Monastery Escape in a Mahindra Scorpio 4×4
More than a question, “Who has never been to Ladakh?”, is a statement. This is because no automotive journalist worth his salt can afford to have never been to the northernmost fringes of our excellent nation since it serves up such an extreme range of practice. Meekly and quickly, I put my mitt up
Meekly because I was about to get a lot of ridicule from my rambunctious colleagues, the boss included and quickly because I needed a nice, long driving tour. That done, I packed my bags and reached the hotel from where the drive would begin.
Upon reaching, we were given our kits and allotted our cars. I got the keys to a new-gen, top-of-the-line Mahindra Scorpio christened ‘Media Two’ with 4WD to take on the harsh terrains that lay ahead.
With a PowerPoint presentation, the organisers, in this case XSO and Mahindra Venture, laid the plan out. It looked pretty awesome. While I have driven extensively in the mountains, this marked the very first time I would have driven at that high an altitude.
Day 1: The incessant ringing of the phone woke us up. So we discovered that waking up out of sheer irritation is much more helpful than waking up for anything else at all.
Soon, we all were packed and rearing to drive to our very first destination, Manali. The drive was fairly uneventful and we had a good time in our Scorpio. But it would have been a howling shame had the day ended without us fighting at some point or the other. And the fight came in the form of sheep.
The new-gen 4wd scorpio is an utterly capable vehicle. It managed whatever the Thar did. (Photo: Kingshuk Dutta, Siddharth Safaya)
Millions of sheep on an uphill climb just before coming in Manali. A duo of SUVs fried their clutches right down to the disc and had to be towed till the hotel which was a mere 15km but seemed as if it was lightyears away.
We eventually made our way up to Manali without running over any sheep, which I believe was a commendable achievement. Travelling in a convoy of twenty five cars means you will have close to a one hundred people travelling with you. However we met people from all walks of life, it was a test of patience to be allotted our rooms. So once that got done with, all of us met for dinner and drinks before retiring for the night.
Day Two: After a hearty breakfast we set out for Jispa, a petite village of scarcely 200-250 residents at an altitude of Ten,860 feet. In order to get acclimatised to even higher altitude regions that we would be passing through, we stayed there for two nights besides the Bhaga sea and indulged in a bit of off-roading such as crossing rivers et al. We ended the day with a party alongside the sea.
The convoy of liveried Mahindra SUVs looks brilliant from a vantage point. (Photo: Kingshuk Dutta, Siddharth Safaya)
Day Trio: While the off-roading session proved to be a lot of joy, the next day Siddharth and Gaurav (our cameraperson and drone technician) had a raunchy time getting our drone camera up in the air. Yes! The company had sent along a Phantom two drone in order to get some stupendous aerial shots. But the damn drone wouldn’t lift off the ground.
Our new-gen Scorpio with snow clad peaks in the foreground. (Photo: Kingshuk Dutta, Siddharth Safaya)
The response to that unsolvable mystery did not require the genius of Sherlock Holmes. It was as elementary as deducting that the atmosphere was rarefied at that altitude and there wasn’t enough air pressure for the drone to lift off. But our powers of deduction certainly weren’t as strong at that point and we realised it way later as the drive was nearing its end.
Day Four: 85km. That’s the distance we had to drive the next day from Jispa to Sarchu plains. Maximum excitement came from crossing a snowy Baralacha La pass at 16,050 feet. The temperature was hovering around the 2-3 degrees Celsius mark and it was snowing while climbing up from Zingzingbar to Baralacha La. Experiencing snowfall in India was certainly a very first for me!
While we had our share of joy in the snow and in the excitement, I almost went down a snow-filled crevasse inviting much laughter and ridicule from others, not to mention my heart stopped hitting for a 2nd. Okay, it wasn’t as dramatic. Moving on, we ultimately arrived at Sarchu at around 4pm. The Sarchu plains are breezy, barren and frighteningly cold.
(Photo: Kingshuk Dutta, Siddharth Safaya)
The trick to get through the night at Sarchu, as told to us by the organisers was to overdose on Diamox tablets (not indeed) together with wearing every layer of clothing that we carried. The next twenty hours would prove to be agonising as after sunset the temperatures would drop to -2 degrees accounting for the wind chill coupled with low levels of oxygen.
Spending the night in tents with little provision for emptying our bowels and bladders turned out to be fairly an exercise, with water that’s freezing cold. And to top it all, in the middle of a night with howling winds, the zip of our tent gave up and made it even tougher for us to see the night through.
Day Five: So after two days of driving we wake up with groggy eyes and sore joints. Attempt sleeping at Sarchu, in a tent with a zip split broad open and you will understand our anguish.
Nevertheless, the drive was to be a beautiful one, with us crossing the famed Gata loops (22 hairpin arches at 13,750 feet, the ‘visceral and out of this worldly’ Morey Plains and ultimately the ‘high point’ of the entire drive, the Tanglang La which is the 2nd highest motorable road in the world after Khardung La at 17,582 feet. Drive-wise, this was perhaps the most scenic part of the entire journey.
The distance from Tandi to Leh is 372km and there is no fuel station in inbetween. This means that one has to drive with a light foot. Adventurous driving can lead to fuel running out and you being stranded in the middle of nowhere. (Photo: Kingshuk Dutta, Siddharth Safaya)
The distance to be covered for the day was around 260km which doesn’t sound much but it took almost the entire day to reach Leh as there were a lot of photo-op cracks, bio-breaks and other such violates taken enroute.
Eventually, at around 6pm, the convoy spinned into the beautiful city of Leh. We made our way to the hotel after refuelling and as we entered our room, there was a scramble for coming in the bathroom as none of us had taken a bath in over three days.
Day 6: After a delicious dinner of Ladakhi food and a good night’s sleep, our next step was to visit the mythical, magical and the stunning Pangong Tso. The name is Tibetan speak for “long, narrow, enchanted lake”. The distance was about 150-odd km but it took us close to four hours to reach Pangong Tso as the roads winding up the mountains were way too narrow and cracked for our liking.
Snow on the road came as a more than welcome surprise. (Photo: Kingshuk Dutta, Siddharth Safaya)
The very first view of the Pangong Tso itself is mesmerising but the real thrill comes when you see the lake with its myriad hues of blue and snow capped peaks in the background. Understandably, the convoy spent a lot of time on the banks of the lake.
Day 7: Seven awesome days into the drive and we could not get enough of the grandeur of the land that is Leh-Ladakh. A leisurely breakfast later, we headed out to Hemis monastery, which is the oldest of all the monasteries in the region. Thanks to BRO and a lot of military movement, the roads in and around Leh are some of the best in the country. After that we determined to grab lunch at a local eatery and call it a day.
The statue of Buddha in the Hemis Monastery gives you a feeling of serenity and peace. (Photo: Kingshuk Dutta, Siddharth Safaya)
Day 8: The reason behind going to sleep indeed early the previous day (lights out at 8pm!) was because the next day was going to be a indeed long one. The convoy was to leave Leh at an ungodly time to reach Srinagar by early evening, covering a total distance of 420km via NH1-A. The convoy passed through Kargil and Dras, the theatre of war for the Kargil conflict. From there, we climbed the Zoji La. This meant that we had to be on the cliff side of the mountains, very scary. We ultimately reached Srinagar about an hour later than scheduled.
Day 9: The last day of the Monastery Escape we had to ourselves and we made the most of it by visiting the ‘must-see’ places in Srinagar.
A shikara on the Nigeen lake in Srinagar. (Photo: Kingshuk Dutta, Siddharth Safaya)
One of the journalists led us to a quaint restaurant where we had a sumptuous Wazwan meal which consisted of all the Kashmiri delicacies. The food was satiating, flavourful and left us wanting for more.
This was one of those drives which cleanses and nourishes your dreary soul and fills it with vim and vigour. Fresh air, clear flows and snow-clad peaks are perhaps the most effective form of therapy.
Witness: Mahindra Monastery Escape 2015: Drive across the Himalayas