My Great Himalayan Expedition Part-3

My Great Himalayan Expedition-Part 3.

(Thank you all for reading and riding along with the first and second Parts. Your comments were most valuable for me. Keep reading and encouraging me.)

       We were back on the road. Last night we enjoyed a lot staying in a tent and partying all night. On the way to Leh we saw a very beautiful monastery from a distance. It looked so prominent and attractive we could not resist. It was the Thikse Monastery. We visited “Thikse Monastery”. It is the largest “Gompa” in Ladakh. Built in the 17th century and restored by the Archeological society of India.

Selfie near car park at Thikse Monastery.

It was a twelve storey high Buddhist temple made in Tibetan style resembling “Potala Palace” in Lhasa, Tibet. The most famous attraction point was “Maitreya Temple” built in 1970 to remember the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama. A 49 feet high huge statue of Buddha built across two floors of the building. The statue is the largest in Ladakh. We enjoyed the visit as much as the monastery. We saw a few other Goddess statues with multiple heads and hands. We met with monks and visited their place of stay etc. Even the driveway up to the monastery was beautiful with trees and flowers all over. 

View from the driveway.

Turning the giant wheel at Thikse Monastery

Meeting a Monk.

Seeking his blessings

Goddess statue at Monastery

The Maitreya Buddha Statue

Indus river and the valley, view from the Monastery.

Finally time for us to proceed and we reached our Eco poplar resorts in time for late lunch. We checked into two adjacent cottages. The property was very well maintained. Full of trees all over. Apple, Pine, Pears, Plums etc and etc. You name it and they had all. Even some rare and exotic plants were there too. The property manager was a very good gentle man. We enjoyed our days of stay here. 

The resort full of plants and trees

Post lunch we took some rest. Ate apples and plums plucking from the tree. Trees were loaded with fruits. Mr.Manager informed us we could eat as much fruit but can’t take them out of the property. Fair enough. Eating apples and Pears plucking from trees was the first hand experience for us. We remember our childhood days. We used to climb and pluck mangoes and Guavas from the trees. The happiness in plucking and eating directly from trees took us back to our childhood days.

Coming out of the Dining hall

Trees loaded with fruits.

Our Cottage in the resort.

After some rest we were feeling refreshed. We planned to visit Leh Palace. It was a former royal house situated at the hilltop overlooking Leh town. It was built during the 16th century. The palace is 9 storeys high. Now it is a protected monument and maintained by the Archaeological Society of India. The museum inside has a very rich collection of ancient paintings, royal jewelleries, armours like swords etc, ceremonial dresses and crowns. We took our time and thoroughly experienced their ancient and present culture.

At the Leh Palace entrance.

Renovation work carried out by ASI

The view from top was mind blowing. We could see the whole Leh town. In those days kings always had a good view of the valley. The bell rang announcing the closing time for the palace and we came out. Went down and strolled around the Leh Moti Market. Very good place for window shopping. We did purchase a few souvenirs. You could experience the Ladakhi way of life and culture. We had a very good tour of the whole area. On our way back we saw a Punjabi Dhaba and had dinner. We were still short of acclimatization to the high altitude. Need a day more of rest to be properly acclimatised. Took the diamox pills to overcome the altitude sickness. The manager advised us not to drive the next one day.  He could arrange a hired taxi the next morning, so we could visit Pangong lake and back. So we were not idle all day. I too needed to check-up for the engine problems due to adulterated fuel. I thought to reward my beast with one full day of rest. Back in the room we watched television. Temperature outside was sub zero in the night. We were fast asleep even before we knew.

Backyard of the palace.

View of Leh town from the palace.

At the Museum, Leh Palace

We woke up to the phone call of the manager. It was early in the morning. He said the taxi would be there in half an hour. We asked for the morning tea and got ready. The taxi arrived.  Mr. Manager was kind and wise enough to supply us with breakfast packets and coffee in flasks for the road. It was 5:30 AM in the morning and we left for Pangong lake. Permit is a must for the visit of any place around. Mr. Manager already did all the paperworks and our driver cum guide got it stamped from the check-post on the way. He was very good at driving. That's his passion and occupation too. He makes a living out of it. For the first time I was not in control of the wheel. I was in the front passenger seat. I felt it was very difficult for a die-hard driver like me to be on the passenger side. The road was very narrow, steep and dangerous. Many times I felt my heart was literally on my palm. Any moment it could slip and fall down. That was the dangerous conditions and status of the road. In a short it was truly furious and Beautiful. We reached the “CHANG LA'' Pass climbing 17688 feet height. This is the third highest motor-able mountain pass in the world. Visitors were advised not to stay long because of the high altitude. 

The road to Chang La.

The tip of the snow covered mountains looked at the same height as we. That gave a feeling we were on top of this world. No mountain looked higher than us. That feeling was nostalgic. We already emptied our breakfast packets and coffee on the way. We again enjoyed hot tea from the road side tea stall. We started going down hill. The roads were very very steep. Drivers had to be extra careful because both sides of the road were only loose dirt and slush. Seeing the remains of the ill fated vehicles in pieces, sent a chilled sensation through our spines.That literally felt as if our hearts were popping out of our body. At the same time the rushing adrenaline in arteries made us enjoy it to the fullest. 

One of the most dangerous roads.

At 17688 feet height at Chang La Pass.

The mountain tips were below us. We were on top of the world.

The remains of the ill fated vehicles

  We could see the lake from quite a distance. “Pangong Tso” or “Pangong Lake” as we know is a huge lake. It spreads 134 KMs across India,Tibet region and China. It is more than 5 KMs wide and situated at a height of 14300 feet. The surprising fact is eastern part of the lake contains fresh water whereas the western part is saline. The western saline part does not have any  aquatic life, but the eastern side has all. It is famous for shooting many many films both Hollywood and Bollywood. Mainly for the climax scene of “3 Idiots”. We reached there and “Wow”. We were all spellbound. The crystal blue water was so clear that we could see the bottom of the lake. I tried testing the water and it was salty. We saw a huge sign board proudly telling us they are part of the film 3 Idiots.

The lake was visible from quite a distance.

Restaurant, rest areas all named after the movie. We spend a good amount of time there. Walked around. We could have gone deeper up to the China border if we were in our private vehicle. Taxis were not permitted to go beyond the Pangong area. Beauty unlimited all over 360 degrees. One can spend hours and days just looking at all over. Many tourists prefer night halt and star gazing under the clear sky. We missed it. We experienced the feeling of infinity and realised the strong presence of almighty everywhere.  We were forced to return against our wishes before evening. Reached the resort and enjoyed our dinner.

Reached the Pangong lake side.

At the lake side

Crystal clear blue water, we could see the bottom of the lake.

The view of lake…….

Bulu and me at the lake side.

Board tells it all.

Rare Marmot in the field.

On the way back to the resort.

Morning was as usual. This day was scheduled for “KHARDUNG LA'' pass and “NUBRA'' Valley visit. but the road pass was closed due to heavy snowfall and landslides. So we planned for a local tour of Leh after breakfast. Also my beast enjoyed a full days rest and it was time to put her back to work. I thought of taking her for a detailed check-up at the local service station. While sipping hot tea and going through the local news paper I noticed the headline” Mr. Dalailama visiting Leh that morning.” We did not want to miss this once in a lifetime chance. So we quickly got ready. We reached a junction and found police cordoned off the road further. We parked our beast and  joined the crowd. Both sides of the road were lined with thousands of people. The queue might be a few kilometres long. 

The disciplined crowd queued for Dalai Lama

We joined the crowd and waited an hour or so.

Thousands of people gathered just to get a glimpse of him. One can imagine his popularity. He is the living God for Buddhist around the world. We waited nearly an hour or so. One thing I noticed which is very rare in other parts of India. The people waiting in the queue were very very disciplined. No noise, no pushing and no chaos at all. All were waiting in silent with flowers in hand. Few security cars passed. Some threw flowers at them too. Finally saw his car-cade approaching. He was there with folded hands. With the eternal smile on his face he looked divine. People showered flowers on his way. We were lucky enough to see him. We then proceeded to the service station. I could feel she was struggling. She was so weak that she even struggled to climb up the washing ramp at the garage. She was given a thorough wash. All the adulterated fuel in the tank drained out and filled with fresh fuel. She looked beautiful after the much needed wash and the engine jumped back to life with the fresh fuel. She looked and performed like new again. What a relief….. 

My beast struggled to climb up the ramp.

She looked great after the service.

Afterwards we visited the famous “HALL OF FAME MUSEUM”. This was built in memory of soldiers who lost their lives during the Indo-Pak Kargil war and Siachen glacier. This museum is maintained by Indian Army and has a rich collection of sieged weapons, personal belongings of soldiers, war time photos and cultural and historical information about Ladakh and its peoples. We even saw a few personal diaries and letters of pak soldiers displayed there. The AV show presentation of the war made us feel proud. The besieged  pak army tanks were on display outside. 

Bulu in front of Hall of fame

Me in the Museum.

So much we learnt from the museum about Ladakh region and it is a must visit for all. We were very delighted about the information we learnt from Indian army. They said every alternate night a convoy of army vehicles going through Srinagar  and they allow civil cars to travel along. So we thought to avail this opportunity and might try our luck with the army. We planned the next day visit to Kargil. From thereafter we would try to join the army convoy if possible. On our way back to the resort we visited Shanti Stupa and other local attractions. Also spent some time strolling in Leh Market. Back at the resort and spent the evening leisurely. 

Bulu checking the weapons...

Me going through the war details.

Personal belongings of Pak soldiers.

Equipment used by the army.

Proud to visit Hall of Fame

Looking at the machine guns and tanks.

At Leh Market

Temple near Moti Market

Anyway we decided to check-out and proceed to Kargil. So we checked out of the resort after breakfast. Morning was nice and I could feel the happiness with the smooth engine sound of my beast. Leh- Srinagar highway was in very good condition. We were back to full of life and no sign of any altitude sickness. We stopped at the “Gurudwara Pathar Sahib”. Guru Nanak Dev ji visited this beautiful place in 15th century. Here is a boulder with his head and shoulder imprint. There is a folklore behind it about a demon and guru Nanak ji. Demon attacked with huge boulder and the boulder imprinted with Nanak ji's shape. That's why it is called Pathar Sahib. The Gurudwara was built in 1970. 

The Gurudwara Pathar Sahib

This is the only Gurudwara at this altitude. I always have special respect for Sikhs in my heart. They are the only community always there for helping others. They feed free meals to millions every day in Gurudwaras all over the world. Be it war, flood or any natural calamity they are always there for unconditional selfless help.  We moved on. Our favourite “Mudhi n Mixture” was out of stock. Mr. Partho busy clicking the camera. Next we stopped at “Magnetic Hill”. The sign board states “The Phenomenon that defies Gravity here”. It was tempting enough for me to try out. I did all kind of experiments. Parked the car at that designated line and observed it moving opposite the gravity. Even I drove quite far up into the hill. I think the gigantic landscape and high altitude force our brain to see things in different perspectives. That's why the vehicle moved upward instead of moving down. The same phenomenon of gravity defying experience I felt in many other places during my travel. Even while walking uphill, I feel some force pushing me up putting less effort on my part to climb up. At the same time a pull from behind while going down. Normally it should have been the other way around. Once we were happy with our new findings we moved on.

At the Magnetic Hill

Experimenting the gravity defying phenomenon

See my beast going up quite far.

The satisfaction within.

Nice highway Leh-Srinagar.

The Zanskar River

The Sangam, two distinct coloured water

Next we stopped at the “SANGAM” near “Nimmu'' village. Zanskar river joined with Indus river. The scene from top was mesmerising. We could easily notice two different coloured waters of  both rivers. Zanskar river is famous for adventurous sports like river rafting, kayaking in the upstream prior to the confluence. With our eyes wide open we drove on. Saw one punjabi Dhaba and time for a tea break. This place was a valley and we found many Apple orchards. The tea was served in brass glasses in true punjabi style. We were missing our regular snacks supply while driving. We moved on and reached “MOON LAND'' or “LAMAYURU”.  It is famous for its moon-like landscape and craters. Even I experienced lower gravity. One of the oldest monastery of Ladakh located here. The views around forced us to feel like we were on the moon. It was a lovely experience. 

Busy taking pictures at Sangam

Celebrating our achievements

Indus River.

Tea break at Punjabi Dhaba

Apple Orchards.

At the Moon Land.

The surface, structure and colour is similar to the moon.

Feeling low gravity at Moon Land.

My faithful beast on duty.

At Fotu la Pass at 13479 feet high.

At Namika la pass at 12198 feet high

After experiencing the Moon we moved on and reached “FOTULA” Pass. It is the highest point on Leh-Srinagar highway at a height of 13479 feet. Few photos after we were back on the road. Almost an hour later we reached “NAMIKALA” Pass at the height of 12198 feet. Gradually we were reducing altitude to wards Srinagar. We were so lost in the beautiful surroundings of nature, we actually forgot about our lunch. An hour later we bypassed Kargil town. Took the bypass road up to “Chanigund”. It was well past 4:00 PM and we were hungry.  Stopped at a Dhaba and managed to had only bread omelets.

Kargil town visible from bypass road.

Lunch at the Dhaba

Moved further and reached Kargil War Memorial. It is a must visit for every Indian. We went in and what a surprise stored for us. We did not realise earlier that it was the anniversary of Kargil Victory Day. On this day of 1999, we got victory over Kargil and won the war. We were actually lucky enough to visit this holy place on the Victory day.

Kargil War Memorial

We went through every inch of the memorial. Paid our homages to the brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives fighting for our country. Learnt many more things about the Tiger hill and the war. The bravery of Sahid Mangal Pandey and his group. Detailed tour of the museum was very informative. We saw the Tiger hill and the real fighting spots just above the memorial. Felt proud to be an Indian and saluted our high flying flag. We wrote on visitors book and thanked the army for everything. Time was approximately 6:30 PM in the evening and sun was still shining. Army informed us that an army convoy would move to Srinagar the same night. They would safeguard us till Jammu Tunnel and there after we could move on our own. We collected a few souvenirs from the army canteen and moved on. 

Feeling proud to be there on Victory day.

My sincere homage to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives.

Our high flying Triranga.

We drove on with a hope to be able to join the army convoy. After half an hour of driving we saw Zojila War Memorial. We pulled aside and took a few photos. Soon we reached “Zojila” Pass situated at the height of 11649 feet. Gradually it turned darker. We still had 30 odd kilometres to reach Sonamarg. From there we would join the army convoy.

Zojila war Memorial

At Zojila Pass, the last one before Srinagar.

 We kept on driving. Road conditions deteriorated gradually. It was already pitch dark outside. After an hour or less we reached Sonamarg. We learnt the Kashmiri unrest exists only beyond Sonmarg and up to south of Anantnag. Rest of Kashmir was peaceful. We travelled so many days and nowhere we faced any kind of violence or hardness. We found many other private vehicles also waiting to join the army convoy. Vehicles were parked in a line. We Joined the line and parked our beast. Already filled the tank at the first sight of a fuel bunk a minute ago. We left in search of dinner. We did not have proper lunch. So a nice and decent dinner was much required. We had a very good dinner at a restaurant nearby. After the dinner we joined a few others and enquired about the departure details etc. Everyone was in the same boat as we were. Some said it might start at any moment. We came back to our car and saw a few more cars lined behind us. I knew I had to drive the whole night so I tried to catch up some sleep till we started. An hour later an army vehicle came and asked us to move near a huge ground and be ready for departure. There were almost 20 to 30 civil vehicles in the queue. At about 12:00 AM midnight the army called us to join the convoy. There were piloting vehicles and a few more armoured vehicles in front with machine guns. Each 4 to 5 civil vehicles were placed in between army vehicles. The formation continued like this with almost 70 to 80 vehicles. It was also a once in lifetime experience. Every one maintaining pin drop silence. Our hearts were pounding with fear of the unknown. Occasional one or two gunshots and the whole convoy came to a stand still. We could hear the noise of wireless walkie talkies. An OK signal leaps the convoy back to life. We reached Srinagar and continued towards Anantnag. I only remembered driving alongside Dal Lake in pitch dark night. We did not realise when we parted away from the convoy. We could not see other vehicles either. We took a wrong exit and got lost in the dark. We stopped at an army check-post ahead and asked for help. They checked all our ID cards and asked us to proceed fast. The unforgettable journey was nothing short of experiencing a horror movie of your own. Reached the north face of the Jawahar Tunnel. Sigh of relief. Crossed the tunnel and the rain started. The tunnel was long. We could not enjoy it as we were stressed. I was sleepy and visibility was zero. On top of that heavy rain and bad hilly roads. It was impossible to drive further. Time on my clock was 3:00 AM. Bulu and Partho both were fast asleep from the mid tunnel itself. I found a dhaba on the side, parked my beast and slept like that. I thanked God we were safe.

Early morning look after driving the whole night.

Woke up at the horn sound behind and the truck driver wanted me to move aside for him to go. It was morning already. Both my friends were still in their deep sleep. I washed my face and asked the dhaba guy for hot tea. The rain continued at full swing. In the meantime both woke up and had tea too. We moved on. We were going down hill and the roads were slippery and in very bad condition. We witnessed a live landslide behind us. Driving in the rain was too challenging. We were lucky enough and reached Patnitop. We were in no mood to go further. Saw a resort Oasis on the way and checked into the resort. Thoroughly enjoyed good rest for the rest of the day. Woke up in the evening. Rain had stopped a while ago. The hills looked fresh and lush green. The houses on the slopes looked beautiful. We went around the place and refilled our supplies from a store nearby. Strolled around and enjoyed the small town. Back at the resort and a very good night's sleep.

Heavy rain made driving impossible.

Visibility in the rain was almost nil.

View from resort window.

Refilling our supply for the road.

My beast at Oasis resort.

Morning View from Balcony

Fresh and energetic after the full day and night's rest and Ready for rolling.

Hot cup of tea first thing in the morning was very special. Looking over the valley from your balcony was very enjoyable. And imagine both at the same time was how marvellous. The hills with floating clouds, step by step houses and the lush green infinity view took away all the pain and sufferings of the previous night. Really Patnitop is a very good hill station. There are many other places of attractions, many gardens worth visiting and many more. But rain played spoilsport and we planned to move to our next destination Dharamshala. So after breakfast we left. On our way soon after Kud we saw a huge crowd in front of Prem Sweets. We stopped for tea and learnt Prem Sweets is very famous for “Pateesha” a special kind of sweet. So we too purchased a few kilograms for our near and dear ones. Prem Sweets also has branches in Jammu. The highway was under renovation. So the roads were obviously bad and ugly. We drove towards Jammu. Saw trucks waiting in a queue for a few kilometers towards Srinagar. We took the Jammu bypass road and drove towards Pathankot. This was the last town of Jammu and Kashmir state.

At the J&K border.

We entered Himachal Pradesh. Roads from here were state roads, narrow but good. Again witnessed a landslide. Somehow managed to crossover. We reached Dharamshala. It is a hill station and famous for the Dalai Lama and the Cricket Stadium. Visitors come here for the peaceful atmosphere and very good climate. We searched for our pre-booked “Samdupling Resorts. Google failed again. Narrow roads made impossible for us to take U-turns. So we enquired with locals and checked-into the resort. The resort was next to the Famous Monastery where Dalai Lama lives. The views were very nice and our stay was comfortable. The furniture in the room was of very good taste. All hand carved fine arts looked very classic.  Since the Dalai Lama was visiting Leh we did not take any initiative to visit his monastery. We enjoyed the peaceful surroundings just sitting in our balcony all day. Next morning we went round and visited the Dharamsala Cricket stadium.  Bulu got a call and he needed to attend a very important meeting back at Bhubaneswar. So we decided to rush back.

Fresh landslide.

View from the resort window.

Dalai Lama’s residence from our room.

Exotic hand carved furniture.

My beast in front of Dharamshala Cricket Stadium.

 Checked out and proceeded towards Delhi. Now reaching home as soon as possible was our motto. We started from Dharamsala and reached Aligarh bypassing Delhi the same day. Stayed in a hotel for the night and started again in the morning. Reached Jhansi in the evening and checked into a hotel. Only passed by the Jhansi fort. Fort looked in ruins since we were in a hurry to reach home, we skipped it.

Jhansi fort.

Next morning started again and travelled through Jabalpur, Mandla. After Mandla we entered the Kanha national park. It is a tiger reserve forest and the forest was very dense. It was almost evening, but we dared. The road was totally damaged. We did not find any other vehicles or any person. Rain was playing the villain. Roads full of  deep potholes. Our only hope made us take the risk was to sight some tigers. We kept driving and around midnight I noticed two trucks parked aside. My guess was correct and that was the only dhaba but was closed by then. We requested the sardarji to prepare some dinner for us. He was a good man and prepared Dal Tadka, roti and chicken curry. We had dinner and slept in the dhaba bed itself. Sleeping on a dhaba bed was an experience. Mosquitos and insects all around. Two more truck drivers were sleeping too and their loud snoring was sounded like tigers roaring. Could not sleep properly. All the hope for seeing a tiger ended. This was the toughest section out of all our journey so far. We had covered over 1800 KMs in the last 3 days and 800 Kms more to go. As long as you keep going onwards, you enjoy and never feel any anxiety, but the moment you think to return home your anxiety grows and you become restless. So was the situation with us. We started early in the morning and reached Raipur, Chhattisgarh before 9:00 AM. The service due warning lamp of my car was on since last day. So did the service at G K Ford. Changed a new battery as they suggested. Good news was it covered under warranty. My beast was out of the service station around 3:00 PM and we started on our return journey. I used to frequent Raipur durings 1987-89. Those days it was part of Madhya Pradesh. But now it is the state capital of Chhattisgarh. The city has grown huge in all dimensions. The road from here onwards was in very good condition and we reached Sambalpur around 10:00 PM and decided to stay back. This was our last night of our journey. So we celebrated with a grand dinner. Next morning after breakfast we started and reached our homes in Bhubaneswar in time for Lunch. The 23 days of travel on the wheel ended. We had a very good time together. We thanked each other for all the support and cooperation. Waiting for the next opportunity till then goodbye and take care.

Witnessing a road accident.

Successfully completed 23 days tour.

This journey I enjoyed from the bottom of my heart. Driving to Ladakh and back was my long time dream. It was made possible because of Bulu. A big thanks for Bulu and Partho. Now lets know the much awaited hard drive episode. The very next day after reaching home I plugged in the hard drive to my laptop. I had over 40 hours of footage stored. Enough for my own documentary film. But to my bad luck and great surprise the hard drive failed to load. I did all I could but could not retrieve the footage. I was almost collapsed. You can feel what I felt. But life is not always a bed of roses. I need to plan one more journey to Ladakh and correct all that went wrong and waiting for that day eagerly.

Thank you all for your valuable time and riding with me on my journey. I appreciate all your comments and will see you soon.