Travellers Dream

Mumbai To Lakadh in XUV 500 (Part 4)

Day 13, 1^st July Pangong Tso to Tso Morir 208km approx.

Good morning guyz and gals,it is 7 am and today we will be proceeding towards our next destination that is Tso Moriri. So let’s get ready and pack our bags and proceed towards the breakfast area, “Let’s do some bird watching during daytime, kal andhere mein aache se ladkiyan dikh nahin rahi thi”. Yaar ek bucket garam paani se nahane bhi nahin ho raha hai, kal usko 2 bucket bolna chahiyey tha per person. Swapnil and Amit are done with bathing, main manager ko bolta hoon mera wala paani extra boil karne taaki hot aur cold ka mixture karke 2 bucket ho jaaye. It is 8:40 am, morning chores aur packing karne mein 1 hour 45 minutes ho gaye and we are getting late for breakfast also, let’s have a heavy breakfast so that jayada food stop lene ki zaroorat nahin pade. These girls are going, oh shit man we are late yaar I had thought that atleast we would have some pilot vehicle infornt of us while going towards Tso Moriri.

Chalo koi baat nahin it is a bus how far can they go, we will drive fast and cover up the distance which we will lose because of this delay. Let’s check out the breakfast, today they are serving us bread butter, tea, coffee, milk and poha, yummy having poha after so many days. The chef has made poha in authentic Maharastrian style and this is good because we don’t like poha in any other style. Before we proceed I would like to tell you some facts about the lake.

Tso Moriri or Moriri Lake is also known as ‘Mountain Lake’ because the lake is nestled in the middle of peaks with the height of 20,000 feet, completely shutting the lake from the outside world. The lake is mostly fed with spring waters and snow melting from the nearby mountains and the water of the lake is not having any outlet to the outside world other than its length of 26km. The lake water has a dark blue colour and the water is very clean. Bahot ho gayi information, 208kms ki long drive pe chalte hai bina jayada time waste kiye. Hum jo chalne lage chalne lage hai yeh raaste, haan haan haan mazil se behtar lagne lage hai yeh raaste hai and we have struck the clock. Finally we have found the place which was in 3 idiots where the last kiss scene was shot between Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

It is my dream to park the car in the middle of the lake and take some pics of my beast admist the beauty. This after Man Village. It’s time for some pics, humare co-writer sahab Amit ko pata nahin kya hua hai who gaadi se bahar nahin aa raha. Jaane do hum photoshoot karte hai, our photoshoot session lasted for almost 45 minutes.

There is another tourist car which has arrived and even they are clicking pics. Meanwhile we will talk to the driver as to where they are headed to. The driver is saying that they are also going towards Tso Moriri only and this is good thing as we will get company on this lonely route. While talking to him another car has arrived and guess what it is MH 03 passing private car we are also talking to them and they are saying they are from Chembur. These private car people have parked their car very near the lake where I wanted to park mine but Swapnil said that the land may not be very hard to carry the load of the car so we decided to park it here only.

Now it is 10:26 am so let’s not waste any further time and proceed towards Tso Moriri. We are doing off roading as there is no proper road over her just tire marks and with the help of my both navigators Swapnil and Amit I am driving the car. This lake is quite long, we have travelled more than 30kms and we are still driving by the lake only. We are going up the hill and still the lake is besides us the scenery is very nice, it looks like that we are driving next to a river and not a lake. Chalo the lake is saying goodbye to us and we are diverting from here and entering the army camp. The road is sloping downwards and suddenly we are hearing some noise from the car. “Oh shit agar break down hua toh idhar koi bhi nahin hai dur dur tak humari help karne ke liye”. We are getting down to check what is wrong with our beast, arey yaar this Mentokling Motors mechanics have not fixed the under body engine cover and it has again come out. I had said him that they need to fix few more screws as the space was empty but these people “china ke phone ke jaisa kaam kiya hai,chale toh chand tak nahin toh sham tak”.

Swapnil and I are trying to get under the car and trying to remove the cover completely but we are too fat to go under the car. So now I am reversing the car a bit so that we are on a steeper slope and will try to get under the car. No use of this, only Amit can fit under the car. From now onwards he is our navigator less Snacks distributor less DJ less a mechanic also. We are trying to figure out how to remove it but the other screws are tightened properly and the place where it is not screwed has come out. I have a seatbelt cutter let’s try and cut this part out, Amit is trying to cut but it is of no use the cutter is not that sharp that it can cut such a thick rubber guard. The tourist car that we had seen by lake and talked to the driver has come and they are helping us. The driver is saying that we should keep driving and the piece will automatically break off due to friction, so we are now again starting our drive without thinking about it.

Now I am giving the wheel to Swapnil and allowing him also to enjoy this scenic drive. We have again reached a diversion and the GPS map is showing a different route and the mobile map is showing another route, now we have to do a toss between both of them and we have decided to go with the mobile map as it is the latest one. We are taking a right and going towards the upper side of the hill rather than going to the down side towards the village. We have reached a check post sort off a thing and it is also a kind off dead end as vehicles are not allowed beyond this point. The guard came and told us that we have to go back and take the other route this route is only open for army personnel. Oh damn yaar, they should put a sign board stating the vehicles are not allowed beyond this point or diversion to Tso Moriri is from here. Anyways let’s go back and take that diversion and pass from the village. This village seems to be a haunted one, not a single soul can be seen inside or outside the house, the whole village is empty. And within 2 mins we entered the village and we exited it as well, being so small no one was visible.

Now we have reached someplace where there is actually no road at all. We are in the middle of the desert and right now I can think of one line that is “My Life My Rules, My Car My Roads”, we are following the car GPS which is showing us some road and accordingly we are driving the car but if you look at the video clip actually there is no such road at all and there are no other tourist vehicles also who we can follow. It is just a big desert and our left side there is a fencing done and some warning board is put stating that "the land is reserved for sheep breeding".

I wonder kaun itni dur aayegi sheep breeding karne. We are still going and going and going and I guess we have crossed more than 40 to 50kms driving without any proper road and finally we have again reached a point where we have to drive up the hill without any road at all “pata nahin kya hoga humara”. At such a popular tourist place atleast these people should flatten the surface so that we can drive our cars, don’t make tar and cement roads but atleast flatten them so that we do not have to navigate the vehicles through these rocks.

Anyways we are trying to dodge these boulders and Swapnil is giving his best but our beast needs more power than what he is giving. The slope is too steep and the angle is around 45 degrees so we need to reverse down our mean machine and give a full acceleration inorder to conquer this mountain. I am getting down so that I can help Swappy to reverse the car and will first check where we should go from because we don’t want to get stuck between these boulders in this lonely mountain. I guess these tourist drivers do know another way as we are the only ones who is driving on this stretch from such a long time and we cannot see a single vehicle either coming or going from this direction. We have reversed the car and reached a flat surface beneath the mountain; now let’s mark some points from where we can drive up this hill. All three of us are now looking in different directions as to where the tires marks are or any other less risky way is available to climb this hill, and we have spent almost 15 minutes doing R&D on this but nothing came in our hand.

Swappy has also given up that he cannot drive the car. Now everything is on me because Amit has not driven a car in his life so it is either Swapnil or me. Even I never drove on such steep off roads and neither the car is 4*4 which will allow to maneuver easily, but we have to do something. Now we are changing our seating positions, Swapnil will sit in the co – driver seat, Amit in the backseat and I will have to take the steering wheel in my hand. Oh god, please give me as well as my machine the strength to conquer this rocky mountain. Even I am scared but I cannot show it to them because they have hopes on me. “Aaj ya toh aar ya fir paar”, I have rolled my cuffs up and now taken the driving seat, “Jo hoga dekha jaayega”. I am reversing the car a bit more so that I get enough power before climbing the slope as lots of power will be lost while driving up as I need to tackle big boulders. It is hardly 1kms stretch but is very difficult and risky as the space between 2 boulders is very narrow and if we bash to either one the force will have very bad impact and we will be pushed down the hill and these boulders will come rolling down towards us and we can get crushed easily. With the maximum power and full acceleration we have started to climb this hill and my navigator Swapnil is helping me dodge these boulders as I cannot focus on seeing far more than bonnet of the car and he can concentrate further than that. Somehow we have managed to climb the hill without a single scratch on the car and now we have reached the top of the hill.

The off roading has not yet finished but we have managed to cross the most difficult patch of our life. The top surface is not that flat and we have to still navigate through big bumps on the road or rather say surface. I am still continuing the drive and giving some rest time to Swappy and later when we reach proper roads then he can drive the car. This rough patch is more than 20kms long and it has taken almost 45 minutes to cross. Now finally we have reached a proper surface where we can drive the car without any hassles. Still I am only driving because now I am enjoying the roads. After crossing Pangong this is the 1^st sight of a proper tar road because from the day we have entered Pangong Lake area we are driving without any roads at all. We can finally see a car and many trucks on this patch. I think so we have reached a proper highway, the road which we came from is a short cut as we were able to cut almost 70kms, because originally when I was planning back at home the distance between Pangong and Tso Moriri was around 280kms and now we are going to reach in just 208kms. We have crossed almost 100kms and only 108kms more to go.

After such a mountainous ride we are now feeling very hungry and it is around 3pm and we have seen the 1^st home stay kind of dhabha and general store on this route. We have stopped here to refuel ourselves. They are serving only thalis over here which consists of Chawli Gravy, dal, rice and chapatti so we have ordered 2 thalis only and I am waiting to check whether it is edible or not otherwise I am going to have the snacks which we have in the car. Luckily we are receiving cell phone signals over her so we are making calls turn by turn and informing our families about our current location. By the time my call got finished Amit’s and Swapnil”s food has arrived and they are saying the food is quite tasty so even I am ordering 1 thaali for me. Meanwhile my thaali came; Swapnil and I have entered into a verbal argument. The place is not leveled properly so the place where me and Amit is sitting is bit on downside and whereas Swapnil is sitting is on a higher side, and I am trying to explain him that but he is not ready to listen at all saying that my height is small and the table is too big for me. I tried to explain him but this guy is going on doing the same thing and even I am getting frustrated and I have now started shouting on him and we both have entered into a heated argument right now. Amit is trying to calm us down and Swapnil has completed his eating so Amit is telling him to go make a phone call to his home as well till then even my anger will cool down. All this drama lasted for 5mins and now we are paying the bill and Amit wants to have some chips so he is buying from the restaurants shop itself.

We have started our drive and now we are reaching the 1^st official checkpost Loma. This is the most important check post on this highway as it lies on the INDO – Tibetan border and we are very close to the borders. We are not even allowed to click pictures over here due to security reason and only people living in this area can cross the bridge, others are not even allowed to go over there. But it looks very serene and we wish someone from our families would have been in the army and we could get the permission to see the border. I have not even seen Wagah border till today. I really wish to visit my neighboring countries or let me rephrase those countries which were once a part of India. It is 4pm and now after completing the process we are moving towards the next destination. Now I am handing the charge to Swapnil because it has become very tiring after driving for so long. It is 4:45pm and we have reached somewhere near Nyoma Village and on our left side we have Indus River accompanying us. The river is continuously running parallel with the road and on the map we can see to reach Karzok i.e Tso Moriri we have to cross the river.

Our co-writer Mr. Amit Patil wants to click some pics with the river so we have stopped the car. His photo session lasted for only 5mins. Now we are moving towards our destination because we want to reach the lake before sunset as we don’t intend to extend our stay over here.

It is 6:30pm and right now we are about to reach some lake, initially I thought that we have reached Tso Moriri because I don’t remember any other lake which had shown in the map during the planning phase but Tso moriri is a big village where tent stays, guest house and Karzok Gompa is situated but this lake is situated in a very isolated place with not a single house around it. Later Amit said that this is Kyagar Tso it is small lake before Tso Moriri. It is 7pm and we have reached another checkpost which is at the entrance of Tso Moriri and this is also a small army camp. We are registering ourselves and proceeding towards the lake now. This army camp is setup very far from the lake as well as the main village.

TSO Moriri

It is 7:10pm and we have finally reached today’s sightseeing point Tso Moriri. Now is the time for some photo shoot and video shoot as well. We have even brought Indian Flag with us which we wanted to remove it when we had reached Khardungla but we had forgotten, now is the right time to remove it and place it on a pole and do some photo session with the INDIAN FLAG. Our session lasted for half an hour and now we are driving towards the Karzok Village. The village is more 4 to 5 kms in the interior and it has already got dark over here. We still need to find some place to stay overnight.

At the entrance of the village we can see some tents stay so now Amit and I are getting out of the car while Swapnil will be sitting in the car itself. We are talking to the manager he is saying they are completely booked, there is a hotel at some distance so we are inquiring with them also but he is also saying that they are completely booked. Let’s go further in and try our luck. We have reached the center of the village and trying our luck, Amit has gone to check the home-stay and the manager is saying that he has a room but the washroom is outside the room and it is a common one so we decided to skip that as we can’t use a common loo. Finally we have found a home-stay which has a private washroom. Though it is small but still it can be manageable. Now we are getting freshen up and then will proceed to have our dinner. There is restaurant just next to this guest house so we have decided to eat their only. We have ordered for dal rice and it is not edible at all because the dal is just turmeric water with a little bit of salt in it. So now we are ordering for some noodles and fried rice, let’s see if that can be eaten or not, this is still better than dal rice and they have chilli and soya sauce so we can add that and make it according to our taste buds. Now we are heading back to the home-stay and it is time for a nap. So good night Sweet dreams and see you all tomorrow.

Day 14, July 2^nd Tso Moriri to Sarchu 219kms Approx.

Good morning guys, yesterday night we had a really long sleep. And right now it is 9am. This is the 1^st time I guess we are waking up so late after Jalandhar because at Jalandhar we had planned to sleep that way but today it is all natural. So let’s not waste any more time and complete the morning chores and start the journey.

It is 11 am and we are ready to start for the next destination either SARCHU or atleast our target for today is to reach PANG. Hey everyone we are on the verge of ending the trip as TSO MORIRI is the last official point on our hitinerary and the coming journey is the road trip back to MUMBAI. So I hope you have enjoyed this trip with us. We will also see few places in Manali and Chandigarh as well so don’t think that this is the last day kyunki “picture abhi baaki hai mere dost”. We still have more than 2500km to reach back to Mumbai and our plans can get changed at any moment of time so you people never know what is going to happen. So please stay tuned with us. We are now going to have our breakfast it is including the stay charges so let’s have it, they are serving us parathas, bread – butter and jam. It is good only “atleast peth bhar gaya aur kya chahiyey”. Now Amit has paid the stay charges to the guesthouse owner and we are proceeding towards the CAR.

We are saying a goodbye to this lovely Himalayan road trip. We all are ready to roll but let me tell you that our 1^st stop for today is the entrance of the Moriri lake as we want to click few more pics and spend some more time by the lake. We have reached the check post and completing our formalities, this is the same check post of yesterday and the route to Manali is from somewhere here only. Let’s ask the army people only they will give us the better guidance than any google MAP. They are saying that we have to take the route for Meroo so now we have to drive upto Meroo to reach the Leh – Manali highway. It is 11:30 am and we have finally reached the doorway to Tso Moriri, it’s time for some pichas manh. Our friend Swapnil Patil has turned on his Adventure mode, this guy is going to take a dip in the lake even I want to do that yaar but shit manh if I fall sick then how is he alone going to manage driving, nahin mere saath hi aisa kyun, mujhe bhi kudna hai paani mein. Last time aise Cannes mein kiya tha who bhi raat ko 11 baje kya thanda paani tha I was loving it, theek hai atleast let him go “mera bhai gaya main gaya ek hi baat hai”, he is saying the water is very cold - hot water spring thodi hai jo saala garam paani milega. Our activities lasted for around half an hour.

It is 12:05pm and now we have to make a move otherwise Sarchu kya Pang bhi nahin pahunchenge iss speed se toh, waise hi subeh late ho gaye. Chalo let us drive, this is kind of very upsetting, every day we are driving alone only no other car is going in the same direction we are the late comers everyday and that is our specialty. We have finally reached the highway, hip hip hurray. We are feeling like we are seeing this kind of road for the 1^st time in our life. This is like an expressway with no potholes in it. Now we are able to see some other tourists as well. Main toh thak gaya bhai sahab. Gaadi chala chala kar halat kharab ho gayi hai. I need a break coz I am driving since 12pm and now the time is 3:39pm need some rest.

These guys have found another photo stop so again photo session guyz. Our session are pretty long, now also 20 minutes have passed and we are still doing the session and guess what DSLR is out of its bag, “the kitty is out of the bag”. Chalo now bahot hui photos Sarchu pahunchna hai. Now swappy is going to take care of the wheels while I sit back and relax. It is 4pm and we have started our drive, we are travelling in between the mountains, it is a flat surface we are able to easily drive above 100kmph. After so many days the car is touching this speed and nice cold winds are making it a more pleasant drive. This drive is going to end soon as I can see on the map some zig - zag roads are coming and it is obvious that this will be a Ghat only and I am right we are about to reach Pang and this zig and zag is near Pang. We had met few people who had suggested us to stay at Pang as it has lots of good options so let us see the place and we may end our today’s drive here only.

We are going down the slope and are going to reach Pang. Jissne hume yeh advice kiya tha Pang mein bahot stay options hai who sach mein gadha hai. Kuch hai hi nahin yahan par. Ek check post jaisa bana hua hai ek band pada petrol pump aur 2 ya 3 dukkan hai bas. Isko aache options bolenge bhai pata nahin kidaar se aaya tha who jo isko aache options bol raha hai. Swapnil has now decided that we are going to stop directly at Keylon as Sarchu will also be same, but Keylong is another 185kms from here and I am not having so much of guts to drive on such risky roads at Night Time. Again the quarrel begins, Amit and I are opposing it but this guy is not listening. I have clearly said him that I am not going to drive and if he wishes to reach Keylong then he has to drive till there and this guy is agreeing to it. Pagle ko nahin pata hai night time driving will be exhausting as well as risky and it will take almost 8 to 9 hours more to reach Keylong. We don’t want stress our bodies we will be able to convince him let him drive till Sarchu atleast baad mein aage ka dekhenge. The roads are again in pathetic condition. These people are not doing anything to maintain these tourist destinations, when are they going to wake up even god doesn’t knows that. These are very curvy roads unlike the other ghats the turns are very very sharp. We are about to reach 21 hairpin loops also known as GATA LOOPS, It is the most dangerous pass as back to back there are 21 sharp turns and there is heavy vehicle traffic from both the directions. We have to keep the car speed in control and these tourists vehicle drivers are maniacs so we need to be careful from them also. Jaise taise humne yeh ghat cross kiya and now we are close to reaching our today’s night halt place.

Swapnil is also tired because of this, yes now finally he will agree to us. Only 20kms more before we take the final stop for today. It is 7:30 pm and we are almost going to reach the Sarchu checkpost. It is hardly 5kms from here, we just need to cross this mountain and we will reach our destination. We are starting to see the tents stay options but they are not looking that good so we are driving past them. We are about to reach the turn for the check post and can also see a nice tent stay and rest are common dorm sort off where 1 tin shed is made and we have to share the shed with more 10 or 15 people and they are not even having proper washrooms, we can’t stay at such a place so this tent stay is looking better let’s check it out. The tent is quite good with ample of space but he is not having a private washroom with water. If we want water then we have to take it in a bucket from the tank which is outside the tent so that is not feasible as it is very cold over here.

Sarchu is the coldest region in the whole journey, we were also told about it that Sarchu ranks no 1 in terms of being highly cold. We didn’t find even khardungla this much cold though it was 18000 ft above the sea level and was experiencing heavy snowfall. So we have decide to go further and see if we can find some good place to sleep at night or else GAADI zindabad. We have crossed another mountain and reached the check post and submitting the copy of permit for the last time as after crossing this we will enter Himachal Pradesh and away from all the neighboring countries of INDIA so no need for any kind of permit. It seems like half Sarchu lies in J&K and other half in HP. We are done with today’s last formalities and now our hunt for The Blood Orchids begins .i.e. for some good tent stay. We enquired from the officers at the check post they are saying after some 5 to 6km we will find N number tent stays, so CHAALO.

We are driving and driving and driving but na tents dikh rahe hai aur naa hi unki koi roshni and I am not at all interested in spending night in those dorms sort of place who bhi itni jama dene wali thandi mein. Finally we are able to see some lights yippie lets find out if they have availability for us. It looks pretty awesome tent stay they are not the same as Pangong, the tents are facing each other and there is huge space in between them so that if someone wishes to sit and make a born fire and have jam session then they can, unfortunately they are not having a single tent to-let. Chalo koi nahin aage koi naa koi toh mil hi jaayega. Now we are damn hungry as we only had breakfast and nothing since then. We need to find some restaurant so that we can have dinner 1^st and then proceed with the hunting.

Fortunately we can see another tent stay and only 1 scorpio is parked here so we may get a decent place to spend this cold night. Yes they do have availability and they having continuous running water within the private washroom of the tent but no hot water but the manager said that he will give 1 bucket of hot water tomorrow morning and the dinner and breakfast is included in the stay charges only. Now this is good. Chalo lets check inn and have some dinner. The place is very cold and windy we are inside the tent and it seems that the tent is going to blow away because of such pressure winds. It is so cold that I am not even daring to remove my shoes and socks will just change clothes to night track and tshirt but won’t remove shoes and socks. Guys please carry lots of woolen you may not require them in any part of the trip but I can bet you that you will surely need them over here. I can’t even type more so have a GOODNIGHT for today and tomorrow we will be going to Manali.

Day 15, July 3 rd Sarchu to Manali 223kms Approx.

Good morning Mumbai, it is 7 am and now is the time to fetch a bucket of hot water from the manager. These 2 have already completed their washroom visit let me also do it till they get hot water. Ohh man the water in the tap is ice cold, while washing myself, my back froze and so is the condition of my hands. Bloody how do these people survive over here 24*7 in such a harsh condition, god bless them. I wanted to have bath but because of this weather I am skipping and will just brush my teeth and clean my hands and legs so that they don’t stink and I feel a bit cleaner. This is the 1 st time in the whole trip that we 3 are not bathing, it feels yuck but kya karein majboori hai. “Manali jaate hi nahaunga main toh bc”.

Sarchu

It is 8am now and we are all freshened up and now proceeding towards breakfast, it is a beautiful place. During night time we just knew that we are surrounded by mountains but the scenery after sunrise is just breathtaking. Chalo breakfast area bhi aa gaya, they are serving bread butter,jam and parathas with achar, won’t have heavy breakfast this time as we have to drive through the ghats and we may fall sick because of heavy breakfast. Now we are proceeding towards the tent to pack our bags which we never opened so much and proceed towards our onwards journey. It is 8:30 am and we are all set to proceed to our next destination, Ganpati Bappa Morya and switching the ignition on “we hope the diesel has not frozen”. Yesterday we had met few bikers who were staying in the same camp and they were covering their bikes, we asked them as to why so they said that many a time at Sarchu the fuel in the tanks and pipes freeze during the night time so that’s the reason they need to cover the fuel tanks and if our car tank has frozen then we cannot even unfreeze it so easily and will have to wait till the evening again. By Gods grace the car engine is running perfectly well and even if some amount of diesel must have frozen it will melt as we start driving the car due to engine and tires heat.

It is 11 am and we are about to reach Zing Zing Bar, we have a joke on this place where our co writer Amit said to us that this is the highest place on the earth where a Discotheque is opened and Swapnil and I thought that he must have read somewhere so we said if that is the case then we will make a halt over there and will have some mocktails, but when we reached their we saw a shabby kind of place and a big resto or something made of tin sheets, Swapnil and I thought that this would be the bar but then when we asked him where is the discotheque Amit said that the name is Zing Zing Bar so this the highest bar on planet . I swear we both wanted to kill this person then and there itself but kya karein humara hi dost hai, ab tak toh hume pata chal jana chahiyey iski harkatein kaisi hai.

We have almost reached halfway and we all are feeling hungry again but right now we are passing through the ghats and can’t even see a small tea stall as on the right side it is mountains and on the left side a steep valley but the at the foot hill of the mountain we can see a very tiny village or say lots of tiny and beautiful villages which are scattered on the other mountain and a small river Bhaga is flowing in between the 2 mountains.

We will have to wait till we reach Keylong as I have heard Keylong is a nice populated area and somebody has said that we may find fuel if needed and we are having less than 1/4 th tank fuel left with us. I hope my beast gives a nice mileage but due to mountainous roads we won’t get that good efficiency. Finally we have reached Keylong and guess what all our phones have started pinging and the message is Welcome to Himachal Pradesh. Yeah we can now finally contact our home and inform them about our current location, “2 din se unko call nahin kiya hai who bechare tension mein honge”. Now it’s time for some pait puja guys. Kabse bhuk lag rahi thi aur abhi 12:30pm ho raha hai aur mere dost aur humsafar bhuk se mar rahe hai. Chalo see you people after a lunch break.

Ahhh, what a nice lunch and moreover the rolled masala papad was awesome and we have received full network in our cell phones so we also called up at our homes. We have also enquired with the manager regarding the fuel station and he said that we will find one only at Tandi which is just 10kms from here so it is not at all a problem for us. We have finally reached the Tandi Petrol Pump and now car needs to do some pait puja for further journey. It is a very small fuel station and is in a very shabby condition.

The company people should make it bigger as this the only fuel station for people who are travelling towards Leh as the next station is after 365km. We have refueled the car and our beast has given a nice mileage as we had 10 litres of fuel with us before we started filling the diesel. The cans which we had carried did help a lot as only 2 litres of fuel was left what we had filled from Leh and the additional 8 litres we had filled it from the cans.

NOTE: - “Guys please carry more than required fuel with you because you will get fuel at more than Rs.100/litre", before you reach the next fuel station while travelling towards LEH. Chalo lets proceed to our next destination Manali and it is already 2pm over here we still have the mighty Rohtang Pass which needs to be crossed before sunset. Manali is another 110kms from here and the whole path is rough mountainous ghats. Now is the time to change the drivers, as Swappy had started driving from Sarchu and even needs some rest so now I am taking the wheels in my hand. The scenery is very serene and beautiful and now we are going down the hill, I think so we will have to change the mountain as we can see a bridge sort of thing very far. Yes we are crossing from one mountain which is sloping downwards and are climbing on the other mountain, this is a very rough patch and we need to be very careful. We are now travelling above the clouds and it is looking very serene and have almost covered around 50kms so this means that we are about to reach the final leg of the dangerous passes that is Rohtang Pass.

It is 4pm and we are at Rohtang Pass, this was my dream as last time when I had come to Manali due to heavy snowfall we could not reach the top of Rohtang Pass as my mom and dad were scared because the roads had become icy, I have got this chance after almost 8 years to reach here. It is time for some pichas people, there is no sign of rain and snowfall at all over here. The weather and the mountain is clear and we can see clouds hanging around with us. We spent almost 15 mins clicking pics and not too many tourists can be seen here as most of them are coming from Leh. Those who come from Manali they start early morning and by this time they are back to Manali City.

Let’s go to Manali City as we need to find hotel for ourselves also and take bath and get freshen up. We can see many people doing Paragliding over here but the gliding area is very small, last time I had done paragliding at Solang Valley and that was much better than this. It is 5:30pm and we have finally reached Manali yippie, now we have to decide either to find a hotel to stay or stroll for sometime in the market and then proceed to hotel. But 1st we need to make calls at home and inform them that we have reached Manali safe and sound. We have decided that we will stroll in the market for sometime and then will find some hotel. We are again hungry now “hehe bhukkad kahin ke”, there is a small snacks shop and the Samosas are looking hot and tasty so we decided to have that, what a yummy snack it was chole and samose.

Chalo thoda market ghoom le humare co writer sahab Amit ko kuch khareedari karni hai. We saw a hotel in the market itself Hotel Kunzam it was okayish but was looking bit costly because it was in the market. Last time we had stayed on the other side of the Beas river and there are many good hotel as far as I remember so we will check it out their itself. Amit ko kuch acha nahin mila yahan pe so let’s go for hunting hotel because we checked hotels online but they were showing very costly ones and we are not feeling like to pay that much for those hotels. Chalo on the other side and find some nice place to spend night at. There is too much of traffic, it took almost half an hour to just cover 5kms and finally we have reached a nice looking hotel which is situated on the main road itself.

Hotel New Snow Bird

Hotel New Snow Bird it is a newly opened hotel and the rooms are amazing and spacious and are at a very reasonable or say pocket friendly prices. So without wasting more time now we are checking inn and I am running to the washroom as usual. Today’s very 1st task for us right now is to take a nice hot shower, “almost 1.5 days hogaye nahaye hue aur aacha feel nahin ho raha hai”. The view from the hotel is also very nice, we got a really good deal and I would recommend you people to do stay over here because it is the best hotel and you can check the images as well.

It is almost 9pm and we are not feeling so hungry but still will have something so as to avoid any problem later on in the night. So we have ordered for some soup and starters and the staff said that it will take half an hour to prepare the food so we asked them to give us a call once the food is ready and we will come down to the dining area. They have called us and now let’s do the tasting of food also. While having soup and starters we talked to the staff and they are quite friendly. They only informed us that this is newly inaugurated and that is the reason we have got such a good deal. We said to him that in most of our trip we have stayed at mostly news properties only and this also a coincidence. The soup and starter tasted great and now is the time to say goodnight to all of you as we are really very tired. So see you people tomorrow. Buh bye.

Day 16, July 4 th , Manali to Chandigarh 309kms Approx. Time Taken 9hrs approx.

Good morning guys, it is 8 am and today we are going to our next destination that is Chandigarh, so let’s pack our bags and complete with our morning chores. It is 9:30am and unfortunately our breakfast is not included in the stay so we will directly have lunch today but that will be after doing a little bit of sightseeing.

Today our itinerary consists of visiting the famous Hidimba Devi Temple which you might have also seen in the movie YEH JAWANI HAI DEEWANI. But we are not inspired from the movie and going to this temple as I have earlier visited this temple and this is the only tourist point within the city. We have paid the bills and now starting the car. The traffic over here is pathetic and the way to temple is steep slope and very narrow and crowded with shops and people. I would recommend people to drive very carefully as the slope is too steep and the car will resists to climb so keep a safe distance between your car and the car infront of you otherwise BANG BANG. Finally after so much of struggle we have reached the public parking lot. The parking lot management is worst they don’t even have proper entry and exits and the space for parking is very less, these people has asked to us drive the car in reverse and climb the slope and there is no proper road you have to drive it in muddy road with big potholes and these people are charging Rs.50 for such a bad area. Anyways India hai boss yahan sab apni mann maani karte hai.

Hidimba Devi Temple, Manali

We have finally reached the temple it is a very beautiful place in the lap of Mother Nature. The temple is covered with forest and there is a small bird sanctuary behind the temple.
The Hidimba Devi Temple is also known as Dhungiri Temple. It is an ancient cave temple dedicated to Hidimba Devi wife of Bhima, a figure in the Indian epic Mahabharata. The temple is surrounded by a Cedar Forest called Dhungri Van Vihar at the foot of the Himalayas. The sanctuary is built over a huge rock jutting out of the ground which was worshipped as an image of deity. The structure was built in 1553.

After taking blessing of Devi Hidimba we proceeded further towards the Gatothkach Temple. The way towards the Gatothkach Temple is a very beautiful path which is surrounded by different vendors of fruits and souvenirs. There are many people who were having nice fluffy rabbits where you can pay them and hold in your hands and click photos with them and there were 2 Yaks also. Swapnil and Amit sat on them and clicked photos with them. After a short walk we reached to the Gatothkach Temple.

Gatothkach Temple, Manali

Vir Gatothkach was the mighty warrior who is son of Devi Hidimba and Bhim(Pandavas). He had the major role in the Kurukshetra Battle of Mahabharata due to which Pandavas won the battle. It is small temple made under a huge Deodar Tree with a very small figure of Gatothkach.

We are now feeling very hungry and it is already 1pm, if we leave right now then we won’t get any food once we are on the proper highway to Chandigarh so let us find some nice restaurant over her and have our lunch and then proceed towards Chandigarh. There is a nice hotel just outside the Gatothkach Temple so we are trying our luck if we get a proper food otherwise there is lot of snacks eateries options along the way to parking. We have ordered for soup, 1 st we will try that and then proceed with full meal. The soup tasted good and now is the time for proper meal so see you guys after some pait puja.

It was a nice meal and now we are all set to say sayonara to Manali and proceed towards Chandigarh. Amit wants to do river rafting so we need to search a good river rafter who can fulfill his wish and he can take some good memories back home. I didn’t feel like going for rafting as I have already done once and now Swapnil has also backed out so this guy is dropping his plans too saying that he won’t go alone and as it is there is heavy flow of water in the Beas River so it would be a very rough and bumpy ride so we will do rafting at some other place on some other day. Now we also need to find a Mahindra service centre who can fix the underbody rubber of the car and finally we have even found one service centre so let’s try our luck and get the car fixed. Unfortunately this is a truck service center and not a car, let it be we will get it fixed at Chandigarh or once we reach back at home. Now we are on Manali Chandigarh highway and this road is in a way better condition than what it used to be 8years ago, we are able to drive very smoothly and without any much traffic. I want to click pics of the dam, last time the cab driver had not allowed to click the pics and it is the biggest DAM I have ever seen in my life till today. Unfortunately they have marked it as prohibited area, I wonder why they don’t allow as it is these things have been shown by the politicians during their inauguration ceremony and why aren’t the tourists allowed to click. “Jaane do kaun jhagda karega inse”, let us continue our drive. We have reached some bus depot area and it is too crowded traffic is going very slow and it is feeling like we are turtles. I am also very tired and pissed off due to this traffic and it is time to change the drivers.

Now Swapnil is taking the charge of the wheels and will continue as long as he can. We are driving over the mountain since we started our journey, god knows by what time we will reach the foothill and we can drive fast and reach our destination. People over here drive recklessly, the oncoming traffic is continuously driving in the wrong lane and due to which we have to apply emergency breaks. They are driving on high beams and that is also affecting a lot but I have a solution for this as I have 40watts LED lamps with white and yellow lights that will surely help us and make the drive smooth as cars which are at a distance of 1km can see the lights very clearly so now we are stopping the car and removing the yellow cap from the lights.

Finally we have reached the proper express highway and now we can drive smoothly. We are now very hungry and want to have food immediately but Amit and Swapnil doesn’t wants to eat at a dhabba, they want to have something like Mc Donalds so we are searching for something like that. On the maps it is showing that there is one just as we enter Chandigarh City and now the time is 9pm, chalo jaldi jaldi warna band ho jaayega. It’s a food mall of all international brands like Mc Donald, KFC, Dominos, etc, so they are having at KFC and I am heading towards Dominos apna sasta majboot aur tikkao Italian Paratha hehe. It was a nice and filling meal. Now our last stop is Sector 17 C, Chandigarh where we have already booked the hotel through Booking.com. Khanne ke baa dab thoda desert ka mood ban gaya hai kyunki humare dost ne Ice cream ki gaadi dekh li hai#. Ice creams were pretty delicious and now trying to find our hotel, Chandigarh is a bhool bhulaiyaa city as all the sectors look the same and we are not able to find the right sector.

Sector 17, Chandigarh

Finally we have reached Hotel City Plaza 17, it is in a market area as it is in the shopping centre of sector 17. The attitude of the manager is very pathetic I don’t know how will be the room hotel is looking good only. The room is average condition this is the 1 st property in the whole trip where we are having such a cold welcome and the room is ok but the washroom is not that good. Let see sirf ek raat hi toh rukna hai already 12 am ho chukka hai aur morning mein checkout maarna hai aur Jaipur nikalna hai. Chalo then see you guys tomorrow morning.