Grand Himalayan Road Tour (GHiRT)- What to Visit?

ks_bluechip

Hi Aishah: Thanks, I will Enjoy! Before going to Bhutan, I plan a trek in the Singalila Ridge (Maneybhanjang to Phalut and back) ..... and then see Kalimpong (The Inheritance of Loss By Kiran Desai). If I manage to get to any cybercafes, will post at these threads:

April 01-10: destination sandakphu

April 10-20: Bhutan - The Lost Shangri-La
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Aishah

Kalimpong and around that area is somewhere I'd like to visit - maybe someday! Have a great trip - sounds terrific.

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puchoo

Sounds fab bluechip..have a blast and ofcourse, dont foget to let us all know!!

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m.bhattacharya

ks-da

Have a great time. I wonder if someone runs an offroading course in India(good business idea). Will help one negotiate the unmetalled washed away stretches, especially those where you may be driving through giant potholes or fast flowing water running across the road. Much of the road from Leh to Manali was avarage with few exceptionally good stretches. There was a lot of repair and maintenence work going on late August 2008. I fully support your self drive as you can do it at your own pace and get tremendous landscape photo opportunity. Do carry camping equipment and warm clothes and maybe spend a day or two in the oxygen starved bitter cold wilderness.

Good Luck

Milan

m.bhattacharya

Sorry 'around the time I visited in late August 2007'

Milan

m.bhattacharya

For a moment I thought it was icing on a cake. Then as I zoomed in it looked like a little model or a film set. Totally unreal. How many days did it take for the snow to thaw out?

ks- I wonder if you should head for Kumaon from Delhi and work your way towards Garwhal, Jaunsar then HP and finally on to Kashmir and back. The learning curve might be easier.

Milan

ks_bluechip

Yes... thats a good idea! ... do the easier mountain roads first (in UA/HP) and then the more remote, barren & bad stretches of JK/Ladakh

Dilliwala

By the time you get to Ladakh, u'll have had plenty of easy roads in between, whichever way you go. When I think that Capt and puchoo did it in M800 - phew!

Styler,
if I'm not mistaken, that photo was taken when u were in Vashisht? Seem to remember it or something similar from your other thread.

capt_mahajan

Quite easily too.

As they say, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog

ks_bluechip

Ha ha .... You did (in M800) from where to where? Is that posted in IM somewhere? Then all these huge discussions on 2WD Vs 4WD is all BS?

capt_mahajan

Must be posted (beware, DW has a long memory), but I did Hyderabad/Ladakh a few years ago, with R and R in Delhi.

Dilliwala

Heheh - only for the interesting bits, though. I.e. the M800 bit in this case, not Ladakh. But evenso I'm envious of anyone who's been, becos I haven't, yet...., so yes, the name always makes me sit up (sometimes in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, after having a nightmare that the Chinese have stolen it and hidden it out of sight somewhere, like the Panchen Lama...)

We did discuss your trip directly in some thread, as I recall.

Styler

Youre right Dilliwala
Here is the link.

It has some interesting videos, on what happens to a 4 wheel drive Gypsy when there's snow on the road.

Enjoy,

Styler

m.bhattacharya

M800 is quite a capable car for its size, and the only one most of us had way back in the early half of the 1990s. It is highly maneuverable and takes sharp bends quite comfortably. I have used it as the sole mode of transport in the hills of Uttaranchal(UP then) and large parts of North India without it ever breaking down or giving me grief(apart from punctures, dodging rioting/protesting Uttarakhandis or being stopped at scary looking check posts in Punjab at night). It may however struggle negotiating large potholes or rocks, unless used skillfully. I guess it depends upon the skill of the driver.

I have not driven in India for about 10 years now. I would not dare drive in Delhi, leave aside a highway (lot better now than ever before) or mountain roads. Just don't have the self confidence any more.

Milan

puchoo

Yes, it was not tough at all from what i recall..we did get stuck in a few places but then being an 800 we simply picked the car up and set off again...