Travel Diaries – Srinagar and the Long Ride Home!

Yes, it was a houseboat! Before I get into that, my 1^st impression of the Dal Lake follows. I had only seen the Dal Lake in movies famously in Mission Kashmir. However, when I actually came to see it for the 1^st time, I was awestruck. A massive piece of water mass! Never before have I seen such a huge mass of water which is labeled as a Lake! This should have been categorized as a mini Sea! Simply beautiful. From a distance, watching the shikara glide over the silk like surface is something which you can only see to believe.

Then finally, we got a chance to glide over the lake in a Shikara. From a distance, it seems like any other boat in which you can sit and go over water. However, it’s really a different story when you are in it! It simply submerges into the water to such an extent that you feel that it can go under any time!

Once the Shikara beings its journey, all you can do is sit still!! Our houseboat was further away from the edge of the lake. So, the Shikara ride was a longer one. It’s sometimes very amazing that how easily the rowers can navigate the Shikara towards its destination. The view of lotuses on the Lake with the sun shining in the backdrop is something which any DSLR owner would want to take and keep it locked up in their harddrive! Further during our ride to the houseboat, we had other shikaras containing salesmen who used to pull up and join the boats so that they can sell something to us!!

We finally reached our houseboat and were greeted by a grand archway which led into the living room! A houseboat is a very modest name which is given to this structure. It should have been called a Palaceboat!! Its basically a 4 BHK on the lake! Its constructed in linear fashion (one room leads into another). We started off with a grand hall which had really royal style sofas and chairs. Modern amenities like DTH and tube lights and bulbs along with a table fan grace the spectacular woodwork! The hall led into the dining area which again comprised of a huge table capable of seating around 8-9 people. The most interesting thing about these 2 rooms was the décor! Amazing woodwork and polish which really sets the tone for a grand place! From the dining room, we had a long but narrow corridor which ultimately terminated into a master bedroom. Along the way, there were small rooms on the left and windows on the right. The rooms were the kitchen followed by 3 double beds – each of which equipped with a wardrobe and a bathroom!

All in all a really beautiful place to stay. However, walking through the corridor was creepy as the wood below made squeaky sounds which were reminiscent of the horror movies of the 70s and 80s!

After relaxing for a while, we headed out again and went to a relatively famous place in Srinagar – Adhoos restaurant for late lunch. Food was nice but had a Kashmiri/Mughali flavor to it! Sadly couldn’t enjoy much as I was forced to eat veg!

Staying in a palace like structure, we wanted to keep the feeling of being royal alive. So, we headed over to the Mughal Gardens which were on the other side of the Dal Lake.

The gardens were typical ones which you would find – only difference being that they were huge and had wide varieties of flowers and trees! It essentially is a photographer and Lover’s delight!

After spending the evening there, we headed back to the houseboat to enjoy the beautiful evening lights that could be experienced at the Lake. It’s magical what lights can do to completely lift the beauty of the place!

Time spent in Srinagar was too less and we definitely need to come back again for a longer exploration of the place. After a peaceful sleep (something which we had after a long time), we packed our bags one last time and headed over to the airport. Since being Srinagar, we had to reach the airport really early (3 hours before departure). Around 5-10 kms before the airport, we had to get out of the car, do a scan of our luggage and ourselves! The level of security was unparalleled to anything which I had seen!

After reaching the airport, we had to even checkin our hand luggage – basically get into the flight with nothing but wallets! Thankfully, we had booked our return flights on Kingfisher Class – food served was on the house!

The Kingfisher flight was a relaxing one as it took us from Kashmir via Delhi to Mumbai. For obvious reasons, my friends really enjoyed the flightJ. All in all, an awesome end to a spectacular journey!

Epilogue

While we checked and loaded our luggage onto the trolley, there was a sense of sadness amongst us. These 10 days were really incredible considering the various ups and downs that we saw but we really pulled through. Even as we left the airport waving our good byes, we knew that this was just an adventure trip which we took to get away from our real lives – the lives which we were to resume a day later. Even today, when I feel exhausted, I close my eyes and try to remember the green/white/brown picturesque views of Rohtang/Ladakh/Kargil. It makes me feel relaxed and calms me down – in short refreshes me! Such is the impact, a trip like this can have!

This was the 1^st time I ever undertook a trip like this and boy how amazing it turned out. We could easily have got stuck, got undone by nature, hell could have been fallen to our deaths, but we pulled through. I didn’t want to prove anything to anyone by going through with this trip but I proved one thing to myself – I pulled through adversity to witness some of the most beautiful views that nature had prepared to be seen!

I don’t know if ever I will undertake such an adventurous trip, but I do know one thing – I am really glad that I said “Yes” when asked about this!

Travel Diaries – Kargil to Kashmir – The Final Frontier

It was the month of Ramzan when we arrived into Kargil. It’s a Muslim dominated town. So, it felt really kind of sacred and festivy! Having said that, this festival is one of the toughest one I have ever seen! Imagine going without food for the entire time the sun is in the air!!

Well, the plan was simple on the morning when we were to leave for Kashmir. We had to leave as early as possible as around some time in the morning, the military convoy makes its trip from the Kargil base to Kashmir. When this happens, the entire road was said to be blocked off – which translates into delays!

The journey had made us smart and wise, so we decided to use some of the wiseness and smartness and ensure that atleast the last leg of our rather adventurous journey be peaceful and more importantly uneventful! So, we decided to leave Kargil right at 5 am in the morning!!

The air had a chill in it – a direct signal to the fact that winter was coming in quick! So there wasn’t any question of taking a bath :).  Anyways, the hotel guys were kind enough to properly pack food for us and provide us with some really awesome tea! After saddling up all the goodies, we left town.  

Being a war town a decade ago, we got to see how this seemingly peaceful town was a bed of violence! Just out of Kargil market, we came across a very weird wall which looked haphazardly built and covered a beautiful view of 3 interweaved mountains. Our driver told us that the mountain in the center was actually Pakistani territory and the wall served as a foil for Indian army to commute during war times!

After driving for a few hours, we came to pay our respects to our Jawans at VijayPath. It was a memorial built for soldiers who lost their lives in trying to save ours. In the words of the Jawans – they lost their present to save our future. The memorial served us as a reminder as to how gruesome wars can be for both sides. The emotions which I felt when the Armyman pointed towards tiger hill and told us about the extreme conditions under which the Jawans held fort are inexpressible. This was a place where I felt deeply indepth to our 1^st line of defense.

Another highlight was us passing through the 2^nd most cold town to have civilization – Drass! In July of 1993 (I think), this town recorded an extremely low temperature of -65 degrees Celsius!

The drive was a smooth affair without many hassles. The road was awesome as it was maintained by the army. The view was spectacular. At one point, we were going through a vast field where we could see horses and sheep’s grazing as we zoomed passed them! It was truly surreal and surprising to see such beauty in India. The military bootcamp in the journey made us see how the life is in Kargil and the expectations that need to be met in order to survive in the army and against nature!

We reached just in time as the convoy started to make its way – the problem was that we couldn’t get ahead of it! The entire journey through the pass connecting to Sonamarg we pursued the convoy who kept an eye out on us. Felt secure as well as scared as the eyes used to scan the car every few mins!

Sonamarg was beautiful! Just like how I expected Kashmir to be! Extremely green, picturesque, cold but warm at the same time. It was treat to be there. Although we knew that the last stage of the vacation was reached, we were really refreshed by the superb view which was there on offer.

The drive down to Srinagar there on was a glide. Rivers flowing on the left and trees and trees going pass us, it truly felt like heaven on earth!

We stopped for a few clicks, I even saw how the walnuts grew on trees!! Got to break some down and run away before people to catch us! Such was the fun filled trip right upto Dal Lake where things started to get warm! Just about to reach our destination, we stopped again but this time to shop for walnuts, saffron and all the delicacies of the north!

Finally we were dropped off at Dal Lake. We had to completely circle the lake to reach a point which was closest to our hotel – yea, it was a houseboat! 

Travel Diaries – Leh Ladakh to Kargil

2 days in the Ladakhi weather are just paradise. Although we went towards the end of the season, the weather was still pretty pleasant in the day and nicely cold in the night. 2 days just breezed by. At the end of it, I felt that 2 days aint enough to totally enjoy Ladakh. Based on how our journey had panned out, you need atleast 4-5 days in Ladakh itself. 1-2 days should just be to acclimatize yourself to the ladakhi altitude and the temperature changes. Then further 2-3 days to move around ladakh and visit all the sights I mentioned in my previous posts.

Special note for people with asthama problems and bronchitis – please take extra precaution in ladakh. If possible, carry some canisters of oxygen with you in case you travel by road. If you take the flight to Ladakh, ensure that you spend 2 days by just resting and not taking hectic travels. For you, flight is the best option!

So, finally we packed our bags, this time with some added goodies from Ladakh and prepared to move along to Kargil. When I say prepared, I mean mentally and physically because the way our journey had occurred till now, a small 1 hour delay in traffic is just another day in the office.

Kargil was a tricky thing. It was the month of Ramzan. So, all shops and activities in Kargil would wind up early. Coupled that with early sunset meant that we had to move quickly towards Kargil so that we reach there, check in before the prayers began. The thing on our side was the fact that the road was very clean with no sign of snow and relative less amount of distance to cover.

Loading our bags we started off from Hotel Chubi towards Kargil and we were met with some really bright sunshine along with warmth which we hadn’t seen since we reached Manali. En-route to Kargil, there are 2 places to visit just as you leave Ladakh – a gurudwara and a place called as Magnetic Hill.

I don’t know the significance of the magnetic hill but the thing is that it’s a somewhat steep slope where, if you keep your car in a marked area, instead of sliding down when not in gear, it moves up! You have to see it to believe it!

The road to kargil was relatively dry with absolute no sign of moisture. The road, however, is pretty neat and developed compared to the ones we got from Manali till Leh. In addition to the 2 points I mentioned above, on the way, we saw a nice Buddha temple which has a 4 storey high Buddha statue! It’s a thing of beauty!

We stopped a couple of places for our breakfast and then some tea. The apricots in this area are awesome along with local vegetation which is extremely fresh. We drove past a lot of small-small villages where there were not more than 5-10 houses (out on the main road) and there was a lot of cultivation in place. One thing to note – the villages were spaced only 10-15 kms apart. So, we would have encountered around, say, 20 odd villages between Ladakh and Kargil!

We had lunch at an extremely small dhaba. The food was nice as I was told. The thing about such places is that it is really honest cooking. They don’t cheat, they don’t need to impress anyone, they just cook the best they can with what they have. Fellow travelers reveled in Rajma chawal along with some really nice parathas and omlettes!

Well, you must be wondering how come the journey has been so enriched with pleasant and incident free experiences. The thing is that we were really cruising to Kargil – at around 3 pm, we were around 30 kms away from our destination. However, when we finally checked into our hotel, my watch showed the time – 7 pm!

4 hours, it took to cover 30 kms. No it wasn’t traffic – it was nature again. See, when you push something, it pushes back! That’s exactly what happened when delayed us. The road which connects Ladakh to Kargil is a national Highway which is used by Military a lot. However, the road is narrow as you move along the mountain region. In the name of development, we noticed that at a lot of places, road widening activities were taking place. They were tearing up a side of the mountain so that the road could be widened. At some such place, they were drilling and suddenly, just about 500 meters from where they were drilling, the side of the mountain gave way and a manmade landslide happened.  The problem wasn’t about the huge stones which were there on the road, the problem was this enormous piece of stone which was stuck to the side of the mountain threatening to slide down onto the road.

As a precaution, no one was allowed to go through. Even military trucks were blocked! After much discussions and deliberations, it was decided that they drill at the base of this stone so that it slides out – easier said than done. They tried drilling for around an hour and a half but still no luck! Now since there was a lot of traffic accumulated at either end, a discussion was taken to allow the current set of vehicles to start rolling under extreme precautions. Lucky for us was the fact that our side of the traffic was asked to clear out!

So finally, we started the last 30 kms of our journey, through a couple of villages and behind a lot of traffic till we finally limped into our hotel at 7 pm!

Kargil, in the evening, was a pretty quiet place. People were just in the mood to wind up their day, head home and think about what they were going to do for the next day. The hotel where we were put up – Hotel Siachen – was a decent enough place to spend a night. Special mention of the food there – it was awesome!

Btw, it was our planner’s birthday the next day, so we had a small sponge cake which we bought and had a 12 o clock cake cutting ceremony there. However, the cake was such that we didn’t even attempt to eat it – it was as they say, a stage prop!

Travel Diaries – Up & About in Leh-Ladakh

The morning washed all the frustration away and welcomed us to 1 very happy feeling – We were on vacation!!! As I mentioned in my earlier post, the hotel where we were put up – Hotel Chubi – was a very homely hotel. The tea and the breakfast – Omlette and Aloo da Paratha – were really simple to taste and really helped us relax. The only prick in our sides was the annoying caretaker who was very rigid in his approach towards handling customers. “Aap aur khaoge?” was a classic dialogue which made you think as to who is paying the bills around there!

Another fantastic thing about the hotel was the fact that they cultivated most of their vegetables! They had a big garden which housed a number of vegetable plants along with apricot and apple trees! Being a guy from the city, sights like these were something to which I cannot control my excitement! It was a superb experience to witness such things.

The evening when we reached Ladakh, our travel agent over there came around to take our photo ids. These were required for making our permits for Nubra Valley and Pangong Lake. These permits take about a day to be made. So, a travel tip – ensure that you enroll for these and plan for your visit accordingly.

Since it was going to take a day to prepare the permits, we stuck to visiting only some local places during the course of the day. Below is a walkthrough of the same:1

• Thiksey Monastery:

Located on the outskirts of town, the Thiksey Monastery is home to all the Tibetan monks in Ladakh. Its one of the quietest places in the world – a place where even I was quiet! It’s located on top of a hill, so walking on top to the various temples is a real challenge. From the monastery, you have a nice cool view of 2 parts of ladakh – the dry mountainous region and the oasis that is the Ladakhi town! The highlight of this place is the monks who move around effortlessly in their area. They are serious contenders in the sport of parkour. Another highlight is the sheer simple approach towards Buddhism which is portrayed here. I aint a religious guy but I loved the way the people here value peace and silence.

• Indus River bank:

The river bank aka ghat was inaugurated by our then Prime Minister Mr Vajpayee. Its basically a small sightseeing kinda place built on the banks of the river indus as it gains momentum and flows down from the Himalayas. It is also used for performing some rituals. Its was an awesome place to attain inner peace :)

•           Shanti Stupa:

One of the highlights of the day for me! It’s the top most peak of ladakh where a small Buddist monument has been made. Its supposed to be a symbol of peace. All I can say is, it provides another awesome view of the entry valley – a panoramic view! Its simply surreal to be there, a feeling that can only be expressed by actually visiting that place!

•      Kargil Monument & Museum:

Ladakh has a Kargil monument which was laid down to honour those who lost their lives during the Kargil conflict. The monument gives even the most unpatriotic person a feeling of Patriotism. The monument is preceded by a war museum which documents the various strategies undertaken by our military to stamp out the infiltrators. It has a lot of models showing the strategies employed, equipment used in war and for survival, the medals bestowed and the enemy equipment and artifacts confiscated. It definitely increased the respect which I had for the military and changed my outlook towards the entire defence system employed by the country. This is 1 place which I recommend should not be missed whilst in Ladakh.

Speaking of places which we missed – there were 2 places which were missed by us due to time and health constraints:

•      Nubra Valley
•      Pangong Lake

Yea, I know I would be criticized for missing these but there are some issues which you cant really keep aside – one being a health one. As I always say, there is always next time!

To compensate, we explored the ladakhi market and had good at some quite nice places in and around ladakh. The ladakhi market is more or less oriented to support foreign tourists and is loaded with Pashmina silk shops which give shawls, sweaters at phenomenally high prices. The reason for high prices is simple – the valley is closed for 6 months of the year, so all the profit which has to be earned is earned in the remaining 6 months! My friend introduced me to some really nice brass artifacts – one which makes an ‘OM’ sound when you swipe its brim with a wooden rod through resonance. Another nice ones were of candle stands, daggers with decorated hilt etc etc. The Ladakhi market is definitely another place not to be missed!

Our stay in Ladakh was a breeze. 3 nights just went pass by without us knowing about it! Sometimes when I travel through the noisy, frustration generating streets of Mumbai, I really long for the quiet and peaceful bylanes of Ladakh and the inner peace which I could attend by just glazing out from the Shanti Stupa!

Travel Diaries – Sarchu to Leh-Ladakh

Sometimes I really wonder, what would I classify as my more horrific nights? Was it the one when I saw a horror movie for the 1^st time? What it when I was left home alone? Well, the night I spent in Sarchu was definitely one of the horrific ones. Headaches dominated the night with the low temperatures (dropping to -10 degrees) to give it company. The bed was unforgiving as well. Turning ice cold within a blink of an eye! I vaguely remember getting frustrated, getting up in the night and gulping a shot of brandy and trying to go back to sleep. A help note – drinking brandy in such a cold and high altitude environment doesn’t help at all!

But as we all know, the night changes a lot of things. I was woken up by the local caretaker who gave half a bucket of warm water for me and my wife to finish off our morning chores. When asked for more water, we were told that due to shortage of kerosene, they weren’t in a position to warm a lot of it as they had to ration it for the next 2-3days. Of course, no one in their right mind would even think about taking a bath in that weather. Once I freshened up, I was a changed man! Felt upbeat and somehow I had a feeling of triumph as I survived a night which I felt was unlivable.

Unzipping the main entrance of the tent, I felt as if I entered heaven. Snow covered mountain peaks seen up close and then greeted by the Gods with white flakes of clouds showering down on you – I experienced my very 1^st snow fall. It was simply amazing!! Never really imagined that I would experience such a feeling at such an unlikely place!

Rest of the gang weren’t as high spirited as I was. The snow fall continued and intensified as time progressed. Our drivers urged us to get started on the road as soon as possible.  

After having some really god sent breakfast (omlette and bread with warm warm tea), we jumped into our cars and decided to head off to the Leh-Ladakh, our final destination in a race against nature!

The 1^st couple of hours were pretty smooth considering the journey experienced till now. The route was pretty beautiful – rocky path covered in snow with a single trail which would indicate the route to be taken! We were approaching the 2^nd highest motorable roadway in the world – Tanglang La Pass!!

But before we reached there, we had a scary moment! At around 15000 feet, as we were approaching a turn, we heard a soft little sound of the tyre giving away! As we stopped and inspected the puncture, we noticed another thing – the 2^nd car which had been driving in front of us had disappeared and now was nowhere in sight!

Life at 15K feet is tough…so imagine changing a tyre at that height…especially when your Toyota Innova is jam packed with luggage, it’s snowing and you realize that the tiny jack which is supposed to elevate a car filled with 4 individuals isn’t working due to the rough terrain it has to rest on!! Panic set into my friend and then into me. However, looking at the positives, we thought – it’s the middle of the day, this is an open road – someone is bound to come through this route and help us! And help we did get!! A fellow travelling Sumo approached, lent its jack to us which helped us to change our tyre and get the hell out of there before we all froze to death!

As we resumed our journey, we saw a familiar sight – our 2^nd car who realized that we aren’t behind was coming back for us!

From here on it, in typical filmi style, the weather started clearing, snowing stopped, we dropped down to a modest altitude - 11 thousand feet – and for the 1^st time in 2 days, we started enjoying the drive! Moods started getting better and excitement started reaching the high point at which it was when we boarded the Rajdhani from Mumbai! The road translated from a cold snowy one to a more dry mountainous one! However, we noticed that the air wasn’t as dry and hot as the surrounding was! We had our final pitstop in Pang before heading off to the beautiful place that is Leh Ladakh!

The area is quite a secure area. On the outskirts of ladakh, we halted for some refreshments. The drivers took the opportunity to clean the car. It is here where I had my very 1^st Kashmir tea – kava!! In the words of the planner, it was Jannat for me!

We had to cross 3 check posts before we could enter Ladakh. Once in, we were told that in Ladakh, outside vehicles cannot be used and only local transportation needs to be availed off. This is to ensure that locals make some money off you. The drive from the check post to the actual ladakh town was around 50 kms and we had to pass through some military camps - More on the military establishments later on. One more thing – in ladakh only Airtel network is the one which can be used. Prepaid numbers do not work and the post paid numbers get network as we get water in Mumbai – only 3 to 4 hours in a day. Fortunately, we had a couple of airtel guys – so 1^st thing we did was to contact our parents. We weren’t in contact with them for over 2 days now!

Finally, cruising now towards ladakh, we finally entered the ladakh town and started searching for our hotel – google really disappointed here! We might have crossed our hotel – Hotel Chubi – a couple of times before we finally arrived at it. The hotel was a modest one but it had a homely feeling. The owners had lend their house as a hotel. They interacted with the guests, provided them with a home like feeling – apart from the annoying head caretaker – helped us enjoy our ladakhi experience.

We quickly checked in, went up to our rooms, kept our bags and finally soaked in the feeling of being on a vacation!

Travel Diaries – Manali to Sarchu

It is said that in a race between human and nature, nature always triumphs. In our case, we got a 1st hand experience of this saying.

It was never in our plan to stay in Manali. But after the mayhem, the trip from Delhi to Manali caused, we thought it would be wise to have a pitstop here. Our original plan was and should have been to reach Manali around afternoon and then head over to Keylong by late evening. In a perfect scenario, this was a perfect plan.

But we improvised and stayed over at Manali owing to the cloud burst. Late evening in Manali, we came to know that the road to Leh which begins with Rohtang Pass was now deemed ok to be travelled on. We also came to know that the transport trucks would be given a nod next morning (which was our morning) at 6 am to use that road.

After settling the bills, getting some breakfast packed, we left Manali at 530 am exactly all thanks to our 

driver who came in late. Once we hit the road, it was a beautiful picturesque journey right uptill the beginning of the pass. We had heard stories about the pass’s beautiful view of the valley, but clearly someone left out the journey of the pass itself.

We were greeted by ankle high soft mud which ensured that our cars swayed like rally cars as we tried going up the mountain. It’s a 2 lane road (1 for incoming and 1 for outgoing) but when your cars slide like that, even 2 lanes aren’t enough. If that wasn’t going to cause panic, imagine this, getting your car stuck in mud at 8000 feet! So, we had to step out and push the car out of the ditch and hope that it doesn’t get stuck some place else!

This entire transit continued for around 4 hours. At one point, we were part of a traffic jam resulting becoz one of the cars ahead of us got stuck and at the same time, its tire was punctured! So, there we are, at 8000 feet, behind a battery of trucks and SUVs while people are trying desperately to help out the poor car driver! One fellow traveler almost lost his senses when he saw the driver of a fuel tanker lit a burner next to the driver seat just so that he can make tea!

After a successful tire change which saw done despite some really ingenious thought process of changing tires (I meant it sarcastically), the traffic moved again. But as fate would have it, the same ditch caught its next victim – Us :(

The thing about such routes is that once you are able to accelerate, you shouldn’t stop otherwise you risk getting stuck again. So, we had to leave our car and push it out of safety.  Not only that, once the car got out of the ditch, painting my face with mud in the process, the driver told us that he wont stop. All we had to do was to jog at 8000 feet climbing a slope!

If that wasn’t enough, after slowly panting our way upto the car, the driver informed us about another fun trivia – “rocks are sliding ahead, you would have to get out of the car and walk some more distance”. So, grabbing my wife’s hand, cautiously we made our way through fallen rocks to the other side!

The entire frustration of the trip till now melted quickly as we reached the top of the Pass. It was simply beautiful. Just as I had expected – mountains looked as a milk chocolate cake with some white icing on top, an icing which I could touch and throw around. The pushing of the car, the mud on the face was forgotten and forgiven. We moved on from that to some snow, some fire to warm ourselves and MAGGI! :)

After having some fun at the pitstop, we began our descend which was nothing like the things which we saw during our way up! It was spectacular. I can never have words enough to describe the beautiful snow mountains. It was clearly nature at its finest!

Admiring the beauty, we made our way to Keylong where we were greeted by another troubling news. Due to the heavy rains, the small rivers in the area had flooded. More specifically, a ‘nala’ called ‘pagal nala’ had taken its name to heart. It had really gone mad and had flooded the road which connected Keylong to Sarchu. The only way around it was a single lane road through an adjoining village. Further to intrigue our endurance trip, we had all sorts of electric poles and wires blocking our way. To add to that, we had traffic coming from the other side – imagine managing 2 cars side by side on a road meant for only 1!

Finally, we made our way across and reached a petrol pump which had a sign board which read – “Next petrol pump 365 Kms away in Leh Ladakh”. Although some people would find it scary to see something like this, it is really intriguing for me personally,

The road from Keylong to Sarchu passes through a military controlled area (its termed as NH21) and is considered to be relatively safe. However, due to all the experiences of the day, a new enemy surfaced for us – time! We had around 2 hours to cross over from Keylong to Sarchu before night fall. To make matters more complex, we had 2 fellow travelers suffering from nausea and trouble adapting to drop in oxygen levels and another small fact of an impending snow fall.

The 2 hour drive was the most tensed one. Although the passage was extremely beautiful, I personally wasn’t able to enjoy it. I never experienced snow fall before and as it started to shower flakes of snow, I wasn’t able to enjoy it. During these 2 hours, barring a couple of stops due to health issues, we drove at a consistent pace and finally reached 13000 feet camp!

The cold was unreal – something none of us had ever experienced. Enroute to our pitstop for the night, the drivers stopped to drink tea at a shop which also sold warm bed covers. Seeing the opportunity at hand, one of my friend got out of the car, and jumped into the 1^st bed cover he could see and covered himself up and began walking around in it!! Of course, he didn’t buy it J

Finally, we reached the base camp. To be honest, I don’t really recall anything that happened that evening. I, myself, had a splitting headache and only had blur memories of our car getting stuck in the parking area of the camp, me getting out and asking someone as to which tents are booked for us, opening one of the tents, and then falling on one of the beds. The final thing that I do remember correctly was the intense chill my body experienced on heading the bed – it was as if I fell onto a block of ice, covered in cloth!

Travel Diaries – Delhi to Manali

                The funny thing about a plan is the most obvious fact – they never succeed. So, if for a second, you feel that the plan lined up by our planner was 100% success, well then I bet the planner would give you a big treat for sure….I am still waiting for mine btw J

So, all was set. Tickets, receipts, clothes, phone numbers, meds, lots of good luck & advice – we collected just about everything! The only thing which we missed out was some good fortune. Anyways, let me tell you another fun fact – the way you begin a trip sets the tone for the rest, so what I will now do is lay down the facts in terms of how we began the trip!

Friday evening 16:40 was the time when our Mumbai Rajdhani departed. As we were advised, we knew that the train kicks off at precisely that time so we knew what time to reach. As usual, typical IT attitude led us to work for half a day – atleast I did. By the time, I winded up, it was – OMG – 1 pm! Just as Rajnikanth’s Robot, I was quick to finish bath, food, packing, hiring taxi and then finally stuffing 2 big bags and 2 backpacks in it! The time was 245 pm! As luck would have it, traffic jam allowed us to reach the station precisely at the time when the train docked. After settling down,  we noticed one simple fact – the planner himself isn’t in the train.

Now the planner is a delhi guy whose claim to fame is the fact that he knows delhi in and out. But we cant say the same about Mumbai. Poor dude had to carry a hefty bag along with him in a taxi which he ditched at Mahalaxmi and took a local all the way to BCT! He stepped into the train just 5 mins before it departed!

Mumbai Rajdhani is one of the elite train services in the country. They treat you like loyalty. The servers actually smile while serving! Unreal aint it? I was thoroughly enjoying the experience. There wasn’t a moment during that entire journey (while I was awake) where they weren’t bringing something to eat. Welcome drink, tea, biscuits, sandwich, soup, meal, sweet, you name it and they gave it – only once!

True to time, the train pulled up at the grand New Delhi terminus. Nothing grand about it, apart from the fact that it was the train station located at the heart of our capital. After the usual train station taxi negotiations, we left for our planner’s house.

Going to a typical Delhi house is always a treat. Big houses with terrance, no big high rise buildings, peaceful surroundings, the works! To top it all off, the food and the welcome gestures, those small aspects which really make a difference. The hospitality shown by the planner’s relatives was supreme and really set the tone for the day. Felt kinda nice and warm about being in Delhi and enjoying company of nice friends and family. In the words of the planner – it was Jannat!

Then came the evening – time to board the bus to Manali! We quickly but reluctantly bid our farewells to the planner’s relatives and hopped onto a concept which for a Delhite, is a point of show off – the delhi metro!

An expansive setup running through the heart of delhi, the metro has been modeled onto 

the London tube system. The start atleast seems nice with the condition of the trains being fine and the trains being on time. However, in my opinion, the concept fails at the most common issue in India – human traffic!

Reaching the bus stop, it came to light that due to 15^th August preparations, Janpath road is closed and the buses would leave from another location. So in the words of Delhi belly, we grooved to the song “Bhag bhag D K Bose” and did what D K Bose would have done – we ran to the departure spot. The bus company, Swagatam Travels, was one of the buses in the entire bus cartel that operates the Delhi Manali bus route. Their motto – take the money, care less about the customer. The bus departed at the right time – around 530 pm with a scheduled arrival time of 8 am in Manali. Just before we reached the bus, we came to know that there was a cloud burst in Manali resulting in heavy rains for 24 straight hours which further caused our route to Leh being blocked. That news was like cat amongst the pigeon stuff!

Anyways, the bus ride could have been interesting if it wasn’t for the Delhi traffic and the bus operator putting on Tees Maar Khan. After having a ok dinner, we slept only partially through the night. At around 4 am in the morning, the bus stopped approx 150 KMs from Manali, conveniently in front of a Dhaba citing the fact that the main bridge connecting Delhi and Manali has caved. So now, the Volvo bus cant go. There was a route through the village (Sundernagar) which could be taken but Volvo buses cant go through that route. While the operator was explaining this situation, we could see the State Transport buses wizzing past us. It was clear that the operator – who slept the night sleeping in the bus luggage compartment – was not going to inch ahead to Manali. So, we took matters into our own hand. With a lot of negotiations which went on, we finally got the bus operator to drop us approx 6 kms near a state transport bus station where we can hope of finding a bus or a taxi. The taxi rates touched the skies but we still managed to hook up a cab for approx 5K for 9 people. Dumping all our luggage, 9 of us sat in a Tavera and left for Manali – through the village.

The cool thing about the village is that it is not made for cars and trucks. So you can imagine what would happen when you stuff a whole bunch of vehicles travelling in both directions. I know what happened – a road block for 5 hours and a word which is very much common in India – Chaos! Finally, we had to step out and regulate the traffic and get our car and our asses out of there.

Finally, we could now enjoy the beauty that is the route to Manali. However, that didn’t last long. Another 2 hour halt – this time due to a landslide. To be honest, we were saved by 5 mins! The landslide helped us take in the beautiful place that is the route to Manali (didn’t I say that already?). A super fast river, greenery everywhere, water fall just a few meters away from our car, the fear of landslide happening again – you cant put a price on all this!

Finally the landslide cleared and fortunately, we were the ones who were the 1^st to move! Yey!!

The journey then on was a treat to watch! Awesome river views, dams, driving alongside a valley and moving under a mountain. One of the highlights was – driving through a tunnel in a mountain for approx 3.6 KMs! The drive towards Manali is normal weather is a real treat and for us, specially in the weather we went in was extra special to experience!

After discussing with the tour operator, we shifted our pitstop – from Keylong to Manali for the night! Finally after nearly 25 hours in a car, we reached our hotel, nice little place on top of a hill! Never really saw apples growing on a tree – this was my moment and I was loving every bit of it! After a quick stroll through the market, we came back, had food, some liquid courage and then off to bed, not quite knowing what nature had instore for us the next day – and boy! Nature was all in the mood for surprises!

Travel Diaries – The Leh PrepWork

                There are times when you look back and wonder, “Hell this should have been done that way”. Its always the retrospect which really helps you in enjoying what you have achieved or in other words, what you went through. The retrospect really helps you appreciate and value the experience like how a new born appreciates the world around.

My Leh-Ladakh trip was such an experience. If you prepare a ‘To-Do’ checklist of things which you should have covered in a trip spanning 10 days, then I would come out with a score of 30/100 i.e., I can say that I got 30% worth fun put into the entire trip. In reality, that is not the case. The trip was an exhilarating experience which I would remember for the rest of my life – not becoz of the negative things that did happen..but simply becoz of all the positive things that did happen.

So the trip was a brain child of a single individual. That person actually wanted to do this trip on a bike. The thought of cruising around the country/mountain side on a bullet or Harley sounded unreal. But the support of family members beckoned and the trip became a road trip instead wherein we would hire some cars, buy some train/bus tickets, book some decent hotels and embark on a thrill ride!

The travel planning took only 10 days. After identifying the longest weekend possible, we did booking of train tickets – Mumbai Rajdhani – approx 2 months in advance. To our luck, we were put on waiting list. To complicate matters, bookings were randomly done (2-3 tickets at once). So, the final ticket was at waiting list number 34 – a number which we thought would clear – it did but not without its own sense of twists and turns.

Now comes the difficult part. For starters, there were 14 of us – including a couple who had joined us after chucking their own plan. 14 people, 14 brains, 14 panic buttons, 14 ideas – 1 planner. The planner actually did a lot of research for this trip. Signed up on multiple forums, talked to god knows how many travel companies and finally was able to deliver a perfect package – all thanks to the Intersight Holidays Pvt Ltd.

Originally, we had decided to go from Delhi towards Leh Ladakh via Manali and back. However, due to some really awesome suggestions, we decided to circle the valley and come back via Srinagar. Everyone agreed and the planner started attacking the flight operators for the best available fares. Finally, we got it – Kingfisher Airlines, 4 Star Hotels in the sky – group booking carried at an appreciable cost. Immediately, day dreaming of some folks started - “I will enjoy the road trip and while coming back, will enjoy the inflight hospitalities” – something which wasn’t disappointing at all.

The travel agency managed to give us some really good deals in terms of accommodations and car hires. It turns out that all this planning, we forgot to take in 1 important factor into account – The Cost – The big ‘C’. The cost inflated to around 25K of only travel and living – no personal expenses included. Further to add to the woes was the fact that if anyone pulls out, the cost goes up and it so happens, we have 5 pull outs increasing the cost further!

After a lot of adjustments, we were able to maintain our costs at 27K (give and take 2K here and there). The plan was set – 9 men and women out to conquer the most gruesome journey undertaken – Leh Ladakh, Kargil & Srinagar.

So, we were all fine in the 2 months leading upto the trip, where suddenly panic set in – Waiting list tickets are now only RAC. Further to add to the complications, someone brought in news that RACs aren’t confirmed tickets as far as Rajdhani is concerned! Turmoil struck. Everyone started looking at flight options – the cost barometer was heading due north! Giving him company was sheer frustration! Finally, time took over and calmed us all down and slowly but surely, the tickets trickled over the confirmation line!

A travel like this always is demanding on the body. God knows how many people would have given me advice of what to do and what not to do. Some even went as far as getting me numbers of hospitals and police officials rather than contact numbers of some fancy tourist place! For a moment, it was as if we were heading into a war zone. On top of that, were the numerous advices – don’t talk to army men, don’t use your mobile phone, don’t say holla to the monks! The advices just kept on coming! What you have to do is clear your head – you know your body more than anyone else. Take all the usual meds that you normally need. In addition to that, take Diamox (after proper consultation with your doctor) along with Avomine. In addition, if you have a case of the vertigo, take appropriate meds to suit your needs.

In terms of clothing, buy a good thick jacket, you wont be needing it in Leh Ladakh, but you would need it in your journey between Manali and Leh. Carry warm long sleeve clothes – lots of it.

By now, you must be thinking “Is this guy going to make a documentary out of this trip? Where is the fun!!” Well prepwork is always the boring stuff which no one wants to do but everyone wants to know. Trust me guys and gals, the fun stuff is almost there – right from the beginning of the trip. But that’s for another time.