My (Oops! Our!) trip to Kashmir and the distance covered!!!

I would like to start this post with a simple question. What is an average person’s biggest fear? Is it failure in exams? Getting fired by boss? These may be small fears. Ultimately they all coincide at one point: Death! Death, before you enjoy the life! Death, before you view the life! Everybody wishes for a plus one when it comes to number of days in life. What happens to you after death? What happens to your near and dear ones after death? They get used to it and your soul would be seeing them moving on with their life after certain period of time. Your soul would watch them from another world. May be it is called heaven. Talking about heaven, what if there is heaven on earth? Why not visit the same when you are alive? Return and lead a happy life with your near and dear ones? For those who think so, I would tell that there is a paradise on earth-a real Jannath! “Kashmir” as it is commonly known. Even though the geographically beautiful land appears peaceful, the political instability and hostility remains in most of the people’s mind.

I started thinking about visiting this place, when the life started turning out to be too monotonous and predictable. To put it in simple and colloquial words, I wanted a break! So I started browsing about this place and especially “places to visit!” various tour packages with various travel agencies and so on. Though the tour packages were safe, the thought about it created less adrenaline rush within me.

In the beginning, I was thinking of going on a solo trip! In between, on a late night, I found my childhood friend-Mr. Kiran R, online on Facebook and I hinted him about the trip and asked if he wants to join me. He readily agreed and the tickets were booked subsequently. We did plan about the routes to be covered and kept less hope as we knew that the climate was not predictable and we need to keep a “Plan B” ready. All we did was to book the tickets from Kochi to New Delhi and back, so that in between everything is flexible. 

So the stage was set, everything were ready. We were ready for the trip. All we wanted was to enjoy the trip, feel the adrenaline pump and suddenly it happened-“My marriage was fixed!” I was afraid whether I would be allowed to go on this trip, as the trip was meant to be bit adventurous, especially after the tremors in Nepal. However, no one intercepted the plan and I am thankful to my parents (they may have had the fear in mind, but never showed it) who never ever raised a question which cut off the trip. So now I had 2 reasons to come back alive. Number one- I am getting married, few people are waiting for me. And number two- I had bought a new car and I have not driven it properly.

Okay! Okay! Enough of the preface and let me brief about the preparations made.

1. Thermal dresses: It is always better you have thermal dresses while going to cold places.
2. AMS tablets: Anti Mountain Sickness tablets! Carry them with you! You definitely need them while going to high altitude places if you are not used to it! 
3. Jacket: Keep a jacket to keep yourself away from cold! It is your life jacket! 
4. Shoes: Don’t ever think of going to such a place in your sandals. You will have frost bite! 
5. Backpack: This will make your hands free; by reducing the number of bags you need to hold. 
6. Camera: You know why!

NB: Normal prepaid SIM cards of other states don’t work in J&K.

Other preparations made were spiritual. We went to meet Lord Ganesha at Edappilly, offered him coconut and our own Tripunithura temple. We prayed like anything that evening. The fear was evident. But, we were there, starting off for an unpredictable journey next dawn.

Day 01

The day started early by waking up at 4.00 AM, “Brahmamuhoortham”, if you could call so. I and Kiran started from our houses in the taxi which was arranged earlier itself to Kochi International Airport to catch our Indigo Airlines flight which was supposed to fly from Kochi at 07.00 hours. Intimations to near and dear ones were given about the journey and received a lot of “happy journey-be safe” messages through SMS and Whatsapp. Thankfully, the flight was on time and we reached New Delhi at 10.00 AM. We had ample time to board our fight to Srinagar. But before that, it was time to satisfy the call of our stomach. We were hungry. We avoided food from flight and we were outside the terminal, searching for something to eat. Finally we both agreed on having something light as we were expecting complementary food in our Jet airways towards Srinagar and we kept our hands on Samosas from a shop. I tell you, it was never light! It was as heavy as a lunch! So the “light” brunch was done with and we took the free bus from Indigo’s terminal to Jet Airways’ terminal. 

At the airport lounge we had the luxury of taking a nap which was hard to resist, but avoided doing so for the fear of missing the flight. We were there waiting, and at around 2, the bird took us to Srinagar which landed by around 4.00 PM. We were there, from scorching climate of the National Capital to the semi-cool climate at State capital of J&K-Srinagar.

·        We had covered a distance of 2914 KM.

At the airport, we met with a person who was at a tourist information centre. He arranged a Chevrolet Tavera to the city and arranged a fairly good hotel room for us. Though the website-“www.makemytrip.com” had given few stars, the services were not up to the mark, leaving few blotches in our mind.

We spent the evening at and around Dal Lake, which is really huge, with lots of house boats and Shikaras. For people like me and Kiran, who are from Kerala-“The land of backwaters”, boating and houseboats were not new. However, we decided to take a ride on one. We roamed around in the areas near the lake and hotel to get used to the cold climate.

Shikaras on Dal lake

The daylight was there till 7.30 PM, which is quite unusual in South India. We had our dinner from a Dhaba had a tea and left for the hotel to sleep, so that we could leave in the morning for sight-seeing after a good rest.

Day 02

We were able to wake up before 7.30 AM, thankfully. “Thankfully”, only because it was really cozy, under the quilt of the hotel bed. After our breakfast, we were ready by around 8.30AM. The same Tavera which took us from Airport to the hotel room was ready to take us to Gulmarg. Which was around 50-60 KMs away. Mr. Safar, the Tavera driver, was a nice person who had his own concerns about the plight of the state- Jammu & Kashmir, which will be explained in coming parts of this post.

The vehicle sailed smoothly through the roads of the fearsome capital, spotting CRPF personnel at niche and angles of the city, which gave the city a hostile façade, which was one of the concerns of our beloved driver. We saw the old secretariat and the legislative assembly and took our deviation to almost straight road to Gulmarg. We saw many school students going to school, who were never concerned about the political scenario of the place, or political scenario failed to concern them. They were happy; they were just like any other kids from any other states. They were protected by the military and police forces or it appeared to us, to be so. The road was straight until we reached the base of Gulmarg. The vehicle started kissing the curves of a mountain cutting the cold wind, through the pine woods. It was green, and we were able to see naturally made lawns. Suddenly our vehicle came to a halt as few people were blocking the road and not allowing the traffic to move. What appeared to be a communal problem, on enquiry were really some union issues among some local workers. Police came, failed, and then military vehicles came and solved the issue for time being. We then reached Gulmarg in sometime.

The main attraction of Gulmarg is the valley covered with snow. We were taken into a shop where we were asked to take gum boots on rent. The reason that was told us was that if we were to step on snow, these were necessary, also there was “Keechad” here and there (Keechad = dirt). There are cable cars named “Gondola” taking us to the top through the valley, which gives a beautiful view of the valley. However, this Gondola ride was divided into 2. First part was Rs.600/- ride, covering half way of the valley and second was Rs. 800/- ride covering the second half. However, you cannot decide whether to take the second half ride after covering the first half for the reason that the tickets are sold in the beginning stage only. So if you want to take the complete ride, you have to take the tickets in the beginning itself. However, we decided to settle for the first half alone, meaning the gum boots which we took on rent was an utter waste and we fell prey for exploitation.

We were in the queue for almost 2 hours. We enjoyed our ride, got down and saw the beautiful valley. We were in an open space in between the mighty Himalayas. It was a real beauty. Wherever we kept the camera and clicked, it was scenic. We spent an hour there and we were back towards the first post of the gondola. We decided to go on a pony ride and rode it for an hour or so.

Panoramic view of Gulmarg

We had our lunch there and soon were back to the city for local sightseeing. Before that we were to decide on our travel to Leh. We went to JKSRTC bus stand and enquired about the bus. We booked and on seeing the bus, we were gaping in awe. It was an old rickety bus with lots of rust and we were wondering if it really was our bus. We confirmed and were a bit happy too because, we will be travelling with locals and this was a safe bus because time had taken a toll on this bus and is still on running condition.

The rickety bus which took us to Leh from Srinagar

The evenings were spent in Mughal gardens which failed to interest us, and we went to a mosque-“Hazrath Bal” meaning Thousand Hairs. It is the place, where it is believed that 1000 hair strands of Prophet Mohammed are being kept in a preserved condition. We have seen and heard about the mosque from the movie-“Keerthichakra” and got a chance to see the place too. We were inside wearing the religious caps, which would cover our head and we knew we looked good in it. But we were not allowed to take photos inside the religious place and we both were following rules because they are made to be followed and we did not want to fall in to trouble in an unknown place for such a flimsy reason.

The driver asked us-“On hearing about Kashmir, what’s it that comes to your mind Saab?” We were true to ourselves and replied-“Terrorism!” He told-“Haan wahin mein bata rahaan hoon Saab! Ye toh TV-Wale aur film-wale ka kaam hain! Woh log to Kashmir ko duniya ke saamne aisa hi dikhaatha hain! Kashmir mein ek doosri duniya hain jo is duniya ke nivaasiyon nahin jaanta! Ye CRPF logon ko idhar koyi bhi kaam nahin. In logon ko border mein daalna chaahiye jahaan bahut saari pareshaaniyaan hain! Aap jaise tourists ko daraane ke alaawa koyi faayda nahin! (That’s what I am also telling Saab! These media people and movie makers create such a picture of Kashmir to the world. People don’t know that there is another beautiful world here! These CRPF people need to be posted in border, where the real problems are and not here. They just scare the hell out of tourists like you and there is no other use!) We listened to his speech for a while and we were unable to decide if his words were right or wrong. Still he continued and shared his concern about his place.

Today we had covered around 120 plus another 30 kilometers, i.e. 150 KMs

We were back in our room, kept our bags packed and were ready to go out the next day early morning to Leh. We told for an auto at the hotel reception and they agreed to make arrangements for the same. We were really looking forward for the trip to Leh, which were only heard about and the picture of which we have seen in magazines, internet and Facebook.

Day 03

It was 6 in the morning. The auto never came. Yeah you read it right. The bloody auto never came. We sat in the reception for a long time. There was no one to be seen in the reception also. The room-boy (I hate to call a person, a “room-boy”, also he cannot be called a boy as he appeared double my age), who confirmed that auto will come was also not to be seen. We went out, thinking not to waste our time. We hired an auto of our own and went to the bus station. We were well before time. We took our seat and it was never uncomfortable sitting on that seat. I sat there before the start. A famous poem by Robert Frost came to my mind:-

Stopping by woods on a snowy evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. 

I had many promises to keep.

There were miles to go before I sleep.

I literally had miles to go through woods, rocks, dust, snow, dirt….

The poem sounds good. But we fell asleep soon after the bus started. It was hard for us to keep our eyes open in the cool weather. The vehicle was stopped few kilometers before Sonamarg for the breakfast and the land terrain changed drastically after that. We were able to see the mountains in all colours-Biscuit, brown, black & grey and the most beautiful were the dark browns topped with white snow and they looked like they were extra-ordinarily large, black-forest cake.

Black Forest Cake

 The roads were really narrow and dangerous. It required great skill and patience to drive in this topography. In between, the vehicle had to be stopped to give way for vehicles from opposite side as there was hardly space for one to pass through. We got the luxury of taking few pictures in the snow. I threw a ball of snow at my friend and it made his jacket’s pocket wet, for which I had to pay for the whole trip-I was constantly accused for my action every now and then.

An edge of the dangerous road

We were able to see the river Indus, running in light blue color, making us wonder what gave it the ocean blue colour, probably the blue algae. The movement and flow of the river was swift. We understood that we were on the old Asian trade route, known as the treaty road. We were going through Zoji La which was considered to be one major obstacle in this trip because it could be closed at any time as per the weather conditions. But thankfully today was not our day to get stuck (The days to get stuck were in the upcoming 2 weeks). We successfully passed through place, thanks to project-“Vijayank” taken up by Border Roads Organization (BRO), the engineering wing of Indian Army. There were many boards and messages from them, which forced you to keep safe while driving at these high altitudes and also there were few hoardings which flaunted the attitude of Indian Army, one of which was-“Impossible may take time, Difficult will be done immediately!” I had goose bumps on reading it. The Indian Army was there on the border, guarding the nation, just like a boss.

Engineering works carried on by Border Roads Organization; Project Vijayank

We were travelling through a road which was once prone to heavy shell attack. We saw tiger hills which gave way to the memories of news channels and newspapers from 1999. We stopped at Drass for our lunch. This was a place I have constantly heard during the year of 1999, as it was an area in which the Kargil war was fought. It was a war perhaps which the whole of India witnessed live through television sets for the first time. The name of the place sent a chill through my spine. We read a board that it was the second coldest inhabited place, the first one being Siberia. In worst conditions, the temperature could dip to an unimaginable negative forty five degrees Celsius. The thought itself choked my lungs. My friend explained that it doesn’t matter if it’s zero, negative ten or negative fifty, because any temperature below zero is frozen state for you. So difference of ten or twenty below zero never makes a difference for you. So the lunch was finished, we were moving towards Kargil.

By evening we reached Kargil and we were supposed to stay there. We were told that the bus would leave early at 5 AM. We took a room just to stretch our body for a night sleep. We went for a walk in the village of Kargil, which was cut through by the fast flowing chocolate coloured river named Surru. We saw a few people practicing archery in a small ground. The sole of my friend’s shoe got torn and we found a roadside cobbler who took almost an hour to repair the same. The shoe and mind of my friend was ready to pursue the journey in the following days. We had dinner and returned to our hotel room for our sleep.

A Cobbler’s job

We have had a nice travel throughout the day. Though tiresome, it was a feast for the eyes. We had travelled a distance of 213 Kilometers. The thought about the next day’s travel made us happy, because we were half way to Leh, which was our major destination.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”

Day 04

The day started in a hurry. We had a nice exercise of running a few meters after the bus with the large backpack on our back. We came out of the hotel, made the payment and came to the main road. We were walking leisurely as there was enough time for us to board the bus. Suddenly our eyes caught sight of a white bus. We had a doubt if it was the same one which took us from Srinagar to Kargil. But, we spotted the Chinese lady who was travelling with us the previous day in the same bus. We ran after the bus and caught the same.

The bus caught the highway and was travelling well. We were in an excited trance until it happened- the bus stopped and many army people got into the bus. The first thing that came in to my mind was, checking of baggage for arms and ammunitions. The scare stayed in my mind for few seconds. The military people were inside the bus to give us juice. It was a free service rendered by them for the people travelling that road.

The journey continued and we saw the Leh Airport. I have read earlier that it is one of the smallest airports in India. So we were reaching Leh. It was afternoon at around 1.00 PM.

We were dropped near the main taxi stand. We walked for a Kilometer, searching for room. We went inside one STD booth and enquired the person for good hotels. He told us the route and also, he asked if we wanted to see his guest house, where he could arrange stay for us. We gave it a “why not?” thought and went with him. It was a small place, but more than sufficient for two people like us who needed a room just to sleep, keep our things and refresh. The person was really nice. His name was Phunchok Spaltzang. (hope I spelt it right). We took the room and we were served with nice lunch, which we took after a hot water bath. It was heaven. We were tired after a long 2 days journey. The hot water just washed away all the dirt along with the tiredness. We had lunch and decided to sleep for sometime before going out straight away.

Evening we decided to go for a walk, had tea from a local shop and enquired with the tourist information centre regarding places to visit and how to plan about it. We got a general idea. We walked around at Leh market. Then, we just gave a visit to Phunchok’s shop. He gave us an idea about how to go about during the Leh visit. He asked us to go to local places the next day as we just reached and it would help us to cope up with the temperature. He also agreed to arrange us the vehicle for much awaited Royal ride on Enfield. It slowly seeped into our head that Mr. Phunchok was a savior. He had with him, everything, needed for a tourist. He had contacts, he had tie-ups.

We hired a bullet for next day and agreed to take it the following morning. We walked back to the guest house and had a good, night sleep. The best days of the trip were yet to come. We were craving to hear the sound of the Royal Enfield reverberating across the roads and mountains-“Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!” Our hearts were beating-“Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!”

Day 05

The morning started slow. We had planned for covering local places in the Enfield so that it won’t be much hectic after 2 days’ bus journey. My friend was the first person to get ready that day. When I got into the bathroom, he left the room to take the king among Indian motor cycles. When I came out, there echoed the sound-“Thud thud” across the walls of the guest house. The sound was enough to heat you up in the cold morning. We had a quick breakfast and we were geared up for the ride. Mr. Phunchok had given us an optional itinerary. We decided to take the expert opinion.

We hit the Leh-Manali highway first. This is an important road, where people like to hit the road with their vehicles for a thrilling drive or ride. This is a highway from where you take detour to Pangong Lake (towards the left) and also to Hemis monastery (towards the right). We were towards right to see the one of the biggest Gompas (monastery)-“The Hemis”. We reached there in an hour’s time and we hit the small cafeteria for a cup of tea. It was really hard to resist having one. The monastery’s atmosphere was serene and calm. We entered the museum, near to it first and later into the Monastery. We were amused to see the colours rather than knowing the history and myths. The Buddhists used extremely appealing colours, in the lap of pale colours of mountains and white snow. It was awesome. It was cold and dark inside. We sat inside listening to the prayers of the monks. It was remarkable. It sounded much like the “Rudra” chant, but for the tempo and pitch. Rudra sounds fiercer and swift, just like the “Thaandava” dance of Lord Shiva, whereas, here it was slow and fixed. It slowly seeped into us that there was millions of similarities between Hinduism and Buddhism, small examples being the lamps lighted using ghee, and the Agarbathis. The aroma was strong and we stayed inside for a while. We noticed that the monks were simple in their attire wearing the dark red robes and it was contradictory that they wore highly priced shoes from Adidas, wore gears of Jack Wolfskin or North-face, maybe to guard them from the extreme cold. Normal protection gears wouldn’t suffice in the long run I guess. We came out. It was breezy. The air was dry and cold. The oxygen supply to the lungs was scanty, but was not as bad as I thought it would be. We were slowly getting acclimatized.

Prayer Wheels

Monastery

By afternoon, we were riding back towards the highway. The landscape was amazing. We stopped here and there to take a few snaps. Later on, we understood that, if we start taking photos, you may never stop, except you run out of charge in your camera and phone. The scenery was amazing. Each frame gave a beautiful snap. Later on, we reached a hotel run by the Indian Army. The crowd was less, but the call of stomach was important for us. We decided to take a taste of south Indian dish-“Dosa”. Our thought was like-“Army is a mixed crowd. Who knows, this might be the best Dosa one could ever taste. The chance may go without our knowledge”. All our thoughts were in the garbage bin after we tasted it. It was not bad, but not the best.

Landscape

Panorama

We then visited the “Thicksey” Monastery. It was not as big as Hemis, but I felt that it was much higher, on top of a steep rock. The atmosphere was pretty much the same as Hemis’. The other small attractions of the day were the school, in which the movie-“3 idiots” was shot & now the school is nicknamed “Rancho” school and Shey palace. The palace was dark and confusing. It was like a maze, with few interconnecting corridors and dead ends.

Rancho School

We reached room and we were ready for the next day’s long ride of 150 KMs to Pangong Lake. But, before that we needed to recharge our body as the breakfast and lunch was thin. We reached a vegetarian Punjabi Dhaba and devoured whatever was available till our tummy said enough. It was again a night where our heart thumped-“Thud! Thud! Thud!

Day 06

Before I start day 06, did I forget something? Oh yes! Calculation of distance! So, the distance from Kargil to Leh was around 200 KM, and local sight-seeing covered around 100 KMs in a day for sure. So, day 04 and day 05 covered a distance of 300 KMs.

So, we were ready for a long day ride to the Pangong Lake. It was drizzling. Mr. Phunchok was there at the spot and he told us –“Agar yahaan baarish hain tho udhar barf hoga!”(If it is raining here, it will be snowing there.) I looked at my friend and told with an ugly smile on my face-“Agar yahaan baarish hain (pointing to my heart), to udhar barf hoga (now pointing to my head)-If it is raining in your heart, your brain is going to be frozen. He stared at me for a moment and swore under his breath. I understood that he was in no mood for enjoying my undesirable puns. We stored petrol in a can of 5 litres and started our journey towards Pangong.

We reached the same point where we took the turn towards Hemis, the previous day. We stopped there to have our breakfast and it was one of the yummiest Aloo Paratha I ever had. The butter was melting on the hot Paratha. A tea went along with it very well. It was one cold day. It was raining. There was a check-post and people were not allowed to go beyond that point. The climate was really bad. We waited for some time to know if we would be able to pass beyond that point, but it was a disappointing day beginning for us. My friend went to know if they will be allowing people to go. At the same time, I was near the motorcycle in front of the Dhaba, fighting the cold and drizzle, having another tea. I had a chat with one boy, aged around 15 or 16, working at a Dhaba. He asked me-“Kya aap Pangong jaa rahein ho?”(Are you going to Pangong?). And I replied a skeptical yes, still worried if we would be able to make it to Pangong. He told me-“Mat jaana! Bahut khathra hain is haalath main!” (Do not go! It is going to be dangerous under these conditions!)

Rainy clouds at Check-post

 We then thought of visiting the Hall of fame. It was a museum and exhibit of the Indian Army. We came to know that it boasted about the ‘victory’ of Indian Para Military forces in the Kargil war. However, I don’t think it as a victory because of the casualties at the end. No success is a success where lives are lost.  We visited the museum which was not open the previous day.

We stood there in the parking lot of the museum, thinking what to do. My friend asked me-“Mani, what about Khardungla? Shall we go?” Khardungla top is the highest Motorable road in the world. HIGHEST IN THE WORLD!!!  I readily agreed. We were on the route within half an hour and the road started making pin pointed curves. The bullet ran through it. Road was smooth and the terrain was brown and dusty till the check post at South Pullu. We stopped at the check post for logging in the vehicle details. We looked at the sky and we sighed and it was a WTF moment! We were both thinking the same-“Shit it is cold and has started snowing!” It was cold in spite of the thermal clothing, jeans, jacket, socks, shoes, skull cap and helmet. We made it slow. I didn’t have the guts and courage to handle the motorcycle, so we had only one option that he should ride. The roads were not there. It was slush and dirt, it was slippery. We were silent. We were silent because we were praying in our mind. We had the fear of many factors- Number one being that the engine of the vehicle may go off at any moment due to cold. Another factor was the slippery road, which may throw us off into thousands of feet on to solid rocks. Third factor was that the temperature was too low and our exposed body parts like nose, fingers were getting numb. In between the engine went off and thank God we were able to start it. We had a thought of returning because the climatic condition and road conditions were really adverse. But the thing which kept going was the thud and the thumbs up shown by the motorcyclists coming downhill (I don’t know whether to call it down-mountain!). We kept riding, biting the cold, taking the snow on us. Then Kiran exclaimed-“Mani! We are there!” I was able to see lots of vehicles parked near the army camp and check-post. I was excited and exclaimed-“Macha! We made it!” And I pumped my fist into the air. We got down and our eyes were almost filled with tears. We hugged each other (yeah it was bit emotional!) and were thanking each other for achieving this feat. I thanked him for his endurance while riding and he thanked me for the moral support and carrying the bag containing camera and other essentials. 

On the top of the world

We stopped the vehicle and took 2 or 3 photos and a video (My friend has a habit of taking 360 degree selfie-video wherever he goes! Don’t know why he does that, but I enjoy that craziness!) We read a warning sign, asking the tourists not to spend more than 20 minutes there, in order to avoid health issues. We hardly spent 5 minutes and we were unable to hold ourselves up in that temperature anymore. We were sure that the real feel of the temperature was zero degrees. We went into the army cafeteria. We ordered for tea and maggi (Yes maggi was yet to be banned! Maggi was our life saviour)! It was the tastiest and hottest maggi (don’t know if it is healthiest!) I ever had. My hands were shivering and the just-boiled tea made tickles on my palms. It was too easy to hold that plastic cup containing hot tea, in that temperature. One person from Kerala came to us, hearing us talk and asked where we were from and was shocked that we were up there on a motorcycle telling us that he would never do such a crazy act. Little did he know that there were lots of crazy asses out there doing the same! We spent few more minutes and were travelling down. The motorcycle never ditched us! We travelled down, frozen. I was having a grave headache, as if my head is going to burst in the pressure.

The way back from Khardungla

We got down and went to Shanthi Stupa in Leh. It was a Buddhist temple, visible from our room. We went there, had a tea and maggi again from the cafeteria nearby and spent almost an hour there, discussing about Buddhism and zero-element of non-violence involved in their religion. It was really awesome. That was the main reason why the people in Leh are never aggressive and are leading a happy-go-lucky life. They take life as and when it came. It may be due to the reason that, in this geographical area, nothing was certain.

Shanti Stupa-Leh

We went back to return the bike and went to Phunchok Bhai’s shop. He greeted us with a “Julley” (Julley is the way people greet you here, it is a way of saying hello!). He enquired how we spent the day and were discussing the plans for next day. We were asked if we were ready to share a taxi with 3 MBBS students from Gujarat who were planning to go to Pangong Lake the next day, which was supposed to be our plan this day. We agreed, for the reason that the taxi fare will be shared and it is always good to have people from Gujarat on your side as they were good at bargaining.

Then like rest of the days, we had dinner and were off to sleep, waiting for the dawn to break.

Day 07

The day started slowly. We waited for our new friends to join us. The taxi sent by Phunchok Bhai was driven by a person named “Tashee” (Again, I hope the spelling is correct). We started towards Pangong, with an element of doubt in our mind, if we would be able to visit the place.

Thankfully, we were allowed today and we were moving slowly towards the lake. The way was too crowded as people like us, who couldn’t visit the previous day were also travelling towards the same destination. The climb started slowly, and little did we were able to understand that, it was going to be a rough ride.

 

We had to take few breaks during the journey now and then because the snow was being cleared and the vehicle could move very slowly in the slush. The tyres of the vehicles were chained to add the grip by extending their tread. The vehicles caught on to the dirt and climbed the mountain swiveling left and right. It was a tedious travel. Mr. Tashee had one compact disc with 8 songs, all from Yo Yo Honey Singh, and all with heavy beats. It was being played in a loop, which added to the headache. The 150KM travel appeared to be never ending. We cleared the pass and were on the other side of the mountain, by the time my body had started a ruckus with a tendency for nausea. We stopped by a road side shop near an army camp. As usual, we had maggi and biscuits. The MBBS students advised me to do an intake of something citrus in nature, the only things which were available was aerated drinks and minute maid. I chose the latter. I had my light lunch and also had a tablet ease down my headache. I slept in the vehicle for most of the journey after that. We reached the lake by around 3.00 PM. The time taken to travel 150 KMs was 7 hours! 

Cars being stopped for chaining the tyres

Panorama enroute Pangong

The lake was in the Indo-China border, with an average breadth of 5 KM and length of 55 KM. The pictures of the lake we remembered were beautiful, with blue colour of the sky being reflected and sea gulls fluttering their wings on the shore. But it turned out to be a disappointing journey for us as the clouds were hovering over the lake and there was no blue shade to be reflected, considering the tiresome journey into the account.  But that didn’t prevent us from taking photos of the lake. The lake was one of the largest salt water lakes, the reason why sea gulls were making it their habitat. We could see salt sediments on the shore creating a white border around the lake. We were wondering, why the water was salty and someone was joking, this was due to the reason that Chinese people urinated in the lake across the border.

Sea gulls on Pangong

Sea gull close up

 

Panoramic View of lake

We asked Mr. Tashee for permission and took his vehicle for a drive along the lake shore and travelled a few kilometers. The shore was a barren desert with almost zero vegetation. There were few hotels with temporary tents being erected for night stay. We wondered how the provisions reached such an isolated place.

We spent an hour there and were ready for our return. The road was almost straight (which I slept through while our arrival). There were few number of dwellings to be seen other than few army camps. We were able to see yaks gracing the frail vegetation on the mountains making it appear black spots on the light brown mountains. The return journey was better, making us reach back in 4 hours, which was reasonable time for a curvy ride of 150 KMs.

Yaks

The next day we were ready for a drive to Nubra valley through Khardungla top (again) and we arranged Mr. Tashee for the same.

Day 08

Duh! How do I narrate this day? This was the most disappointing and boring day for us. We started towards Nubra valley. Here, we refers to  me and Kiran in Mr. Tashee’s taxi and he had an assistant with him. The assistant was a punk and we named the assistant-“Pankan”. He was like those super heroes from marvel comics, whom we would not see in civilian dress. He always wore a red cap and coolers, which he never removed, even while taking bath I guess. We were on our way, stopped at South Pullu at around 11 AM and were forced to return back after staying there for 2 hours. We came back to our room, had lunch prepared by Mr. Sikander and went for a sleep and rest of the day was spent watching television and roaming at Leh market. 

Stranded at South Pullu

 

 

Day 09

We were back on same route to go to Nubra valley. We were cynical about the route. But fortunately the snow which blocked our way the previous day has given way for the people. On our way, we gave lift to one Army personnel whom we picked from Khardungla top and dropped at North Pullu. On enquiry with him, we understood that it was an avalanche that caused the blockade. And a truck had fallen in to the snow valley and we saw it. It was a small black dot in the white snow. We were on for a hectic drive. We reached the other side of the mountain by evening, which was much better in case of vegetation. It was a fertile valley, comparatively by the way. We saw many vehicles taking side for a break. Most of the tourists were dizzy and giddy after the tedious drive. We spotted many vomiting especially kids and ladies. We were giddy, sitting on the chairs of a roadside café waiting for our tea and maggi noodles to come. We had few more kilometers to travel to reach our destination. By around 5-5.30 PM, we reached Nubra valley took our room. The name of the guest house was “Zambala” which was very much decent for bachelor’s stay. We had ample time to relax and take a walk in that small village. On taking the walk, I felt like we had reached the northern most part of India and it was China on the other side. I am not sure about it. But, I felt so and I am yet to track the spot on GPS. We spent the night at the guest house after dinner, talking about college, job, life, marriage and it went on.

Truck fallen in to the valley

Day 10

We left to reach a spot of camel ride at 8’ o clock. It was no ordinary camel. It was called Bactrian camel with double hump on the back. It was a fifteen minutes ride and we enjoyed it well. There were sand-dunes like any normal desert, except that this was covered by snow capped mountains on all the sides. There were few camels which looked like Srilankan Cricketer Lasith Malinga.

Bactrian Camel

Later, we went to a Gompa and to a hot water spring, which was volcanic in nature. It was a natural hot stream of water which was boiling hot, and it has been proved that it is medicinal in nature. We were on our way back to Leh, through Khardungla top again and we reached there by evening. This was supposed to be our last night stay at Leh in this trip. We had dinner with Phunchok Bhai at the guest house. We talked through the dinner about the arrangements for next day, for our travel back to Srinagar and to Jammu thereon.

Day 11

The day started late. We were supposed to leave Leh by 11.00 am and take a straight drive to Srinagar and take another vehicle to Jammu and little did we know that it was going to be the scariest day of the trip.

A taxi driver named Aashiq was assigned the task of taking us back to Srinagar. We started at around 11.00 am as planned and this person was irritating us from the beginning. He stopped at every turning and bends on the mountains and started spending few minutes to take photographs, as if he was a tourist like us, who has never seen Himalayas and let me tell you; the number of bends and turnings cannot be counted on mountain ranges like Himalayas. Still he managed to stop at the most of the corners. 

With Phunchok Bhai

An English couple was with us who were supposed to get down at Lamayaru, but this jackass managed to drop them, couple of kilometers after the place and asked them to travel backwards. He stopped only because my friend asked him to stop. Else, he would have taken the couple with us till end of the journey. And he was blasting our ears with stupid GI-Joe movie which he played in a loop for 2-3 times.

We reached Kargil by around 5.00 PM and we were not allowed to move further towards Srinagar side. It meant that we were supposed to stay at Kargil for a second time. But the driver was in a jovial mood and he was ever ready to stay there. However, we decided to wait to see if the check-post would open. By 7 O’ clock, the check-post opened and we were on the highway to Srinagar. 

We reached Drass by around 8.30 PM and we were hungry. It was time for dinner. However, we had enough time because we were not allowed to advance further from the check-post. We decided to stay inside the car for the whole night. However, we were advised by locals not to do so as there were chances of the temperature dipping in late night. We looked for a room and most of them were occupied as there were limited number of rooms in the area and there were many vehicles to get past the check-post. The people who travelled in the vehicles had occupied all the rooms. Finally our driver found a room which was cheap by cost and look. There was no toilet or bathroom. The door didn’t have a bolt or latch. We asked the driver to stay with us in the room as we never trusted him. We had already given him some money at a petrol station. So there were chances that he would leave us back at Drass and travel to Srinagar. We were wondering whether we would wake up next day. We felt the situations being hostile on us. The safety of the room scared us. We were alert in our sleep. There were people walking through the corridor in front of the room. There were people walking inside and outside to and from the room. We never knew who they were. We decided to stay silent because we were thoroughly scared. The night went on and we had a disturbed sleep.

Day 12 

It was 6 in the morning and we were in a hurry. We had tea and were on the move. We never had an idea that this was going to be the longest continuous drive which we ever had.

We were on the highway. Our minds were in a hurry to reach Srinagar at the earliest. The road and climate was rough. It was drizzling making the road slushy and reducing the speed of the journey.

To add to the woes, we were stopped again at a check-post because of a landslide ahead. We were stuck for another few hours. The check-post opened and we continued the journey for few more kilometers. We got stuck again in a 3 kilometers long road block, before Zozila pass. We saw at the distance, heavy engineering vehicles of BRO working to clear the path and vehicles waiting near them just like a cork on a champagne bottle to pop out. 

The bottle opened and the vehicles were on the move. We thanked our luck and travelled till Sonamarg, where we had our lunch. From there Srinagar was only 50-60 KMs. Our driver decided to “hand us over” to a Punjabi driver who was from Pathankot. He was coming from Kargil and agreed to take us from Srinagar in his Innova. 

Before reaching Srinagar, we stopped at the bye-pass road and started our journey with our new driver. We slowly realized that Mr. Aashiq has cheated our new driver in terms of Money adjustment. I and my friend were uttering all possible cuss words on Aashiq. 

We were supposed to take the bye-pass, but our driver made a mistake by going into the Srinagar City, pulling us back by around 2 hours. We were out of the city by around 6 PM and were travelling towards Jammu through the check-post. We were stopped by few policemen in Civilian dress and they begged us for money. It was begging with attitude. They told that they were making a decision that they will stop the next car coming that way and take the treat from the people travelling in the car and fortunately we were the people to come. We paid them Rs.100.00 and continued our car journey. Jawahar tunnel on the way which was drilled through the mountains was an extremely excellent work of engineers. We stopped here and there to take tea, to attend the call of nature and for dinner. The temperature had now risen drastically. We were sweating almost after 2 weeks time. 

 

We reached Jammu by around 12 in the midnight and from there we travelled towards Pathankot to reach there by around 5 AM. It was one long car journey. We had not slept even for a second. It was Day 13 of our trip.

Day 13

We took the bus to Amritsar from Pathankot. I switched on my mobile and mobile data and it was teeming with messages from past 2 weeks. There were enquiries from friends and relatives, there were forwards, there were photos and videos. The messages were 1000 plus. 

From the silent valleys of Leh, we had reached annoying sounds of Amritsar. It was like hell broken out. The bus honking never lasted less than 5 seconds. There were long enough to irritate everything out of you.

We took a non-ac room and slept till the afternoon. We woke up and had our lunch at a local Dhaba and were ready to head towards Wagah border, which was 30 KM away from the city. The bus conductors’ announcement reminded me very much of the cleaners of buses in Thrissur. The way they invited people to board bus, the slang and the tune was very much the same. “Attari bordereh! Attari Bordereh! Attari Bordereh! Was really sounding similar to Thrissur vazhi Kodakaraikku! Thrissur vazhi Kodakaraikku! Thrissur vazhi Kodakaraikku!

It was a Sunday and the Wagah border had a crowd of India-Pakistan cricket match. We were unable to see the closing parade. There were small quarrels among the visitors for not giving space for others to see and for pushing them to and fro. “Unity” in diversity! I and my friend laughed. After the parade, we walked slowly till the Radcliffe line, took few photos of the border and BSF personnel.

Wagah Border

We came back to Amritsar by around 7.30 PM. We went to Golden temple and spend around an hour there. We had our dinner and came back to our room, tired and hit the bed soon.

Golden Temple at Night

Day 14

We woke up at around 7 AM, got ready and started to Jallian Wallah Bagh. Our eyes were red. We didn’t have proper ventilation in the room and the oxygen inflow was very low. We were tired in spite of having a good quantity of sleep. The quality was poor though. We walked around in Jallian Wallah Bagh and found a tree-shade. My friend immediately kept the bag there and lied down. We slept under the shade for around 4 hours. It was 12 O Clock when we left to Golden temple. We wanted to see the same in day-light also. We went there and the heat was immense. We were unable to stand the heat. 

Jallianwala Bagh

Golden temple

We were finished with the site seeing and had around 7 hours left to board the bus towards Delhi and Rajadhani express to our home the next day. We decided to enter a theatre to watch a Hindi flick, so that we can spend some time and escape the heat. 

We vacated the room and went to the bus stand to board the bus to Delhi. We met a French couple who were settled in Australia. They were very amazed to know that we had a 36 hours train journey left from Delhi which was an overnight journey away. They were amazed to think about the length and breadth of India. 

We helped them to board the bus to Chandigarh and we boarded ours. We were on the way to the national capital.

Day 15

We reached Delhi, took our metro train to the nearest station of Hazrath Nizamudheen Station and boarded the train. It was the experience we were cherishing in the train. We were also singing, songs, discussing ragas and spent time in the train. We spent some money on the trip, but we never worried about it. The experience was worth it… The total distance travelled was:-

Home to Kochi Airport	50
Kochi to Delhi to Srinagar	2914
Site seeing at Srinagar	150
Srinagar to Kargil	213
Kargil to Leh	200
Local sightseeing at Leh	100
Leh to Khardungla and back	80
Local sightseeing at Leh	40
Leh to Pangong and back	300
Leh to South Pullu and back	48
Leh to Nubra Valley and back	230
Leh to Jammu	706
Jammu to Pathankot	190
Pathankot to Amritsar	145
Amritsar to Wagah and back	60
Amritsar to Delhi	470
Delhi to Kochi	2700
Total	8596 KMS