A Rock & Rolling Dream Road Trip To The Magical Heaven: Ladakh !!

pahujaamit · Sep 23, 2013

@mukesh, our original plan was to head to Agra instead of going through Jaipur highway, sped a night in Agra and go to Delhi next day after visiting Taj Mahal for kids to see it.

AppU · Sep 23, 2013

pahujamit:

Wow what a detailed TL [clap]

You Guys are tempting me to do such a trip. Hopefully I'm planning for Next September. Lets see how it comes out.

BTW, Excellent coverage with beautiful pics [clap]

Waiting for the remaining parts of TL [:)]

Vjroadie · Sep 23, 2013

@Pahujaamit: Firstly, rated this thread a well deserved 5 stars! I am seriously blown away by the amount of photography kit you have collected so far. Awesome! You seem to be an avid photographer with all the guns and weapons! [clap]

Excellent narration, beautiful pics, and a great company on board. This thread should have tons and tons of pics. Please keep them coming and do update the thread.
I am planning on Gujrat Dwarka tour in our new Ecosport and will surely get in touch with you for some tips and guidelines to make the tour a pleasant experience.

Fyzy09 · Sep 24, 2013

Amit,

Congratulations on completing the most awaited trip successfully. [clap]

I am thoroughly enjoying the details with beautiful pics. Waiting for the next leg eagerly and also to see Ladakh with those lens studio you were carrying [;)]

.

pahujaamit · Sep 26, 2013

Day 6 - 22nd AUG 2013 - Amritsar - Srinagar, 540kms - 10HRS

Good morning kids, wake up, wake up we have to go ... this was what I heard early morning this day when my wifey was waking up the kids to get ready for further drive. So we all woke up and got ready for the onward journey to Srinagar. Quickly we got ready, loaded our luggage which was a task in itself and zoomed out of Amritsar.

We were told to have breakfast at one of the local Kulcha waala's called Kulcha Land so we started hunting for it. After a 20mins search we finally arrived at Kulcha Land that was a small outlet with some seating inside and some outside. The place looked ok but was not very clean again as we saw at most of the places in Amritsar.

We asked for some Amritsari Kulchas as that was the only thing you get there with some Choley (Chickpeas) and with white butter. We enjoyed the breakfast and quickly zoomed out of Amritsar.

As we settled and were waiting for our food a huge group of school students along with their teachers came and took over the entire place. We were made to wait and wait and wait and wait for more than 30+mins as the students were getting priority on the food. I had to go and escalate to the owner and voila.. we got our stuff.

Amritsari kulchas with Choley.. yum and buttery !!

The guy who served us..

Taste of 5 ABS and my question to this guy was what does it stand for? He told me its the name of the place and I replied that yes I understand but.. what does 5 ABS stand for? He scratched his head and said he will get back. He went and asked the owner who looked too puzzled as well on being asked about it.. and we smiled and kept our curiosity to ourselves. We paid for the stuff we had and said good bye to this place.

Owner of Kulcha Land buzy in cash handling

and a photo opp :)

Kulcha Land, Amritsar - recommended for a good unhealthy breakfast :)

Streets of Amritsar

Look at that, the fusion of Indian stuff and Chinese products. One made out of brass and the other famous chinese plastic..

The roads leading to Srinagar were not very good and pretty buzy from Amritsar for about 50+ kms and there were multiple railway crossings en-route which delayed us a lot.

Railway crossing on Amritsar Srinagar road

Railway crossings

Dusty roads @ Amritsar Srinagar highway

Entering J&K

pahujaamit · Sep 26, 2013

Entering J&K

J&K Toll Plaza and Check post

Lakhanpur Check Post

J&K being a no-plastic zone had a lot of these boards. We supported this and never littered here or throughout the journey. The best thing to do is keep a garbage bag in the car and wherever appropriate

We took the Jammu bypass towards Udhampur which was again a very torturous drive with lots of pot holes, landslides and poorly maintained tarmac. The route had some great views of the valley though and the river flowing below was providing a good view which was keeping us going....

Udampur route was dusty and full of potholes

Udampur route with few landslides 'coz of rains caused massive destruction to the roads

Udampur route

View from the top of the hill at Udampur route

Landslide @ Udampur route

One of the temples @ Udampur route

One of the temples en-route where we took the blessings of GOD and moved on.

Srinagar .. 262kms

River flowing below the bridge on the way to Udhampur, Srinagar

This tunnel had a lot of slush and uneven road

and the railway bridge with a great view

We had a quick stop here for the photo opp and then we moved on. After this bridge there were a lot of Army personnel manning the area.

Smile and Click !!

Bridge crossing

Army convoy

Continued ..

pahujaamit · Sep 26, 2013

After a torturous drive we finally came on to the Srinagar road which was pretty good except few stretches. The winding roads leading to Patnitop got us delayed further and we had to eventually change our plans to take a halt at Patnitop instead of reaching Srinagar that day.

Roads leading to Patnitop were real good

Roads leading to Patnitop

Roads leading to Patnitop were real good

Patnitop views

Clouds covered mountains at Patnitop

There was a lot of fog en-route at around 6:30~7:00pm. we stopped here for another photo app and then continued further.

Great drive at Patnitop

At about 730pm we reached Patnitop, checked into our hotel which was run by JKTDC. The booking was again done by HVK team and it was not bad for a nights halt but certainly not something which can be appreciated. The hotel staff provided us 2 rooms with beds and blankets. The rooms were ok sized but the overall experience is not very satisfactory. We paid the price of 1600 for which we never got a receipt and I believed that it was never even shown in the log books as well. The staff I guess treats these bookings as their personal earnings :) I was not asked for any check-in formalities until next day morning when we woke up. When I asked the fellow attendant to provide receipt, he said sir that will cost you 400Rs more per room and the cashier will come at 10AM. So we didn't want to waste time and decided to leave without taking the receipt and continued further.

At night, after checking in we had dinner at the restaurant inside the hotel Alpine (JKTDC) that was custom made for us as per our order. The service was ok and the staff attitude was pretty receptive. The food was delicious as we ordered what was recommended to us by the restaurant staff. Surprisingly the hotel was full but the restaurant was almost empty at that time. We quickly finished our food and went back to the rooms. The JKTDC hotel has a good backyard lawn behind the rooms which gave me an opportunity to click some nigh shots.

Chicken masala was well prepared specially for us

Dal Tadka with loads of butter/ghee

Hotel lawns covered with fog at night

pahujaamit · Sep 26, 2013

Early morning at Patnitop was very good. There was a lot of Fog all around us with limited visibility of the road. Thank GOD that the road condition was too good that we could drive with ease.

The drive to Srinagar from Patnitop was very scenic and got very interesting. We saw a lot of Army personnel on the way surveying the area. The views of the valleys and mountains started looking great, the greenery was great and the weather was nice and cold. Until Srinagar the whole drive is on mostly mountains thereby giving only 50~60kms/hr speed. But anyway we were not in hurry as our next stop was at Srinagar. So we enjoyed the drive and reached Srinagar by around 2pm.

Hotel covered with fog until 7am in the morning

Great Views from the Patnitop valley

Check out the Army personnel manning the area

After a while we stopped at this breakfast outlet to refuel ourselves

This guy was preparing bread omelet for Army staff who would come everyday and pick it up form this place on their way to somewhere... So we also ate here and it was pretty good

Bread Omelet

Local shop guy preparing Bread Omelet and Maggie for us

Chilly maggie

Freshly made Bread Omelet for us

After a great breakfast we further moved towards Srinagar

Honorable Soldiers who sacrificed their lives for us !

pahujaamit · Sep 26, 2013

Beautiful valleys and roads towards Srinagar

Approaching Jawahar Tunnel

Jawahar Tunnel

And finally a welcome board .. Thank You !!

After entering Kashmir, you get to the Titanic point, which I don't know how it got its name but the view from the Titanic Point is ok sorts. It was too sunny for us to get any good shots but still we managed to click some pics..

We were stopped here by Cops to pay the toll and proceed further and did exactly as we were told to :)

Then we reached this place that is famous for its dry fruits. We heard that you get the best dry fruits out here. So we thought we should purchase some for our home as well and give some boost to the J&K economy :)

You get approached by lot of local vendors here for buying some handmade shawls, suits etc and we got into the trap as well. Being with two girls/ladies couldn't escape this trap :((

Local vendor selling some home made woolen shawls etc

Srinagar was just 68kms.. hooray..

Srinagar now 70kms :))) this is something I don't understand on some highway signboards.. you saw the board which said Srinagar 68kms and immediately you get another board saying now Srinagar is 70.. its some mystery I couldn't solve till date..

and now its 52.. thank GOD its not increasing further..

The road to Srinagar was full of tall trees and lot of dust.. i don't know why but this stretch had a lot of dust..

Srinagar .. we are coming !!

This is the place where you have to go straight for Srinagar and if you want to do Gulmarg, go left here please.. We didn't do Gulmarg in this trip as we didn't had time or even not interested too much as we thought Sonmarg would be sufficient for us to see the natural beauty and we continued towards Srinagar ..

pahujaamit · Sep 26, 2013

By this time ofcourse we were pretty hungry as we did not get a good bfast this morning so we went to Ahdoos, a restaurant famous for Wazwan cuisine. The restaurant was pretty good and the we could get the parking space as well in the compound that was a necessity for us as we had some good luggage on the rooftop carrier and all other stuff inside (including all my camera gear, gadgets etc) which we didn't want to leave unattended. The parking attendant told us not to worry and we proceeded to the restaurant upstairs and left the car keys with him.

The food at Ahdoos was great if not toooo good again but was a good welcome to fill us. The Kashmiri Kulcha/Naan was good to try. Service was a bit relaxed though.

Checkout the walnut wood interiors ..

Delicious food

Mutton ..

Garam garam Naan and rotis

and Kashmiri Naan

Phirni for desert ..

Local breads of Srinagar

So we quickly had our food and proceeded towards our house boat which again was booked by HVK team. The house boat called "New Jersey" was located somewhere at Nagin Lake. Most of the house boats here were named after US states, places like New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, California etc :) which was pretty surprising to me. The house boat was excellent and the best part of the stay was the owner and his attitude towards the tourists. Also that we went through HVK team, he really took care of us very very well. After checking in and settling down we asked the owner of the house boat to arrange a Shikara for us for the evening trip to the Dal Lake and backwaters of Srinagar. He arranged a houseboat @350Rs/hr reporting us at 530pm. We didn't wanted to go too early as it was quite sunny and hot as well.

So we stayed at the house boat for sometime, enjoyed Kashmiri local tea (Kahwa) which was freshly prepared for us by the cook/attendant which tasted real goooood.

So after relaxing a bit, we were picked up by the Shikara from the doorstep of the houseboat for a ride to Dal Lake. The ride until Dal Lake was very good. At Dal Lake it got very crowded as its a major tourist crowd puller which we did not like and quickly asked the guy to pull back. A lot of Shikara vendors selling flowers to other misc items will approach you here and we told the guy to avoid all of that and he did the job. So we had a good drive back to our houseboat and reached back around 8pm.

to be continued .. a boat ride to the famous Kashmir Dal lake

pahujaamit · Sep 26, 2013

Video taken at Patnitop.

Patnitop Video - YouTube

pahujaamit · Sep 29, 2013

Day 7 - Patnitop - Srinagar Continued from Part 3

Beautiful lake with Lotus plants

We reached Srinagar at around 2pm, had our lunch and then came to the houseboat - our night stay for this day.

So we quickly had our food and proceeded towards our house boat which again was booked by HVK team. The house boat called "New Jersey" was located somewhere at Nagin Lake. Most of the house boats here were named after US states, places like New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, California etc :) which was pretty surprising to me. The house boat was excellent and the best part of the stay was the owner and his attitude towards the tourists. Also that we went through HVK team, he really took care of us very very well. After checking in and settling down we asked the owner of the house boat to arrange a Shikara for us for the evening trip to the Dal Lake and backwaters of Srinagar. He arranged a houseboat @350Rs/hr reporting us at 530pm. We didn't wanted to go too early as it was quite sunny and hot as well.

So we stayed at the house boat for sometime, enjoyed Kashmiri local tea (Kahwa) which was freshly prepared for us by the cook/attendant which tasted real goooood.

So after relaxing a bit, we were picked up by the Shikara from the doorstep of the houseboat for a ride to Dal Lake. The ride until Dal Lake was very good. At Dal Lake it got very crowded as its a major tourist crowd puller which we did not like and quickly asked the guy to pull back. A lot of Shikara vendors selling flowers to other misc items will approach you here and we told the guy to avoid all of that and he did the job. So we had a good drive back to our houseboat and reached back around 8pm.

Shikara's parked outside the Houseboat we stayed in

My son enjoying on the Shikara

New Jersey Houseboat

At around 5:30pm we started our Shikara ride to Dal Lake which was about 30-40mins drive by the boat. The lake was pretty good and clean out here but the weather was too hot and sunny. For the initial 30mins, we really were burning but then it got a bit colder and by the time we came back it was good pleasant weather.

Shikara ride cost was 350/hr and it was really worth it. Its driven by single person and it took almost 3hrs for the ride and coming back to our houseboat.

Shikara's ride ..

Other Shikaras parked on the Nagin lake

Soon after we got into the lake few vendors started approaching us to sell some stuff like Saffron, Dry Fruits, Shawls, Flowers etc.. but we told our guy that we will entertain all of these guys and please avoid them .. and great to see that our Shikara guy told them to fade away.. so we had a great ride ..

One of the flower vendor came to us during the Shikara's ride to sell the seeds, flowers etc.. which we were not too interested. Sorry buddy..

Fresh flowers for sale

Beautiful lake and backwaters of Nagin lake on the way to Dal Lake

Beautiful lake was full of Lotus plants. The Lake is spread across few square kms in the heart of Kashmir..

Beautiful lake with Lotus plants

pahujaamit · Sep 29, 2013

Beautiful lake with Lotus plants

Locals using their personal boats/shikaras to move between places

Beautiful lake and backwaters of Nagin lake on the way to Dal Lake

Look at the hoarding which shows that this is the way to a school. We asked our guy and he told us that there is a school and kids go there in boats .. wow how exciting that would be.. but then the reality could be different as in any emergency situation it gets very challenging as well.. but for us it was too charming to see a school in the middle of waters....

Beautiful lake and backwaters of Dal Lake

pahujaamit · Sep 29, 2013

Beautiful lake and backwaters of Dal Lake

Beautiful Dal Lake and the houseboats parked at the far end

Beautiful Dal Lake

Dal Lake market .. this place was pretty crowded and packed with the Shikara's of locals and tourists.

Local market @ the back of beautiful Dal Lake

Shops selling various stuff targeted at tourists behind Beautiful Dal Lake

Night shot taken from our houseboat of the houseboats parked at the other end and what you see on the left top end is a fort.

Inside view of New Jersy Houseboat, very neat and clean and well maintained

After a great drive into the Dal Lake we came back to our houseboat at around 830pm.

Inside view of one of the rooms of New Jersy Houseboat, very neat and clean and well maintained

After coming back from Shikara ride, we had delicious dinner which was again prepared by the cook at houseboat , enjoyed it and crashed into the bed for a good night's sleep.

Dining Room @ New Jersy Houseboat

Living Room @ New Jersy Houseboat

Early morning view of the Nagin lake from New Jersy Houseboat

pahujaamit · Sep 29, 2013

Early morning view of the Nagin lake from New Jersy Houseboat

Shikara's

New Jersy Houseboat

Early morning view of the Nagin lake from New Jersy Houseboat

After a good breakfast, we packed our bags, loaded the stuff in our SUV and after taking a group photo with the owner and the attendant of the New Jersey houseboat, we zoomed out of Srinagar for the drive of our lifetime to Kargil and Leh.

Here I must stop and thank the owner of the Houseboat "Bashir" and the attendant "Javed" for the extremely hospitable and warm treatment we got during our stay at their houseboat. Keep up the good work Bashir bhai and Thank You very much for a great stay !

A Rock & Rolling Dream Road Trip To The Magical Heaven: Ladakh !!

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