Mumbai to Ladakh in XUV 500 (Part 1)
THINGS To Carry:-
- Car & Bike Spares like air filter, fuel filter etc. Tire Inflators, battery jumper cables, torch, tire repair kits, a very strong rope (in case you get stuck somewhere), additional Fuel Can of a minimum 30 ltrs, engine oil.
- Diamox Tablet for preventing mountain sickness (Take half at a time twice in a day, start 1 or 2 days before reaching Leh)
- Snacks and lots of water (incase driving in your own car). It saves a lot of money over there.
- Car Navigation or Mobile would do but pre download the offline map of the whole region, Power Bank( It is a must when going to Pangong and Tso Moriri as most of the tents does not have sockets for charging gadgets), car and bike mobile charger, spike guard(to multiply charging socket) and laptop incase to transfer photos and all
- A simple mobile phone with BSNL SIM CARD other than your smart phone (Smart phones do not receive signal at Pangong and other areas).
- Lots of warm clothes, Camphor Tablets (kapur tablets:-in case you get breathing problems smell these tablets and your problem will be solved)
- In case of some emergency please carry your general medicines to cure your sickness.
Introduction:-
Hey guys we are here with another breathtaking view of a new journey.
Everyone has dream journey and this was ours too. We had been dreaming about this trip from past few years and it came true in this year(2017).
A memorable road trip to ladakh
This is one of the destinations which most of us dream of, but only few embark on it.
We have seen many travel portals, contacted few of them but then we wanted to explore this destination on our own so we packed our bags filled the fuel tank of our explorer and started on this scenic journey.
The total drive took about 5800 kms to and fro which was completed in just 20 days and at a mere cost of 35k per person. This was the best part of our trip because most of the tours operators had asked around a budget of 40k for just 7 to 10 days with only ladakh being the tour, but we travelled to Ladakh, Manali and Chandigarh in a lesser budget than expected.
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| Mini Seashore, Vashi |
Like every product has its life cycle our trip also has its own life cycle which began with the planning phase and ended with the sweet memories of the trip which we are sharing in this blog.
The planning part of the trip was most critical one as we had to decide over road trip from Mumbai or by hiring a car from Srinagar. This all began in the month of April when the news channels were covered with continuous riots going in the Kashmir Valley and at that point our whole trip was in a limbo. But we were firm that "abhi nahin kiya yeh road trip toh kabhi nahi hoga".
We decided to drive our own car and that time the minimum expected budget for the trip was Rs.1.5 lakhs, 50k per person as 1/3rd of the budget was being taken up by the travelling expenses only. We began to make list of things that needs to be carried which is mentioned above.
NOTE:- Guys please keep in mind do take medicine Diamox tablet. And start taking it 2 days before you reach Leh as it helps in preventing mountain sickness which usually occurs above 10,000 feet from sea level. Drink lots of water and reduce the intake of alcohol and cigarettes as they may create more problems.
After finalizing all the things we needed, it was time to decide the route for the trip. So travelers there are 2 major routes to reach Leh and they are either from Srinagar or via Manali and you have to make choice beforehand so that you can take diversion either to go from Chandigarh or from Pathankot.
We were in favour of going from Srinagar as it will reduce the risk of mountain sickness because we will not be going to higher altitudes all of sudden, it will be a slow and gradual process and our bodies will get used to the climatic changes.
Day 1, 18th and 19th June, Mumbai to Jaipur 1157 kms(approx).
We have planned to start at night time by 9pm. The reason we chose this time is, because the highways would have less traffic than usual as mostly heavy vehicles will be operating at this time and moreover our 1st stop is at Jaipur which is 1157 kms from starting point and it will take approx 18 hours. So if we cover up most of our journey at night time then we can have a good amount of resting hour in our hands because this is the only patch where we are going to drive at night. As soon as we start proceeding towards north we will be driving only in the daylight so that we don't get stuck anywhere due to fog and unforeseen circumstances and moreover the scenic beauty of the mountains can be viewed only during the day light.
Right now we are crossing Maharashtra and entering the state of Gujarat, the roads are awesome and we are travelling at a speed of 100kmph approx. These kinds of roads makes a very smooth journey, and we will get these roads up to Punjab which is said by my friend Ayush because he used to travel on this route.
We took a selfie stop nearby some fuel station somewhere in Vapi because my car clocked 70000 km and it is the 1st car in my family which reached 70k in just 5 years so it is a memorable thing for me and I want to preserve it. We also changed the driver.
Until now I (Mohit) was driving the car but now giving Swapnil the opportunity to drive on this road. In the whole trip the car will be driven by me and Swapnil only because our co writer (Amit) doesn't know how to drive so he will be the full-time navigator cum food and drinks server cum photographer as most of the photos and videos will be taken by him only. This is more important than driving as we want to preserve these memories.The roads are awesome but the only problem on these highways are they are not properly barricaded and due to that lots of stray animals wander in the middle of the road, so try to keep the speed at such a level where you can control your cars and bikes. We have seen almost 5 accidents that has happened because of these stray animals on our day 1. Please be careful and drive safe.
We took another selfie stop with sunrise. It was a small village and surrounded by farms. We also did change the drivers as even Swapnil needed some rest.
Around 7 or 8am we reached the outer part of Udaipur and we were hungry though we ate snacks which we had already brought and some fruits which my mom gave us forcefully but still we are hungry so we need to refill and get freshen up also(attend natures call.
We had samosa and poha they tasted good and was quite filling also. After refreshments we made our 1st fuel stop at Prasad. These pump attendants always drop diesel outside the tank, don’t know what is the logic behind it, you can drop that within the tank only naa. Around 10am we reached the entrance of Udaipur and now we had to decide either to make a halt at Udaipur and see Lake Pichola and famous forts or move over to Jaipur and just stick to the plan. After discussing for 10 to 15 minutes we decided to stick to our plan and go for another road trip to Udaipur and Mount Abu.
Around 11am I started to feel dizziness and was not able to drive further, this was because I had cleaned the diesel with my handkerchief and then used the same one to wipe my face. The smell of diesel all over my face started doing this to me so I decided to wash my face and give the steering again to Swapnil, and I went off to sleep at the back seat(baithe kabhi naa backseat, banno tera swagger).
We started our drive towards Jaipur, on our way we saw how local people travel over here. Just like our local trains are overcrowded, the taxis in villages are overcrowded, you can see the carrying capacity of a Trax cruiser is 12 but here people also travel on the roof of taxis so as to reach to their workplace as soon as possible.
Driving during the daytime is very hectic. The temperature outside is too hot and though we are travelling in an ac car we can still feel the heat, it seems like our ac has also given up in such hot weather. We desperately needed rains so as to cool down the temperature but no sign at all.
Around 2pm we took another stop and this time it was for lunch as we needed refueling for ourselves. It will take another 2 to 3 hours for us to reach Jaipur as we are on the outskirts of Ajmer and by the time we will reach their we won’t get food because the lunch time will get over and dinner time will be longer. We ordered mix paratha and paneer tikka masala it was delicious. These roads side dhabas serve good food. After having lunch we proceeded.
Around 4 pm we reached Jaipur and during the planning phase we had shortlisted the hotels along the highways so that we don’t need to change the path. We booked through booking.com Noble House Jaipur (https://goo.gl/8Y5uBB)
I would say it is the best place to stay in Jaipur nearby to highway, awesome location and very nice and tidy rooms. The owner of the place is very friendly and the service provided by them is outstanding. I would say even 5 star hotels won’t provide such hospitality like they did.
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| Rooftop Restaurant @ Nobel House |
They have their own terrace restaurant which one must visit along with indoor games and soft music. This place is best for relaxation which is within the city still very quiet and peaceful. The food served in the restaurant is too good at very reasonably priced. People travelling from this route do make your stop at this place.
We talked to the owner and his dad and when they came to know about our road trip they were very excited about it. They shared their experience when they had been to ladakh what was the situation and all. They wished us for our happy journey and we promised them that while coming back we are going to stay here only.
Day 2, 20th June, Jaipur to Udhampur 893km(approx).
Good morning guyz, it is 5am and the very first task for us is to wash the car. So, we have borrowed a water pipe and will be cleaning the car from outside. It took almost an hour for 3 of us to thoroughly clean the car, refill wiper water and clean all the screen and windows of the car properly. Its 6am now we will be getting ready for our next destination that is Udhampur.
Udhampur is approximately 893 km, let’s see how much time will it take to cover this distance.
1st we need to refuel the car so that we don’t need to take fuel stops. Most of our fuel shopping and hotels bill will be paid by our SPONSORS DHL (TEAM LEADER Swapnil Patil). Just kidding guys we are trying to do digital payment so that we have lots of cash when we reach Leh because we don’t know what will be the condition over there of digital payments and having cash over their will save our time.
So now we are all set and reached the highway. Wait there is a guy on a black colour pulsar 150 which is Pune passing and he is riding it alone. Maybe his friends are either ahead or behind him let’s talk to him and find out where is he going. We waved to him and asked to stop so he pointed us to a dhaba and asked us to follow him.
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| Selfie with Hadi Hussein |
We thought he is an Indian but after talking to him in hindi he said he can't understand anything we started conversation in english. He said his name is Hadi Hussein and he is Malaysian (https://www.facebook.com/iamalaysianadventure/)
We asked him where he was headed to, he said that he was going to Ladakh and we were shocked that he is going on a pulsar. We asked him how come he is travelling alone that too on a pulsar, he said that he hired the bike from Pune and the reason he chose pulsar rather than Royal Enfield or any other cruiser bike is because he is travelling alone and the route after Leh is not good so if he falls then it will be easier for him to pick-up this bike, and this is lightweight so even if he falls with the bike he won’t get hurt too much. This was his second trip, during his first trip he had rode his bike all the way from Malaysia to India. He had been to Europe also, from Malaysia on his bike and it is his passion.
We were excited to know that this is his 2nd trip so we can get some guidance from him. He said that it all depends upon the political situation of the valley as to what will be the present days scenario and accordingly 1 can proceed.
We were keen to know about few areas of the Kashmir Valley because we had heard from few people that their is a stretch somewhere near Baltal region where the cars are only allowed to pass at a particular time period because of the ongoing political distress. After talking for half an hour we bid farewell to each other and his breakfast had arrived and we wanted to reach our destination before the sunset so proceeded towards our journey.
We saw another group of riders and this time it is Navi Mumbai passing bikes. They are 2 boys and 1 girl each riding their own bike. Arey they are those people who we saw yesterday at the place where we had lunch before Jaipur. I and Swapnil wanted to talk to them yesterday also but they were having lunch at that time. They have stopped to buy some souvenirs so it is the right time to talk to them. After talking we found that they were from Sanpada, Navi Mumbai. They are going to Spiti Valley in Himachal and last year they had been to Leh. They confirmed that there is a timing, it is from 11pm to 6am when the army allows tourist vehicles to pass from Baltal and Zojila pass and we have to plan our journey according to that timing. It was quite helpful for us to plan our further journey.
We are now badly hungry and need to eat otherwise the journey will become hell. Finally found a nice dhaba let’s grab something and do our "pet ki puja". Now we are proceeding to our destination and after such a lovely lunch I am feeling sleepy so now going on back seat.
It is around 3pm and we are near Karnal(Haryana) and Udhampur is still 500 kms from here. It seems impossible to reach before sunset or say even after sunset. While all this is going on another problem popped infront of us. The car tire pressure system(TPMS) is showing an error and if not resolved now then it can be a serious problem in Leh. We tried to deflate the tire and refill air with our portable air inflator but nothing is happening so we decided to look for a fuel station so that we can check it over there. Our that try also became useless but still we filled all the tires with the mentioned air points and I was trying to call the Mahindra customer care. We are almost crossing Ambala and the nearby service centre is in Ludhiana. The customer care gave me Ludhiana's service managers number and asked me to contact him. It is already 4:30pm and it will take another 1 hour to reach Ludhiana I hope we make it without any problem. Meanwhile I contacted the service manager of Ludhiana he assured me that it is not a major issue and we can continue our journey but still if we can reach the center before 6pm they will help us out and rectify the problem. We reached Mahindra Dada Motors by 5:45 pm although most of the technicians had left, but still the manager helped us out. The staff is very very supportive as it took 1 hour to rectify the problem and they helped us even after the closing time. When we asked them about the charges for it they didn't charged a single penny and smilingly said it is nothing big. I was so surprised because all over the world most of the service center make huge amount of bills for just checking the problem and these guys rectified it without charging anything for it. Such a service can only be provided by Mahindra people only.
Now it is 7pm and as we had decided that we won’t do late night driving so we thought of making an overnight halt at Jalandhar which is another 60 to 70 kms from here.We reached Jalandhar by 8:30 pm and we had booked the hotel online only. We reached Hotel Inder Prastha (https://goo.gl/tocsre) and wow such an amazing hotel at an incredibly low price. It is a 3 star hotel but guys it looks like a 5 star. It is located in a busy market area with basement parking and many other amenities. If you are going to stay in Jalandhar then I would strongly recommend this hotel.
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| Maggi made by Chef - Mohit Gupta |
We have checked in and we don’t feel too hungry because we had taken a very heavy lunch around 2pm so we ordered soup and later on I prepared maggie for all three of us as we had already brought maggie packets and induction stove with us.
After having a gala time and some masti we decided next days plan. Due to curfew timings the roads after Udhampur opens after 11pm for tourist vehicles, so we decided to checkout late from here and reach udhampur by 9pm and as soon as the road block will open we will continue our drive to Srinagar. We didn’t wanted to waste another day by staying at udhampur and wanted to reach srinagar as soon as possible.
Day 3, 21st June, Jalandhar to Udhampur 250 kms(approx).
Good morning guys it’s 9:30 am and as the breakfast time is going to end the restaurant guys are calling us for the breakfast. Oh my god what an amazing breakfast it is. These people are serving parathas, bread toast with jam and butter, aloo puri and omelette with tea and coffee. So much that too included in our stay. We are very very impressed by their hospitality.
We are going to do a heavy breakfast now itself so that we don’t need to stop for lunch and save money as well . It was a delicious breakfast and we had it like a lunch. Now we will again sleep and checkout late as planned.
Good afternoon it is 1pm and time to proceed towards our destination Udhampur which is 250 kms from here. We have stopped at some local market of Jalandhar. Nice scarf and footwear are being sold on roadside carts. Some 15 to 20 men of around 50yrs old have gathered around the chowk and they are playing cards. It is feeling like we are in some village where people gather at a center place and spend time with friends. We wanted to click pictures with them but they denied as they feared that someone will informs cops or something. So we moved on, we are inside the city and here the lanes are very small and the underground tunnel is closed which is why we have to go all the way around to reach the highway. At around 4pm we reached Jammu and Kashmir state entry point Lakhanpur.
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| Moong and Mirchi PAKODA'S |
As soon as we crossed the toll plaza there were number of food stalls along the highway so we decided to take a little snacks break. They served awesome hot moong bhajiya and mirchi bhajiya with grated radish and chatni.
Now we are proceeding towards our destination there is another shortcut for Udhampur which will avoid entering Jammu City (We would suggest you to not to take this route as it is very isolated one and if something goes wrong, then nobody is near to help you out). We are passing by the mountains covered with forest on one side and river on the other side. It is beautiful scenery and this is the reason why we opted for road trip, otherwise we would have missed all these things. It is time for a picture break, we spent around half an hour clicking pictures. How can we not capture these beautiful landscapes and save as souvenirs.
We continued our driving towards Udhampur and it is 8pm and still the sun has not began setting. "Aaj tak sirf suna tha days are longer in summers aaj dekh bhi liya". We Mumbaikars are not used to such thing maximum by 7pm the sun sets but here we have seen it. This is good for us as we have decided to travel during daytime only. It is 8:45 pm and we have finally reached the Udhampur check post. A huge queue of cars is here to pass the check post. We have parked the car now going towards the check post so as to know by what time it will get open. The police officer here is very friendly he asked us where are we coming from and where are we headed to. We said that we are 3 of us doing a road trip from Mumbai to Ladakh. He was surprised that only 3 of us are going and drove all the way from Mumbai. We asked him when will the roadblock open to which he said that they don’t know as it is closed due to 2 landslides.
He suggested us to stay over here only as even if they allow the cars to pass from here maybe the other landslide won’t be cleared and their are no further hotels to have food and overnight stay on this route till we don't make it to Srinagar. So we decided to listen to his advice as they are the locals and they know the place better than us. The mobile internet is weak over here, so we decided to look for the hotel offline only. There are n number of hotel along the highway so we decided to check inn at some nearby hotel so as to save time tomorrow morning. Their is a decent looking hotel nearby the check post. Let’s check it out. Hotel Chanakya, it is an amazing hotel at a very reasonable price so we bargained and checked in without wasting more time.
Now we are hungry and the guy at the reception informed that it will take minimum 45 minutes for food to be prepared so we ordered the food and then went on for taking bath. We ordered for tomato soup, full tandoori chicken, paneer tikka, veg biryani and chicken biryani. The food is also priced reasonably, let see how it tastes. We had asked them to serve in the room only. And here is the waiter. The fragrance is awesome and the taste is also yummy. We will be having heavy dinner today.
Hum kitna bhi planning karle end of the day wohi hoga jo Bhagwanji chahte hai. Because according to our plan we should have reached Srinagar by now,but due to unforeseen circumstances we have reached Udhampur only and we are already a day behind the schedule.
Day 4, 22nd June, Udhampur to Srinagar 204 kms (approx)
Good morning Mumbai, it’s 7:30 am and we are all set to proceed towards our next destination that is Srinagar. We have again reached the Udhampur check post and again the same situation as yesterday night, there has been a landslide and the road is closed.
We can also see a house broken into 2 pieces near the check post due to landslide. While travelling in north we have to be prepared for such situations but these are consuming a lot off time as we are already a day behind the schedule. Lets hope this opens soon.
We were just removing cards and the roadblock got opened, after waiting for 3 hours and 30 minutes the roads have been cleared and we are allowed to go.
Oh god no further landslides today please. These scenic mountains are so amazing and gorgeous breathtaking views. I am loving this road trip.
Now we are crossing the toll plaza from where the longest tunnel of India will begin. It is selfie time guys as we wont be passing through this way on our return journey. The Chenani Nashri Tunnelway is 9km long tunnel which saves a drive of 30km and 2 hours. Earlier when this tunnel was not made people had to go via Patnitop as they had to circle around the mountain. We will surely miss few scenery but will save a lot of time. It is a nice tunnel with ample lighting, emergency calling services at approx every 200 mtrs with fire exit. It took approximately 10 minutes to cover the whole tunnel. We are now leaving the nice cemented roads without any potholes and proceeding towards the potholes where there is no road.
This point is known as Titanic View point. They are selling only maggie and cherry so we decided to order maggie.
It’s a nice point, a boat shaped deck is made for viewing. We can see all farms and beyond that their are snow capped mountains. Pahalgam is close from this place but we need to reach Srinagar so we won’t be able to go over there. "Pait bhar ke maggie khaayi yaar. Bahot aachi thi and subeh se kuch nahin khaaya tha". We have also booked a houseboat in Srinagar, as I and Amit have never been on any houseboat and we want to experience it.
We are in Awantipora and wondering "ke kaash bikes pe aaye hote". From past half an hour we are stuck in traffic and it is so slow moving that I think so we won’t be able to make it to Srinagar and we will have to pay for the hotel without using it. People have lost road sense this traffic is due to wrong turns at the chowk and has creates a huge amount of traffic on both the sides as people have jumped to the opposite to avoid standing in traffic. Will have to get down and clear the roads on our own as there is no sign of traffic light and police.
The hotel person has called us for confirming our booking as even they doubt that we will reach or not. But Srinagar from here is only 20 kms and we will reach easily.
It’s 8pm and we are now entering Srinagar. People are following us on bike and asking us that if we need hotel to stay but we said them that we have already booked the hotel. We stopped to ask way for gate no.5 on Dal Lake as our house boat is nearby from that. A sardarji in his car has asked us to follow him so we are driving behind him. He showed us few dhabas where we can get good food and now taking us to gate no.5. I don’t know if he is also going that way only or just for us he is accompanying. We are suspicious as we have heard bad things about the valley. But later on he said that he is a police officer and that’s why he is helping us. This is a sigh of relief. And our thinking about the valley has also changed. Media has just showed the worst part but not the good things about the people over here.
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| Dal Lake - Srinagar |
We originally thought 1 house boat would be booked for 1 booking but it is not. One house boat comprises of 3 to 4 rooms of different sizes, there is one common area with tv and one living cum dining area. A small seating is also made along the waterfront to sit and enjoy. After getting fresh we are going out for dinner. The place shown by the officer is really nice. We ordered paneer bhurji, dal fry and naan. All tasted authentic north Indian style with lots of butter. It is feeling like we are in Mumbai as it is 12 am and we are still roaming on the roads. We spent almost an hour by the lakeside clicking come pics and recording the beautifully lighted houseboats. We are now going to our houseboat.
Travellers Dream
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