A Journey to remember.
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Difficult to believe it was only five years ago, on 1st of July 2012, that we had around 5 pm stopped at Drass, for a much delayed lunch after having done a long drive from Srinagar.
We started at 6 am in beautiful weather, arising early on a beautiful houseboat on the Dal Lake.
Watching the early rays of the Sun paint a gold lining on fleece-white clouds floating free in the blue sky above, we finished our breakfast and went across the lake in the Shikara, our helmets, riding gear and other luggage with us, (it was a riding trip in Ladakh that we were off to) to the Innova waiting for us at the Jetty.
As the four of us got in and drove along the perimeter road around the Lake towards Sonmarg, with the mountain fort on the horizon across the lake on our left and the Adishankaracharya hill behind us now, we drove through a world of beauty and green pastures and silver rivers and the astonishingly beautiful Pir Panjal range of the Himalayas that stun you no matter how often you have seen them.
Snow clad as always, a superb white topping above jagged cliffs setting off the aquamarine blue of the sky and the green pastures beneath and the Jhelum's tributaries flowing beside the roads alongside, a cool breeze deceptively fooling you into believing that it was wise to wear Tshirt and shorts...to learn later that the Sun, so benign in the morning, could be merciless and burn your skin, if you had forgotten your sunblock cream and carelessly allowed exposed skin to its ruthless application..
Soon we were out of the outer limits of the city and driving across wonderful scenery, till we reached a remembered point besides a magical river, to break journey for some tea..to soak in the spell binding beauty of Kashmir, with pine trees around, a nip still in the air, the river singing alongside, as we sat on a wall on its banks..to the east, rising high up into the sky, grey jagged cliffs, knife edged and serrated cleaved the space above, beautiful, raw, intimidating and yet enticing...
We got back on the road to Kargil, driving past Sonmarg with the river shining silver in the seductive light of a clear day, a spot of Zorbing by Amit and Vishal there, to the road across Balthal (the departure point for pilgrims to the Amarnath shrine) where we faced our first delay of two hours, a high altitude traffic holdup.
Balthal was at the base of the mighty Zoji La, a tough long mountain pass, the gateway to Ladakh. We were advised that it was absolutely imperative to clear that pass before an expected army convoy of 200 vehicles came up for that would have right of way and delay us.
As soon as we were permitted to move we started up the Zoji La, an apparently easy drive that left me wondering what everyone wrote so much about...the road snaked right and left and doubled up around hairpins, climbing climbing all the time...the tarmac gave way to broken patches, and we were soon above the tree line, the deep valley on one side and the huge mountain on our left, crumbly, rocky, loose soil, ever threatening to slide off the face of the cliff..these mountains were so different from those around Pune, which were of volcanic rock, hard, solid, apparently unshakeable dark rock...we had been warned to keep our ears open for sounds of falling stones and rocks, to watch for small stones coming down the slopes for that could herald the start of a landslide, and we kept our ears peeled for that..
As we rushed along to outrun the convoy that was likely to be behind us, the road turned into a dust track, with running streams of water from icemelt at places making it slushy...the mountains around us were now bare of any vegetation, snow on the peaks, and the deep valley on our right stretching to the Balthal tent camps, where the pilgrims would spend a night acclimatizng before the arduous trek to the Amarnath shrine..
A corner turned and then hard braking to a dead stop..
In the distance, a landslide further up the pass had stopped the flow of traffic...a long line had formed over two kilometers long.. All in single file, none breaking the queue, unlike out experience on the roads elsewhere..
We were well and truly stuck..
It would be six hours before we would move again..
------------
Difficult to believe it was only five years ago, on 1st of July 2012, that we had around 5 pm stopped at Drass, for a much delayed lunch after having done a long drive from Srinagar.
We started at 6 am in beautiful weather, arising early on a beautiful houseboat on the Dal Lake.
Watching the early rays of the Sun paint a gold lining on fleece-white clouds floating free in the blue sky above, we finished our breakfast and went across the lake in the Shikara, our helmets, riding gear and other luggage with us, (it was a riding trip in Ladakh that we were off to) to the Innova waiting for us at the Jetty.
As the four of us got in and drove along the perimeter road around the Lake towards Sonmarg, with the mountain fort on the horizon across the lake on our left and the Adishankaracharya hill behind us now, we drove through a world of beauty and green pastures and silver rivers and the astonishingly beautiful Pir Panjal range of the Himalayas that stun you no matter how often you have seen them.
Snow clad as always, a superb white topping above jagged cliffs setting off the aquamarine blue of the sky and the green pastures beneath and the Jhelum's tributaries flowing beside the roads alongside, a cool breeze deceptively fooling you into believing that it was wise to wear Tshirt and shorts...to learn later that the Sun, so benign in the morning, could be merciless and burn your skin, if you had forgotten your sunblock cream and carelessly allowed exposed skin to its ruthless application..
Soon we were out of the outer limits of the city and driving across wonderful scenery, till we reached a remembered point besides a magical river, to break journey for some tea..to soak in the spell binding beauty of Kashmir, with pine trees around, a nip still in the air, the river singing alongside, as we sat on a wall on its banks..to the east, rising high up into the sky, grey jagged cliffs, knife edged and serrated cleaved the space above, beautiful, raw, intimidating and yet enticing...
We got back on the road to Kargil, driving past Sonmarg with the river shining silver in the seductive light of a clear day, a spot of Zorbing by Amit and Vishal there, to the road across Balthal (the departure point for pilgrims to the Amarnath shrine) where we faced our first delay of two hours, a high altitude traffic holdup.
Balthal was at the base of the mighty Zoji La, a tough long mountain pass, the gateway to Ladakh. We were advised that it was absolutely imperative to clear that pass before an expected army convoy of 200 vehicles came up for that would have right of way and delay us.
As soon as we were permitted to move we started up the Zoji La, an apparently easy drive that left me wondering what everyone wrote so much about...the road snaked right and left and doubled up around hairpins, climbing climbing all the time...the tarmac gave way to broken patches, and we were soon above the tree line, the deep valley on one side and the huge mountain on our left, crumbly, rocky, loose soil, ever threatening to slide off the face of the cliff..these mountains were so different from those around Pune, which were of volcanic rock, hard, solid, apparently unshakeable dark rock...we had been warned to keep our ears open for sounds of falling stones and rocks, to watch for small stones coming down the slopes for that could herald the start of a landslide, and we kept our ears peeled for that..
As we rushed along to outrun the convoy that was likely to be behind us, the road turned into a dust track, with running streams of water from icemelt at places making it slushy...the mountains around us were now bare of any vegetation, snow on the peaks, and the deep valley on our right stretching to the Balthal tent camps, where the pilgrims would spend a night acclimatizng before the arduous trek to the Amarnath shrine..
A corner turned and then hard braking to a dead stop..
In the distance, a landslide further up the pass had stopped the flow of traffic...a long line had formed over two kilometers long.. All in single file, none breaking the queue, unlike out experience on the roads elsewhere..
We were well and truly stuck..
It would be six hours before we would move again..
