Welcome to Sarchu!
A quaint little town
that's closed 7 months of the year
because the cold and landslides
make it unaccessible.
This experience,
this grandeur of these mountains
make it completely worth it.
Now, we're on our way to Leh.
This
is the awesome
infamous
Gata loops
India's Grand Canyon if you will
Currently at 14000 feet,
above sea level
the air is thin
it's getting a little harder to breathe
but I've taken my Diamox pills.
The Duster has been performing incredibly well
and just look at this view!
So we're in Baank
at very famous
Sonam aunty's dhaba which
is now more of a tourist attraction
than just a dhaba.
You see, this place
was opened 30 years ago
by a single lady
and the altitude is 16000 feet.
Off camera she told us that it was her love for food
and her heart to serve people
is what drove her to start this place up.
And today in 2016
you can still get a full thali
with unlimited fill-ins
for just 30 rupees!
If you ever get here
I do recommend the tomato soup!
We're at the beautiful More plains
It's a beautiful stretch of tarmac
surrounded by these amazing mountains.
We're over 16000 feet
up in the air
it's a little bit hard to breathe
Now we're on the way to Tanglangla
which is the second highest motorable pass in the world
over 16500 feet
We've been advised not get out of the car but,
you know we're gonna do that!
Unbelievable
is an apt word to describe this place!
We're 17582 feet
above sea level
and I can feel the air is so thin
Every breath I take
is hard palpitations on my heart!
This place is famous
for it's all religion temple
and each of these
stone thumpas here
represent
an homage
asking for goodluck on our journey forward
and
I think I am going to do just that
Cuz looks like we're gonna need it.
So one thing
people don't talk about a lot while doing these
mountain journeys is
just how dry and dehydrating the weather can be.
And what better way to freshen yourself
than some fresh
himalayan
water.
Boy that's cold!
But man
that feels so good
alright
onwards to Leh.
We left Sarchu early in the morning
when it was in the low single digit temperatures.
And after 14 hours of
incredible driving with challenging terrain
crazy amount of temperature variations
we've finally made it
to Leh!