Chennai- Dharamsala – Chennai in 24hrs ❤️

When I look back on this 24hrs round trip Chennai to Dharamsala and back that I did on 1st December of 2014, loads of memories flash in front of my eyes!

First, how the hell did I even do it! But they say “where there is a will there is a way” so when my mother was going through her treatment a friend of mine recommended that I meet a Tibetan doctor in Dharamshala. I didn’t even blink an eyelid and packed my bags to take the next flight to Dharamsala. 6am flight to Delhi, 11am flight from delhi to Kangra, 2pm we were in the cab towards Dharamsala. My sister who stays in mumbai was a little worried about me going to an unknown place alone and insisted she would join me.

They say when your intentions are right and your heart is pure and above all if you are going to do something good for your parents, you will be guided on every step you take. That’s exactly what happened to us, we found a very good car and driver who is an ex-armyman who was our guide and driver for the next 24hrs. As we started chatting we told him our purpose of visit and also that we are going to be around only for 24hrs. The moment he understood that it was our first trip and that too a very short one, he insisted that we do a small tour of this beautiful hill station.

First he took us to a very small dabba after checking our food preferences to enjoy the best ever mutton curry, steamed rice and Radish salad. I must admit I have never ever in my entire life tasted a mutton dish like that, it had very basic masala and that is what enhanced the flavour and taste of the mutton. The mutton pieces were huge but tender and juicy. Secret of the meat, they graze on the Himalayan mountains and have fresh Himalayan grass and herbs. This lunch was such a perfect welcome Dharamsala.

Next the driver stopped the car on every beautiful view point on our ride uphill, he let us take pictures and kept explaining about the significance of each place.

We reached our hotel around 5pm. Since it was December the driver told us if we wanted to see a few more places we just had to drop our bags and continue our sight seeing else it would get dark and we might not be able to see much and so we just went with the experts suggetion. He showed us a few more places before sunset and we also got to witness the beautiful sunset.

It was dinner time and knowing me I wanted to try every local food there and so we headed to McLeod Ganj, boy oh boy the place was brimming with people, food, light and music. We walked through the streets looking around and finally settled at Tibetan kitchen to have a hot Bowl of tukpa and momos. Walked through the streets just enjoying the vibe before we called it a day.

We had an early morning appointment with the doctor and the driver picked us up from the hotel and we were in time for our appointment. Again we experienced something very special at the doctor’s place, although we had spoken to someone about the appointment we were not sure if we could go in on time, since there was a very long queue that went in circles and we found people from all around the world who had come to meet the doctor, when I saw the queue my heart sank, since we had a flight to take at 2pm. I walked in with lots of gratitude and prayers in my heart NMRK! The moment I met the person at the counter and handed him my moms urine sample, they just let me in without any questions asked. The doctor came out checked the urine sample ( thats how they do their diagnosis) and immediately called me inside for a discussion, I couldn’t believe that all this was really happening. Another 20mins of discussion, medicines and we were out in 30mins. Our driver couldn’t believe what happened because he has never ever seen someone come out in 30 Mins, he said we were blessed and lucky.

But guess what, I think everything has a purpose in life and we had a bigger purpose and hence all that 30mins appointment happened for us. Since we were done with our purpose of visit the driver told us, that he can show us a few more places as it was 9am and our flight was at 2pm. So we hopped into the car and started wondering around, as a matter of fact he asked us if we wanted to visit the Dalai Lama temple/ office in McLeod Ganj, but he told us that Dalai Lama might not be there since he does not do too much public appearances. We agreed and we started our journey towards the temple( well I have no pictures of that place since photography is not allowed) we went in, it was quite and did not find too much movement of people, but there too much security checks. We left our hand bags and started walking towards the temple and we could hear faint voices and saw a few people around, we climbed up the stairs and oh my god whom do I see in front of my eyes, tears started rolling from my eyes for a minute I thought I was dreaming ” Dalai Lama” looked at us showed his hand in blessing gesture and smiled. That day I understood the purpose of this trip and why this 24hrs of my trip worked out the way it did! We took our flight back to Delhi and than to Chennai and was back home the next day!

My heart was full of gratitude to everyone who made me do this trip first my mother, the doctor, our driver, Dalai Lama and the entire universe came together to conspire this trip! Name’s of the actors who conspired this trip: My mother – Hemalata Uchil Dr. Yeshi Dhonen ( he was the personal physician of Dalai Lama from 1960 to 1980) Driver – Rajkumar My sister – Neeta Uchil. Above all faith in my prayers ( NMRK) and the intention of finding the best medication for my mother. They say if you take care of your parents with all your heart that is the biggest gratitude one can pay to them. My mother, the universe and my karma gave me an opportunity to pay my debt of gratitude to my mother! I could ask for nothing more!

Nothing comes easy, it is true the most beautiful place was the most toughest for us! Welcome to Leh Ladakh ❤️

This vacation has been in the planning for the longest time and finally after 3yrs of short drives, vacations and staycations we had to make this trip to the ever charming Leh Ladakh!

Khardungla pass

We landed on 30th June afternoon with bad weather in Delhi ( transit) risking the terrain of leh airport, It is not an easy terrain to fly. With lots of gratitude to all our pilots who landed us safe.

Our itinerary was made in such a away that we had enough time for acclimatization since this height could give altitude sickness. Soon after we landed the sickness hit me and I was wondering why ever did I choose this location for a vacation. I have seen beautiful pictures and videos of Leh Ladakh but not heard anyone warn about the altitude sickness. I had mild irritating head ache nausea and just too lethargic. I was advised to take rest and drink lot of warm water. When I Still was not feeling good I popped a paracetamol and slept for a while now that made me feel better towards evening.

Our first day pretty much was all about taking care of ourselves. Next day 1st July we had decided again to go slow with minimal activity. So we had breakfast and just strolling around when a good soul suggested we visit the Hall of fame leh. It was a few metres of walk from our place and do we agreed without knowing much what the place had in store for us. And I cannot be more thankful to the person who suggested this place, since this one gave me goose bumps and made me love my country and my jawans even more. This is a war memorial with so many stories.

In the evening we set out to enjoy the city of leh. We did the Shanti stupa, the Leh palace and my most favourite leh market. Loved the colours in the market, the old met the new be is fruits, vegetables, grocery, restaurant, clothes of accessories you could find everything in this market traditional and modern. I picked up some fresh apricots since it is the season for apricots.

The next day was the beautiful Sangam were the indus met zanskar river. Sometimes you wonder how nature is so beautiful by itself the mixing of the 2 colors of the river was serene and peaceful! Did you know that during summer people do rafting here and during winter when the water turns to ice, they ice trek on this same river. So what would you like to do? Our next destination for the day was the cool magnetic hill, so our car was totally switched off and no we were not on a slop, but yet we moved, kinda exciting. The gurudwara pathar sahib is another monument to just find peace. Don’t miss the tea and prashad there it’s yummy!

The most significant day of our trip was doing the worlds highest motorable road the one and only Khardungla pass. We had our own altitude sickness challenges to handle but boy when we reached the peak it was like magic. It was such a proud moment for us to know that our country has the highest motorable road in the damn whole world yay!

After the movie 3 idiots the pangong Lake gained more popularity and why not it is so surreal. Surrounded by mountains it’s hard to say we could find a huge mass of water with shades of color that changes from blue, green, grey, brown to red, it is one of the highest altitude lake in the world with salty water that freezes during winter. Mind blowing right!!!

On our way back from pangong Lake we had to stop by the changa la pass another one of the highest! We stopped by for lunch and had a hot bowl of authentic ladakhi thukpa! We also stopped by a few more random places for some good photo shoots.

Whenever we visit a new place or country the first thing that I look for is Local home cooked food. Before we left to leh I started my search for good home cooked leh traditional food. Since we are non vegetarians I was surprised to know that traditionally people of leh Ladakh eat according to the weather and season. So in winter it’s meat and non vegetarian and in summer it’s mostly vegetarian, from June to September they get to grow vegetables and fruits and get to eat it too. Other time of the year it is cold and snow. So after doing some search on google found gyapthago heritage home. Got speaking to Jimmy and visited his House for a soulful all vegeterian dinner cooked by his mother.
We were greeted by butter tea that is made using Fresh cows milk butter from their own farm. This place is more of a farm to table concept since everything that was cooked for dinner came from their farm including wheat and barley.
The barley soup with fresh vegetables and leh local peas was warm and had a creamy consistency.
The veg momos were made using wheat flour and we had the steamed and fried momos that was served with cold salad.
The khamir the local wheat bread with Home made curd sure was a delicacy.
The local pasta is made fresh, pasta is made with fresh grounded wheat and turnip sauce.
We finished this most amazing meal with the local sweet of apricot soaked in water.
Must say that ended my search for Local Leh Ladakh food.

Discovered Namza that serves authentic/ traditional leh Ladakh food and what excited me even more is the farm to table concept. The place has beautiful ambience, outdoor seating will be lovely in the evening.
We started our lunch with mutton Za-thuk this is a soup that is made using nettle leaves, dried cheese and local herbs, available in veg, chicken and mutton option, we loved the flavour of nettle leaves and dried cheese with little chunks of mutton. I personally love the flavour of mountain mutton.
The chicken momo also known as mok mok was average nothing to write home about.
The yarkhadi pulao is a chefs special and I am glad we tried it. The meal come with pulao made of paneer, green peas, Carrots and fried onions loaded with ghee. We were warned it would be heavy, it was but we just loved the flavour, this meal comes with a clear soup and 3 momos or mok mok. Available in veg, chicken and mutton. We opted for the veg option.
The most famous home grown fruit of Leh Ladakh is apricot and the season has just started. We enjoyed a tall glass of homemade apricot juice.
Like us if you are keen on trying local food, this place is a must visit.

Had a very happy lunch after we descended down the khardungla pass at Dontang. This place has beautiful seating and the most comfort food. The ladhaki thukpa was my favourite. We had fresh lime soda, potato in honey chilli, chicken clear soup and chicken momos / mok mok.
The service was polite and every thing we had was made fresh to order. Few vegetables are used from their garden. Definately a try when in leh.

We had hired a private chauffeur driven ertiga for 5days that cost us 25k which I thought was pretty reasonable and we could go around according to our own convenience.

Leh Ladakh is a very beautiful Indian union territory that is a must visit, but with all precautions and understanding the terrain. It could get very warm and dry in summer on few days that’s what we experienced and it is not easy to handle that weather. If you are a person who likes to see greenery around you please don’t expect anything like that around. Winters could be very harsh so please check before you go. You can fly or drive.