Leh - Sri Nagar Journey

It had been pretty long I had not continued with my #TourDeNorthIndia2015 story. No, the story certainly does not end up in Pangong Lake itself. We then headed towards Sri Nagar. This was out of our plan, because we had our plan to return to Manali or Chandrigarh from Leh directly.

 So, that would have been tough, and hectic, apart at same cost we would get to travel new place Sri Nagar too. This was the place that I used to like while playing Byapar, and I knew that this lied in top of India, that's why it has been granted 'Shree' name. Let me share these stories of travel from Leh to Sri Nagar in this blog post.

Crazy Driver
Why was the driver riding slowly? This driver was crazy, at first he made us his passenger stating 'You will have lot of fun in traveling with me', but he was actually driving real slowly. He didn't sleep throughout the journey at all, he was old, and had been showing different frustrated reaction toward us. We found him trying to sleep somewhere in between there. Oh, we were scared.

This old driver persuaded Dorje dai as well.

Magnetic Hill
Seeing his speed, we were worried if this journey would take real long than expected. We asked at the initial phase itself, and he told us 'magnet' is making it slow. We had heard of Magnetic hill, while we were studying Laddakh before initiating plan, but nothing came into our mind, and thinking him crazy we laughed. Once we were back, we re-checked, and we found out. There was a long Magnetic hill, that would drag neutrally kept vehicle towards the top. Yes, we were in magnetic hill without even realizing. Oh dumb driver! He should at least tell us that that was special place of Laddakh too.

Kargil's Story
Shiva was awake, waiting for place to drink tea. I was asleep, but we all knew we would pass through Kargil. He showed us the wall, with my one eye closed, I opened next to check somewhere in around 1 am. Maybe my one ear was open, and the driver was indicating the wall outside the window showing how Pakistan attacked sometimes back, and India constructed wall for the safety. Also, I could see Pakistan, he then showed us bulb on the other side, across the river, stating that was Pakistan Army Camp. My one ear managed to listen and my one eye dared to see despite of entire sleepy mood.

Midnight Cold
I had to be either on the left side, or the right side. The seat in the middle was warm, but the cold from the window outside came in as well. I was seriously freezing out of cold. My thick jacket made some sense, but still it was cold, because I just had my trousers down. I could sense the cold when I had to touch water early morning at some hotel, I did not even feel that I had fingers. How quickly I swallowed the hot tea,that was kind of amazing anyway.

Almost Afghanistan
I had made an imagination of Afghanistan from the novel Kite Runner, and to large extent my imagination was met after I saw the movie. It was same! People waving hand to stop our vehicle, I was afraid. It took me time to realize that I was traveling to Kashmir - Muslim place. And the dress up was normal there, and they were waving hands for lift, as they had certain distance to travel. I could see school children going towards school, but exactly like presented in Malala's documentary. I seriously felt, it was almost Afghanistan! or almost Pakistan!

School Children, heading towards School!

Hindus Religious Place
Just after we took our breakfast, we were shown Hindu's destination place. I forgot the name of the temple, but he told me large population of people comes here on regular basis. It seriously was great place; because Mama told that lot of Nepalese comes there as well just for the sake of visit. There was cable car provision? Maybe? But, horses would carry and people had to walk as well.

Longest ride ever!
We had been in jeep since yesterday 8 am, and we were in the vehicle till today 10 Am, making 26 hours. We went to Pangong Lake, and directly from there to Kashmir - Srinagar!

Actually I was worried, because on checking internet, I found that Kashmir is restricted zone, and we had to have legal documents to be there. I was worried, if we will be asked for passports. We all had our passports, and were skeptic when driver would stop somewhere, if he wanted us to show someone our passports. But nothing as such happened. It was easy travel, just tiresome though.
Srinagar - is awesome, I'll write about Srinagar in my next blog post. Stay updated!

A scene that could be easily found in Nepal

Came from china, going to Pakistan?

I must admire the housing designs at Kashmir, they are beautiful.

Next one!

The other that I caught from the street before reaching Kashmir.

This probably is some hotel.

Something that can be found easily in Nepal.

Why did I feel like being in Nepal?

Just that, they have good road access in Hilly regions too.

Our journey.

Early morning travel.

The road was dangerous at some places, but for Nepalese, we had habit.

Sheep were still not awake this morning!