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!