[Google Maps] Improve routing preferences for long-distance travel

* Duration: 23rd Sep, 2025 to Ongoing * Destinations with dates: 23.09 Mangalore (Start) - 25.09 Mumbai - 28.09 Mt.Abu - 29.09 Manali - 02.10 Padum - 04.10 Leh - 06.10 Hanle - 08.10 Umling La - 08.10 Demchok - 09.10 Chumur - 09.10 Tso Moriri - 12.10 Sonmarg - 14.10 Jammu - 21.10 Kishtwar - 22.10 Pangi Valley - 23.10 Sach Pass - 29.10 Mussoorie - 01.11 Badrinath - 03.11 Nainital - 07.11 Seppa (Arunachal) - 21.11 Ziro - 23.11 Mechuka - 25.11 Dong Valley - 27.11 Kohima (Hornbill festival) - 04.12 Seppa - 09.12 Pokhara (Nepal) - 14.12 Mussoorie - 02.01 Nanda Devi NP - 03.01 Niti Valley - 04.01 Mussoorie (Currently) * Total: 87 days excluding the days I've halted for long in Mussoorie. (*This is a long post, feel free to skip to the headers you're interested in. I realized the meat of this trip is too long for one post, so I'll add more parts later and incorporate any suggestions from the comments.*) **Inspiration:** Sitting in my apartment in London, earning enough but not caring, because I felt like my mind, body and health had been enslaved by corporate. I used to watch videos of reclusive places in the remote corners of India. Partly, it was the yearning for exploration and adventure that pulled me toward these regions. At the same time, these places represented the freedom I felt I didn't have and didn't see for myself in the future if I continued down that path. **Goals:** * Explore the remote corners of Ladakh like Umling La, Chumur and Demchok, plus places I missed during my 2019 motorbike trip (I was camping in Hanle valley, completely oblivious, when Article 370 was revoked), like Zanskar valley. * Tackle the treacherous Kishtwar-Killar route - Inspired by Himbus YouTube videos. * Continue my paragliding training. I had done my P1 and P2 from TT School in Bir in March 2024 and was due for P3 in NIMAS Seppa in Nov 2025. * Now that I had quit my job, I had to figure out my next source of income. * Experience absolute freedom. **Costs & Budget:** * Total Trip Cost: ₹2.6L * Daily Budget: ₹4.5k on heavy driving days, ₹2k on other days. * Expenses: 40% Diesel, Car Service and Road Tolls + 30% Hotels + 20% Food + 10% Other. In populated places I aimed to pay ₹800 for a room. Remote areas often demanded between ₹1.4k-₹2.5k even for basic rooms. **The trip:** 1. **Mangalore to Mumbai:** I crossed the Western Ghats twice, skipping Goa in favour of spending more time in the mountains. This is where it hit me (not for the first time) - that India is oh so beautiful. It was nearing the end of monsoon and the dreamy hills near Chiplun will be my first core memories of this trip. 2. **Mumbai to Mt.Abu:** Initially my plan was to halt only one night in Mumbai, but as I stayed with my cousins, I felt like it would be easier for me to stay longer with familiar faces before venturing into the long unknown - so I stayed another night. The drive from Mumbai to Surat was incredibly dusty; navigating a sea of heavy-vehicle blind spots was terrifying. It reminded me of that meme with the girl sitting on the couch with the five guys behind her. The stretch from Surat to Mt. Abu was much more relaxed. 3. **Mt. Abu to Bathinda:** I took the Amritsar-Jamnagar Expressway. This was easy but also boring. Averaging around 120KM/hr, I covered 800KMs that day. 4. **Bathinda to Manali:** The Punjab part was easy and beautiful but Himachal was dusty again with all the construction. And it was a tough drive because the main road had recently been washed away by the rains, so I had to take the narrower roads on the other side of the valley. 5. **Manali to Padum:** A week had passed since I left home and I decieded to take a break in Manali. I took such breaks throughout the trip as it helped me calm down, delve into what the place has to offer, be less prone to body stiffness and injuries from driving and just chill. Shinku La - which is supposed to end up being an all weather alternative to the Manali-Leh highway - was on my list for a long time and I was glad I was going to attempt it this time. While getting to Padum I gave a drop to atleast 8 people, who were all either road workers or locals. 6. **Padum to Leh:** I initially intended to reach Leh via Chilling. But no one I asked in Padum could reliably tell me if that road was open (in fact, there were two routes, one through the valley and another through multiple mountain passes which doesn't go through Chilling). 1. I attempted this route anyway but due to multiple road blocks (blasting and clearing), I had to turn back after being on the road for 8 hours and going only 80KMs towards Leh. 2. It was almost 9PM and most places in Padum seemed like they had closed down. I finally managed to find a room for ₹2.4k. 3. The next day, I decided to skip the uncertain Chilling route and headed to Leh via the Manali-Leh highway. While descending Shinku La, I met a couple on a tandem bicycle with their 1 year old baby strapped to the rear carrier! I wondered how that's possible at 5000+m. 4. This drive took me more than 13 hours and involved crossing the 5300m Tanglang La in the dark. It was an eerie feeling being on top of this pass all alone with only snow covered mountains around me for company. In terms of scenery and magnitude of scale, this route, especially around Sarchu, was the most breathtaking stretch in the entire trip. 7. **Leh to Hanle:** I took another break in Leh and stayed for two nights. En route to Hanle, I stopped at Indus Canteen, which is part of a military installation. This place has a shop where one can buy Decathlon and similar items at a bargain. There is also a restaurant which can serve as a pit stop for this route. 1. Umling La and Demchok were the main destinations here. But it had recently come to my attention that Mig La which had recently opened was now the highest motorable mountain pass in the world. So, I attempted this on the first morning at Hanle, but at the diversion to Mig La, a military person told me that it has been close due to poor weather and asked me to turn around. 2. And so I headed towards Umling La. But again, due to poor weather conditions, I had to turn back from Photi La top - there was too much ice on the road. 3. The next day, Sonam, whose hotel I was staying in, hooked me up with a taxi driver going to Umling La via Nurbu La - this was meant to have better weather conditions compared to Photi La. And so I followed the Innova. This road was in the valley plains, but was completely off-road. It was quite fun to go through while the car was slipping and drifting. 4. Finally at Umling La top, I celebrated the moment I had been waiting for 6+ years. 5. From there I went ahead towards "India's last village" Demchok. The descent from Umling La was extremely steep. No amount of engine braking would get the car to go at a decent speed. Eventually I felt the brakes begin to stop working from overheating. This was quite a scary experience. I realised that the best way to do these steep descents was to either stop intermittently, or go at a crawl. 6. A rider from Kolkata who I had had a few words with at Umling La top noticed me next to my stopped car observing the glowing brake pads. We decided to head together to Demchok. The military personell were excited to see us, because very few tourists came this way, but at the same time they were hesitant and reulctant to show us their faces which were covered with masks. They told us how both India and China had the whole place covered with cameras and any sort of man made development, including erecting a small pole required the other country's permission. 7. We headed back to Hanle from Demchok through the Indus valley via Dungti. This stretch Demchok-Dungti was ethreal. The sun was starting to set and it also began snowing. While I could see quite a distance at the beginning, visibility dropped and the atmostphere turned magical with the mist. This stretch is where I felt most isolated (in a good way), like I was in an alien country. 8. **Hanle to Tso Moriri:** The main destination here was Chumur, a tiny border village with a mystery. I couldn't go to Chumur from Hanle directly because I was running low on diesel. So I took the Hanle-Nyoma-Chilling Tso-Chumur route. This turned out to be an awesome decision because of how remote and untouched this area was. Also, this too was on my list for quite some time. 1. This was an extremely tough drive. The roads around Ryul Tso and Chilling Tso were being constructed and the alternative was to drive on the wet and muddy track next to it, which often snaked from one side of the actual road to the other. And if I missed a crossing, I'd have to drive back to find it. I often had to drive faster than I was comfortable with so as to not get stuck in the mud. And in this path, I did not find a single vehicle for more than two hours and I had no hopes of anyone coming this way to help me in case I got myself stuck. In some places I had to get off the car and walk for hundreds of meters to scout a usable path. 2. On reaching Chumur, I was told that I wasn't allowed to stay the night in the village. Chumur was quite an eerie place, with the houses seemingly abandoned and very few people around. The actual village was up a mountain and as I got closer, I could hear a monk praying in a monotone, inside what I guessed was the monastery. I spotted an elderly villager nearby and asked her if I could go inside the monastery. It seemed like she couldn't speak Hindi and she called another person. This person too was elderly and I couldn't understand what he said, but I guessed that it was ok for me to head into the monastery. 3. The monstery was known to house a mummy and the body parts of a witch and her son. I sat cross legged outside the prayer room and watched as the monk prayed. He noticed me and continued praying. I tried spotting the mummy and body parts but I wasn't able to find them. I waited at least 15 minutes before I started looking around with more vigor. That's when I finally saw it!! The cut hands of the witch, hanging from the ceiling!! It had the ring finger and little finger touching the thumb - in the meditative posture. It was red in colour with clear signs of decay. I waited some more for the monk to stop praying so that I could ask him about the history of the hands, but he didn't seem like he was going to stop any time soon, and the sun was setting, while I still had the 80KM drive through isolated stretches to Tso Moriri, so I decided to leave. 4. The day had been long for me. I had begun that day - although in relative isolation (Hanle) - within civilisation. In the first half I had gone through a stretch that passed between two deep and freezing high altitude lakes without seeing a single person. And ended up at this eerie village where the only signs of life was a monk praying in a room with two cut hands hanging above his head. And now the sun was setting, with just the warmth of my car for company, I began heading towards Tso Moriri. 5. En route, in the dark, I realised that the sky was lit up with stars. So I stopped on the side of the road, opened the sun roof a gap, and clicked a few long exposure shots of the sky. The photo came out beautifully with countless stars clearly visible in the high altitude sky. 6. As I continued driving, I realised that I was going to descend towards the lake (Tso Moriri) soon. It might have been the isolation and hopelessness from earlier in the day around Chilling Tso, or the cut hands hanging in the village of Chumur, or that I was in the middle of nowhere, in pitch darkness going up and down barren mountain slopes with only my headlight for guidance, or the fact that I might have to come to a dead stop at any moment if I spotted a river or stream crossing the road, at which point I'd have to make a decision on crossing or heading back towards Chumur - both of which seemed like hopeless prospects at this time of the night, or the fact that I had to circumnavigate a 25KM long body of deep and freezing water to get to any sign of civilisation, but for the first and only time in the entire trip, I felt an inexplicable and gripping sense of fear. 7. Even though I could swim, and I wasn't ever afraid of the dark or anything at all for that matter, just the existence of the lake freaked me out. I kept peeking to my left to see if I could spot the lake in the darkness below, and almost ran out of my lane trying to do this. Eventually I spotted two trucks ahead of me and this gave me some strength to continue on. Not one to be held back by irrational fears, I overtook my only two external sources of strength and continued on towards Karzok, the main village at Tso Moriri. 9. **Tso Moriri to Sonmarg:** The Ladakh part of my trip was done and I was now heading towards J&K. After 4 nights in remote places, I felt like taking a break, so I stayed two nights in Leh before continuing on towards Sonmarg via Kargil and Zoji La. In this time, my driving and offroading skills had leveled up a few notches and I was much more comfortable with the car now and felt it's vibe much more easily than before. Zoji La was a piece of cake compared to the roads I had gone through the past 10 days. As I descended in altitude, I was super happy to have the lost power return to the car and I whizzed my way towards Sonmarg. It seemed like I made my way back into highly commercialised destinations. Most rooms were for more than ₹3k here, and eventually I found a nice one for ₹1.4k. To be continued... **Transport:** Car: Honda WR-V IDTEC VX (Diesel). I didn't have a single issue the whole trip and it took every bump, every underbelly hit (although I felt the pain) and every type of road like a champ. I was getting a mileage of around 20KM/L. The sun roof helped me feel more connected with the outside world and also helped reduce some of the dryness which came with keeping the heater on. The narrow profile really helped with the tight mountain roads and towns. The speakers were great as I had music/podcasts on most of the time. The tight suspension meant I could go faster on bumps and corners. There was a bit of body roll while going slow on bumps. And the large A-pillars blocked a crucial line of sight at corners. Overall, the WR-V felt perfect for a solo trip like this. Navigation: To navigate, I had Google Maps on Android Auto the whole time - the map part was very useful but I was extremely suspicious of the routing it provided so I primarily used it to complement my mental map. It frequently routed me through narrow roads, interior roads to save 10 minutes when it would have been much more convenient to take the highway. It would also suggest me to go 50KM in one direction and then take a U-turn and go back on the same road in the opposite direction. I used the Satellite layer in remote areas to confirm the existence of a road which wasn't visible in the Default layer. Occasionally I would peek at Maps to figure out the curvature of the next curve when I was driving relatively fast. Overall, Maps was cruicial for navigation. Especially on days when I was least bothered about the route, as long as I got to my destination within a reasonable duration. **Accommodation:** I must have stayed in more than 40 hotels and a lot of of them were to halt during transit, so I am only going to list the ones that I'd recommend and for only those destinations I've mentioned under 'The trip' header: * Manali - The Hostller, Old Manali - ₹1.7k for a private room. * Hanle - Sonam Homestay - I don't remember the rates, around ₹2k including food. * Leh - Hotel Holiday Ladakh - I don't remember the rates, around ₹1.4k after a steep discount. Most of the time, I'd find a hotel on the side of the road whenever I'd get tired driving. And if it wasn't good enough, the next one I'd stop at was almost always decent. 20% of the time I'd use the internet to find out locations where there were clusters of hotels and drive in that direction to make a deal offline. Very rarely did I make an online booking, mostly because it meant commitment. I tried to use OYO in the beginning but soon realised that all the hotels listed in OYO which I visited, had broken up with OYO. Although it was a hit and miss with these rooms, OYO app listings did help find affordable rooms when I was desperate. **Tips:** * To help with price negotiation at hotels, I'd first ask to see the room (in fact, they would suggest the same, so this part was easy). This did two things: It showed them that I've put in some effort, and, if there were issues with the room, this gave more room for bargaining. Then I'd tell them that I'm solo and that I'll be gone before 9AM the next day. This practice often helped reduce the rates by 30%-50%. Hotels also have "lemon rooms", which are rooms that are completely functional but have some defect in them, like an odd shape or no windows or too small - and they are happy to give away these rooms at a much lower price. * FASTag has an annual pass for 3k which I didn't use myself but I realise I could have used to save more than 70% on tolls. * Split my baggage into what I needed for the next 2-3 days into a smaller bag so I didn't have to wheel around the large suitcase every time I halted at a hotel. * To get good view points, I often used the terrain layer on Google Maps and used the contour maps to choose roads that I thought would be scenic. (If you haven't used this before, it takes <5 mins to learn.) * I always carried a few packets of Maggi with me, a camping stove and some utensils, which helped me with food during dire situations. **Outro:** I feel extremely fortunate to be able to have this experience. I realise that a lot of things need to come together for it to happen. At the same time, it's also about making the decision and living with the sacrifices. This has definitely helped me relax and get my fill of freedom for the time being. Travel can be freeing but it can also become an escape and it's important to balance the two. What I am most glad about is that I can't remember a single incident during the whole trip which I'd term as 'bad'. In every single state and destination, I only met extremely kind and helpful people, be it KA, MH, GJ, RJ, PB, HP, UK, UP, BR, WB, AS, AR or NL. They'd share their phone number in case I got into trouble in their state, they'd invite me into their homes and feed me lunch, they'd take me around town, they'd ask me to step in for tea and so on. And I can't help but be proud of my fellow humans for this. There are so many things I haven't detailed in this post, simply because it will be too long and I find it even harder to convey the spiritual bliss that such experiences provide - so I am not going to try. I hope the photos make up for it. I look forward to your questions and comments. Thank you for your attention to this matter.