I am finally attempting to write down about the remarkable tour to the Crown of India, which is also called as 'Roof Of The World' i.e. LADHAKH!
While I am begining with this writing effort, I am also afraid that I will never complete this blog. I may get lost in writing. Even now I am not sure from where to begin, what all to write about and what to exclude. It may go on and on and on....
Lets see... how it goes.
28Jul2014 - Mumbai to Srinagar:
It was raining too heavily in Mumbai. Me and Amey had started at around 7am from home for airport. We booked flights from Mumbai to Srinagar. Ours was the 9.15am spicejet flight which took off at 10.45am, 1.5hrs late. I was finally at the airport and the trip for which I was planning to go since last year and for which I had started planning since April this year had begun.
We were 5 from Mumbai - Amey, Vaidehi (aka Vaishu), Kishore (aka Kz), Pranay & myself.
This was my first flight at day time from Mumbai. So I was looking forward to see Mumbai from above. But it was heavily raining, so the view was not clear. But still it was beautiful. Soon our flight was in clouds. Me and Vaishu were sitting together while Pranay, Amey and Kz were sitting together. Now a funny thing happened with these 3 boys. Actually weeks back when we booked the flight, I had also booked the seat nos on Spicejet site. I had chosen 32a, 32b & 32c for them. While me and Vaishu were in 30a, 30b, 30c. When we actually boarded the flight... we reached the end of the flight looking for 32 row, and 31 was the last row :P LoL. When they showed the boarding pass to attendant, the attendant was surprised too. And eventually these 3 had to travel standing in the flight :P hahahaha no no.... how I imagined this would have happened. Jokes apart, seemed like the bookings were low so they changed to a smaller aircraft. Even this smaller one was not full. So Kz, Pranay and Amey got seats just in the row ahead of us.
The flight reached Amritsar @12.45pm. From here I sms Tejas ( our tour operator who was suppose to come to pick us at Srinagar airport) that flight is delayed. Here first time I was in a one stop flight, that too of type where same flight was to continue. So I saw that like in trains a TC enters the flight. He rechecks everyones boarding passes and marks in his sheet, and also checks corresponding cabin luggage. Then new passengers board. An then flight took off at 1.15pm.
So sooner had the flight taken off and gained some height, that the pilot announced that soon we will be landing. So Amritsar to Srinagar was the shortest journey. I was wondering what about the passengers who boarded newly at Amritsar... unka paisa toh wasool bhi nahi hota :) Bass chade nahi ki utaro :)
So we finally landed Srinagar at 2pm. I again sms Tejas. He replied that he was already waiting outside at arrival.
I didnt know how this guy looked. We collected our baggage and moved out. Srinagar airport was very disappointing. It was too hot afternoon. after coming out of the airport my eyes were looking for Tejas and I was also ringing his cell phone.
Finally Amey found him. That was the first time I saw this guy Tejas. He was not as per my imagination. This was a slim short guy, pretty younger. We followed him. He took us to the bus. A man joined us and helped us keep our baggage in the tempo traveller. We realized that he was just another porter only after he asked for tip. He climbed inside the bus and was not leaving. So I finally gave him 20inr.
From there our bus started. Tejas wore his Red colored Iris outdoor Tee. And introduced himself. In our tempo traveller it was only 5 of us and one old uncle. I did understand that there was another tempo traveler standing adjacent to us. This also seemed to be with us only.
We were now in Sringar. Hot Srinagar. From the flight u see the difference. When you are flying over Mumbai, u see lot of slums and then sea. When Amritsar came, u see lush green carpet with checks design. Very well designed land full of fields. And when Srinagar comes, u start seeing the ranges of mountains all over and the rivers flowing through them.
And now I was passing through Srinagar. Its lanes, its markets. It was weird. Traffic is very undisciplined. The development is very weak. Very first thing that strikes is their dialect. I was trying to listen to the drivers conversation carefully to make out of there are any similar words they use. But no. I couldn't understand anything. Kz told me that they dont have any script for this language. Its just a verbal language. Srinagar seemed to me a very dusty city when I recollect it. Dhul and mitti... is what I recollect. The lanes are very narrow. Traffic jams very easy and frequent. That too Ramzan Eid was just next day. There was military placed every 100mts. There were bunkers at junctions. Still civilians were comfortably shopping in the markets. It was pretty for the localities. And we were gazing out at the people and military with curiosity. Then our bus passed through Lal Chowk. Kz mentioned that this place has lot of significance and is very sensitive. It always in news. I remember seeing extra military posting at Lal Chowk.
On the way we saw a beautiful fort on a hill top. It is suppose to be Akbar's Fort as per our then driver. Its name is 'Hari Parbat Fort'. But now it is with military. The fort looks very beautiful and looks well maintained as well. It took us good 1hr too reach our destination at Nigeen lake house boat. I had offline maps saved. So I was tracking on it. We got down and were walking towards the lake. Now we were suppose to cross the lake in a shikara and go to the house boat on the other side bank. Straight in front of us from this bank of Nigeen Lake we were able to see the Hari Parbat fort. Now here we saw faces of other people from the other bus. They were all gals.
Tejas introduced us to Nitish, stating he was his partner and here on will take care of us and Tejas moved ahead in the first shikara. It was very hot and sunny. The beauty of the place was getting washed out in that bright sun. I was still gathering myself, and trying to sink in the feeling that this was Srinagar where I am ... and the lake that I am seeing is the Nigeen lake just adjacent to Dal lake. We standing there in sun for quite sometime waiting for instructions and our chance to get into the shikara. Not that there was rush and we were in queue. But still we were waiting for instructions. Lately after closely looking around, I realized that huge houses in my side of the bank that I seeing, were all over the house boats. On this side of the bank that I was standing, there were himalayan ranges and other side I was seeing that fort, so civilization more seemed to be on other side. I was wondering that if the fort is on that side, and we just passed from the base of the fort, then how come he got us on this side. I am sure there should be road way directly to go on that side. So just for the sake of feeling we were on this side of the bank of the Nigeen Lake.
Now our chance came. They put our luggage first. they put it at the very tip of the shikara. I was worried it might fall off the shikara anytime into the lake. Then we boarded the shikara. All 5 of us in one boat. And in another were 4 gals and Nitish. Now that I knew this guys name. But our shikara had no rider. We were just sitting alone. Later we saw that this guy was toeing out shikara. He was sitting in other shikara, tied our shikara to that one, and he alone was rowing the 2 boats, loaded with heavy enough 10 people and lots of luggage. He was a HE MAN ! ..... he has the Powerrrrr of the Srinagar!!!! hehehe anyways. Soon in the bland brightness of the sun... we started feeling the calmness and depth of the blue lake. The silence was heard. The voice of water as the oar moved in and out of it drove my attention. I now started sinking & believing that I was in Srinagar.
The boatman rowed us safely to the other side, where the house boats were parked. From this shikara we directly entered the house boat. There were many house boats parked in a row. One of them was ours. They were beautifully carved. Made of Deodhar wood. The Door was closed. We were standing in the lobby like area at the houseboat door. Soon the sliding door were opened, and we peeped inside.
It was beautiful hall. floor was covered with thick red carpet. Wooden Ceiling completely with carvings and design. Nice lamps hanging over. There were sofas, TVs, tea table and on... I we went inside further, there was kitchen, way up to terrace, 4 bed rooms. It was a big enough house boat. We occupied one of the rooms. Tejas had did the division and we had a gal named Namrata with us. So it was Namrata, Vaishu and myself in one room.
The room was gloomy. There was one double bed and one single bed. Again covered with nice soft carpet. I went ahead and opened the wooden sliding window. Light entered the room. I saw the boat man came outside that window in his shikara. He asked us to identify the luggage. The window had a wooden plank running end to end outside. Where one could sit or walk over as well. The boatman delivered the luggage at the room from this window. We pulled it inside.
I went ahead to explore the room. It had a dressing space with wardrobe and a nice bathroom. The bath room was floored with carpet again, which was weird.
Then we got freshen up, and then went for our lunch. The lunch was arranged in a house on the bank. A wooden plan was placed from the boat to the other bank side. One had to be careful while walking over it. It was past 4pm by now that we were having our lunch. The lunch was placed in a buffet in a garden of that house. It was the house boat owners house. Vaishu and me were sitting waiting for Amey, Kz and Pranay to come. We had no idea which boat was allocated to them. Our phones were working though, so I called. They came. Then we had our lunch. It was nice, tasty homemade lunch.
In front of us we saw green apple tree and many apples over it. Later we realized that we were sitting under one. Then on looking around with open eyes, we noticed more beauty. There were flowers of many types never seen before. There was a red apple tree as well. There small birds over the trees. The path from this garden to boat was covered with lotus leaves and lotus flowers. There were pigeons coming to sip water in the lake. And from here the nature and surrounding kept surprising us with it beauty. This was just the beginning.
Post lunch we had a introductory session. Where everyone in the group introduced themselves. So I saw the other faces in the group. Though didnt remember everyones name in first go. We were total 21. Most of us were youngsters. Except Raikar uncle, Kulkarni uncle and Thakur uncle. They were retired people.
Next it was the time for Shikara Ride. It was past 5pm and I was worried that sun will set soon and I will not get good shots then. So I was bugging Tejas as to when will we go for Shikara ride.
All of us were now waiting again in the lobby area of the boat for the shikara. It was 5.30pm now. The shikaras came. Each one of us boarded. There were total 3 shikaras. ANd we set out for our shiraka time in the lake. I was all set with my D7000 sitting at the end of the shikara. While on the ride, there were sellers approaching us in other shikara. They were selling accessories, flowers, seeds of flowers, kashmiri clothes etc... I only did window shopping. Didnt buy anything.
All the 3 boats were running parallel. Our shikara was being rowed by a young kid. The other shikara was being rowed by a man, who was quite informative. He took us to area where there were floating farms. People grow vegetables on water. We saw tomato and dhudhi. Then we also saw more lotus plants. The shikara then entered a village. There was a bridge constructed of wood in the water which the villagers used. It was pretty long. It was quite interesting to see how these people live. Their houses, their shop, their pets which included ducks, dogs and hens. Their curious children peeping out and looking at us like foreigners. Their language and style how they communicated to each other. Their woman.... who were shy and pretty with their heads covered with cloth all time, though none were in burkhas.
While on the return shikara journey, the sun was setting. The droplets on the lotus leaves had got lighten up and every leaf floating over water had a lining of light. Amongst the mosaic of leaves we saw far off 2 men in a boat doing fishing. The sun was setting behind the Hari Parbat Fort. It had thrown nice colors over the sky. A picturesque site. It was quater to 8pm and we still had light in the sky. The houseboats at the periphery of the lake started lighting up.
Suddenly, we saw lightening in the sky as well. Long thick lines of electrifying lightening passed through the skies over the mountains. It became dark as the clouds took over. And in no time it started raining heavily. We were in the middle of the lake, still far off from our house boat. The winds started blowing with speed. The boat started swinging. The boatman row the boat to the nearest bank under a tree. We waited there for a while. But the rains didnt stop. So finally he decided to take us in those heavy rains to our house boat. It was a scary journey now in the middle of the lake, with heavy rain, thundering, lightning, winds swinging the shikara...
But we safely reached our houseboat. We had got wet enough. It was dark, there were no lights in our house boat. Candles were lit. We changed our clothes and were now waiting for dinner. It was dark inside the boat. We informed that due to rains the electric pole got damaged and light would come back in some time. Me and Vaishu went to other boats looking for Kz Amey and PRanay. We finally found their boat. We came back with them to our boat. Finished our dinner in Torch light. Then later I did some slow shutter speed photography using Kz's tripod. Then the lights came.
We were tired so we went to sleep by 11pm. There was a B'day celebration suppose to happen at 12am. Tejas had informed us in the bus itself about it. I was going to wake up at that time. But I feel asleep and I didnt wake up. It was Apeksha's bday.
29 Jul 2014: Srinagar to Kargil
We woke up by 6am or so. First thing I did was I opened that sliding window, which opened into the lake and mountain view. w/o brushing my teeth, I took out my camera, as the morning was so serene and enchanting. Breathing the fresh air itself was something unusual. There was chirping of birds over the wires running from one house boat to another. Many lotus leaves floating below outside that window, were bathing in the rising red Sun Rays. Early morning there were 2 people going some where in their shikaras. Very undisturbed morning. Everything seemed to be so disciplined and neat out there. Just like a still photo frame. I just felt like sitting there at that window and keep gazing out for hours. We had enough time that morning. We were to set out for Kargil by 9am. So I spent good time photographing the views.
Then later we got ready, and went for breakfast. I was surprised to see Pohe as one of the items in the breakfast menu. That too very well prepared. After finishing the breakfast, I went to meet the cook. We had some nice dialogue with her, made her comfortable. Understood her routine. It was the Ramzan Eid day. She was not just a cook. She was the wife of the house boat owner. Due to Eid, they had their servants on leave. So she herself was working that day. Even the man who as serving us was the owner himself. We understood that this family i.e. cousins and uncles total, owned all the houseboat ships that we saw parked on this side of the bank. WOW!!! they were filthy rich! And just look at them... their life style, their clothing, their nature, they were so humble and down to earth. So nice. I asked her for a photograph with us. She was not ready initially, but later she agreed.
Now everything was done, and we were all set to see off the house boat, waiting for the shikara to come and carry us back to the other side of the lake. The boat man again picked back the luggage from that same window right into the shikara, and then came to the entrance of the shikara to pick us up.
By now I knew the names of all the gals - Apeksha & Jinal kapadia who were cousins, then Anisha Parab who was Nitish Parab's sister and then Namrata Jain who was Tejas's friend.
In one shikara we gals went first ahead to the other side. Jinal spotted a Kingfisher posing perfectly on the top of a wooden pole. It was the right opportunity which I didnt wanted to miss. So I clicked many pics.
Then slowly rest of them came. And we took more photographs.
Here then with our luggage, we wait for 1.5hrs as the bus came late. It seems it was EID day and tempo traveler was stuck in traffic. We finally started for our journey to Kargil by 10.30am instead of 9am.
In our bus we had - Tharkur Kaka, Anisha, Jinal, Vaishu, Namrata, Apeksha, Kz, Nitish, myself, Amey and Pranay. Rest of them in 2nd bus.
It is suppose to be a 5 to 6hrs journey to Kargil.... iff one goes non-stop and faces no natural hassles.
As our bus moved through the lanes of Srinagar, we again saw military posting at every 100mts. It was EID day. Though Srinagar is a Muslim majority city, it wasn't blowing out with celebrations. It was not crowded with people wearing round white caps and jhabbas, nor woman dressed up in glittery clothes and jwelery. There were no speakers shouting any songs, nor were there any gatherings or mandaps on roads, with maulana's shouting on mics the Holy Quran stories. I was actually disappointed and surprised. Because this is ALL that I see in my area i.e. GOVANDI on EID day.
It was quite a disciplined EID that day in Srinagar. Woman were decently dressed up and very few were on the roads. Men also were not necessary in Jabba kurtas. Though I did see some Mosques on the way, where I saw comparatively more people and chappals outside.
As the bus moved outside the city, it became more and more silent and only miltary could be seen. I saw rice fields. So Kashmiri people do lot of rice farming along with Rajmah. Saw more apple tress outside houses. The way houses are built in Kashmir is very beautiful. Very prominent are their artistic wooden windows. The tapering roof shades and the color combinations that they use. Very royal castle types. While these are the types of house of the rich, on the contrary there are other people who stay in villages in small houses which do not even have plastering. Just bricks.
Now we were on the Srinagar Ladakh Highway i.e. NH1. As soon as we are out of Srinagar, we pass through prominent village Ganderbal. From here on the road started running parallel to Sindhu River / Indus River. And we started getting clearer and closer views of Mountains. I remember we crossed a bridge over Sindhu river where we had a quick photo stop from inside our bus only. Post which now the river was running to our right side. Then post Kangan village or I guess it was in Kangan only that we stopped our bus for a proper photo stop. The bus driver stopped at a place from where we could to near to the Sindhu River. We spent like half an hr there. Clicked some photos and then resumed our journey.
Post Kangan we started seeing snow clad mountain peaks far off. After some more time we took another halt at a picturesque place which was just about 4km before Sonmarg. There was the Sind river flowing and a bridge over it. We were now on the other side of the river i.e. river now on our left side. From here to our backdrop we could see a snow clad mountain peak. That time I didnt know its name. But today when I googled I found it was the 'Thajiwas Glacier' that we were looking at and photographing. There were horses gracing, Greenary with white ice far up and blue white water of Indus flowing.
All the way till now, I desperately wanted to sit on the top of the bus. So I went myself and spoke to the driver of our bus. This was my interaction with him. He asked how many will sit. I said 4. I asked him how long is Sonmarg from here. He said 4kms. So I said since its a short distance please allow us to sit. He agreed. Tejas and Nitish were shocked that we got the permission :) And then from this point to Sonmarg Kz, Amey, Pranay and myself sat on the top of the tempo traveler. Superb!!!
The weather was perfect and road was perfect for the Top of the Bus ride. It was not freezing, but cold. The roads were good with no pot holes. And the nature around had just started disclosing its beauty.
Soon we saw the board - Welcome to Sonmarg.
It was approx. 1.15pm.
Hmm so here I was in Sonmarg. Had heard a lot about it. Construction of houses / guest houses all with green roofs. Boards arounds were also in Green. Lush Green fields over the hills, and horses grazing over it. Pine trees stood upright over the hills now. Hills were just in our neighborhood now. And in between the pine trees there were patches of ice/snow at some places on the hills.
Sonmarg seemed ok types in this month of July. Pranay mentioned that this place is known for its snow and people come here in winters. Sonmarg is at height of 9000ft. So all snow had melted by now as it was summers there.
We had lunch in Sonmarg and resumed our journey.
Post Sonmarg, the REAL ride begins. The GHATS of HIMALAYAS start from here until the Zojila Pass.
The route from Sonmarg till Zojila Pass is poor an scary. The Mountain ranges that lie in between are majestic and tough. Hats of to BRO - Border Road Organization who took up this challenge of constructing roads in this tough terrain.
Soon after leaving Sonmarg, as we pass by Baltal (Base camp of Shri Amarnathji Yatra), the tar roads end. And nude muddy roads in the ghat begin. Cannot even call it a road. Its just a track that is carved by the bulldozers. The bus started moving up in the ghats over the Himalayas. The route is only as wide as one vehicle can pass. So I was wondering what would happen if another vehicle come from opposite direction now? How would that be tackled? But later it struck me that Tejas had mentioned that this route (Sonmarg to Zojila) opens only for one directional traffic at a time. There is no same time that they allow traffic in both ways on this route. So for the onward journey from Sonmarg to Zojila the route is open after 12pm only. Hence, I didnt see any traffic coming in opposite direction.
By 2.45pm we faced a road block. There was a BRO worker who had put his bulldozer across the road and stopped the traffic. He mentioned that Mountain had slided over the road further and BRO was in process of clearing it. So till traffic was halted. This is a very common scenario while passing through this route. We had no clue how much time it will take. The point were we were stopped was a valley point. We could see right in front of us the Baltal village and Amarnathji Yatra's valley. We could also see the twisty ghat that we had traveled. So all of us utilized this time for photography.
Finally by 3.15pm the man moved his bulldozer and declared the road open.
Our journey had just resumed, that we faced another road block by 3.40pm. Again we were at a point where all the traffic had halted and this time we were very close to the mountain slide site. We witnessed how the BRO folks clear the roads with bulldozers. It was commendable on part of the BRO workers, while it was scary for us as naive travelers in this region. Wee went closer to the site which was getting cleared. Suddenly people started screaming. We saw Kulkarni Kaka had gone far ahead of the site that was being cleared and suddenly more stones were sliding from up. So people were shouting to alert the people below. And they ran away from it. This terrain is indeed dangerous. The land slides happen anytime. Luck is really required to pass through this terrain safely, though we have BRO, ALWAYS ALERT to clear the routes for us. This work of clearing the route took quite a lot of time. I was worried that Kargil War Memorial will get closed. Because one of my friends which had been here last month mentioned that they couldn't see the War Memorial because they reached late. I mentioned my worry to Tejas and he said, current road blocks and delays are not in our hands. And if we miss the War Memorial in our onward journey, then we will still have 2nd change to visit it in our return journey. I was fine with this 2nd alternative.
It took about an hr for the road to be cleared and by 4.30pm our journey resumed.
They say and its mentioned on internet that this route from Srinagar to Leh is the safer and better route to enter Leh, as compared to the way from Manali. I am wondering that if this is what they call as "BETTER" route then how the hell would the Manali to Leh route be!!!! Got to see it once.
As far as I remember, the road was better after we crossed the ghats on the mountain facing Baltal and traversed to other side of the next hill. Now we were at the elevation of Zojila i.e. 11575 feet. And we road ran at the same level for quite some time until crossed Zojila.
Zojila: It is the gateway to Ladakh region. In the Ladaki language La=Pass. So the name is Zoji La or Zoji pass. This pass falls on the NH1 @ 11575ft. The specific force/project of BRO which takes care of this pass or rather maintains the road between Sonmarg to Zojila is called 'BEACON'. Now this I understood after coming back when I googled. because all the way I saw milestones and boards where at the bottom it use to be written 'BEACON' and something like [x]TF where x= some number and TF=Task Force. :) That is what I learned now.
I was very keen about this Zojila. I had read that in the first Indo Pak war of 19947-48 on Kashmir conflict, this pass was seized by Pakistan. And then there was a OPERATION BISON in which we recovered this pass with the help of Air Force and Amry. And this operation is particularly know because, for the first time ever the Tanks were used at such an high altitude in any combat. And this record still remains unbroken.
So now our bus was running at an altitude of 117500 feet. We were very close to ice and snow. Frozen river was running parallel to the road. The surrounding had become more pleasant than muddy and dusty like before on that ghat. It was a tar road now.
All of them were eager about the ice, so the driver stopped in between where ice was just close to the road. And some got down to touch and feel and the ice. As such it was negligible left over ice. As it was summers, most of the ice had already melted and we got to see the left overs.
In between inspired by us, rest of the people of our bus had climbed up on the bus top and enjoying the journey. While we inside the bus were half out from the window :) And enjoying the cooling breeze in the arms of the Himalayas.
It was evening now, the dusk time. The direct sunlight now rested only on the Snow clad peaks before they finally see off the region. And the rest of the terrain enjoyed the shadows and mild shades of sunlight. There were military camps in between.
At one point our driver showed us one peak far off, and said that Peak comes in Pakistan Controled area. that is PoK!!!! OMG!!! Was that true??? Was he serious? Well he was pretty serious while making that statement. We clicked many pics of that peak. Felt the thrill that we saw a peak which was in PoK!
But................. I sill doubt that statement. So now after coming back, I googled. And below is what I learnt.
The threat is that this Pt.5353 is just at an artilery distance of 25km from NH1 and Drass is at an air distance of just 1km from this point. It is quite dangerous to have Pakistan occupy this post even today. They have clear view of NH1. Only good thing is that the 3 other peaks surrounding Pt5353 are in control of Indian army, and its said that if Pak tries to behave or fire then India can control it.
Going further, I tried to find videos and pics of Pt.5353. While I had the pic of the peak which the driver mentioned to be with Pakistan. After comparing the pics on internet and the pic that I had clicked, it makes me believe that IT WAS PT.5353 which the driver showed us :)
ok, Now lets move ahead.
Next after we passed by this peak, we came across a long tall wall build along the left side of the NH1. The driver told us that in 1999 Kargil war, the Pak army targeted civilians and other trucks which got artilery and food supply from over NH1 for the Indian army. Hence, in one night, the Indian army built this tall wall of more than 2kms over NH1, such that Pak army positioned on those peaks would not be able to see the movement over NH1.
Post this wall passed, we soon reached DRASS.
At the very beginning was the Drass Police Station, and we stopped our bus right after that for a tea break. These guys who were sitting on the top of the bus got finally got down, but one - Anisha.
Anisha had difficulty getting down. She was scared. I remembered the saying in hindi - 'Khud hi ko kar buland etna, chadi wo jaise taise. Khuda ne bandi ko tab poocha - Aray ! Ab utaregi kaise?? " LoL :) She took looonngggg time trying to get down. Drass is a small village with handful of people. Everyone gathered to see the show, and so did the police :) After finally Anisha made it down, the police called the drivers of our bus, accusing them for allowing the tourist to sit on the top of the bus, which was not allowed. The negotiations and discussions and convincing with Police went for quite long time. All the boys and uncles of our bus had also gone to the police station and returned finally succeeded. The Police excused us with warning to the drivers.
Then we had tea, and walked till the end of the marked. I bought a nice colorful winter cap from Drass just for 100 bucks. And then we resumed our journey quickly as we had to reach the Kargil War Memorial.
Kargil War Memorial was just few kms away. And we soon reached there. It was approx. 7pm when we reached there. Huge Indian Flag and then smaller more flags were seen prominently from outside.
Everyone came out. I came out only with my SLR. I left my handy cam inside. All gathered outside the gate and we clicked a Group Pic.
While I am begining with this writing effort, I am also afraid that I will never complete this blog. I may get lost in writing. Even now I am not sure from where to begin, what all to write about and what to exclude. It may go on and on and on....
Lets see... how it goes.
28Jul2014 - Mumbai to Srinagar:
It was raining too heavily in Mumbai. Me and Amey had started at around 7am from home for airport. We booked flights from Mumbai to Srinagar. Ours was the 9.15am spicejet flight which took off at 10.45am, 1.5hrs late. I was finally at the airport and the trip for which I was planning to go since last year and for which I had started planning since April this year had begun.
We were 5 from Mumbai - Amey, Vaidehi (aka Vaishu), Kishore (aka Kz), Pranay & myself.
This was my first flight at day time from Mumbai. So I was looking forward to see Mumbai from above. But it was heavily raining, so the view was not clear. But still it was beautiful. Soon our flight was in clouds. Me and Vaishu were sitting together while Pranay, Amey and Kz were sitting together. Now a funny thing happened with these 3 boys. Actually weeks back when we booked the flight, I had also booked the seat nos on Spicejet site. I had chosen 32a, 32b & 32c for them. While me and Vaishu were in 30a, 30b, 30c. When we actually boarded the flight... we reached the end of the flight looking for 32 row, and 31 was the last row :P LoL. When they showed the boarding pass to attendant, the attendant was surprised too. And eventually these 3 had to travel standing in the flight :P hahahaha no no.... how I imagined this would have happened. Jokes apart, seemed like the bookings were low so they changed to a smaller aircraft. Even this smaller one was not full. So Kz, Pranay and Amey got seats just in the row ahead of us.
The flight reached Amritsar @12.45pm. From here I sms Tejas ( our tour operator who was suppose to come to pick us at Srinagar airport) that flight is delayed. Here first time I was in a one stop flight, that too of type where same flight was to continue. So I saw that like in trains a TC enters the flight. He rechecks everyones boarding passes and marks in his sheet, and also checks corresponding cabin luggage. Then new passengers board. An then flight took off at 1.15pm.
So sooner had the flight taken off and gained some height, that the pilot announced that soon we will be landing. So Amritsar to Srinagar was the shortest journey. I was wondering what about the passengers who boarded newly at Amritsar... unka paisa toh wasool bhi nahi hota :) Bass chade nahi ki utaro :)
So we finally landed Srinagar at 2pm. I again sms Tejas. He replied that he was already waiting outside at arrival.
I didnt know how this guy looked. We collected our baggage and moved out. Srinagar airport was very disappointing. It was too hot afternoon. after coming out of the airport my eyes were looking for Tejas and I was also ringing his cell phone.
Finally Amey found him. That was the first time I saw this guy Tejas. He was not as per my imagination. This was a slim short guy, pretty younger. We followed him. He took us to the bus. A man joined us and helped us keep our baggage in the tempo traveller. We realized that he was just another porter only after he asked for tip. He climbed inside the bus and was not leaving. So I finally gave him 20inr.
From there our bus started. Tejas wore his Red colored Iris outdoor Tee. And introduced himself. In our tempo traveller it was only 5 of us and one old uncle. I did understand that there was another tempo traveler standing adjacent to us. This also seemed to be with us only.
We were now in Sringar. Hot Srinagar. From the flight u see the difference. When you are flying over Mumbai, u see lot of slums and then sea. When Amritsar came, u see lush green carpet with checks design. Very well designed land full of fields. And when Srinagar comes, u start seeing the ranges of mountains all over and the rivers flowing through them.
And now I was passing through Srinagar. Its lanes, its markets. It was weird. Traffic is very undisciplined. The development is very weak. Very first thing that strikes is their dialect. I was trying to listen to the drivers conversation carefully to make out of there are any similar words they use. But no. I couldn't understand anything. Kz told me that they dont have any script for this language. Its just a verbal language. Srinagar seemed to me a very dusty city when I recollect it. Dhul and mitti... is what I recollect. The lanes are very narrow. Traffic jams very easy and frequent. That too Ramzan Eid was just next day. There was military placed every 100mts. There were bunkers at junctions. Still civilians were comfortably shopping in the markets. It was pretty for the localities. And we were gazing out at the people and military with curiosity. Then our bus passed through Lal Chowk. Kz mentioned that this place has lot of significance and is very sensitive. It always in news. I remember seeing extra military posting at Lal Chowk.
On the way we saw a beautiful fort on a hill top. It is suppose to be Akbar's Fort as per our then driver. Its name is 'Hari Parbat Fort'. But now it is with military. The fort looks very beautiful and looks well maintained as well. It took us good 1hr too reach our destination at Nigeen lake house boat. I had offline maps saved. So I was tracking on it. We got down and were walking towards the lake. Now we were suppose to cross the lake in a shikara and go to the house boat on the other side bank. Straight in front of us from this bank of Nigeen Lake we were able to see the Hari Parbat fort. Now here we saw faces of other people from the other bus. They were all gals.
Tejas introduced us to Nitish, stating he was his partner and here on will take care of us and Tejas moved ahead in the first shikara. It was very hot and sunny. The beauty of the place was getting washed out in that bright sun. I was still gathering myself, and trying to sink in the feeling that this was Srinagar where I am ... and the lake that I am seeing is the Nigeen lake just adjacent to Dal lake. We standing there in sun for quite sometime waiting for instructions and our chance to get into the shikara. Not that there was rush and we were in queue. But still we were waiting for instructions. Lately after closely looking around, I realized that huge houses in my side of the bank that I seeing, were all over the house boats. On this side of the bank that I was standing, there were himalayan ranges and other side I was seeing that fort, so civilization more seemed to be on other side. I was wondering that if the fort is on that side, and we just passed from the base of the fort, then how come he got us on this side. I am sure there should be road way directly to go on that side. So just for the sake of feeling we were on this side of the bank of the Nigeen Lake.
Now our chance came. They put our luggage first. they put it at the very tip of the shikara. I was worried it might fall off the shikara anytime into the lake. Then we boarded the shikara. All 5 of us in one boat. And in another were 4 gals and Nitish. Now that I knew this guys name. But our shikara had no rider. We were just sitting alone. Later we saw that this guy was toeing out shikara. He was sitting in other shikara, tied our shikara to that one, and he alone was rowing the 2 boats, loaded with heavy enough 10 people and lots of luggage. He was a HE MAN ! ..... he has the Powerrrrr of the Srinagar!!!! hehehe anyways. Soon in the bland brightness of the sun... we started feeling the calmness and depth of the blue lake. The silence was heard. The voice of water as the oar moved in and out of it drove my attention. I now started sinking & believing that I was in Srinagar.
The boatman rowed us safely to the other side, where the house boats were parked. From this shikara we directly entered the house boat. There were many house boats parked in a row. One of them was ours. They were beautifully carved. Made of Deodhar wood. The Door was closed. We were standing in the lobby like area at the houseboat door. Soon the sliding door were opened, and we peeped inside.
It was beautiful hall. floor was covered with thick red carpet. Wooden Ceiling completely with carvings and design. Nice lamps hanging over. There were sofas, TVs, tea table and on... I we went inside further, there was kitchen, way up to terrace, 4 bed rooms. It was a big enough house boat. We occupied one of the rooms. Tejas had did the division and we had a gal named Namrata with us. So it was Namrata, Vaishu and myself in one room.
The room was gloomy. There was one double bed and one single bed. Again covered with nice soft carpet. I went ahead and opened the wooden sliding window. Light entered the room. I saw the boat man came outside that window in his shikara. He asked us to identify the luggage. The window had a wooden plank running end to end outside. Where one could sit or walk over as well. The boatman delivered the luggage at the room from this window. We pulled it inside.
I went ahead to explore the room. It had a dressing space with wardrobe and a nice bathroom. The bath room was floored with carpet again, which was weird.
Then we got freshen up, and then went for our lunch. The lunch was arranged in a house on the bank. A wooden plan was placed from the boat to the other bank side. One had to be careful while walking over it. It was past 4pm by now that we were having our lunch. The lunch was placed in a buffet in a garden of that house. It was the house boat owners house. Vaishu and me were sitting waiting for Amey, Kz and Pranay to come. We had no idea which boat was allocated to them. Our phones were working though, so I called. They came. Then we had our lunch. It was nice, tasty homemade lunch.
In front of us we saw green apple tree and many apples over it. Later we realized that we were sitting under one. Then on looking around with open eyes, we noticed more beauty. There were flowers of many types never seen before. There was a red apple tree as well. There small birds over the trees. The path from this garden to boat was covered with lotus leaves and lotus flowers. There were pigeons coming to sip water in the lake. And from here the nature and surrounding kept surprising us with it beauty. This was just the beginning.
Post lunch we had a introductory session. Where everyone in the group introduced themselves. So I saw the other faces in the group. Though didnt remember everyones name in first go. We were total 21. Most of us were youngsters. Except Raikar uncle, Kulkarni uncle and Thakur uncle. They were retired people.
Next it was the time for Shikara Ride. It was past 5pm and I was worried that sun will set soon and I will not get good shots then. So I was bugging Tejas as to when will we go for Shikara ride.
All of us were now waiting again in the lobby area of the boat for the shikara. It was 5.30pm now. The shikaras came. Each one of us boarded. There were total 3 shikaras. ANd we set out for our shiraka time in the lake. I was all set with my D7000 sitting at the end of the shikara. While on the ride, there were sellers approaching us in other shikara. They were selling accessories, flowers, seeds of flowers, kashmiri clothes etc... I only did window shopping. Didnt buy anything.
All the 3 boats were running parallel. Our shikara was being rowed by a young kid. The other shikara was being rowed by a man, who was quite informative. He took us to area where there were floating farms. People grow vegetables on water. We saw tomato and dhudhi. Then we also saw more lotus plants. The shikara then entered a village. There was a bridge constructed of wood in the water which the villagers used. It was pretty long. It was quite interesting to see how these people live. Their houses, their shop, their pets which included ducks, dogs and hens. Their curious children peeping out and looking at us like foreigners. Their language and style how they communicated to each other. Their woman.... who were shy and pretty with their heads covered with cloth all time, though none were in burkhas.
While on the return shikara journey, the sun was setting. The droplets on the lotus leaves had got lighten up and every leaf floating over water had a lining of light. Amongst the mosaic of leaves we saw far off 2 men in a boat doing fishing. The sun was setting behind the Hari Parbat Fort. It had thrown nice colors over the sky. A picturesque site. It was quater to 8pm and we still had light in the sky. The houseboats at the periphery of the lake started lighting up.
Suddenly, we saw lightening in the sky as well. Long thick lines of electrifying lightening passed through the skies over the mountains. It became dark as the clouds took over. And in no time it started raining heavily. We were in the middle of the lake, still far off from our house boat. The winds started blowing with speed. The boat started swinging. The boatman row the boat to the nearest bank under a tree. We waited there for a while. But the rains didnt stop. So finally he decided to take us in those heavy rains to our house boat. It was a scary journey now in the middle of the lake, with heavy rain, thundering, lightning, winds swinging the shikara...
But we safely reached our houseboat. We had got wet enough. It was dark, there were no lights in our house boat. Candles were lit. We changed our clothes and were now waiting for dinner. It was dark inside the boat. We informed that due to rains the electric pole got damaged and light would come back in some time. Me and Vaishu went to other boats looking for Kz Amey and PRanay. We finally found their boat. We came back with them to our boat. Finished our dinner in Torch light. Then later I did some slow shutter speed photography using Kz's tripod. Then the lights came.
We were tired so we went to sleep by 11pm. There was a B'day celebration suppose to happen at 12am. Tejas had informed us in the bus itself about it. I was going to wake up at that time. But I feel asleep and I didnt wake up. It was Apeksha's bday.
29 Jul 2014: Srinagar to Kargil
We woke up by 6am or so. First thing I did was I opened that sliding window, which opened into the lake and mountain view. w/o brushing my teeth, I took out my camera, as the morning was so serene and enchanting. Breathing the fresh air itself was something unusual. There was chirping of birds over the wires running from one house boat to another. Many lotus leaves floating below outside that window, were bathing in the rising red Sun Rays. Early morning there were 2 people going some where in their shikaras. Very undisturbed morning. Everything seemed to be so disciplined and neat out there. Just like a still photo frame. I just felt like sitting there at that window and keep gazing out for hours. We had enough time that morning. We were to set out for Kargil by 9am. So I spent good time photographing the views.
Then later we got ready, and went for breakfast. I was surprised to see Pohe as one of the items in the breakfast menu. That too very well prepared. After finishing the breakfast, I went to meet the cook. We had some nice dialogue with her, made her comfortable. Understood her routine. It was the Ramzan Eid day. She was not just a cook. She was the wife of the house boat owner. Due to Eid, they had their servants on leave. So she herself was working that day. Even the man who as serving us was the owner himself. We understood that this family i.e. cousins and uncles total, owned all the houseboat ships that we saw parked on this side of the bank. WOW!!! they were filthy rich! And just look at them... their life style, their clothing, their nature, they were so humble and down to earth. So nice. I asked her for a photograph with us. She was not ready initially, but later she agreed.
Now everything was done, and we were all set to see off the house boat, waiting for the shikara to come and carry us back to the other side of the lake. The boat man again picked back the luggage from that same window right into the shikara, and then came to the entrance of the shikara to pick us up.
By now I knew the names of all the gals - Apeksha & Jinal kapadia who were cousins, then Anisha Parab who was Nitish Parab's sister and then Namrata Jain who was Tejas's friend.
In one shikara we gals went first ahead to the other side. Jinal spotted a Kingfisher posing perfectly on the top of a wooden pole. It was the right opportunity which I didnt wanted to miss. So I clicked many pics.
Then slowly rest of them came. And we took more photographs.
Here then with our luggage, we wait for 1.5hrs as the bus came late. It seems it was EID day and tempo traveler was stuck in traffic. We finally started for our journey to Kargil by 10.30am instead of 9am.
In our bus we had - Tharkur Kaka, Anisha, Jinal, Vaishu, Namrata, Apeksha, Kz, Nitish, myself, Amey and Pranay. Rest of them in 2nd bus.
It is suppose to be a 5 to 6hrs journey to Kargil.... iff one goes non-stop and faces no natural hassles.
As our bus moved through the lanes of Srinagar, we again saw military posting at every 100mts. It was EID day. Though Srinagar is a Muslim majority city, it wasn't blowing out with celebrations. It was not crowded with people wearing round white caps and jhabbas, nor woman dressed up in glittery clothes and jwelery. There were no speakers shouting any songs, nor were there any gatherings or mandaps on roads, with maulana's shouting on mics the Holy Quran stories. I was actually disappointed and surprised. Because this is ALL that I see in my area i.e. GOVANDI on EID day.
It was quite a disciplined EID that day in Srinagar. Woman were decently dressed up and very few were on the roads. Men also were not necessary in Jabba kurtas. Though I did see some Mosques on the way, where I saw comparatively more people and chappals outside.
As the bus moved outside the city, it became more and more silent and only miltary could be seen. I saw rice fields. So Kashmiri people do lot of rice farming along with Rajmah. Saw more apple tress outside houses. The way houses are built in Kashmir is very beautiful. Very prominent are their artistic wooden windows. The tapering roof shades and the color combinations that they use. Very royal castle types. While these are the types of house of the rich, on the contrary there are other people who stay in villages in small houses which do not even have plastering. Just bricks.
Now we were on the Srinagar Ladakh Highway i.e. NH1. As soon as we are out of Srinagar, we pass through prominent village Ganderbal. From here on the road started running parallel to Sindhu River / Indus River. And we started getting clearer and closer views of Mountains. I remember we crossed a bridge over Sindhu river where we had a quick photo stop from inside our bus only. Post which now the river was running to our right side. Then post Kangan village or I guess it was in Kangan only that we stopped our bus for a proper photo stop. The bus driver stopped at a place from where we could to near to the Sindhu River. We spent like half an hr there. Clicked some photos and then resumed our journey.
Post Kangan we started seeing snow clad mountain peaks far off. After some more time we took another halt at a picturesque place which was just about 4km before Sonmarg. There was the Sind river flowing and a bridge over it. We were now on the other side of the river i.e. river now on our left side. From here to our backdrop we could see a snow clad mountain peak. That time I didnt know its name. But today when I googled I found it was the 'Thajiwas Glacier' that we were looking at and photographing. There were horses gracing, Greenary with white ice far up and blue white water of Indus flowing.
All the way till now, I desperately wanted to sit on the top of the bus. So I went myself and spoke to the driver of our bus. This was my interaction with him. He asked how many will sit. I said 4. I asked him how long is Sonmarg from here. He said 4kms. So I said since its a short distance please allow us to sit. He agreed. Tejas and Nitish were shocked that we got the permission :) And then from this point to Sonmarg Kz, Amey, Pranay and myself sat on the top of the tempo traveler. Superb!!!
The weather was perfect and road was perfect for the Top of the Bus ride. It was not freezing, but cold. The roads were good with no pot holes. And the nature around had just started disclosing its beauty.
Soon we saw the board - Welcome to Sonmarg.
It was approx. 1.15pm.
Hmm so here I was in Sonmarg. Had heard a lot about it. Construction of houses / guest houses all with green roofs. Boards arounds were also in Green. Lush Green fields over the hills, and horses grazing over it. Pine trees stood upright over the hills now. Hills were just in our neighborhood now. And in between the pine trees there were patches of ice/snow at some places on the hills.
Sonmarg seemed ok types in this month of July. Pranay mentioned that this place is known for its snow and people come here in winters. Sonmarg is at height of 9000ft. So all snow had melted by now as it was summers there.
We had lunch in Sonmarg and resumed our journey.
Post Sonmarg, the REAL ride begins. The GHATS of HIMALAYAS start from here until the Zojila Pass.
The route from Sonmarg till Zojila Pass is poor an scary. The Mountain ranges that lie in between are majestic and tough. Hats of to BRO - Border Road Organization who took up this challenge of constructing roads in this tough terrain.
Soon after leaving Sonmarg, as we pass by Baltal (Base camp of Shri Amarnathji Yatra), the tar roads end. And nude muddy roads in the ghat begin. Cannot even call it a road. Its just a track that is carved by the bulldozers. The bus started moving up in the ghats over the Himalayas. The route is only as wide as one vehicle can pass. So I was wondering what would happen if another vehicle come from opposite direction now? How would that be tackled? But later it struck me that Tejas had mentioned that this route (Sonmarg to Zojila) opens only for one directional traffic at a time. There is no same time that they allow traffic in both ways on this route. So for the onward journey from Sonmarg to Zojila the route is open after 12pm only. Hence, I didnt see any traffic coming in opposite direction.
By 2.45pm we faced a road block. There was a BRO worker who had put his bulldozer across the road and stopped the traffic. He mentioned that Mountain had slided over the road further and BRO was in process of clearing it. So till traffic was halted. This is a very common scenario while passing through this route. We had no clue how much time it will take. The point were we were stopped was a valley point. We could see right in front of us the Baltal village and Amarnathji Yatra's valley. We could also see the twisty ghat that we had traveled. So all of us utilized this time for photography.
Finally by 3.15pm the man moved his bulldozer and declared the road open.
Our journey had just resumed, that we faced another road block by 3.40pm. Again we were at a point where all the traffic had halted and this time we were very close to the mountain slide site. We witnessed how the BRO folks clear the roads with bulldozers. It was commendable on part of the BRO workers, while it was scary for us as naive travelers in this region. Wee went closer to the site which was getting cleared. Suddenly people started screaming. We saw Kulkarni Kaka had gone far ahead of the site that was being cleared and suddenly more stones were sliding from up. So people were shouting to alert the people below. And they ran away from it. This terrain is indeed dangerous. The land slides happen anytime. Luck is really required to pass through this terrain safely, though we have BRO, ALWAYS ALERT to clear the routes for us. This work of clearing the route took quite a lot of time. I was worried that Kargil War Memorial will get closed. Because one of my friends which had been here last month mentioned that they couldn't see the War Memorial because they reached late. I mentioned my worry to Tejas and he said, current road blocks and delays are not in our hands. And if we miss the War Memorial in our onward journey, then we will still have 2nd change to visit it in our return journey. I was fine with this 2nd alternative.
It took about an hr for the road to be cleared and by 4.30pm our journey resumed.
They say and its mentioned on internet that this route from Srinagar to Leh is the safer and better route to enter Leh, as compared to the way from Manali. I am wondering that if this is what they call as "BETTER" route then how the hell would the Manali to Leh route be!!!! Got to see it once.
As far as I remember, the road was better after we crossed the ghats on the mountain facing Baltal and traversed to other side of the next hill. Now we were at the elevation of Zojila i.e. 11575 feet. And we road ran at the same level for quite some time until crossed Zojila.
Zojila: It is the gateway to Ladakh region. In the Ladaki language La=Pass. So the name is Zoji La or Zoji pass. This pass falls on the NH1 @ 11575ft. The specific force/project of BRO which takes care of this pass or rather maintains the road between Sonmarg to Zojila is called 'BEACON'. Now this I understood after coming back when I googled. because all the way I saw milestones and boards where at the bottom it use to be written 'BEACON' and something like [x]TF where x= some number and TF=Task Force. :) That is what I learned now.
I was very keen about this Zojila. I had read that in the first Indo Pak war of 19947-48 on Kashmir conflict, this pass was seized by Pakistan. And then there was a OPERATION BISON in which we recovered this pass with the help of Air Force and Amry. And this operation is particularly know because, for the first time ever the Tanks were used at such an high altitude in any combat. And this record still remains unbroken.
So now our bus was running at an altitude of 117500 feet. We were very close to ice and snow. Frozen river was running parallel to the road. The surrounding had become more pleasant than muddy and dusty like before on that ghat. It was a tar road now.
All of them were eager about the ice, so the driver stopped in between where ice was just close to the road. And some got down to touch and feel and the ice. As such it was negligible left over ice. As it was summers, most of the ice had already melted and we got to see the left overs.
In between inspired by us, rest of the people of our bus had climbed up on the bus top and enjoying the journey. While we inside the bus were half out from the window :) And enjoying the cooling breeze in the arms of the Himalayas.
It was evening now, the dusk time. The direct sunlight now rested only on the Snow clad peaks before they finally see off the region. And the rest of the terrain enjoyed the shadows and mild shades of sunlight. There were military camps in between.
At one point our driver showed us one peak far off, and said that Peak comes in Pakistan Controled area. that is PoK!!!! OMG!!! Was that true??? Was he serious? Well he was pretty serious while making that statement. We clicked many pics of that peak. Felt the thrill that we saw a peak which was in PoK!
But................. I sill doubt that statement. So now after coming back, I googled. And below is what I learnt.
Point 5353 - The highest peak in the Kargil region is called Point 5353 where 5353 depicts the height of the peak in meters. This point is near to the Tiger Hill in the Drass sector. After the Kargil War of 1999, the point 5353 still remains with Pakistan [Pakistani Army’s Baluch Regiment to be specific]. Why???
The controversy over it goes like this - during that war, our then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had ordered our amry that NOT to cross the LOC, while Pakistan army had clearly invaded the LOC. Though Indians had recaptured all other peaks which fell on India side of LoC, this point 5353 was unclear whether it fell on India side of the LoC or on Pakistan side? It is said that Indian army has made several attempts to occupy that peak Pt.5353, but never succeeded yet. Because that peaks is easily climbale from Pakistan, than from India side. And later after the war, our ministers and press released proofs that Point 5353 falls exactly on the LoC. And as per the agreement no one occupies the peaks over which LoC goes. Pakistan had clearly violated this. Later one press release also presented maps which were signed by Indo-Pak during Shimla agreement of 1972 which clearly indicated that Pt.5353 belongs to India. But Pakistan denies this fact and says that Pt 5353 always on Pakistan side of LoC.The threat is that this Pt.5353 is just at an artilery distance of 25km from NH1 and Drass is at an air distance of just 1km from this point. It is quite dangerous to have Pakistan occupy this post even today. They have clear view of NH1. Only good thing is that the 3 other peaks surrounding Pt5353 are in control of Indian army, and its said that if Pak tries to behave or fire then India can control it.
Going further, I tried to find videos and pics of Pt.5353. While I had the pic of the peak which the driver mentioned to be with Pakistan. After comparing the pics on internet and the pic that I had clicked, it makes me believe that IT WAS PT.5353 which the driver showed us :)
ok, Now lets move ahead.
Next after we passed by this peak, we came across a long tall wall build along the left side of the NH1. The driver told us that in 1999 Kargil war, the Pak army targeted civilians and other trucks which got artilery and food supply from over NH1 for the Indian army. Hence, in one night, the Indian army built this tall wall of more than 2kms over NH1, such that Pak army positioned on those peaks would not be able to see the movement over NH1.
Post this wall passed, we soon reached DRASS.
Drass - the 2nd coldest inhabitat in the world. 1st being Siberia, though it is just at about 10,760 ft. In winters the lowest temperature recorded here is −55 °C and would other generally go till −40 °C. Besides having geographical significance, Drass again has significance in the Kargil Indo-Pak war of 1999 when it was captured by Pak.
As I had read about it earlier, I was again keen to see how the 2nd coldest habitat in the world look like? How the people here would be? How much of civilization would exist here? And all my questions were answered as we entered Drass.At the very beginning was the Drass Police Station, and we stopped our bus right after that for a tea break. These guys who were sitting on the top of the bus got finally got down, but one - Anisha.
Anisha had difficulty getting down. She was scared. I remembered the saying in hindi - 'Khud hi ko kar buland etna, chadi wo jaise taise. Khuda ne bandi ko tab poocha - Aray ! Ab utaregi kaise?? " LoL :) She took looonngggg time trying to get down. Drass is a small village with handful of people. Everyone gathered to see the show, and so did the police :) After finally Anisha made it down, the police called the drivers of our bus, accusing them for allowing the tourist to sit on the top of the bus, which was not allowed. The negotiations and discussions and convincing with Police went for quite long time. All the boys and uncles of our bus had also gone to the police station and returned finally succeeded. The Police excused us with warning to the drivers.
Then we had tea, and walked till the end of the marked. I bought a nice colorful winter cap from Drass just for 100 bucks. And then we resumed our journey quickly as we had to reach the Kargil War Memorial.
Kargil War Memorial was just few kms away. And we soon reached there. It was approx. 7pm when we reached there. Huge Indian Flag and then smaller more flags were seen prominently from outside.
Everyone came out. I came out only with my SLR. I left my handy cam inside. All gathered outside the gate and we clicked a Group Pic.
