A Rock & Rolling Dream Road Trip To The Magical Heaven: Ladakh !!


Thread Starter #1
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This will probably be an XL size Travelogue like the size and length of the roadtrip we did from Bangalore (south India) to LADAKH (North India) !! The road to heaven ... covering nearly 10,000kms in about 3 weeks. Though I will be posting the details on my travelogue .. but I decided to post some key snapshots here as well as I promised before going for the trip.

Alright, so we just returned from our AWESOME road trip to heaven or a.k.a., LADAKH in technical terms :) and guys believe me it was reallllly an AWESOME experience throughout the journey. This is a trip which I will never forget and true that this is a must do trip before you die !! and if you can come back alive from there you can surely and I bet you will do it again. So, I plan to write the most possible details of the trip and that we remember for all of my blog readers to get an idea of what it was and if you plan to do this in future, this might help you. So, without any further delay here we go...

Read on further for

* Experiencing the thrill of driving to and in the Magical mountains of Ladakh region

* Viewing some breathtaking and stunning views of the Ladakh Valley, Greenery of Srinagar and the bone shattering rugged drives at the top of the mountain passes

* A Visit to the holy Golden Temple @ Amritsar, Punjab

* Taste some of the delicious food on the great Indian Highway Dhabas and Restaurants

* How and what to expect when you go to Ladakh !!

* See some places of interest en-route, and but not the least

* View loads and loads of Pictures and Videos of the entire drive

It might take me some good time to process the pictures so bear with me for a slow start and updates to this travelogue.

PRELUDE

I wanted to do this trip from past few years as I love landscape photography and heard form people that Ladakh is a true paradise for Landscape photographers. I started preparing myself and the first thing we would have needed is a good SUV to really enjoy the ride and successfully complete this trip and hence I bought Mahindra Scorpio after evaluating many of the mean machines available during that time (2011-12). Anyway, so the planning started and went on and on and on for months and years and finally we were all set for the trip in AUG 2014. I got the leaves approved from my kind enough boss who exactly knew what I'm intending to do and why 3 weeks of holiday :) but yes, the leaves got approved and I was soooo happy and excited that I couldn't believe we can finally go to Ladakh and that too in our own beloved SUV which was a dream till date.

I started planning and the big question was should we go from Bangalore to Ladakh by road or send the car to Delhi and drive down from Delhi.. but we opted for the Bangalore - Delhi - Ladakh drive and I guess was a very good and key decision to make. Now the question was to take the kids or not and I couldn't decide much ... so my kids decided that it will be with them or I'm not going. So a family that drives together stays together was the anthem for the entire drive :))

Preparations
And finally the date was fixed tentatively and it was approaching fast so we started preparing for the trip. I went through nearly all the forums (TAI, BHMotoring, DOW and various other websites) to collect all the data I could so that we are better prepared and have less surprises over there. It was very daunting task of collecting information from the forums, going through so many travelogues and reading so many different views, comments and opinions of people who have been there or wanted to go there. Finally I gave up and made up my mind that let's not confuse ourselves and just go for it.

Our good luck that someone got me linked to a person who was an angel for us in planning and executing this whole trip. HVK (HighWayKing) as he's known as in this world. HVK (Chief) helped us in planning the whole trip from itinerary to hotels to road route planning and almost everything what we would have needed for this trip. I spoke to him couple of times and had the entire thing planned to the minutest detail and believe me the trip was very successful because of his immaculate planning and help. Thanks a ton Chief !!

Alright so the route planned that got finalized after a lot of consideration and discussion with HVK with our preferences and comfort level was

Bangalore - Pune - Udaipur - Jaipur - Delhi - Amritsar - Srinagar - Kargil - Lamyuru - Leh - Tso Moriri - Manali - Hisar - Udaipur - Mumbai - Pune - Bangalore

Day wise itinerary was prepared for the entire trip (for about 3 weeks) so that we can enjoy the trip at leisure and also cover most of the key places that were of interest to us excluding most of the tourist places that we were not too interested to cover anyway. Our main areas of interest were places where we could do some off-roading and shoot as many good Landscapes as possible. I must admit that we wanted to spend as much time as possible in photography and enjoying the beauty and nature but.. there we a loads of challenges. Stay tuned to find out more ..
 
Thread Starter #5
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2~3 Weeks before the D-Day

Got my SUV serviced at the Mahindra Authorized Service Station at Bangalore and the vehicle was all set for the drive. Installed the rooftop luggage carrier which I had bought sometime back and also bought few add-ons as suggested by many people like

  • Tyre Tube
  • Extra Coolent
  • Engine Oil
  • Brake Oil
  • Jerry Can for carrying Extra Fuel
  • Jump start cable
  • Extra Fuses
  • TOW Rope
  • Fixed the rooftop luggage carrier
  • Waterproof luggage carrier cover
  • Tie ropes and harnesses
  • Belkin Power inverter and Car Chargers
  • USB Cables, Battery, iPOD, iPAD Chargers
Other stuff bought as essentials for the trip

  • Medicines like Diamox, Painkillers, First-Aid Kit, Move Spray and Ointmint
  • Mousquito repellent and cream
  • SunBlock cream
  • ORS and Enerzol
  • 60+ Litres of Mineral Water bottles (Most important for Ladakh Trip)
  • Instant Disinfectant spray
  • Camphor cube (helps in sickness from low Oxygen at High Altitude)
Key items in the baggage included

  • Clothes and other personal and essential items
  • Toiletteries
  • Heavy woolens for emergency and meeting any drastic changes in the weather
  • High Power Torch and Search light with extraaa batteries

Camera Kit Selecting what gear to take and what not was very confusing and challenging. The question was what is necessary and what can be avoided for this trip. I had to buy a loads of memory cards as I expected to take some good amount of photographs and videos so invested in some good amount of SD Cards. The SD Cards had to be bought as transferring to Hard Disk may not have worked as I heard form places and people that HDD's might not work and may crash at high altitudes. I had an option of buying a SSD or SDCards so opted for SDCards as it would serve me better in long run. Finally I decided the below gear to carry

  • Nikon D90 + D7100 with Extra Batteries
  • Nikor 18-105mm Lens
  • Nikor 35mm Lens
  • Nikor 55-300mm Lens
  • Tokina 11-16 UWA 2.8 Lens
  • Nikon SB700 Flash
  • Nikon AWS110 Waterproof Camera (for Videos)
  • Nikon P300 - P&S Camera
  • Apple MacBook Air 11" 128GB
  • Seagate 140GB HDD (for backup)
  • SanDisk Extreme and Pro Extreme SD Cards + Some more Lexar and Transcend ones for Video recordings
  • Remote triggers
  • Car DVR Camera to be mounted outside the car - Chinese make (Did not work though ... hhhh Chinese products)
  • R-Shoulder Strap + Crumpler Neopropane Strap
  • Car Mounts for installing DVR's
  • PELICAN Waterproof, Dustproof and Crashproof Case for a Safe trip

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Pelican case for safety of the gear and accessories

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My Gear & Arsenal

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My Gear and Arsenal

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Memory cards

One day before the D-Day

So we were all excited and all set for the trip. We loaded all the luggage and stuffed it in the SUV. Installed and mounted the camera in the car along with GPS, iPOD, iPAD, CD's, DVD's, USB Sticks with movies for kids etc.
 
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Thread Starter #6
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The D-Day - Day 1 - Friday AUG 16th
5AM - Woke up and got ready by 6AM performed a small pooja so that the drive is safe, took blessings of GOD and zoomed out of our sweet home. LADAKH WE ARE COMING was our slogan for next few days :)

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Our companion and trusted drive all set to drive us through multiple states, various cities and to the magical and torturous indian roads and mountains for next few weeks.

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The team of Adventurers. Me, my Sweet Daughter, my Naughty son and my beloved second half !!

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Speedometer set to zero and current reading recorded (21265kms) to track the total # of Kms I would be driving in this trip.

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And our GPS all set to take us to Ladakh and back home !!

By 6:10 AM we were out of the Apartment and on to the journey, all excited and charged up for the extraaa looong drive this time towards North India. We took NICE road towards NH4 and the early morning drive out of Bangalore was a breeze. The traffic on NICE road was average and Tumkur road/NH4 was also average that helped us zoom to Pune in about 11~12Hrs with couple of breaks in between.

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Our beast SUV posing for me :)

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Beautiful NH4

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595 KMS from our first Milestone, Pune

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Some temple on the NH4

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This is one of the sights you will see a lot on the Indian highways. People inside and outside the vehicle making sure you get the maximum out of your investment :)

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Beautifully tarred and maintained NH4. Even though it has been raining a lot these months, the condition of the road was pretty good.

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NH 4 near Hubli

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NH 4 near on the way to Pune

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Beautiful NH4 all the way to Pune

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Some institute en-route to Pune on NH4

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This was the result of Kaccha Mango sweets :)

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This is where we stopped for lunch. The food here is good if not very good. This is on the NH4 near Kohlapur.

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Beautiful NH4 all the way to Pune

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Tunnel just before entering Pune

We reached Pune around 6:30PM and stayed at my buddy's house which was near the Bangalore-Mumbai highway so that we don't waste anytime next day leaving the city.

Stay tuned ...
 
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Man your camera gears are similar to some soldier who is preparing before a war. Guns and ammos intact. Nicely written travelogue so far and nice pics. keep them coming.
 
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Woh!! Wonderful start [clap]

Waiting for the wonderful pictures and videos taken with the great lenses and of-course the on going episodes of the journey
 
Thread Starter #11
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Thanks all for appreciating. I'm working on getting the pictures into this forum that takes most of the time.

The pictures till now or rather till Srinagar were only taken from my Nikon P300 P&S in moving vehicle 90% or the time so bear with me on the quality. Stay tuned..
 
Thread Starter #12
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17th AUG 2013 - PUNE - Ahmedabad, 700kms - 10Hrs - 2 Breaks
At around 7AM we were all ready to hit the road, said good bye to my friend and we were on the Mumbai Expressway in no time.

Though it was raining on the expressway but it was no too hard to drive inspite of all the smog and icy roads 'coz of the heavy rains. We stopped for a tea break + breakfast in between on the expressway and to enjoy the lovely Wada-Pao's. The total cost of the breakfast - 150 :)

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All set for day 2 of the drive, fully charged after a steaming hot tea at my buddy's place

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Reading of 892.5 recorded from Bangalore to Pune

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Pune Mumbai Expressway

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Toll after you exit Mumbai Pune Expressway. Paid the toll and zoomed towards Mumbai bypass.

Till Mumbai it was raining and continued until we exited from Mumbai. HVK (Chief) met us in Mumbai for a chit-chat and then we further continued our trip to Ahmedabad. The drive to Ahmedabad was very good though there were loads of heavy traffic until we hit the Vadodara Expressway.

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Following Chief's (HVK) Scorpio

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Photo Opportunity with Chief (HVK)

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Towards Ahmedabad

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Towards Ahmedabad

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Towards Ahmedabad

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Towards Ahmedabad

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Continued..
 

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..continued

On the way as per the directions given by HVK, we passed through the famous old Narmada Bridge that was so narrow that it was too difficult for our SUV to pass thorough at certain places. We had to fold the side view mirrors so that they don't get damaged by traffic or even the bridge steel walls. It was a good experience to drive through the Narmada bridge.

Entering Narmada bridge


The famous Narmada bridge



The famous Narmada bridge





The famous Narmada bridge






The famous Narmada bridge






Toll again ..




And the great roads begin again ..



At the end of the expressway we were stopped by the traffic cops to check the papers, license and PUC. I had everything ready and showed it to them, took it back and hooray no chai paani was asked. I was worried about 2 major things and thought I might get pulled for not having the yellow strip oon the headlight so i had fixed it before starting form BLR and the rooftop carrier. But lucky that I didn't had to pay any fine for it...

After about few hours drive we reached Ahmedabad around 7PM, checked into the hotel which was pre-booked by the Central Hotel Desk run by HVK and the team. The hotel was good and comfortable at the price we paid. We refreshed ourselves and immediately went out for dinner at Govardhan Thal - A famous Thali restaurant at Ahmedabad S P Road.


After having a delicious dinner we were too tired and immediately came back to hotel and crashed into the beds as we had to leave for Japiur/Agra the next day. Good Night, Sweet Dreams of Ladakah !! and grrr grrrrr grrrrrrr
 
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Thread Starter #14
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18th AUG 2013 - Ahmedabad - Jaipur - Delhi, 1100kms - 19Hrs - 3 Breaks - 1 Long traffic Jam
We started from Ahmedabad around 8am and after picking up the packed breakfast we immediately started our onward journey towards Jaipur that we thought will be our next stop or Agra if we could drive until there. The journey from Ahmedabad until Jaipur bypass was not bad but was not very fast as compared to the Bangalore Pune or even Mumbai Ahmedabad. The roads are narrower and with good amount of traffic all the way.




1587 was the odometer reading when we started from Ahmedabad


Ahmedabad was raining when we left in the morning



Ahmedabad roads were mostly good and had some traffic in the morning






This accident probably happened sometime back when we reached there as there was still some traffic pileup



The roads were mostly 2 lane good tarred from Ahmedabad to Rajashthan


Jain temple en-route to Rajasthan









Jain temple en-route to Rajasthan





Our ride was very dirty 'coz of the rains





Gujrat, I think the kid is all set for the drive ...






Love these people enjoying the ride outside the vehicle..





Jaipur, our next stop was still faaar...






Udaipur .. 129 kms was looking like a break point at this time..
 
Thread Starter #15
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Udaipur .. 129 kms was looking like a break point at this time..






So we stopped at one of the Chai shops to savour some snacks and tea,, the samosas and paronthas were real good





The Indian Tea




and Aloo Paronthas..







Kids and Wifey enjoying Ice Cream.. gotta keep them happy :)





Some parts of the Gujrat were really dusty and rough. Some potholes actually jolted the vehicle few times..





Exiting Gujrat and Entering Rajasthan, the 3rd State in this trip till now..






Excellent fully tarred roads of Rajasthan





Excellent fully tarred roads of Rajasthan





Excellent fully tarred roads of Rajasthan

We saw this Duster somewhere before this and who was trying to overtake us in a hurry. I let him go and then met him few times until we reached Jaipur. The Duster was driven very rash overtaking and rolling into the corners which was not needed also... but .. I guess he was testing the vehicle left right and center :)




Jaipur was still 500 kms away which was looking very faar for us to reach today. So we decided that we might stay at Udaipur if we are late and tired. But decided to skip lunch and cover as much distance as we can ...





Zippy roads of Rajasthan..





And some more open air vehicles spotted with people hanging en-route. Surprisingly in this picture spotted a women hanging as well ...





Count the number of people outside .. I'm sure there will be same or more people inside as well..












Excellent fully tarred roads of Rajasthan where we actually touched 140kms/hr but I decided to slow down and drive at 90~100kms per hour as there are always surprises that you might encounter on the Indian roads like Cattle, Dogs, Cats or even people in their bikes, tracktors etc..
Better SAFE than SORRY was what we followed throughout the trip.. and waise bhi Jaldi kisko thi :)





Excellent fully tarred roads of Rajasthan








Some temple en-route



 

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