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This was the night we will never forget.
During our Ladakh trip of around 17 days in (July-August 2011), things were pretty tight scheduled and planed to perfection 🙂 meaning – there was no room for rest! We had to cover every location possible in the itinerary and by keeping it tight scheduled we ensured that we used up every hour of our holiday. But we missed out one small thing in our plan – landslides.
One landslide can throw your itinerary haywire!
That’s what happened on day 3. This day witnessed rainfall from the wee hours and continued late till 2:30pm (just before we got stuck, thank god for that). Around 40 kms after Sarchu at whiskey nala we had maggi, rice and dal and ate a few chocolates for lunch, left this place (mind you it was still raining) and when we were only 15 kms away from Pang, had to stop due to a landslide almost 2 kms away! (what it means is that there was a traffic jam for 2 kms). This was at 3pm and we did not think that it would affect us too much hence we kept waiting in our vehicle, there was a tyre puncture and the driver got busy in his work, meanwhile we started speaking with the army men who had number of their trucks stuck in this jam, ahead of us. Nobody knew how much time it might take before the roads were cleared, few said a couple of hours and few said a few days!
This continued till 5pm, when there was a jubilant moment as we saw vehicles appearing from the other side, but this celebration was short lived as we soon realized that the vehicles in front of us (SUV kinds) found some space to take a U turn and started coming back! This was just the starting of the problems for that night and we were totally unaware and ill-prepared for things to come in the next 12 hours. Before we could take a U turn there were more than 5 vehicles that started going back, mind you this is a very very dangerous road with landslide possibility anywhere, maneuvering vehicles (even SUV’s) is extremely difficult and needs 200% attention on the road.
Choose your driver for Ladakh road trip wisely, you will not live to repent!
The nearest stay possible was at Whiskey nala tents where there were only 3 tents – including the space where the family stayed, cooked food, served etc. We were all hoping against hope that we will get space in the tents to sleep. Had no idea how cold it can get, our jackets were not meant for sleeping in tents (forget sleeping in the vehicle, we could die out there!), we had no food with us, what if the tent wala was exhausted of food? (due to the heavy load of visitors that evening), we had enough water, at least. By the time we reached back to this tent (around 15 kms), as expected there was chaos all over, almost all vehicles had stopped here (for stay or food, but mostly both), there was always an option to go to Sarchu instead, where there would be tents in plenty but then that would be around 40 kms more and that too only after crossing a mountainous road, and it was already 5:15pm! Hence we decided we would keep pestering the tent owner to give 2 places to sleep (atleast the ladies would get a bed).
There were 3 tents and had a few beds in each, every tent had a capacity to squeeze at least 5-7 persons + the cooking and eating area wala tent was a bigger tent hence slightly more spacious, provided there was enough blankets! Well, we were able to secure 2 beds for the ladies in sometime, but it was very tough for the tent owner Mr. Gundup to handle this scenario, he was overwhelmed with the usher of so many tourist and happy for the business, at the same time!
Bhagwaan jab deta hai toh chappar phad kar deta hai, good or bad!
There was a continuous noise of people talking, eating, getting out of vehicle, getting in the vehicle and moving out, getting luggage down, discussion on who else can grab space to sleep! If you have booked a space to sleep, you better be there, else your space might go to someone else – mostly foreigners. We decided that the ladies will get inside the tent and keep the place (allotted to sleep) secure till the chaos turns down, it was 7pm now.
Dinner was the next challenge – most of us were not hungry or had some headache, fever, cold. I, in any case, decided to take up some dinner. To my surprise with so many people in and around, I could still manage to get a couple of roti and dal. Food was good, I also bought few chocolates and biscuits for the night.
At 8:15pm it was very clear that the men in the group (Vikash, the driver of our SUV and I) will not be able to secure a place in the tent and will have to sleep in our vehicle. This was the first time I got scared, we had no clue how cold it can get, would our warm clothes suffice, would we suffocate to death in a closed vehicle?
Before you actually get killed, you can kill yourself with imagination.
Anyways, we decided to set ourselves right by wearing all woolen that was possible: multiple jackets, gloves, cap etc. I took the front seat and the other 2 took the back seat, I used to open my eyes often and look at my watch hoping it should be well thru the night and couple of more hours and we will be done with the torture, but to my surprise it always used to be only 5-10 minutes from the last time I saw the time!!
Around 11pm I thought enough is enough, lets have a sip of neat whiskey [I had bought it before Manali thinking it will be required one fine night, I guess this was that ‘fine night’ ] Now the funny part – I have never have had neat whiskey before and I was scared I will puke and that will lead to cleaning and contact with almost frozen water, hence I only licked the liquid in the bottle and drank a lot of water, now this was also scary, more you drink more the chances that you will have to go out to pee…a perfect case for catch 22 situation, still I ‘licked’ whiskey twice and drank water, this did not affect me much on the pee part but I suddenly started shivering (we did not have blankets). whiskey session at whiskey nala ended before starting. There was drama outside the tent also, there was a continuous chatter of people, vehicles starting and stopping, headlights switching on and off, etc. This tussle and drama went on till 12:30am when I decided I cannot take it anymore, I asked Vikash to move up to the front seat and then let me get to the middle seat (driver was sleeping with no issues at the back seat). This was the first time I could stretch my legs slightly (all this while I was in a seated position). Things DID improve to a large extent.
It takes a lot of sleepiness to sleep, seated.
At 3am I heard someone talking very close to me and I thought I was dreaming and I ignored and then it happened again – it was the driver talking in his sleep, some mumbo-jumbo with no clear words but sounded like he was chit-chatting with his friends!
Around 5am the ladies came to us saying the ‘ladies tent’ has been vacated by the foreigners and we can get there and catch some sleep on a proper bed with blanket! ALAS – this news sounded like we had won an Olympics medal! We went inside and slept properly for 3 hours.
At 9am I woke up with a heavy head, I went out and it was a beautiful and bright sun-lit morning. I decided to sit outside do some sun bathing with a cup of tea. The relaxation was short lived as I opened my suitcase and clothes in it were wet! I realized the luggage was kept on top of the vehicle and it was not covered as the driver was not carrying any plastic covers!
An inexperienced driver can screw up your travel plans badly.
The next 2 hours went in getting clothes out and drying it, I was feeling much better but Vikash and the ladies had headache. We kept looking out for vehicles coming from the other side, but it was only at 1pm when we saw a biker appearing and they (an European couple) told us that the road is NOW OPEN.
Cannot explain what that meant to our ears! We packed up and left and after 15 kms when we actually crossed the path of the landslide our heart came to our mouth coz it’s a real dangerous terrain, but what an experience!
Learnings from this non planned adventure:
- Always have a very GOOD jacket
- Carry a lightweight blanket if possible
- Learn to drink Whiskey properly 🙂
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| Along with the tent owner in the middle. |
ahh adventurous !! life time experience for sure 🙂 … nidhi
Hello Aditya, I had similar or even worse incident at whiskey nala during my recent leh bike trip with a friend with my fractured left hand.
We came from bhuj to manali on our harley and decided to rent a couple of bullets as harley can't go offroad due to lower ground clearance. Our bike broke down near keylong the very first day. second day after repair was keylong to jispa and the third day was the horrible one. We covered jispa to sarchu and then Whiskey Nala… Crossed it and his bullet broke down again in evening 6. we had no option but to go back to whiskey nala in neutral gear.
I gave him my bike and he gave me all the stuff with our camera kits and cash and told me that he is coming in an hour with a mechanic. you know how cold blooded place whiskey nala is and then the higher altitude started showing it's colors. i waited one hour two hour and then i knew that he isn't coming but i had that fake hope and started to panic and went kind of freak in the head. The tent guy was looking like a dark minded villain he gave me space in a seperate small tent with enough but as i was alone and with expensive belongings of the other guy i started having hallusinations n stuff. It was the toughest time he did not come and i couldn't breath i couldn't cover my face and had blanket on my lower body and had nobody with me. i barely walked towards the kitchen tent and hardly had 1 biscuit with half cup of tea and went back to tent and tried to sleep and breath and was just trying to stay alive. Nose was covered with a layer of snow and the water bottle i had froze down to rock.
So at that time i had no water i couldn't move or breath properly and had no info about my partner.
I can write pages and pages about the horror and hallucinations i felt but somehow i survived the night and went to pang by taking lift next morning 8-9 and he met me coming on the bike a couple of km before pang he was actually admitted at an army camp taking oxygen n stuff after severe headache and vomit till 11 in night after reaching.
That whiskey nala is such a fucked up deadly place when you are unprepared, alone and noob.
Oh boy! My experience is nothing in front of yours and your friend's. Thanks for sharing. Its a constant reminder that nature is the ultimate boss!
Me, my 10 men were snuggled together in one tent.. drinking very little water in fear of nature's call.
A few of us were literally trying to breath the whole night. Some vomited in there own tripoles.our sleeping bags were proving insufficient. All this to pee brown acid in d morning. Some had severe headaches.but we all could collect ourselves in 2 hours to leave for leh.