Our Leh Circuit: done in 2021 August

A "Leh-Ladakh circuit" was on my bucket list for a long time. When I was based in Delhi, I missed doing so. Later, in 2014, I got the opportunity to return to the Northeast (after 14 years of staying in Delhi) to join a reputed telecom company.My "Leh-Ladhak" dream remained on the back burner until 2021 when we had put the pandemic behind us. After deciding to embark on this trip, came the challenge of finding a companion. I wanted to do this circuit in my car from Guwahati, and all my friends and immediate family refused to go with me. I turned towards my cousin's elder brother Debajeet Deka based in Hyderabad, who readily agreed, and we started preparing for this mega trip.

Vehicle Preparation

We got my car serviced, including getting the wheel alignment done. We also carried all the fluids (engine oil, coolant, brake oil, PS oil), fuses, all belts, a spare fan, a PS, a Jerry can, and a puncture repair kit with a tyre inflator.

Own Preparation

We bought winter wear, gum boots, an extra large duffle bag from Decathlon, all essential medicines, oxygen cylinders, a butane burner to cook tea, Maggi, etc. and a food bag with packaged food items that can be eaten while travelling.

Day1: 13/08/21

Guwahati to Darbhanga 776 KMS

We started at 5:30 am from Home and then stopped for breakfast at a popular restaurant Pranita in Nalbari. Just when nearing Barpeta Road, the Thar abruptly lost power and started emitting a lot of black smoke. I was aghast as I knew the intercooler pipe must have cracked, as that part is a major culprit in the CRDE engine. Somehow, we made it to Bongaigaon Mahindra ASC, the next major town. You will not find this part in most Mahindra ASCs, but as luck would have it, the intercooler pipe part was available and quickly replaced. I began to believe that God was with us for this entire trip, as you will notice as this travelogue unfolds.With greater enthusiasm, we were back on the road. We stopped after crossing Siliguri to have our home-packed rotis and mutton lunch by the highway and then continued to reach our hotel in Darbhanga at 10:15 pm after a few tea breaks. That was the end of our first day.

Day2: 14/08/21

Darbhanga to Kannauj 749 KMS

We started at 5 am from our hotel and faced very heavy rains until we crossed Bihar and up to the U.P border. After crossing over to U.P, we started to cover distance faster than we did in Bihar and by 4:00 pm, we reached Lucknow. Now, I am a foodie with a weakness towards North Indian food; hence I wanted to make this trip about experiencing both new food and new terrain. With that objective, when we got to Lucknow, I wanted to try out the famous Tunde Kebabs with parantha in Tunde Kebabi in old Lucknow. After this experience, we headed for Kannauj, which is 120 Km and checked in at our hotel by 9 pm.

Day3: 15/08/21

Kannauj to Goraya 777 Kms

As had become our routine, we started at 5 am from Kannauj to Goraya in Punjab, a small town between Ludhiana and Jalandhar. Early morning starts in a long trip are very important as many miles can be covered due to low traffic plus, maintaining discipline and setting each day's target destination is very important, especially in the plains. Today was Independence Day, and my food target for the day was to have the famous parathas in Murthal in Amrik Sukhdev. We used to go for weekend drives there during my Delhi days. We reached there at lunchtime and made good time crossing all 3 expressways: Taj, Yamuna and EPE. There was a huge rush in Amrit Sukhdev due to the 15th August holiday, and there were a sea of people. All covid protocols had been forgotten. After having a sumptuous lunch, we headed for Goraya and reached our hotel by 8 pm.

Day4: 16/08

Kannauj to Patnitop 318 Kms

This day we were apprehensive about strict checking at the Jammu border at the Lakhanpur toll gate for RT-PCR tests. We were carrying RT-PCR reports from Guwahati, but they were already 4 days old. As I mentioned earlier, the Gods were with us, and our trip was blessed. By a stroke of luck, the J&K Govt had lifted checking for RT-PCR tests that day, and although we were stopped at the toll, we were allowed to go without checking.We finally entered the hills today. As we were about to enter Jammu city, I called up the father of a good friend of mine, Manav Nehru, originally from Jammu and whom I had met and befriended during my days living in Delhi. Although my friend now lives in Dubai, his father insisted we visit their home and have lunch. After being on the road for 4 days, I couldn't resist the offer. We were treated to home-cooked Kashmiri food. I got to catch up with my friend's parents and sister. After spending quality time at my friend's home, we headed for Patnitop and checked in at our hotel by 5 pm.

Day5: 17/08

Patnitop to Srinagar 173 Km

Since we didn't have to cover much distance today, we started from our hotel at 8 am. We were thrilled to be entering Kashmir. We had driven from the Northeast to the top of our country and had a lot of apprehensions about the situation in Srinagar. To our delight, we felt very safe and reached Clarks Inn by noon. We decided to park our Thar in the hotel parking, only giving it some well-deserved rest and took an auto to Dal Lake for the usual boating and returned to our hotel after having dinner outside to retire for the day. The next day we would have to tackle the Zojila Pass, which I wanted to do for a very long time.

Day6: 18/08

Srinagar to Kargil 202 Km

We started early to avoid the traffic in Zojila Pass and comfortably crossed the mighty Zojila. I have huge respect in my heart for all the mountain passes; on the way, we stopped at the Kargil War Memorial to give our respects to the Kargil War Martyrs. I have tremendous respect for our Armed Forces. We reached our resort, a very beautiful property overlooking the hills, by noon and had a relaxing lunch in the resort itself. In the evening, we booked a cab and, with the cab driver serving as our guide, saw a village called Hunderman, the closest Indian village to Indo-Pakistan Border. It was a unique experience as the village was remote and situated just at the Indo-Pak border with views of the Pakistani side. After the tour, we returned to the town of Kargil, packed some kebabs and returned to our resort.

Day7: 19/08

Kargil to Leh 216 Km

We were very excited as we would reach Leh today. While enjoying the views of the barren landscape, we got a call from one of our elder cousin-brothers who works in NEEPCO. He asked us if we wanted to visit two of his colleagues on deputation in Alchi, which is 70 Km before Leh. Alchi is the site of a hydroelectric power project of NEEPCO, and we jumped at this opportunity as we would also be able to visit the Alchi Choskhor Monastery, which is quite famous in the region. We were treated to another sumptuous home-cooked lunch at our brother's colleagues' place who were from Assam.After lunch, we visited the Monastery, which was very beautiful and went to see the dam. The views were breathtaking. After chatting, we finally bid goodbye to both gentlemen, who were elated to meet someone from Assam and more excited that we had driven down from Guwahati. On the way, we stopped at Pathar Sahab Gurudwara to take the blessings and headed for Leh. We reached Leh by 5 pm and checked in at our hotel, a new property in one of the residential areas in Leh town. After freshening up went to see the Shanti Stupa and returned to our hotel to retire for the day. Our excitement level was at its peak, as finally, we were living our dream of driving the "Leh-Ladhak circuit".

Day8: 20/08

Leh local sightseeing

Debajeet da was not feeling well and had signs of AMS, so he decided to rest in the hotel while I went alone to explore Leh town. Unfortunately, the Leh War Memorial was closed that day, so I did some shopping for my family back home and went back to the hotel in the evening as it was Muharram that day, and the streets were crowded.

Day9: 21/08

Leh to Hunder via Khardungla Pass 125 Kms

We started early as usual to avoid the rush in Khardungla and were pretty excited scaling up to the Pass. We didn't stay for long; just took the customary pictures and descended towards Hunder, where we checked in at a newly constructed resort, a recommendation of the owner of our hotel in Leh. In the evening, after taking some rest, we went to Nubra Valley but found it to be very crowded with people taking rides on the double humpbacked camels. Returned to our resort after having some refreshments on the way.

Day10: 22/08

Hunder to Pangong Tso 240 Kms

This was again an exciting day as one of the important objectives of the trip was going to be fulfilled: Pangong Lake and crossing the mighty Changla La Pass, which I found the most difficult Pass among all the passes covered in this trip. We reached Pangong in the evening when there was still daylight, and the first view of the lake took away all our tiredness. We enjoyed the views of the lake till it was dark and checked in at one of the shacks, which was very basic.

Day11: 23/08

Pangong to Sarchu 408 Kms

This would be a tough day as we had to cross 5 Passes: Changla La, Nakeela, Lachung La, Baralacha La, Tanglang La, then the Gata Loops and the end just before reaching Sarchu. Due to road construction, there was very heavy dust on the road, similar to a desert with thick layers of dust; I had to use all my auxiliary lights of the Thar as visibility went down to almost zero. Finally, we checked in at our tent accommodation for the night. It was very cold in Sarchu, and I experienced the coldest night in Sarchu in our entire Ladakh circuit. In fact, before sleeping after dinner, I started the ignition of the Thar for 15 mins and then covered the front engine bay with a car cover which I was carrying so that the heat was conserved.

Day12: 24/08

Sarchu to Manali 177 Km

After a hearty breakfast in the morning, I cranked the Thar with some apprehensions, but it came to life on a single crank. We saw a Force Traveller struggling, but we didn't have such issues thanks to the previous night's exercise with the Thar. We started for Manali. The drive was a breeze, thanks to the Rohtang tunnel. We were in Manali by 3 pm and checked into a great property in old Manali. Finally, our Ladakh circuit ended, and from tomorrow onward journey home will start. I went out to the Manali market by hiring a Royal Enfield Bullet to take a ride after so many days of driving as I enjoy riding the same as driving. I own two Royal Enfield Standard 350 bikes and have recently acquired a Himalayan Scram 411.

Day13: 25/08

Manali to Chandigarh 271 Km

We started by 8 am from Manali as today we will be entering the plains and staying in Chandigarh at fellow Bhpian Vikram Singh's (handle Nomad Wanderer) official guest house. We reached Chandigarh by 7 pm, and Vikram Ji came to meet us. Coincidentally another Bhpian, Amlan da, also from Assam, was also in the same guest house as he had come to Delhi and had driven to Chandigarh to meet Vikram Ji. We had a mini Team-BHP meet . Before retiring, we chatted till late at night about our trip, cars, and future trips.

Day14: 26/08

Chandigarh to Lucknow 803 Km

This would be a long day, but we started at 8 am as the roads were good. On the way, I wanted to fulfil one more experience on my food wish list: lunch at Al Bake, one of my favourite restaurants in New Friends Colony, South Delhi. The Shawrma rolls are to die for. We reached Lucknow and checked in at our hotel by 12 am - the end of a long drive.

Day15: 27/08

Lucknow to Darbhanga 626 Km

Our earlier plan was to target Siliguri, and we had set our Gmap for the same. However, the drive was getting strenuous, and it was pretty late, so we decided to stay back in Darbhanga in a newly opened property that had opened the same day. The hotel staff gave us special treatment as we were one of the first guests.

Day16: 28/08

Darbhanga to Bongaigaon 594 Kms

We had previously targeted to reach Guwahati today, but due to poor road conditions and traffic in the "chicken-neck" before Siliguri, we decided to halt at Cygnett Bongaigaon. Also, we didn't want to disturb our families by arriving late at night.

Day17: 27/08

Bongaigaon to Guwahati Home 184 Kms

We were thrilled and, at the same time, excited to be finally meeting our families after 17 days on the road. We completed this "Once-In-A-Lifetime-Trip" without any issues or setbacks. The Thar performed exceptionally well and never gave up, even on the most challenging terrains. It's a wonderful vehicle. Thanks to our families for the support, without whom we can't be away from home for such a long time.