From Biryani to Thukpa and everything in between: Travelogue of an obsessive foodie – II

31May08

Day 4

I woke up to a Nirupa Roy special on TV – Mothers day special program.

After doing the final round of planning and packing everything we realised our driver has ditched us. Got some other driver but it delayed us by 5-6 hours. We had planned to start early morning but had to start not before 12:00 noon. It also killed my early morning Srinagar trip in the Dal. And wisecandyman was angry. And when wisecandyman is angry he becomes very hungry. The driver suggested and took us to Nathu’s which we found out to be a veg. restaurant. WTF!

We ran out of the place immediately and zeroed on in a place named Lhasa, a 40 year old joint (so we were told), for some good Kashmiri food again. The other partners who had joined us late night didn’t have the pleasure of having it in the night before.

The order was placed and it read Chicken Handi, Rogenjosh and Plain rice. There are few things better in this world than a nicely prepared Rogenjosh with plain rice. It was lip smacking good.After a satisfying meal we started for Kargil crossing the breathtaking views as we went ahead.

Our driver suggested because of the terrain ahead and lack of hotels on the way to get bread, butter and water bottles. It was then that I almost got the funda of the year to be asked in my subsequent quiz and make people miserable. But it was not to be. I heard a few guys saying “Shukriya Behisaab” and I immeadiately figured its the thing to say here instead of “Thank you Very much” but then my driver corrected me and said I had mistaken it for “bhaisaab”. It could have been the greatest cook up ever but never mind.

In another few hours we had reached Sonmarg where it was time for the famous dri butter tea and some bagarkhani. Niice.

Our driver entertained us with some innovative Shayari at this magnificient place:

Exhibit A:

Plate par hai bagarkhani, uthati kyun nahin hai?
Dil main hai mohabbat to batati kyun nahin hai.

Whoah baby. Thanks to our driver Jaaved Bhai who knew someone in the Police we got the approval very quickly and without any bribe. Soon we were alone in the treacherous terrain through Zozilla pass and our vehicle broke down. One of the suspension plates gave way and they fixed it with some wooden plank. WTF! We were almost frozen there and had it taken another 10-15 minutes it could have been curtains.

I was reminded of Fargo in a weird way and was looking for a deranged psychopath lurking around the corners who will come and give us an icy death. And thus we crossed zozilla and I could see the sense in buying the bread and butter. We also got a variety of Kashmiri bread called chachaur and doublechhot which was thicker and harder than the normal bread. We ate copius amounts of butter and survived this phase.

On the way we were amused by the extreamly witty messages by BRO and we just couldn’t help respecting those guys for what they do. We crossed the Drass memorial and by 12:00 midnight we reached Kargil and stayed at Hotel Hasta La Vista.

I wanted to give myself a minor break from non-veg and ordered for some chawal and sabzi. The Lodge looked as shady as you can get and had crevices here and there. I again had a feeling this is a trap and we have been set up by our driver for some ritualistic sacrifice – only this time I was dreaming.

The day was bad for music as our vehicle didn’t have a music player – Aargh.

Day 5

I woke up alive. We decided to start early and finished our breakfast which was again bread and butter. Aaaargh. I have eaten more butter in two days than my entire life – so far. But the Kahwa was invigourating and we started our last part of journey to Leh.

We had plans to see Mulbek and Lamayura on the way but our driver took some other route to save time and we missed both the sights. One of us had a stomach upset (wasn’t me ) and fortunately we found an apricot garden with a small pond and the rest is a mystery.

The apricot garden was very nice and we spent some time photographing the thing which I will come back to Hyderabad and devour as “Khubani ka meetha”.

At around 3:30 pm near Khalste we had lunch – food was bad, and we were duped out of 400 bucks for some useless fare. After lunch it was only Leh in mind. We have suffered enough and now Leh/Ladakh better be as beautiful as it seemed when we started. I saw this message on a milestone “Sindhu Jahan Jahan, 82 Wahan Wahan” and immediately was reminded of the iconic dialogue from Subhash Ghai’s magnum Opus ‘Ram Lakhan’ – ‘Shaitaan Jahan Jahan, Ram Wahan Wahan’. And then we were lost. The driver wasn’t sure where we were and the dusty fields suggested somehow we have reached Kabul.

We then came across the Nimmu valley and saw some Yaks and monks and reassured ourselves that we are on the right track. The ride to Leh / Ladakh is an out of this world experience and we were more thankful than happy to have reached Leh. The ride through the Indus valley and on NH1 was breathtaking. We got ourselves a budget Guest House and crashed on to the bed. Words kept flashing in front of the eyes – Be wise, Acclaimatise. We got ourselves a room with a TV – It was a relief to watch some sports action (IPL) and some MTV. Alas no VH1. But that would be indulgence. Anyways for dinner we went to explore the food on offer and Leh didn’t dissapoint with its Tibetian cuisine. We had Thantuk(Kind of a noodle soup), Thukpa (Another kind of noodle soups), American Chopsuey – Tibetan style and some cheese fooyong.

We went to Friends Café managed by a single chef cum manager cum waiter. We realised how passionate people are here for Tibet:

Food came late but was worth the wait. After dinner we walked back to the guest house and crashed onto the bed. Tommorrow we have to get the very important inner line permits for Nubra / Pangong and will see the nearby monasteries and palaces in Leh and in turn acclaimatise more.

Some MTV in the night was soothing and I came to know about this new movie Love Story 2050 which is being promoted as India’s 1st Science Fiction movie. It had a Hrithik clone and the movie looked a clone of some 3-4 Hollywood movies (Minority Report, 5th element and I, Robot) and worse they have ripped a portion of main theme from Nusrat-Dukh ROg Ke / Nancy Sinatra – You only Live Twice. And I am sure this is going to be a blockbuster – sad it is. The promo sucked big time.

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