Patnitop is a popular tourist destination in the Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). We got up early to capture the rays of the sun filtering through the canopy of trees in the vicinity of our resort, and, after a quick breakfast, we were off towards Srinagar. Within just 10 minutes, we found ourselves ensnared by a massive traffic jam and, on the advice of the locals, we pulled up at a petrol pump and waited for an hour, even managing to grab some shut-eye in that time. When things seemed to have cleared up, we ventured back on to the road but soon enough we were caught again. As a result of the intermittent movement, which we would soon get accustomed to, we reached Srinagar a little after dusk, and it was past 9.00 pm when we managed to find ourselves a nice houseboat for the night — after all, it was Srinagar and the gorgeous Dal Lake, so how could a mere hotel suffice?
The next day it took some effort to pull ourselves away from the comfort of the houseboat and the stunning view of the Lake, but we did set off for Kargil, which is the second largest town in Ladakh after Leh and is famous as the centrepiece of the 1999 war with Pakistan. Exiting Srinagar, the roads were perfectly smooth but soon enough we ran into some rough patches reminiscent of proper off-roading trails at times. Apart from the road surface, we would often encounter sheep, goats and cows leisurely strolling across the road like nobody’s business. We came to our first pass of the drive, Zoji La, which is among the lowest passes in the region and played an important part in the 1999 war. A quick “click-click” and it was time to move ahead. Road quality kept alternating between good and bad and we finally made it to Kargil by dusk.
