Leh Circuit : Road Trip > Jammu - Srinagar - Kargil - Leh - Manali - Chandigarh

Travel Itinerary

·         14-Jun-17 : Blr to Jaipur

·         15-Jun-17 : Jaipur to HMH

·         Day1 : 16-Jun-17 : HMH to Jammu

·         Day2 : 17-Jun : Jammu to Srinagar

·         Day3: 18-Jun : Srinagar to Kargil

·         Day4 : 19-Jun : Kargil to Leh

·         Day5 : 20-Jun : Leh ( Khardung-la)

·         Day6 : 21-Jun : Leh ( Pengong Lake)

·         Day7 : 22-Jun : Leh to Manali

·         Day8 : 23 Jun: Manali to Chandigarh

·         Day9 : 24 Jun : Chandigarh To HMH/ BLR

Team

Munesh B, Pradeep B, Pradeep A, Puneet J, Rajesh S

Vehicle 

Renault Lodgy

Total distance covered : 2300 KM

Journey starts on 16th June from Hanumangarh to Jammu

Day1 : 16th Jun : From Hanumangarh to Jammu

Rora and Bhatti reached my house at 6 AM and we started for Jeeney house, we picked Rajesh Saharan from his home, went to Jeeney. Jeeeney was getting ready when we reached and we started arranging luggage in boot space. Jeeney had removed last seat of Renault Lodgy and there was pretty good luggage space and everything got filled up with all of our luggage as well as food items.

I had quick inspection of lodgy and found that rat marks in engine zone, I enquired and got to know that mechanic had inspected last night, nothing to worry, everything was in order.

We started around 7 AM and stopped for a while to balaji temple near railway crossing, HMH. I drove to that distance just to get the feel of car because we had discussion earlier that only Jeeney and myself would be driving to entire stretch. It's required to have good experience of terrain and vehicle before attempting this difficult stretch. I planned to drive a lot upto Jammu so that I had good grip over vehicle before we hit hilly area.

We started around 7:15 AM from temple for Jammu. Our plan to reach Jammu was around 5 PM and it's around 500 KM from the starting point. We had a long way to go so would like to reach early to take good rest before beginning journey for the next day.

We stopped at muktsar where we met with Rora's relatives/ friend, had quick 30 mins break and started for Amritser route. 

We stopped at Gurudwara at Harike Barrage, It's the place where Satluj river is divided into two tributaries, one  flows to Pakistan on one side and Indira canal on other side. Indira Gandhi canal originates from here which is lifeline of Rajasthan desert region.

We had good photo session near the barrage and started again to Amritsar and then to Pathankot. We reached Jammu around 5 PM and I had alliance with HVK for enroute hotel booking, we contacted HVK group ( Wapp) and got details of hotel in 15 mins. Hotel was on main road, near to famous Raghunath temple. I was driving for the complete day and got comfortable with the vehicle.

We did fresh up quickly and had visit to temple, returned around 8 PM to hotel, ordered food and opted room service. We never had such union so, were enjoying every moment, had funny photo session, recorded some never to forget moment before winding up for the day.

Day2: ( From Jammu To Srinagar) - 17th June : 280 KM

We started around 8 AM and stopped for tea & breakfast after reaching at NH44 highway and in 30 mins break, we started towards Udhampur. It's 4 lane highway till Udhampur from Jammu that is around 70 KM, it's having good driving condition. 

We heard that drive to Srinagar is very tough due to difficult road condition but, it looked to be completely uneventful until we were approaching Anantnag.

There were some vehicles coming from opposite direction and asking not to go because of stone pelting due to ongoing terrorist encounter situation. We stopped for a while, enquired couple of other vehicles as well, and everybody suggested the same to return. We had no other option than to proceed and everybody was on hyper alert, adrenaline was on peak as we started making our move. We approached check post where police asked to get down and did through checking of vehicle/ our ID card/ vehicles paper. We asked if it's safe to travel further, "Yeh kashmir has sahib, yahaann yeh har roz hota hai, aap jaiyeee, encounter chal raha tha toh curfiew laga tha, abhi 15 mins pehle khatam hua hai, rasta clear ker rahe hain"

We started again and there were lines of vehicles moving slowly towards ground zero direction. As we approach Anantnag, we noticed heavy army deployment on both side of highway, there was fully equipped army person standing on both side of road after every 10 feet. We also noticed some groups of youth at different places, they looked aggressive, were ready to do stone pelting with slight increase in tension. Somehow, we crossed the area without any eventuality. Some locals call the city as 'Salamabad'

Sringar was still Approx. 70 KM and it was around 1 PM by that time, we reached Srinagar around 3:00 PM, I informed HK over hotel booking and they asked if we wanted to stay in houseboat or hotel. After some discussion, we confirmed them to book accommodation near dal lake. We reached dal Lake around 3:30 PM and after good follow up with the team and waiting for 30 mins, we got hotel address and room price got fixed around 2300/ Rs per night. The plan was like that where HK team will book hotels when we are about to reach any destination at pre-confirmed price ( as booking is done/ confirmed in last minute). The hotel was Malik Palace, in front of Dal lake, location was awesome, we booked two rooms but, everybody was surprised over the high price.

We checked in hotel and after some time ready to roam around dal lake, we decided to visit Shalimar bagh, around 4:30PM, we reached and stayed there around 2 hours, it's beautiful place, thoroughly enjoyed,

We returned to hotel, and were planning to get some cold drinks, I and bhatti roamed around different gates but, didn't get. We got shikara and had nice trip in dal lake, enquired with the guy over KF and he told that it was difficult to get KF because of bandh/ curfew/ tense situation.

We returned to hotel after shikara visit but, after some time, we wanted to try one more time. Myself & bhatti went to get beer and meanwhile others ordered food, We told them to get back in 30 mins with KF ( confidently). We left around 7 PM and enquired many people near dal lake, finally met with one guy who got ready to give KF but, in inflated price ( KF Cane - 300 Rs) with no charge of shikara ride. We agreed and gave him around 2000 Rs for 6 KF. We asked him if we can also come with him as he was going alone, he nodded.

Me and Bhatti got into shikara and there were three shikara guy along with us. It was getting dark and after rowing for 30 mins in dal lake, we asked him over how far the place was. He asked to remain silent and sit quietly.

Now, the situation was, we were far from commercial zone in dal lake, pitch dark place, no light, he continued to row boat and they were gossiping in kashmiri that we couldn't understand. After around 45 mins, we got into the area of lake where there were bushes and narrow water lane, this was very scary scene. Me and bhatti were thinking if we got kidnapped?? Should we get out of boat but, how..? All the fun that we were having, turned to tense moment.

Finally, we reached a spot, where we found around 4-5 people standing on another boat and throwing torchlight all over our face. These guys looked to have some arguments among them, scared us more. All this while, the main boat guy came us, said that, Sir, ek problem hai, we don't have KF bottles , we have only cans. I whispered, "salla, sirf vapis chor dega bina KF ke, who bhi chalega" I said, sir, no problem, we can manage" He said that price kam nahi hoga, I whispered again, thankfully, you are not demanding more. I said, Sir, "price aapne bottle ka bataya, abhi cane de rahe ho, yeh toh thik nahi hai".

He said, "yahi hai, agar lena hai toh haan bolo" we said unanimously. "YES".

It's 8 PM and we were heading towards our drop point, on the way, the boat guy became friend, and entertained with witty jokes while returning.

Rora was calling frantically, Bhatti told him, we are safe, got KF and returning in 30 mins. 

Check out the video clip:
 
 It was most adventurous ride in the life for both of us.

Check out the video clip:

We returned to hotel, had KF with food, and went to sleep for the night.

Another fantastic day came to an end.

Day3 : 18th Jun Srinagar to Kargil : 200 KM

We started at 7 AM, stopped for some time for breakfast at small shop at Dal lake, started again in 30 mins, it was beautiful road along with the dal lake and after 10-15 KM, we joined Srinagar-Leh highway  NH1 and started moving to Kargil.

Kargil is around 200 KM from Srinagar and have to cross Zojilla pass (Zojila pass - 11649 FT) to reach. This was gonna be first challenging pass to conquer and everybody was excited for that.

First spot was Sonmarg that was around 80 KM from Srinagar on the way to Leh. We reached Sonmarg around 10 AM. Sonmarg valley is very beautiful where you can notice white structures of snow in lush green landscape.

Sonmarg to Baltal is around 15 KM and it took us 30 mins to reach there. It's where one road goes to Amarnath Shrine and other towards Leh, Zojila pass ascend starts from here. As we are already thrilled because have heard a lot about this dangerous pass and it didn't disappoint us as well because it was indeed tough.

Since monsoon hadn't set in, the entire stretch was completely dry, dusty as there was no road, deep valley, steep terrain, heavy vehicle movement, no network, low temperature and high altitude, making everybody nervous at that time.

The road becomes extremely bad and sometimes dangerous as you approach ZojiLa, so one needs to drive carefully in this stretch. However, the views were simply breathtaking.

Myself & Jeeney somehow got into agreement and established pattern where he would be driving one complete day and I on another day. So, It was my driving day, we started climbing Zojilla from Baltal,  there were heavy truck movement and since roads were dusty, in a short while, we were in full of dust, we couldn't use ac so had to keep windows opened , It's steep terrain, car was fully loaded, so had to drive in first gear most of the time, we reached to one spot after driving for 3-4 KM ( 15-30 mins of journey), there was traffic piling up due to narrow stretch.  I tried to pick up vehicle after short halt, and car didn't move. The over use of clutch started to show the affect because I was continuously driving in 1st gear!! No other option as well. Throttled the paddle, tried multiple times but, car was not moving, first challenge of our Trip!!!

There was panic moment as car started moving backward because of not getting good grip due to gravel road. We stopped vehicle, put bricks on rear tires, opened the bonnet. Bhatti and Rora went and got ice from nearby mountain walls, that we put in the engine area to cool down the temperature..

We stopped for 15-20 mins, crossed the narrow & steep section where myself and Jeeney were in car, stopped to pick up other friends who were waiting on other side, car began to accelerate, and we continued the journey.

Just after crossing Zojilla, we approached Zero point, several vehicles were parked on both side of the road for approx. 1 KM distance. It was around 12:00 PM, We were recovering after crossing Zojilla pass and decided to halt at this place.

At Zero point, you have two options, one is to take either Sledge or snow bike. Sledge will take you at specific point slowly which is at certain hight of the mountain and while coming back from that point its thrilling experience. You need to take shoes as well on rent ( 50 Rs per pair) and Sledge ( 300 Rs for Sledge ride). There are local guys going this business, they will pull the sledge around 100 meters on the glacier and you will be going along with them upto certain height. The guy will sit behind you on sledge and it'll gain speed while coming down, once started, no control on speed and it kept increasing until descends is over, quite thrilling experience. The guy looked in hurry and I asked the matter, he told that 'Sir, aaj cricket match hai India aur Pakistan ka, toh wahi dekhne ke liye jaldi hai"

I asked which team he is supporting and he replied candidly, "Sir, team toh ek hi hai,…. Pakistan". I asked why, isn't indian government not doing anything for you? And he accepted that yes, govt is doing, but, Sir, dil toh Pakistan ke saath hi hai."

Curiously, I asked, if it's the same feeling for entire valley, and he confirmed, " Yeh Kashmir hai Sahib, Yahaan Pakistan ki hi sarparasti hai!!". It's different experience for me listening all this but, that's the bitter reality.

We all did wooden sledge and played in snow for some time. We had great time, were there around 2 hours, had some snacks and ready for our onward journey at 2 PM. We reached Drass around 3 PM, it's considered as coldest habitant place on earth after Siberia in Russia. We stopped for Tea/Snacks at roadside shop. We were covered with dust after crossing zojilla pass and wanted to freshen up, noticed a handpump along the roadside, had a quick mouth wash, it was damn freezing cold water. Temperature was around 10 Degree in June but, in shades, you feel the real cold.

We started for kargil and after 10 KM from Drass, we stopped at Kargil War Memorial, Drass. It's situated on the NH1 highway and maintained by Army. It defines the glory and prestige of the nation and one can realize that how tough the war was and condition in which it was fought. The memorial is built in memory of soldiers who were martyred in 1999 war with Pakistan, it's at foothills of tololing hills and beside the tiger hill. Army personal provides briefing to the tourists about Kargil war and soldier's bravery and their extreme sacrifice to the nation. There is Manoj Pandey museum, Vikram batra hill top, there are many models of weapons, arms & ammunition of Pakistan army that was held during the war, were on display.

The Gigantic Indian flag was flying high with full pride. It's must visit place when you are on Leh-Srinagar highway.

We spent around 2 hours in Drass memorial and started for Kargil. It was 5 PM and Kargil was around 50 KM away. It's straight road in good condition and we could reach Kargil by 6 PM, enquired for couple of hotels, finalized and checked in for the night halt.

Rora & Bhatti did manage Daaru and we had excellent dinner in the hotel room ( kinda hostel feel), It was India vs Pak match on that day and India won, witnessed the victory celebration on streets of Kargil. We had good political discussion, shot few videos for our friends and signed off for the day.

The journey was coming to an lifetime experience as we are witnessing new thrill on every day, discovering challenges and overcoming it, was great pleasure.

Day4 : 19th June - Kargil to Leh : 220 KM

Jammu& Kashmir State has three different regions - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

Ladakh has two districts - Leh & Kargil. We were in Ladakh region and landscape was mesmerizing.

We started from kargil around 6:30 AM as we have booked river rafting in Zanksar river and we had to reach the place by 11 AM that was the last slot available for rafting.

The distance from kargil to Zanksar/Indus confluence point was around 190 KM that was going to take approx 4 hours of drive. It's well maintained road from kargil to Leh. We approached Magnetic Hill on the way and before 30 KM from Leh or just before the confluence point. We reached there around 10 AM and stopped for a while to experience the optical illusion.

 

Can anybody imagine the moving vehicle uphill in neutral gear and engine off condition? It looks unbelievable!! This magnetic hill magic can be experienced when you are travelling on Leh-Srinagar highway. 

The Magnetic hill is around 30 KM from Leh ( 14000 ft above sea level) town on Srinagar - Leh highway.

There is box area marked on road, where you can park your vehicle in neutral gear without handbrake, and engine is switched off. When you release break, you notice that vehicle is moving uphill.

The magnetic hill is popular tourist spot and the science behind the magic is, the layout of the area and surrounding slopes creates optical illusion that the straight downhill road is actually looks to be uphill road.

 

We clicked photos, shot videos, experiencing the magnetic hill magic. We were getting late to reach the rafting point as it was around 11 AM so, started for the spot that was around 10 KM from that place and reached to confluence point in 30 mins with some struggle in locating the place.

 

I made prior booking for river rafting with 'wet & wild exploration' agency. After registration, we roamed around the place, and there was lunch served.

The plan was:

·         Trip starts at 1:00 PM

·         30 min drive from camp office to Chilling ( 25 KM)

·         15 minute safety briefing

·         2 hours of rafting - 14KM duration

·         Drive back to Wet & Wild office for hi-tea

·         Handover of Soft copy of Go-Pro shooting during rafting

Total package per person was around 1300 Rs.

We had parked our car at their camp office, we picked up wet suits and booties (finding the size was challenging), waited for a while to get staff prepared and then we drove to Chilling for the rafting. Almost. Once we arrived in Chilling, we had to stand around for another 15 minutes waiting for the vehicles with the rafts to arrive. The locationwas very good . Mountains all over and chilling water around us. We got good instructions and all the arrangements were made. The guide in raft was very friendly, experienced and through professional. 

Once we were on the river we had an outstanding time. There was a safety rescuer, was following our raft for the whole journey, while kayaking to tackle any eventualities; we are very impressed as almost all of us were first timer; in the route there were two grade 3 raft and 2-3 grade 2 raft; it was extremely thrilling.

Zanksar River rafting experience : Chilling Location

Indus/Zanksar Confluence point

Once we started, we hit the rapid within 5 mins, it was grade 3 rapid and hit another grade-3 rapid in few mins, raft plunged into freezing cold water and I was sitting in the front, a huge wave hit in split seconds, tilted the raft, our instructor was able to get control of the raft and avoided getting it capsized. 

When we were approaching first rapid, instructor alerted us that it's high grade and instructed us to hold the rope with one hand and paddle with other hand firmly. When we came out of back to back rapids, everybody screamed in excitement until instructor told that "Sallo, ek banda gayeb hai". Then everybody realized…"Saharan…"

Saharan was holding rope with both hands and hanging in the freezing cold water of river and about to fall in the mighty flow of river. Instructor immediately rushed towards him, pulled him on the raft and once he settled down, Rora asked…."Where is your paddle"… Saharan got furious, and said.."Saalo, meri jaan pe aayi thi, thanne paddle ki padi hai, mainee ke berrro"

The paddle was thrown into the river and rescue guy who was in kayak and running parallel to our raft, pulled it and returned to our raft, handed over to Saharan.

While all this happening, Rora was enjoying the most. I loved rora's spirit who went into hibernation mode, sitting calmly while everybody was paddling, putting efforts in moving raft forward, enjoying every moment and cutting jokes and teasing others, futile efforts in impressing girls, he asked Saharan, "how was the experience, "Got scared??" there were foreigners tourist as well on the raft, Saharan thought that it would be insult to accept so, he confirmed, that it was fun to have dive in the river. Bhatti got into 'Chakravyuh' and got dip into water. Seeing this, Saharan also did 'intentional' dive into the water when we reached to spot where river water was bit calm and they stopped raft for some time. Saharan was going to get hard time in rest of the trip and we noticed him saying frequently, "Saalaa, Kun di aa rafting ki Salah"

Check out the video clip:

This was going to be costly mistake to expose our self in such condition ( high altitude, cold water, windy weather), I was shivering, getting difficulty in breathing as well and had to cover another 30-40 mins more in the river.  We had couple of more rapids afterwards and none could come close to the experience that we just had in first couple of rapids.

Best adventure experience in budget cost, river rating is real fun in Zanksar river surrounding the mighty mountains. We got off from raft at certain point after 14 KM river rafting, boarded cab and reached their camp office around 5 PM.

We had hot tea/coffee, and started for Leh. It's 35 KM drive from their camp office ( confluence of Zanksar/ Indus) and we reached Leh around 6:30 PM, started searching for hotels and in 1.5 hour, able to finalize hotel( Mehak Hotel), almost all hotels were booked due to tourist season. Leh town was fully crowded and first in our trip, we realized the seasonal crowd. There was no place for parking and driving within the city itself was challenge as no road to drive. Both side of road were vehicles parked and hardly any road left for traffic.

We stopped taking services of HK because team felt that the price in which we were getting accommodation, were very expensive and we could manage ourselves in booking hotels.

We had hard time to find parking slot, got one from Approx 300 meters from the hotel so, had to carry all luggage by ourselves till the hotel. Leh town is situated at 3500 Meter MSL and had experience of breathlessness after walking a while, We were already exhausted and I was getting symptoms of chest congestion due to rafting, had hard time in checking in hotel.

Hotel was very average and approach road was completely dug-up, difficult for walking also. We had little food in dinner and went on to sleep.

River rafting in Zanksar river, was really an experience of lifetime and this put us in bad health afterwards. The next journey was not going to get easy with health condition deteriorating!

Day5 : 20-Jun : Leh

We planned the day for local sightseeing in Leh but, due to bad health, nobody went anywhere. Saharan was having high fever last night and given paracetamol, I was having wheezing, cold and cough and experiencing difficulty in breathing due to chest congestion. I had medicine but, didn't sleep well in the night, Next day morning, Saharan was completely down, I was having severe cold, Jeeney was also having slight fever.

We continued to be in ‘hibernate mode’ until noon and around lunch time, we decided to go to Dist Magistrate office to take permit to go to KhurdangLa/ Pengong Lake area.

We need to take permit to visit KhardungLa/Turtuk/ Hunder/ PengongLake area from Dist Office. 

You need to fill one form, show the ID proof and to pay 400 Rs/ person for Environment Fee and 20 Rs Per person per day against Wildlife fee, we were 5 people so, paid 2300 Rs for permit.

 it took around 30 mins and we got permit around 4 PM. We were roaming Leh Market and decided to go to civil hospital(SNM Hospital, Ladakh) as precautionary measure as we didn't want to spoil our further trip in case health deteriorates.

There is tourist OPD (operational between 4 PM to 10PM), got appointment at nominal fee and free medicines but, all those were useless so, went to medical shop in front of hospital and got medicines at 5-10% higher than MRP ( it's remote town and difficult to get supply, hence the appreciate price). Doctor told that in tourist season, we get lot of patients from outside due to AMS that is very common among outsiders. After the hospital, we went to restaurant for the evening snacks and had good meal - parathas/ dahi.

After food, started enquiring for hired cab for Khurdang La, got to know about low pressure and oxygen saturation at KhurdangLa. We got shop in same premise ( Ladakh Oxygen bar), got two oxygen cylinder ( 1000 Rs per day for single cylinder - Refundable). We returned to Leh market and roamed around, came back to hotel around 9 PM, had dinner and signed off for the day.

Day 6 : 21 Jun ( Khardhung La)

KhardungLa is 40 KM from Leh. It's single road in good paved condition till South Pullu and after that it's all muddy road, with loose rock so, the last 10 KM was tough & bumpy ride.

KhurdangLa is at 18380Ft from MSL and oxygen level is low and if you are not acclimatizing well, you can easily get AMS at that point. North Pullu is 14 KM from KhardhungLa pass and road takes you to Nubra Valley and you can visit Hunder/Turtuk in same route.

Per the plan, we started at 9 AM in hired cab and it took around 2.5 hours to cover 40 KM and reached around 12 PM. 

We stayed there around 1.5 hour, it was snowing at that time and surface was very slippery. We had good photo sessions at main points at pass, it's maintained by Army. 

There was one temple where bhajan were playing in loudspeaker, There was a Sinchin Café ,and we had hot maggi along with tea

It was worth experience being at world's highest point. There is Tourist alert sign not to stay more than 20 mins as it can affect health to be such high point. Since we were properly acclimatizing, so, it didn't affect us and we were there around 1.5 hours.

The views were awesome where you can see tar road as snake among the mighty snowcapped brown mountains. Most of the route, you can experience beautiful panorama of city of Leh from above because leh is 3500 meter altitude and KhardhungLa is around 5600 meter so, within 40 KM, you will be ascending around 2100 meters ( 6000 Feet) above MSL that is considered very steep ascend in hill region.

The landscape changes in ladakh region after every few kilometers and same experienced en route to KhardungLa, there is no vegetation, civilization around and all you can view is, humungous arid grey mountain with snowcapped, temperature dipped and no vehicle moment around, it's utmost desolation feeling closer to Siachen base camp.

We all were experiencing, Headache, dry nose, cough, light fever, and were taking Acetazolamide (Diamox) on daily basis to treat AMS. Jeeney got AMS symptoms while returning and used oxygen cylinder for some time while others continued to stay quiet and observing nature’s beauty. 

We stopped for a while, clicked few photos, shot one clip over the journey and returned to Leh by 4 PM

Check out the video clip:

We had snacks & tea and visited local market, did shopping for family, had dinner and returned to hotel. Another day came to an end, trip was getting tougher because of health situation in which everybody was getting in. We returned oxygen cylinders to shop, discussed among ourselves and decided to hire one more cab for Manali. Same night, Bhatti also got fever so, now Bhatti, Myself, Jeeney and Saharan were all down with fever/Cold/ cough. Rora was having severe back pain and somehow managing to survive without further health issue.

Day 7 : 22 Jun ( Pengong Lake)

We asked the same taxi driver to take us to Pengong lake. We got ready early and started at 8AM after having light breakfast. 

It's 150 KM from Leh and takes around 6-7 hours to reach there crossing Chang-La mountain pass. The lake is 140 KM long, situated at 4350m height and it's salt water lake that gets frozen during winter. It's one third is with India and 2/3 part is with China.

The water of lake is crystal clear and you can see different shades with time. You can experience different shades of blue beneath the magnificent mountains. The inner line permit is required to visit this place that we had already taken it from DC office, Leh.

 It's very rough ride and literally there is no road as it's all pebble/ muddy road, there are several water crossing that adds more difficulty in travelling and once near ChangLa, the road gets more bumpier but, once you reach Pengong Lake, you forget everything. 

I've never seen such a beautiful lake, the view is spectacular surrounded by mountains. Wind is bone chilling and one has to wear woolen to protect in extreme temperature at high altitude. There are many camps and wooden accommodations available for overnight stay near the lake.

 We spent around 3 hours at Pengong lake, got tired clicking photos, the lake is also famous for 3-Idiots movie shooting and you can see photo setup there, it takes approx 100 Rs to use it as probes.

We had lunch ( hot noodles) at restaurant, had some rest, walked around the lake and started for return journey to Leh. 

 Saharan had tough time in the return journey and was puking at regular interval, he was having acute AMS symptoms and getting tired as well.

Words are less when describing the beauty of the lake and one can only experience it. We were returning to Leh and I was thinking about 'Incredible India'!!!!

We had finalized on going ahead with one more vehicle from Leh to Manali, upon returned to Leh, we started enquiring for cab and finalized for Qualis in 12K Rs for one side. The plan was to fill the luggage in the cab of offload our car, as the route from Manali to Leh was even worse than we had in Srinagar - Leh route. Bhatti/ Rora finalized the cab, given token amount and we all returned to hotel after another tiring day

Day8 : 23 Jun ( Leh to Manali) - 480 KM

We had to cover 480 KM and everybody suggested to take night halt at Jispa/ Sarchu but, we had different plan. Covering around 500 KM, on such dangerous route (almost off-road) having 5 tough pass to cross in melting snow, water stream at many places, snow covered places, by the driver who had never been to the route before, was definitely challenging. The taxi driver assured us that it's doable and just based on his confidence, I also thought that yes, we can do it.

We started early, everybody got ready by 5:30 AM and we started our journey around 6 AM. One thing to mention, Rora was very punctual in getting ready, he was always first one to leave the bed and got ready and ensure that everybody was also get up.

We shifted our luggage to taxi and Bhatti/ Rora/ Saharan got into taxi while myself and Jeeney were in his car. We started driving and had quick stop at Karu for breakfast. 

We had quick 30 mins break and started again at 7:30 AM and after driving for some 50 more Km, warnings started to appear on dashboard of our car.

If I remember correctly, those were Engine/ emission warning & Electronic fault warning. Initially, only one light was coming up (orange color) and after driving to some more distance, another warning light started flashing on dashboard. We got worried as we were in area where no network zone, no civilization, it was definitely scary thought to be stranded in such situation if vehicle got breakdown.

We only two were there in Jeeney's car and he was driving in tensed situation. The other car (hired taxi) where we had all other friends, were about to get disappeared, when I started waving to the car, we were approaching Tanglang La pass and ascend was started and taxi was going fast, way ahead to us when I started waving and trick worked where Rora noticed us while going uphill and they stopped.

We reached to the spot and parked our car at roadside, enquired with taxi driver who had no clue about those warning signs, we explored car manual but, didn't get much information on dashboard warning light other than, if it's flashing orange then drive to nearest service center and if it turn red then stop vehicle immediately and call service center.

Renault service center was almost 600 KM far in Mandi (Himachal Pradesh), and we were in no network coverage area, was first major challenge in the entire trip. We noticed another Renault duster car, coming from opposite direction, going to Leh, asked to stop, the guy stopped the vehicle and we enquired if he had any idea over those light, but, he also didn't have much information & suggested to keep going.

There were two options,

1.       Return to Leh & get car fixed with some local mechanic

2.       Continue moving towards Manali/ Mandi and check with ASC

 

We finally decided to continue moving to Manali, I started driving the vehicle and we crossed following passes :

1.       Tanglang La ( 5372 mtr - 17480 ft) - 108 KM from Leh ( between Debring & Rumtse) , 365 KM from Manali

2.       Lachung La ( 5065 Mtr - 16616 ft) - 195 KM from Leh ( in between whisky Nala & Pang), 278 KM from Manali

3.       Nakee La ( 4739 Mtr - 15547 ft) - 214 Km from Leh ( between Whisky Nala & Sarachu) - 21 hairpin band of Gata Loops, 259 KM from Manali

4.       Baralacha La ( 5030 Mtr - 16500 Ft) - 282 Km from Leh, 191 Km from Manali ( between Zing Zing bar & Bharatpur)

5.       Rohtang Pass ( 3980 Mtr - 13060 Ft) - 421 Km from Leh and 60 Km from Manali ( between Marhi & Sissu)

 

Following was the route followed:

1.       Leh -> Upshi - > Rumtse -> Tanglang La -> Debring -> Moore Plains -> Pang -> Lachung La -> Nakee La -> Gata Loops -> Sarachu -> Baralacha La -> ZingZing Bar -> Deepak Tal -> Darcha -> Jispa -> Keylong -> Tand -> Sissu -> Khoksar -> Gramphu -> RohtangPass -> Manali

We were driving continuously, we had to reach Manali before end of day and on other side, we were in a vehicle that can get stopped any point of time, we asked taxi driver to be with us and not to drive fast as we might need help any time.

it was terrific drive, mostly off road as there was no road, many water crossing on the way and one should plan to cross before the noon as water level/ flow gets increased with the time because of melting snow and it can make journey even more difficult.

 

The moving traffic creates deep slush at water crossing points caused by melting snow from the mountain slopes. Crossing these sections were particularly adventurous and full of challenges on these mountain pass.

 

We were crossing high altitude pass one by one, did nonstop driving till Keylong and stopped there for the lunch around 4 PM. 

We stopped for around 40-45 mins and now, and we stopped for couple of photos at Rohtang pass and Jeeney started driving from here on, it was getting dark and by the time, we crossed Rohtang pass, it was pitch dark and we came to real world when we were entering Manali.

Manali is completely commercialized town and as we were approaching, stuck in massive traffic jam and it took around 2 hours to reach to city center.

Bhatti booked hotel through MMT and we reached to nearby spot around 9 PM, we had great difficulty in locating the hotel location and finally we found that it was fake booking. We escalated to MMT and they agreed to compensate by accommodating all of us in Mahindra Resort.

Thankfully, we didn't have any problem with the car in the whole trip.

The trip planning started 3 months back and we were around 12 guys part of this trip, we were 6 guys four weeks back and finally we were down to five. We had challenges from the inception of trip idea, quite a drama in planning the trip, having the vacation plan in sync for all, morale boosting, fund collection etc.
It was definitely a memorable trip, thrilling road journey, had very tense moments specially while crossing Anantnag , funny experience in Shikara ride in Dal Lake, Driving through Zojila pass, Wooden sledge at zero point, Magnetic hill,  Awesome river rafting in Zanksar river (Leh), first snow fall experience at  KhardungLa,  mesmerizing beauty at Pengong Lake, Dangerous route from Leh to Manali with vehicle's dashboard lights warnings…so many challenges, but, above all, reunion of friends after so many years and spending around 10 full days with them, can’t be expressed in words, though we had fights, arguments, emotional moments but, one thing will remain intact….. FRIENDSHIP.

Special thanks to Jeeney for his SUV, Rora for arranging the food supply for the trip, Bhatti for HDD and Saharan for accepting trip proposal at short notice. Everybody played their role religiously during the trip, myself & Jeeney - Drivers, Bhatti - Fund Manager & accounting, Rora - Time management, and Saharan for his critical views, helped in the successful tour.