Jispa

Day 26 – Lato to Jispa – 19 Sep 2018

The temperature was zero degrees and there was some difficulty in getting the car started, still not too bad as the previous day in Pangong. We have to cross four high altitude passes before reaching Jispa – TanglangLa, LungalachaLa, Nakee La, and BaralachaLa. Also on the way, we will be driving on the Moore plains and also the scary Gata loops. 

We got to our first pass Tanglang La very soon and the roads so far were really good. But my daughter threw up just before reaching TanglangLa, mostly because of the winding roads. However she was fine after that. The view at the pass was spectacular, with prayer flags all fluttering around, but the mountain passes have become more of a habit for us now! The landscape was ever changing, and we could see magnificent and weird canyon like landforms along the highway, which looks like sand projections. We couldn’t find traces of any population, and the roads looked all lonely! 

Giving a temporary pause to the winding roads, a long stretch of flat barren lands came to our relief. That was the Moray plains, offering an amazing view of the mighty mountains around! We stopped very often on the lonely roads, to click pictures as this is such a great place to be. There were flocks of sheep at the plains grazing over the rare patches of greenery, and seeing them walk along the highway was a blissful view!

We reached Pang without any difficulty as the roads were smooth. After we left Gya, there isn’t any place on the way to even have a tea, for almost 100 kms, until we reach Pang. It took us three hours to reach Pang from Gya. It was 11.50am and we decided to eat something at Pang because we were sure we are not going to find anything until we reach Sarchu. Distance between Pang and Sarchu is around 100kms, but it’s going to take a lot of your time, because of the extremely bad road conditions.

And for anyone travelling from Leh to Manali, make sure you eat something from Pang, because once you cross Pang, you don’t literally get anything until you reach Sarchu!

We had our light lunch at Pang- with the usual Maggi and tea combo – and continued. As soon as we moved from Pang and took the first turn we got an idea of what nature has in store for us – the treacherous roads start!! And the first thing we got to see was two trucks showing some real driving skills to pass each other at a dangerous curve. 

My piece of advice for whoever planning to drive on this way – “Do honk whenever required and make sure you plan and stop the vehicle way before to give enough space . Don’t expect the other person to stop and finally get stuck, ending up forced to come in reverse gear all the way back. It’s really dangerous and difficult. The roads were winding and winding, and the car crossed mountains by mountains, connected via bridges over the Indus river. Mountains changed their colour and shade as the sun moved across, and the entire route scared us and mesmerised us at the same time! We were lucky enough to spot Himalayan musk deers grazing on the mountain slopes in groups. After crossing two more passes – LachungLa and NakeeLa, we reached the infamous Gata loop, a series of  hairpin bends taking us down the mountain pass.  We forgot to stop at the passes and click pictures because we were fully focused on the roads, which really tested our patience and our cars ground clearance for 100 long kms, which took almost 5 hours to cover. 

After the Gata Loops, we reached Sarchu, where a lot of tent accommodations can be found on the highway. However, it is not a good idea to stay here because it is still at a very high altitude, and people might feel difficulty in breathing. We stopped at one small restaurant for a late lunch of rice and hot lentils! When we asked for toilet, the girl sitting at the reception gave us a small key and pointed to a place outside.  As we approached the place, we saw a roofless toilet, properly locked. Wife was little insecure initially, because the walls were not that tall and as we stand inside the toilet, everything around is visible. However the toilets were neatly maintained, and we used them for a completely different experience.

Explaining the road from Sarchu and the experiences related to that is going to take forever. There was no road at many places, testing your ground clearance very often. Don’t lose patience ending up driving fast, it might hurt the vehicle badly and you might end up in a wrong situation at a very wrong place. You can’t expect any help nearby. So we were slowly sailing through the bad roads, until the real struggle stopped us.

A bridge had fallen down, and we were left with no more road ahead. All the vehicles were coming in reverse gear as there is a different route to take. Even we took the reverse and waited for the truck in front of us to go ahead so that we can follow the route it takes. I was literally shocked to see that the truck is planning to cross a river to reach the other side. When I tell a “river”, it’s not a small stream. It was a proper river flow :D. OMG!! Anyways, there is nowhere to escape to, you have to face it, whatever it has to offer! I waited for the truck to cross the river. Once it crossed, I decided to try my luck.

The car slowly moved forward on the pebble like rocks of the river, and suddenly got stuck in the middle. I tried few times to take it forward, but without any luck. I got nervous, got out of the car and stepped into the chilling cold water. I didn’t feel the cold that time because of tension, and checked the vehicle’s underbody and it has not touched the ground. That gave me a relief as I understood it is the tyre that is stuck. I waited for sometime, and started the car again. This time I was successful and luckily crossed one easy section, but there was a more challenging part yet to be crossed. I stopped the car to the side, as I needed to relax a bit. I waited for other vehicles to go. The truck behind me crossed so easily. And then it was the chance of an Innova coming from the other side. I walked into the water, wanted to closely observe how the Innova is going to do this. I went and stood in the middle of the river. He was a crazy cab driver and he drove swiftly like an F1 car through the river. I felt what he did was not the best. Though he reached the other end, I am sure he would have spoilt his shock absorbers and underbody should have got some serious troubles. And then one more truck crossed. I talked to the truck driver. He told me, “Go slow,  except for a couple of rocks in the middle, which makes it difficult, this is an easy task, you will make it!”. I went into the river again to analyse. Came back and sat in the car to prepare myself. That is when I saw a foreign biker struggling to cross from other side. As I watched him getting stuck in the middle of the river, I could feel his nervousness. I got into the water once again, rushed to him, pushed his bike out of a rock and he could escape. He was so happy that he stopped the bike on the other side of the river, and exclaimed that he will watch from there while I cross. I didn’t think much, just got into the car, and started off slowly, stone by stone. I could hear my daughter shouting in excitement “I am going to give you a medal, for helping that person cross the river!! You are world’s best Paappa”. The pebble like rocks kept moving as we drove on them, and started making a lot of scary noise. I could feel one or two of them scratching my underbody. And finally, we came out of it with such a relief and feeling of achievement. I looked back at the biker standing on the other side, and wished him good luck and he left. I stopped the car and got out, removed my shoes which was completely drenched in water. I couldn’t feel my toes as they were in chilling cold water from almost half an hour. I wiped everything, changed my shoes and sat in the car.

It was already 6 in the evening and it was almost dark. One sumo driver came and stopped near us. He was watching us struggle and finally cross the river. He appreciated and told, ”Your patience helped you to come out of this. Well done. 🙂 Have a safe journey”. That was the best of motivations anyone could give. Sometimes, even the shortest of words at the right moment gives us so much of energy. As we continued our journey, wife explained her anxieties while sitting in the car in the middle of the river. She was already thinking on whether the water will wash away the car as the force of the flow increases by morning. I would have killed her if she had told this while we were down in the river!

The road ahead was more or less the same. Bad and worse. The roads disappeared at times. Near Barachula Pass, I could trace the road just with the tyre marks of the truck that went ahead of us. Roads were filled with stones, rocks, and water at many places. And finally as we were winding down to Jispa, I just stopped the car at a random place to take a moment to feel the complete darkness and silence before us, by switching off the car light! I stepped out of the car to take a deep breath, and just felt myself dissolving in the tranquility of the darkness! We drove further and slowly started spotting houses and lights here and there. After a long stretch of drive in the wilderness with the lone company of barren mountains, we felt as if we were again back to social life! We could find a decent and cheap stay as soon as we reached Jispa by 8.45 pm. Relief and peace. Time to go for a sound sleep to reward ourselves for successfully completing one hell of a drive!

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