Been there Done that!

What a nostalgia it is!!! 2 years back on the same day I just rolled down from the hills with a heavy heart and dampen eyes... The fortnight long dream ride almost came to an end when we hit Manali travelling from Keylong. I was sad like anything and it gulped down all the words coming in the mind and at the same time I was getting irritated finding myself so close to the plains. Why why Why I need to come back to the same life again, same people all around and ofcourse the same old lost memories! Absolutely nothing excited to create a mild curve on face. I so much wanted to stay there not only all the time but for couple of more life, simple innocent unknown people around but loveable than most known, a smile from a unknown at every node but sweeter than whom you loved, 10 minutes of friendship and 5 minutes of chit-chat but memorable than any hour long gossips... Enough, 13 seems to show it's lucky charm again... Yes, 2013 ;)

The Best of 'Ladakh'

Finally managed to try my hands in the PP for the images from last Ladakh ride.

Here 'm going to post the photographs of my selection.

We were lucky enough to see the annual festival of Phi-yang Monastery. The event was truly colorful and the experience of watching it was more superb.

DAY - III

Day-III (16th July ‘09)

I always wanted to visit Old Srinagar, and what could be the best to take the water route along with a Sikara ride!!! It was an early morning start and we were back to the boat after 3-4 hours. And now it was time for some rest and then shopping for the things those were left from the essential list.













Lotus Garden…












Old Srinagar…
















Bought polythine for luggage and proceeded to Shree Sankaracharya Temple. It’s under the control of Army because one can aim the whole city from this place. Another highest point is Srinagar Palace which is not accessible to the public for the security reasons.







Some random snaps/macro attempt…








Next while visiting Mughal Gardens we met ‘Sourin’, a guy from Mumbai roaming in Ladakh region for more than 30 days on his ‘Yam FZ’. This decent guy became a very good friend in a short while and his inputs made everything easy and smooth. Thanks man, your plan came out really well. He made the final layout of our ride spending more than 2 hours on it.

Sourin and Om…




Sunset from houseboat terrace…


And here we decided to go Shree Amarnath Jee. It was a four hour trek route from Baltal, some 100 kms from Srinagar towards Leh. We planned to start early morning from Srinagar for Baltal, some 20-25 kms from Sonmarg. We thought we will be back by the same day evening but it was a different story next day.


Route – @ Srinagar
Total distance covered - 52 Kilometers
Road condition - Excellent city roads, some parts are very dusty.
Event of the day - Sikara ride at Dal Lake and watching sunset from the houseboat terrace.
Important places - Old city (can get all your necessary things)
Tourist interest points - Shree Shankaracharya Temple (beautiful aerial view of Srinagar), Sikara ride at Dal Lake, Mughal Gardens-Nisath garden, Chasmasahi, Parimahal, Old city)
Precautions – Polythene is banned in Srinagar, sales person may bother you, avoid roaming late in the city.

DAY - IV

Day-IV (17th July ‘09)

At around 7.00 AM we were on the road. And we had to reach Baltal as soon as possible. It was easy to cruise little fast in the morning. The morning view in the valley was awesome.











Gulmarg is a beautiful place with lots of horses gazing on the green carpet. I even dint stopped to capture it thinking that will back to the place by evening for the night stay.
It was a task parking the bike (it was the only bike among around 1K vehicles), keeping the entire luggage before we start climbing. Public vehicle was restricted to go beyond a certain point. Shree Amarnath Yatra tips will follow later.
We started at around 10.30 AM. After trekking some 5-7 kilometers we were restless. It was little steep actually with big boulders. And it is tougher when compared with the route to Shree Kedarnath Jee. Before reaching half route we hired pony. And the route was more dangerous after it. Find them in the snaps and it was really scary at certain points.











Find the route in these pictures…






Before reaching there we decided to return via Heli service. But to our surprise there were no tickets for the same day and we made it sure that we are not returning in the same route after seeing some incidents on the way. We never thought about such a route and we need to take the Heli service. The only option was to stay there for the night. After the darshan we thought about what to do. And to another surprise we had exactly 6540 rupees with us and 6400 is for the tickets… OMG. What to do!!! But god was there, food was free there in Bhandara and there was no restaurant at all. One problem was solved. Now what about night stay!!! Thankfully we became a friend with a young saint from Mathura who offered us to stay in his tent and when I asked for the rent he casually said, ‘doston se koi paisa leta hai kya!’. Else other people were charging 100 bucks per head. It was a great relief indeed and later I told him the whole story and he laughed to the floor saying that god is there for everybody. He also told that nobody demands money here.
There were enough blankets in the tent to counteract the freezing temperature there. We had to start early for the queue to book our tickets.













Tents on thick layer of Ice…









Route – Srinagar-Sonmarg-Baltal-Shree Amarnath Jee
Total distance covered - 92 Kilometers
Road condition – Good Tarmac overall, scary trek route from Baltal to Shree Amarnathjee
Event of the day – Shree Amarnath Jee darshan
Important places – Forgot the name, some 50-70 kms from Srinagar (last fuel pump and ATM-J&K Bank before Kargil)
Tourist interest points - Gulmarg
Precautions – Tank up at Srinagar or before ??? (10 kms before Gulmarg) because the next pump is at Kargil, some 180-190 km ahead