We have travelled from Chandigarh to Goa and back by road two years back, doing about 5,000 kms in about 20 days, it was our most exhilarating trip by car. Our trip to the rough, dry, often hostile terrain of the Leh valley showed us both how much hardship we can endure, spread over 22 days we visited every nook and corner this side of Kargil, and did 1800 Kms of driving just in Leh and Ladhak regions often clocking 200 - 250 kms a day. We also visited the remote areas of Chisul and did all the lakes Pangong Tso, Tsokar and Tsomoriri. We went to the Numbra valley and did the Morre plains twice... Trip to UP as mentioned above where in I travelled all over UP without a plan in the height of summer because I wanted to see the heart of India and where it has disappeared. The discovery was that for some profit the pimps of the world had 'pimped my Mother' away, I was confronted with nothing other than cement with more cement, disgusted at what I saw, as it turned out to be a witness of rape of my mother, my beloved mother India. It was a soul searching trip.........As yet have not found it especially where I had expected to. On an earlier excursion had taken the Volvo truck FH 12 380 Tractor with a trolley carrying 70 Tonnes of food grain from Moga Punjab to Gorakhpur and then Carrying cement from Sikkim to Guwahati and on our return we got Coal from Assam to Punjab. In total it was a 14 day return trip of about 5000 kms and with me driving for about 2000 kms. We slept in the cabin and travelled Day and night. As it was a competition of sorts to measure the fastest turn around time for a Volvo from Punjab to Assam. Andaman Island is also a wonderful holiday I remember and we ended up seeing the Jarava tribe from far on the beach, did snorkelling and deep sea fishing on 'Dungis' (Small boats). Visited all the islands normally visited by tourists near Port Blair but also visited 52 small and large Islands. On one such day of Island hopping we visited 17 islands on one day, and the islands were so small that one could literally see the other side from where one stepped off the boat at entry. We happened to make friends with the Director of Health Services there and he oppened up a new world seldom visited by tourists. Courtesy him we could do so much of Island hopping and beach visiting. London was a beautiful holiday.driving around in Scotland was another experience we enjoyed together, a thirty day trip which I felt was too less a time to see the country side. Our best trips were the ones where in we would feed the place of our stay and then we would ignore the voice of the GPS guidance systems assisting us. Get lost go into small towns and villages and then follow the voice when we wanted to get back on track. It was very enjoyable, as we reached places like Burnt Island and made friends with immigrants who hardly get to see any Indians in those parts of the country, but thanks to the GPS we could be more adventurous as we always knew how far we had wondered off from our course. Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have been done twice in the last three years and each time it was for a month. Dubai with the sand safari was a pleasure but this was a small trip of just 4 days in 2007. Israel and Jordan was a fantastic trip especially to Jerusalem. Stayed at Jaffa a small town close to Tel Aviv, but we were so welcomed as most of the time we were mistaken for Arabs by the Palestinians in Israel, and the Jews did not have any inhibitions regarding us and greeted us with 'Sat Sri Akal' as most of the youngsters have passed through Chandigarh or Amritsar and were well acquainted with a Sikh. Jordan was a one night halt but a local Jordanian arranged for a visitors pass for us and we were allowed to visit the city for 6 hours wherein we were joined by a local businessman who took us out for lunch to one of the most popular sea food restaurants in Jordan. Was amazed to see that every one lived behind barricaded doors with bullet proof glass as a patio outside their main door, a safety precaution both in Jordan and in Israel. And now hopefully more memories will be created with this 'The Great driving Challenge'. - Chandana & Karan
