Here is how One Girl and Five Boys Road Tripped from Srinagar to Leh, Ladakh in Ten Days

After that, we had lunch, (I was starving) and went to visit Shankaracharya temple. Being naïve (read stupid), Swaagatt and I raced till the staircase of the temple (the staircase to the temple had 243 steps). I don’t remember who won but we both were panting as we read the staircase. My lungs desperately wanted oxygen and I realized racing on stairs was a bad idea. In the temple, Swaagatt and I got to know each other. (I noticed Akash is more of a keeping to himself kind of a guy.)

On our way back to houseboat, I shopped jewelry from the floating market. We sipped kahwa and enjoyed the pleasant weather. We had dinner and discussed our backgrounds. It was Rakesh's birthday eve, when the clock struc,m 12, we sang Happy Birthday and offered him a Good day cake to cut. After that, we went to sleep.

Being the only girl in the group, I didn’t have to share accommodation with anyone. I totally loved the exclusiveness.

And click some photos.

And click some group photos.

We went to dip our feet in the Sind river to feel the freshness (coldness was complimentary :P). We discovered that Swaagatt is a water baby and named him Jalpari.

The Unsung Heroes of Kargil War

Day 3- Hall of Fame, Zanskar Confluence, and Gurudwara Pathar Sahib

Breathtaking beautiful morning of Leh woke me up. I went out for a walk and spotted Swaagatt – The Jalpari in the garden. We chatted over a cup of coffee and went in our respective rooms to get ready.

This day, we had to get acclimated to the extremely high altitude of Leh so that we wouldn’t fall prey to Acute Mountain Sickness.

Hall of Fame and Funny Assumption

PS- Our driver bhaiya had an excellent taste in Music. His playlist sent me to the land of euphoria.

Day 4- Khardung La, and Hunder

The thought of crossing the highest motor-able road in India Khardung La on the independence day of India, i.e. 15 August gave me a high. We left early since we didn’t want to get stuck in the traffic. Guess what? As we were all set to cross the last barricade for Khardung La, they closed the barricade on us. They said that a politician is headed to Khardung La for hoisting the national flag. Once he will be back, only then they will allow the public to pass. I was shivering when my enthusiastic groupies suggested let’s go out of that damn car. We danced like no one is watching and had lots of fun. These are the moments which play the soundtrack Manzil se behtar lagne lage hain yeh raaste in my head.

Lack of Network Connection = More of Interpersonal Connection

Thanks to the calories we had burnt, we were famished. We headed back to our home-stay to have rest and eat something. We made judicious use of the time we had and Raks started telling us about his life story and his relationships. He is one classy man I must say.

The lack of network connection made us connect to each other very well.

We got a call from our driver bhaiya and we were back on the road.

Survival of the Fittest

We channelized our inner kids and slid through the sand.

We went into Shyok river and competed against each other in the made-up the competition- who can stand in the freakishly cold water for the longest period of time. Though Swaagatt was a tough contender to beat, yours truly won the competition.

Bonfire? Yes Please

There was a power cut in Hunder. It was the perfect opportunity to enjoy a bonfire. As we soaked up the heat, we got to know each other’s story. I started to feel the sense of familiarity. :')

Me and my Nephophilia

As we took the party to rooftop, the magic began unfolding itself. Being a nephophile I couldn’t take my eyes off the sky. The sky was so clear that I could actually see the twinkling stars. The stars appeared to be too close that I wanted to grab a handful of stars for me. The kid in me refused to calm down as I gazed the sky. I heard my groupies were spotting shooting stars, (back to back) and I WASN’T. I really tried so hard, didn’t get so far. I was losing my focus due to twinkling stars. I calmed down, regained my focus and boom I spotted a shooting star. Now we all were spotting shooting stars. I wanted to get lost in the milky way galaxy that I was able to see with my naked eyes. Imagine, if I had a decent telescope, who knows what wonders of the sky I could have discovered.

Power Bank- My Knight in Shining Armor

We got to know that the power supply will be disrupted for the night. Till that time, I used to be hella scared of darkness. This update kinda freaked me out. The trip lead- Antarik offered me to use the torch of his power bank and use it as a lamp. He had an iPhone 5S and he was facing severe battery issues. Regardless of his battery problem, he offered me his power bank. How amazingly selfless is that? To me, this was a true hallmark of a fab trip lead.

Day 5- Diskit Monastery and Khardung La

Sharing is Caring

On the way to Khardung La we spotted snow. In no time, we all were out admiring the view straight out of wallpaper. I wanted to throw snow balls on my groupies by I didn't have water proof gloves. Awesome Antarik had offered me a glove from his pair and we went in the snow. Thanks to the numbness (due to throwing snow balls), Antarik and I were constantly switching the glove from left hand to the right hand.

I was in snow and I had to make a slow-mo (should I say snow-mo lol) of me sliding down the snow. We decided to get a group slow-mo. We were all set to slide I and my clumsiness took a toll on me. I slipped (thinking about it, I'm still laughing) :p. I was too tired (and embarrassed) to climb up and slide (or fall) again. My group mates, on the other hand, recorded an amazing slow-mo.

After playing (and slipping) in snow, it was time to indulge in something nice and warm.

Pahado ki Maggi

To be honest, I'm not a Maggi person but I can't resist pahado ki Maggi. At Khardung La, we relished soupy Maggi and hot Ginger Lemon Honey water. By this time, I knew that hot Ginger Lemon Honey water would be my constant companion on mountains for the rest of my life.

The warmth of food felt so nice, inside out.

Day 6- Shey (3 Idiots School) Pangong Tso, Shyok Camping

Let's go to Pangong Lake

I was very excited to go to Pangong lake. I had read and heard a lot about the beauty of this place. When we reached, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Pangong lake was nothing short of visual delight. The first sight at Pangong lake had me spell-bound. As I walked in the lake, I could feel the coldness tightening its grip on me. It didn’t deter my spirit and we splashed water on each other.

I got a call from my colleague informing that I was selected as for Star of the Quarter.

With this thought in mind, I began walking to my tent. Since I kept smiling like an idiot, my groupies thought that someone has proposed me lol.

Knock Knock? Who? The Monthly Visitor? What???

My monthly visitor had paid me an early visit. It was a perfect day to get my period when I reached the best place of my trip with a group of guys. I went to Antarik to let him know about my situation. I told him that I have to tell him something that might make him uncomfortable but that needed to be said. I told him that I’ve got my periods and if I’ll not be my energetic and hyper-enthusiastic self, he would know why.

To my surprise, he was so understanding and sweet. He said that there is nothing uncomfortable about it. Let me know if you need anything, he added. I was like wow! We need more men like you.

Co-existence of Mahishmati kingdom and Hogwarts

At night, we were high on music and we danced like crazy. Initially, it felt too cold but as we danced the night away, the coldness didn’t bother us much. We took the party to my tent and played games where Mahishmati kingdom and Hogwarts existed in the same universe. We omitted dare and played the game of truth. Dare was omitted because we were curled up and no one was interested in stepping out of the tent. We were up till the wee hours of the morning exchanging well-kept secrets and we had officially become friends.

Day 7- Pangong Tso and Hemis Monastery

And I was on my own.

We started a Swacchh India drive and collected garbage from Pangong Lake. That was our bit to make the Pangong lake cleaner and better.

Hemis Monastery

Change of Plans

In the evening we enjoyed the beautiful sunset at Shanti Stupa. While I was walking around the Shanti Stupa, I realized this trip was about to end. My escape from reality is about to get over. :(

PS- The Shanti Stupa dog threw some major attitude and we couldn't get good picture with the fluffy fellow.

Day 9- Leh to Srinagar Road Trip

Since we had to leave early, we woke up pretty early. We waited for the driver to come, he was running super late. To make the matter worse, he wasn’t even picking up the calls. After much ado, when he came he freaked out after seeing our luggage. He refused to put the luggage on the carrier as his car was his baby and he couldn’t put the luggage on her. I get his love for his machine. Having said that, if 5 people are travelling in a hilly area for ten days, how can they not have luggage?

After much negotiation, he agreed to get the luggage on his the carrier. Throughout the entire trip, I sat on the front seat, but I so didn’t want to sit in the front today. The car had eerie silence where driver bhaiya’s aggressive energy was dominating. Guys in the back were murmuring and I was hoping that someone would swap their seat with me.

Eerie Silence and Catching up on Sleep

I decided to make the best use of silence and catch up on my beauty sleep. I slept like a baby and woke up fresh. At around 9ish, we were in heaven on earth.

We went to enjoy street food and came back to our guest house.