21st April 2024, 22:38
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| BHPian  | Spiti in 2 white Toyota Fortuners Warning and Suggestions before we dive in 1) This is a really long travel Blog, so remove some time to read it 2) Please see the pics in full screen (click on the pic to zoom into full screen mode) 3) Keep making notes for your trip ! There's a cycle of life. 1. Have a Dream 2. Find ways of achieving it 3. Give it the final push 4. Live it 5. Repeat Well, till very recently, I thought, the cycle ends at Step 2, till I realized, the most difficult, critical and life changeing step is the 3rd one. Here's a story of one such dream which we managed to get to Step 5 Dream Catchers We (3 cars, 5 people) were all set to pack off to Spiti Valley We : 3 Bhpians (Bhushan, Sauvik and me) 2 cousins of Bhushan (A & S) Bussy (VW Van) Furteela Ghonga 2.0 (White Fortuner from Mumbai) Haryanvi (White Fortuner from Gurgaon) The Plan Bussy, FG 2.0, Bhushan Sauvik and me were to start driving from Mumbai and Haryanvi and A & S were to join us from Gurgaon At this time of the year, we were expecting roads to be shut between Manali and Kaza, thus we planned to go via Shimla to Kaza and then return back in case the roads were found to be shut . BTW, this is Bussy This was a short trip (Gurgaon Kaza Gurgaon in 7 days) and it was everyone's (except Bhushan) first trip to Spiti, so we were prepared to be on the road most of the time, although we kept 2 days for Kaza Our single minded focus was to find some snow there ! (Probability was decent if we got clear roads without land slides) Preparation Warm Clothing 1. Warm Jacket - Rateted about 5 degrees 2. Warm Jacket - Rated about -15 to -20 degrees 3. Thermal Inners - for about 4 to 5 days 4. Wollen Socks 5. Gloves 6. Wollen Cap (Covering the ears) 7. Neck Warmer All of the above items are critical during different temperatures that we came across. We mostly shopped from Decathlon who have superb quality stuff at a reasobale cost Car 1. Additional set of wipers (Just in case the rubber hardens in sub zero termperature) - Nothing like this was observed 2. Jumper cable - As a precaution - Thankfully this wasn't required for any of the cars 3. Snow Chains -In anticipation 4. Tow Ropes - In case we get stuck 5. Wiper Fluid - In case we need to drain it in the night to avoid freezing and bursting of the pipe - Wasn't required 6. WD40 7. Few Micro Fiber clothes 8. Tyre Inflator / Deflator 9. Puncture Kit - Although we did encounter a puncture, the TPMS warned us and we got the puncture repaired at a local shop Again, these items are critical for a long road trip - Better to be safe than sorry , especialy in a place where we may not find someone to help for miles together Medication - First Aid Kit - Many Band Aids - In the cold, it's easy to get bruised - Sunscreen - Diamox - We had one every day when we were ascending - Oxygen Can Food and Eatables We carried quite a bit of food in the cars as there are trips where you will get something to eat only in villages that we reach and not anywhere else. If you're well fed every morning, this should not be a problem. We were overprepared on this one Photography Equipment 1. Camera 2. Lenses 3. Go Pro 4. Drone (Not getting into details here, else this will become another thread in itself) Day Wise Iternarary Day 1 (11th April) - Mumbai to Gurgaon Day 2 (12th April) - Gurgaon to Khandaghat Day 3 (13th April) - Khandaghat to Sangla Day 4 (14th April) - Sangla to Chitkul to Tabo Day 5 (15th April) - Tabo to Kaza Day 6 (16th April) - Kaza Day 7 (17th April) - Kaza to Kalpa Day 8 (18th April) - Kalpa to Gurgaon Day 9 (19th April) - Gurgaon to Mumbai Total Distance Covered : 5004 km Sections marked in Pink are the sections of NE4 (Delhi Mumbai Eway) that are currently open)  I'll try to mention a daily record of the places we visited, route taken, road conditions and of course lots of pictures. Read on ! By the way, this is Bussy   Last edited by varunraizada : 7th May 2024 at 01:17. |
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28th April 2024, 23:32
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| BHPian | Re: Spiti in 2 white fortuners Day 1 - Mumbai to Gurgaon We left Mumbai around 5pm and reached Gurgaon at about 2pm (About 21 hrs including breaks). We were 3 drivers, so the drive was nice, safe and not at all a stretched one. Route taken Mumbai to Bharuch - NH48 - 325km Bharuch to Dehgam (NE4 interchange) - 10km Bharuch to Vadodara - NE4 - Reyaka Exit - 91km Vadodara to Thandla NE4 Interchange , MP (Via Godhara) - NH148N - 218km Thandla Interchange to Bhanpura Interchange - NE4 - 211km Bhanpura Interchange to Kushtala Toll Plaza NE4 Interchange - NH148D - 257km Kushtala to Sohna - NE4 - 295km Sohna to Gurgaon - 20km Total : 1425km Notes : Google Maps will try to route you through internal roads especially in the Gujarat and MP sections connecting the two interchanges of NE4. Try to stay on NH148 / NH52 always, even if it may lead to a 20 to 30 km additional route. The internal roads are narrow and full of speedbreakers / bad roads. Taking the NE 4 on the 3 sections where it is ready was an amazing experience and also time saving (Except for the Bharuch / Vadodara section - where NH48 might be faster as we need to go through Vadodara city towards Godhara) . We managed to beat google ETA by almost 4 hrs over the entire 1425km journey due to that  Here's a footage showing the eway in full glory : NE4 Feedback Bharuch to Vadodara - 90km(8 lane) section is concrete road and very similar experience to the Mumbai Pune EW. Slightly underwhelming given that this is a greenfield project, the quality of roads could have been better - We paid zero toll here given that this was recently launched and it's toll free till elections we believe Thandla to Bhanpura (MP Section) - (8 lane) One of the best roads to drive on in India ! Fresh tarmac with hardly any undulations - We could count the number of cars that we passed during the entrie 211km route . Risk : We encountered a fox and a hare on the eWay. This was during our night drive. Please drive with highbeam and keep an eye on the sides of the road for any movement that might come through onto the road. Best to stay within the speed limits (120kmph) Sawai Madhopur to Sohna : 297 km (8 lane) - Fantastic road quality but about 90% of the MP section. Well inhabited in terms of traffic. There's a 15km toll free section where we encountered wrong side driving by bikers - That too on the rightmost overtaking lane - So please drive carefully here Day 2 - Gurgaon to Kandaghat The original plan was to reach Narkanda on this day, but we got extremely late in starting from Gurgaon which meant some traffic getting to the highway and stopping our trip pre maturely at Kandaghat We picked up the sparkling Haryanvi and loaded it with our stuff.  There was an issue with the spare tyre of the car, due to which we needed to rotate the tyres and also get the alignment and balancing done for both the cars. This took us some time causing a dealy. We stopped at Cosmopolitan Wheels - We would rate it 4.5 on 5 for the quality of work, service and hospitality they showed  We then set off towards Rohtak to take the trans Haryana Expressway (NH152D) to Ismalibad (About 40km from Ambala / 100km from Chandigarh). Roads again were majestic with minimal traffic.  The views around the eway were brilliant with fields and farms all across on both sides . This joins NH152 to lead to Panchkula. We took some photo breaks as well   As we were quite late entering Himachal, we found sparse traffic at most places and took the right before Shimla towards Chail. Given the roads becoming extremely narrow and the wonderful scenic beauty of the place, we did not want to drive in the night , so we decided to stop at the first decent hotel / homestay. We found the same at Kandaghat where we checked in at 11pm . Seven Heaven Home Stay - https://maps.app.goo.gl/eExCvvg8g4gcvDnBA Feedback on the HomeStay - Very decent , peaceful and hospitable staff. We only had to spend the night and had planned to leave really early morning next day. I'll rate it 4 out of 5 One feedback - Avoid delaying dinner as we found that most hotels / eateries were shut post 10pm and we found nothing. Even this homestay couldn't provide us with dinner at 11pm so we dug into our reserves we loaded from Mumbai. Last edited by varunraizada : 5th May 2024 at 21:49. |
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2nd May 2024, 09:58
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| BHPian | Re: Spiti in 2 white fortuners Day 3 - Kandaghat to Sangla We were up an awake at 5am and ready to start by 6am. This was the first day of sub 10degrees temperature and we all had our teeth tottering Driving lot at Kandaghat Hotel  The whole day today was only driving and trying to reach Chitkul / Sangla. Kandaghat to Kufri - We took the Shimla By Pass route through Chail and met NH5 at Kufri. This ensured that we don't get into the mess of Shimla during the day and also a fantastic and scenic road to Kufri. The negative of this route is that the roads are very narrow and need to be careful and slow all through to Kufri , but we were not in a hurry :-) Kufri to Narkanda - Roads are two lane and quality of roads is brilliant for NH5. Narkanda was infested with rash cab drivers so we went even slower inside the town. Narkanda to Rampur - We had to descend here and Rampur reminded us of the plains as the temperature suddenly soared to 30 degrees Rampur to Karcham - Two lane fantastic tar road (Only issue is roads getting spoilt due to landslides) - There are sudden places where we found this issue and thus it is advicable to go slow in these sections Karcham to Sangla - The road becomes a single road here and is a Kaccha Road . Need to be slow and careful as there are no barriers on the cliff side.  Again, our hard cut off was when the daylight ends as we didn't want to miss out on the lovely landscapes So, today was about very few photo breaks. Sharing some Bussy about 20km from Shimla  A clear distinction of the types of mountains / terrains and weather we found in Spiti. It's quite marvelous the difference which is clearly visible  While waiting for roads to be cleared after a small landslide, the clouds decided to give us a beautiful sight  Hotel where we stayed - Hotel Sangla Mansion - https://maps.app.goo.gl/1L7VYuWHaAVCC33n8 Part of INEJ Hotels Group (https://www.inejhotels.com) - This is a chain of 4 hotels that has been started off in 2022 and Sikandar and his wife are doing a marvelous job in creating a brand that most of us will absolutely love. The stand out for us was their hospitality. Never before have we felt so much at home ! We really wish this chain grows larger in the Spiti circuit catering to travellers like us Highly recomended Feedback and Rating : 4.5 out of 5 - Only reason is the lack of heaters / bed warmers - May be they will build that in very soon. Last edited by varunraizada : 5th May 2024 at 21:49. |
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3rd May 2024, 01:45
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| BHPian | Re: Spiti in 2 white fortuners Day 4 - Sangala to Chitkul to Tabo Road route for the day  We started off the day with a sub 5 degree temperature ! This is the first day when we needed our thermal inners. This made us very comfortable with 4 layers - Inners + T shirt + Jacket (Rated about 5 degrees) + a thick jacket (Rated -15 degress Opposite the hotel  Road towards Chitkul  Spot the car ! This image just gives an idea on the monstorous size of the mountains. The Himalays are not for the faint hearted !  At the entry of Chitkul   We spent some time at the "Last Chaiwala of India" . We spent a good 2 hours here and it was an amazing serene experience just sitting by the riverside and sipping tea and maggi which is really delicious   The temperaute here was sub zero. This is 70km from the China (Tibet) border  Drone Shot Chitkul River Poin We didn't feel like leaving that place ! Can spend a full day sitting right in that spot , it's so wonderful. So for me, Chitkul itself can be a 2 day destination especially in this weather when you have snowfall, flowing river, fantastic weather and just serene untouched natural beauty. Tyre Puncture Our TPMS was warning us since the previous evening. We kept topping up till we came across an auto shop in Sangla itself. We got the puncture sorted and we had a view :-)   Post this , we went right upto Tabo non stop given that the weather wasn't the bus - It was raining off and on and such weather causes a risk for landslides. Sharing a few images we managed to click on the way   We reached Tabo around 8 in the night and found a very nice and decent hotel for the evening (Maitreya Regency) https://maps.app.goo.gl/3zBFRkX78C2KsxFT6 Feedback of the hotel : They had electric bed heaters Food was super tasty Very comfortable Centrally located with decent amount of parking closeby Rating 4 out of 5 - The rooms hardly have a view , that's the only reason for the 4 , else everything was majestic Last edited by varunraizada : 5th May 2024 at 21:53. |
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4th May 2024, 20:04
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| BHPian | Re: Spiti in 2 white fortuners Day 5 : Tabo to Kaza We visited the Tabo Monastry and spent some time there. Some pictures at Tabo Monestary    Post breakfast we left for Kaza - This journey was expected to be the beginning of the most beautiful Tabo to Kaza Kaza to Chicham Chicham to Kibber (drive through) Kibber to Key Key to Shego  Enroute Kaza, we stopped at a couple of marvelous places for some photos and soaking in the sheer untouched beauty of the valley. Pictures just don't do any justice to the place as the camera cannot capture the feel of the place and the emotions all of us felt.     We also stopped by at the river bank at a point where we could take our cars close to the river bed.  .   .  On reaching Kaza, we moved towards Chicham without stopping at our hotel in Shego (about 5km from Kaza). What we were about to witness and experience was something none of the 5 of us had seen or experienced in our life yet. The weather had been overcast for a while and it was riaining off an on. We reached Chicham bridge and were in awe of the engineering marvel. The weather remained mostly overcast Once the drone had landed, we suddenly started seeing some white cotton like flakes landing on our jackets. It was very very light, but we told ourselves, this is snow. Then heavens thought of giving us what we were looking for Snow Fall !! We all got onto our video calls to share this lovely moment with our loved ones. Sharing a few pics of the snow fall, but again, couldn't click much with the heavy snow.     We spent more than an hour and a half just soaking in the snow fall and the fantastic feel of the place. We then started for Kibber (was just a drive through as there was continuous snow fall and roads were very narrow to stop. We still found some spots to stop and click As we were going through the Kibber Wildlife Sancturary, what greeted us got us to smile. There was a famliy of Himalayan Ibex who were waiting paitently to cross the road while descending the mountaions. We Stopped and allowed them to cross. Again, a serene experience where we saw so much discipline in wild animals   2 GOATs in one frame   This is Kaza town - On our way back, the weather had settled  We also found a small patch where we could go onto the river bed (this was right opposite our hotel) and we went there to spend the rest of the evening till it was dark and time for us to head back.  The hotel for today was one of the most into nature - Very beautiful mud houses right in the lap of the mountains and next to the Spiti River. Hotel - The Monk's Abbey (INEJ Hotels) , Shego, Kaza https://maps.app.goo.gl/eyMXLdgxautZ8r8M9 Goods Fantastic Hospitality. The chain of hotels was an exmple of how one should treat their guests The views - Wow is not the word - Will share pics in the next reply The Food - Homemade taste The playlist they ran for us on their speakers - Just felt like being out with the hotel staff all along Bads The mud houses and the raw nature of the hotel brings with it issues - Kaza was just springing up to life after the winter season and they had just opened up on 7th of April (7 days before we arrived), so the water piping (which had burst during the winters) was being repaired and the landscaping through stones was being done. Obviously there was no grass vegetation, which was expected to be in full glory by May mid . So the bads were only operational and more specific to the weather than anything else Rating : Inspite of the operational issues, i would rate this as 5 out of 5 This ended day 5 - One of the most wonderful days of our life ! Last edited by varunraizada : 7th May 2024 at 00:30. |
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5th May 2024, 00:01
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| BHPian | Re: Spiti in 2 white fortuners Day 6 : Kaza - Langza, Komic We woke up with a temperature of -5 degrees Well, this is what greeted us in the morning as soon as we walked out of our mud house !  Some more pictures right from the campus of the hotel     The plan for today was to go to Mudh Village through Pin Valley. We had heard that there has been a landslide so the roads are closed, but it was still worth attempting Post completing Pin Valley route, we were to visit Langza, Komic, Hikkim and back to base  We reached the entrance to Pin Valley and not even 100m in, we encountered the road blockage. The locals told us to go via a small road crossing the river, which we tried to search for about 7 kms, but couldn't locate it. We decided to give this a miss and keep something for the next trip. We started our journey to Langza now. Believe it or not, it started to snow again  . Can a dream come true twice ? Well it did for us in a span of 24 hours ! Breathtaking views    Driving Conditions Well the roads were slightly slippery, so we drove very slow - Didn't cross 20kmph, but didn't feel the lack of traction so didn't need to engage 4H. There are places where the roads allow just one car to go through, so it was important for us to keep spotting places to reverse to if need be. So please be vigilant especially during rains / snow We reached Langza and the sight was just breathtaking ! The Buddha has a view we can only dream about !    Drone usage was prohibhited here and we didn't even ask for permission. We moved further towards Komic. After a few more kms of some breathtaking views, we reached the entrance of Komic and were low on energy to enter and explore, so we clicked some mandaotry pics and moved further towards Kaza  All this snowfall meant that we had fresh snow around the roads and we stopped at a spot and had some fun in the snow.   We wanted to spend some time shopping at Kaza Market which we did and went back to our hotel where we called it a day . Somewhere we were all slightly sad that the return leg of the journey had just begun Last edited by varunraizada : 9th May 2024 at 00:15. |
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6th May 2024, 00:43
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| BHPian | Re: Spiti in 2 white fortuners Day 7: Kaza to Kalpa Today's plan was to visit Dhankar Monastery ; Gui and Kalpa  Dhankar has 2 monasteries - One old and one new. Both of them have been frequented by The Dalai Lama. We visited the old one which needs lots of maintenance, but its location is extremely beautiful. Photography was prohibited here !  Enroute Kalpa  We skipped Gui as we wanted to reach Kalpa to see the sunset on the Kinner Kailash range which we heard was a sight not to miss.     Kalpa in my view is one of the most beautiful towns in the area. It has everything - Snow in the winters, apple blossoms in spring and a beautiful and pleasant summer. We had just one evening to spend there and we longed for much more! The night promised a lot as we had made provisions for a bon fire, but due to one of us finding ourselves under the weather that plan wasn't executed Hotel : Hotel Sheetal , Kalpa (INEJ hotels) https://g.co/kgs/whD1YFp This is the 3rd property of INEJ that we visited and again, the hospitality was fantastic and extremely warm (same across all 3 properties) . Highly recommended for anyone travelling Rating : 5 out of 5 - The infra was very good on this one with cozy rooms and ample parking space The next day was the start of our trip back to the plains and was the last night to enjoy sub 10 degrees temperatures Last edited by varunraizada : 9th May 2024 at 00:58. |
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6th May 2024, 00:44
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| BHPian | Re: Spiti in 2 white fortuners Day 8 : Kalpa to Gurgaon The drive from Kalpa to Gurgaon was uneventful. Just highlighting a few points. - From Kufri, we have 2 options - Option 1 : Take Chail (SHimla by pass route) - This is the route we came by - Scenic less traffic , very narrow roads Option 2 : Move towards Shimla - Again just before Shimla there is an option to by pass Shimla or go through it. We chose the by pass option, but we think going through the city would have been better in terms of roads and speed Just 2 pics from the drive - we hardly stopped  .  We reached Chandigarh at around 10pm - Had some fantastic food at Punjabi dhaba. We thought of stopping over in Chandigarh for the night and then drive off early morning. We found no rooms here as it was a big marriage day and all hotels were booked. We decided to move to Gurgaon (another 4.5 hours drive). Again took the Trans Haryana Express way and was a breeze to reach Gurgaon around 3am. Day 9 : Gurgaon to Mumbai Same route as we took during the onward journey. Again at the cost of repetition, DO NOT take the small turns that google suggests and stick to the highway to ensure smooth roads - Although it might lead to a slightly longer route, but it is definitely the more drivable one END OF TRIP 2 important pointers - We missed spending quality time in one place - In our quest to cover many things, we spent little time at each place we visited. It's a choice you need to make - More places or more time at each place. Next trip will be option 2 :-) - Be prepared with plan b and also plan c . Spiti is full of uncertainties like weather (which made us miss Key monestary) and land slides (which made us miss Pin Valley) - Key is to not get disappointed on the miss. There's always a next time Conclusion Well first and foremost, we are all super grateful to God that he shielded us from any incidents during the trip. The mountains are wild in the valley and many a times we saw fresh landslides / shooting stones on the road. This was a dream trip for all of us. We were all super excited for what was in store and prayed (and went prepared) to get some snow. We got snowfall ! Couldn't be more grateful. All of us 5 were from diverse backgrounds with one single aim to complete our trip safely and have super loads of fun. Thanks to each of the 4 of my travel buddies for holding on to each other during these lovely 9 days Our hearts are all longing for more already. We'll be back soon i'm sure Thank you for reading my long travelogue ! Last edited by varunraizada : 9th May 2024 at 20:14. |
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10th May 2024, 05:12
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10th May 2024, 12:22
| #10 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2023 Location: Thane
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| Re: Spiti in 2 white Toyota Fortuners Excellent and exhaustive write up @ Varun. The write up has covered all the minute details which one would require and nicely peppered with snazzy snaps and I must say that this will be great definite guide for the future travel planners. The trip must have been fraught with its own challenges and of course the fun moments which goes along with it. Such trips do stay on the memory and makes ‘life’ more pleasurable. You guys did cover quite a distance (along with Bussy ) in a very short time which brings out the driving skills to the fore. |
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10th May 2024, 18:08
| #11 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2024 Location: Kochi
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12th May 2024, 08:54
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| BHPian  | Re: Spiti in 2 white Toyota Fortuners Extremely detailed and engaging , albeit lengthy (I read it over the span of 2 days  ).A trip to some fantastic places in 2 highly capable Fortuners, with friends, definitely a dream trip. Thanks for the small tips about routes and hotels sprinkled into the travelogue. The pictures are very high quality, and the idea of usinf drones is also a good one, makes it look like an official film for that place. Thanks for sharing. |
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12th May 2024, 09:39
| #13 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Delhi / Jaipur
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| Re: Spiti in 2 white Toyota Fortuners Wonderful travelogue. Brought back many fond memories of my own visit a decade ago. I went alone, by local bus, forming the route as i went along over about two weeks. It was the start of season in early May so the route and time spent in each location was much a function of luck (read : ''seat hai? ek to hogi, dekh lo please") as much as my own knowledge of the place (read : 2001 copy of lonely planet map book, hopelessly outdated in 2014). A sidenote and a small share. Photography in Dhankar was not banned back then. In fact, there was no one except the local lama who offered a wonderful cup of tea and shelter from the howling wind. I managed to make a small video of the monks praying in a small room in the gompa. Back then my primary consideration was how long the dslr battery would last hence the abrupt beginning and ending. Thought of sharing here : and a photo of the room where HH Dalai Lama of Tibet had stayed during his visit (the low light is natural and i tried to capture it as is)  Great part of the country to visit any time. Last edited by vaibhav_a_a : 12th May 2024 at 09:42. |
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14th May 2024, 14:43
| #14 | |
| Newbie Join Date: Nov 2020 Location: Pune
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| Re: Spiti in 2 white fortuners Quote:
2. I have a 4x2 hexa, will that work for a trip like this ? | |
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16th May 2024, 09:56
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| BHPian | Re: Spiti in 2 white Toyota Fortuners Quote:
Very true from a driving perspective. As we all trusted each others driving skills, could we push ourselves to go non stop to cover time Quote:
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Wouldn't suggest taking the Hexa during snowy weather as we experienced very slippery roads and might need a 4H to navigate out of a tricky spot. During summers, your Hexa should be just fine. | |||||
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