Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

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Lovely pictures of a beautiful place

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

Thanks Monk,

Day1: 5 June 2010

Me My Wife Anu & Son Tejas with Vaidee & His Wife Sree landed in J&K Airport after changing flight in Delhi, Srinagar had one Armed soldier guarding each side of the shop, one Small gun carrier at each Circle! Telephone Network down! shows full signal, but wont call!. late in the noon we checked in to a hotel Malik Palace in front of Dal lake, went for a Shikara Ride in the evening, did some shopping in the house boats market and back to hotel, woke up early for the flight yousee.






Thanks
Sunil

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Day2: 6 June 2010


We were in Pahalgam, Did lots of horse riding, Stayed at the JKDC guest house I guess, it was OK in 2010 but in 2012 visit it was Horrible! Would NOT recommend this place to stay. Tejas Has a Great Time riding the horse. This was My First horse ride too & couldn't believe the abilities of a 1HP 4LW (four legged walker) You have to lean back in down slopes & lean forward on climbs. watch out for your legs & Head as the horse does not include or care for your body overhang and will just brush pass bushes, branches & Trees. Lovely experience
some pics:


Hotel in the Morning:






Me with Tajes



Regzin sir checking out the HID kits I bought for Him



Locals, watch out the water Mellon!








We had a Ball of a time on the river side here





That's Tejas Getting his flying lessons



Vaidee & Sree back at the hotel, Vaidee still working!!



Our Cottage in pahalgam









Vaidee tyring some Wait lifting!!



Now now back to work!!





















Checkout the Soft Sheep!


Regzin Sir With Tejas





Vaidee & Sree





See the inclines





I couldent take many pics as it was hard holding on to the Horse.


Me & Tejas








Me & Anu





The entire Gang







Thats Innovation, 4 used bottels used as windmills





Some fun at a water place

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

Great, Sir,, finally this thread is up!! I was wondering on this after your last travelogue. So you teamed up with Regzin Sir again... great going & amazing clicks.

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

goos, seems like a nice family outing...

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

Nice pic

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

[MENTION=48174]chaosaddict[/MENTION] Thas Sir.

[MENTION=15693]princesirohi[/MENTION] Yes sure it was.

[MENTION=50737]k 72[/MENTION] Thanks


Day3: Gulmarg:






















Heir a Guide, he will avoid the BIG queues for Golkonda tickets at both ticket counters.











Avoid Horse riding in Gulmarg, its useless!!










Avoid The Slides too, again Useless, I was pestered & forced to take the ride
































At the Top, First Experience in Snow!! was wonderful.


































My Cam also got a Tast of it








Others Skiing down







What a Mess while we came down, even avoiding the ticket queue, still such a big rush to go down, CRAZY Adult bulls who cannot care for family or kids, Dangerously jumping across the path of arriving gondalas, No proper security or Police manning at the Top!.


Met some Biker boys en route


























[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VlDQ--clgGA/TCtCNaqnSKI/AAAAAAAAD1w/Cd4iCN8aUTc/w1131-h754-no/GulmargPeak-28.JPG

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

very nice... wonderful...

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

Awesome Pics..

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

Thanks Guys

We stayed in a Hotel in Kargil & Saw a Nano there! with BCMT stickers, dont like this place somehow. its hard to find Veg restaurants too.











Hats off to folks doing this route on the 1st gen Nano!
























We met some locals enroute to Dha Village, the landscape completely changes once you get off the LEH route!





Onf of them looks with suspection!


















Mush have been a BAD war, Yes All wars are bad.













This Place is really good, wanted to stay a night here, Very peaceful with greenery too.











That's not a short cut, but the only way in & out of Dha













See no one comes here so they lock & hang the key there too





Multi store complex I guess





This is where they store the lifestock





The dwarf door











This pic is taken from the kitchen of the hotel, you can notice a Human face on the hill naturally engraved!





Arayan race





How Anu looks now & will look later in about 100 years ( I guess she never reads this)





Was shocked to see the post box so fat=r in the corner!!





The pic dose not do justice to the bridge, its way more beautiful.








The Next day we rested in Leh, the Next one we wanted to go to Nubra but were caught in South Paullu for 3 hours, due to traffic Jam, we were all getting AMS & Shouting at each other, got hungry too & returned back to Leh, pics @ south Paullu.




Refreshments @ leh























Thanks Sunil

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

Next couple of Days, 12 & 14 I guess.


Zanskar Vally or Padum Route,
We hired couple of Bikes, I took an Avenger for 3 of us, Had carried Our Riding Gear and Tejas Riding Gear too, came in really handy, we drove for half a Day & turned back, I guess we did 1/2 way to Padum.








At Sangam






Some people Rafting








Regzin Sir Riding Bike for the First Time, look at the Grin








Tejas in His Gear, at a Break on the river side.








Didn't Take mY Tank Bag I guess.


Sree, trying out Geared Bike for the first Time, INspired by Regzin Sir I guess








Huge Cave enroute



Vaidee





Most of the time the view was like this.





Off roaded to get a top view, Must say a Cruiser handles VERY differently from steet bike!











How I wish My GT-250 was here
















Some Images of the NIssan 1Ton that the hotel Owner Had.
I offered to Buy it, but he said there survival depends on this one in winter to drive down & get wood logs!! its NO POSER its a MULE.


I just had to settle to Drool all over this 4x4 monster of a truck. The Best condition One I have ever Seen, I have the 1Tone PTO Winch on My Gurkha.











Talk about Ground Clearance!














The Next Day we went to Regzin Sir's House, remember he is our Scorpio Driver
But looks at Regzin's palace!! what hospitality & humbleness, I Salute All Ladakhis for that.


Inside his house



Tejas had Nice fun with a Kitten in there house








Special Tea





I guess a Hot tea on a cold Day is really welcome sight





Thats the roof









We all at the Entrance, even the Dog in timer mode!







--
When There is Conflict Between Heart And Mind let the Heart be followed - By Swami Vivekananda

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

Your untold story is like the untold story of Lagaan... where was it?
A great way to spend some family time. Great pics as well !!

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

Thanks Neeteesh,

Vaidee & Sree had to leave back to Bangalore as they has only a Week off, We had two weeks so we continued with Regzin.
Unfortunately The missed some of the BEST part of the trip.


The Chumathang Vally was SO full of wildlife. We say Many variety of Birds, ibex, Yak, Kigger, Murmut etc..









Loved the Color transitions here, Nice & warm stay at hot springs allowing us to remove all thermal's
and dress like we would in BLR, what a warm and much need break we had.

















We had EXCELLENT hospitality at this place, God bless the host in the below pic.
They made special stuff for My Wife & Kid whose stomach had gone bad due to very different food for more than a week.


Our Hosts








Food that we Enjoyed



It was called TugPa I guess.


I loved the Roti Sabzi





Very Dilute Kichadi I guess



We all feasting








Place where we stayed












































Just look at the vehicle in a Dusty Desert!!












































Some bikers taking a Break

















Very Stinky place








You can see the murnut, kind of small rabbit





Tso-Moriri





Insect on our vehicle! rear sight of life actually






















See the clear water



























































Here we went for a long walk as Tejas was a sleep in the Jeep, was a good time, very quite nice breeze & lots of sunshine yet cold. NO ONE around just us.
It was so good that I still remember it





Lots of Birds around























NEST





Oh look at the ducklings so so cute





Like the Toy I had!! 3 following Mom!









Didn't see the black neck crane!!





Check out the Kid, Bare foot!! playing happily in glory with broken toys in the middle of nowhere!!
TRUE happiness is NOT materialistic and everything is in you perspective of looking at things!!





The Kids were not use to chocolate & didn't know what to do with it!






--
When There is Conflict Between Heart And Mind let the Heart be followed - By Swami Vivekananda

Re: Untold Story: "Family Trip" around Cold Frozen Deserts of Ladakh in 2010

We Started to Pangong from Chumathang via loma but Tejas Fever was not coming dow, so we decided not to take the risk, cancelled pangong plan ar took a U turn to Leh where he steadily recovered, we kind of missed the best part of trip but didnt want to risk it either, I guess we did the right thing. Pics of Lama to Lamayure below, we also visited a HUGE Buddha statue in a Gompa forgot its name, it was a festival and people were all dressed up and dancing. Huge crowd was waiting on the road for the high priest I guess, they thought our Scorpio is ferring him and stepped forward with all the flowers to greet us, Wrong timing I guess.











































































































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On the route back from Lamayure, where we stayed in a SUPER good hotel with cosy bedrooms and delicious food, we reach ZoJiLa checkpost like at 6:10, the route was blocked and Regzin sir still got the checkpost guy to let us through stating a VVIP is in the Jeep (was referring to Me ). there is a reason why you should not go in the One way traffic in opposite direction! we were to discover this shortly!!


Man 100's of trucks, literally were standard, I had to get down & walk in slush guiding our Scorpio as it was Dark and Misty Foggy too. Too Slushy for the HT Tire of Trucks and Full loaded trucks to Come from other side of ZoJiLa, for 3 days they were stuck there I believe, the truck drivers were so exhausted that some had dosed off parking the truck and thus causing traffic pileup!!, had to wake the guys, move the trucks get our jeep a bit a head do the above for more than 2 hours and we finally came to sonmarg and stayed in a JUNK hotel, on the RHS while coming back to Srinagar.
































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In Srinagar, we visited the back waters and found lots of bird life,



























































































































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We also visited Nishant Gardens, and Flew back to Bangalore Via Delhi, but With Lots of Memories and Warmth from a cold frozen Desert.
THANKS A TON to Regzin Sir for such Wonderful hospitality. Last set of pics from this trip:






Nishanth Bagh (Mughal Gardens)














































Cheers
Sunil