Leh on Nexon
29/09 Sunday was supposed to be a rest day according to my original plan. But the puncture near Sarchu changed it to a business day as usual! I consulted Otsal about the nearby tyre repair shop. But, he told me that being a Sunday, all these establishments would be closed. I could try the next day. But, I was restless. We unloaded the luggage and stacked them neatly in the room. I wanted to get it repaired as soon as possible. We were treated with my favourite Ladakhi bread for our breakfast. We were taken to their garden by the hosts and shown around. Otsal's dad, Sonam visited Bylakuppe monastery in Karnataka. He suggested the oldest
Alchi monastery for us. He told us, "If you visit Alchi monastery, you don't have to visit any other!". We were given garden-fresh apples and apricots. Very friendly people.
We left around noon. I started driving towards Manali NH. This is where I got the punctured tyre of my erstwhile XUV 500 repaired in 2017. But, all the tyre repair shops were closed. On the outskirts, I met one Norbu, who was pumping air using his portable pump into the rear right tyre of his Wagon R. I stopped by and enquired with him. He asked me to follow him as he was also in search of a tyre repairer. We drove upto Choglamsar, but could not locate even a single tyre repairer. By that time, Norbu's tyre became totally flat. He sought my help. I asked him to accompany me with the punctured wheel, so that we could search for the elusive tyre repairer. He did not have the wheel spanner. I gave him mine. He jacked up his Wagon R, dismantled the punctured wheel, put it in Blue Diamond's boot and jointly we started searching. Finally, we could locate one tyre repair shop near Kendriya Vidyalaya. He repaired my punctured tyre and put it back at the rear right with the alloy rim. The OE spare went back to the boot. Norbu's tyre was damaged beyond repair. As suggested to him, he bought a tube to be put inside the tubeless tyre for temporary use. I paid 80 rupees for the service rendered. We went back to Choglamsar to drop Norbu. He thanked me and we parted after shaking hands. Mentally relieved after the tyre repair, I started looking for a car wash. But again, all of them were closed. We returned to our home stay in the evening. We went for a long walk to the main market and had our dinner there.
On 30/09 Monday, I gave Otsal our Aadhaar cards and requested him to arrange for the permits for Nubra valley and Pangong Tso. Then, we started driving on Srinagar NH in search of a car wash. When I spotted one, I got Blue Diamond washed and polished thoroughly. The car wash owner Danish and his workers were all from Kashmir. Danish told me that his parents were in Kashmir. He requested us to pray for them and Kashmir. The boy, who washed the car, wanted to know the employment opportunities in Chennai or Bangalore. He wanted to come there for a better job. After the wash and polish, Blue Diamond started glittering again! I paid 500 rupees to Danish for the full wash. Then, we drove to Alchi monastery as suggested by Otsal's dad. We lunched there. On our way back, we visited Sangam of Indus and Zanskar. We also saw many Nexon, Tigor, Tiago and XUV 300 being test-driven on the highway with temporary registration plates.
We returned to the guest house in the evening. Otsal gave us our permits with some photocopies. I paid 1,200 rupees for the permits. We had our dinner there and settled our bills. I told my hosts that we would be checking out by 6 am, the next day. We loaded all the luggage in the boot and rear seat. We wished our hosts good bye and called it a day.
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