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**pavanshetty76** · 08-25-2015, 04:22 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Lovely snaps. Especially loved the one of the bridge over melting waters!
Thanks for sharing the snaps. More please!

**dichkaun** · 08-26-2015, 07:18 AM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Originally posted by pavanshetty76 View Post

Lovely snaps. Especially loved the one of the bridge over melting waters!
Thanks for sharing the snaps. More please!

Originally posted by chaosaddict View Post

I don't know how I missed this beautiful log, but here I am commenting - mesmerizing photos to say the least. Breathtaking, especially the Srinagar leg captures!

Thanks for the appreciation.

I don't know where my old posts went. I had posted the next few days too. I think it went away with the new/old design switches. I'll post those back.

**dichkaun** · 08-26-2015, 09:13 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Day 5 (July 10th 2015) - Kargil to Rangdum (130Km)
Today the group was getting split up. Most of the riders went towards Leh while I turned towards Zanskar with another rider. First good decision for the day. I would make another one later in the day.
Underestimating the ride to Rangdum, we decided to start late from Kargil. I also had to do some paperwork of getting my credit cards and other stuff from my lost wallet cancelled.
So after tucking in a heavy breakfast, it was 1000 when we left Kargil.

Suru River at Kargil. Due to heavy rains, the river was about to overflow and water was all muddy.

We would soon realize that turning towards Zanskar was one of the best decisions of the trip. The Suru River Valley was beautiful. A beautiful river lined with wild flowers flowing amidst lofty mountains

A young gentleman we met on the road and shared some toffee/biscuits with.

Riding over the Suru River

Wild flowers were a treat to watch everywhere

More wild flowers and flowing water

Kids at Panikhar

Panorama of a Wild Flower Meadow

Suru River Valley

The road was pretty much gone. Was driving on stones and a mud track.

Soon we hit our first big water crossing. A helpful taxi driver assisted us in crossing. Water was above the knee and we were soaked till the socks. The advice of tacking the water crossings early in the day now made sense.

More wild flowers

As we got near Rangdum the valley spread out with several small lakes. Reflection in one of those.

Another picture near the same lake

A multi-picture panorama of the same lake

Wild horses

As we reached near Rangdum, the greenery also reduced

Rangdum only has two places to stay. Rather than stay at the J&K tourist guest house, took a room at the hotel hoping to get better choice of food. View from the shop cum restaurant.

Sun played hide and seek with the clouds

Panorama of the Rangdum Village

Sun `n Snow

A junior Lama who was staying at the same hotel.

Rangdum, was pretty remote and quite cold. The evening was spent in discussing (or rather listening to) spirituality discourse from the head Lama.
Dinner was steamed dough with dal and vegetable. Pretty simple and bland affair. Apparently it was made at the request of the head Lama.
The serenity of the place impressed me and I decided to stay the next day there only. Plan was to just hang around and explore something nearby.
Second good decision of the day, though it would result in a very tough ride on the day after.

**MUSTANG 27** · 08-27-2015, 02:05 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Sun played hide and seek with the clouds

Wow amazing captures and hats off mate..
This pic reminds me of the movie Mackenna's Gold ..

**dichkaun** · 08-27-2015, 08:19 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Originally posted by MUSTANG 27 View Post

Sun played hide and seek with the clouds

Wow amazing captures and hats off mate..
This pic reminds me of the movie Mackenna's Gold ..

Thanks buddy

**dichkaun** · 08-28-2015, 10:46 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Day 6 (July 11th 2015) - Rangdum to Drung-Drung Glacier to Rangdum (73Km)
Having decided last night to stay at Rangdum, the plan was to explore around the area. So woke up early in the morning and walked around for a while clicking pictures

Morning was extremely cold and beautiful. Golden sunrise on the mountains towards Kargil.

Moonset

A sunrise panaroma (merge of 5 clicks). The vastness of the landscape was very difficult to capture especially by the not-so-wide lens I had. I constantly had to resort to taking multiple exposures to be merged later.

Towards Padum

Prayer Flags - many things in this world rely on these

Our host's cook. He kept us well fed with simple food and ample tea to keep warm

View from the room's window.

Got ready quickly. Third round of tea for the morning and then on the road

Village of Rangdum

Rangdum Monastery

The army below the monastery. Had a quick chat. Plan was to visit the monastery later in the afternoon

Monk on way to work

Mermot. Hundreds of them everywhere.

Bridge over melting water.
Now this is an image I had in mind when I left home. Flowing waters overlooked by snow capped peaks. I have been trying to capture this shot since the last trip in Kumaon. Carried a graduated ND filter all the way just for this. The bridge was icing on the cake.

Profile Picture

Crossed another pass and then the road became parallel to the river. I am pretty sure, the road disappears under the river when the water level is high.

Rivulets from Melting Ice

Riding into the unknown

A Penzila Panorama (a 6 click panorama)

At Penzila. Other than the army jawans, had not met anyone entire morning. Here a convoy of three tourist vehicles joined us. They were going to Padum.

At the Drung-Drung glacier. Here tried my hand at some rock climbing. Climb a rocky outcrop nearby and lay down on a flat rock warmed by sun. Ended up taking a short nap. If you are from the hills, I am sure, you are aware how pleasant it is to sleep in the warm sun.
Later I realized that it may have not have been such a good idea to spend time there.

Penzila on the way back

A grazing meadow

On way back visited the Rangdum Monastery. I am not much of a Monastery guy. Have visited several of them in Gangtok and couple in Dharamshala and also Bylekuppe. This is the only Monastery i would visit in the entire trip.

The Monastery is a simple affair with a small room acting as a museum and prayer room. Rest is all living quarters of the resident. They also had a landline phone. Called up home as mobile was not working in the area. The monks were quite welcoming and I spent quite some time there just chatting about random things. While talking I drifted off to sleep and I was left undisturbed.
When I woke up, I realized I hadn't eaten anything since morning. So off I went to our guesthouse to grab some food. I realized that I had a little headache and then recalled that I hadn't been drinking enough water. So gulped down two liters in one go. Then hung around guesthouse talking to the cook.
It had started getting cold and as evening fell, it started raining. So ended up going to the room and bury myself under two layers of quilt; thus ending a very relaxed day.
The rain would not stop all night; going from sometimes heavy to sometimes light.
This would make the next day hell.

**krishna77** · 08-29-2015, 07:32 AM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Great going! Waiting for the next part!

**dichkaun** · 08-30-2015, 03:13 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Day 7 (July 12th 2015) - Rangdum to Kargil (126Km)
I woke up a few times at night only to find rain gods doing what they do best. Decided to leave early. It was still raining while leaving Rangdum.
The incessant rain since last evening had made the road turn into a bed of slush. Going was tough and slow.
The camera stayed inside the covers throughout the day.
Managed to take a few pictures using the mobile.

Abandoned hutment on the way.

Clouds cover the snow peaks. Opportunities for meadows to shine on their own.

Streams were overflowing. Water crossings were many and deep. Fortunately it was early in the mornings. By late afternoon, some would become uncrossable.

Last view of Zanskar

By the time we reached Kargil, almost all clothes were wet and the cold was miserable. Took the first decent hotel we saw and settled in for the evening. Toughest day so far (and for rest of trip I would realize)
Tomorrow, the run to Leh would start.

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Originally posted by krishna77 View Post

Great going! Waiting for the next part!

Thanks buddy.

**krishna77** · 08-30-2015, 07:17 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Brilliant log so far!

**dichkaun** · 08-30-2015, 08:10 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Day 8 (July 13th 2015) - Kargil to Leh (234Km)
Finally the D-Day i.e., arrival in Leh; though the three days in Zanskar had been so beautiful that I would be contend to go back. Yet there was plenty to come.

Kargil Town

The road to Leh is excellent and a real comfort after three days of bum massaging in Zanskar. The terrain was all rocky outcrop hinting at the cold desert up ahead.

The ascent to NamikLa

At NamikLa

The descent on the other side and a green valley.

Army Cafe where we had breakfast

Sculptures carved by wind

Meandering roads 'n river

At the Fotula Top.

Descending to Lamayuru

Residential ruins of Lamayuru

As I mentioned previously, I am not much of a monastery guy. I choose to skip the visit. Instead choose to have lunch. The hotel was run by a person from Uttaranchal who would come here for 4 summer months, rent and run the place.

Moonscape.

Getting nearer to Leh, a storm loomed up ahead

And the classic Leh road trip pic

Confluence

Zanskar River

Finally Leh, after getting drenched in heavy rain and a 40min stop at Gurdwara Pathar Sahib to take shelter form rain

At Leh, hooked up with one of the riders (Shikher) who had gone from Kargil straight to Leh. Shikher had found a good homestay which he strongly recommended. Decided to go with that and it was a good choice. Very homely place with excellent hosts.
Called up Shikher and he picked us up at the outskirts of Leh.
Relaxed in the evening with some good home cooked food after days.

**dichkaun** · 08-31-2015, 09:24 AM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Originally posted by krishna77 View Post

Brilliant log so far!

Thanks man. you've been very appreciative.

**itsmevini123** · 08-31-2015, 03:57 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Wow, superb pictures

**dichkaun** · 09-01-2015, 08:07 AM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Day 9 (July 14th 2015) - Leh
Today was the acclimatization day. While I believe after Zanskar it wasn't needed, it was ok to be safe. Had a leisurely home cooked breakfast and then relaxed for the morning. Later went to get ILP and then to the mechanic to get the jets on the bike changed to help with the Khardung La ascent.
Later hung around the Leh market, taking in the ambiance.
Some pictures:

Breakfast: Ladakhi Bread and masala omlete

Breakfast: Veg Stew

A monk I met while waiting for ILP

Blue skies after several days

Shanti Stupa from afar

Leh market

Leh Market

Leh Market

Returned to the guest house after an early dinner. Khardung La was up for the next day.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Originally posted by itsmevini123 View Post

Wow, superb pictures

appreciate..

**krishna77** · 09-01-2015, 07:13 PM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Thanks. It takes a huge amount of time, skill and dedication to write a t-log. So, mutual appreciation is what is required to acknowledge one's effort.

**dichkaun** · 09-02-2015, 08:37 AM

Re: From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

Day 10 (July 15th 2015) - Leh to Diskit (157Km)
While we did have big plans of starting early, it was almost 8AM when we started from the guest house. Today I had two more riders with me.
The road was full of traffic. It seemed that every tourist in Leh was going there along with a 25 jeep convoy of Mahindra.
Initially the road was good but after South Pallu the road disappeared.

View towards Leh from Khardung La road. (A 5 shot Panorama)

The peaks overshadowing Leh city

A view looking up towards Khardung La. Snow awaited up there.

Khardung La itself was a fish market. It took about 5 minutes of jostling to create enough space to get a clear picture of the Khardung La board with me below it.
I would say it was disappointing to see the chaos at the pass.

Few pictures and we were happy to start the descend towards Nubra. The road ahead was much worse and heavier snow.

More snow as we proceeded

As we descended towards Khalsar, the snow was left behind. Barren mountains with cultivated fields showed up.

At Khalsar, one of our group decided to return to Leh. Moved onto Diskit where we settled down at a guest house. There we found real Maggie. A little rest and food later we were off to Hunder

Diskit Monastery from the road to Hunder

Hunder Sand dunes. Hunder was another disappointment. It was like a mela with a huge crowd. Eventually ended up on the road overlooking the dunes accompanied by a DRDO driver. Over a bottle of beer we had a good discussion over the hard life there.

Hunder sand dunes with the mountains beyond.

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From the rains of Uttarakhand to the deserts of Ladakh

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