The Drama before the Journey!

So, the tickets have been booked now, what next? You plan!

This is how Arun started the countdown to the day we bwgin the journey -

Slowly, the count in the counter got smaller and smaller. We had just booked the tickets from leh to Delhi, and left the rest to later. At one point of time we thought about booking the air tickets from Delhi to Leh as well, but that plan was rejected by everybody, and rightly so, because we would have ended up missing the best part of the trip - the Journey to Leh from Manali. And, as they say - its not the destination, its the journey. And, this holds true even more-so for a trip to Leh-Ladakh. Any trip to Leh, is incomplete if you didn't do the Manali-Leh highway. And, as it turned out, according to me that was the best part of the complete journey. Just to give a glimpse of what we would have ended up missing if we had taken a flight to Leh, instead of the road -

 

Now, you know what I am talking about :)

Initially, I had doubts about my leaves getting approved due to some planned deliveries. I had a word with my manager and told him about my leave plans, and he asked me to create a backup for myself for the duration I was away. I trained another of my colleague on the tasks that may be required to be done during those 6 days, created documents and left no stone unturned to make sure that my leaves don’t get rejected. Just a month before the trip, I was offered an ‘onsite’ assignment in Hyderabad for 2-3 months, which I promptly refused stating that I am going to Ladakh during that period. The manager was surprised, and somehow I just made him realize that there was no point in cancelling my leaves :) Luckily, the project plan for the month of July was shared and the time from 19-29 July was relatively free for me, and this just assured me that office would not be the reason for me to skip this trip, and I was determined to not miss this one for any other reason, come what may!

Somewhere around March/April Rohit mooted the idea of  taking a package tour, but that sounded oh-so-uncool and was quickly rejected by Arun and Me. Slowly, the counter ticked and we were in May and double digits now!

 

We still had no other plan, apart from tickets from Leh to Delhi. Apart from a few discussions where we decided that we would be leaving on the evening on 19th July by bus to Manali, stay in Manali for a day and on 21st leave from Manali to reach Leh (still not sure how). June began, and finally we took the second step and bookings were done for the Volvo bus from Delhi to Manali. Finally, we were moving now and more discussions started about the plan. Rohit started enquiring about the options we had of reaching Leh from Manali. Till now we were 7 people, so hiring a car was thought of but rejected as this would have meant too cramped a journey for everyone. Finally we settled in for a tempo Traveller, no doubt it was not going to be as comfortable as maybe some car but that was the only option we had. The period of 19-29 July lied in the month of Ramzan and with Saif having his Rozas we did not wanted to risk anything. The terrain in the Himalyas can be back-breaking and at heights of 14000 ft and more, it can certainly turn out to be a thankless journey for your body. Climate changing within minutes, lowering oxygen levels, temperature fluctuating between Hot and Cold like a pendulum, it takes a toll on your body and if you are fasting for a complete day things can get dangerous too. We were not ready to take any chances, and Saif was ready to battle it out.

Almost all of us were now sure of going, leaves were approved – there were a few ifs and buts, but they were all those could have been handled/managed. Rohit/Nidhi still had to inform at home – Rohit was confident of convincing their parents. Bhavna, as Arun told had some issues at home – but it never sounded alarming enough. And, we were all set to go. One day, on Whatsapp – as had been from the start we were discussing something, and bang comes a message from Saif which says – “I wont be able to come…” BOOM!! Saif was the first casuality, he had reasons due to which his leaves were not getting approved.

End of June, and 20 odd days to go – and the number of people was now down to 6 from the earlier 7. Still, we only had tickets from Leh to Del and from Del to Manali. With only 6 people now, getting a Tempo Traveller was out of question – it would not have made any sense and an Innova was the best choice now, economically and otherwise too. Rohit, had almost confirmed and negotiated a deal with a driver in Manali, but with change in the number of people the logistics had to change as well. Another agent was contacted, and another deal was negotiated for the trip from Manali to Leh.

Meanwhile, in the hills another problem of monstrous proposition was raising its head. And the head of this monster was big, really big. Rains had arrived, and this time they were bad. What happened in Uttarakhand is something which just makes you realize, what you are in front of the fury of the Nature. Overflowing rivers, cloudbursts, people dying, villages destroyed, cars/buses being gulped by the river as if they were small pebbles in its path – helplessness was all you could feel. Even though the condition in Uttarakhand was bad, Himachal was largely untouched by the wrath of the nature as of now. But, the over-zealous and irresponsible media wasn’t doing any favors. People panicked and all of a sudden we had another problem at our hand! It would be rainy in Manali was what I was prepared for from the start, but I was not prepared for daily screenshots of the weather in Manali from everybody in the group. Arun, Amitesh started sharing how bad is it in Manali or how bad it would be in Manali when we arrive there. Amitesh sharing some random picture of the Beas river, and saying that it is overflowing was really one big WTF moment of the pre-trip discussion. Below are some of the sample of the kind of pics which were being shared –

Among, all this negativity flowing around – I was determined to complete the trip come what may! I was prepared to go alone, if everyone chickened out. Thus began the alternate planning. I browsed up forums, called HPTDC helplines and found out what options I had if I had to eventually go alone. To my relief there were a couple of options if I wished to travel alone – HPTDC runs a bus service from Manali to Leh, and tickets could be booked online, there was a bus service from Delhi to Leh as well. I also had an option to take a shared cab. I subscribed to varioud forums telling about the road status from Manali to Leh. Contrary to what was being discussed on our Whatsapp group, the Live reports were very different. Things, as is expected in the hills could be a little uncertain – but I was sure there was no way they could have allowed this highway to be closed for more than a couple of days. The Army controls it, and it is one of the major link to the Ladakh region. I was pretty confident of making it through, even if as predicted by every Tom, Dick and Harry about Landslides and torrential rains do happen, the road will eventually open in a couple of days at max. All I had to do was reach Manali, and from there on take each day as it comes.

As the day neared, we had to get started with the bookings. Arun, suggested to wait for some more days or book only if the booking amount was refundable. Amitesh, made no bones about the fact that he did not prefer going during the rains. The frustration level was just increasing. Finally, as the day neared – we decided to get done with the bookings, as in spite of all the apprehensions no one really had the guts to back out, at this stage ;) Who would have liked to be left out, when others went ahead with the plan.

A few weeks before the trip started and, with all the drama going about – we took the next step and booked the Innova from Manali to Leh for the morning of 21st July. Rohit, confirmed from everyone before making the advance payment and finally he did pay the advance. A few days later, I booked the hotel in Manali. As the day approached, there was some discussion around where to stay en-route Leh, whether to stay at Jispa or Sarchu? Sarchu was the mid-point of the route and made more sense. But, Sarchu was also notorious – it was at a height of around 14000 ft, and reaching there from Manali non-stop and spending a night is an open-invitation to AMS(Acute Mountain Sickness). The other option was to stay at Jispa, which was at a lower height of around 11000 ft, it was the suggested stoppage for first-timers. After a lot of discussions, we did zero it down to Jispa – Rohit called up a guy who had his tents there, and booked them (no advance). The only disadvantage of Jispa was that, the journey next day would be more hectic, as we would reach Jispa very early and a lot of time would be wasted.

The next part was the bokings at Leh – a few days before 19th july I called up a few guest houses, and enquired about the rates. All, of them quoted almost the same price – the dilemma was which one to choose. One of Rohit’s friend had visited Leh a few weeks back, and we finally decided to take his recommendation and booked the guest house he had stayed in.

So, now with only a couple of days left – we had things falling into place:

• Delhi to Manali bus bookings – Check!
• Manali hotel bookings – Check!
• Manali to Leh Car – Check!
• Overnight stay at Jispa – Check!
• Guest House bookings at Leh – Check!
• Leh to Delhi flight tickets -  Check!

Below is the snapshot of the itenary which I prepared –

All set and waiting for the D-Day now!

Next - The Journey begins!