Tour de Leh: Bng to Leh - 3000 KMs in 4 days 4 nights

Had heard lot about Ladakh and I knew its going to be once in life time experience. Its always exciting to take off 16 days leave and roam around northern part of India, THE MIGHTY HIMALAYAS!!!. Our train was scheduled to depart at 7:30 PM on Thursday night from Bangalore central railway station. As usual I worked from home that day ( best part of being ciscoite ;) ), and I reached station on time. Majid and Chandra joined me for the trip and the journey of 3 Idiots started ;) It was second time for me on train from Bangalore to Delhi. It’s a tedious journey, but its truly worth an experience. For almost 40 hours, you live in the small compartment, keep seeing same fellow passenger’s faces around, same rail café guys and by the end of journey you almost feel like you know them from long time, but within 1 hour of getting down from the train you almost forget them. Now there are 2 ways of travelling in train 1) keep a map with you, keep looking at what’s next train stop is? How much journey is left? And keep getting frustrated :D or 2) forget what you are? Where your are? How you are? Keep singing “

Musafir Hoon Yaaron Na Ghar Hai Na Tikhana
Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai Bas Chalte Jaana” and keep enjoying each and every moment that passes by… that’s what true traveller does :)


So after ~36 hours of journey our train reached Delhi almost on time. We met Yogesh from Pune at the railway station, had a quick breakfast session and went towards ISBT, to continue our journey. Evening we boarded Volvo bus to Manali.


Sunday morning when we woke up in bus, we got magnificent, gigantic views of Himalayan mountains. Bus was passing through Bunter ( ~10 KM before Kullu) which is almost start point for YHAI’s Sarpas trek. That’s when I started making plans for the Sarpas trek for next year J. Bus passed through Kullu where I mesmerized few nostalgic moments of our Saurkundi Pass trek we did couple of years back. Finally at around 9 we reached city of Manali. As soon as we got down bus, we hired Tata sumo for road trip to Leh. We did not had much time, so had quick stop at near by Paramount Lodge to freshen up. Within 1 hour we started of with one among the TOP 5 ROAD TRIPS IN THE WORLD – MANALI TO LEH.

 

Before reaching Rohtang Pass we had to face huge traffic pile up, it took around 3 hours to clear it ( Our Pratap was one among the key persons to clear the Jam :) ). It’s a very common scene on that stretch, its very narrow road good enough for Truck and Car to pass by at a time, and if any one vehicle breaks down, vehicles pile up very easily. And in the ghat section there is very good chances of vehicle break down.





Right after we passed through Rothang, we got first views of Snow cap mountains. So it was time to take pics




Our Initial plan was to stay over night at Serchu, but since we lost lot of time in traffic jam, we had to change our plans. The Manali to Leh route is maintained by Border Road Organisation (BRO) and they restrict traffic movement after 6 PM. We could only manage to reach Jispa before 6, and got a tented accomdation to spend the nite. The staff were very friendly and food was average, but we were least bothered about it and were very happy that we got some thing to fill our stomach in that no man's land :)

That evening when we got to Jispa, it was bit dark and didn't get to see landscape around our tent. When we woke up in morning, we were stunned to see spectacular views of the mountain around us.

After clicking few pics and morning routines, we continued with our journey. One important tip while travelling around Leh is that, you get going as early in the morning as possible, before 6 AM. Because you never know when its going to get dark and also as the day passes it becomes more challenging. Like water starts melting from snow mountains and passes across the road, so its better if you cross all such points before it flows full fledged.


We crossed Baralacha and reached Serchu by afternoon.

After reaching Serch we realised that previous day traffic jam was blessing in disguise. For 2 reasons - 1) Serchu is at 14,000 feet high, so its not good to stay at such high altitude region on first day in the Ladakh region. Few people we met in Leh echoed the same. They stayed over in Serchu and had serious medical conditions like severe head ache, blood in nose etc... 2) You can only reach Serchu from Manali just before 6 PM, and BRO check post right after Serchu restricts vehicles from moving ahead. So you will only be left with an option to stay over night at Serchu. The Tent providers in that area know that fact very well and make unusual demands anything between 1500 - 2000/- per night.


Right after crossing Serchu we hit the HP and JK border. We kept stopping at all scenic places and continued our journey.

Most interesting part of Manali - Leh route is the stretch popularly known as “No road stretch”. Its around 20 Km stretch, and its like open flat ground, there is no traces of road.

Best would be to follow traces of vehicle ( if there are any) that would have passed before. Else wait for another vehicle and just follow them.  After crossing no road stretch, our Pratap had become adventures and started taking short cuts going on hills instead of staying on the road

 Our next exciting stop was at Tanglangla, the second highest motor able road in the world. We just couldn’t wait to cross Khardungla Pass, the highest motor able road in the world, which was scheduled at almost during end of our trip, so had long way to go :(. Continued our journey passing through Upshi, where we had first view of Indus River. After couple of hours of journey, we started getting close to Leh, as and when distance to Leh got reduced, our excitement increased.

 Finally around 6 we were at FINAL DESTINATION - Leh. It was indeed long journey from Bangalore, and we deserved good sleep. We checked into YHAI camp site and all we wanted to do was to sleep sleep and sleep.

Travel Info in case you planing:

Travel: Depending on where you stay, either get to Delhi, Chandigarh or Manali. From Delhi/Chandigarh you get over night buses to Manali. Try to avoid private buses and your best bet would be Raj Travels ( you can book online)

From Manali you can either take a bus which reaches Leh in 2 days with over night halt around Keylong or hire vehicle. Bus is not a bad option because I heard it stops at all exciting places and let people enjoy the landscape.

Stay: Tents and few lodges available along the routes. No need to book in advance, just checkin where ever you feel like. But do not expect to find accmd at every 25 Km, some times it might take 100+ Km to find tents. So do your research well on where you intend to stay. Tents generally costs between 150 – 1500/- depending on your luxury and bargaining skills

Food: Maggie/Omlette, Maggie/Omlette, Maggie/Omlette J. That’s your safest bet all through the route. You can find people setting up small tents along the way catering Maggie/Omlette for travellers. You will find few resto’s as well where you can get multi cuisine food. But when you are on road trip its more exciting to stop at Tents, talk to local people and have local food, then sitting in resto with all good ambience.

Medical: Carry lots of glucose, vitamin tablets and mountain sickness tablets. Drink as much water as possible even if do not like it. As far as possible avoid cold water and have hot water. ( In tents you can ask for hot water).