Manali-Leh-Kargil-Srinagar

Nubra Valley, the high altitude desert near Leh, you can see sand dunes and snow peaks in one frame.

Trip Taken July 2010

Adeventures like this one look so much more fun on paper than they really are! Take this trip, for example. The itenerary said: Fly from Hyderabad to Delhi. Then take a car from Delhi to Manali; 600kms but windy uphill roads about 2/3rds of the way so it took 14 hrs drive time in a car, the Himachal tourism bus took about 16 hrs (one of the people in the group came a day later in that bus). Moving along… Then drive from Manali to Leh Ladakh. We heard so many things about that drive. Then drive from Leh to Srinagar. Now that I think back, not one of the people I talked to were very descriptive nor forthcoming with information. Learning along those lines, I will expand on that for a bit, then. So the drive from Manali to Srinagar is roughly 1000km, from Delhi to Srinagar 1500km.

It is true that the drive from Manali to Leh is the the most beautiful and mesmerising drive of my life, and I have been to many wonderful places. Yet the facts are simple: you are basically driving through the Himalayas. Don’t underestimate the raw stength of something just because it is beautiful and amusing – that’s the main lesson I learnt from the mighty mountains. The drive is slow and rough. At an average of 15km per hour or less, places look close on the map but take for ever to get to. We started in Manali at 3pm. The road was fine, actually that would be considered great looking back at the whole trip, until Kopsar, and that part of the drive from Manali to Kopsar took us 1.5hrs. Then Kopsar to Keylong, our night stop, is 45kms. That road home took us 4.5hrs! We passed Rotang pass at around 6:30pm. There is nothing that interesting at the pass except that it is a high elevation point from which you can get a nice view of the road we travelled and the mountains below.

Ever changing stone formations all along the way

Keylong is basically a sleepy town, as all of them are, all towns inbetween are very small. Everyone knows every one else. The people are nice and helpful. They will help you find a place even if they have no rooms available. We stayed at Nordaling Guest house. It was clean, had a geyser for hotwater, and help with the luggage. I think it was a bit more expensive than should have been but we changed our schedule last minute. With no meals included, it cost us Rs.2000 for three rooms for five people. Is that too cheap? I don’t know. But I do know you can get it for less in small towns like that.

That driving style, time and speed would set the tone for the rest of the trip. Next morning, we started off at Kelong at 7am. That was a big mistake. If you get lazy and don’t get started at the crack of dawn, you will pay the dues by the end of the day. Early to bed, early to rise.. the rule of the jungle works in trips like this. The drive is 110km, pure ghat road, great mountains, high elevations. With no lunch break, the drive took us 8hrs and we got to Sarchu about 3pm. We were supposed to stay in Sarchu that night. But after Keylong, I thought Sarchu was a little town with buildings, some kind of permanent structure that indicated a town. So as we passed by a bunch of camp sites and signs that indicated we are in Sarchu,and I kept my eyes peeled for a building or two, including the name of our hotel. The camp sites came and went, a bridge came and went, a few more camp shops came and went. And then the scenery changed to a barren range of mountains again. No more Sarchu? We stopped and asked a truck driver. He said the camp sites were Sarchu. Darn! So we were past that by almost an hour. The next town, the only town betweent Sarchu and Leh, is Pang. It is 70km from Sarchu, on ghat roads, that is atleast a 4hr drive.

A "pass", which is the top of a mountain, snow piled either side

In a case like this, I made the call that it was better to move forward than to go back and forth. So we proceeded to Pang. Again, this is a town of around a dozen tents, mostly food and basic beds in each large tent, to serve travellers. They are nomadic people. The town is on high plains next to a small military campus and exists and is created by the nomads, only for 3-4 months out of the year. The food is very basic, the accomodation minimal. It’s freezing cold too so don’t forget a sleeping bag. Given all this, one better be prepared for a rugged trip, in shape physically and mentally. Whining won’t help, fussing about won’t build a hotel. This is the the great Himalayas, as God created it, to make us stand in awe and fear of the vastness and indifference of this natural wonder. All the beautiful scenes of green mountains with low hung clouds creating a most romantic set up for a song and dance, the shapes and colors of different stones as the ranges change form and the romance of it all disappear when most of us face uncomfortable situations. The trick here is to will yourself to be tough, take something from the rough ranges into yourself. Else you become too easy a target for nature and it will bring you to your knees, sick, tired, crying and resenting the idea of the adventure. As I said, this is as much a mental game as it is a physical challenge. Sarchu to Pang was the most difficult drive, the most beautiful one thus far and at the highest point of road reached to over 16,500ft. Pang itself is over 14,500ft.

We ate and slept in a hurry. Four out of five of us threw up atleast once that night. Two out of the four were sick all night and got no sleep. To be on the safe side, not knowing what combination of elements were taking their toll, we hit the road at the crack of dawn, 5am, to Leh so that we could be near a hospital in case things got bad. The distance from Pang to Leh is about 175km, the road stays tough as usual for half the distance, but greatly improves in the second half. So we got to Leh late afternoon around 3pm.

Thiksey Monastery, Leh

There are plenty of hotels in Leh. It is truely the commerce centre there and the centre of tourism in that region. We stayed at a nice, clean hotel with minimal necessities like hotwater and clean beds, although there was no heat. If you want a heater, that will cost an extra Rs200 per day and it is a gas heater so you will have to put up with the smell. Since people were not acclamated yet, we decided to change the itenerary around and give us a day of local sight seeing first, then a day of rafting. Local places worth seeing are the Thiksey Monastery, Stok palace (you will miss the fun in this if you are not willing to hike up to the delapitated palace and discover old wonders the hard way), Hemis monastery and the downtown of Leh itself.

Confluence of Zanskar river and Indus River, the venue of our white water rafting

Rafting was great. It was a scene out of some movie, Lord of the Rings comes to mind, with the canyon feel and a river cutting through it. 32km over three hours in a wet suit and life jacket in the sun has got to make one tired. The rapids are about a grade three, average and not too bad. It isn’t too hot in July on the waters, especially if you get wet, then you start to feel a little chilly too. Food was provided by the rafting company, “Wet and Wild”. The excursion, including the drive there and back, is about six hours, which pretty much takes the day. All there is to do after that is walk around the Tibetan stores in the evening and do some shopping for handicrats and other nick nacks.

Then, we left for Nubra Valley the following day. That is where the Bactrian camels are in the high altitude desert. I heard that; I couldn’t have imagined it though. It didn’t make sense to see sand dunes, camels and snow peaks in one picture frame. The drive took us all day only because we were stuck at an accident where a truck turned over at a curve for over 2 hours. It was extremely hot and the sun drained me of any enthusiasm and energy I had musterd that morning heading out. I really wanted to turn back and sleep in a comfortable bed in Leh, but thanks to my fellow travelers’ insistance, we moved on past the incident and reached the Hundur guest house at 3:30pm again. It was a beautiful guest house, with its own extensive vegetable garden and flower garden. It was a welcome quiet and retrospective evening and an opportunity to refuel my mind and body.

Early the next day we headed out for the camel ride into the dunes. Before we left Hundur, we set out to explore a couple of small gumpas (small Buddhist temples) on top of a mountain, where the road ends into the border military check post. That was an active hike, not too bad at all, and completely worth what I saw in the monasteries. The old wall paintings are always mystical to me, the outside of these gumpa’s are so unassuming that the wonders they hold inside hits you harder because of the gold and other prime colors. It is also a wonderful view from the top.

Flowers at our Nubra Valley guest house

The camel ride was fun. It is a photo op if there ever was one: snow peakes, sand dunes perfectly staged, camels with fur on their knees and double humps, and me riding alone. Ok. So not exactly alone, I had a guy to lead the horse. And I had my friend along with me. But they are fun pictures to show around, so we spent 15min out of the 30min camel ride taking good pictures. That being done, we headed back to Leh. Oh, and by the way, on the drive between Leh and Nubra comes the highest motorable pass in the world, Kahrdongle Pass at 18,500 ft. So you go from desert to snow peaks in freezing cold and frozen high altitude lakes, then back into warm Leh.

There are two lakes worth seeing near Leh. Both are around five hour drive each way. One is Pangong Lake and the other is Tsongo Lake. While Pangong is the more popular one and is seen in many movies, locals claim Tsongo is a much more beautiful lake and holds more meaning to the people there. Accordingly, there are plenty tourists at Pangong Lake, a small contributing factor being it is an hour less drive each way than Tsongo Lake. That is the information I have!

Our stay at Ladakh came to an end as of July 13th morning. So we packed up and headed west towards our final destination, Srinagar. Leh to Srinagar is about 485km, so we knew that drive would be a two day drive especially with sight seeing to do all along the way. And some the beautiful places there were along the way. Don’t miss Alchi monastery and Lamayuru Monastery. There is a decent restaraunt at Lamayuru and a motel incase you need an overnight stay. I don’t know the price but this is just in case something happens and that is how far you get on the way to Kargil which is usually a 7-8hr drive anyway. Including the stopping points and another traffic accident which blocked the roads for almost two hours, we took about 12 hours to get to our guest house in Mulbekh, a small town about 30km before Kargil. These places seem better than a town like Kargil at stop over points for me. They are cheap, peaceful and warm service when all you need is a shower, food and a bed at a good price before heading out the next morning.

River runs under glaciers, and nomads who liv there walking across it.

So back into the car and on the road towards Srinagar at 5:30am. The roads are a tease. They are bad long enough to make you tired of them by this point in the trip, then they get good suddenly and the life along with hope comes back into you, then when your body is thanking you for not shaking it from side to side anymore, it goes right back to ghat hilly roads. We passed the Amarnath Yatra at Phelgam, ate lunch and did some sight seeing at Sonamarg, switched cars (actually, they transferred us) and drove into Srinagar right at sunset. Sometimes, the little things just come along and it’s not until later that I am glad I was there in that moment, and it made for some great pictures that could not be repeated.

I learnt a lot about hostile cities, conflict zones, people played by politicians and how, beneath it all, life still goes on although cautiously. It was a bad time for Srinagar since the end of June. The curfew had been lifted days before we got there but now there was a “bandh” in progress, that means some people were protesting some political decision by forceably shutting down business. Interesting. So, if you get mad, shoot your foot off was what they were doing. With the local economy at a halt, all they were doing was hurting each other’s livlihood, keeping most tourists away which brought in a lot of money since this was the prime time of the year. It was laughable. Whose ever idea this was, it wasn’t a great one. Time and money lost ain’t never coming back. I should have left them a banner saying so!

Dal Lake, Srinagar, ad the evening Shikara rides

Still, we stayed at one of the nicest boat houses in a quiet area looking out at the Dal lake; its water lily gardens, see weeds, birds of all kinds, the people of the lake, and the normal activities around them unaffected by the land locked lunatics. The thing to do was to become one of the lake people and set out discovering each corner of the lake on a Shikara, a decorated canoe that a man rows gracefully. Dal lake is 70sqkm and filled with romantic corners. Great. Me and my female companion got into a Shikara, both wishing the other was a nice cute guy, not a home girl, and set sail starting at 4:30am for the flower and vegetable floating market.

The owner of the house boat was gracious enough to send us our own personal guide, his son. My other two companions were in a second Shikara. We went to the mosque on Friday, they cooked a great meal for us in the back of the boat (don’t ask me how he managed that so well, I don’t know), took us to a paper mache factory, through small canals with tree canopies, and a sunset cruise in the middle of the lake where people gather to relax and lovers come to enjoy the sunset.

And then there is the reality of India-Pakistan border

Other things to do around Srinagar are Nishat Bagh and tulip gardens. The rest of them, Pari Mahal, Mughal Gardens etc were kind of a waste of time, really. It would have been nice to be able to walk along the road by the lake in the evening and have some corn and other Indian treats, but even the locals abandoned their local spots and so we ran back onto the safety of the water.

The last thing that was on our itenerary that had to be deleted because of the situation in Srinagar was a day trip to Gulmarg and another day trip to Pahalgam. Instead, we took a trip to Sonamarg which is closer and seemed nice enough.There is horse riding is there, although it is expensive, but they take you all the way up to the glacier on top of the mountain. It is about as touristy an area as you can imagine in such remote places, so anything you touch, including a glass of tea, is expensive. One gets to see a lot of mountain communities, nomads, and their lifestyles in the country up and down the mountains. It is quite interesting, actually. It is hard selling in these regions, and hard core bargaining. My friend got a Pashmina scarf that started at a price of Rs2100 for Rs850!!! “How much is it really worth?”, she asked, confused that she actually got it for such a ridiculous price. Ultimately, these things are worth what you think they are, so if you have the guts to ask for a price, do it, you may get it!!

Rafting : Mukesh Joshi at www.wetnwild.in, +91-96229-67632, +91-94198-19721

Keylong Guesthouse: Mr Sonam at Nordaling@yahoo.com, +91-94180-45394

Dal Lake House Boat: Mustafa Goosani at kashmirtreat@rediffmail.com, +91-99067-37635

All rules written in Sikkim blog apply for high altitude, cold areas. Or else surrender yourself to the whim and fancy of mother nature and get tested, don’t complain! And here’s two new important additions to tips and things to look out for in Kashmir:

1. Since it is a conflict zone and a terrorist area, cell phones from outside Kashmir may or may not work at any time as part of security precautions. My SMS was cut off the whole time and calls sometimes. Any phone reception only happens in Leh, Kargil and Srinagar. Mostly, BSNL works better than any other.

2. Pre paid cell phones will not ever work in Kashmir. Security reasons. Makes sense!

3. The only two things you need a pass or entry permit for are Nubra Valley and Pangong Lake, since they are both border areas. My agent took care of that for me. I am an American passport and my friend Canadian. So don’t worry. Just give them the info they ask for on day one and they get it sone. There were plenty foreigners around us in these areas so we were not the exception, just the norm.

Cost of my trip including flight from Hyderabad to Delhi, 14 nights accomodation, car from Delhi to Srinagar (no public buses in between), rafting, food, water, flight back from Srinagar to Hyderabad, horse ride, Shikara for a day and tips along the way = Rs.40,000 per person.

www.ladakh-voyages.com, +91-99069-80298www.wetnwild.in, +91-96229-67632, +91-94198-19721