The itenary
18July
Leh - Khardung La - Nubra Valley
👉Only Bsnl sim have network but no data
Travel distance ~ 125km+
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Special note
For the next 3 days, we need to pack and bring clothes for 2 days only. All big luggages were left at Puma house Hotel in Leh. This is because there was only 1 pick up truck following us as back up.
So we can imagine how the road will for the next 3 days of adventure!
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The real experience
10am start ride from Leh (We were 2 hours delay due to rain. We continued somehow in the rain as we need to arrive Nubra Valley before 4pm to catch the camels)
About half hour later, we arrived at the first check point - Check post at South Pullu. Here we need to show the permit, thanks to our organiser who has already arranged for everything. We were allowed to pass and continue our journey to the top of the world!
(Special note : This gate is closed at 8pm so be early or you won't make it especially if there's a flight to catch the next morning)
Along the way, the weather gets worsen. It was too cold for us. After rain, then comes snow, plus the wind. My fingers were blue. Hubs made several pitstops to warm his hands up by touching directly the motor engine or the exhaust. It helps a little bit for us to continue with our journey.
We did also one quick toilet stop in between but there wasn't any facilities for ladies. I saw a small show and went inside. I saw them cooking something on the stove and without much thinking, I touched the pot directly to warm my blue fingers. At this time, the gloves were wet, the shoes and socks we soaked and luckily my RM2 raincoat saved the day. My jacket and riding pants were protected by the plastic coat and raining pants.
There were many blind spots corners that we need to watch out. The road was also slippery due to ice. We can't also go too slow to minimise exposure to the weather. We need to arrive there as fast as we could, but safely!
After hours of riding in snow, blind corners, and off roads, we finally arrived Khardung La top. At the altitude of 5448m above sea level, this point was declared as the highest motorable road in the world.
There were too many people when we arrived and of course that includes the "super-excited" local who wouldn't give way for us to take a memorable moment at the landmark. After several minutes of waiting, our guide, Tampil asked us to keep moving. We can't stay there more than 15mins as the weather was getting worse.
So we took a quick snap at the yellow stone and left the spot in heavy snow.
Going down the mountain, the pressure due to altitude gets better. And snow got less. It was good news to us but the offroad never was tamed. We need to pass several difficult un-tarred roads and keep going.
At 2pm, we arrived at North Pullu Khardung Village, 13500ft. It was such a relief to see Grace and the rest of the tram waving at us from one of the restaurants at Khardung village. Chear greeted me with a warm coffee. It was indeed the best coffee I've ever had!
After everyone was warmed up and settled, we then continued our journey to Hunder at Nubra Valley. We were supposed to arrive there at 2 to 3pm but due to bad weather, we were 2 hours delayed.
We arrived Hunder at around 530pm and luckily it was still open. We had a camel ride at Rp300/pax for 15mins (RM18).
Here in Hunder only you can see 2 humps camel, not like those in the Arab deserts.
We can also see sand dunes and grey valleys. Those grey valley and grey rivers were made up from grey sands which is very unique to Himalaya geographical conditions only.
Man, we were so lucky to experience this ourselves. Allah almighty, alhamdulillah!
After 30mins Hunder pitstop, we continued our ride to the camp - the Magpie Ladakh campsite near the camel station. It was almost 630pm and the temperature was super cold.
We had to stay in tents with no heaters in the room and cold waters too. It was extremely freezing but we had to clean ourselves to prepare for prayer.
After bathing, the entire body felt numb. We can barely feel anything, even our fingers at this time. Even the warmer pads I brought from home couldn't provide any warmth.
At 8pm, the dinner was ready. It was so good to have warm meal and hot teas at this time. We wanted to have camp fire (they charged Rp2400) but everyone was exhausted. So we went back to our room to have a good rest for our next adventure.
I was waiting for the milky way but was unlucky to have too many clouds that night. It was freezing anyway outside (same as the inside, just the difference was that we have blankets inside)
Being unlucky with the milky way, even after waking up at 3am, I just went back to sleep and pray for a better chance tomorrow at Pangong Lake
That was it for day 4. It was thrilling, it was cold, it was stressful but to summarise, IT WAS A SUPERBLY AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!
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