Date:- 25.5.2022, Day 8 :- Leh | AND |
Date:- 26.5.2022, Day 9 :- Leh to Hanle
Day 8 :- It was a rest day for me at Leh. I wanted to roam around Leh Market, walk in local streets, eat good food and sleep.
These are list of some good restaurant , who serve good food at Leh.
These four are at Fort Road, Leh :-
1) The Tibetan Kitchen
2) Gesmo Restaurant
3) Dogra Dhaba
4) Lamayuru Restaurant
And
5) Neha Snacks
It is at Main Market , Leh
I had lunch at The Tibetan Kitchen. And dinner at Gesmo Restaurant.
All my permit work was done by My friend Ken Agrawal of www.unpluggedlife.in .
This is Me with Mr Ken Agrawal & MR Chamba Rinchen at their office near Leh Main Market.
This is LINK to their web page.
And their contact number is 8451057819
Ken did online permit and gave me print outs. I took permit of all the places, even if I had no plan to visit them. I kept a digital copy of permit in my mobile.
There is NO specific permit for UMLING LA PASS.
The permit of Hanle is sufficient to visit Umling La Pass.
This is Mr Ken Agrawal of Unpluggedlife.in with me.
During my family trip to Ladakh in September,2021.... all my trip was arranged by Mr Ken. He gave me best deal of hotel stay, food and transportation. So I requested him to book a budget homestay for me at Hanle. But he said , there are many homestays at Hanle. So I will get it easily. No need to book in advance.
DAY 9 :- Today, I need to reach Hanle as early as possible. I started at 7 AM from Leh. I topped up fuel of my motorcycle and two jerry cans of 5 ltr each. I also took 2 ltr extra petrol in cold drink pet bottle.
Because as per my calculations, Leh to Hanle will be 270 kms. Then Umlingla Pass and back might be 105+105 or 65+65 . So 210 or 130 kms more. Then from Hanle to Keylong will be 400 kms more.
So 270+210 + 400 = 880 kms total. One needs to calculate the kms to be covered without any fuel pumps on the way. Though you can get petrol in black at Hanle and at some Dhabas on the way back to Himachal. But My bike can carry 11 in tank, 5 +5 in two jerry cans and 2 ltr in bottle.
So I had 23 ltr with me.
Now my bike gives mileage of 40- 45.
So my range will be 40 x 23 = 920 kms. Sufficient to cross 880 kms without petrol pumps.
So I had petrol till Tandi petrol pump.
I topped up petrol at petrol pump at Karu, which is around 40 kms from Leh.
I had breakfast at a new eatery, just next to Karu IOC fuel station.
This picture is at that fuel pump at 8.15 AM.
I had to show my digital permit at Upshi and then at Mahe Bridge. Now a days you don't need to carry print out of permit. Digital copy is sufficient at all the check posts.
Road from Chumathang hot spring till Mahe Monastery is very bad and under construction.
This picture was taken between Mahe and Nyoma at 12.30 PM.
You get very good road from Mahe Monastery onward till Hanle. And you get to see multi color mountains and vast landscape. I saw some Kiyangs and many birds on the way till Hanle. I had my lunch at Nyoma. I had to show permit at Loma , And Lastly at Hanle. I faced a big sand storm from Rhongo and Hanle. It was difficult to ride in that sand storm for at least 10 kms.
I reached Hanle at 3:30 PM. I started searching for homestay. I tried Padma, Sonam and Gua homestay. But all were full. So I went towards Observatory.
There are two homestays there.
I found one room at Namdruk Homestay for Rs.1,000 for a bed with dinner and breakfast.
I also met Mr Sarwandeep Singhat this home stay. Mr Singh is famous bird photographer and conducts birding tours and author of bird books.
This Namdruk homestay is owned by a Lama family. This is the kitchen.
This is the sitting area with windows in two sides.
They have 6 beds in two rooms at present. Two more rooms are under construction. This was my room.
This is the family who owns this Namdruk Homestay. The number is 9419309751.
and website is http://namdrukhomestay.in/
It has good parking space.
There was a window near to my bed. This was the view from my bed. I could see start at night from my bed through window.
And the view from my bed during day was this.....
Hanle is very scenic place with vast open landscape and multi layer mountains around. You can also visit
Indian Astronomical Observatory and an ancient Monastery.
The night sky at Hanle is very clear and beautiful . You can see many start from naked eyes.
After dinner, I tried to capture sky with starts using my mobile at 9 PM.
The pictures of stars using mobile cannot give same result as we see using naked eyes at Hanle.
At dinner, Mr Sarwandeep Singh ji and her wife told me that they will go to Umling La Pass tomorrow morning at 6AM.
They will use their innova crysta car to visit UmlingLa Pass.
I told them that I have come to Hanle, only to visit Umling La Pass.
So we decided to go together. They will be in car and I will be on my motorcycle. Homestay owner was requested to join us. He will take breakfast for us in car.
I went to sleep, but Umling La Pass was in my dreams.
Coming up.... NEXT ..... Ride to UMLING LA PASS....Guinness certified highest pass of the World.