Me, my dog & my Jeep Compass did a road trip to explore the Himalayas
Kishmish did amazingly well during this trip to my surprise and being an Indie, she proved that they actually belong to this land
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Hello to all fellow T-BHPians,
Emotions and Desire Behind this Trip Venture:
This post here is quite close to my heart for many reasons. It’s been something I had been longing to do for many many years. And by all the luck and god’s grace, I am super satisfied that I could make it.
It had always been tough for me to leave my furr babies at home everytime we travel out. If you are a per parent, you will find this dilemma more often then others. And I will tell myself this a lot many times. Why it’s only you who seek an escape from monotonous routine, it’s for them too, right ? Why not plan a vacation for them too?
The Plan:
And this thought hit me hard this time around while I was contemplating ideas to plan for 2 weeks of approved vacations I had from work. I had travelled Sikkim during Nov-Dec 22 so wanted to sustain my liking towards the mountains and pick up something similarly adventurous, and that I had never been before to. And no other destination comes to mind than the Himalayas which are one of the most sought after destinations on the planet.
I also considered the NE again but it wasn’t the best time to head that way so up north it was decided. As the destination was shortlisted, I started to prepare myself to make this trip with my beloved pet, an Indie girl – Kishmish, who would be my companion on this escapade. It was like of a Dad n kids outing. With this, the idea of hitting the road, with my girl took shape.
The window to travel was June last – July 1st week. My biggest challenge while planning this trip was finding pet friendly accomodations at each and every stop over I had to make.
Some intense digging and some very friendly Airbnbs helped out a lot here.
So here was the Itinerary:
- June 24 Banglore – Nagpur
- June 25th Nagpur to Jaipur
- June 26th – Rest day at Home in Jaipur
- June 27th – Jaipur to Manali via Kotputli/ Narnaul/ Pehowa/ Ambala/ Rupnagar/ Bharatgarh/ Kiratpur Sahib/ Patta/ SunderNagar/ Nee Chowk/ Mandi/ Pandoh/ Hanogi/ Aut/ Kullu/ Naggar
- June 28th – Manali to Sarchu via Rohtang/ Koksar/ Sissu/ Tandi/ Keylong/ Jispa/ Zing Zing Bar/ Baralacha La/ Killingsarai/ Campsite at Sarchu
- June 29th – Sarchu to Leh via Gata Loops/ Pang/ Debring/ Taglang La/ Rumtse/*Upshi/*Karu/ Thiksey/*Leh
- July 1st – Leh to Nubra via Khardung La/ North Pullu/ Shayok/ Khalsar/ Tirith/ Sumur (Nubra)
- July 3rd – Nubra to Pangong. Road via Khalsar/ Agham is closed due to repairs so took old road to Rongdu following Tsati/ Agham/ Shayok/ Durbuk/ Tangtse/ Spangmik
- July 4th – Pangong to Thiksey via Tangtse/ Durbuk/ Tsoltak/ Karu/ Thiksey
- July 5th – Thiksey to Vashisht via Karu/ Upshi/ Rumtse/ Debring/ Pang/ Gata Loops/ Sarchu/ Killingsarai/ Baralacha La/ Jispa/ Keylong/ Tandi/ Sissu/*Atal Tunnel/*Solang/ Vashisht
- July 6th – Vashisht to Jaipur via Kullu/ Mandi/ SunderNagar/ RupNagar/ Ambala/ Pehowa/ Narnaul/ Kotputli/ Jaipur
The route shared is the best available then as a result of multiple road blocks due to repairs or bad road conditions with very slow moving traffic.
The Good Part:
However, skipping to the best part was that we had NO health issues for both of us and No Mechanical failures for the car throughout the journey . As we had to pass through some of the most treacherous terrain, high altitude, and acute climate, thankfully didn’t require any extreme measures though we went prepared.
All Stays Arranged:
All stays were either pet friendly Airbnbs, camp sites, or individual homestays who accept pets as guests. I looked on the gmaps and kept reaching out to all homestays shown in the map, on my route to destination till I found the most suitable one. This is tedious but it worked.
Superb hospitality all around, they really love to make your stay like a home and accomodate if you have any special requests as I had in my case due to travelling with a Pet.
This place is a Wonderland. A Wish Getting Fulfilled:
This land is simply amazing. I had never been able to make this trip while my friends had done it long long ago. Neither could I join for rides nor for a drive plan. So this was indeed a very very special trip for me. And doing this with my girl, is immensely satisfying.
The air, the snow, the streams and the views we both enjoyed were unparalleled. No better time than to sit next to a cold stream, dip your feet and tell yourself, the world is indeed beautiful.
I know this is something a lot many of you had experienced so you can easily derive the charm of it.
Best Companion, The Best Company, My Girl Kishmish:
Travelling with a Dog is always challenging. Especially when your dogs are not used to if long distance travel, get motion sick, or are not friendly with other beings. We had been traveling with our 3 dogs since the time they were adopted at young age of 40-60 days. They all have over time developed the endurance, patience and learnt to deal with such travels.
Kishmish did amazingly well during this trip to my surprise and being an Indie, she proved that they actually belong to this land, all weather and all terrain. Many other travellers and my homestays, whom I met on my journey were excited so see a guy and a dog on the road and making a memorable road trip together. I carried Pedigree wet food saches in case we don’t get anything cooked. Thankfully she’s fond of drinking lot of water so the ask to have as much as water intake as possible to compensate low O2 levels was automatically addressed.
The Machine that never ceases to impress:
Compass does pull out a trick everytime I take her out for such adventures. Its a solid, fun and comfortable drivers car. I know there are many sad ownership stories as well, and I feel for the owners, however in my case, as I also did a Sikkim round trip from Banglore in Dec 22, she took this one head on with ease. No fuss, no hiccups, pure driving fun and pleasure. And that too being a 4×2 Desiel drive train. Full marks and a completely satisfied owner here.
Happy Feeling At the End:
I think I will leave it here and close it by sharing just a few of the entire stack of pictures/videos taken. Hope you all would love reading our journey experience, and be part of my trip. And don’t forget to shower some love for the amazing companion I had on this trip, Kishmish
Cheers and Be Safe !
Relive the Moments:
Sleeping beauty.
Random selfie on the way to Leh from Sarchu.
Camp site Sarchu. Kishmish out on a stroll.
Enjoying sunset at Panggong. What an evening.
Sand dunes at Hunder. Can drive around a bit and have fun.
Just after Rohtang Pass.
Paying Homage at Siachen Memorial. Pets are allowed unlike Kargil War Memorial.
Happy wet and cold fett at Panggong.
Sumur Dunes bench.
Cam site SArchu. Basking in the sun.
Kargil War Memorial. No entry with pets so had to salute n return from outside. But the drive from Leh to and back from memorial is very satisfying.
Sumur Dunes. Met a Singaporean traveller who wanted to take a picture of both of us. Did the favor of taking a few Polaroid and share.
Khardung La post.
The most amazing Moon you will ever see from earth. Moon over Pangong Lake under pitch dark sky. Whoaa !!
And then the snowfall happened. This was during my return leg on 6th July. A few days after that is when weather conditions deteriorated drastically across Himachal.
Baralacha La in snofall.
A group of adventure seeking Aussies, British and French who ran on these custom 3wheeler autos from Leh to Jaiselmer. Camel Toe Express as they called themselves. Was Great to catch up with them
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