I had already developed a love for the mountains when I did the Himalayan Spiti Escape with Mahindra Adventure in September 2018, and was already craving for more. So what could be next? My brother, who has been to Leh a couple of times, has regularly been harping about how awesome it is and a must visit. Not to mention, my other friends who’ve been there and all I did was read their experiences and see their pictures. And so, I was itching to go, more so do a road trip cause as they say, the real fun is in driving there. After the Spiti Escape, I had already expressed my interest to be part of another expedition, and as luck would have it, the Mahindra Adventure Team called and asked if I would like to a part of the 2019 Monastery Escape to Leh. ‘Hell Yea’, and I was already looking forward to hit the mountain roads again.
Mahindra Adventure has been doing the Monastery Escape for years now and I was to attend the 12th Edition of this mega expedition. The build up to the trip comprised of an official email giving me a low down of the itinerary of the days to come. The trip would start from Delhi on 5th June 2019 and end on the 15th in Leh. We would be driving on the Manali-Leh Highway via Jispa (or so we thought), and then heading to Nubra Valley from Leh for a couple of days. Additionally, we would be returning to Leh again, visiting Pangong Tso on the way.
A WhatsApp group was created a few days prior to the expedition for co-ordination and then, the day of departure dawned. There I was at Mumbai’s T1 airport, waiting to take my flight out to Delhi. The suspended operations of Jet Airways have made the domestic airport a crowded affair, and while I was at the verge of boredom, I happened to meet up with a couple of my fellow participants from the expedition, and that made for light and good conversation. Finally, the flight took off and we landed in a hot furnace like Delhi in the afternoon. A waiting cab took us to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Okha, which would be the starting point of the expedition.
On arrival at the hotel, I got done with the check-in and was handed over the welcome kit that included a camping tool, jacket, cap, small backpack with sipper and a personalized keychain with my name on it. I was also handed over a huge box full of snacks, soft drinks, chocolates etc. that I asked to be placed into my allotted car directly. Got my health check-up done with expedition on-board doctor, and the headed to my room to relax over lunch before the evening briefing.
Everyone gathered at the banquet hall for the pre-expedition briefing in the evening. Introductions of the participants took place and we were given a low-down on what to expect over the next 10 days. We met up with Selvin and Vinod from Mahindra Adventure and Raj Kapoor from XSO along with his team, who would be leading us on this road trip. Here is when we got to know the twist in the tail. The Manali – Leh highway was still closed for traffic due to snow, so a last minute change meant that we would now be doing the route to Leh via Amritsar, Srinagar and Kargil. So with change in itinerary announced, we headed to the lobby for allotment of vehicles by means of a lucky draw. Not for me though. My machine and companion for the expedition was already pre-alloted, a swanky orange XUV300. The other vehicles in the convoy comprised of Scorpio 4x4s, two Thars, a couple of XUV500s, another XUV300 and a Scorpio Getaway 4×4 service vehicle. The allotment was followed by a customary flag-off event and group photos.
Chit chat with other participants followed over dinner, and the best part about these expeditions is you get to meet so many lovely people from all walks of life. We had enthusiasts who had flown down from Thailand and even Denmark for this adventure. Rest assured, this was going to be one hell of a drive. Post dinner, everyone retired to their rooms all set to hit the road the next day early in the morning.
It was early rise and shine as we had to cover a distance of 449 kms to Amritsar. An early departure was necessary to beat the peak hour Delhi traffic and get out of the city. We had breakfast at around 6 am and then proceeded to load our cars with our luggage. The mood was upbeat and everyone was raring to go. We began by saying a small prayer for a safe journey, post which the convoy started to roll out of the hotel. Progress was decently quick, save for a couple of traffic lights where the convoy got split briefly. The roads were smooth on NH 44 and we made our first stop of the day at Karnal for tea and snacks. The weather was still hot and it would be a while till we would hit colder temperatures. At Karnal, the lead informed us that lunch would be at a surprise location and we couldn’t wait to find out more. We got our answer late afternoon when we pulled into the Haveli restaurant at Jalandar. The Haveli is a huge property and has a setup resembling a rural Punjabi village. The fare was pure vegetarian, but was totally authentic Punjabi cuisine. Everything on the thali right from the dal to the veggies and the soft rotis were lip-smacking delicious. After filling ourselves to the brim, we spent some time around the property before resuming our drive to our night halt. All the vehicles were tanked up with fuel just before entering Amritsar, where we checked into the Hyatt Regency for the night. While we were pretty tired and had an early start at 3.00 am the next morning, we couldn’t leave a chance to visit the famous Sri Harmandir Sahib or Golden Temple as its popularly known. A few of us set out post dinner and the good part is that the temple was just 4 kms away from the hotel. On reaching, we parked the cars and walked through a lively marketplace in the temple area before reaching the shrine premises. The feeling you get when you are there cannot be described in words. You just feel so over whelmed. We spent an hour just soaking in the divinity of the place and returned back to the hotel a little before midnight. With the early start lingering on my mind, I managed a couple of hours of sleep before getting ready to hot the road again.
Woke up at 2.30 am, freshened up and headed down to load my luggage into the car. The Advance team had already left towards Srinagar to keep us updated with road conditions and checking out rest stops. The 3 am start was necessary to reach to reach Srinagar before sundown. Packed breakfast was kept ready for the entire convoy by the Hyatt team and we finally got running at 3.30 after saying a short prayer. Everything was pretty dark once we got out of Amritsar city, and all that could be seen were the tail lights of our convoy vehicles moving along the empty highway. We stopped at a dhaba 100 kms later to polish off the packed breakfast that we carried along from the hotel. The drive ahead was quite scenic with road surfaces a mix between rough patches and smooth tarmac. A highlight of this drive was passing through the Chenani-Nashtri Tunnel. This is India’s longest tunnel spanning a length of 9.2 kms. This tunnel was thrown open to road users in April 2017 and reduces the travel time between Jammu and Srinagar by 2 hours, a distance of 30 kms. We entered Srinagar at around 3 pm followed by a late lunch. The food was one the most amazing that I have had in a long time. The non-veg Kashmiri dishes were incredibly delicious, and is probably the only time I had a heavy fill over the duration of this trip. Post lunch, we checked into the Radisson Srinagar for the night. There were floating plans of a visit to the Dal Lake in the evening along with a Shikara ride but those got canned as everyone decided to just relax at the hotel. Dinner was light as I was too stuffed from lunch earlier in the day. Retired to my room early, tomorrow we would be heading to Kargil.
The next morning wasn’t an early start, so it was a little easy. Couldn’t say the same thing about the drive though, as today we would be crossing the mighty Zoji La. On the request of most participants, yours truly included, we decided to take a detour while heading out of Srinagar, to check out the Dal Lake. We had a stop for around 20 minutes by the lake for photo ops and then continued onwards. We reached the beautiful Sonmarg for lunch. The view of the snow covered mountains was a sight to behold from the lunch table. It started to get chilly and out came my jacket before we got ready to hit the Zoji La. But as soon as the convoy rolled out, we got news that the pass was shut. So it was a waiting game of around half an hour before we actually got going. I had heard a lot about the challenging drive of the Zoji La but to actually experience it was a whole different ball game. Dodging truck traffic, going over non existent roads and passing broken down trucks meant it took us a good 5 hours to cross Zoji La eventually. Also not helping were the parked taxis at the pass top where there are snow sports on offer for tourists. Thanks to the delay, our plans for visiting the war memorial at Dras went for a toss, and we finally reached Kargil around 8.30 pm and checked into our hotel, ‘The Kargil’ a really nice property right in the middle of Kargil town. After freshening up, a bonfire night with music and dinner was just what the doctor ordered. Before retiring for the night, it was unanimously decided that we would visit the Kargil war memorial the next morning before heading to Leh.
We started off from Kargil at a little after 8 am post breakfast and headed in the opposite direction towards the Kargil war memorial at Dras. The memorial is built in memory of the soldiers that sacrificed their lives for the country during the 1999 India-Pakistan war. A stroll in the premises takes you to another dimension and it is a very overwhelming feeling. A large wall has the names of all the martyred soldiers and also hoisted is a large tri-colour that weighs 15 kg. An army officer gave us a presentation and low down on the war and he showed us the various peaks that our army conquered during the war. We even got a glimpse of the famous Tiger Hill. Additionally, there is a video room and a souvenir store as well.
The convoy started rolling towards Leh soon after, while the Advance team collected packed lunches for the group from our hotel. We stopped by a river side for a relaxed lunch session and photo posing. Post lunch, we resumed our drive to Leh and I have to say the roads by the BRO are a dream to drive on. Full black tarmac roads and mountain twisties make for a driver’s delight. We crossed two passes that exist between Kagil and Leh, the Fotu La and Namik La before arriving at the Lamayuru Monastery. It is one of the largest and oldest gompas in the Ladakh region.
It was a non-stop drive post Lamayuru passing some lovely moonscapes as the sun set over the mountains. We finally reached Leh at around 9 pm and checked into Hotel Glacier View, our abode for the next two nights. I headed straight to the dining hall before even seeing my room, in fact the whole group did, we were that hungry. Everyone was in a relaxed mood as the next day was going to be free day to explore Leh. Went up to my room to catch up on the Formula 1 race before dozing off.
The next morning was pretty chilled out and I took some sometime check out the property that I was staying in. The hotel has a lovely terrace on the first floor that gives you views of glaciers far off, true to its name. The hotel itself has an old world construction, with a spacious lobby and even a souvenir shop. Met up with some of my group members and we decided to hit the Leh market in the day. A few of us set off towards the main Leh market, which was just a 10-minute walk from our hotel. The market was already buzzing with activity, with locals and tourists strolling down the fantastically laid pathways. There are loads of shopping options here, and if you want to grab a bite, there’s no dearth of restaurants and cafés either, and they all serve multiple cuisines. After roaming around for an hour, including shopping, we settled down at Leh Café for a lunch of home made momos and pizza. We returned to the hotel by 3.00 pm, and took a breather before we set off again to visit the Thiksey Monastery.
The Thiksey Monastery is located outside Leh, at an altitude of 11,800 ft. There are a total of 80 steps that lead up to the monastery and while these will leave you gasping for breath by the time you reach the top, the view and the feeling of calm that you get once you are up there is worth it. A highlight of this monastery is a 49 ft high statue of the Maitreya Buddha. It took four years to build and was erected to commemorate the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama to the monastery in 1970.
We retuned to the hotel a little before sunset and the rest of the evening was all about letting your hair down and partying over food, drinks and a bonfire. The next day we would be driving to Nubra Valley via the Khardung La, claimed to be the highest motorable pass in the world.
The next morning wasn’t a very early start and the convoy began to roll post breakfast towards Khardung La which is at a distance of 40 kms from Leh. The total distance to Nubra was 160 kms. As we started driving, the Advance team was already way ahead of us and soon we got an update on the radio that there was snowfall at Khardung La. This was totally the news I waiting for, since I have never experienced snow fall in my life before. The solo drive up to Khardung La was just breathtaking and one of the best drives I have done. My companion, the XUV300 was rock solid as we made the climb up. Its compact dimensions made it very easy to slot into gaps and maneuvering broken roads. We couldn’t spend too much time at the top due to snowfall, so it was a quick photo click and move scenario. However, because of traffic, we did spend some time playing in the snow on the descend from Khardung La. We stopped over for lunch at a dhaba before heading non stop to Nubra. We reached ‘Royal Camps’ just before sunset and were welcomed with rain and a hot cuppa chai. The tent was pretty cozy and a stream flowing through the property had a charm of its own. The best part about staying in tent camps is being right in the midst of nature. Evening was spent with chatter over dinner and plans for the next day. We were given two choices, visiting the hot springs or doing off-roading in the sand. No prizes for guessing what we chose. We wrapped up early for the night, reason being Nubra gets electricity only between 7 pm to 11 pm.
The next morning, we started off for the sand dunes post breakfast. On reaching the designated spot, Selvin and Vinod gave us a short crash course on the basics of off-roading and sand off-roading. A bunch of Scorpios and a Thar were chosen for the off-road activity, the rest being parked away. Tyres pressure was reduced for a wider contact patch with the sand. Everyone took turns to drive on the trail, and when not driving, others posed for pictures on the empty road surrounded by the dunes. We also got some Bollywood trivia as this was the very spot where a portion of the ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ bollywood film was shot. Some from the gang also took to ATV rides that were on offer. After all the adventurous stuff, we had a few photo sessions before heading back. We stopped at the Desert Himalayan camp for lunch, where we were also treated to a traditional dance performance by the locals.
Post lunch, we hung around for a while at the camp premises for a while. Later, some participants decided to return to camp while a few of us decided to pay a visit to the Maitreya Buddha at the Diskit Monastery. This statue of Buddha is really a sight to behold. It faces the Shyok river and is 106 feet high. It can be seen from almost anywhere and is said to protect the Diskit village around the monastery. After returning to camp, the evening comprised of dinner and a bonfire before retiring for the night.
The next morning, it was time to head back to Leh, but not before a visit to the famous Pangong Tso. A standee writing session and a prayer later, we were on our way. The route we took this time was via Durbuk. The roads were a mix of smooth tarmac and broken patches. We also spotted quite a few yaks and marmots, an enlarged species of squirrel who are famous inhabitants of this region. After a tea stop at Tangste, it was non-stop to Pangong where we reached around afternoon. The first glimpse of the beautiful lake through the mountains is absolutely blissful. Only when you reach the lake, you realize that it hasn’t been spared from commercialization. The lake is a salt water lake and is ¾ in China an ¼ in India. It became famous after the Bollywood flick ‘3 Idiots’ was shot there and has become a hot tourist destination ever since. There are quite a few dhabas set up there along with ‘3 Idiots’ replica seats and scooters closer to the water front making it a selfie paradise. We had a quick lunch at one of the dhabhas and drove 10 km further to a secluded spot where we could enjoy the lake in peace. There is a beautiful feeling of tranquility and calm when you hear the sound of the water brushing against the shore. We spent over an hour soaking in the serene surroundings before starting our final drive of the expedition to Leh.
Our final drive to Leh took us via the famous Chang La, claimed to be the second highest motorable pass at 17,590 ft. The climb up was pretty tough with extremely broken roads, black ice and snow. The ‘Avalanche Area’ sign boards did little to calm everyone. We reached the top but couldn’t stay there for long. It was very cold so we just took our customary photos, paid respects to the Changla Baba temple and we were on our way. ‘Headlights on, seatbelts on’ was heard on the radio for the final time.
The last 80 km were covered briskly and it was a mixed feeling of emotions all the way. Even though there was one more day left in the trip, this was the last official drive. Banter on the radios ensured that time just flew by and we rolled into Leh hotel by around 8.30 pm. Cars parked, engine switched off, this was the end. We checked into our rooms, met up for dinner and later it was a chit chat all the way late into the night.
The next morning was a pretty lazy one with no agenda on mind. Plans for the day were being cooked up at the breakfast table, where to go, what to do etc. Team XSO and Mahindra announced that the evening party would also be a traditional evening of sorts where every convoy member would wear traditional attire. That got everyone excited. Cut back to the day, while some decided to venture out towards Magnetic Hill, others decided to hire some motorbikes and go for a ride. I decided to stay put at the hotel and later headed for lunch with a couple of my mates to The Tibetan Kitchen, a restaurant famous for its local cuisine in town. The restaurant had traditional décor with both indoor and outdoor seating. Ordered some delicacies like Chicken Thukpa and Mutton Sabagleb which were enough to full our tummies. Post the lip smacking lunch, we took a walk through the market for some last minute shopping before returning back to the hotel.
The evening started with a traditional dance performance organized by the hotel for us. It was a wonderful display or culture and colourful costumes. We also got a low down on the history of each dance. This was followed by a ramp walk by all the participants in traditional attire and handout of certificates to everyone. Sharing of memories from the trip and a vote of thanks later, it was fun and frolic, dance, food, hugs and photos all the way into the night.
The sun rose next morning and the mood was somber. It was time to leave. Many of our friends had already left due to their early flights. The rest us had breakfast, loaded our luggage into the waiting XUVs and head to Leh airport at around 8.30 am for out 10.30 flight to Delhi. As the flight took off, I reflected on the past 10 days as I gazed at the snow covered mountains from the aircraft window. Time just flew by and I was going back with memories and friends for a life time. We landed at Delhi and everyone went their separate ways after goodbyes and one final group selfie. A couple of hours later, I was back in my car in Mumbai rush hour traffic, missing the mountains and wanting to go back.
The Spiti Escape I went to last year had raised my expectations for the next one, and the 2019 Monastery Escape did not disappoint. Organization and execution by Team Mahindra Adventure and Team XSO was top notch. Not a single hiccup during the 10 day drive. And I can’t end my travelogue without the mention of the XUV300, my faithful sidekick on this trip. Even after having driven it in the city, driving the baby Mahindra on that kind of terrain was an experience in itself. No 4×4, but it more than kept up with its siblings the Scorpio, XUV500 and the Thar on this expedition. The powerful engine, smooth gearbox and compact size made for the perfect mountain goat. All this with every creature comfort that one needs.  It was always on my bucket to drive all the way to Leh, and thanks to Mahindra Adventure, I can now mark a tick on that one. I’m already looking forward to the next expedition, but till then, memories from this epic adventure will be on my mind for a long time to come.
