WITHOUT GEOGRAPHY YOU ARE NOWHERE

Of late I started doing road trips and thoroughly enjoy. Twice Goa and Kokan, Jaisalmer upto the border and Koyna were my last trips. This particular one happened by chance and good it happened as this road trip would be very close to my heart. Our group planned for the Warwan valley trek in Kashmir and had to reach the basecamp of Panikhar around 60kms from Kargil. There were 2 ways of reaching there, one from Srinagar and other longer,tougher,time consuming, expensive and newly opened. We chose.....the latter.

Our basecamp was in Suru valley in Kargil district so myself and 3 of my friends decided to fly 3 days prior and do the road trip all the way from Chandigarh. My dear friend Pammi, a renowned pediatrician from Kullu-Bhuntar helped me in booking the most important thing in road trip.....a good vehicle. To save time,we flew at midnight in an Air India Boeing 787 Jumbo filled to the capacity of 270 odd pax. I love my country's airline though it gets bad reviews. On time and getting to eat hot & tasty Ragda-Pattis at 3am was something special. More special was the kind airhostess asking me 'Aur Chahiye'?? Sitting at the paid window seat and watching sun rising was a treat after hogging Ragda-Pattis. As sun upped his motion, our Jumbo descended to the first planned city of our country and capital of 2-states.... Chandigarh.

Our first halt for the day was at Manali and the last time during Hampta pass trek,it took almost 11 hours to reach our hotel. Though we were mentally prepared for a long journey, the newly built expressway gave us a pleasent surprise as Pammi on the phone  said 'Lunch pe milte hai' this was just after having our chhole-bhature and a glass of lassi at 9am. Plenty of tunnels and smooth roads we reached Pammi's house cum clinic comprising 4 floors. Kullu has become a bigger place now with few branded shops and crowd though everything shuts post sunset. An hour of post prandial drive took us to one of the most visited hill station with almost 1400 hotels to cater and all of them doing well during the peak. We booked a suite at club Mahindra and it was spacious and had views. A couple of games of table tennis and we realised how bad was our fitness levels. A stroll in the Mall road, one of the crowdest and a chocolate cone which complemented the falling temperatures......we were tired and so retired for the day.

It was a late check-out as our running was just 90 kms for the day and the destination was Jispa. First we crossed  Old Manali, famous for its Cafes and famous for Hippie crowd. Another 15 mins and we crossed Solan which is a must going place if Rohatang is not accessible 77Attraction was to cross Atal tunnel. Conceptualized during pre-independence era and built only few years ago, this tunnel is  9kms in length and is the highest in the world (10000ft) bypassing Rohtang pass and saving almost 3 to 4 hours of drive. Once the Zanskar tunnel is built,it would be an all-weather road till Leh. So in 9 mins we crossed the tunnel and out were we near Sissu, a tiny village with mountains from all the sides and Bhaga river flowing quietly next to it. The setting was just Swiss or Austrian nothing less. Few kms of drive came Tandi where there's a confluence of 2 rivers, Chandra and Bhaga forming Chenab. In another hour we were at Keylong taking a lunch break on a first floor restaurant with lovely ambience. Thupka and Burger and we were ready for our final run to Jispa.

At an altitude of 10500, Jispa is a very small place with 25 odd hotels and homestays on both sides of the beautiful highway with Bhaga river flowing towards Tandi. The hotel we booked few hours back was full courtesy the bikers. It was compact but had everything needed in a hotel room. Evening was spent on the banks of the river and it was surreal to say the least. 4 litres of fluids per day were needed for better acclimatisation as we would be crossing the Shinkula pass tomorrow which was at altitude of 16600 ft. We started at 9am with Sun and Moon on the opposite side sparkling amongst the blue skies with not a spot of cloud seen anywhere. In flat 20 minutes we crossed Darcha at 11000ft and took a turn towards the newly built Darcha-Padum highway. Barring few patches the road which BRO has built is class apart. We saw hard working employees working in harsh environment tirelessly to build a road in totally inhospitable conditions. Salute to these unsung heroes. I heard a story of a female solo traveller giving her food to one of the employee and eating his tiffin. In couple of hours we reached the iconic Shinkula pass and took a pit break for a photo-op. A descent for 30 mins took us to a broadened valley with river flowing by and dry meadows having fall colours grass. A chance look at the rear mirror floored me to no end. A huge monolith looking like a guard captivated my eyes. This was Gombuk Ranjan,18300 ft tall peak reverred by the Zanskaris. Hungry souls...we were and immediately ordered parothas and omlettes. We sat in a small place indoors with the graceful lady with a broad smile on her face, served us the food. One can stay here as the ambience is next level. We had to leave as our aim was to reach another exotic place in the middle of nowhere. As we drove the roads lost its charm and it was almost off-road like.And the Car's tyre gave away. To our sheer luck....we had already entered the campus of our stay. This place was Purne at an altitude of 13k feet. It was 3pm. A place in the middle of nowhere with barren colourful mountains from all the sides and confluence of 2 rivers just below our cottage. What a place!!

Our room was small but cosy had a balcony with a view. Electricity available for 4 hours at night that too on solar. Evening was spent on the banks of the confluence of 2 rivers,Karziac and Tsarap. One was muddy brown while other was jet blue in colour. I've seen Blue lakes, Blue seas, blue ponds but seeing absolute blue river with a backdrop of golden hills was something out of a dream. The scenery was copy paste of movie McKenna' Gold.

One of the best skies I must have seen at night. Except for one we saw Milky way on all the nights. Early morning next day we started for the adventure. 4 kms of off-road followed by 4 km one way on a tricky Goat track traverse with the blue river on our right side,we explored the valley to reach Phuktal monastery. 2500 yr old built within a cave carved out of the mountain, this is one of our heritage, I strongly feel. We were the only visiters on that day in this remotest part of the world. 70 odd steps of climb and we entered the monastery with couple of Lamas who felt astonished seeing us and asking 'Kahaa se Aaye'?? and got amazed as we answered.....the Maximum City's name. 8 kms of trek at 14k feet was the right preparation for our upcoming trek. Road was in bad shape for 30 odd kms and by 3pm we reached the district headquarters of Zanskar.....Padum

18 years ago I visited Padum and it has grown a bit but the old rustic charm still remains. The hotel which we booked was a posh one. The best part was the hot running water which we used liberally as the next 8 days were going to be 'No Bath Days'. Evening we to a shop which we named as mini-decathlon as it had everything a trekker needs. Last day of our road trip began at 9am with a local guy driving in an old Scorpio was our escort. The landscape changed to broad valley with Suru river dividing it and a good condition road throughout. After around 150 mins we started ascending to the Penzi-la pass and out came in front of us the..... Drang-Drung glacier,the second biggest glacier of Ladakh next to the Siachen. Effects of global warming was visible. Few photos and we drove to the pass where twin lakes were visible just across the highway. Fall colours of the grasslands was in contrast with Chocolate-Hazelnut coloured mountains surrounding it and inbetween stood the Rangdum Gompa which we visited. The view from the top was terrific. A cup of tea and biscuits break and our Scorpio was in a great hurry as we passed first the Nun and then Kun, two major peaks adjacent to the small village of Parkachik. Another ascent followed by descent took us to the basecamp of our trek...... Panikhar.

What was so special about this road trip??

The fabulous roads though partially,itself built by BRO, the Bhaga river at Jispa,the majestic Gombuk and the tents in front, serving delicious food. The unforgettable Blue river and it's confluence with the 2500 year of Phuktal monastery at Purne. The hard working employees of BRO. The small dotted villages which are as beautiful as any Swiss or Austrian villages. Finally the countless majestic colourful mountains at every few kms each beautiful than other.