Ladakh and Changthang : The Wilderness Chronicles

tsk1979 · 9th July 2010, 17:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsp

Wow, What a travelogue!!!
Tanveer paaji, u r an inspiration. Kudos to you and your better half for carrying out this journey. If the description and pics on the computer screen are so fabulous and mesmerizing, one can only imagine what it would be in real.

Thanks ISP! In real it was indeed much grander. The videos and pics do not really do justice to the sights.
And a component missing from mere pictures is the feeling of isolation. when you know that the nearest human settlement is 3 hours away, and there is absolutely no one around you, not even Changpa Nomads.
This was the first time we have ever been in such isolated regions. On our earlier trip we had gone to remote places, but nevertheless the presence of Army and local population was always there.
This time, we discovered, that there are tracks and places, which actually go into the wild.
Add to that a high altitude plain 5000m above sea level, and magical frozen lakes. Too bad we did not start earlier from Hanle, would love to redo this someday, and see even more of this wonderful desert. There are so many tracks, going here and there!

somu_john · 10th July 2010, 12:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Yes, I am using OSM maps. Last year I had done Nubra to Pangong via Wari La. So I mapped those sections to OSM. This year I used those maps.
Your understanding is correct. However, the village where you merge with chang La road is Durbuk. Shyok is a few kms before that, and does not come on the way if you come to tangste via ChangLa
and yes, the Tangste chushul Loma road is as trecherous.
Remember, from chushul you merge into loma, and from there left takes you to hanle, right takes you back to nyoma and leh.

Hi Tsk,

What is the Gps unit you are using, what is the difference between On Street Map(OSM) and the ones available with the GPS unit. Please forgive my ignorance i am a layman in this regard.

Recently I found a gps on ebay which suits my budget, i just want to take some advice from you before purchasing it.

I'm not sure if i can load maps on this GPS unit as you did for your Leh trip, can you throw some light based on the specifications that i have PM'ed you
Thanks a lot

tsk1979 · 10th July 2010, 12:27

Hi John, post your query on the dedicated GPS thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...tified-16.html

tsk1979 · 27th July 2010, 20:50

I have processed almost all the videos which were to be processed.
Here we go!
In no particular order

Kyun Tso - Video taken from lake shore

YouTube - Kyun Tso

Camels of Nubra

YouTube - Double humped bactrian camels

The answer to why do you need a 4x4

YouTube - Swift on the rocks 1

Another answer to the above question

YouTube - qualis towing 2

Another camel video

YouTube - Bactrian Camels at Hunder, Nubra Valley Ladakh

My Favorite hill climb

YouTube - magnetic hill climb

manolin · 28th July 2010, 02:06

king of travelogues, thank you and your queen for this journey.

by the way is there still any grudge you bear towards TML for the amount of money you paid for your vehicle? I know it has troubled you majorly in the past, but still it has gone on and on. VFM? or even more?

tsk1979 · 28th July 2010, 09:15

Thanks manolin! I do not bear any grudges against TML. I just wish the vehicle required lesser number of visits to the service center!

Anyways, here is the next installment of videos

Drive beyond Spangmik. This goes to chushul

YouTube - Pangong Tso Drive Beyond Spangmik

The lovely road near Shyok village, right after a very very bad section

YouTube - Shyok Road drive in Ladakh

Pangong Tso

YouTube - Pangong Tso

a plateau in Changthang, We took a wrong track while going to kyun Tso

YouTube - Getting lost in the Changthang Desert

Kiang

YouTube - Kiang at Changthang

The other Kyun Tso. But I am not sure if this is the salty one, or the other one. Next time I should taste the waters

YouTube - Kyun Tso, The Salty One

tsk1979 · 28th July 2010, 23:54

Nyoma to Leh - We got snowfall with sunshine

YouTube - On Nyoma to Leh section

A short clip on same section

YouTube - Running with the Kiangs near Nyoma Rap

River rafting. This is at Nimmu, the Zanskar and Indus confluence point

YouTube - Rafting on Zanskar and Indus near Nimmu

Pangong!

YouTube - Pangong Tso

The end of Pangong, i.e. where the Indian section ends, and lake goes into China

YouTube - Pangong, The End

My amateurish attempt at video editing

YouTube - Wild Asses - The Collected video

Near Fotu La, the good road section. It had started snowing too

YouTube - Snowfall near Fotu La - I

Time for bad roads now at ascent to Fotu LA

YouTube - Snow fall near Fotu La - II

Zoji La, the pass from Hell! These two videos will show you the conditions. It was full on sleet(rain+snow). Light was fading, and visibility was very poor, and traffic jams.... thats another story!

YouTube - Zoji La descent - I

YouTube - Zoji La Descent II

ramkya1 · 29th July 2010, 11:07

Awesome clips

....... saw some of them, will be back to see all of them once I get some time today.

Loved tghe song on the clip, Zoji La Descent II, which group is that? Tnx.

========

tsk1979 · 29th July 2010, 11:19

One of the songs is Talullah by Sonata Arctica, and the other one is "winds of change" by scorpions. Its the live acoustic version from the "unplugged concert".
They performed this in Bangalore when they came.
Both are among my favorite all time songs.

Judemayne · 29th July 2010, 15:03

Dear TSK,
You have fuelled my desire to drive down to Leh once again and see the places seen by you. I have been in those Army Convoys you all so dread-believe me for us it was driving away from our loved ones for months together with a dream of the day when we will be driving back to our loved ones- so we miss the scenic beauty as we are dreading and dreaming to and fro. My wife has not seen these places so now I intend showing them to her.

Firstly -you have a flair- a gift of narration-cash in on it-write a book!! Thank you for igniting the flame in me to go back-i hated those desolate lanscape-for us army guys-it was our office-our work station- our cubilce??

Regards,

Col J H Mayne

tsk1979 · 29th July 2010, 16:02

Hello Colonel! Good I have rekindled the fire, and you are right, when you are "working" esp in such harsh terrains and conditions, you do not enjoy the beauty.
This place is a must visit.
I suggest you take a 4x4 up there, and visit the hidden ladakh.
Go beyond Dungi to Fukche, or go right to the chushul airstrip. Being civilians, we cannot see those wonders, but since you are in the Army, you can access some really offbeat places.
For example, civilians can go only till Chumur, the last ITBP checkpost, but a little ahead lies a proper forest, right at the border.
Similarly, there is a gap in the mountains called spangur Gap, and from there you see the magnificient lake of Spangur Tso, unfortunately in china Again, civilians have no access to those border lands.

When you do your trip, you can actually do a much winder circuit than I did!

tsk1979 · 30th July 2010, 16:38

To all those looking for GPX, all have been uploaded
OpenStreetMap | Public GPS traces from tsk1979
Use the tags to select the track you want.
There are some older tracks from my 2009 trip which cover till Rangdum, and Pahalgam/Aru section too.

A friend of mine(who recently joined this forum), did the Hanle - Kyun Tso - Chumur-Tso moriri section too, and he is building an accurate to scale color coded map of Ladakh. He will also make a kml file in case you want to convert to gpx and load on your gps device.
The map currently have all motorable(4x4, high GC, small car) sections of leh, and all the "unknown routes" too.
some routes which are not open to civilians will be marked so.
I will ask him to post the map here.

vardhan.harsh · 30th July 2010, 17:01

It's still a map which is being constantly updated. But the map for the given region is quite accurate. The data to plot this map has been taken as a cumulative of other maps + GPS data & distances data from users such as Tanveer, others & myself.

Ladakh and Changthang : The Wilderness Chronicles-map.jpg

GPX file is still a work in progress. will upload it too once i'm done.

lordofgondor · 30th July 2010, 18:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I will ask him to post the map here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vardhan.harsh

It's still a map which is being constantly updated. But the map for the given region is quite accurate.

Hey guys, thanks a lot for the efforts.

The result is a great boon for us fellow travelers.

Seeing the map, I could picture myself traveling the not so traveled tracks.

Sutripta · 30th July 2010, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by vardhan.harsh

It's still a map which is being constantly updated. But the map for the given region is quite accurate. The data to plot this map has been taken as a cumulative of other maps + GPS data & distances data from users such as Tanveer, others & myself.
Attachment 396409

GPX file is still a work in progress. will upload it too once i'm done.

Great work!

I am very interested in the altitudes, so if you could include those in your gpx file, it would be great. Also a mention of whether it's barometric, or GPS based.

Regards
Sutripta

10th July 2010, 12:27	#243
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,727 Thanked: 23,140 Times View My Garage	Hi John, post your query on the dedicated GPS thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...tified-16.html
	() Thanks

28th July 2010, 02:06	#245
manolin BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Delhi/Cuttack Posts: 392 Thanked: 206 Times	king of travelogues, thank you and your queen for this journey. by the way is there still any grudge you bear towards TML for the amount of money you paid for your vehicle? I know it has troubled you majorly in the past, but still it has gone on and on. VFM? or even more?
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 11:07	#248
ramkya1 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Palakkad, Keral Posts: 1,829 Thanked: 434 Times View My Garage	Awesome clips ....... saw some of them, will be back to see all of them once I get some time today. Loved tghe song on the clip, Zoji La Descent II, which group is that? Tnx. ========
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 11:19	#249
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,727 Thanked: 23,140 Times View My Garage	One of the songs is Talullah by Sonata Arctica, and the other one is "winds of change" by scorpions. Its the live acoustic version from the "unplugged concert". They performed this in Bangalore when they came. Both are among my favorite all time songs.
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 15:03	#250
Judemayne BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 316 Thanked: 109 Times	Dear TSK, You have fuelled my desire to drive down to Leh once again and see the places seen by you. I have been in those Army Convoys you all so dread-believe me for us it was driving away from our loved ones for months together with a dream of the day when we will be driving back to our loved ones- so we miss the scenic beauty as we are dreading and dreaming to and fro. My wife has not seen these places so now I intend showing them to her. Firstly -you have a flair- a gift of narration-cash in on it-write a book!! Thank you for igniting the flame in me to go back-i hated those desolate lanscape-for us army guys-it was our office-our work station- our cubilce?? Regards, Col J H Mayne
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 16:02	#251
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,727 Thanked: 23,140 Times View My Garage	Hello Colonel! Good I have rekindled the fire, and you are right, when you are "working" esp in such harsh terrains and conditions, you do not enjoy the beauty. This place is a must visit. I suggest you take a 4x4 up there, and visit the hidden ladakh. Go beyond Dungi to Fukche, or go right to the chushul airstrip. Being civilians, we cannot see those wonders, but since you are in the Army, you can access some really offbeat places. For example, civilians can go only till Chumur, the last ITBP checkpost, but a little ahead lies a proper forest, right at the border. Similarly, there is a gap in the mountains called spangur Gap, and from there you see the magnificient lake of Spangur Tso, unfortunately in china Again, civilians have no access to those border lands. When you do your trip, you can actually do a much winder circuit than I did!
	() Thanks

30th July 2010, 16:38	#252
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,727 Thanked: 23,140 Times View My Garage	To all those looking for GPX, all have been uploaded OpenStreetMap \| Public GPS traces from tsk1979 Use the tags to select the track you want. There are some older tracks from my 2009 trip which cover till Rangdum, and Pahalgam/Aru section too. A friend of mine(who recently joined this forum), did the Hanle - Kyun Tso - Chumur-Tso moriri section too, and he is building an accurate to scale color coded map of Ladakh. He will also make a kml file in case you want to convert to gpx and load on your gps device. The map currently have all motorable(4x4, high GC, small car) sections of leh, and all the "unknown routes" too. some routes which are not open to civilians will be marked so. I will ask him to post the map here. Last edited by tsk1979 : 30th July 2010 at 16:40.
	() Thanks

30th July 2010, 17:01	#253
vardhan.harsh BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New Delhi Posts: 297 Thanked: 844 Times	Ladakh - Nubra + Changthang map version 3.0.1 It's still a map which is being constantly updated. But the map for the given region is quite accurate. The data to plot this map has been taken as a cumulative of other maps + GPS data & distances data from users such as Tanveer, others & myself. GPX file is still a work in progress. will upload it too once i'm done. Last edited by tsk1979 : 30th July 2010 at 18:00.
	(1) Thanks