16th September 2009, 13:25
| #91 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
| Quote:
 I had to literally ask the mechanic to back off from touching things under the hood. | |
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16th September 2009, 13:38
| #92 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Jammu
Posts: 83
Thanked: 0 Times
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16th September 2009, 13:38
| #93 | ||
| BHPian  | Quote:
 .. i guess you had lots of time in hand to do this... I think it works on lighter vehicles neways, waiting for your video link now Quote:
Oh man .. reading all this i feel like packing my bags and getting my palio to leh !! | ||
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16th September 2009, 14:53
| #94 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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16th September 2009, 15:43
| #95 |
| Team-BHP Support   | Nubra Ahoy... After K.Top it was time to descend Thanks to the rain and mist, the scenery was bleak, not very condusive to photography A couple of the bleak show pics   Thankfully after North Pullu, the permit point both roads and weather improved. We took tea and a short 10 minute break at that point. Nubra was not very far, and we were told that road to panamik is good  Ladakh is a cold desert, and more desert than deserts. The reason is that while clumps of grass and kikker may survive the sand in the plains, here nothing lives. The rocks are lifeless, and do not hold water or nutrition. therefore whatever grows, grows along the rivers. So all villages are mostly settled around rivers, appearing as OASIS in the bleak landscape. We passed many such villages on the way  Another pic  Thanks to the good road, my back remained mostly fine. Just little stiffness today  But as I mentioned earlier, the addiction of shortcuts is a bad thing, and I found another one, which bypassed quite a bit of the distance! The best thing, it was easy peasy thanks to downhill  The Bleak scenery around That snow cap is probably K.Top hills  Love Thy neighbour, but not while driving.. said the signboard.  Thanks to the good roads we crossed Khalsar quickly, and it was around quarter past 12 that we were on the road to Panamik. Destination one - The Panamik Hot springs. Everybody had warned us not to go there, but where there is a road, there is a will CONt... |
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16th September 2009, 16:24
| #96 |
| Team-BHP Support | Panamik... Nubra valley is like an oasis in the desert A huge hill bifurcates the valley into two parts. While coming from Khalsar, to the left is Diskit, and to the right of the hill is Panamik On the way to panamik lie many villages, the most notable being Sumur. The whole road is very scenic, and most importantly, barring a couple of bad kms in total, its a pleasure to drive    A pic of the excellent Tarmac. Don't get fooled though, unlike the Leh Nimmu road, this is no runway. there are enough bumps and hidden troughs which can launch you to kingdom come. The road pic  Green pastures.. It was getting cloudy again, and a slight drizzle started  This is the hill on the other side of which lie the sand dunes  Local transport  More pics of the road  Another  It was not all like this. Some bad river crossing type section lasted a few hundred meters at a stretch. However there was no water, only round stones. Maybe if it keeps raining for a few days, things may change? We passed the springs without noticing them, and turned back from 1km ahead. At that time we did not know of Panamik lake, or would have gone there too, Anyways, the springs are so nondescript that it takes effort to find them. There are no sign boards, and only indication is the smell of sulfur and the hot water. Quite a disappointment I must say, bigger than we were warned about!  But the drive was worth it. What views!  Thats doordarshan tower broadcasting yesterdays news  Meanwhile the clouds have decided to make Nubra their home  Sun, dust storm and rain, all together  We spent probably 30 minutes or less in Panamik, as the hunder dunes were waiting. It took us less than 1 and a half hour to reach deskit due to the excellent roads, which went bad only in a few places Did not take many pics till diskit, and headed straight to the hotel Stan-Del Dunes on the way to Diskit  More dunes  The hotel was under construction, and our wing was ready. We saw the room, and jaws dropped. Excellent spacious clean room, huge bathroom, running hot water, and Airtel Digital TV. This looked like a five star room, not some 500rs one. No wonder normal tariff is 1200rs. However there was not much time to enjoy the rooms and we wanted to be on our way to Hunder. Hunder is 6-7kms along the main road from Deskit, and there is an offroad shortcut too(which we came back from). While going we missed the dune turnout, and landed on a bridge, which had a big yellow board "No tourists allowed beyond this point". Unlike No entry points which are more suggestions to us Indians, there were machine gun nests and 10 heavily armed army men to remove any doubts about whats a suggestion and whats an order. After getting directions, we turned back, and headed towards the dunes. Now it was time for Jaw dropping... Nubra was turning out to be even better than expected. ............ CONT Last edited by tsk1979 : 16th September 2009 at 16:28. |
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16th September 2009, 16:47
| #97 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Bombay
Posts: 160
Thanked: 35 Times
| TSK I hate this travelogue!!! I have just spent the past hour and a half going through the photos and the narration when I should have been finishing the work that has piled up on my desk! Now I will have a backlog and my clients will be mad at me all because of you and your darn travelogue! I hate your travelogue and I hate you TSK!!! I hate you so much and I hope....... may you keep wandering in lonely hard to reach mystical places where few people go!  Jokes Apart......excellent travelogue dude!!!Last edited by Wolfheart : 16th September 2009 at 16:51. |
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16th September 2009, 17:45
| #98 |
| Team-BHP Support | |
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16th September 2009, 17:53
| #99 |
| Team-BHP Support | Chasing Rainbows and leprechauns It was raining and sun was shining. That meant a rainbow. Infact a rainbow so spectacular, that it looked unreal. Camels could wait, it was time to chase the rainbow. Camera was getting wet, so apologize for the drop mark in some shots. What a sight  Sun is shining, yet its raining  More rainbow  To be honest, the camera does not do justice to the scene. In reality it was much more awesome. A truly jaw dropping moment. Now we knew why people say, whatever you do, do not miss Hunder. To find our pot of gold, it was time to head on the dirt track. Most taxis had stopped at the river and people were walking towards the camels. River crossing carried a 500rs fine, and only local camel riders were allowed to take their vehicles across, so camel riding area was accessible by foot only . However this offroad track was allowed. A gypsy drive told us it goes all the way to hunder, but road is 4x4 in places. Soon we had to cross a dune in 4x4, and it was real fun. Reminded us of the Jaisalmer trip Our rainbow  Couple of pics of the steed, all shiny!   Sun was playing hide and seek, and the rainbow kept changing Our pot of gold was right here  Look at the view  One of my fav shots from the trip  In this photography, to the left is heavy rain, yet to the right sun shines  CONT.... |
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16th September 2009, 18:30
| #100 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: UP 16
Posts: 936
Thanked: 159 Times
| That's mind bogglingly beautiful man. I was so happy seeing what's below, I am sure I'd have been jumping with ecstasy with views like those.  A drive through Nubra should definitely on the cards while visiting Ladakh. I still don't know why many people tend to avoid it. Last edited by lordofgondor : 16th September 2009 at 18:32. |
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16th September 2009, 19:49
| #101 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | |
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16th September 2009, 20:09
| #102 |
| BHPian  | |
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16th September 2009, 21:16
| #103 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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16th September 2009, 21:20
| #104 |
| Distinguished - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gurgaon
Posts: 3,864
Thanked: 3,250 Times
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16th September 2009, 21:29
| #105 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Jammu
Posts: 83
Thanked: 0 Times
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