Day - 6 | Lal Chowk, Kargil war Memorial, Drass, Zoji la Pass - Dream Ride LADAKH

  LADAKH - A dream ride for many. I was fortunate enough to complete my dream ride in the month of July 2021.

Day - 6

From - Srinagar ( J&K ) to Kargil ( Ladakh )

Road - Srinagar - Sonamarg - Zoji la Pass - Drass - Kargil

Date - 16.07.2021

Total - 205.9 KM 

Day 6

It was the 6th day of the ride, we were riding for a minimum of 8 hrs for the past 6 days. Today we were going to climb some altitudes. So we decided not to go straight to Leh. Instead, stay in Kargil which was 200 km away. This day also started at 4:00 am. We got ready and were ready to leave by 5:30 am.

I had heard a lot about Lal chowk and wanted to visit it first. It was around 5 km from our hotel, we reached there in 10 min. It was all empty with army personnel only around that place. We clicked some pictures over there, and then a terrible incident happened. 

As we were about to leave, a fat Muslim guy approached us, He was curious about where we were from and where we were heading to. He also wanted to click pictures with us. Which didn't seem any problem to us, till he spoke some words. We looked and talked like a very sweet person, and then suddenly started speaking about Azad Kashmir and even started abusing the Indian army. I did not like that at all. Even the army men standing on the side of the road heard that. He was very angry hearing that. And angrily called us. I was a bit scared of what just happened and quickly went to him. He questioned me about everything and even asked me what that person was saying. I told him everything and then he told us to leave the place as it was not safe for us to stay there for a long time. He even advised us to stay away from local Kashmiri people. We then left the place hurriedly. It was a terrible experience for us. We then headed towards Kargil via Srinagar - Leh Highway.

The weather was cold. and we were able to see the snowy mountains. We reached Sonamarg around 8:00 am where we had our breakfast. We were then informed by locals that the Leh - Srinagar highway remains closed every Friday for army movements. now we dint knew what to do, as no one had stopped up. We decided to go ahead as per plan. We saw army convoys on the way, and a lot of army personnel were deployed throughout the highway. On asking an army officer we got to know that the main convoy of the army was behind us. So no one stopped us. If we were behind them we would have to be hauled till 5 pm. We were lucky that we left early from Srinagar. 

It was Zojila pass which we had to go through first. Roads were narrow but in good shape. I saw tunnel construction in full swing to bypass the Zojila pass. BRO is working really hard to maintain these roads and constructing new roads for easy travel of the army convoy. We reached on top of the Zojila pass. It is also called Zero Point which is at an altitude of 11649ft. We reached there at 10 am. We drank Kashmiri kawa, enjoyed the scenic beauty of that spot, clicked some pictures, and decided to move as we wanted to stay ahead of the army convoy. 

We then reached Minamarg which is at the border of J&K and Ladakh. We had to get our Rapid test done over there. Now we were officially into Ladakh. The topography had changed drastically. It was lush green in J&K on other hand it was rocky mountains with snow on top in Ladakh. 

We then reached Drass which is the second coldest inhabited place in the world. We stopped there for some time and spoke to locals about the Kargil war. They were showing us the mountain peaks which were captured by the Pakistani army. They also pointed us to the very famous Tiger hill. 

After a 15 min ride from Drass, we reached Kargil War Memorial. Due to Covid norms, it was closed for visitors. but as Kargil Vijay Diwas was near its maintenance was going on. and we were allowed inside for 10 min only. We were lucky that we were allowed inside. That place cannot be explored in 10 min but we were happy with what every time we got. 

We then took a small break and headed towards Kargil. We reached Kargil around 2:00 pm. Checked into the hotel and decided to take a nap till evening. We were staying near Suru River which had a very light flow rate. The weather was pleasant, we went around Kargil in the evening, returned to Hotel early. And took a rest. Altitude sickness was already gaining on me. I was facing a mild headache. But other all was good. 

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