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This will probably be an XL size Travelogue like the size and length of the roadtrip we did from Bangalore (south India) to LADAKH (North India) !! The road to heaven ... covering nearly 10,000kms in about 3 weeks. Though I will be posting the details on my travelogue .. but I decided to post some key snapshots here as well as I promised before going for the trip.
Alright, so we just returned from our AWESOME road trip to heaven or a.k.a., LADAKH in technical terms :) and guys believe me it was reallllly an AWESOME experience throughout the journey. This is a trip which I will never forget and true that this is a must do trip before you die !! and if you can come back alive from there you can surely and I bet you will do it again. So, I plan to write the most possible details of the trip and that we remember for all of my blog readers to get an idea of what it was and if you plan to do this in future, this might help you. So, without any further delay here we go...
Read on further for
* Experiencing the thrill of driving to and in the Magical mountains of Ladakh region
* Viewing some breathtaking and stunning views of the Ladakh Valley, Greenery of Srinagar and the bone shattering rugged drives at the top of the mountain passes
* A Visit to the holy Golden Temple @ Amritsar, Punjab
* Taste some of the delicious food on the great Indian Highway Dhabas and Restaurants
* How and what to expect when you go to Ladakh !!
* See some places of interest en-route, and but not the least
* View loads and loads of Pictures and Videos of the entire drive
It might take me some good time to process the pictures so bear with me for a slow start and updates to this travelogue.
PRELUDE
I wanted to do this trip from past few years as I love landscape photography and heard form people that Ladakh is a true paradise for Landscape photographers. I started preparing myself and the first thing we would have needed is a good SUV to really enjoy the ride and successfully complete this trip and hence I bought Mahindra Scorpio after evaluating many of the mean machines available during that time (2011-12). Anyway, so the planning started and went on and on and on for months and years and finally we were all set for the trip in AUG 2014. I got the leaves approved from my kind enough boss who exactly knew what I'm intending to do and why 3 weeks of holiday :) but yes, the leaves got approved and I was soooo happy and excited that I couldn't believe we can finally go to Ladakh and that too in our own beloved SUV which was a dream till date.
I started planning and the big question was should we go from Bangalore to Ladakh by road or send the car to Delhi and drive down from Delhi.. but we opted for the Bangalore - Delhi - Ladakh drive and I guess was a very good and key decision to make. Now the question was to take the kids or not and I couldn't decide much ... so my kids decided that it will be with them or I'm not going. So a family that drives together stays together was the anthem for the entire drive :))
Preparations
And finally the date was fixed tentatively and it was approaching fast so we started preparing for the trip. I went through nearly all the forums (TAI, BHMotoring, DOW and various other websites) to collect all the data I could so that we are better prepared and have less surprises over there. It was very daunting task of collecting information from the forums, going through so many travelogues and reading so many different views, comments and opinions of people who have been there or wanted to go there. Finally I gave up and made up my mind that let's not confuse ourselves and just go for it.
Our good luck that someone got me linked to a person who was an angel for us in planning and executing this whole trip. HVK (HighWayKing) as he's known as in this world. HVK (Chief) helped us in planning the whole trip from itinerary to hotels to road route planning and almost everything what we would have needed for this trip. I spoke to him couple of times and had the entire thing planned to the minutest detail and believe me the trip was very successful because of his immaculate planning and help. Thanks a ton Chief !!
Alright so the route planned that got finalized after a lot of consideration and discussion with HVK with our preferences and comfort level was
Bangalore - Pune - Udaipur - Jaipur - Delhi - Amritsar - Srinagar - Kargil - Lamyuru - Leh - Tso Moriri - Manali - Hisar - Udaipur - Mumbai - Pune - Bangalore
Day wise itinerary was prepared for the entire trip (for about 3 weeks) so that we can enjoy the trip at leisure and also cover most of the key places that were of interest to us excluding most of the tourist places that we were not too interested to cover anyway. Our main areas of interest were places where we could do some off-roading and shoot as many good Landscapes as possible. I must admit that we wanted to spend as much time as possible in photography and enjoying the beauty and nature but.. there we a loads of challenges. Stay tuned to find out more ..
Alright, so we just returned from our AWESOME road trip to heaven or a.k.a., LADAKH in technical terms :) and guys believe me it was reallllly an AWESOME experience throughout the journey. This is a trip which I will never forget and true that this is a must do trip before you die !! and if you can come back alive from there you can surely and I bet you will do it again. So, I plan to write the most possible details of the trip and that we remember for all of my blog readers to get an idea of what it was and if you plan to do this in future, this might help you. So, without any further delay here we go...
Read on further for
* Experiencing the thrill of driving to and in the Magical mountains of Ladakh region
* Viewing some breathtaking and stunning views of the Ladakh Valley, Greenery of Srinagar and the bone shattering rugged drives at the top of the mountain passes
* A Visit to the holy Golden Temple @ Amritsar, Punjab
* Taste some of the delicious food on the great Indian Highway Dhabas and Restaurants
* How and what to expect when you go to Ladakh !!
* See some places of interest en-route, and but not the least
* View loads and loads of Pictures and Videos of the entire drive
It might take me some good time to process the pictures so bear with me for a slow start and updates to this travelogue.
PRELUDE
I wanted to do this trip from past few years as I love landscape photography and heard form people that Ladakh is a true paradise for Landscape photographers. I started preparing myself and the first thing we would have needed is a good SUV to really enjoy the ride and successfully complete this trip and hence I bought Mahindra Scorpio after evaluating many of the mean machines available during that time (2011-12). Anyway, so the planning started and went on and on and on for months and years and finally we were all set for the trip in AUG 2014. I got the leaves approved from my kind enough boss who exactly knew what I'm intending to do and why 3 weeks of holiday :) but yes, the leaves got approved and I was soooo happy and excited that I couldn't believe we can finally go to Ladakh and that too in our own beloved SUV which was a dream till date.
I started planning and the big question was should we go from Bangalore to Ladakh by road or send the car to Delhi and drive down from Delhi.. but we opted for the Bangalore - Delhi - Ladakh drive and I guess was a very good and key decision to make. Now the question was to take the kids or not and I couldn't decide much ... so my kids decided that it will be with them or I'm not going. So a family that drives together stays together was the anthem for the entire drive :))
Preparations
And finally the date was fixed tentatively and it was approaching fast so we started preparing for the trip. I went through nearly all the forums (TAI, BHMotoring, DOW and various other websites) to collect all the data I could so that we are better prepared and have less surprises over there. It was very daunting task of collecting information from the forums, going through so many travelogues and reading so many different views, comments and opinions of people who have been there or wanted to go there. Finally I gave up and made up my mind that let's not confuse ourselves and just go for it.
Our good luck that someone got me linked to a person who was an angel for us in planning and executing this whole trip. HVK (HighWayKing) as he's known as in this world. HVK (Chief) helped us in planning the whole trip from itinerary to hotels to road route planning and almost everything what we would have needed for this trip. I spoke to him couple of times and had the entire thing planned to the minutest detail and believe me the trip was very successful because of his immaculate planning and help. Thanks a ton Chief !!
Alright so the route planned that got finalized after a lot of consideration and discussion with HVK with our preferences and comfort level was
Bangalore - Pune - Udaipur - Jaipur - Delhi - Amritsar - Srinagar - Kargil - Lamyuru - Leh - Tso Moriri - Manali - Hisar - Udaipur - Mumbai - Pune - Bangalore
Day wise itinerary was prepared for the entire trip (for about 3 weeks) so that we can enjoy the trip at leisure and also cover most of the key places that were of interest to us excluding most of the tourist places that we were not too interested to cover anyway. Our main areas of interest were places where we could do some off-roading and shoot as many good Landscapes as possible. I must admit that we wanted to spend as much time as possible in photography and enjoying the beauty and nature but.. there we a loads of challenges. Stay tuned to find out more ..
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