[Elusive Enigma]

On the 31st of May 2024, we bought a brand new Hyundai Exter SX and I immediately decided that I will be doing my dream Ladakh Trip in that car so on the 8th of June 2024 we commenced our journey from Kolkata, West Bengal to The Pangong Lake, Ladakh.

And before I begin to write this travelogue I would like to mention @gearhead_mait because it was only after seeing his grand travelogue of Kolkata to Ladakh in his Eon named Sherdil, I got the inspiration that I can also do it in our un-named Exter 🙂

ODO before commencing the journey


We started around 9 AM and thought we could easily reach Varanasi by 10 PM because on my last trip in 2022, I did in 10 hours the Varanasi-Kolkata part in which I travelled from Moradabad (my hometown) to Kolkata (my current dwelling place), but unfortunately due to the on-going Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway construction there were so many diversion and we could only travel around 490 kms and reach Aurangabad (Bihar)

Day 1- 490 kms
Stay at Saraswati Inn, Aurangabad (Bihar)
Room fare- 2500/-

On the 2nd day also the story was pretty much the same, although taking Purvanchal Expressway helped but still we could not travel much due to the bad road conditions till Sultanpur and also because my youngest child (5 years old) was feeling nauseous because of the motion sickness, and yes I forgot to tell you that on this dream road trip I was accompanied by my Wife and also our three kids (10, 7 and 5 years old)

Day 2- 510 kms
Stay at Hotel A-Aryan, Lucknow
Room fare- 1500/-

The 3rd day was quite good with exceptionally good roads, we were able to cover a good amount of distance with the help of Agra-Lucknow Expressway, then Yamuna Expressway and then Eastern Peripheral Expressway which also helped in bypassing New Delhi altogether and we were also able to take the much deserved breaks like a healthy lunch in Pahalwan Dhaba, Murthal, Haryana.

Day 3- 910 kms
Stay at Hotel Nagpal Regency, Ludhiana
Room fare- 4200/-

After covering approximately 2,000 kms with my Wife and kids, I felt a bit tired and because of that laziness we could not start early from Ludhiana, we were aiming to reach Srinagar that day but because of the long traffic jam just before and after Chenani-Nashri Tunnel we had to do a night stay at Banihal.

Day 4- 390 kms
Stay at Hotel Himalaya, Banihal
Room fare- 1400/- (including dinner)

On the 5th day of travelling I finally met in person, my Facebook friend of 9 years Rouf Reshi at his shop UU Kesar Company in Pampore. It was him who arranged for our night stay in Houseboat on Dal Lake, Srinagar. And after spending the beautiful night in Houseboat we decided to go to Doodh Pathri the next day, and I must say that Doodh Pathri is definitely under-rated because I found it almost as serene and beautiful as Pahalgam but Pahalgam is a very popular tourist destination as compared to Doodh Pathri. On my last visit to Kashmir I visited Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Apple Valley and the Mughal Gardens so on this trip I skipped all of them. So the 5th-6th days were spent in sightseeing in Srinagar itself and on the 7th day we left for Leh.

My friend Rouf Reshi's Shop in Pampore


Relished Kashmiri Wazwan


Bedroom in Houseboat


Stunning view in Doodh Pathri


Beautiful Doodh Pathri


Stay on Houseboat, Dal Lake, Srinagar
Houseboat charge- 9,000/- (including dinner and breakfast)

It is said that the Srinagar to Leh Road is one of the most scenic roads of India and I whole-heartedly agree with this statement and also going to Leh from Srinagar will be much easier and helpful in acclimatization because Manali-Leh Highway consists of 5 high altitude mountain passes namely (Rohtang Pass-13,060 ft [which can be skipped by using Atal Tunnel], Baralacha La-16,500 ft, Nakee La-15,547 ft, Lachung La-16,616 ft and Tanglang La-17,480 ft) as compared to Srinagar-Leh Highway which has 3 high altitude mountain passes namely (Zoji La-11,649 ft, Namika La-12,139 ft and Fotu La-13,478 ft).

Although breath-taking beautiful Manali-Leh Highway is also one of the most difficult roads in India, treading on which gives you an adrenaline rush, tests your driving skills but gives you a lot of beautiful lifetime memories.

After spending two fruitful days in Srinagar we headed towards Leh City, we reached Sonamarg around 12 PM and then took a 2 hours long break at Zero Point after crossing Zojila, it was pretty crowded at Zero Point and all sorts of snow activities were going on there and we also took a ride of snow bikes and really enjoyed playing with snow, took our lunch and then started towards Leh. We reached Kargil around 6 PM and decided to stay in Kargil for the night.

Zero Point, Zojila


Stay at Hotel New Ladakh, Kargil
Room fare- 1400/-

Next day after doing photography at Moonland, Lamayuru and Sangam Point which is the confluence of River Indus and River Zanskar we comfortably reached Leh in the afternoon and on that day we did not do anything, just took rest in our hotel room, allowed our body to acclimatize and then in the late evening went out for a little stroll in the main market of Leh, took a late dinner and were also late to go to bed but we decided to go to Khardung La the next day and asked the hotel manager to arrange for an Inner Line Permit, which he did in a matter of few minutes.

Moonland, Lamayuru


Sangam, Confluence of River Indus (left) and River Zanskar (right)


Leh, Main Market


We got up quite late the next day, quickly had our breakfast and left for Khardung La around 12 PM and within two hours were on the top of Khardung La, as the air was really thin on Khardung La we took precautionary measures and drank a lot of water to keep our bodies well hydrated, took Diamox 250 in advance and also bought a portable Oxygen Cylinder for extra safety.

Ancient Silk Road en-route Khardung La


Karakoram Range seen from Khardung La


Myself on The Khardung La Top


It was a wise decision to take portable Oxygen Cylinder


It is my humble advice to all the people going to high altitude passes be it Khardung La or Umling La etc., once you reach the top please do not get over excited and do not exert yourself by playing with snow, running around in snow and jumping, taking off your shirt for that macho-man selfie and in the process suddenly exposing your upper body to such harsh weather conditions and cold strong winds, it does not matter if you have well acclimatized your body or you are super healthy but by doing these kind of activities you are actually inviting AMS to yourself, in fact try not to spend more than half an hour to any pass which is above 16,000 ft.

Stay at Hotel Tsaskan, Leh
Room fare- 1500/-

So the next day was special because it was the day of Eid-ul-Adha falling on the 17th of June 2024, I got up early and got ready for my Eid prayer and offered my Eid prayer at Eidgah of Leh. It was only because of the Eid prayer that we had to cancel our visit to Nubra Valley because we were planning to go to Nubra Valley via Khardung La and do a night stay at Nubra Valley and then head towards Pangong Tso directly from Nubra Valley without coming back to Leh, but because of the Eid prayer we could not execute that plan and we had to come back to Leh from Khardung La itself and then the next day after offering Eid prayer at Leh we left for Pangong lake and reached there by the evening.

Jama Masjid of Leh City


Now comes the date of 18th which has always been special for Myself and my Wife, although we never planned anything and we do not believe in numerology but a lot of great things happened to Us on the 18th, and here is the list:

1- We were betrothed on the 18th
2- We were married on the 18th
3- Our first child was born on the 18th, on our 1st Wedding Anniversary
4- I bought my house on the 18th
5- I bought my first bike on the 18th
6- Visited Pangong Lake on the 18th on our 11th Wedding Anniversary

Beautiful Riverbed


Road to Pangong Tso


Myself and The Pangong Lake


Our kids, Ma Sha Allah!


Souvenirs from the 3 Idiots movie


West Bengal registered car, proudly parked at Pangong Lake


Beauty and serenity at the Pangong Lake is just ineffable, I don't have the words to describe the feelings but I must say that you have to visit this heavenly place in order to feel that calmness of the water, the harshness of the wind, the greatness of the mountains and the vast wilderness of the landscape and all of them coming together to create a soothing melody of the nature.

Stay at Pangong Lake, Ladakh
Cottage Camp fare- 3000/- (including evening tea, dinner and breakfast)

Next day, after capturing some beautiful pictures at Pangong Lake and creating some lifetime memories we headed towards Leh-Manali Highway and were aiming to reach either Jispa or Sarchu by nightfall.
Before I move forward here's a small piece of advice to newbie drivers/bikers, it is highly possible that a person can get excited just by watching videos, seeing beautiful pictures and reading daring yet interesting travelogues about Ladakh and can make an abrupt decision of visiting Ladakh without planning properly, if you do so you're really going to regret your decision because a trip to Ladakh requires thorough planning, a reliable vehicle, a knack for exploration and a bit of daring mindset too.

Also be reminded, that if you're going to Manali from Leh then Karu has the last petrol pump and if you're going to Leh from Manali then Keylong has the last petrol pump which is recently opened, earlier Tandi had the last perol pump, so there is NO petrol pump for almost 325 kms. If you're travelling in Ladakh it is always advisable to fill up your fuel tank whenever possible, although Petrol is available with Dhaba walas in black market at places like Debring, Pang and Zing Zing Bar but you'll have to compromise on the quality and the price of the fuel, they sell around 150-200 rupees per litre of Petrol.

Scenic view on Leh-Manali Highway


Vast wilderness in Ladakh is just mind blowing


Manali-Leh Highway although quite challenging but it surely is more beautiful than the Srinagar-Leh Highway and the presence of so many high altitude passes just makes it more exciting. So speaking about the passes reminds me that it's usually the Baralacha La and Tanglang La around which people get stuck and the same happened with us.
Going to Manali from Leh side I easily covered the first three passes, Tanglang La, Lachung La and Nakee La without any difficulty at all, also took a lunch break at Debring and managed to reach Sarchu around the time of sunset or may be slightly before it and thought while there's still plenty of sunlight why not head towards Jispa, and I must say this was clearly a mistake on my part.

On the way to Tanglang La


Tanglang La Top


Sandstorm at Debring


When we were heading towards Baralacha La initially everything seemed all right but as soon as the Sun went down everything changed. Those beautiful and scenic views suddenly transformed into a frightening darkness with almost no signs of human existence, no petrol pumps, no hotels, no electricity, no connectivity even other vehicles were seldom seen. Nullahs were overflowing and the rocky terrain of this treacherous pass were extremely slippery but somehow we managed to reach the top of Baralacha La around 9 PM, but the trouble was yet to come, while going down from the Baralacha La I checked the temperature and it was -1°C and exactly at that very moment our car got stuck in a slippery overflowing Nullah and no matter how much I try to cross it, the torque of the car was just not enough to cross that slithery and rocky surface of the Nullah. After 6 failed attempts to cross that Nullah we were all really panicked, praying wholeheartedly to get through this hurdle. After waiting for few minutes a truck approached and the truck driver helped us to drive our car in the reverse gear for a few meters and then on the 7th attempt we were able to cross that Nullah because finally the car had gained some momentum to get through that slippery road. I asked the truck driver to get ahead of us and we strictly followed behind that truck till Darcha and I again checked the temperature at Darcha and it was -8°C, next day we came to know that on the 18th of June 2024 there was fresh snowfall on the Baralacha La and that explains the overflowing of Nullahs and the sudden drop in the temperature. Finally, around 10:30 PM we reached Jispa and thanked Allah! that we successfully overcame that ordeal on Baralacha La.

Lachung La Top


On the way to Baralacha La


Day 11- 495 kms
Stay at Hotel Zheyul, Jispa
Room fare- 3000/-

On the 12th day of our dream journey I was planning to reach New Delhi but the weather and road conditions and the frequency of traffic jams hardly favors you in reaching your desired destination on time, and same was the case with us, from Jispa we headed towards Manali and being an extremely popular tourist destination, calling Manali as over-crowded is simply an understatement because we found hours long traffic jam in Manali, at Mandi we took a lunch break and headed towards New Delhi but unfortunately due to heavy rainfall there was a landslide at the other end of the Thapna Tunnel so we again got stuck in traffic jam for another two and a half hours. When the obstruction at Thapna Tunnel was removed we were able to cross it but it was raining like cats and dogs almost through out the Punjab and instead of reaching New Delhi we could only manage to reach Mohali.

World's Highest Tunnel at 10,075 ft


Day 12- 375 kms
Stay at Hotel Blue Sapphire, Mohali, Punjab
Room fare- 3300/- (including breakfast)

From Mohali we drove towards Sonipat, Haryana, as we wanted to take EPE and since New Delhi was barely 300 kms so I decided that we will go to Agra and visit Taj Mahal next day and then we will take Agra-Lucknow Expressway but soon that plan completely changed because en-route EPE I read on an exit sign board that Moradabad was just 140 kms and I felt a sudden urge to visit my native town and immediately decided that Shahjahan and Mumtaz can surely wait till our next visit to Agra and I happily headed towards my hometown Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Day 13- 390 kms
Stay at my own House in Moradabad

After spending a day in Moradabad, I got my car washed because it was super dirty after facing a torrential downpour in Punjab and then after taking our lunch we left for Lucknow around 4 PM. We reached City of Nawabs around 9 PM and after checking in our hotel in Aminabad we immediately left for our dinner in the famous Tunday Kababi and tried Galouti Kabab, Biryani, Chicken Malai Tikka and Kheer and everything tasted absolutely delicious, Lucknow was the only city in which we halted twice because of the great food availability.

Day 14- 350 kms
Stay at Hotel Heera Grand, Lucknow
Room fare- 1800/-

On the 15th day of our journey I was feeling a little bit dull because our great journey to Ladakh was about to end in a day or two, and everytime when I visit mountains and after that when I have to come back to the plains I always feel slightly unhappy because I love mountains a lot. So we started early from Lucknow and headed towards Purvanchal Expressway and by mid-day we had already crossed Varanasi, took a lunch break in Zamania, Ghazipur and at night around 10 PM reached Chauparan, Jharkhand.

Day 15- 600 kms
Stay at Hotel Parijat Regency, Chauparan
Room fare- 2500/-

Since this was going to be the last day of our dream road trip we got up a bit late, took our breakfast in Chauparan and despondently left for Kolkata, while I kept driving heartlessly, images of the beautiful landscapes of Ladakh were still lingering in the back of my mind and even though it has been a month since we visited Ladakh, everyday I look at those pictures we captured just to refresh those sweet memories.

Day 16- 410 kms
Back to Kolkata

ODO after completing the journey


Here are some of the video clips to end the Travelogue

Shikara Ride in Dal Lake, Srinagar

https://youtu.be/Cur_kNoOhhk?si=9Fp69T_ZXOqtj7Wb

Beautiful Srinagar-Leh Highway

https://youtu.be/MPWBjhZfPNI?si=-IsSNS7ZbPwRivoA

Towards Khardung La

https://youtu.be/wP9hU1KynVg?si=mYcR9UOV7b-VGigk

Scenic Road to Pangong Lake

https://youtu.be/vJSD06Cbo7s?si=Uf4NRkfAb1aN6Gvr

The Panoramic Pangong Tso

https://youtu.be/bC5qwJIPnUA?si=OY69_17DGpkvOV9T

Leh-Manali Highway

https://youtu.be/Kg7X7muEVPE?si=U6ft86ullXMWF173

[Aditya]

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

[itsMridul]

Awesome Travelogue!
I feel you took a great risk by taking your 5 year old kid on such a road trip. Hope someday we would meet and discuss the precautions you took for such a daring step.

[Elusive Enigma]

Originally Posted by itsMridul

Awesome Travelogue!
I feel you took a great risk by taking your 5 year old kid on such a road trip. Hope someday we would meet and discuss the precautions you took for such a daring step.

During the first 2-3 days my younger son had some issues and we had to give him Ondansetron, but after that he adjusted well and everything was fine, all three of them enjoyed the trip immensely. It is not advisable to take a child who is below 2 years of age to Ladakh, because kids at that age can't express their problems properly.

[W.A.G.7]

That’s a beautiful travelogue and very nicely written as well! The scenery up there is absolutely stunning and I agree that no words are enough to describe it. It must be experienced to appreciate it. Since your Exter made it to the top, I assume that roads are better now as compared to say 10 years ago. I feel kids adapt better to higher altitudes than us grown ups; for example, my 8 year old son did not have any problems while reaching the China border in Sikkim, although both of us suffered from motion sickness and nausea associated with the high altitudes.

Whats the best season to visit Leh?

[Elusive Enigma]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

That’s a beautiful travelogue and very nicely written as well! The scenery up there is absolutely stunning and I agree that no words are enough to describe it. It must be experienced to appreciate it. Since your Exter made it to the top, I assume that roads are better now as compared to say 10 years ago. I feel kids adapt better to higher altitudes than us grown ups; for example, my 8 year old son did not have any problems while reaching the China border in Sikkim, although both of us suffered from motion sickness and nausea associated with the high altitudes.

Whats the best season to visit Leh?

Thanks for your appreciation.
Srinagar-Leh Highway has significantly improved especially the Zojila but I can't say the same thing about Leh-Manali Highway.
Yeah kids adapt better and faster than grown ups, no doubt about it.
In my opinion there are two best seasons to visit J&K and Ladakh:

1- If you want to enjoy a lot of snow and indulge in snow activities then 3rd and 4th week of May, usually roads are open for tourists by this time but they're not in good conditions and you should confirm before coming because you can never be sure about the road conditions of high altitude mountain passes specially on Manali-Leh Highway.

2- If you love greenery and want to experience the scenic beauty of these landscapes then come after 3rd week of September and before 2nd week of October, this is blooming season and the beauty is at its peak, by this time roads are also repaired and you'll find them in good conditions in most of the places.

Coming here in monsoon is a big NO, and not recommended.