Day 14

Day - 14.
Date: 28th August 2014
Route:  Chittorgarh to Mumbai
Distance covered: 898 kms.

Again we started out early and took the same route back that we had taken while coming. Chittorgarh - Udaipur - Rishabhdev - Modasa - Malpur - Lunawada - Godhra - Vejalpur - Halol - Vadodara - Bharuch - Surat - Mumbai.
We made halt at Vadodara again for some amazing lunch at my in-laws place. We are so much that we felt like just staying put for sometime. Yet we continued and reached Mumbai by 8.30pm.
Thus ended our 14 day sojourn. It was an amazing amazing experience. I think now I have been bitten by the travel bug and I am gonna have many more trips. Driving your own car at your own pace makes the journey more important than the destination. It does not matter where we want to reach. The drive itself is fun. Another trip to Ladakh is a must and this time with a little more time at hand. There are places in Ladakh, I want to spend some more time at. There are circuits that I have not done. There are some routes that we did not try this time as it was our first time. And next time it's gonna be family trip. 
Ladakh is a masterpiece. Every moment of it has been tastefully created by nature. The landscape keeps changing every few minutes and though there are mountains and even more mountains, every mountain is different. They are so enigmatic. There is so much beauty and yet it is sometimes scary. The whole landscape is dry, barren, sand and desert with patches of greens along the rivers. There are so many colours and I kept wondering where they came from. Some mountains are sandy, gravel some are rocky. Some are strewn with large rounded boulders as if it were once a river bed. Some rises are inclined. Amazing patterns.
The local people of J&K are so helpful. They are the ones who have made our journey so much more endearing. They stay in some of the worst climatic and hilly areas. They work hard and they still smile for your photographs. They go out of the way to make your trip and stay as comfortable as possible.
Amazing is the word. It is beyond words. It is a must must must must ..... visit.

Day 13

Day - 13.
Date: 27th August 2014
Route:  Delhi to Chittorgarh via Agra
Distance covered: 821 kms.

We started very early as we had to spend some time visiting the Taj Mahal. And good we did. We found empty roads in Delhi and Noida. And then the Yamuna expressway. We reached Agra in little less than 3 hours and visited the Taj in the morning while it was still cool. The humidity was high but manageable. We took a guide for ourselves who showed us around the Taj narrating history and telling fun facts. The poor fellow had been robbed of money by internet fraud just a day back. We decided that next time we will come to Agra to see the Taj in the full moonlight. We made our purchases and we proceeded further. The road from Agra to Jaipur was in a very bad shape uptil the UP border. Beyond that it was a cake walk. We drove from Jaipur - Kishangarh - Bhilwara - Chittorgarh. Long day today. We reached our hotel at 10pm. Just enough time for a shower and bed.

Day 12

Day - 12.
Date: 26th August 2014
Route:  Mandi to Delhi
Distance covered: 491 kms.

We got a bit delayed in starting and travelled via Mandi - Ner Chowk - Bilaspur/Una - Kiratpur - Ropar -Banur - Ambala - Panipat - Delhi
The roads from Mandi up to Kiratpur were bad with huge craters. We renamed Kiratpur to Kraterpur. It was an uneventful drive. We stopped at two places for refreshments. Punjabi Lassi. And ultimately stopped at Murthal for the famous Parathas with Makkhan. They were good.
We stayed the night at Ashok brother’s place. Delhi was very hot.

Day 11

Day - 11.
Date: 25th August 2014
Route: Keylong to Mandi
Distance covered: 238 kms.

Today we covered the shortest distance of the whole trip.
The route was Keylong - Tandi - Shooling - Sissoo - Gramphoo - Rohtang Pass - Manali - Mandi
The road from Keylong to Rohtang was again bad. And it took us most of the time travelling this. We were expecting snow at Rohtang as we had been told earlier that Rohtang Pass has snow all round the year. And so we wore warm clothes and prepared for it. We were surprised to find no snow there. Snow was present only in patches and that too way up from the road. We stopped at Rohtang for a while and then moved on.
While descending from the Rohtang pass we stopped and enjoyed Paragliding all the way upto Marhi. Paragliding is a wonderful experience. We would have gone upto Kothi which is almost 30 kms from there, but the wind conditions were not favourable.
We reached Manali and then spent some time shopping in the market there.
We then proceeded further and had the Norwegian trout which is bred only in Norway and at Manali as it requires ice cold flowing water. It is a delicacy not to be missed.
We travelled upto Mandi and stayed there for the night.

Day 10

Day - 10.
Date: 24th August 2014
Route: Leh to Keylong
Distance covered: 370 kms.

We started early and most of our day was spent travelling. The initial 200 kms of the journey was good roads and the later part was very bad roads.
The route covered was Leh - Thikshey - Karu - Upshi - Tanglang la - Debring - More Plains - Pang - Sarchu - Jispa - Keylong

Tanglang La is the second highest motorable road. We experienced snow fall for the first time there. It was an amazing experience.  Just after Tanglang La, we passed Debring and after that started the More plains which are vast stretches of open land bordered by mountains at such a height above sea level. We passed another pass the Lachung La. After which we experienced the Gata Loops. There are almost 20 loops of road on one side of the mountain. After this we left J & K behind and entered Himachal Pradesh. The roads were very good upto Sarchu. After Sarchu, the road was riddled with pot holes and mud, sand and as we climbed the mountains, land slides had taken a toll. We were totally shaken and much of the time was spent on concentrating on the road and avoiding the pot holes. Yet it was a beautiful road with several snake turns.
We reached Keylong in the evening and checked into Hotel Valley view for the night which was again a decent stay. Nothing extravagant but very comfortable.