Mumbai to Ladakh in XUV 500 (Part 3)

Day 9 27th June Leh to Nubra 130km (approx) 

Good morning guys, it is 8 am and we are ready with our UNIFORMS that we had specially printed "T-SHIRTS" for this day and now we are proceeding towards the highest MOTORABLE ROAD in the world. 

Any guesses guys? 

Yes you guessed it right, KHARDUNGLA is 18,000 FEET above the sea level. I am so eager to have maggie at that point. I am not allowing these people to even have breakfast because I don't want to kill my hunger. So lets rock and roll guys. We have reached the fuel station and refuelling the car as we have planned to go directly from Nubra to Pangong Lake. These google maps are fake dude, in the beginning it was showing 3hrs to reach Nubra but its already 10am and we have just reached South Pullu, it is the 1st Check Post, where we have to submit our Ladakh permission certificate (Inner Line Permit). We have submitted the copy of the form and now we are proceeding forward. 

  

We started our drive and suddenly these desert mountains are changing into snow mountains. We can see thick layer of snow and its time for pics human, our co-writer Amit is tasting the thick snow. Amit and I also played snow fight, Swapnil is still not recovered completely but he had assured us that he is fine and that is why we resumed today. Oh such a lovely and mesmerising roads, till now we have not even reached halfway of the mountain and their is a long way to go.

The road work is going on and they are widening these passes. It will become more convenient for people who will be coming to this place after few years. It will get a much more safe pass. These roads are so bumpy, it feels like there is actually no road and we are driving directly on the mountain slope. As we are reaching the top it has started drizzling, the conditions of roads are turning from bad to worse it is very muddy and now wet as well. I am not able to handle the car properly, it seems that I am loosing control on my beast "please my machine be with me and let me take back the control on you". These local taxi drivers are making my life more hell, these people are driving so slow that I am loosing my engine torque and it is making more difficult for me to gain back the control on the wheels. Because these taxi we were about to fall in the Valley. We are stuck on a steep slope and infront of us the army truck is waiting to pass. I have lost whole control on the car and now we are stuck in the middle, on our right side huge boulders are present and on our left deep Valley, the front and rear windscreen of the car is fogged and I cannot see anything at all. We have to turned off the ac so that I can get more power but nothing is happening, still I am not getting enough power to drive up the slippery slope. For a moment all my fears are coming infront of me that due to my mistake they both will loose there lives, oh god please help us. The situation is very tensed and we need to think calmly and wisely. I have applied the breaks and roll down the side windows so as to get a better view of outside. I am now reversing the car a bit so as to clear the tires from mud and water and reach a harder surface towards the boulders, as this might only damage the car but we will not fall down the valley. Now giving a full rev to the engine and driving up the slope, this whole drama took 15mins and finally we are back on track. 

Khardungla Pass 18380ft

We have reached the top of the hill at exactly 12pm, finally after so much of struggle and life and death situations we have made to this place "Finally we are on top of the world yippie". It is very crowded and no place to park the car also, can't even step out aisa lag raha hai. But finally we managed to find a place and now parking the car. People have climbed up the mountain and they are playing in the snow.The air is thin over here and army has set up a medical assistance camp for people who are getting breathing problems. These army personnel are working on their toes, running the canteen as well as this camp, I wonder why people having such medical conditions take so much risk of coming here, if something goes wrong on the way then their is no medical assistance for another 50kms. But Agar "kahin Jannat hai toh yahin hai yahin hai aur yahin hai". Now its time for some pait puja haaye maggie khaana hai. Their is no place to stand inside the canteen, everyone is having hot hot maggie, it is cheap only Rs.30 a packet but line bahot lambi hai. Swapnil is still sitting inside the car as he is not feeling well. Kya pata kab theek hoga humara yeh bimar prani?

After eating now is the time for some photo shoot. We clicking pics with the sign board and our Co-writer has become a Shah Rukh Khan in the snow. We stayed at this point for a good long 1hour and now proceeding towards Nubra. Our original plan is to go to Panamik for hot water spring which will be a spa for us. We need it bro though we are excited about the trip but our bodies need some rest and this spring will help in refreshing our bodies. 

It took us 1 hours and 30 minutes to reach North Pullu, another check post where we need to submit our documents. After crossing this we are now reaching a curve where a small stream of glacier is flowing and its time for another "PIC STOP". 

It is so serene and beautiful "kaash yehi ruk paata shehar ki bheed se dur uss bhaag daud se dur, but I will definitely  miss my MUMBAI". By the time we came back to car after the session our friend Swapnil Patil also woke up and wanted to drive the car. I am handing him the charge to him because even I am tired and need some rest. Now it is my turn to sit at the back seat. Only few kilometres have passed and again we are feeling hungry, so now we are pulling up at homestay sort of restaurant. Their is a big family and they were travelling from Delhi. They are amazed by seeing our tshirts and enquired about it. We are talking with them and they are saying next road trip they are planning from Delhi to Goa. We said that if they need any help let us know we will guide them. We have ordered for some dal rice and it was good in taste. Finding tasty food in such a remote area is like finding pin in a hay stack. Swapnil again didn't step out of the car and didn't even wanted to eat anything so he slept till we ate. 

After lunch I am again on the driving seat so that Swappy's health doesn't deteriorate more because we won't be able to find any help in Nubra. We have reached a diversion where 1st road goes to Siachen which is restricted area and other 2 from which one leads to Nubra and other goes towards Pangong Lake. Google map ditched us and taking us on a wrong route towards the pangong lake. It is showing the route for Panamik was from here and after driving for 20kms we reached a spot where all the cars were waiting in queue. We went ahead and inquired as to where this road leads to they and they are saying that it is the way for Pangong Lake and we were like shit yaar one hour got wasted and a minimum of 5 litres of fuel also. We are also asking them why are they waiting here to which they showed us that the road is flooded due to heavy melting of glacier. These people are waiting since morning 11am and it is 3pm now, oh gosh these people have too much of patience. "Hum hote toh route change karke Leh chale gaye hote the". Now we are taking a u-turn and following car navigation system. We drove for another 40kms that 20km because of the wrong route and another 20kms towards the Hunder Valley we have now reached a point where the roads are diverting agai, 1st is leading towards Hunder and other is going towards Panamik and we are taking a chance and trying our luck. 

Bridge towards Panamik

I had got instructions from my sister ke Anushka Sharma ne jaise bridge pic click kari thi naa Jab tak hai jaan mein waise pic click karna so mujhe bhi waisa bridge mil hi gaya Nubra River ki upar so again photo session time. We stayed here for 20mins and again starting our journey towards Panamik. 

It seems that were the only one going towards Panamik as their are no cars coming from opposite direction as well.After 5kms we are again stopping to do a photo session as the mountains are looking very nice and we can also spot a waterfall as well. This time we are doing a photo session with the car, we have parked the car in the middle of the road as it seems nobody ever visits this place after half an hour we are driving towards the Panamik. On the way we found heavy water glaciers flowing over the road but it is still driveable. Only 10kms are left and to our disappointment the flow of glaciers have become too heavy and made it impossible to drive through it. Their are other tourist cars who are waiting for a longer time to pass through the stream but it was impossible and everyone had lost their hopes. So we all have decided to return to Hunder only. This was very depressing as we don't know that we will ever come back to this place and see these springs in our life. 

We are driving back and the streams have become too heavy at moment while passing through it, the car is literally pushed by the stream off from the road and we are about to fall into the river but somehow luck played a good role and we have crossed the stream. Now we have to reach Hunder and find a good hotel to spend night. All this time Swapnil slept, it was like he doesn't even knows "ke hum ne kya kya ADVENTURE kiye hai aaj". We reaching Hunder and the time is 9pm and searching for hotel. Everything seems to be occupied, we can hardly find any hotel and their are no street lights or sign boards. After lots of struggle we have finally reached a good hotel Hunder Eco Villa which has room available at a very cheap price with WIFI, Dinner and Breakfast included. These kinds of deals are making our trip worth it. The room is very spacious and tidy and it is beautiful. We have checked inn and now getting fresh till the dinner is ready. 

Day 10 28th June Nubra to Leh 130km approx

Good morning guyz, it is 8am and we are going for our buffet breakfast. Today's breakfast is included in the tariff, we feel lucky that mostly we are getting good properties at a cheaper price and many of them are covering food also in it. After having delicious breakfast we are now going back to our room as yesterday we were very tired because of the additional drive which we did, to go towards Panamik but at last night itself we decided to skip because it doesn't seems worth the drive. We wanted to leave around 7 am because the flow of glacier becomes heavy due to melting of snow during daytime, but some things are planned to be cancelled . Yesterday also people were waiting since 11 am and even we had got stuck while going towards Panamik. Now without wasting more time lets get ready and pack our bags and proceed towards today's site seeing.

Hotel Hunder Eco Villa

We have stashed our bags in the car at 11:30am and now is the time for some photo session. The hotel has its own mini farm which was not visible at all during the night time and behind the hotel there are snow capped mountains which are looking very awesome. I am in love with this place. I wish I could stay over here(Need to find a Ladakhee girl and get married to her, then I can live over here easily). After making the payment to the manager we are bidding farewell to this place or to say that this place is bidding us a farewell because technically we are going from here and may not be able to come again. We took a picture of this hotel and it seems like it is not a real pic just a fake digital photo. This hotel is so beautifully made that it seems unreal. "Chalo now bahot taarif ho gayi, yeh log hume sponsor nahin kar rahe hai".  

Nubra Cold Desert

We are now proceeding towards our 1st sight seeing point of today which is Diskit Monastery. On our way we found a nice secluded place where a barren piece of land was in between two giant mountains. We are going to touch and feel the cold desert for the 1st time in our lives. Oh man this is just awesome yaar, the sand is so so smooth and waves are created by sand, we wish we can sleep on it but don't wont to spoil clothes and car right now.

Tharkism Echo Point

We are just stopping by the lane and going down a little slope to feel the desert. It is very serene, who can say behind those mountains is the action zone where our army is stationed 24*7 to guard us. This is also an echo point which "We Discovered guys". So lets name it as "Tharkism Echo Point", you can hear the echo on our youtube channel or in the video but please wear headphones to hear the echo. It is a faint one in the video but in reality it is audible pretty well.

I want to see a 2 hump camel but till now we never came accross a single camel or a yak in this area. It seems all the animals have disappeared suddenly, jaane do ab woh humare haath mein nahin hai. Now lets proceed towards the monastery. It is 12:15pm and we have reached the bottom of the monastery after driving few kms uphill we came across a small collection booth sort off where a monk was collecting a parking fee for the upkeep of the monastery and we can see that these people are still making the roads and all properly to reach the other side of the monastery. After paying the fee we are now going up the hill and again my best friend Swapnil and me started an argument. Their are basically 2roads, 1leads to the meditation area of the monks and the other leads to the highest point of the monastery where one can park his/her vehicle and their are only few steps. He convinced me to take a left and drive towards the meditation area because that is the entrance to the monastery and the other road leads to the different part of the mountain. We reached the parking area and could find only one car, we thought maybe we are late so all the travellers have already visited and left. After walking and climbing up 100's of steep stairs we are short of breath and once we reached the top we saw a good amount of crowd. I am wondering how these people have come here and then we saw the other way which we did not take is leading to the nearest parking lot. I am really very angry with this guy but kya kare dost hai maar toh sakta hoon nahin jaane do ab saale ko, next time se khudka bheja chalaunga.

Diskit Monastery

Huge statue of Gautam Buddha is made, he is sitting on sort of table and chanting some prayer. This table is a temple which is closed for tourists. We can see the whole Diskit and Hunder area from here and mountains after mountains. After some quick photo session we are now proceeding towards Pangong Lake. 

After driving for 20kms we are reaching the diversion where the left road leads to Pangong and the straight one goes towards Leh. We are about take the left and the road is blocked by rocks. This is really nice because yesterday after driving for 20kms the road block was there due to the heavy flowing stream and now today the authorities have blocked it before hand so it is saving our drive, time as well as fuel and as it is we forgot to refuel the car at Nubra and now next we may get fuel pump at Hemis which is out of the way and we will have to go back to Hemis from Pangong then proceed our journey towards Tso Moriri. Now as the road is closed we have to redo the planning as today we will again reach back to Leh and then tomorrow will proceed towards Pangong. 

Now we are driving towards Leh and after a drive of 1 hour 45 minutes from the monastery we found our 1st landslide of the day. This time it is not due to snow fall boulders from the mountains have rolled down on the road and thankfully no person or car has got damaged in this. The army people are already clearing it and will take 15mins to get it cleared. The road is finally open and now we are driving up the hill and again their is a landslide but now it is snow. This is also getting cleared but our fellow travellers are not having patience at all. They just want to ride throw this snow and see one of them got stuck as well. Now the rescue team has stopped their work and helping this guy to get his bike out of the snow. I guess either they are dumb or they are doing it to show off but this is delaying the clearance work. It took only 10 mins to clear the road as only snow was their that too soft one.

Now again we are back on the way to Leh. It is 4pm and we are about to reach KHARDUNGLA top, it is approximately 5kms and another landslide oh god, and this time it is huge one and we are the 1st vehicle to see it from both the sides. There is no network in the cell phone so that we can reach for help, now god only knows kaun aayega humari madat karne. Half an hour went by and huge queue of cars and bikes can be seen on both the side of the roads. Finally a high ranked army car came and now they are calling to someone through satellite phone to get this thing cleared up. Finally the whole mess was about to get cleared but these bikers have again started to show off. This time it is girl who is trying to take her bike from the pile of snow and she got stuck. Her bike was not able to move front and back so her friends came to rescue and asked her to step down while one took the control of the bike and other tried to push it forward after 5 mins of struggle they were able to get that bike through the mess and the Snow Cutters resumed its work to get the whole pass clear so that cars can drivethru easily. 

It is 5pm and we are reaching the top of Khardungla, this time Swapnil is energetic and he even he wants to enjoy this. We stepped out of the car, Amit and Swapnil went to washroom and I am proceeding towards the canteen again. Pretty girls are present in the canteen which is making it more warmer here . We ordered for maggie and tea and spent almost 45minutes in the canteen and came out now to take some pics. 

After having such a lovely meal i.e. 2 plated of maggie I am taking back seat of the car and also while negotiating one of the land slide I think so the under body engine cover broke and it is rubbing continuously with the road and stones. I requested Swapnil to take the wheels while I try to search for some road side assistance who can help us out. Swapnil is a horrible driver man, while driving up the hill, car engine didn't get cut off and now while going down the hill the engine is getting a completely cut off and he needs to restart the car again and again. "God knows kab yeh banda gaadi chalana seekhega". We are the only 1 car who is going towards Leh city as rest have either already left or they are heading towards Nubra. The roads are flooded with continuous melting of snow and it is more slippery as their is loose mud small pebbles which is making the drive more difficult. While he is driving I am trying to contact roadside people. These people in the customer care are super useless and cant even understand anything. Let it be will find a service centre tomorrow morning and get the things fixed before proceeding for the onwards journey.

Meanwhile we are driving down 2 people riding on Avenger bike came infront of us and are trying to ride between the stones. Suddenly these people just fell infront of the car. Thank God Swapnil is driving the car because he managed to apply sudden breaks and we are driving at a very low speed. "Main hota toh yeh yeh log seedha neeche hi jaate the", because I cannot manage to apply sudden breaks. We stopped the car and now Amit is getting down to help them. He also asked them to ride safely to which they are saying they have fallen for the 5th or 6th time today. I will never take such a big risk by riding bike on such a road because I don't fear death but I fear of getting fractured or hurting myself and ending up in the hospital. Now we again started driving towards Leh. As we crossed South Pullu our car GPS is showing a short route to the Leh market so we are following that map. This is the biggest mistake of our life as this route is taking us from very narrow roads and it is taking more time than the normal route and people over here do not have patience for even a second. The driver of Tavera did see us still he entered the lane and blocked the path. I have to get down the car and we are navigating somehow without damaging either of the cars. Kudos to Swappy he didn't scratched the car and managed to get us out of that lane. Now we are back to the main market road and going towards the hotel. We wanted to try a new hotel this time so Amit and I are going to see the room. The hotel is nice and luxurious and the room is also very pretty but it is too costly and out of our budget so now we are deciding to go back to Nezer Holiday Inn only. We talked to the owner he gave us the room at same tariff as last time but the room is bit smaller this time as the hotel is full. We just dropped our luggage and freshen up ourselves and now going to the market as Swapnil wants to buy some dry fruits for his family and we are feeling hungry also. After shopping we are now going to the Hotel Blue Lotus which is in the market itself for dinner as Swappy wants to eat some good non veg dishes. Today finally he got to eat some good non veg and after such a lovely meal I am not feeling like to walk back to the hotel, par kya karoon gaadi toh laaya nahin hoon aur 12 baje raat mein kaunse local transport milna hai. Chalo chal kar hi jaate hai aur sote hai.

Day 11, 29 th June Leh to Pangong Tso 156km approx.

A very good morning to everyone, it is 7 am and today the very 1 st task is to get the under body engine guard re-fixed. Yesterday night itself I did a research on the service centre of Mahindra in Leh. The service centre is on the way to Pangong , so 1 st we will refuel the car tank and we have got 2 can of liters each to carry extra fuel as their will be no fuel station till Tandi and we have to cover a total distance 700km before reaching the next fuel station. Let’s get ready and start our journey. It is 10 am and now we are saying SAYONARA to LEH. We have reached the fuel station and now getting the car ready for onwards journey as there are no service centre till we reach Manali which is approx 800kms from here (we will be going through Pangong, Tso Morir and then Manali). We are also getting tire pressure checked so that we don’t get any puncture issue. Mentokling Motors is the official service center of Mahindra vehicles and is only 3kms from here so we are about to reach their. Here is a long queue of Maharashtra passing Mahindra cars these are the Ladakh expedition cars which is managed but the Mahindra Expedition team. I had read about it but it is very expensive tour. We have

registered the complaint yesterday itself on call but these people are not having any information regarding the issue. We have to again register the complaint and do the paperwork.

Mentokling Motors Leh

It is already 11:30am and we don’t know by what time we will reach to Pangong. The manager over here is not even looking into the problem and is not ready to tell how much time it will take. It took almost 4 to 5 hours to just tight 3 screws. Very rude and useless staff, if they would have said us that it will take so much time then we would have got this fixed by any local mechanic or else I would have bought screws from local shop and fixed it myself. Damn these people my whole good and positive review about this place has suddenly turned into a very negative one. They wasted so much time and for fixing 3 screws they have charged us Rs.700, "wow 10 rupiye ke screw ke liye 700 diye maine". Isliye normal spares lekar jaana recommend karte hai yahan par log kyunki oil, filters, etc ka pata nahin yeh log kitna charge karenge. Utne mein toh shayad Brand New Car aa jaayegi. Anyways jo ho gaya so hogaya lets proceed Pangong abhi dur hai.

It is 3 pm and we are again back on the journey to the Pangong Lake, we have not eaten anything since we woke up and are really very hungry now, but can’t even take halt to eat because then we will get late and we have to reach their before sunset or cover maximum distance during daylight so we have decided to have snacks which we are carrying. We are now reaching the 1 st check post for Pangong, it is around 15kms away from the city, we are now submitting the copy of permit and there are no other vehicles on this route so our work is done pretty fast. We are about to sit in the car the guard came to us asking for a help, he said that the on the way we will find another check post near Karu before Tungtse, he wants to send some parcel to his colleagues over there, we said that we will love to help him out. He gave us a packet which had Chicken in it and said that his colleagues will love to eat it. He also said that he will inform them that so and so person is coming with the parcel and took the details of the car. 

It is 5pm and we are about to reach Karu Check post where we have to deliver the parcel. We reached the check post and informed the guard that his colleague from the previous check post has sent a parcel for them, he became very overwhelmed listening to this because in this region very rarely non-veg dishes are cooked in remote areas as we have already experienced when we were at Nubra and Amit and Swapnil wanted to have non-veg. The guard offered us to come with him to the army canteen but we thanked him for his gesture and said that we need to reach Pangong before sunset. He wished us for our journey and we are now proceeding further. I do feel that we should have gone with him to the army canteen not for eating but just to see how the camp and the atmosphere looks like and should have shot a video with him, even he would have felt very nice. 

Tangtse Check Post

We reached Tangtse Check Post around 7pm, and now are registering ourselves and submitting the copy of Permit. During the whole journey till now we couldn’t spot a car which was going towards Pangong. Finally we saw some bikers who are travelling towards the lake, we are talking to them about their journey and they said that their friends are still somewhere behind so they are stopping here for the day and are waiting for other to reach and will proceed towards lake tomorrow. 

Frozen Lake

So now we are continuing our journey, "kyunki dilli abhi bhi dur hai". On our way we saw a very beautiful Frozen Lake oh this was looking so amazing as live snowfall is going on and this the 1 st time in our life we got to witness a frozen lake. I desperately wanted to stop and touch it but then there was no place to park the car and also we are getting late. 

We have travelled just 10kms from Tungtse and now we are stuck in traffic jam, don’t know what has caused this as we are not exactly on a mountain but a sort of flat land between 2 mountains, a sort of junction. It has passed almost half an hour waiting here and nobody has moved even a single inch. Now I am getting curious and asked Swapnil to take over the wheel and let’s find out what exactly is going on. Arey yaar!! These people, why do they come to such places in Alto and such kind of cars? This guy is stuck in a stream which is almost 1 foot deep and huge pointy stones are their which are not allowing him to negotiate through the stream. It took almost an hour more to just get out of the stream and few localites helped him and are instructing others to follow the said path only otherwise they will also get stuck in this thing and will be really very difficult to get them out. I was also standing in that running stream and getting wet because of rains, guiding people who are going towards the Pangong Lake where to steer from. Our car is the last one so Swapnil drove till here and is asking me to take the charge but then who will guide me so I asked him to drive I will guide him. 

Finally we cleared this patch and now I asked Swapnil to continue the drive as I am very tired now and my whole clothes are wet and shoes and socks feels like they have been just removed from washing machine, fully soaked in water. We drove for another 20kms and are again stuck in a traffic jam. This time we are driving uphill so I can bet it is guarantee a landslide as it is raining continuously and there is high chance of this happening. Finally we saw many cars and buses which are travelling towards the lake. Jaan mein jaan aayi ab humare. It took almost 2 hour to get that landslide cleared and some tourist drivers came to us asking for money as they need to pay to the person who cleared this landslide as this was not an army help. We don’t know how much truth they are saying but Rs.100 is not a big amount so we gave them. Till the time we were stuck in this jam we were playing cards. Mast andhere mein cheating kar rahe the sab. We didn’t want to drain the car battery so we were using mobile torch for playing cards. 

As soon as the road got cleared another car got stuck at that same place, what nonsense yaar. I don’t know how these people got their license? You know that the road got cleared just now so you should manage your car speed accordingly while passing it because there are high chances of people getting stuck because some amount of wet mud is still on the road and that might not allow driving in low speed. Now the army was called to rescue that car. 

The army tow vehicle had to come from somewhere near the Tungtse Check Post so it took more than half an hour just for the vehicle to reach the spot and then the rescue operation began. We were stuck in the same place for more than 3hours and now the time is 10:30pm and we have to find the place to stay also. We still have to drive for some 15to 20kms to reach the Lake. This time I took over the wheels so that we don’t get stick in this patch. It is 11pm and now we are searching for hotels, most of them are pre booked by tours and travels people so there is no occupancy in them, but we don’t have to worry about the stay as there are N number of homestays and tents. I have done a thorough homework before starting the trip. There are homestays and tents at Spangmik and very nice hotels at Man which is just 9kms drive from Spangmik. 

Finally we found a homestay and checked inn. It is a not a five star but is not that bad, a nice place where we can sleep peacefully. We are very hungry so we asked the owner if there is anything to eat, he informed us that only maggie is available so we decided to order 3 plates but then we ordered 6 plates because we are very hungry and even the owner said that he was going to close the kitchen for today after this . We also have Maggie with us but the problem is if we cook that on our own then we won’t be able to boil water as there is no hot water facility available, people use solar water heaters only, so till the time maggie came we boiled 3 bucket of waters so that we can bath and use for washroom purpose as well because water over here is freezing cold and it is very difficult to use that for any purpose. 

Swapnil and Amit didn’t like the Maggie but I am damn hungry so I am eating. There are light timings over here, electricity is available from evening 7pm to 11pm only to the tents and is available at homestays but even they cut off the power after 11pm. But the owner is nice so he said that he will keep the main switch on till 11:30pm but after that he cannot keep it on. So we agreed and used that time to charge our mobile phones so that we can use that for clicking pictures. There are 3 individual beds and Swapnil slept at extreme right side Amit was sleeping on the centre and I took the left one. When the power was cut we went to sleep as we were also very tired to talk to each other and the whole time in the car we were talking and playing cards. We were doing jam session in the traffic jam.

Day 12, 30 th June Pangong Lake, 10kms

Pangong

Good morning everyone, today we are extending our stay as we reached very late yesterday and “Pangong aaye hai toh aisa khaali haath thodi wapas jaayenge bina kuch dekhe”. So the 1 st task is to refuel the car so that we can empty those cans and don’t need to worry regarding the spilling of diesel in the car. So now Swapnil and I are going to fill that till then Amit will get ready. We are taking out the refuelling kit which includes a funnel and a pipe so that we can fill diesel without wasting or dropping too much. We are trying to fill it but as this our 1 st time so approx half a liter is spilled out from the 1 st can. Now it is 2 nd can, but these cans have become very heavy to be lifted till our chest level so now I am asking Swapnil to pour the diesel from the can while I will hold the kit in place. Again half to 1 liter diesel is dropped on the ground but that is not an issue because still we have approx 8 litres of fuel that means we are having around 58 litres in the tank and it is more than enough for another 580 kms approx. and by then we will find another fuel station. We did talk to the owner of the guest house that if we need more fuel then where can we get that from, so he informed us that villagers do sell diesel and petrol and the price of Diesel is around Rs.120 per litre that is almost double. Though it is costly but still if in need we will get diesel and won’t have to get stuck over here itself, but that’s a good idea if we stay over here “I don’t want to go back”. All our hands and clothes have got dirtied and Amit has also come out of the bathroom. Now we are taking hot water from the solar heater so that we can get fresh and start our today’s exploration in the region.

It is 10 am and now we are ready to proceed but now we are having a second thought of either to stay in this homestay or to stay in a tent, because we will not get a chance to do camping nearby the Lake. So now we are packing our bags most of it is already packed because we didn’t removed lots of things yesterday night as we were very tired. Now let’s begin the hunt for the ‘Blood Orchid’ - I mean a nice tent nearby the lake. We started our drive towards the lake so that we can get some tent stays near the lake itself and there are plenty of tent stays but we need to find the right one. We are checking them driving nearby them and how far they are from the lake. 

 Himalayan Retreat, Pangong

We have reached Himalayan Retreat and Amit and Swapnil are going to check the tents while I am at the wheels. They are now calling me to see the tent so let’s go and check it out. Wow it is an amazing tent,it is quite huge with 3 beds, 2 are together and 1 separate leaving some distance between both and at the entrance there is a small seating place with chair and table so that we can sit and look over the lake. 

The washroom is attached with the tent so we don’t have to run out in the open area. We are bargaining with the manager and this bargaining is not for the money but for the bathing water. We are demanding 3 buckets full of hot water for tomorrow morning and he is willing to give only 1 because I guess he is not having Solar Water heaters I guess and he will have to heat the water over the gas. But guys we are hygiene freak while I take bath once in a day but these both bathe twice so we are firm on our demands. Finally this guy agreed to our terms and condition and we said him we will pay him half amount tomorrow morning because what if this guy won’t provide with hot water then what are we going to do. So he is agreeing. Now our package includes stay, lunch, dinner, breakfast and 3 BUCKET FULL of HOT WATER.

Now we have lots of time till lunch is ready so we are looking to explore this place. We even want to talk to our family and inform them that we have reached Pangong safe and sound so we need to call them but unfortunately our cell phones are not receiving any signals so we are going to the Manager because we saw him talking on the cell phone so he might be able to help us. The manager is saying that there is an STD booth 2kms back from this place and we can make calls from their#.

So now we are going to that place, it is hardly 5mins drive from our tents. This is in the centre of the place with communication tower and wire and satellite dish with an office surrounded by heavy fencing.We are trying to find the entrance to this office and finally we have found the gate on the back side which is facing towards the lake, but unfortunately the office is closed. Ahhhh these government employees, “yahan par bhi inka yehi haal hai 12:30pm baj rahe hai aur sab gayab hai, wapas manager se hi baat karte hai who kaise calls kar raha hai aur usko kaise aa rahe hai calls”. Now we are back at the Himalayan Retreat and finding the manager. Finally we found him; he is chilling out with other tent managers. He is saying that only BSNL network works over here so we said we have MTNL which should work but it is not receiving any signal at all. He is saying that smart phones are useless over here, only those old handsets which are not having latest tech work here because they are able to receive strong 2G signals in this region and we can make calls but his cell phone is not having enough balance to make calls outside the state so we are telling him that we will only give missed calls at our home. He said that to make calls we need to go in a particular area where we can receive signal and then only we can make call. He showed us the place and also the technique to how to call. We have to place the cell phone on the window pane and put the cell phone on a speaker so as to make calls and talk. We are now going to that place, it is a restaurant of another tent stay and that guy is his friend so he allowed u to go inn and make calls. Oh man he is not even having balance to give missed calls to our family, what nonsense yaar our last hope is also gone. Now how should we contact them? I have got an idea we will try to insert our sim card in his cell phone but another issue yaar, these smart phones have micro and nano sim slots and these old hands use the whole thing and we are not having sim adaptor for that. But Amit came to our rescue this guy is our chalta firta gadget man, he is carrying sim adaptor in his wallet, “bhai ek phone bhi le aate toh sone pe suhaga ho jaata tha”. Now let’s try if this works, EUREKA it is working, finally we will be able to call and our hard work of buying a new sim connection became successful as this is working hurray. Now line by line we are calling our family members, finally they are relaxed because it has been almost more than a day that we have contacted them they were really very tensed. We have also informed them that we may not be able to contact them again for more few days until we reach Manali.

Now it is time for lunch break and we are proceeding towards the dining area. They have nice variety Mutter Paneer, Dal , Rice and hot Chapati and we are the only customers right now and they have prepared so much for us. Amit is asking if we can get papad also and the waiter is bringing that for us. Aur kya chahiyey hume zindag mein. Wow it tastes so great but Swapnil wants to have chicken because he is fed up of eating Paneer. We are now enquiring with the cook that if he can cook some chicken dish. The cook is saying that this is pure veg hotel but if we want to have non-veg then there are some other hotels which do serve non-veg and we can have it over there, but they have canned chicken so that wont taste as authentic one because here nobody has whole hen and only canned non-veg is available. So now Swappy is dropping the plan to have non-veg over here. 

We are now feeling bit lazy after having such a heavy lunch that too after so many days and also we had only maggie yesterday so this was the 1 st proper meal in 2 days. Now we are going to sleep for sometime then we will leave for site seeing and some photography session. We slept for almost 2 hours from 3pm till 5pm and now is the time for exploring the area. We want to go that place where the last scene of 3 idiots was shot where there is path which is surrounded by lake from all the 3 sides so let’s find that out and click some Dhinchak Photos. 

We are starting our drive to find that location but it seems we are the only tourist right now at this side of Pangong Lake. We can see people on the other side of the lake and that too in the photos which we had clicked while calling at our home and right now not a single tourist can be seen over here. We are driving and now have crossed almost 6 kms without any proper roads just driving alongside the lake and now don’t want go further just to find that place as we are having fuel for only 580 kms approx. so now we have stopped at a nice spot with less rocks so that we can click nice pics with the lake and car as well. 

                                

We have even made wishing stone pyramid let’s see if our wishes come true or not. Our photography session lasted for almost 1 hour. It is such a lovely scenary. Guys, Zindagi mein EK baar yahan Par Zaroor Aana. Warna yeh life waste hai tumahri. It is 7pm and now we are again driving back towards our tent stays. Kaash koi yahin rok le mujhe, wapas nahin jaana hai uss zindagi mein. Hey there is a group of girls which have arrived at our tent stay only. Minibus bhar ke ladkiyan aayi hai yaar, kya baat hai banjar zameen pe phool khil rahe hai. Let’s see koi hume line bhi deti hai ke nahin. Chalo dinner time bhi ho gaya hai let’s go. Ayye haaye kya nazare hai saari ladkiyan hi hai sirf ek tour guide male hai baaki sab female hai who bhi sab youngsters. All are in their twenties, and all the pretty ladies have made the dinning tent warmer. Ya allah yeh ladkiyan hume ched rahi hai? They are singing "Yehi umar hai karle Galti se Mistake",  not possible koi hume chede ya hum par line maare. Let us concentrate on "Mutter Paneer". Aahh such a lovely dinner, cook has come to ask how the food is and we are giving him with the best review till date. We are talking to the cook and he is saying that he is also from Maharashtra only, he is from Aurangabad and 8 months he works in some hotel at Goa and during rainy season he works here at Pangong as it is dull in Goa and full peak tourist time over here.

After chit chatting with him now we are going to our tent as the lights are going to be switched off at 11 and we need to pack some stuff from our luggage so that tomorrow we do not have to rush. 3 of these girls are staying next to our tent only and they are sitting outside their tent. I wanted to talk to them regarding from where they are and how are they finding this trip, what all destinations have they covered in this trip but that would be too awkward for me as they are unknown and not a single guys is accompanying them so I thought to leave this and now we are inside our tents. Oh I forgot to tell you people that in the tents only 1 bulb is in the room and 1 in washroom and nothing else, so if you want to charge your gadgets then around 7 pm you will have to talk to manager and ask him to put them in charging. We also did that and these people had charging points in the Kitchen so we gave them our cell phones. Now we have enough battery for the whole night so its time for a Jam session, we are ready with cards and playing music on the phone. Arey we forgot to shoot our day 12 video, please excuse us for 10 mins while we do that and I will comeback to you people. 

Hey guys were are back and done with the video and it is 11pm and lights are also out but we do have torches in our phones so we will continue with the game and see you people tomorrow. Goodnight Sweet Dreams and Sleep Well

To Be Continued..........