The Unforgettable Kashmir Trip Part - 2

DAY 7 - Srinagar
The day started with a visit to Shankracharya Temple which was constructed in 371 BC. The Shankracharya temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is thought to be the oldest shrine in the Kashmir valley. The temple is of great importance, not only from the point of view of religion, but also from architectural viewpoint. A high octagonal platform supports the temple, approached by a flight of approximately hundred steps. The sidewalls of the steps once bore some valuable inscriptions. The main surviving shrine, consisting of a circular cell, provides a magnificent view of the valley below. There is tight security before you reach the temple and one cannot carry cell phones, cameras or such devices in the temple or even its periphery.

After having delicious meals at a Punjabi restaurant we left for Gulmarg, about 57 kms from Srinagar. The journey to Gulmarg is half the enchantment of reaching there-- roads bordered by rigid avenues of poplar give over to flat expanses of rice fields interspersed with picturesque villages. Today Gulmarg is not merely a mountain resort of exceptional beauty- it also has the highest green golf course in the world, at an altitude of 2,650 m, and is the country's premier ski resort in the winter. One can experience Asia's highest and longest cable car ride known as Gondola. The two-stage ropeway ferries about 600 people per hour to and from Kongdoori Mountain, a shoulder of nearby Afarwat Peak (4200m/13779ft). As we were already late, we were not allowed to travel to Kongdoori mountain the main spot and were stopped at 1st stage only. Still we had good time there as fun never stops for us.
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We came downhill through Gondola after quick snacks and tea/coffee and did horse riding till where we parked our car. We left for Pahalgam which is approx 150kms from Gulmarg via Srinagar. Snow clad mountain peaks describe its natural splendor on all sides, a white water river that traverses the bottoms of the narrow valley, and a weather that makes the summers a charm. Pahalgam is base for annual Amarnath yatra which was our main concern. The yatra starts from this place to Holy Cave shrine of Amarnath. We arrived their much before official start date of yatra which was 30th June and we reached on 19th June. We had our dinner in the only restaurant, which was open at midnight and thn rented 2 rooms in a lodge.

Day 8 – 21st June 2007 – Main Yatra
With full enthusiasm we reached Chandanwadi, 16 kms from main city of pahalgam by car. Chandanwadi is gateway to Holy cave and hence Amarnath Yatra. From this onwards starts trekking of 34 kms to Holy Cave. We parked our car in a open ground near river Lidder and told Shelly to be around the car for 3 days. We picked our stuff and put it in one bag as carrying more luggage is not recommended. Lesser is your carrying stuff, more easy it is while trekking up 30kms and thousands feet. It was about 10AM while we started walking when someone stopped us. As we turned we noticed a policeman who was waving at us and calling us back where police tents were installed. As we got near to him, he said “sahib bula rahe hain”. We went to so called sahib which was actually S.H.O of that area and incharge of the post at Chandanwadi. He asked us where we were going? We told him that we are going to Panjtarni as we are organizing “langar” and we are few of those organizers. He asked for a proof and we presented copy of the permission which he refused to accept. He was very cunning personality and we had learnt that J&K police is least co-operative to all the pilgrims while army is very helpful. I would like to inform those who are willing to visit this place that proper official registration is done at any branch of JAMMU & KASHMIR BANK in all cities without which you wont be allowed to start yatra from any end and at any cost. We tried to convince him to let us go but he kind of made his mind that he wont let us go. He wasted atleast 2.5 hours after which we thought there is no chance that he will let us go for yatra. We all were sad and thinking about other means by which we can proceed. We asked that SHO and he adviced to wait for 10 days in Pahalgam and than start yatra on official date. You will think that SHO is right and working under rules as we arrived there much before starting date but on the contrary I would like to tell you that yatra at that time had started from other starting point near Sonamarg which is 2nd base camp for pilgrims knows as Baaltal. As per our knowledge and information we were pretty sure that there wont be any problem but this SHO ruined our all plans. After all our main purpose of trip was this yatra and nothing else. This yatra was the only reason why we have gone through Manali, Leh, Kargil, Srinagar and other places. We had 3 options left: 1st to start yatra from Baaltal which is more than 200kms from Chandanwadi 2nd wait for 10 days at Pahalgam and than start trekking but we were already short of time and 3rd that we go back home as it is though that’s the worst option. We cant go back home without visiting Holy Cave, we made up our mind. It was already 12PM, that cunning SHO wasted our 2 hours in his waste less conversation. By that time we were hungry and we thought to eat lunch at a langar just opposite to those police tents. The beauty of this yatra is these langars which u will find all the way from Chandanwadi/Baltal till and at Holy Cave. You can get almost everything to eat and drink (of course except non-veg and liquor) including burgers, pizzas etc that too totally free of cost. Basically, in short you can have all your 3 meals plus 2 time snacks with tea or coffee or pure milk at no expense, all in these langars. We all were thinking what the hell to do, our only aim was to visit “holy cave” that’s the only thing we could see at that moment. How can we go back just like that after traveling so many kilometers, we thought. By the time I finished my food in noticed Maggu and Nath were not around. I looked here and there but couldn’t find them. I asked Raman where the hell are they and he told me they have left. I was shocked, how come they left us without telling us and where the hell they have gone?, I shouted loudly. Raman said “oye don’t shout. They have left for yatra already. Now we will also leave one by one” I jumped like anything in excitement. After Maggu and Nath, Raman left too followed by Mamu. Me and Manu left in the end. We didn’t take the normal route rather we walked along the river and finally reached a point after few meters where no one can see us. As soon as we started climbing mountain we shouted together “bam bam bholeeee”. From here started the our 34 km trekking to the Holy Cave of Lord Shiva at exactly 12:30PM. This is how I can put our major halts.

PLACE	ALTITUDE		TOTAL DISTANCE
	MTRS	FEET
CHANDANWARI	2895	9500	0 KM
PISSU TOP	3377	11000	3 KM
SHESHNAG	3352	11730	14 KM
MAHAGANESH TOP	4276	14000	19 KM
PANCHTARNI	3657	12000	28 KM
SANGAM	-	-	31 KM
HOLY CAVE	3952	13000	34 KM

Pissu Top
From Chandanwari(9500feet) one climbs a height of 1500 feet to reach Pissu Top(11000feet). The climb to Pissu-top is very steep, one begs for more oxygen on this first stage of trekking. It’s a rocky narrow lane alongside the stream Liddar and surrounding were really enchanting, in the cool ambience like that of the shade of Lord’s holy feet. While we just started the trekking we saw Nath and Maggu coming down, we asked them and they answered that they are scared to climb up such height so they are going back where car was parked. I tried to convince them but they were not ready. It is said that only those devotees can visit Shiva’s holy abode who are called upon by the Lord himself. I thought in myself that may be Maggu and Nath are still not invited by Lord so I told them to wait and will see them after 3 days. By saying this we again started our journey. We met Raman and Mamu at Pissu Top where we took rest for a while, had water, cold drinks and commenced again. We completed our first 3 kms in one hour.
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Sheshnag
After Pissu Top the trek was more or less smooth, with steep downwards. On the way to Sheshnaag we also halted at a BSF post where we rested again. We were offered warm drinking water by the jawans and also a cup of tea. We lay on grass for some time and moved on again. While enjoying heart stealing beauty of mountains, rivers, water falls and amazing nature we reached Sheshnaag, a mountain which derives its name from its Seven Peaks, resembling the heads of the mythical snake. The Journey to Sheshnag follows steep inclines on the right bank of a cascading stream and wild scenery untouched by civilization. The view of the Sheshnaag lake is magnificent. It is said that no one have ever measure depth of this lake. It was 5:30 PM and we thought to spend our night in the tents at Sheshnaag which were near another BSF base which overlooks the deep blue waters of Sheshnag lake, and glaciers beyond it.. We approached Major of the post who helped us getting tents free of cost. We had our meals at a langar and slept at about 8Pm so that we can start early morning again

DAY 9 Maha Ganesh Top
One climbs up to height of 3300 feet in 4.6kms to MahaGanesh Top(14000) or MG top. The climb is even steeper than that of Pissu Top. But we were still in high spirits, while hailing Lord Shiva with “bam bam bhole” we climbed up MG top walking through rocky pathways and over glaciers which was simply amazing. It is very important to note here that climate at such attitude changes drastically. So one should be ready with most of the stuff that can keep him warm like heavy jackets, monkey caps and gloves etc. Also required is sun screen lotion which helps avoid sun burns. We reached Poshpatri where we had our breakfast with tea at a well organized langar.

Panchtarni
After Poshpatri we descended to the meadow lands of Panchtarni at a height of 12000 ft. Here one faces cold winds, which cause the skin to crack. Hence cold cream / Vaseline are very useful for protection of skin. Panchtarni is a very beautiful place in the feet of BHAIRAV MOUNT. Five Rivers flow here. It is said that the five rivers originated from Lord Shiva's Hairs. We again took a halt over here and had our lunch. We took long break here as it was sunny and the heat was giving rest to our whole body. From this point it is high steep. The path looked very smooth gradient so we started walking while enjoying side by flowing river in the valley. Pretty soon we saw the climb that goes to the peak of a mountain. It appeared there was hardly any energy left to climb such a height and tired legs were retarding too. But lovely Lord was calling, once again with “bam bam bhole” we climbed up the mountain. BSF jawans were also encouraging us with all they can do.

Sangam
After being on the top of peak, the route was less steeper and after a km or so there was another path joining this one, which comes from Baltal. The point is called sangam as 3 rivers from different directions meet here and move towards Baltal. Just after crossing a curve at this point we saw view of Holy Cave of Lord Shiva. From here steep was not high. Most of the time we walked over glacier under which a stream was running as a branch from river Amravati, which was coming from the direction of Holy Cave.

The Holy Cave
After walking 3KMS from Sangam we reached Holy Cave at 5PM. The magnificent sight of Holy Cave took all our tiredness away. We rented a full tent which has got capacity of 10 people actually just in RS 200. We rested for a while had tea inside the tent and than had lunch at a langar near by. I would like to tell you here that on our way from Chandanwari to Sangam we didn’t find even single pilgrim who was visiting the Holy Cave but after Sangam there were hundreds of them coming from Baltal. Raman and me decided to pray at Holy cave, it was about 5:45PM and thought that we will pray again in the morning. I was wearing only a half sleeves t-shirt with my denims and my Levi’s cap. Everyone was staring at me as if I was wearing such less clothes in a freezing temperature and such high altitude. As we reached stairs to the Holy Cave CRPF jawans on duty stopped us and said we cant pray after 6PM. I asked him why and he answered its just a rule, the cave is closed at this time. I started requesting him while there were some others too who were willing to go and pray. At the same time people were commenting on my “summer outfits” which I was wearing at a freezing temperature. While a lady called me Iron-man another old man asked me if I have come from Mount Everest. I replied to him that I am actually coming from Alaska. My main concentration was to pray in Holy Cave and soon our request turned into argument as I saw few people climbing up stairs near the cave. I told the jawans that its bad on their part, they were allowing few people to visit the cave while stopping the others. Later he told us that we can pray only in morning now and Cave will be opened after 6AM. We returned to our tent where Mamu and Manu were waiting. We took rest in the tent for few hours and started gossiping. It was about 6:45PM when it started to rain and the rent of same tent was now RS 1000. We started singing songs loudly in the tent in a common voice which irritated Mamu after which Manu and me went for dinner in same langar. There we heard few people talking that Cave will be closed for general Public next morning as Governor of J&K is visiting the place. I was shocked how would it happen to us. Is it that we have to wait for another day to pray in the Holy Cave? Manu was tensed too, and so were Raman and Mama when they learnt about this. After a quick thinking I added that Governor is not an idle person who will visit cave early in the morning. Moreover, that CRPF jawan assured me that we can visit Cave early morning, and the way I have bashed him, he wont lie to me. We finally made up our mind that we will pray in the Cave as early as possible.

Day – 10 Holy Cave
We woke up at 5AM left the tent, took bath in warm water which was available for RS50 per bucket by some greedy local people. At about 6:45 we climbed up steps where the same CRPF jawan was standing whom I bashed, he smiled at me and did my security checking. We deposited our cameras there as they were not allowed. Finally, we felt close to Lord Shiva, the place I was dreaming to visit since years. My mouth uttered bam bam bhole and Om namah Shivaye. Morning time is the best time to pray Lord Shiva in his Holy Cave, also special prayer is done by pujari only at evening and morning time. I felt blessed as I got chance to pray at auspicious time. Most of the people(about 60-70) climbed up commonly used stairs while we climbed up stairs through which we were suppose to get down. But that mistake was worth. Inside the cave we witnessed about 8 feet tall Shiv Lingam, in front of which there was railing dividing the cave into two. People who climbed up common stairs were standing on the right f the railing while we along with Pujari and one couple were standing on the left. We were closest to the Shiv Lingam. We prayed there for half an hour. I was thinking…..this is the place where Lord Shiva sits, the place where Lord Shiva narrated story of immortality to Parvati Ji. We were now totally free, relaxed, blessed. We had our breakfast from a nearby langar along with tasty elaichi milk. We decided to take different route back via Baltal which is 16kms from Holy Cave. Though it’s a short cut but more steeper. I wanted to experience both ways so I insisted to get down via Baltal. We left the place at 12PM and reached Baltal at 3PM. That was real quick. After our lunch we started looking for a cab which can drop us at Chandanwari which is 200Kms away. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any. But this was part of adventure again. We took lift in army truck till Sonamarg and from Sonamarg to Kangna, Kangna to Srinagar, Srinagar to AnantNag and finally Anantnag to Pahalgam we came by 4 different shared cabs. It was scary but adventurous at same time. We spent our night in a lodge at Pahalgam and met Nath and Maggu waiting for us at Chandanwari next morning.

Day 11
Return from Chandanwari We returned back to Chandigarh after spending night at Jammu, reached Chandigarh on day 12th.

BAM BAM BHOLE
OM NAMAH SHIVAYE

The Unforgettable Kashmir Trip - 1

Day 1

We started from chandigarh on 14^th June 2007 spending half of the day to buy different items which included liquor, fags, beverages, soda, some dry snacks, medicines, crockery, an ice container and blah blah. At about 2 PM we finally gathered at Mohit’s place in Sec 22. After Shelly(the driver) was sure that all the luggage is properly tied to the luggage stand, we finally started setting up the “stuff” we wud need on the way ;)

Well, though I thought I wont disclose in detail what all the stuff we bought, but on second thought am doin it now:

Ahem ahem……so liquor…….contained one carton(12 bottles) of Royal Challenge, 1 Carton(12 bottles again) of Kingfisher beer, 1 bottle Bacardi Reserva, a bottle of cordial, 2 cartons of soda, 1 carton of mineral water, approx 3 or 4 pet bottles of coke andddd…..i guess that’s it :p.

So, finally we took our respective seats and I thought yeeeeeoooowwwww……finally we are moving. But before Shelly could start the engine, Maggu and Nath(tanks of the group) thought of having few shots of RC(royal challenge) to make journey and the trip “auspicious” :D We all(except Shelly) had one peg of RC in orange juice??? Anyways, after this auspicious ceremony we left Chandigarh at 3:15PM. It’s too hot in June in North, plus the quick shot of RC was enough to make us sweat or should I say profusely. After an hour we reached Roopnagar. I still wonder why its called Roopnagar when I have never seen any Roopmati in whole town hahahahaa…..and not even Roopmata :D But anyways that’s not our concern. Our concern was the heat…….damn heat!! So what else could we do other than opening recently chilled beer ;) Unfortunately we didn’t have opener for the bottles. But thanks to our mamaji who was opening bottles quicker than one could open with an opener. We started calling him “opener mama” coz he opened the bottle and he did openening ceremony of drinking it first. Arrrghhh….another ceremony :P. After another one and a half hour we started feeling hungry. So we started looking for a road side dhaba(what could be better than this). While 4 of us were having beer our tanks were busy with their RC. In another 10 mins we finally found a dhaba on Nangal road just few kms from Roopnagar. It was just 5PM and too hot. We thought we can have some more beer but we realized that we finished our stock of 12 bottles already in 45 minutes ie from roopnagar to dhaba L

After finshing our lunch, we started again, singing, joking, dancing on bank of road, hooting in valleys and much more. Soon we were exhausted because our fuel(Beer) was over. We started looking for Kingfisher but we couldn’t find in that damn area.

A tip for beer lovers – The most vastly available beer on this route is Thundebolt and Guru, one may find Froster at some places but that too rare. So if you are into your own brand of beer or any liquor don’t forget to carry it with you keeping in law in mind coz you cant carry above a certain limit (which we crossed though) or else….. compromise with whatever. That’s what we did, we bought Froster instead of kingfisher, but as they say “Beggars are not chosers”. We Reached Manali at 10 PM which was just quicker actually, after all there were many long breaks on the way. There is a check post just before you enter Manali, actually a Toll Tax Post where you are charged with RS 350 to enter the city. But thanks to Maggu, who with his jugaad saved our 350 bucks. As we entered the city by 10:30 we found no one on streets except some hotel agents and street dogs running after our car lolzzz……!!

We rented a hotel and as we were really tired aftr this long journey, we decided to hit the bed so that we could commence journey to Ladakh early morning. Hehehehe……ofcourse there was this last Good night drink ceremony.

Day 2

Manali to Darcha

Our journey from Chandigarh to Manali was smooth, good broad roads, availability of basic amenities on the way was at large, route was through small-populated towns and yea, good mobile network too.

When we woke up, it was already raining heavily, weather was far better than best…..it was chilled…!! As the weather protested, 3 of us took bath while others dry cleaned themselves. By the time I came out after bath our “tanks” along with mamu were eating pranthas in such a hurry as if some nuclear war is going to break and they wont get those pranthas again. So it was very obvious that in such condition they were also enjoying their dear RC. Now smart readers can make out easily that who dry cleaned and who tuk bath hehehee… Anyways, rest of us had our breakfast in a small but nice tibetian restaurant just under the hotel building, food was too good and tasty. I was shocked to see variety in menu of such restaurant. Well we almost left the hotel at about 9:30AM though we planned to leave by 7AM.

I would like to tell you here something that Manali is at height of 6282 feet ASL while Rohtang, which was our last known place on that route, is at height of 13,050 feet ASL. No one among us had gone to any place beyond Rohtang, tho we learnt that we have to reach Sarchu by evening, where we were supposed to spent night in tents. Sarchu is 235 kms from Manali via Rohtang, Keylong, Jispa and Baralacha la pass. Total distance from Manali to Leh is 473 Kms. For time being our destination is Sarchu.

Since it was long distance in steep hills, we decided to fill up car’s fuel tank to full position to avoid any inconvenience later. We also checked every other aspects like air pressure, break oil, engine oil, breaks and stuff since we knew that the road ahead is really rough. Cars with low or normal ground clearance are not at all recommended on this route. SUV’s with 4wd are best. It was still raining, am not sure but temperature must not be above 4 or 5 deg C. As soon as we left me and Mohit opened our much awaited Bacardi reserva, no one else was seem interested in white rum which was actually good for both of us. We started having it with cordial and soda which helped us bringing up our body temperature. Journey continued through himalayas and its scenic beauty. On the half-way from Manali to Rohtang is a tourist spot Marhi. We took a break there for light snacks which after a while was converted into heavy lunch. We danced a lot on the raod on the famous Punjabi track “Batua”. There is no network coverage by any service provider beyond this point nor you will find any PCO.

We reached Tandi after some time, where we got our car refilled again coz there is no filling station ahead till Upshi which is few kilometers before Leh. Crossing Rohtang pass and covering more miles with jokes, laughter, songs, dance, music and blah blah we reached Keylong. Keylong is headqurater of Lahul & Spiti district. We took a tea break in a cheap dhaba of some retired army man. Everything available there was really pathetic, we thought not do more experimentation on food there and left the place. It was already about 5 PM and we were late, it was quite sure that we wont be able to reach Sarchu. In Keylong there is a guest house of Himachal Tourism but we decided to move ahead. Jispa was the next town where we found an isolated but nice hotel near river Chandra. The hotel is beautifully located in lap of snow covered mountains. It was already 7 PM and we thought we will spent night in this hotel only. As we stepped out of car, super chilled waves welcomed us and we all started to shiver like anything. We all took out our jackets and went inside the hotel. But budget was also our primary aspect and that isolated but beautiful hotel was beyond our budget. A standard room was for 3000 bucks for a night. We left the place in vain moved in our car. It was getting dark and there was no sign any light or electricity as far as our eyes can see. We were moving slowly and carefully and noticed that next town Darcha is only few miles away. As Sarchu was still away, Darcha was our final destination of the day. The milestone on road was counting down for Darcha and as soon as we saw 1km, our eyes started hunting for some accommodation. We finally saw some lights at a distance but still we were not able to see any building or hotel as such. As we went nearer we saw some local Dhabas and few trucks parked aside road. We crossed that place and stopped car to ask some local people about hotel and Darcha as we thought main town must be ahead but could hardly see anything. We were surprised to know that the dhabas we crossed is Darcha itself and there is no town ahead till Sarchu, which was still long way to go. We asked a lady outside dhaba(who actually owned it) if accommodation is available and we were glad to hear “yes”. We stepped inside dhaba and found few sets of tables and chairs in the middle. On the left side was kitchen. There were single beds on periphery of dhaba which were neat, clean and beautifully decorated. I was amazed to see that lady’s presentation. It was just RS 50 per bed for that cozy place. it was really cold and time was 8:30 PM. Maggu and mamu enough tired and “tight” fell asleep as soon as they got bed. Rest of us decided to have some tea which was luckily very tasty. So we were safe to do more experimentation on food as we were hungry. We ordered magi, dal and chapatti which pleased our taste buds. When I sneakily looked into the kitchen, I found that all this food was being cooked by owners daughter, she was beautiful and pretty. So the taste was obvious ;). Raman was already fida on her and he started asking her some funny questions like “are their any schools here?” she said yes and he asked “do kids study over there?” “are their any lions in this area?” and he was asking continuously. I taunted him by saying that tomorrow only 5 of us will go to Leh, Raman is planning to spent rest of his life here. Well after finishing our meals, we decided to hit the bed so as to commence our journey again early morning. I would like to add here that were was no electricity, mobile network and telephone lines in Darcha.

Day 3

Darcha to Leh

We woke up at about 5AM in morning. It was ice cold outside. I woke up Shelly so that he can get fresh and we can leave for Leh at the earliest. Likewise I woke up everyone else too, including pretty dhaba owner so that she can make some ass kicking strong tea. Water was so cold that my face was almost frozen when I splashed water on it to wash. Some of us went near bank of river for “loo”. I preferred staying back coz I cudnt imagine what that ice cold river water cud do to my ass. The guys who went came back quickly saying “bc……bahut thand hai yaar”.

“aapko ab pata chala hai….bc…” I replied

manu said “abbey, dhoyi bhi nahi gayi g**nd”

I said “to saale, patthar se saaf kar leta”. We all laughed and than sat for another cup of tea.

Finaly we left that cozy and cheap dhaba, it was a wonderful night altogether. What we witnessed ahead was amazing. But before that I would like to tell you that now the road was even worse, there was time when our car went through 1 feet of water, sometimes on big rocks and sometimes through small glaciers which was though really adventurous.

It was all lonely road, not sign of any person or any other vehicle. It seemed like we are in another world.

After climbing some height now roads were much better, nice built smooth roads. I looked at a beautiful snow covered mountain and was wondering if we can reach there.

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After few more miles we reached at a point which was just wonderful. I stopped the car and all start running towards the glacier though a smaller one. We hardly took 10 steps and we all were gasping. There was acute shortage of oxygen and now we could realize how its like without air we breathe. The site was simply amazing, we clicked some pictures as shown below and than we moved on in car.

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But nature was still ready to give us surprise. I realized that the peak that I could see few miles back was just in front of us. That “pass” is named as “baralacha-la pass”. I am wondering whom name it must be. We were on top of the mountain and felt as if we are on top of the world. The pass is located at 4870 meters which is 15,900 feets ASL. The world Baralach means ‘a pass with cross roads’. The pass has roads coming from Zanskar, Ladhakh, Spiti and Lahaul. This pass is known to be 2^nd highest motorable pass in Asia.

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Moving on from Baralacha we reached a road side dhaba, it was similar to one we stayed over night. We had paranthas, magi, coffee, omlette, daal etc. we tasted almost everything that was available in the dhaba. The food was simple but good enough for ur taste buds. We met some motor cyclist from Delhi at that place with whom we exchanged our experiences. I was so jealous of them and decided that next time we will make the same tour on bikes. Its quite risky but really adventurous.

Our next stop was Pang, which again consists of small dhabas and some tourist camps. Pang is situated at a height of 4950 meters above sea level. Food over here was not as good as in Darcha or Baralacha. We took a longer break there, I tried to places for food and finally gave up and had some kurkure with cold drink only. We decided to move on but we were feeling so much relaxed under tents which were warm inside & soon another “ceremony” started.

Not wasting much time we left the place. Next town was Sarchu. It’s a military base plus there is good provision of Delux tourist tents at dat place. Most of the the trekkers and tour operators stay in these deluxe tents. We were still on the way to Leh set out for via the La Chungla pass, which is situated at a height of 5000 meters ASL. From Pang, you will cover a distance of 57 km before reaching the Tang-Lang-La pass, which is at a height of 5378 meters above sea level, the highest pass in the world with metalled road. You will also drive through many picturesque villages before arriving at Leh.

Just 45 kms before Leh is Upshi. Upshi is the main checking centre for tax, police etc. Good campsite available. Upshi is not of much siginificance for us except that our driver Shelly insisted us to rent a room and stay in upshi only rather going ahead. We all were wondering what made him say so because we were just 1 hour away from Leh and it was just 7:30 PM. He told us that he aint well and couldn’t drive anymore. Rather than renting a room there Maggu decided to drive the car and we left for Leh.

On arriving Leh at about 8:45 PM we started looking for a hotel. Since it was dark we couldn’t see much of the city plus we were too tired to roam around. We booked 2 rooms in a small hotel………………… Hotel Ping Pong.

Day 4

Visit to Monasteries

After our breakfast at a nice Tibetan Restaurant we planned rest of our trip. We cut short our trip by 2 days dues to some unavoidable reasons which is not worth mentioning here.

Leh is the best place for adventure which we found out from different sources. One can enjoy mountaineering, trekking, river rafting, camping and much more. One actuallu need at least 2weeks to enjoy all this. There are also sites worth seing like Khardung-la pass and Pangong Lake. We skipped these though.

We decided to visit few monasteries which took one whole day full of fun. We visited Thiksey where you can see the biggest Buddha statue. After that we took break in village Upshi, where we had little snacks and drinks on bank of a river. We moved to the most revered and richest monastery of Ladakh, The Hemis. On way back to Hotel we visited Shey monastery, the summer palace of royal family. Moreover, the residence of his holiness the Dalai Lama is situated right in front of the palace. Shey is ancient capital of Ladakh.

After some beer and snacks in evening we later moved back to our hotel. We were very much tired of eating hotel food since 4 days so decided to have something different in Dinner. After much though Maggu decided to cook chicken himself with permission from hotel in their kitchen. We bought about 2kg of raw chicken and Maggu cooked it himself, along was ordered friend rice. By that time we started enjoying our drinks. It was really cold night and we all were stuffed inside our jackets but still shivering. Drinking session took long, so was cooking. By the time chicken came, Nath and Mamu were already sleeping. And by the time rice came Maggu also slept without even having a single piece of chicken while we were licking our fingers over it. We were joined by an Israeli couple which also tasted our dish along with wine. I left soon too.

Day 5- Leh to Dras

We left for Srinagar in the morning. It’s pretty sad to leave place like Leh so soon coz there is a lot more to do. I have decided that I will visit that place again whenever I will get a chance. There is not much to write about the route to Srinagar except that we go through picturesque villages, mountains, rivers and valleys. Srinagar is 435 kms from Leh. The raod goes through Lamayuru Monastery. Route also includes beautiful Zanskar Range and Zozilla pass. One of the most populated city on this route is Kargil. Kargil is a place where people of multi- ethnic, multi-languish, multi- cultural are living in.

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Kargil is also of political significance too. July 26, 1999 will go down in the annals of Indian history as a day when the determined Indian forces achieved a glorious victory over the retreating Pakistani army on icy heights of this place. We crossed this place during ceasefire between Indian and Paki army, otherwise a lot of cross firing and bombarding takes place in this region across LoC. We had some snacks and tea at this place and moved forward and after covering 60kms we reached Dras. It has become famous as the second coldest inhabited place in the world by virtue of the intense cold that descends upon the valley alongwith repeated snowfall during winter. It has also become famous because of the famous victory over Tiger Hill during the above mentioned Kargil War. There are 2 good hotels in Dras. One of them was charging quite high as compared to their dirty un-maintianed rooms. The other was JKTDC’s which was full. We managed to get 2 rooms neat n clean at an affordable price in a local lodge. We were told to leave Dras as early as possible to avoid some security checkings early in morning. We left the place next day at about 5:30AM.

Day 6 – Dras to Srinagar

Road from Dras to Srinagar goes through Zojilla Pass, it is called the Himalayan gateway to Ladakh. The beauty of Himalayas here is breath taking. I cant describe its beauty in words so u better see some pics.

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On reaching Srinagar at 11:30AM we took a Shikara in famous Dal Lake to look for some nice accommodation in a house boat. After much searching and bargaining we finally rented a full house boat equivalent to a full 2BHK flat. I must say it was better than a 2BHK flat.

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After getting ready and a “mini-ceremony” we left the houseboat to roam around city. There are a lot of places in Srinagar worth seeing but due to shortage of time we decided to see what we felt worth. As we were tired first thing we did was “lake tour” on shikaras. It was fun ride on shikaras, we also drive it on our own with chappu. This 1 hour ride took away all our tired ness and we were feeling fresh as never before. The shikara guy dropped us in a park knows as Nehru Garden situated in middle of lake where I thought to do water skiing. It was 6PM and the motor boat wala refused to give me ride coz as they said they didn’t have permission for water skiing after 6PM. After much request he agreed and gave me life jacket. I thought I don’t need this jacket, Manu also added same. But on second thought I wore it. Boat was all set to take me into the lake, I stepped on the floating board and held the ropes firmly. Boat engine started and I dunno what the hell went wrong but instead of moving forward, the floating board sank in the lake ofcourse along with me. Though water at that particular place was only 4 to 5 feet deep but still I thought I did good by wearing a life jacket. People around were watching me sinking and also laughing at same time. When I came out of lake I was laughing too.

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I again give it a try and this time it was all right after which we went to local market on our car, the famous Lal Chowk. This place is famous for two things: 1^st…it’s a central market where you can buy almost everything and 2^nd many of the terrorist’s attacks take place at this place. Its a vulnerable area from security point of view. We also saw some buildings in this place having bullet marks on its wall. Infact, I must add that whole Srinagar seems like some cantonment area. You can see security checks, army, CRPF, bunkers, patrolling jeeps at every corner of the city.