LEH Trip

Places: Leh,Kargil,BalTal,SriNagarJammu,Chandigarh

People: Digvijay(Diggi),Mintu,Sid,Vidhan and me (Vivek)

Except me all the guys did the road trip from Delhi to Leh, but I joined them in Leh due to my blood sucking Job.

Leh

I landed at the Leh Airport on 1st July 2012. The journey was quiet remarkable because of the beauty it offered, the snow covered mighty Himalayas are a treat to watch.
Diggi n Sid were at the Airport to pick me up. On our way to Hotel they informed me about the "Plan". The Plan was to reach Khardung la(the world’s highest motorable peak) by Lunch. Plan was good, but everyone was concerned about me, as I was the only one who was not accustomed to the climatic conditions of Leh (High altitude). So after a small discussion, I decided to go with the team.

The road to Khardungla actually is a test for travelers especially the Driver, deadly Valley on one side and landslide prone Mountains on the other. Military trucks movement on this road can also multiply your challenges(overtaking a Fleet of 5-7 trucks on a narrow road). So after passing all the challenges, we reached Khardungla. Civilian vehicles are not allowed beyond this point, only Military vehicles (with required changes like chained tires) can go further(Chains for extra grip on ice). At Khardungla we enjoyed Maggi(delivered in less than 02 minutes) at the "Highest cafeteria of the world".

Visit Khardung la for: Snow covered peaks, Amazing view of Valley, Maggi @17582 ft, and most importantly visit Khardung la for Pride.

After spending some time at the top we decided to go back. On our way back to Leh we witnessed a small Landslide. After reaching hotel I suffered a very severe headache (Altitude sickness). Digvijay gave me a tablet for that. Vidhan was having a totally different solution for this problem. According to him drink some cold drink, do some farting and all of this headache will vanish. I tried both, and after some time it was all well. I don’t know which composition worked, the "Tablet" or the "cold drink + farting".

End of day one.

Suggestion: If you reached Leh by Air, then stay for at least 1-2 days at Leh so that the body can adopt the high altitude condition.

Day-2 (Leh)

Day 2 way reserved for a Pangong Lake but the landslide at Khardung la actually tested our ride(Maruti- Ertiga). So in order to prevent further damages, we decided to take it to the Maruti service center. It took around 6-7 hours at the workshop and we were forced to skip "Pangong lake" from our itinerary. So after wasting an entire day at the service station we came back to Hotel. In the evening Vidhan and I decided to go for a bike ride, the Biker inside every guy can't resist the biking conditions of Leh. We hired a Storm, a "Royal Enfield classic 500" aka Desert Storm. The ride was Ultimate and it refreshed us to the Core. Bullet cruising @ 110 km/hr at NH-1, Snow covered peaks, Sun going down, Moon rising, empty roads, Army camps and the beauty of NH-1 made our Bike trip a memorable one. Diggi, Sid & Mintu enjoyed their evening with booze at hotel.

End of day 2.

Suggestion: Bike ride at NH-1 is a must.

Day-3 (Leh to Kargil)

We started at 10:30 am from Leh. The way to Kargil is a way to die for. It consists of Plains, Mountains, Rivers and lot many check posts. After a ride of about 70-80 KM we witnessed landslide. BRO (Border Road Organization) officials informed that it will take some 6-7 hours to clear the blockade. So we were left with two options, A) stand in the queue and wait for the road clearance or B) Use that time to roam around. So we opted option B and started exploring nearby areas and eventually landed up at a Dhaba nearby.

After some 3-4 boring hour at that Dhaba, we finally switched to Option A and came back to the landslide site. As we got plenty of time so we got down from our car and looked around for some time killing activity and then I realized that how an empty Mind can be Home for Devil. A river was flowing on the side of the road, suddenly our devil (Vidhan) came up with an amazing idea of a game "The Game of Stones"

The Game was invented by Vidhan but later on Diggy's version was also included.

Vidhan’s Version- According to Vidhan any floating object(plastic bottles,paper,piece of cloth, shoe etc) that will appear into the river, we have to hit it with stones(plenty of stones were lying on the banks) The player who strike first, will be the Winner. #Aim&Shoot

Soon we got bored by the game and then our Gym Lover(Diggy) introduced a new version of the game.

Diggy’s Version- Unlike Vidhan’s edition this one required more Technique and Power. According to the rules, a person has to throw a stone in such a way that it crosses the River. One need to apply a lot of power to make a stone flew to the opposite bank of the River. We all tried our level best but only Diggy managed to cross twice. Although, Mintu also did well but he missed by a few meters.

This Game of ours was noticed by the Indian Army Personnel’s who were working there to clear the Mess caused by Landslide. Some of them tried their Luck but none of them succeeded, may be because they were working from past 6-7 hours so the energy levels required for the game was missing.

After a long waiting of 7 hours, Indian Army and BRO somehow managed to clear the road. We started again and reached Kargil at 12 am. We checked in into our hotel and went to sleep straight away.
End of day 3.

Day 4 (Kargil-Zozila-Baltal)

We got up early as we had to cross Zozi la pass before 12 noon. As per our reliable source if we will not make it to Zozila Pass before 12 noon then we have to wait for 3 hours, as the daily maintanance of the road was scheduled from 12 pm - 3 pm(as per our source). So keeping that in mind we started early. Snow covered Peaks and camps of Indian Army accompanied us on our way. We reached Zozi la Pass at 11:30 AM. A sense of achievement was there that we made it before 12. But soon this joy of ours vanished when the Army officials informed us that.” Ye 11 se 3 bje tk band rhta hai…… ab yahin ruko 3 bje tak. Disappointment L

As we had to wait for 3 hours, we decided to play our patented game,"Game of Stones"……but got bored soon as the essential thing was missing “The River”.

Finally to our surprise, Army opened the pass at 1:30 PM and soon we were off to the most challenging roads of the entire trip.The driving conditions at Zozi la pass. The roads were like One wrong move and welcome to Hell. Landslide at one side and Valley on the other. Ultimate test for off road driving.

Twist and Turns –

When we were coming down from Zozila we saw a very catchy view in the Valley. The place was like God created if from your dreams…… River flowing between Mountains, Multicolored tents on the banks of the River, Choppers flying back to back…. All of it that you can imagine for your dream Holiday destination. #Excitement

View from Above :(

We reached there as fast as we could, but none of us have ever imagined what the future was holding for us……. When we reached on the last turn we got shocked by a hoarding that reads “Amarnath Shrine board Yatra aarambh”……. Biggest disappointment of all times LLL

Still we decided to explore the place (deep down we were searching some excitement actually). The place was very crowded, smell of Horse shit was all over, the river which seemed so beautiful from above was too messy in real, hell in the way to Heaven. But a salute to the people who were so devoted to Lord Shiva that despite of all odds they want to go to the Amarnath Cave. #Devotion

Though with the help of our Uncle we managed to get into the CRPF base camp, which was there to provide the security and primary medical assistance to the Pilgrims. Mr. Phool Chand was our Mentor there, staying at that camp was the best part of that place. We had dinner in a Bhandara.

Dinner at that Bhandara consists of- Butter Naan,Missi Roti,Salad,Daal,Green saag,Mix Veg,Raita and Kheer. And the irony was – they were serving all this for free. As we guys were with Phool Singh uncle so we got VIP treatment in terms of seating and serving. We had a good dinner, then we came back to our base. Spending night in a tent that too surrounded by Army personnel’s was amazing. We all decided to have a Chopper ride next morning. So we informed Phool Singh uncle about the same. He assured us that he will take care of bookings and all the formalities. So we all went to sleep because we had a scheduled Chopper ride next morning.

- End of day 4.

Day-5

(Baltal- Shrinagar)

At 6 am Phool Chand uncle appeared in our tent and asked our details for the bookings. He told us that,"you guys will get a Chopper at 12:30 pm. So we went to bed again. At 9:00 we were up again. Then begun the epic saga of our struggle –

Real Struggle- The Toilets in the camp were “Booth toilets” that too with Indian style commode. If one has to go into them he/she had to carry a bucket of water with himself/herself as no water connection was provided into them. Awkward for all of us but this awkward thing for a normal guy turned weird for Vidhan due to the following reasons-

From past 8 Years Vidhan had never used Indian Style Toilets
He gained lot of weight in those 8 Years.

So all in all it was a struggle for Vidhan. I still don’t know what he did inside that booth, but I can say one thing-“the sounds came from his booth were horrible”. The weirdest and noisiest fart you guys have ever witnessed, multiply it by 10 and you will be getting the sounds from Vidhan’s Booth.

At 12:30 PM Phool Singh Uncle told us that he needs some more time for the bookings. But we were running short of time, so we decided not to visit the Amarnath cave, and we started our journey for Srinagar.

The Way from BalTal to SriNagar is so beautiful that I can’t express in words. You have to be there to feel the beauty of that. Lush Green Peaks, beautiful small houses, green valleys, River flowing, birds chirping, cool breeze,no traffic, no honking, pure music of Mother Nature. I can die a thousand time for those views.#UltimatePlace

And that is why we call it the Heaven on Earth, and that’s why Kashmir is so important for India .

So,we reached Dal lake Srinagar around 5:00 pm. As we guys drove continuously for past 6-7 hours and were very tired. So we decided to have beers. But the people of Srinagar were very strange, they reacts weird when one ask them about alcohol. According to them if a person is asking about Alcohol is Ajmal Kasab. But somehow we managed to have beers. As we were near Dal lake so we decided to stay at a House boat. In dal lake the small boats are known as "Shikara". So we(Vidhan & Me) hired a Shikara and started searching a quality Houseboat. There were lot of Houseboats in there,some with really unique names like 'Kashmir ki Kali','Jannat-e-hind', 'Paradise' etc etc.

Dal Lake

On our quest of Houseboats we stopped at 'Guna Palace'. 'Guna Palace' was the name of a Houseboat. We got in, the boat was new and the interiors were good too(or may be just bcoz we had never been on a H.boat before). We asked about the tariff and the owner told 9000 INR for 2 rooms including nothing. As spending 9000 INR for a single night was out of the question, so we decided to move on just to find some in-budget H.boat. As we start moving the owner asked that how much money do you guys offer? I discussed with Vidhan and we agreed to pay 6000. He refused first and after some bargaining we sealed the deal in 6500 INR for 2 rooms. Then we asked him that if we people can have beers in the open space,and he said,''Bilkul koi dikkat nai hai". Both of us (me n Vidhan) were fine with the offer, the thought of having beers in open space on a H.boat in Dal lake was driving us crazy.

The Owner however was a bit creepy, he was like:-

About the Owner of Guna Palace

The owner of Guna palace was a cheepo creepo type of person with weird expressions and a stupid face. There are people which are very cunning by face. He was like them.

So we booked two Presidential suits in Guna Palace and came back to land where our gang was eagerly waiting for us. So we informed everyone about the H.Boat and everybody got excited. We packed our luggage and grabbed some beers. When we were going to Guna Palace our Shikara owner told that there is a market on the other side of Dal lake where we can get quality Kashmiri shauls,suits,jackets n all. Vidhan and Sid wanted to buy that Kashmiri stuff for their families,so we all decided visit the market. We put our luggage at Guna Palace and came back to Shikara in order to go to the market.

The market was situated on the banks of dal lake and was not that cheap that the Shikara owner told us. But one thing which makes you to shop in India is Bargaining. Vidhan started and succeeded, he got a good amount of discount. While Sid and Vidhan were busy purchasing Kashmiri products, Diggi,Mintu and I sat on the stairs which ends into dal lake. That peacefulness of that place was priceless. I always believed “ The more close you are to Mother nature… the more alive you will feel.”

On our way back to Guna Palace something weird happened.....Mintu puked...... Everybody was shocked. But very soon Mintu told us that he swallowed an insect and due to that all this puking thing happened. We reached Guna Palace with a bit of excitement (the excitement was for having beers on a house boat facing Dal lake). We entered our room and told the waiter to get the beers for us. He told us that he can't serve the beers just bcoz the owner of the boat refused to serve drinks at this time of night. This refusal from that guy made us angry. We called the boat owner and exchanged some really harsh words..... he too got angry and threatened us that he will hand us over to the local police for making a mess on his boat. But we guys knew one thing very well, that was”Darr k aage Jeet hai”. So we keep on cursing him. Finally that bitchy owner of Guna Palace asked us to leave his boat, we got our advance and left his boat.

Dal Lake @ Night

Suggestion: If you are planning to stay at a Houseboat of Dal Lake, never go to Guna Palace.

We reached on the bank of Dal lake and our Shikara owner told us that one of his friend is having a Houseboat. So he called this guy named Shafik bhai and told him the whole story. Shafik bhai was a darling,he agreed to take us on his boat. So we all decided to stay n chill in Shafik bhai's boat,coz he had no problem with beers on boat. So we 'checked in at Shafik bhai's boat and had our beers in Dal lake. Full on Chilled out scene.

Day-6

We started for Jammu at around 11 a.m. The way to Jammu was bit boring. Dirty and patchy roads along with single lane driving made our journey a boring one. We had to make a quick stop in order to meet our uncle, he was a CRPF official and his post was located on our way to Jammu. He was very glad meeting all of us and insisted to stay for some time at his post which was around 5-6 Kms away from the meeting point. So we decided to go with him as our breakfast cum lunch was waiting at his post.

Two Maruti Gypsies were escorting us from front and back, a VIP treatment I must say. Everyone on the road was looking at our car in order to find some familiar faces(VIPs) they must be disappointed I guess.

We reached to the post and had our lunch straight away. Then we met with the soldiers and had some photographs clicked with their mean machines. “The Real Toys” for Men. We did lot of crazy photography at that base camp.

That stay will be remembered for a very long time in our hearts.So after spending this quality time at the camp we started our journey to reach Chandigarh. Thanks to the heroic driving from Digvijay that we reached Chandigarh at 6 A.M. so that day after a good sleep we decided to have ‘Fresh Brewed Beer’ in Chandigarh followed by the ultra delicious Chicken by “Pal da dhabha”. So the day ended with finger licking taste n Beers.

Next day we reached Delhi…….. #Home.

(End Of Trip)

The trip ended after reaching Delhi but the Brotherhood and Friendship developed between us on this trip will last forever. My friend Ankit once told me ( on our trip to Goa) that “ when a person comes home from Goa after a trip, the Mind and Heart will remains in Goa for another three months (bcoz of the memories). But this trip to Leh refreshed my life to this extent that remembering that Super Awesome Trip with Truly Amazing Guys after two years I can still feel the chills in my body, .