smiling cops ready to help the govt. make more such roads by the collection they make here.

The orange beauty taking a Pit Stop


A groupfie to mark the 1st lunch together


Roads in Rajasthan are really nice and maintaining a good pace is easy.


This is how we tracked the convoy. Whatspp live location sharing.
Was inspiring to see such a large convoy cruise together.


Sardar Sarovar


Statue of Unity. It is indeed a spectacular monument to witness


Pink Autos at Statue of Unity, driven by women. One strong initiative towards women emancipation.


What better way to relax than spreading out on a charpai


Kids making good use of the ample space that XUV 500 offers


Ouch!! That was pinching until when 2 days later diesel prices were cut substantially


Having visited this so many times, i still fail to understand why this was made


Delhi Jaipur highway (or whatever is left of it) is lined with quite a few options for a hearty meal and some highway shopping.


At the iconic Amrik Sukhdev


As we reached closer to the hills, the sun came closer and looked majestic.


Final pitstop of the Mahindras before Chandigarh

2. Ladakh

For the newbies, please take it slow, the moment you reach Baralacha. Though it is no more the same dreaded stretch that it used to be, Kudos to BRO for that, it will take a toll on your body and car. Take special care of your kids, though they cope better than us lazy adults.

Atal Tunnel to Jispa is a pristine world unknown to the dwellers down south. Then you kind of get used to the terrain and just keep marveling after every other turn. Lack of oxygen at Sarchu or the traffic prone Gata loops, Pang or More Plains, all you can do is just wonder on what all India has to offer for the travelers and tourists. Khardung La is a sight to behold and for that matter every sigle terrain that we crossed over the next 8 days were breathtaking, Literally too - Lack of oxygen at higher altitudes, remember. Next time, don't mock your teachers asking them what use was all that you studied in school eh !

We lost a Tata Nexon from our convoy right after Pang. The turbo had conked off due to extended spirited driving. The coolant and engine oil completely drained from the car, it was rendered immobile at one of teh most challenging passes. Here I would give a shout out to our organisers Roy Cruiser and their partners Himalayan Panthers. The Nexon was self towed by a Pajero for over 100 Kms climbing up and down Tanglang La, More plains and reaching Leh. The family of 4 in the Nexon were well taken care of and every possible help was provided in such challenging environment. Words cannot do justice to their efforts. It can only be heard from the family that got affected and the people who achieved this feat without ever boasting of it. HATS OFF TRULY. Then they made sure the car was ready form the next leg of the journey within 4 days despite the nearest authorised TATA service being 560 kms away

Nubra is like transcending into a Star Wars set. Acres of flat brown land guarded by snow capped mountains. Diskit monastery is like a lost crayon packet in the middle of nowhere. The Maitreya Budhha is definitely not something you could give a miss.
One suggestion would be if you are going to Nubra, do visit Turtuk and Thang, Thang being the last village on Indian side.

Enough is written and known about Pangong Tso, so I give the Hebrew Script a pass here.

For the noobs, Kargil is much more that you think it is, It is a proper big town, but marred by 3 decades of extremism. Every individual has a different take and a different story to tell. It just says enough about how much this part of out motherland has endured. Nonetheless, the beauty of this region is unparalleled to many.

Here is a glimpse for you to assess the reality.

Just as we left for Manali



The Architectural marvel of India


Take their suggestion quite literally.


Sarchu: The place where the entire gang tested their limits


Baralacha is just up the hill


The ghostly Gata loops: It took us about 6 hours to cross this 9kms stretch


And found some delicious local foot at Pang


Seems the Nexon had too much to digest and broke down wile climbing Tanglang La. It was towed by the backup vehicle for above 100kms to reach Leh beyond midnight


Need to be careful of every turn and every pass that we give. One wrong move and you could turn turtle


When you cant find roads, use the river.


High altitude snow has its own charm. AT Khardung La
Little did we know that it has lost its crown to Umling La as being the highest motorable pass. Well Now we have a reason to return



The duo of the Roy Cruiser. The bearded silent killer is Rohit and the smiling incessant speaker is Rajesh Roy. Kudos to their guidance and support all through the 22 days.


The absolute gems of people Jaideep (JD bhai ) on the left and Munish in the center. These two along with Rajesh and Rohit, achieved the unique feat of towing a dead Nexon through TanglangLa to Leh. Hats off buddies..

[Travelator]

Continued...

In full show, The mean machine that heled us achieve the unthinkable


Another view of Gata loops


Yes, there is still some off roading left in Ladakh, despite the BRO's attempts to turn this into a highway, for better reasons


I was breathless here. Don't even know how could i even smile.


Muskuraiye...i mean Julley. Aap Ladakh mein hain


and be cautios toobeacause he terrain is ruthless !


Can you find out if the pau=inter has missed using any colour in the palette !


Another view of the towing


The best stretch that you can ever drive on in India. It is just breathtakingly beautiful




Diskit Monastery in Nubra Valley





The penta force of Mahindra posing at Shyok war memorial


Ladakh without maggi is so not done !


These bridges are the loose strings on which the safety of our nation hangs. Only one vehicle at a time allowed on most of these.


Our stay at Pangong lake. i wish i had used my drone here for a full view.


The water of discord between india and China


These roads are definitely not meant for the faint hearted


On the way to Turtuk, which is as close to Pakistan as we could get




This was the scariest of all passes that we crossed. A proper off road experience.

3. Oh no ! Its about to be over already

Sonmarg is the Kashmiri version of Solang valley and while passing the Zoji La pass which translates to "the pass of Blizzards", do stop by to capture the eye popping beauty of this place.

House boat and Shikara ride experience at Srinagar was surreal. I can now relate as to why so many filmmakers throng this place. add a feather for the floating shikara shops selling anything from kahwa to silverware.





Beating retreat at the Attari border is a must watch. My wife made sure she danced and she grabbed the attention by being the only one to have fainted at the venue on the day, where the temperatures were merely 47* C. She probably couldn't cope with a 50* difference in temp within 38 hrs .




From Amritsar to Bangalore, we were really not bothered. All of us just wanted to get back to the cool Bangalore weather. NH 44 doesn't disappoint those who want to take thing into their pedals.
The golden temple at night makes for a spectacular view


The only thing that we really clicked was some petha. You cant cross Agra and not have petha. You know the thing about bulldozers...right !


In all, a very satisfying trip. There were multiple occasions where we contemplated returning midway due to health reason of kids and wife. However, the organisers helped us really well to complete tis expedition.
Thanks to my family who were equally excited about this trip (a rarity).

I will end this travelogue with this pic. If this can make it with 2 full grown adults, 2 grand parents and a kid to Ladakh, any other car and anyone else can. This car and its crew are an inspiration to one and all putting off that Ladakh trip


There are so many things that I have either skipped or missed in this writeup. SO open to your One on Ones !!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Naetik30]

Great travelogue @travelator. Would you mind sharing the contact details of RoyCruisers here? I am looking for something like this for a trip to Ladakh.

[Travelator]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

Great travelogue @travelator. Would you mind sharing the contact details of RoyCruisers here? I am looking for something like this for a trip to Ladakh.

You can reach out to them on https://www.roycruiser.com/ or on phone at 7358410784.

[Travelator]

Here is link to the 1st part of the journey on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/f6ZyVJmbCkE

[ritedhawan]

Nice Travelogue. A convoy of vehicles starting from Bangalore to the Himalayas. and back. Except for one vehicle giving up on the tour, I hope the rest made it back without any problems.

A convoy traversing on plains would encompass a considerable distance from its head to its tail when compared to the same in the hills. Therefore, what would be the approximate distance between the head to the tail of the convoy on plains?

Do such travel organizers have someone among them who has the expertise to administer first-aid in the eventuality of an injury?

Do such travel organizers have someone among them who has the expertise to deal with common vehicle issues, like a tire puncture (which would require a tire repair kit), clogged air-filter issues and refill vehicle fluids which would include engine oil, coolant, steering, brake fluids, etc.

A vehicle bogged down during the course of the travel. According to the pictures that have been shared, towing was the preferred option which would mean that the stranded vehicle was at the mercy of the next available service center. The convoy would thus move on and its occupants accommodated in other vehicles. Did the travel organizers took upon themselves to tow the vehicle and thus the Mitsubishi Pajero belong to them?

[Travelator]

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

Nice Travelogue. A convoy of vehicles starting from Bangalore to the Himalayas. and back. Except for one vehicle giving up on the tour, I hope the rest made it back without any problems.

All cars made it back, including the Nexon. The organisers along with their local contacts made sure that the Nexon was repaired well in time before we returned to Leh in 3 days time. It was a mix of jugaad as well as on the spot thinking that aided this. A coincidence of sorts is that we were returning to Leh during our journey. As far as i made out from their will to help, they would have made some arrangements in any other circumstance too.

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

A convoy traversing on plains would encompass a considerable distance from its head to its tail when compared to the same in the hills. Therefore, what would be the approximate distance between the head to the tail of the convoy on plains?

It ranged between 1.5 - 2 kms to 35-40 kms depending on the trailing of one or more vehicles due to circumstances on the day.

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

Do such travel organizers have someone among them who has the expertise to administer first-aid in the eventuality of an injury?

Do such travel organizers have someone among them who has the expertise to deal with common vehicle issues, like a tire puncture (which would require a tire repair kit), clogged air-filter issues and refill vehicle fluids which would include engine oil, coolant, steering, brake fluids, etc.

Crew members have the experience, if not expertise to handle such incidents. Both Roy Cruiser and Himalayan Panthers' teams had ample experience and spirt to get air filters cleaned for most cars in Leh, patching a couple windshield cracks at Nubra and a punture or two on the way to Jaipur. As for the more complex jobs, they have good contacts locally to get help in reasonable time.

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

A vehicle bogged down during the course of the travel. According to the pictures that have been shared, towing was the preferred option which would mean that the stranded vehicle was at the mercy of the next available service center. The convoy would thus move on and its occupants accommodated in other vehicles. Did the travel organizers took upon themselves to tow the vehicle and thus the Mitsubishi Pajero belong to them?

To be frank, towing was the only option, either through professional providers or doing it the old fashioned way. Since temperatures fall exponentially, time is of essence. We couldn't wait for professional help to arrive and hence decided to plough the Nexon using the tow rope and the Pajero. As mentioned in the post, the nearest authorised Tata service center was 560 kms away and the Nexon was repaired in Leh at a local mechanic.

[Porcupine]

What am amazing and detailed travelogue!

Towing the Nexon is impressive. Were there multiple back up vehicles on hand? And any mechanics or anyone with expertise should it happen to multiple vehicles. And did you carry multiple spare tyres?

[Travelator]

Originally Posted by Porcupine

What am amazing and detailed travelogue!

Towing the Nexon is impressive. Were there multiple back up vehicles on hand? And any mechanics or anyone with expertise should it happen to multiple vehicles. And did you carry multiple spare tyres?

Officially only one backup vehicle but we had a couple of 4x4s that could assist in case needed. The budget that we were travelling on didn't allow us the luxury of expecting a mechanic to travel along. However, mechanics were made available when we needed them. We being long time "drivers" , we loved to get our hands dirty on the go.

To name an incident that happened with the A-Star on our way to Amritsar. The fan stopped working and the car heated up. Some of us made sure to have our t-shirts and denims stained and cleaned the fan motor the best way we could and the service centre about 180kms ahead

As for spare tyres, we had 15 vehicles, most of them with similar tyre sizes. So we had it covered.

[SanjitVigneshS]

Sounds like you had a wonderful adventure.

My wife and I traveled to Ladakh in April and we chose to take a rental bike.

The experience of driving/riding through the Ladakh landscape, especially each of the passes is an adventure in itself and your travelogue inspires me to write my own.

I am hoping to drive there once again in the future to cover more places we missed the first time.

[Travelator]

Originally Posted by SanjitVigneshS

Sounds like you had a wonderful adventure.

My wife and I traveled to Ladakh in April and we chose to take a rental bike.

The experience of driving/riding through the Ladakh landscape, especially each of the passes is an adventure in itself and your travelogue inspires me to write my own.

I am hoping to drive there once again in the future to cover more places we missed the first time.

indeed! This was surreal. How much ever you prepare for this, the first visit to this land is just an outworldly experience.

[Sach_511]

Hi - Nice travelogue, looks like this would be best option to cover L&L by our own car, can you please let me know how you connect with them and what are the charges. Thanks in advance.

Please ignore, you have already provided link in above post. Thanks

[Travelator]

Originally Posted by Sach_511

Hi - Nice travelogue, looks like this would be best option to cover L&L by our own car, can you please let me know how you connect with them and what are the charges. Thanks in advance.

Please ignore, you have already provided link in above post. Thanks

Here it is
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post5352922 (Himalayas calling: 15 cars, 58 humans, 22 days and a lifetime worth of memories)

[X-Saint]

What a wonderful travelogue. The courage you showed to bring your family along is really admirable, especially the children. Would you mind sharing some more details about your stay and your experience there? Your travelogue was fantastic to read.