All Roads (High & Rough) Lead to Ladakh-Another Indian Adventure

[RB]

We have covered a fair bit of territory in India but our regular driver/guide Magan has been keen to show us around the far north. Sept is a fair time for this sort of adventure- perhaps still a little wet around Manali but predicted to be good weather further north. I have posted a couple of earlier reports on here India 2023-Back to India-Camels, Mustard, Safaris and Living like a Maharaja. | Australian Frequent Flyer and And Our Driver Said You Need A Good Horn, Good Brakes & Good Luck to Drive In India | Australian Frequent Flyer

Our itinerary is pretty flexible but this is a general outline of the plan-Manali being the only overlap from previous travel along with a quick 1 night stay in Chandigarh to break-up travel time.



We are somewhat limited by the Aust Govt travel warning against travel to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Magan had some health issues so he missed the first few stops but his long term associate Chander was a great driver/guide/associate throughout the trip.

Preparations
The online Indian visa application was something we had tackled previously, so we had a pretty good handle on the process. We got new passport photos done at Aust Post & that was easy & provided the size required. The visa was granted overnight after we completed the paperwork. We decided to get pills for the altitude and were prescribed Diamox- to be started before the serious rise in elevation and continue to take until a couple of days after we get to Leh. Other than that it was picking how much cold weather stuff to take, with Delhi expected to be mid 30’s for arrival (turns out we really overdid the cold weather gear). We have excellent neighbours so our house will be fine during our absence.


Our transport for the roadtrip.


We spent a lot of time with Chander & had a great time-excellent safe driver, fantastic knowledge of India and an excellent sense of humour. He has taught himself Italian after he found quite a few clients were from India!


Magan, 17yrs after we first met him-still a great asset to our travel




A few general scenes from our trip

 

[RooFlyer]

Great to see Magan still in the business.

 

[RB]

Great to see Magan still in the business.

Think I have a few rock photos you might enjoy

 

[RB]

PQQ-SYD ZL 6363
Booked just prior to the announcement of the Administration for Rex but no problems anyway. The Rex fare was over $100 each cheaper than Qantas so we saw that as a good option. Driven to PQQ by a neighbour & quickly through the check-in procedures at Port Macquarie- still a friendly, fast process. Only 17 passengers onboard & we took off pretty well on time. We sat in the pair side 2B & @C. The overhead bins are tiny so we crushed our bags on the floor in front of us. Only 1 flight attendant on duty but the tea/coffee/snack process was fast and efficient. Most others were seated in the back rows- I assume for balance purposes. Got the usual loop out to sea & well to the south of Sydney before a smooth landing. Ended up parked way over in a north-east corner before a bus ride into the Sydney terminal. Our bags were on the carousel by the time we arrived. Plenty of scaffolding/barriers & poor signing for walking over to T3 but we made it after some backtracking (should have gone via train entrance). Waited only 5 minutes or so for a 350 bus to Mascot (1st stop) and easy enough off-peak with our luggage. Only $1.77 for old farts with a Seniors Opal.

Port Macquarie Waiting area- very few flights these days




The Rex snack supply


Grabbed an easy lunch at Renegades Cafe Wine Bar Mascot-easy walk from our hotel and excellent service

 

[RB]

Meriton Mascot Central
We have had good experiences here before so it was an easy decision to make. I am an Eminence member for rates, you don’t have to pay upfront & can cancel & rebook if the rate drops. We enjoyed a very comfortable stay for $167 for a 1 bedroom King room-great value for Sydney with excellent transport & food options. I suggest asking to stay on the Jackson St side as it is quieter. We had a sneaky view of the airport from our small balcony. (airport view rooms are available & there is a viewing deck). It is about a 5 minute walk to the bus stop and similar to the train station and a huge variety of food outlets. There is also a Woollies & a BWS for some chilled drinks.
That night I think we chose the wrong options at Western Legend BBQ-ate here previously in a group & enjoyed the food but this time our options were too much in thick batter.

Plenty of space (53sq m), everything works, good wifi, well located












View from our balcony


Part of Menu at Western Legend BBQ

 

[RB]

Transfer to T1 Sydney
Some choices available with car/train & bus options readily available.
I had a Diddi discount so we used them to the airport in the morning. $14.27 & a good quick trip with an experienced driver- a Romania fellow who was well travelled and we had a good conversation.

TG476 A359 12A & 15A and TG 315 15A & B
Booked as a Lifemiles redemption as we were keen to run down our stash of points. We had not flown Thai for quite a few years and true to old form a small time change meant we needed to contact Lifemiles for a re-issue of tickets. There was also a late change to an old banger 777-200 into Delhi-not ideal but I still consider it a good use of points.
No waiting to be checked-in with Thai-bags checked to Delhi & both lots of boarding passes issued. We used the business class
line to get quickly to passport control. Also very fast through security despite being behind a family that seemed challenged by the process. We decided to go to the SQ lounge & we were in there within 25minutes of lining up to check-in.
Sampled the NZ Mumm & some breakfast with the lounge not very crowded. No flight calls in the lounge but we wandered down & shortly priority boarding was called. We ended up landing at a very distant gate & had a long walk to the Thai lounge-offset the official 18 minute early arrival. Our last flight through BKK was 2019 so the Midfield Terminal was new to us. THE MIDFIELD SATELLITE 1 SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT
Our Delhi arrival was much more streamlined than last year. The airport was pretty quiet but we were shuffled between a few queues by staff trying to help-business to eVisa to Diplomat & we were soon done. Fingerprints again-still problems despite only 1 finger being required this time. Our bags were already on the carousel, we took the greenline but then had a haphazard final x-ray of our bags. As expected we were met by Magan and Chandra. It was less chaotic at the welcoming area but that all changed as we moved out to the humidity & carpark area.

Thoughts on Flights
Thought the amenity packs were well done-Jim Thompson packaging. Enjoyed the pre-departure Champers, hot towel supply plentiful, the food was fine (still good garlic bread), the inflight camera was excellent, storage around seat on A359 was ok, seats on TG315 outdated but managed some sleep. Staff we good & the cabin was neat & tidy

Breakfast in SQ lounge in Sydney


One of the amenity kits


Menu for Sydney departure


Drink listings










Leaving Sydney


Amouse Bouche

 

[RB]

Smoked Duck


To go with salmon dish

Grilled Salmon



Weakened and had ice cream


Mrs RB loved the Spag Beef dish



Pork with egg fried rice


Flight camera


Food on 2nd flight




Onboard 2nd flight

 

[RB]

Hotel Delhi-Vivanta by Taj
We stayed here for our departure night last year so it was an easy decision to stay again. The drive to the hotel skirts the airport. Certainly not as close as the Aerocity options but for our requirements it represented a great deal. 5 Star Hotel in New Delhi near IGI Airport | Vivanta New Delhi, Dwarka. We were after a good quiet room, comfortable bed and a good breakfast to prepare us for our road trip. Magan's contacts got us a beautiful deluxe suite with breakfast at a very sharp price. All staff we encountered were excellent and despite it being buffet style, the breakfast we had was fantastic.

Entry to over-sized room




Windows looked towards a runway- between the dark & morning fog/smog it wasn't prime viewing time








Also a shower off to the left




I was impressed by this wall in the dining room.

 

[RB]

The Drive out of Delhi.
The main focus of our trip was Ladakh. We had big distances to cover, we needed to acclimatise for the altitude and we had previously seen some of the area north of Delhi, so the plan was to avoid overlaps if possible. We were picked up after breakfast, ready for the drive towards Bahu. There were terrible roads initially getting to the north out of Delhi-roadblocks sending us on dirt side roads covered in rain overflows. As previously experienced some of the roadblocks/detours extend for many kilometres around incomplete roadworks and drivers are basically left to work it out themselves. Once we encountered the Western Peripheral Expressway the road surface improved. As always driving around in India provides a multitude of visual experiences. Things are certainly changing with many more people now having access to cars & the traffic mix has changed dramatically. There are a lot more domestic tourists and many more of them are now travelling "individually" rather than being crammed in overcrowded, battered old buses.



One of the detours




Not far to the freeway!


Tolls are constant but overall the highways/expressways are on the improve





Most now seem to have a phone to read from on the way to/from work


We had lunch at a highway service centre- very similar to a lot of set-ups in Australia with multiple food outlets to choose from. They do vary in size & choice though


Health & safety standards still need some work-up on 3rd floor preparing for a gathering

 

[RB]

Our overnight stop was at Nalagarh. We stayed at Fort Nalagarh- an old heritage hotel that appears to have undergone a poor reno about 30yrs ago.We enjoyed some great food with some friendly Indian travellers as company. .Basically had this stop to cut the trip. Outdated numbers but some interesting stats Nalagarh - Wikipedia

Reception area




Our deluxe room










The end of a hot & humid day

 

[RB]

Nalagarh to Bahu-
After breakfast it was back in the car for the haul to Bahu. Some excellent bits of highway, many small villages (Maura/Bhoai/Sunan/Sanyard/Sambal etc) the Sulley & Beas Rivers, the Great Himalayas National Park, plenty of road tunnels, some hydro power, plenty of evidence of last years flooding and many temporary bridges. The last section up the hill to Bahu was narrow, windy and potholed but accepted by locals as their link to outside world. This was a spectacular day of sightseeing with the rivers, deep valleys, terracing, massive tunneling and the locals ekeing out a living.

First of the tunnels






Not a lot of health & safety


He made an excellent chai tea


Rubbish strewn down high banks- fortunately things have generally improved




Plenty of ongoing roadworks- much more mechanised but we still saw a lot of backbreaking physical work happening in terrible conditions (cold, dusty, isolated poorly serviced tent camps etc)

 

[RB]

Plenty of bailey bridges




Last stop before the final climb to Bahu

This was a video of part of the last climb to Bahu. Heaps of switchbacks, rough, backing back to avoid traffic and getting past buses & trucks. There are a lot of apples & cabbage being transported & no formal loading areas. Construction materials are also generally just put on the side or on the road before being used. Our host in Bahu revealed they work on an average of 12km/hr to estimate travel/arrival times

 

[RB]

Bahu
We had a 3 night homestay at Ishan Log Huts Ishan Log Huts
This was an excellent stay and we were the only guests. All the food was fantastic(vegetarian) with much of it sourced from their own organic gardens where we also helped ourselves to apples from the trees.
The owners (Prakash & Rimpal) carry out all the tasks themselves. Prakash was born here & Rimpal was from a couple of villages away. The food was excellent and they organised a steady supply of beer to have with dinner each night. The weather was still unsettled with the end of the monsoon, a couple of thunderstorms with some low cloud did not generally impact our stay.





Part of the view from front deck of room






So much food for 2 people


A pasta lunch-pasta was a quite common offering in the early part of our trip


Apparently they host quite a few Israeli tourists ( a lot of cancellations currently ) and Rimpal has developed dishes for them

 

[RB]

Prakash is very hands on and took us on a 6km forest walk and explained the lifestyle & the features we saw. This walk looped us past Balo temple, Bahu Lake and an old British hut. Most of the trek was through cedar forest.

Found in the host's garden





Balo Temple. Prakash speaks much slower than the guys in the video but I thought the video was useful Balo Temple Trek Guide I JIBHI VALLEY I Mysterious Shiva Temple I #Jibhivalley #Trekingvlog - YouTube


A pretty special mushroom


The Symbolism of the Trident in Hinduism - Hindu Creed






The hut from British times

 

[RB]

More of Around Bahu
Prakash also accompanied us on an exhilarating valley drive & a visit to a waterfall. The drive on local roads that resembled a rough track took us through Suketi, Seraj, Skukad, Bagra, Naihra and other small villages. It was all excellent viewing - apple orchids, terraces mainly growing cabbage at this time (some cannibas mysteriously hidden in paddocks) a rough cricket field, village hospitals, temples and even a helipad for winter medical evacuations. Big piles of slate lay near the road in spots with some royalties apparently being paid to the Forestry Dept. Donkeys & horses were being put to work. Some women were collecting wood for winter while other people herded goats & sheep. We didn’t have to share any lookout views from the 2800 metre viewpoint at the end of the road. We returned via Jibhi Waterfalls- a great, short fall but also a good spot for locals to visit, sit and socialise. We had a nice simple lunch at a cafe in Jibhi. There certainly seems to be a lot of confidence in the future of tourism here with many guesthouses/hotels being built- they seem to be aiming for the domestic tourist market of people heading out of Delhi for short breaks.





A rough ground for the future cricket stars




It is cabbage season-in some spots the cabbage smell is overwhelming

Creek flats growing cabbages



Plenty of terracing


We are at around 2,800m here


The helipad


You need to get up some of these tracks to access the helipad

 

[RB]

More of Bahu Day drive


The wood collectors






Parts of apple orchards


Jibhi Waterfalls


You grab a park where you can


A pretty good example of a chicken burger


Plenty of rooms are being built in Jibhi

 

[RooFlyer]

Wow.

This was a video of part of the last climb to Bahu.

I wouldn't be brave enough to go there! Did Magan put the itinerary together or did you say a few places you wanted to reach and he formed it around those?

 

[RB]

Wow.



I wouldn't be brave enough to go there! Did Magan put the itinerary together or did you say a few places you wanted to reach and he formed it around those?

All Magan's ideas. He tried to avoid overlaps from our previous trips. The main focus this time was Leh & Himalayan region. Unfortunately the Kashmir situation for Aussies made it more difficult to plan.
Going on your postings I think the area north of Manali & around Leh would be a real buzz for you

 

[RB]

Bahu to Manali
More rain had made the road down to the highway even more slippery - but we knew the way now - doing the familiar back and shuffle as we manoeuvre past the bus and the cabbage trucks on the many hairpins and missing the kids walking to school in pristine uniforms, We crossed back over the bailey bridges and then this time, near the junction of the Beas, Sainj and Thirthan Rivers, turned to the Aut tunnel. Through Aut tunnel we entered a more urban landscape. The peaks became somewhat less dramatic and huge apple orchids spanned the dual-lane divided highway until the turnoff for Kasol. The scenery up that valley was spectacular but we ended up only visiting Kasol as we pushed on to Manali for the night.
The devastating floods of Aug 2023 meant that roads were still damaged and partly washed in places with road lanes missing and lots of rebuilding still happening. Himachal Floods: Drone Footage Captures Extent Of Damage In Himachal Pradesh’s Manali - YouTube

Flood 2023 ��|| Sainj || Kullu - Manali||Himachal Pradesh Update���� - YouTube

So much reinforcing is still happening all the way to Leh.

An analysis of apples


Start of the last time down the hill






View from Kasol village


Funeral procession near Kasol-men only


Extensive apple orchards




Always something to see on Indian roads


An early glimpse of the change in the Beas riverbed

 

[RB]

Manali
We are staying towards the north of Old Manali at the Storri Urvashi’s retreat- a very nice hotel with good food (restricted menu during our stay). The staff varied from slick operators to in-training helpers..
Storii By ITC Hotels Urvashi's Retreat Manali



















On reflection I think the hotels in the Old Town are a better proposition despite not having the wow factor & space of a new building . We previously stayed at The Mayflower - that location offers easy walking access to a variety of dining, bars, shopping and general entertainment, while the Storri (while beautiful) aimed to be an all inclusive location (not our preferred option) & a drive to everything. We had spent a few nights in Manali previously so we opted for a relaxing time and the weather was pretty unsettled with a few storms rolling through.