Determined to escape the Delhi heat and to take Suzanne's parents to Ladakh, we did an overland trip to Ladakh this summer. Here are some of the photos that documents our drive. All photos taken on the Canon S90
we stopped in Amritsar and paid visit to the Golden temple...
Golden temple in Amritsar
the second day, we drove up to Srinagar..
and of course had to visit the floating market of Srinagar
we stayed in Bilal's houseboat, The Yellow Submarine... here, his nephew is seen on the deck.
After spending few days in Srinagar, we decided to drive up to Leh. An Indian soldier guarding the Zoji La.
The 434 km Srinagar-Leh highway crosses the Zoji La (Pass) at 11500ft or 3505 mts high. Photo: Suzanne Lee
only one way traffic is allowed
beautiful Drass!
2nd coldest inhabited place in the world, really?
reaching the pass.
photo: Suzanne Lee
Fotu la, highest point in Srinagar - Leh highway at 13475 ft above sea level
set among the moonscape badlands...
... is Lamayuru Monastery... we spent a night in this small village with an adorable family.
good roads, finally!
so, we didn't really get this phenomenon that defies gravity. Apparently if you park you car in a small square in the middle of the road (where our jeep is parked) one defies gravity. We did, nothing happened....
...and kept waiting till a bus came and honked! I think thats what it is, if we stayed longer and disrupted the traffic, someone was going to push us off the hill and we would fly down the valley and hence, defy gravity!
In Leh, Suzanne carried on with the annual ritual of putting new prayer flags on our jeep.
we took it easy and drove to Hemis Monastery outside of Leh
...and we pushed the giant prayer wheels...
...and thought of friends and family in our prayers...
on our way back to Leh, we stopped to take some photos in dramatic Ladakh dusk light
... and we posed...
...and again...
...and again...
...with family..
...without family...
and sometimes just the two of us...
Thiksey Gompa few kms outside of Leh
14 m high Buddha in Thiksey
offering prayers
monk overlooking the valley
family portrait
on the way to Nubra Valley
world's hightest motorable road in the world, The Khardung La at 5359 mt or 18380 ft above sea level, and freezing cold!!
poor chida was freezing, but he loves snow... runs around like a rabbit on snow!
driving to Tsomoriri lake
the landscape was breathtaking
and maggi was awesome!
the woman who made the maggi for us
an Indian Army soldier who was waiting for the phone booth to open so he could make a phone call to his family in Jammu.
awesome drive
road leading to the lake, last tar roads leading to Tsomoriri Lake
driving on sandy roads is fun...
..not when you get stuck in sand, and its dusk, and when you cannot find a single soul around, and definitely not when you are next to a frozen lake!
once we managed to get the jeep out of sand... we drove straight to the Korzok village to spend the night.
How much ever beautiful the lake looks, i must add that it surely was the coldest night!
at the end of it all, we travelled approx 3500 kms in 15 days...
Delhi - Amritsar - Srinagar - Leh - Khardung La - Tsomoriri - Srinagar - Pathankot - Delhi
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