Trip to Heaven and back!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Just came from Heaven on Earth. Thot everyone might want to know about it.

Will make it chronological for me to write easily.

11th August:
Me, Sameer and Swapnil left Pune in midst of various rumours about flashfloods and landslides from Pune to Delhi by Spicejet. The journey was pretty uneventful except for the pretty airhostesses on the plane. I felt as bit sick during takeoff but over all it was ok.

Reached Delhi around 2:30 pm. The climate is pretty fcukall. Very very humid and gloomy. Our HRTC deluxe(thats wht they call the ST's there)was for around 8:30 pm. So with nothing to do we 3 got into a McD's in ISBT and kept hogging for 3 hrs. After that we roamed around nearby watching and commenting on various personalities coming out from the nearby Metro station, esp. ofcourse the fairer sex.

So the "Deluxe" bus with no A/c and shit seats starts at 9pm from Delhi. With nothing to do and pretty excited we try to fall into sleep but this bummer of an old man with a racking chest and cough kept ofcourse coughing like a man just saved from drowning. To aid to his coughing he was smoking charminars, I think.

12th August:

We reach Manali finally around 1 pm. The journey left us exhausted and sweaty esp my lower area, so much so I had to walk bandylegged. Anyways, forget my hygienic faux pas, Swapnil booked tickets for return trip from Manali. Then with Sam gurading our bags, Swaps and I went to talk to the local Taxi union to get the rates. Finally, I finally called up Rama who came on his Alto. We asked him to put up first into a hotel for a bath and food. After reaching the hotel, I bargained with Rama for taxi fare from Manali to Leh. It came down to Rs 10k. I told him we would leave at 3 pm after. After Rama went I took my bath and we had our lunch. Rama came and we left for Manali in a Qualis with a driver called Sanjeev.

The jouney was amazing with rocky mountains, landslides,and ofcourse snowcapped mountains. We reached Rohtang Pass on the same day. It was awesome and amazing and breathtaking and fcuking cold. The night we put up at Keylong which is a small village and me being me, had 2 pegs of whiskey from Sanjeev's bottle. Next we knew we were in deep sleep.

13th August: We woke up pretty early around 4:30 am. Did the usual things ppl do in the morning. And then we started of for Leh. Somewhere I have heard that it is the journey which is more beautiful than the destination. In this case tho we didnt reach our destination yet it rang very true. Amazing, valleys and springs and mountains and vast plains. Carving made by nature in the mountains. There were huige rainfall this year and sometimes we lietrally had to go over springs. The roads were pretty bad but the nature made up for it. We stopped at Sarchu for a photography sessions. I used my Kodak while Sammer used his Canon digital. He had bought a Tripod for better picture and started working on taht. Swapnil with his S1 IS went mental. Neways, we started after half an hour and next stopped at Pang for our lunch. I needed to dump but had to hold it. So on we went though vales and mountains and snow capped peaks till we reached Tanglangla pass(at 5350 mtrs). Its the second highest pass in the world. It was pretty sunny and so we got out. But otside was so chilly so chilly that it was as if we had frozen. We took aour snaps as soon as possible and started off. The most important thing to notice is that the roads are so narrow to allow one way traffic. But it was a 2 ways and vehicles including Trucks crossed it. There were a couple of jams and we saw a truck getting stuck while taking a shortcut. Anyways, we reached this huge vast plains, so huge so as to be infinite. We couldn't believe plains can be so huge. So we went on and on and reached this small village where we found a bus stuck in the mud and got its axle broken. We gave lift to a Canadian family and went off. We reached Leh around 8:30-9 pm. We enquired at the lodge where the canadians were putting up about rooms but dint get any. There was a guest in front of that. Luckoly we got 2 rooms and single and a double with common bathroom for very cheap. We went to a nearby restaurant and had dinner and went of too sound sleep.

14th August:

After a night of very deep sleep, Mr Landge woke us up at 6 am or something. We got dressed by 7 am and went to chk the town of Leh. Nice people and ofcourse very very beautiful ladies. God has made them look like fairies. The sad thing is there were very few almost 0 indians there. We felt like foreigners in a native land.

Neways, I bought a set of sunglasses and off we went to the taxi union to hire a taxi. The rates a re pretty OK and if u hire the whole taxi u get a 10% discount. So we hired this Tata Safari. The driver Dorjay, a very decent fellow and we all immediately bonded. Safari is a very very spacious SUV and on top of that this guy had put Denon speakers. So u can imagine the sound.

SO off we went o Hemis monastery. Its huge and one of the oldest monasteries in Leh. We roamed around the monsatery for around an hour. JUst beside after 2 km there was a Gompa. I tookj a walk there and beyond it.

On the way to Hemis, we say the cradle for Aryan Civilization in India. The Indus or Sindh river. IT was beautiful. ON the last was huge barren plains. Sameer as usual went mental with his photography.

From Hemis we went to Thiksey monastery. It absolutely beautiful at the top of a cliff. I sadly missed the statue of Buddha which at 23m is the tallest in Leh.

From THiskey we went to have our lunch of thukpa and then we hit Shey. Shey used to be a summer resort for the royal family. But sadly, its in a sad state and was being renovated.

From,Shey we went to Stok which is were Royal Family is supposed to reside(except they are having fun in Delhi). Its a small place, and we saw Hindu and Buddhism reside in the same place. We saw Budhdha and we saw Kali. First time I saw Kali ma outside the domain of Bengalis.

FOr 10 buck or something we got a tour of the museum and royal artifacts. Swapnil, kept on pinging the old tour guide(he wanted this 10 bucks worth, desperately).

So with touring done, we went to this agent to get our permits for lamayuru and Pangong.

After that we hit home where we chilled out a bit and then we had dinner of some nice continental dish. BTW, all restaurants serve Italian, Israeli, Tibetan and Tandoori.

Time for some deep sleep.

15th August:

After much asking and R&D we found the place and time the flag hoisting would take place. We reached there on time in our Taxi. All of them went except me. I slept in the hope of curing the stupid headache I had the night before. Anyways, these guys finally comes and tells me that flag hoisting happened 2 hrs earlier and wht they only heard was lectures. So after Dorjay comes we hit for Khardung-la. La means pass in TIbet. Khardunga is the highest pass in the world at 5359 meter.

It was the first time I saw snow. It was awesome. I went mental snapping and looking at the snow. We got souveniers for friends from there. After around 1 hrs we returned. Dorjay said that we are the only Indians he has taken who stayed there for an hour. Rest came back after 5 mins cuz of the cold. I saw Israelins in just shorts and 3/4ths. These guys and gals are like boosted man.

Neways while coming back we saw this crazy Austrian Xtreme biking down the side of the mountain. Man think 17000 ft and think xtreeme. Neways he was recording it for their group and we also recorded some.

On reaching leh we refreshed and headed for Leh Bazaar. ROamed around for 2 hrs and then had our dinner and came back to sleep.

Sated and happy we went to sleep. I had a bit of breathing problem late at night due to a blocked nose. But no major issues.

Sleep becomes me.

16th August:

This day we woke up at 4:30 am to head towards Pangong lake. The lake is around 200 km from Leh with a size of 134 km. Its situated at 4500 m. Around 70% of the lake falls in People's Republic of CHina.

The journey:


We went of CHangla Pass 5270 m is the third highest pass in the world. All we could see was virgin snow. Even the army people asked us abt the road as we were the first car to cross that day. Amazing. White white white all around. Our car got stuck for sometime. We went out moved the snow out and went ahead. The journey thru the hills and valleys was mind blowing. It cannot be expressed. When we reached Pangong it was late afternoon. The water was blue and green. It hypnotises you the gentles swishing of water on the shore. Lulls u and takes away ur problems.

Anyways, on coming back we got some amazing pictures of beavers on the ways. Furry, fat and gentle creatures. Lotsa hard work went into taking those snaps.

We came homeand had our dinner and went to sleep with sweet dreams.

17th August:

THis day we got to Lamayuru monastery which is around 200 KM from Leh. The best part is the journey again. We saw the delta of Indus and Zanskar. It was an amazing view. The way the 2 rivers with their different flows and colors coming together and mixing. THe other was the jouney within the mountains and viewing the moonscape(tho wht is moonscape I hv no idea abt). Lamayuru was an ok monastery. We spent some nice time there and came back.

Night was spent saying DOrjay good bye. We also booked our return tickets for journey back to Manali next day. Our hearts was getting heavier and heavier.

18th August:

THis day we spent watching the locale and people. There was this Tibetan place where we ordered so much tibetan food that the whole table was filled. Sadly we could not finish it off. The owner was a little pissed off. Anyways, I went shopping for family. ANd we found this amazing shop with amazing Tees. I promptly went merry and bought 5 Tees for myself, one tibetan shirt for Sister.

Bought a Tara's mask for parents.

THen came the final time to leave Heaven and back to Hell. The night was dark and the dogs were howling as we went to out taxi. The seat was cramped and we felt like shit. A cute Israeli couple was sitting in the front. The driver thoda satkela public tha started to drive. He stopped after 5 mins. Call for tea and promptly did his houdini act while we all sat inside the car.

Next, he went to sleep at 5 for an hour. Me in tht cramped place with the bag containing my stuff was getting pissed. Neways he started to drive and it was a boring pathetic journey. We stopped at this place in the evening for the foreigners passes and stuff.

The hills were filled with poppy and grass. It was awesome.

In the evening the driver went for a peg methinks. Then started for Rohtang Pass. What journey. Fog all around. With visibility of only 2 ft. Everyone was so dark. Trucks and vehicles coming from the opp direction.

Anyways, we reached Manali safely. Got a hotel cheap. Took bath in hot water. Hogged water and went to sleep.

20th August:

We woke up pretty late and got refreshed. The we went for lunch of chhole bathures and dosas. After that we took an Auto to Old Manali to Manu's Temple. THat donr we went to this Botanical Garden. With tall trees and stuff. We saw a foreigner looking for mushrooms. From there we went to see Hidimba's and Ghatotkach's temple where we took our snaps on Yaks. That was fun man. We came down for lunch where I had a kiwi wine which immediately gave me a kick. That being done we packed and left to get on our semi sleeper. Now this semi sleeper is awesome with Videos and nice couches. Very very comfy. We saw a couple of movies and went to sleep.

21st August:

We reached humid, hot Delhi. We called up some friends as the flight was at night. GOt a cab and toured Delhi. We say Qutub Minar and INdia Gate. Connaught Place and Pallika Bazaar. Then we went to airport for our flight. REached Bombay at 8:30. Left from Bombay at 10 and reached home at 1:30. Did some timepass and went to sleep.

SO end our trip to Heaven and Back.

The most beautiful thing about Leh are the amzaing people who stay there.

Also my hats off to our brave jawans who are defending this country in that cold hostile climate. 3 cheers for them.