Beautiful Uttarakhand.. 10 days Itinerary for families

    Uttarakhand, aka. Devbhoomi is really amazing state of India. I travelled across this state recently and in this post I am covering my itinerary of Uttarakhand. Apart from places I am mentioning here, there are many more places to visit, which I will cover in another post.

  We traveled in Uttarakhand for 10 days as I could take only that much leave from office, but if you want to cover entire uttarakhand at leisure, I will suggest 2 weeks of vacation. So, here is a route I took.

Mumbai - Dehradun-mussoorie-Haridwar-Rishikesh-Nainital-Jim Corbett-Delhi-Mumbai

  Here is a day by day account along with notes:
DAY1:
   Traveled from Mumbai to Dehradun by flight and stayed at Dehradun. (If early morning flight is possible for you, then fly only till Delhi and book a taxi for round trip from Delhi to Delhi and reach Dehradun on first day. Delhi - Dehradun by road will take 6-7 hours max.)

DAY2:
   Did local sight seeing in Dehradun.
   Forest research institute building is must see for its beautiful architecture, magnificent lawns and there are 3 small museums as well. You will spend around 2 hours here.

   You can then head for Robber's Cave aka. Kachchu Paani. which is some 15 kms. away from Dehradun.

This is interesting 600 mts cave with water flowing out of it. Water is not very deep but its very cold. This is another point I liked in Dehradun. You have to walk through this water to see this cave from inside but its worth walking and then after coming out you can also enjoy hot maggi or pakoda's..

Again, at this place you can spend 2 hours max. You can either visit deer park in remaining time or opt for evening stroll in Bada bazar which is near Dehradun Clock Tower.

For eating in Dehradun, I tried Town table restaurant and level one restaurant. Town table food as well as ambiance is very good.

DAY3:
  We visited Musoorie on this day. Its only 24 kms away from Dehradun. Road from Dehradun to musoorie itself is very scenic and beautiful. As you climb up, temperature starts dropping. Views of the valley from mussoorie are amazing. We also visited company garden and kempsky falls which are 15 kms from Musoorie. There are other small places in Mussoorie, but I wont recommend spending a day in Mussoorie. We went straight to Haridwar after spending day in Mussoorie. Mussoorie to Haridwar takes around 3-4 hours of drive. So Start from Mussoorie latest by 5 pm. We checked into Hotel Ganga Lahri in Haridwar which is on the banks of Ganga river.

DAY4:
   This was long day for me which started very early at 5 am. I went to BrahmKund for morning Ganga Aarti. Aarti starts around 6:10 am. (but time changes as per sunrise and sunset so confirm with hotel staff). Morning Aarti is not as grand as evening one but the atmosphere is amazing.

Beautiful Ganga Ghat in Haidwar

   After enjoying Ganga Aarti and amazing breakfast of hot Suji Halwa, Chhole Bhature etc. we headed straight to Rishikesh. Rishikesh offers amazing adventure activities, but we had our small daughter with us so couldn't enjoy those. You can enjoy Rafting, River cossing, Kayaking or Bunjee Jumping. These activities take place 5 kms after Rishikesh. On the road to DevPrayag.

  In Rishikesh, you can cross Ram Jhula bridge and visit Temples, Baba Kaali Kamli Wale Ashram, Geeta Bhavan etc. and then come back by boat.

   We came back to Haridwar in the evening for evening Ganga Aarti. Evening Aarti is bigger and its really amazing. Dont miss this Aarti. For best view, be at Har ki Paudi, Brahmakund at 5:30 pm. Time changes as per sunset.

Evening Ganga Aarti at BrahmaKund, Har ki Paudi, Haridwar.

  Haridwar is great for foodies. I shall write separate post on this topic and present Haridwar in detailed manner. But dont miss amazing Haridwar food.

DAY5:
   We left Haridwar and headed for Naianital.We visited Patanjali Peeth in the morning and then went to Nainital. Haridwar to Nainital will take around 6 hours to travel.

   Reached Nainital at night and checked in to Hotel Vikram Vintage. Its really amazing hotel and charged us 4500 INR per day including BF & Dinner. There are many other good hotels in Nainital (Pavilion, Grand, Manu Maharani to name a few). Vikram vintage is amazing considering quality of food, service and room as well.

DAY6:
  Visited High altitude Zoo in Nainital. Its very close to city and must visit Zoo built on top of the hill. Tigers here are amazing. They also have Bear, Sambhar, Leopard, fox, Red Panda, and many birds as well.

Tiger in Nainital Zoo

 After Zoo, we took a boat ride in beautiful Naina Lake. This lake makes Nainital stand apart from other hill stations. There are many lakes in and around nainital which are really beautiful.

Beautiful Naina Lake.

  After lake we headed to Bada Bazaar which is main market of Nainital. Dont forget to buy amazing candles which is specialty of Nainital. There are scented, aromatic, magic or various shaped candles available in the market.

DAY7:
  It was another day in Nainital, we went for horse riding to peak. Its around 2 hrs. ride which covers around 8 kms of route. We paid 700 INR per horse. but this ride is must take. If you are big PETA supporter then you can go for trek on this route. but dont miss this one. View of Nainital from the top is amazing.

Beautiful Nainital from Peak

 After this we visited Bhimtal and saatataal. You can also choose to visit Mukteshwar which is around 40 kms from Nainital or almora or kausani.

DAY8:
  Travelled from Nainital to Jim Corbett National park. Its only 2 hours drive and very good road. Checked into hotel The Den Corbett. Its very good resort inside open forest zone. There are forest rest houses inside reserve forest as well but as we booked only for visit purpose, I booked it in open forest. Resort charged me 5500 INR per day including all meals. This resort is very good place to relax and views from open terrace is beautiful. If you are booking over the phone ask for DEER PARK room which is vey beautiful

  We just relaxed after reaching to corbett and spent evening on beautiful sundeck constructed near the valley.

DAY9:
  Went for early morning safari from Durga Devi Gate. Safari was from 6:30 am to 9:30 am. It was a open Jeep safari, but the choice of gate was wrong. This being a hilly area, citing animals is very difficult and rare. If you are visiting jim corbett with intention of watching animals or tiger. Please plan your trip after doing proper research. I will put few points in separate post.

 After early morning safari relaxed in the resort and then went on small elephant ride near resort.

DAY10:
  Started from Jim Corbett at 7:30 am in the morning for Delhi. We went to Delhi airport directly from Jim Corbett. If you are planning in same manner please keep at least 8 hours in hands for this travel. Many times you get heavy traffic between Gaziabad and Delhi. So keep buffer time.

 So on day 10th, We reached back with lot of beautiful memories from Uttarakhand. If you need any help planning your trip to uttaakhand, you can write to me at kaustubhkhare@gmail.com or call me at 9820031162.

  I will write few more options of itineary as well as budget soon.. till then bye bye.. and yes dont forget to write your feedback on the post.

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Srinagar for foodies

In my latest trip to Srinagar, I got great opportunity to spend time doing my most favorite activity.. EATING.. So, if you are foodie and love trying various delicacies.. this article is for you..

To start with, I enjoyed some sweets, chats and bakery stuff at Nathu sweets. Nathus sweets is opposite to Dal lake ghat no. 11.

Nathu sweets not only serves Kashmiri sweets but has amazing variety of bakery, bengali sweets and chaat items.

You can enjoy pastries, puffs and lots of cookies here. Hot veg puff was really amazing.

If you are craving for chaat.. Dahi bhalla, Dahi puri & the famous Aloo tikki will satisfy your taste buds. You can also get panipuri here, but pani puri and shev puri are no where near Mumbai.

You can also try some kashmiri sweets full of dry fruits like appricots, walnut, almonds etc.

For veg lunch / dinner, the road parallel to dal lake, between ghat 11 till dal gate provides lots of Vaishnav restaurants. All of them serving amazing parathas, chhole puri or some even serving south indian.
  
Now comes the part for real food explorer..

I had an opportunity to enjoy traditional kashmiri meal called wazhwan... Its a serving for multiple people and must be enjoyed in group, sitting on the ground (bhartiya baithak).. 
First course consists of platter of kebabs which include chops, seek kebab, chicken leaver, sweetish reshmi kebabs etc. This platter is served on top of base of rice.. this rice is enough to accompany all courses..

This is how Wazhwan enters the eating area ....

And then... the real beauty is revealed and presented to you....

Second course is a spicy red gravy called rista.. its close to apla marathi Rassa.. this rassa has 5-6 big meat balls prepared from minced mutton. 

Third course is of gostaba.. its a white curd based gravy again with meatballs. Tastes really fantastic.. not spicy, but sour gravy and made very rich probably by adding dryfruit paste..

Fourth serving is of roganjosh.. this is again brown spicy gravy with mutton, but this time not minced.. it has big pieces with bones. The gravy is spicy and tastes amazing.

Dont take your closest friend if he is foodie.. else that bone can break the friendship

Once you put all this in your tummy.. drink hot kawa to help digesting it..

This amazing drink is made up from cardemom, saffron, sugar and some local spices.. its real bliss

If you are in shrinagar, dont miss this lavish grand meal.. but dont forget to go in a group and enjoy this meal together.. the best place to get this meal is at mughal darbar restaurant which is 15 minutes walking from dal gate. There are two restaurants with similar name, the real one is on first floor..

They also serve portion for one person but then you will miss grandeur of this treat.. so go in a group and enjoy...
Apart from this, you can also try yakhni, kashmiri pulav, chicken kanti, Kabarghah (Mutton Chops)...

So.. when you are in srinagar.. apart from shikara ride dont miss on this SHIKAAR.. 
Bon Appetit 

Jammu Jammu Jammu...

Many people travel to Jammu for paying visit to famous shrine of Mata Vaishnaodevi.. So here are few places to combine some touring along with pilgrimage..

In my previous post, I have already mentioned about combining wetern himachal with Vaishodevi Yatra. So now we will focus on places within J& K.. Here is  7 day plan.covering some interesting places near Jammu.

Day 1: Reach Jammu tavi railway station & travel to Katra on the same evening. Katra is a basecamp for Vaishnodevi. Take rest after reaching Katra tomorrow you have to walk 26 kms.

Day 2: Start early in the morning if you are planning to walk all the way to temple.. There are other options also. you can ride a horse, or you can go in doli or you can take a chopper. But I personally will recommend walking..
           Dont forget to visit adhkunwari at half way..
           It will take between 3-5 hours to reach atop..
           Facilities en-route are fantastic ample shops & snack corners, sheds for resting, drinking water, clean toilets etc.. So no need to worry about anything.. just keep saying Jai Mata Di & keep walking

           Many people believe the yatra is not complete without paying visit to Bhairavnath, which is 2 kms ahead of Mata temple. You can cover entire thing in one day & come back to Katra for dinner comfortably.

Day 3: Now you have two options: Travel to Patni top & take rest at this beautiful hill station or relax in Katra, but I would suggest the first option..Dont keep very high expectations from Patni top, but I personally liked the place.. & if you visit in Nov - Feb you can enjoy the snow.

Day 4: Take rest at Patni top.

Day 5: Travel to Shivkhori caves.. Its an awesome experience.. Shivkhori is naturally fromed cave of the length more than 500 mtrs.
          As you start walking further inside the cave, the path gets narrower.. & finally when you reach the end point, you can see a huge auditorium. Its amazing experience..

Day 6: Come back to Jammu.. Do some shopping.. You can visit Raghunath Temple, Palace & Museum etc.

Day 7: Start Return Journey..

Western Himachal - unexplored & interesting..

Himachal Pradesh is one of the favourite tourist destinations in India & most of the Indians might have been to Shimla - Kullu - Manali for there Honeymoon if you take 15 years back data..

But a small state of Himachal Pradesh has many more beauty spots.. In recent past tourist inflow has increased in these places.. In this post i will take you through western circuit of Himachal Pradesh.. This is a perfect circuit for those who want to combine some tourist places along with pilgrimage at Vaishnao Devi..

One can travel till Jammu & then to Katra by State transport bus. Katra is a base village for visiting Mata Vaishnao devi temple.. After darshan of Vaishnao devi One can take a bus for Dalhousie..

This is the beginning of your Western Himachal circuit.. One has to travel for around 6 hours to reach spectacular town of Dalhousie. Dalhousie is nestled on the descend of the hilli region of Himachal Pradesh. It hosts many Boarding schools & colleges. Apart from that, it is a starting point for many treking routes & thats the reason Youth Hostel has their big accomodation facility here..

Its a perfect place for relaxation.. Just go there.. stay for 3-4 days roam around in the market or mal road.. Appreciate the beauty of nature.. thats it.. but if you are picnic spot fan.. then Dalhousie will disoppoint you..

If you read places of interest on any website.. it will typically display satdhara, panchkula, ajit singh smarak, kalatop sanctury etc.. I personally didnt find them worth visiting.. but the view of town from panchpula is amazing..

From Dalhousie one can visit Chamba & Khajiar. Again Chamba is not worth travelling if you are picnis spot fan.. but if you love the beauty in simplicity offered by nature you can cross all possible roads in Himachal.. Its amazing experience..

Khajjiar is interesting even for those who love Spots.. The soucer shaped ground of Khajiar is too good.. & its delight for those who love to click pictures in various places & angles & poses..

One can also do paragliding in Khajiar.. But be blunt at bargaining.. They may start from 2500 & come down to 1000 bucks..

After visiting Dalhousie - Khajiar & Chamba you can continue your journey to Dharamshala. Most interesting place to visit near Dharamshala is Mclodganj which is home to his holiness Dalai Lama.. The tibetian monestry at Mclodganj is amazing & if you are lucky enough you can see the Lama himself..

Then you have two options either go to Manali & then to Delhi or restrict yourself to Western himachal & take NH70 for jalandhar then on NH1 travel to Amrutsar where one can visit Golden Temple, Wagha Border, jaliyan wala baag etc..

The whole trip from Mumbai - Jammu - Vaishnao Devi - Dalhousie - Khajiar - Chamba - Dharamshala - Amrutsar - mumbai will take around 10 days if you take flight for jammu & then from chandigarh / delhi to Mumbai..

But if you go for relaxing 2 weeks is ideal time to spend in this circuit..

Nubra Valley - visit india's Silk Route

The heaven on the other side of Khardung La is called Nubra valley.. a beautiful V shaped valley where one can spend 3-4 days relaxing & still wont get bored.

  The total distance from Leh to Diskit which is the main village in Nubra is 118 Kms. & you can go 7 more kms. To visit hunder which is famous for white sand dunes.

 
   The river flowing through Nubra valley is amazing & the landscapes are really beautiful. This is actually a desert & you will witness sand filled planes all over on your way to Hunder. But the roads built by BRO are in very good conditions.

 
  There is only a Gompa to see in Diskit, but Hunder is worth spending some time.. Small village near famous white sand dunes gives you best relaxation.. One can stay in Habib guest house, which is a small house
but people are very nice especially the owner himself. You can spend great time playing in sand dunes or watching sunset. If you want to take break from your normal life full of tensions, this is the place. People

also come here for bird watching & photography.

   One more attraction of Nubra is double Humped camel.. Yes they have two humps on their back.. In ancient times this was the silk route, & most of the trades with middle Asian countries were through this road..
The camels I mentioned above are also from middle east asia.

  The road ahead of Hunder goes to Siachen but civilians are not allowed after certain point..

 

   If you are in Nubra valley, try local breakfast called Khambir.. It tastes amazing with honey & butter.. Its kind of local bread but when served hot.. Its amazing.

   If you are planning to visit pangong tso directly from here, no need to go till khardung la once again, there is an alternative route through Wari La using which you can avaoid going to Khardung La again. So if you are planning trip to Leh, dont miss Nubra valley, in fact I would suggest keep 2 days separately for visiting this beautiful place.

Khardung La - world's highest motorable Road

Khardung la pass is every rider's dream.. Yes its highest Motorable point in the world. At 18,380 ft above sea level you really touch the sky at Khardung La.

  This pass is near Leh town, you have to travel only 40 Kms to reach this top. Road to the top is very good & if you are travelling to Leh this is must visit.

  Not only because its beautiful but it's the highest point you can travel in vehicle, if you are civilian.


  For visiting Khardung La one has to take inner line permits from District commissioner leh. You can get them through agents also.

  If you are travelling on bike, you will reach the top in an hour. On the way, you have to show your permits at South Pullu.

  You can also have maggy or tea here, as you need to reach North Pullu or come back here for your next meal.



  From north Pullu, Khardung La is just about 15 kms.

  Its not difficult pass at all, If your bike gives combustion problem, remove the filter & it will go smoothly.

  Just 2-3 kms before Khardung la pass, you will see a point called India gate, people stop here for taking pictures.. even we did, but couldn't understand how to enter India from this gate?



  Just 2-3 kms more & you are there... On the top of the world, Nobody can go higher than you, at least not in vehicle.

  There is a signboard indicating this is the highest motorable point in the world.

  The pass is always crowded as whoever comes to Leh usually visits Khardung La. But its not advisable to be here for more than 20-30 minutes.

  The Indian Army men stay here for entire year though.

 

  After visiting Khardung La, you can either come down on same route to leh town, but if you have time going ahead is must..

  After Khardung La you are descending, so don't worry if you are feeling giddy it wont last for long time..by the time you reach north Pullu you will be alright.



  So whether you are on bike or in car, don't miss this chance to be on the top of the world & if possible visit Nubra valley too & post your experiences so that more & more people get to visit these beautiful places.

The Dream Ride

   Me & Mayuresh were discussing about trip to the toughest circuit of the world since April.. 3^rd June was the date when I shoot my first mail to Boss, Mayur, Pappu & PK writing proposed itinerary of the trip… Since then everyone was counting days left for the tour… We entered July & it felt great as the tour came as close as next month… 26^th July was the start point as everybody brought their bikes at my place.

   On 30^th July we packed the bikes, & all 10 bikes started their journey well before us.. Then started last minute checklists, packings, mandal saman purchasing, managing rain gears, winter gears & shoes..

    Days passed so fast & calendar showed 7^th August 2009… Next day early morning we had to start our journey… Me, Mayuresh, Prasad, Mayur, Sonu gathered at my home & Vikram, Pappu, Tejas gathered at Vikram’s place. Shamik stayed at his office & came directly to airport…     

      Day1:  We all gathered at airport & caught spicejet plane from Mumbai @ 5:50 am reached Gurgaon IFFCO colony @ 9:30.  (Mayuresh’s father stay there as he has transferred to Delhi for job) Unpacked our bikes & prepared them for the ride (If you are transporting bikes with movers & packers, please remember u need at least 2-3 hours to start your journey from start of unpacking).

                  After unpacking we went to Madhav bhavan for flag off ceremony arranged by RSS. Came back to our base camp loaded luggage on bikes & started the journey @ 3:30 pm.

                  It took us more than an hour to cross boundries of Delhi. @ 6:30 pm we reached sonipat.(If you are starting from Gurgoan travel till Dhaula Kuan - then to Naraina then to azadpur & then to karnal by pass. This way you can avoid most of Delhi traffic). Once your reach Karnal by pass you have to follow NH1 till you reach Ambala.

                  Received wishes from DC there & started further journey @ 7:30 pm. We travelled 160 kms more to cross Murthal, Kurukshetra, Panipat & Karnal in a way & reached Ambala @ 11:30 pm. Stayed @ Hotel Mirchi.

                   Total travel on day 1 was 200Kms. Road was very good. If you are travelling in group you can travel this road any time, even at night.

      Day2: Started from hotel @ 9:00 am. Went straight to Ambala Cant. To buy extra ropes, take out money from ATM, had our breakfast @ Pooransingh Dhaba. (This is must visit outlet besides Cant. Bus stand).

                  Started from cant @ 10:30 am. One has to travel towards amrutsar & ask for diversion for Ropad. Road till Ropad is very good. One can easily ride at 80 kmph.

                  From Ropad we took road to Bilaspur. We have to cross Bilaspur & then head to Mandi.

                  We reached Mandi @ 6:30 pm. Then we stopped there for food as we never had anything after Ambala (This thing should be strictly avoided on should take halt @ Bilaspur for food). After eating we headed to manali. Again road here is very good, so no problem for night journey.

                 Mandi – manali distance is 110 kms. & one can easily cover it in 2:30 hours. We met a small accident on road. Reached manali @ 1:00 am.

                 Distance travelled was 370 kms on this day.

                 One can travel Delhi – manali in single day but try this only if the group is small upto 4-5 bikes & you have to leave Delhi @ 6:00 am

    

Day3: Accident we met last night called for some repair work. (In Manali, if you go downwards from market you get few mechanics. there is also spare parts shop opposite Raju mechanic)

        We prepared bikes once again but it took some time & when we left Manali it was already 12:15 pm. (If you are planning Manali-sarchu in single day, you have to leave manali before 7 am. Else it will be difficult) By the time we crossed Rohtang(Its 58 kms away from manali takes around 2:30 hours to reach) it was already 6pm.


        Again due to bike break down (Remember, more the bikes more are chances of breakdown) Our plan failed once again & we could reach Keylong that day. (Ideally we should have reached Leh by now, we were not even half way). Stayed @ Keylong.

      Keylong provides many options for accommodation. (Remember Tandi is a village 7 kms before keylong, there is a petrol pump in this village. This is a last petrol pump before Karu & you have no petrol pump in 365 kms, so please fill the petrol & if you have bikes with low mileage then carry some extra petrol. If somehow you fail to get petrol here, you can get it in Sarchu or Pang but I am not sure about its quality + its Rs. 100/litre)

     Distance travelled 130 Kms.

Day4: Yet again we started late & by the time we left Tandi petrol pump it was already 11:30. There was no major breakdown on this day. Still we could go till Sarchu.

           We travelled only 115 Kms this day & had to stop @ Sarchu. (The key to success is start your travel before 7:30 am every day else your plan is gone). 

           On the way, we crossed Baralacha La which is at altitude of 16000+ ft. & beautiful Deepak Tal.

           Sarchu is at very high altitude + we crossed Baralacha La, which is high altitude pass. Some guys faced problem of AMS due to lower level of oxygen. (We were taking diamox 250 every morning since we left Manali still few guys faced the problem. Please carry ample stock of diamox tablets & electrol/ enerzol with you).

           We stayed in tent @ Sarchu (150 per person including dinner & Breakfast). Note: ppl may suffer through AMS in Sarchu, so please don’t forget to take diamox.

         

Day5: This was the day of action. We badly wanted to break our bad riding record of last two days & hence all 14 were on bikes @ 8:00 am. Today we had to reach leh @ any cost. (Sarchu to Leh is 270 Kms).

         We struggled for some time with bikes, due to very low temperature they took some time to start but still we could start the journey on time.

        When we travelled 12 kms from Sarchu, we crossed himachal Pradesh & entered J& K.

        Road from Sarchu to Pang is in really good condition & we reached Pang @ 12:30 pm. Had our lunch @ Pang & started for further journey @ 2:00 pm. All went well till we entered more plains.. More plains are 40 Kms of flat deserted plain land @ the height of over 14000 ft. The views from more plains are fantastic…

        While crossing more plains, Tejas met an accident & his bike broke down.. Me, Raj & Tejas were well behind others trying to fix Tejas’s bike. We attempted many things fixing it, toeing it with my bike (In this attempt Tejas met another accident, I tried to toe it at faster speed & we lost co-ordination between bikes & he felled once again), we also tried to find a truck in which we can load the bike. Everything failed & we decided that I will go ahead to get help & Raj & Tejas will still stay back & try to fix bike.. I travelled 30 Kms to reach the place where Mayuresh, Pravin, Sonu were waiting while Vikram, Mayur & Prabhakar had gone ahead to Leh. I sent Mayuresh & Pravin to Tejas’s rescue & 5 of us led to Leh. 

We crossed Tanglang La at 6:15 & reached Upashi @ 8:00 pm. Leh was still 50Kms but we decided to reach leh today itself. We started for leh at 8:45 & reached there by 10:30pm thanks to very good road.. Reached hotel @ 11:00 pm had a bath & went for dinner. When we completed the dinner, most awaited good news came. Mayuresh, Pravin, Raj & Tejas all had reached Leh. That news wiped of all fatigue & we all were in celebration mood. A guy called Ankur who had met us earlier at Manali, was also travelling from More plains. He & his friends were well aware of mechanical work, they fixed Tejas’s bike & finally whole team travelled till Leh… & finally all warriors were in Leh on day 5. Total distance travelled was 270 kms.

Day6 : This was a rest day & everybody utilized it to the fullest extent. We went out of hotel only for lunch, dinner & servicing bike… We managed permits through an agent. (For visiting K top, Nubra valley, Pangong Tso & Tso moriri one has to get in line permit from district collector office. We never went to the office but managed it through agent for Rs. 140 per person for 4 days permit).

          We tried some tibetian food MOMO, THUPA & Chaumein(This is chineese). That’s first & last time I had Thupa.. Mutton momo was good.

          In the evening we got all bikes checked from mechanic called Mohan Sharma. He is on service road on Leh manali road(But I would suggest one should go to other guy named Jumma, he is better option & his shop is on Airport road). We then filled our machines (Very interesting thing happened: all bikes on petrol pump at this time were from Maharashtra.. two other groups 1 from Pune & one from thane had come to similar ride.)

Mayur, Vikram, Tejas & Sonu went to bring Kabab & manage for dinner but there was no trace of these guys for next 2 hours… Finally me & Pappu stayed in hotel & asked others to advance to any good restaurant. Finally we could track 4 absconding people.. Initially we were angry on them, but they searched the best food outlet which kept satisfying us for entire stay at Leh. (Name of the hotel is Pizzeria & its near Tibetian refugee market). We had heavy dinner & returned to our hotel.

Day7 : Today we started early for K Top & Nubra valley, Courtesy Pappu, who did his job of waking up everybody early with great consistency.

          On the way, we had to stop at south Pullu & submit the permits we got from DC office.

          We rode without any hassles to K top. Its not very far from Leh, may be 40 Kms. We reached there quickly.. On the way we stopped @ India gate(I don’t know how one can enter india via this gate) & clicked many pictures.. The Indian flag managed by Boss had really great impact & we enjoyed the pics holding the tricolor.

          We then proceeded to K top. Sonu’s bike had serious breathing problem & was behaving like asthama patient, but still we all could manage to reach the HIGHEST MOTORABLE POINT together & I cant describe what everyone was feeling.. Feeling top of the world?? In fact we were on the top of the world… We did it. Riding from Delhi all the way to the top.. so many obstacles to stop..but we crossed them.. & we did it.. All 14 warriors with all 11 bikes on decided day of 14 August… we captured it.. We hoisted the Indian Tricolor…

          After extensive photo shoot, we started our descend for Nubra valley.. We took halt at North pullu, had maggi  took diamox tablets from military hospital there (Thanks to superman who reminded us that we don’t have tablets & we can get them from Army first Aid center).

          We then headed to diskit which is around 60 Kms from north Pullu, crossed village Khardung on the way. While crossing Khardung we mate some other bike groups & had a combined photo session on the road. Roads in Nubra valley were in really good condition & ride was fun.

         Nubra valley is really beautiful & we made our way through it till Diskit. Hunder is a village 7 kms ahead of Diskit. Hunder is where you get to enjoy double hump camels & white sand dunes. We didn’t wait at Diskit & headed straight to Hunder.

         We stayed at Habib’s great house. Its beautiful place for relaxing, if you enjoy hospitality & simplicity. We had a tea & then had a long game of 3 patti… Everybody was relaxed & this was perhaps the first time when we did something other than packing-unpacking & riding.. We enjoyed 3 patti followed by simple but tasty dinner.

        Had a sound sleep that night.. Total distance travelled was 130 Kms.

Day8 : Independence day… 15^th August & we were those we lucky people who were celebrating it so close to Siachen. We had a delicious Khambirs in breakfast (Its kashmiri roti which is very fluffy. You have to divide it into two parts & fill it with honey / butter / jam). After heavy breakfast we headed straight to sand dunes..

            For 2-3 hours we enjoyed the dunes.. had extensive photo shoots, enjoyed camel ride, sung national anthem, enjoyed small riverbank… perhaps the best morning.. rather best day on tour.. really enjoyed the independence day…

            Came back to guest house, had lunch & then headed straight to Leh. Stopped at K top for a while, enjoyed the snow & then went back to Leh..

           Dattabhau & Sunil mama joined us at leh.

           Me & Pappu then went to check for car to Pangong Tso also managed permits for Dattabhau & Sunil mama. Hired a car for one day pangong Tso trip. Then went for dinner @ Pizerria of course.

           Total distance travelled: 130 Kms.

Day9 : We started early morning @ 6:30 am (surprised?? Even I was..)  but we did it… Today 5 bikes were travelling to Pangong Tso & 8 warriors opted for scorpio.

          We headed straight to Karu which is 30 kms from Leh.. & then from Karu took left turn to head to Shakti. We crossed this track very quickly as roads were in excellent conditions.. We crossed Shakti, roads made me so relaxed that I didn’t even bother to look at them constantly… andddddd… bangggggg I had to pay the price.. I felt at 60 Kmph & my bike’s ferring was all broken. Mayuresh was behind me. He picked up my bike, thank god it started.. I continued riding as injuries were not so deep. I stopped at military camp took the first aid & headed straight to Chang La. (This was the toughest pass according to me). I reached ChangLa alone. Mayur & Kiran had gone well ahead & Mayuresh’s bike was not climbing well so Mayuresh & Pravin were behind… I had a tea there then took 3-4 snaps & headed for Pangong immediately.

        Met kiran at one military camp but he opted for breakfast at the camp while I moved further. I reached Pagal nala parked my bike & started walking towards Pangong lake. I met one biker & he gave me ride till the lake.. I had a long stroll & then started search.. After a while I saw warriors seating in a tent enjoying food. I joined them had some maggy & dal rice.

       Food was followed by extensive photo session at the lake. While photo session was on its way Mayuresh, Pilu, Pravin & Kiran reached there.. Few more pics followed by lunch for those who had reached late & we headed to Pagal nala.

      Water current had increased drastically… but fortunately we stopped a military truck which allowed us to aboard. They carried us till the other bank & we reached till the bikes safely. We started the return journey well within time & climate was good.. We were enjoying the ride.

      Suddenly the entire situation changed, wind became chilling, clouds gathered in sky & it started raining… bikes were not running smoothly, temperature dropped, it started raining heavily… we advanced further… but after some time rain became so heavy that Kiran, mayuresh & Pravin opted to wait at military camp. Me & mayur kept riding along the scorpio… As we reached near Chang La, the rains freezed & snowfall was started.. frankly I enjoyed initial 2 mins… but then it turned hostile… the snowfall became so heavy that it started affecting visibility… Me and mayur drove parallel & Boss, pappu, Tejas forced driver to match with our speed… This entire setup worked well & we reached Chang La, riding @ -8 degrees.. had a tea there changed socks.. Mayur stripped Tejas’s pants as his jeans was not wearable after heavy rains & snowfall.. We both immediately started descend & came to leh without stopping anywhere..

       Other guys stayed at Chang la till Mayuresh, Pravin & Kiran reached there. They contacted military camp & traced the three guys & finally when they reached… all came together to Leh.. As Kiran was not feeling well our Rescue squad head Vikram More rode his bike till Leh.

      Once all reached, we headed to Pizerria to finish some more chicken & then went to bed..

     Total distance travelled: 320 kms.

Day 10: This day was for roaming around in Leh… but most of us were in hotel.. in the evening we did some shopping, then booked a car to dump our luggage till Srinagar had our dinner & went to bed… My bike undergone a plastic surgery & we removed filter from Sonu’s bike & did small work on Shamik’s clutch lever

Day11 : We started early.. We had decided that we will travel till Srinagar in single day… as this will give us entire day in beautiful Srinagar… We started at 6:30 am. Enroute we visited lamayuru which is one of the oldest monestry.

            After lamayuru we crossed FotuLa, which is highest pass on leh Srinagar route(13500 ft which is at lesser altitude than lowest pass of manali leh route). The road is very good till here… After FotuLa we headed straight to Kargil. Travelling without too many breaks we reached kargil bit early, but Tejas met an accident in between. We didn’t stop at Kargil for long & headed straight to Drass which is 40 Kms ahead of Kargil. Here I gave ride to Mr. K C Roy, who is serving artillery division. He explained me many things about kargil war..

           Drass is 2^nd coldest human habitat in the world. We stopped at Drass war memorial.  Location of memorial itself is very beautiful.. it is situated between tololing, Tiger hill, Phyno thorn & one more peak which were real points of action.

          We really feel proud about those who laid down their lives for India. Wherever you are from, whatever are your interests, if you are travelling on this route you should visit the memorial.

          It was 6:00 pm when we started from memorial & Tejas’s bike gave up… we started it & it went till Drass. We had food at Drass, Roganjosh, Kheema & paneer mutter.. It was getting colder & colder. It also started raining & the bike was not starting. We decided to call end of day at Drass. Searched for accommodation parked our bikes & stayed there.

          Total distance travelled 270 kms.

Day12 : Me & Pappu had given up our wake up call job… The car driver had took that from us.. We were ready by 7:30 am. We then stopped a truck, he agreed to load bikes & carry them till Srinagar. We loaded 3 bikes in the truck (Sonu, tejas, Shamik). We started in rains.. kept travelling.. & reached sonamarg @ 11:30 am. (I felt once again on the way, while crossing Zoji La). Had some breakfast @ Sonamarg (They put anything between breads & call it sandwitch).

            We tried to find mechanic but failed.. So we decided to carry bikes till village called Kangan in truck. Bikers rode ahead & tracked the mechanic in kangan village which is 30kms before Srinagar.

            He fixed tejas’s bike quickly, but after carrying in truck Sonu’s bike was not getting started.. & to everybody’s surprise Shamik’s bike got puncture inside the truck(?) it took around 90 minutes to fix everything & then we headed to Srinagar.

            Finally we reached Srinagar at 6:00 pm. Went stratight to hotel.. had a party entire evening & then headed to restaurant called Mughal Darbar.. The food was really tasty we tried starter called Kanti, mutton chaap, & two spicy chicken gravies.. after dinner had a walk of two kms.. on roads of Srinagar…

             Reached hotel @ 11:30 pm. Total distance travelled 200 kms.

Day13: had a breakfast at restaurant called Purohit.. It serves many Marathi cuisines so all warriors attacked on Kande pohe, batata wada, upama, shira.. (The restaurant is on main road near dal gate).

          After heavy breakfast, we headed for Jammu. The roads are in excellent conditions.. We crossed Jawahar tunnel, then khooni nala & reached at patni top which is a famous hill station. There we had evening snacks & continued the journey to reach a village from which there was a diversion for Pathankot. We took the shortcut to pathankot. The roads are not in very good condition & at around 8:30 pm. Tejas’s bike was punctured. Thank god we had a mechanic at 10 kms, he fixed the bike & we continued further. 5 kms before pathankot, we called off our day at 11:30 pm & stayed at hotel Vishal. Enjoyed dinner of chicken there.

          Total distance travelled 400 kms.

Day14: This was the last day of the journey. We started at 9 am. Then stopped at Dhaba near pathankot. Had heavy breakfast of parathas, daal, lassi & then headed to delhi.. When we crossed jalandhar it started raining & continued for a while.

           We crossed 200 kms & then took halt for lunch at a dhaba. For all days we were travelling together & even if anybody is ahead he use to stop for others after a while, but this time Shamik was so focused on reaching delhi that he didn’t even realize that me & Pravin trying to stop him… he kept riding till he reached Delhi. After lunch we started for delhi. We crossed Kurukshetra & got the news that Mayuresh & Pilu met accident. We waited for them at 3000 kms mark. Once they reached we started once again & at 9:00 pm reached Sonipat. We had asked Tejas to wait here for us but we couldn’t trace him… We all were worried & had no clue… We tried but their cells were not reachable for more than 1 hour we tried to find some solution. Actually we wanted to stop 30 kms before delhi celebrate the completion & then enter delhi in the morning… but now when two guys were missing all celebration plans were cancelled & we headed to Delhi.

         We lost hours in search & hence reached Delhi very late. Pravin came to our rescue & quickly managed accommodation & food for us. We headed to gurgaon with Pravin, meanwhile Shamik & tejas called us to inform that they were in Delhi safely. We were really angry about this entire episode but then we reached gurgaon had food… some drinks, anger settled down & we enjoyed review of all 14 thrill packed days.. Me, Mayur, Pappu, Pravin, Boss & Sonu stayed at Pravin’s place Mayuresh & Prasad went to Dattabhau’s place.. We all who had stayed with Pravin enjoyed till 3 am & then called off the day.

Day15: We went straight to Dattabhau(Mayuresh’s father) residence as that was our assembly point. Or Then we took our bikes to mover & packer(Rotlu Shekhavat). He packed the bikes, meanwhile we moved to sector 14 & had lunch(Veg for a change). Then came back to IFFCO colony packed our bags cut cake arranged by Pravin & Tejas.. Recorded goodbye lines of all warriors.. & started the return journey…

          On the way we visited house of Mr. Sharma & spend some time there… This some time was so long that most of us lost the confidence that we can catch the flight… but ganpati bappa was waiting for us here in Mumbai so he managed vehicle for us & we reached airport in time… plane started @ 9:15pm & we were back in Amachi Mumbai at 11:15pm Clicked some last snaps on airport & then headed for our homes…… 

Before completing this travelogue I should thank few people who helped us a lot during this journey…

In first place Mayuresh’s Father (Dattabhau), who stay at Gurgoan due to his job, provided us basecamp at gurgoan. He received the bikes we had sent (without keys) at Gurgoan & took care of them for 4 days. Also provided us assembly point on our return journey & arranged beautiful flag off for us.

Sharmaji, who stay in IFFCO colony gurgoan, provided us his house for all preparations before leaving for ride

 Indian Army, which helps everybody enroute & especially people like us who are not carrying any back up vehicle.. They helped us not only with providing secured roads but with tea, snacks, giving us lift, guiding us for roads, providing first aid and in many more ways….

And last but not least our families back home who showed faith in us. They took enough pain trying our not-reachable phones or contacting each other to get information about us. Wished us for every part of the journey.

With that I conclude this scribble (Its too long to be called scribble though), but the concluding is just for this trip… The warriors & their machines are ready once again to conquer new highs… Till then let us all enjoy the memories of conquering toughest circuit of the world without any backup or any mechanic or any professional tour manager… BRAVO MARATHA WARRIORS

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