LADAKH- TO LIVE WITH THE DREAMS.
If anyone asks me what is special about this tour, I will place it like this....I see two phases of my life,one before Ladakh and one after it. You Ask me why? I would say.. after touring this wonderland called Ladakh valley, the human perception about life,nature,soul will be changed for ever when one gets to see the interlacing bondage between life and nature,so elegant,so profound,so enigmatic that thy will just surrender to this surreal feeling and wonder why all this while we were so obsessed with our existential struggle,fight for selfish gains and tiresome rat race. Ladakh will embrace you with all its kindness and remind you with a minor tap on your back...'Hey, you are nobody in this world,Tomorrow if you are lost and lost for ever,nobody will bother,but these mountains will still adorn the golden yellow hue,water will still be flowing along the Indus and peace will still prevail with the Shanti Stupas across the valley.
Tour of Ladakh is a special tour.Writing a blog is not that easy and I fear for my writing skills.How well would I put down every special feelings and emotions I experienced almost constantly throughout. So forgive me as it shall be little lengthy, I shall rather concentrate on making it less boring of course.
As I call it the Godfather of all tours in India, the preparations began very early, as early as 8 months back probably. One evening, my school friend Susovan, shared his dream (of touring to ladakh) in his unique way of describing which was very emphatic and dominating as always.Who knew that day, I would live my friend's dream for the next 8 months with all my attentions and concentrations. Hardly any Youtube videos were missed, any ladakh travel blogs went unread. I even went to the extent to buy an 'Action Camera' with an intent to video blog inspired by youtube and what not.
Meanwhile,Susovan went abroad with the promise that what may come,the dream will be fulfilled. So the day was fixed, 8th July,2017 and six of us were on the verge of our dream tour.... Susovan, Saumya and Shrabani as always,Prasun, me and my wife Smritikana. By the way except Prasun, all of us are school friends. Prasun being the junior had the onus of being bullied which he handled with maturity and sincerity! such a decent guy this Prasun.
Its advisable that to tour Ladakh its good to have 6 persons or 12 persons. Because any thing in between and other than that it will add to cost,mainly travel cost,because invariably SUV would be the choice and one SUV is comfortable for 6 persons.
On 8 th July, we reached Delhi boarding a Vistara flight. We were to reach Manali from Delhi by a Volvo bus from ISBT bus stand,Kashmiri gate.The Volvo service to Manali was usually a overnight travel. It was a different experience to travel over night for almost 11 hours and to witness how a single Hariyanvi driver (identifiable by his accent) efficiently negotiating those sharp curvy mountain roads for 11 hours continuously and that too with an ever smiling face. He dint even forget to say good bye with a smile when we reached Manali at 7am next day. Everything about the volvo journey was well and good until Saumya felt for motion sickness late night. But he was a strong boy!
Manali was considered just a halting station for us. We preserved all our energy for Ladakh and kept aside the idea of exploring Manali, Itself a great destination. But few people(you can guess) still made that day a 'shopping day' for them. We did explore a little of the 'Ban Bihar' a forest like place on the banks of Beas river.
At 'Ban Bihar' Manali
The ladakh tour proper would begin tomorrow from here on. We met our driver at evening. Md Rafique Bhai would be our chauffeur for next 9 days. We were worried about how our driver would be like but who knew we were about to encounter one of the genuine ladakhi human being in the form of Rafique bhai. He relieved our fear, made most difficult of roads look easy, unfolded the ladakhi traditions to us, took us to the good restaurants,got us to taste traditional 'Ladakhi Polao'. Most important of all he made us feel easy and friendly amidst one of the most fearsome roads and deserted places in earth.
As the true Ladakh tour begins I will follow the blogs in segments from now on.
10/07/17 : MANALI TO SARCHU :
We started very early at 3.30am from Manali as Rafique Bhai cautioned us that traffic congestion at Rhotang Pass delightuin any plan for the rest of the day. At a checkpost just before Rhotang pass we were stopped and the security not letting us pass through before 6am. Rafique bhai came to our rescue. He said it was 300 rs deal with the security men. I mean its illegal and highly not recommended! but well this is India and yes,so far so good.
I had never been to Rhotang pass and all I had been hearing that Rhotang pass is full of snow and a good place for skiing and all that but we passed Rhotang without noticing any snow and the fact that we went there too early also led us to miss the view of Rhotang. Anyway we came down from there and had our breakfast at a place called 'Khoksar' on the banks of Chenab river.
Breakfast at Khoksar
The road from here was beautiful along the Chenab river till Tandi, from there we passed Keylong,Jispa and Zing Zing Bar. It was very foolish of us to assume Zing Zing Bar to be an actual roadside bar and how we pre planned to have a mug of beer there. Rather,we found that it was actually the name of a place . What a misleading and peculiar name!. But a curious and inquisitive mind would always find out the lead. We did find a bar that too few kms after Zing Zing Bar. I had already started to feel the height.So I refrained although the urge was strong. All others cheered with the bottles of Beer. To explain my feeling of altitude sickness in short..There is this feeling of drowsiness,uneasiness. I didnt feel shortness of breath but I felt like withdrawing from all activities including talking .I could feel that my strength of voice was also decreasing and I vomited once. The symptoms aggravated when we passed Baralacha La enroute to Sarchu from Jispa. I admit I had missed the scenic beauty of this pass due to my health problem but this was the only time I had missed something on the entire tour. What I remember one small lake called 'Deeepak Tal' where we stopped to take some quality pictures.
Deepak Tal: enroute Sarchu
Somewhere in the route to Sarchu
I reached Sarchu fighting with the altitude sickness and quickly decided to lay myself on the bed ignoring the scenic beauty of Sarchu,specially the location of our camps there(Goldrop camp,Sarchu). Prasun was also feeling the heat. Later I found that everyone was feeling different extents of uneasiness. The mood of the nature was also low and Sarchu weather became gloomy and it rained also that night. Somehow, I had a good night sleep and next morning the mood of both the nature and its admirer freshened up. I was feeling lot lot better and promptly put out my DSLR
Our camps at Sarchu
11/07/17: SARCHU TO TSO-MORIRI:
We enjoyed the morning at Sarchu.We were in no hurry to start for Tso Moriri having our breakfast quite leisurely.On the way,having just started,we watched how a river called 'Tsarap River' cuts the land creating some unusual artistic patterns.
River Tsarap at Sarchu
The weather remained not so bright and we passed 'Gata Loops' , a ZigZag loopy roads at 15302 ft height. Then we passed a short but another high pass 'Nakee la' (15500ft). Next came the most interesting 'Lachulung La'(16598 ft). It was not so difficult pass but the mountains and landscapes here became very interesting.Their shapes,surfaces,bizarre outlines made us feel that we have landed in some ancient era, may be Jurassic era!. It was drizzling when we were passing Lachulung la, so couldnt take many snapshots.
View from Gata Loops
At Lachulung la
We took our lunch at Pang. Pang was very cold and the gutsy wind made it even more cooler. The next 30 kms post Pang was a great surprise. We had just emerged from all those high mountain passes into a stretch of a vast plain land, where it seemed that the mountains departed away from each other to show us the beautiful distant horizon and from that horizon came down one straight stretch of a black road. Believe me, I was missing a Bike ride here and became more determined to come here one day with my Bike. Saumya was lucky enough to convince Rafique Bhai and he drove with all his delight through this amazing place called 'Meroo Plains'. I was busy adjusting my 'action camera' onto the front bonnet of the car.
We at Meroo Plains
Meroo Plains persisted for about 30 kms and from there we had to turn right for TsoMoriri. The next route was actually along the non existent roads that only our driver happened to know about. We passed a small lake known as 'Tso Kar' which was by and large dry in this time of the year. Everything was going nice when our car betrayed us as the left front tyre punctured. But we took this opportunity to spend few moments in a village called 'Sumdo' where the tyre was fixed. There was a small primary school in this remote place which reminded me of 'Rancho's School'(3 Idiots, remember??). The small kids were happy to pose and we were happy to click.
It was already 5 'o clock in the afternoon and we were another 40 kms short of our destination. On the way Prasun suddenly spotted these much hyped 'Ibex' a unique ladakhi deer species. Prasun had this uncanny clinical eye(being a doctor himself). He was always the first person to spot something new,be it the 'Ibex', 'The large rat kind of an animal',and many other things which I cant reveal here! Anyway we reached Tso Moriri by 7pm and Tsomoriri welcomed us with a grey and gloomy weather.
'The Ibex' we spotted enrouteTsoMoriri( P.C- Saumya Bera)
The night at Tso Moriri was even worse.It rained like hell all the night.We stayed at 'Golden Mark camp'.This accomodation was the worst in our entire tour.To make things more bad,the rainwater soaked inside our tents and in the morning we found some of our luggages were wet. We did see some sun in the morning but the weather was not looking great. We got something to cheer when our hotel manager said that today's roadtrip to Pangong would be the best trip in our entire tour.well..let's see,we said to him and departed Tso Moriri with the experience way less than our expectation.
Karzok villlage at tso moriri
12/07/17 TSO-MORIRI to TSO- PANGONG:
The route from Tso-moriri to Pangong is less explored one. Packaged ladakh tour usually doesn't include this. But this was definitely one of the best route of our tour and a must if you really wanted to explore the landscapes,changing colours and contours of mountains, uncharacteristic herbs and plantation amidst the arid land and of course if you wanted to submit yourself to the hand of uncertainty because in most parts it was all about driving along non-existent roads where even our driver was uncertain and said he was just blindly following the tyre-marks left behind by previous vehicle. So yes, we missed the blue sky because of the weather but our spirit was kept alive by some breathtaking views. There were several army posts and police check posts (Mahe,Nyoma,Loma and Chusul) in this route which always gave us confidence amid the most deserted places in earth.We took our lunch at Chusul after passing not so diificult pass 'TsagaLa'.The best part of this route was that the Pangong lake accompanied us for the last 30kms of our journey.It was the USP of this tour and after doing a long and hectic 8hrs trip when one got to see the clear blue waters on the backdrop of brown mountains and that too constantly for 30kms,it energised us like nothing else. We passed two beautiful villages along the lake, Man and Merak,both are tourist destinations themselves but we were to reach Spangmik,another village. It started raining heavily now blurring the beautiful scenery but who knew what was in store for us? As we reached Spangmik and about to leave our car all of a sudden the Sun popped out of nowhere and offered the most rare and celestial view I could ever asked for. Rainbow over Pangong lake along its entire breadth.....yes 'Rainbow over pangong'that too two in number..one over another.
We clicked pictures to our heart's content and checked in to our camp 'Wonderland camp'- a very good one. The night at pangong was very cold and windy and the cloudy sky again disappointed me for the 2nd time like Tsomoriri. Again I missed the chance to catch the starry night sky. The next morning we went to the much hyped '3 Idiot spot' and then left for our next destination.
13/07/17 : PANGONG TO LEH:
Today's actual plan was to go to Nubra valley starightway from Pangong. But soon after we had started news came that the route to Nubra was closed for some unexpected flush-flood or something.So it was decided we would go to Leh which also save us time and journey both. So we decided to do some local sight-seeing before reaching Leh. We were to pass 'Chang La' but before that we took our breakfast at Tangste near Durbuk. Chang la is at considerable height(17000 + ft) and looking at the weather our experienced ladakhi driver told us that we could expect snowfall at the height. As if Rafique bhai could never go wrong. We played with snow and even managed to give birth a tiny little snowman!
Anyway before reaching Leh we also took our time to visit 'Hemis Gompa' and ' Thikshey Monastry'. Special mention should be done about the view we got atop Thikshey monastry. We,however dint pay visit to the 'Leh Palace' and the much hyped 'Rancho School' of 3 Idiots.
We reached Leh quite early and had plenty of time to explore the bazaar and some shopping. Had our much desired rest that night and the change in plan actually proved good to our tiring bodies. The next day we will reach Nubra Valley.
with Snowman
Thikshey Monastry
View from Thikshey monastry
14/07/17 : LEH to NUBRA VALLEY
Today we were excited because we were to pass through arguably the 'World's highest motorable road' 'The Khardung la'. The road to khardungla was not well maintained although it is one of the most congested roads. We were actually bored to see the royal enfields and bikers to say the least. The view of Leh city from high up was very enthrilling and finally when we reached Khardung La top, it was already a very crowded place and to find a place to take our pictures was a difficult job actually. I didn't feel any sickness at the top (18380ft) or should I say the excitement surpassed the sickness being at the highest motorable road because I did feel sick,drowsy again when we were coming down from the top for some unknown reasons. A refreshing 'masala tea' at North Pullu army camp was the best thing that the doctor could have prescribed for me. I would recommend others to have this 'masala tea' and a plate of 'momos' from this army camp if they visit North Pullu which is enroute to Nubra Valley from Khardung la.
Leh city from top
On the way to Khardung la
Karakoram range from Khardung La top
At Khardung la Top
The attraction of Nubra Valley was definitely its Sand dunes located beside Hunder village.One could enjoy Sand biking or a Camel ride there.We reached there at perfect time before sunset and took some very good pictures there. Here lies the diversity of Ladakh. There is a desert, cutting through there passes few small streams from 'Shyok river', backdrop having some interesting rough mountains with snow covering the top of it. I mean where on earth would you get to see such natural diversity? Me and Susovan decided to walk across the sand dunes to get the feel of walking through a desert while others preferred to go to the main tourist spot by car.
We stayed at 'K2 camp' and the night had come at last.Yes tonight the sky was clear enough as I tried for the first time to capture the night sky. The result was decent.
Hunder Sand dunes
Sand Dunes
Camel rides
Hunder at dusk
Finally the night sky
15/07/17 : NUBRA to LEH
We left Nubra for Leh. In the morning we visited the ' DISKIT monastry' .It is famous for its huge Buddha statue. We spend some quality time there. On the way back to Leh we dint forget to have that 'masala tea' at North Pullu. We again crossed Khardung la but not dared to stop this time because it was even more crowded today. We were so tired that we changed our plan to stop over 'The Santi stupa' and 'Hall of fame'. Nothing special that day except evening was preserved for some more shopping.
The buddha statue
Diskit monastry
16/07/17 : TRIP To LAMAYURU
Todays road trip was one of the best trip for many reasons. Its NH#1 so the roads were in good shape and most part it was flat roads where anyone can cruise at high speed.Sometimes I was wondering whether I was travelling in India or some Arizona,North America. Even I will not be exaggerating If I say that I felt out of this world literally, inhabiting in some Moon or Mars!. For example there is a place exactly called 'The Moonland' for its simulation with the lunar rocky land. Enroute to Lamayuru one had to pass 'Magnetic Hill' which had nothing 'magnetic' about it,only an optical illusion.
At the age old 'LAMAYURU monastry' we spent some time witnessing the rich culture and rituals of Buddhism.
There is a place called 'Nimoo', a meeting point of 2 rivers- Indus and Zanskar. 3 of us decided to do some daredevil river rafting on Zanskar river which was the experience of another level. We were dead tired after doing 14 kms of rafting.
One sad incident happened on our return to leh in the afternoon. One biker was speeding past our car which was very risky and a rare sight in Ladakh. We found later that the biker met with an horrible accident. The life was saved by the helmet but he had fractured his leg badly. Me and Prasun tried to splint his fractured leg with a piece of wood and other people around helped him to the hospital. Such a sad experience towards the end of our tour.
Moon Land
Meeting of Indus(dirty) and Zanskar
17/07/17 : DAY to say GOODBYE.
This was our last day in ladakh or specifically last morning in Ladakh as we took morning flight from Leh to Delhi and finally to Kolkata.
Thus the tour of a lifetime ends and for the rest of my life never will I forget the different emotions attatched with it as I traveled through the different phases of contemplation,preperation of this tour and when I found in real time as if the movie is unfolding in front of my eyes, I considered my dream came true.
Every travel enthusiast should plan to visit ladakh once in a life.
If anyone asks me what is special about this tour, I will place it like this....I see two phases of my life,one before Ladakh and one after it. You Ask me why? I would say.. after touring this wonderland called Ladakh valley, the human perception about life,nature,soul will be changed for ever when one gets to see the interlacing bondage between life and nature,so elegant,so profound,so enigmatic that thy will just surrender to this surreal feeling and wonder why all this while we were so obsessed with our existential struggle,fight for selfish gains and tiresome rat race. Ladakh will embrace you with all its kindness and remind you with a minor tap on your back...'Hey, you are nobody in this world,Tomorrow if you are lost and lost for ever,nobody will bother,but these mountains will still adorn the golden yellow hue,water will still be flowing along the Indus and peace will still prevail with the Shanti Stupas across the valley.
Tour of Ladakh is a special tour.Writing a blog is not that easy and I fear for my writing skills.How well would I put down every special feelings and emotions I experienced almost constantly throughout. So forgive me as it shall be little lengthy, I shall rather concentrate on making it less boring of course.
As I call it the Godfather of all tours in India, the preparations began very early, as early as 8 months back probably. One evening, my school friend Susovan, shared his dream (of touring to ladakh) in his unique way of describing which was very emphatic and dominating as always.Who knew that day, I would live my friend's dream for the next 8 months with all my attentions and concentrations. Hardly any Youtube videos were missed, any ladakh travel blogs went unread. I even went to the extent to buy an 'Action Camera' with an intent to video blog inspired by youtube and what not.
Meanwhile,Susovan went abroad with the promise that what may come,the dream will be fulfilled. So the day was fixed, 8th July,2017 and six of us were on the verge of our dream tour.... Susovan, Saumya and Shrabani as always,Prasun, me and my wife Smritikana. By the way except Prasun, all of us are school friends. Prasun being the junior had the onus of being bullied which he handled with maturity and sincerity! such a decent guy this Prasun.
Its advisable that to tour Ladakh its good to have 6 persons or 12 persons. Because any thing in between and other than that it will add to cost,mainly travel cost,because invariably SUV would be the choice and one SUV is comfortable for 6 persons.
On 8 th July, we reached Delhi boarding a Vistara flight. We were to reach Manali from Delhi by a Volvo bus from ISBT bus stand,Kashmiri gate.The Volvo service to Manali was usually a overnight travel. It was a different experience to travel over night for almost 11 hours and to witness how a single Hariyanvi driver (identifiable by his accent) efficiently negotiating those sharp curvy mountain roads for 11 hours continuously and that too with an ever smiling face. He dint even forget to say good bye with a smile when we reached Manali at 7am next day. Everything about the volvo journey was well and good until Saumya felt for motion sickness late night. But he was a strong boy!
Manali was considered just a halting station for us. We preserved all our energy for Ladakh and kept aside the idea of exploring Manali, Itself a great destination. But few people(you can guess) still made that day a 'shopping day' for them. We did explore a little of the 'Ban Bihar' a forest like place on the banks of Beas river.
The ladakh tour proper would begin tomorrow from here on. We met our driver at evening. Md Rafique Bhai would be our chauffeur for next 9 days. We were worried about how our driver would be like but who knew we were about to encounter one of the genuine ladakhi human being in the form of Rafique bhai. He relieved our fear, made most difficult of roads look easy, unfolded the ladakhi traditions to us, took us to the good restaurants,got us to taste traditional 'Ladakhi Polao'. Most important of all he made us feel easy and friendly amidst one of the most fearsome roads and deserted places in earth.
As the true Ladakh tour begins I will follow the blogs in segments from now on.
10/07/17 : MANALI TO SARCHU :
We started very early at 3.30am from Manali as Rafique Bhai cautioned us that traffic congestion at Rhotang Pass delightuin any plan for the rest of the day. At a checkpost just before Rhotang pass we were stopped and the security not letting us pass through before 6am. Rafique bhai came to our rescue. He said it was 300 rs deal with the security men. I mean its illegal and highly not recommended! but well this is India and yes,so far so good.
I had never been to Rhotang pass and all I had been hearing that Rhotang pass is full of snow and a good place for skiing and all that but we passed Rhotang without noticing any snow and the fact that we went there too early also led us to miss the view of Rhotang. Anyway we came down from there and had our breakfast at a place called 'Khoksar' on the banks of Chenab river.
The road from here was beautiful along the Chenab river till Tandi, from there we passed Keylong,Jispa and Zing Zing Bar. It was very foolish of us to assume Zing Zing Bar to be an actual roadside bar and how we pre planned to have a mug of beer there. Rather,we found that it was actually the name of a place . What a misleading and peculiar name!. But a curious and inquisitive mind would always find out the lead. We did find a bar that too few kms after Zing Zing Bar. I had already started to feel the height.So I refrained although the urge was strong. All others cheered with the bottles of Beer. To explain my feeling of altitude sickness in short..There is this feeling of drowsiness,uneasiness. I didnt feel shortness of breath but I felt like withdrawing from all activities including talking .I could feel that my strength of voice was also decreasing and I vomited once. The symptoms aggravated when we passed Baralacha La enroute to Sarchu from Jispa. I admit I had missed the scenic beauty of this pass due to my health problem but this was the only time I had missed something on the entire tour. What I remember one small lake called 'Deeepak Tal' where we stopped to take some quality pictures.
I reached Sarchu fighting with the altitude sickness and quickly decided to lay myself on the bed ignoring the scenic beauty of Sarchu,specially the location of our camps there(Goldrop camp,Sarchu). Prasun was also feeling the heat. Later I found that everyone was feeling different extents of uneasiness. The mood of the nature was also low and Sarchu weather became gloomy and it rained also that night. Somehow, I had a good night sleep and next morning the mood of both the nature and its admirer freshened up. I was feeling lot lot better and promptly put out my DSLR
11/07/17: SARCHU TO TSO-MORIRI:
We enjoyed the morning at Sarchu.We were in no hurry to start for Tso Moriri having our breakfast quite leisurely.On the way,having just started,we watched how a river called 'Tsarap River' cuts the land creating some unusual artistic patterns.
The weather remained not so bright and we passed 'Gata Loops' , a ZigZag loopy roads at 15302 ft height. Then we passed a short but another high pass 'Nakee la' (15500ft). Next came the most interesting 'Lachulung La'(16598 ft). It was not so difficult pass but the mountains and landscapes here became very interesting.Their shapes,surfaces,bizarre outlines made us feel that we have landed in some ancient era, may be Jurassic era!. It was drizzling when we were passing Lachulung la, so couldnt take many snapshots.
We took our lunch at Pang. Pang was very cold and the gutsy wind made it even more cooler. The next 30 kms post Pang was a great surprise. We had just emerged from all those high mountain passes into a stretch of a vast plain land, where it seemed that the mountains departed away from each other to show us the beautiful distant horizon and from that horizon came down one straight stretch of a black road. Believe me, I was missing a Bike ride here and became more determined to come here one day with my Bike. Saumya was lucky enough to convince Rafique Bhai and he drove with all his delight through this amazing place called 'Meroo Plains'. I was busy adjusting my 'action camera' onto the front bonnet of the car.
We at Meroo Plains
Meroo Plains persisted for about 30 kms and from there we had to turn right for TsoMoriri. The next route was actually along the non existent roads that only our driver happened to know about. We passed a small lake known as 'Tso Kar' which was by and large dry in this time of the year. Everything was going nice when our car betrayed us as the left front tyre punctured. But we took this opportunity to spend few moments in a village called 'Sumdo' where the tyre was fixed. There was a small primary school in this remote place which reminded me of 'Rancho's School'(3 Idiots, remember??). The small kids were happy to pose and we were happy to click.
It was already 5 'o clock in the afternoon and we were another 40 kms short of our destination. On the way Prasun suddenly spotted these much hyped 'Ibex' a unique ladakhi deer species. Prasun had this uncanny clinical eye(being a doctor himself). He was always the first person to spot something new,be it the 'Ibex', 'The large rat kind of an animal',and many other things which I cant reveal here! Anyway we reached Tso Moriri by 7pm and Tsomoriri welcomed us with a grey and gloomy weather.
The night at Tso Moriri was even worse.It rained like hell all the night.We stayed at 'Golden Mark camp'.This accomodation was the worst in our entire tour.To make things more bad,the rainwater soaked inside our tents and in the morning we found some of our luggages were wet. We did see some sun in the morning but the weather was not looking great. We got something to cheer when our hotel manager said that today's roadtrip to Pangong would be the best trip in our entire tour.well..let's see,we said to him and departed Tso Moriri with the experience way less than our expectation.
Karzok villlage at tso moriri
12/07/17 TSO-MORIRI to TSO- PANGONG:
The route from Tso-moriri to Pangong is less explored one. Packaged ladakh tour usually doesn't include this. But this was definitely one of the best route of our tour and a must if you really wanted to explore the landscapes,changing colours and contours of mountains, uncharacteristic herbs and plantation amidst the arid land and of course if you wanted to submit yourself to the hand of uncertainty because in most parts it was all about driving along non-existent roads where even our driver was uncertain and said he was just blindly following the tyre-marks left behind by previous vehicle. So yes, we missed the blue sky because of the weather but our spirit was kept alive by some breathtaking views. There were several army posts and police check posts (Mahe,Nyoma,Loma and Chusul) in this route which always gave us confidence amid the most deserted places in earth.We took our lunch at Chusul after passing not so diificult pass 'TsagaLa'.The best part of this route was that the Pangong lake accompanied us for the last 30kms of our journey.It was the USP of this tour and after doing a long and hectic 8hrs trip when one got to see the clear blue waters on the backdrop of brown mountains and that too constantly for 30kms,it energised us like nothing else. We passed two beautiful villages along the lake, Man and Merak,both are tourist destinations themselves but we were to reach Spangmik,another village. It started raining heavily now blurring the beautiful scenery but who knew what was in store for us? As we reached Spangmik and about to leave our car all of a sudden the Sun popped out of nowhere and offered the most rare and celestial view I could ever asked for. Rainbow over Pangong lake along its entire breadth.....yes 'Rainbow over pangong'that too two in number..one over another.
We clicked pictures to our heart's content and checked in to our camp 'Wonderland camp'- a very good one. The night at pangong was very cold and windy and the cloudy sky again disappointed me for the 2nd time like Tsomoriri. Again I missed the chance to catch the starry night sky. The next morning we went to the much hyped '3 Idiot spot' and then left for our next destination.
13/07/17 : PANGONG TO LEH:
Today's actual plan was to go to Nubra valley starightway from Pangong. But soon after we had started news came that the route to Nubra was closed for some unexpected flush-flood or something.So it was decided we would go to Leh which also save us time and journey both. So we decided to do some local sight-seeing before reaching Leh. We were to pass 'Chang La' but before that we took our breakfast at Tangste near Durbuk. Chang la is at considerable height(17000 + ft) and looking at the weather our experienced ladakhi driver told us that we could expect snowfall at the height. As if Rafique bhai could never go wrong. We played with snow and even managed to give birth a tiny little snowman!
Anyway before reaching Leh we also took our time to visit 'Hemis Gompa' and ' Thikshey Monastry'. Special mention should be done about the view we got atop Thikshey monastry. We,however dint pay visit to the 'Leh Palace' and the much hyped 'Rancho School' of 3 Idiots.
We reached Leh quite early and had plenty of time to explore the bazaar and some shopping. Had our much desired rest that night and the change in plan actually proved good to our tiring bodies. The next day we will reach Nubra Valley.
14/07/17 : LEH to NUBRA VALLEY
Today we were excited because we were to pass through arguably the 'World's highest motorable road' 'The Khardung la'. The road to khardungla was not well maintained although it is one of the most congested roads. We were actually bored to see the royal enfields and bikers to say the least. The view of Leh city from high up was very enthrilling and finally when we reached Khardung La top, it was already a very crowded place and to find a place to take our pictures was a difficult job actually. I didn't feel any sickness at the top (18380ft) or should I say the excitement surpassed the sickness being at the highest motorable road because I did feel sick,drowsy again when we were coming down from the top for some unknown reasons. A refreshing 'masala tea' at North Pullu army camp was the best thing that the doctor could have prescribed for me. I would recommend others to have this 'masala tea' and a plate of 'momos' from this army camp if they visit North Pullu which is enroute to Nubra Valley from Khardung la.
The attraction of Nubra Valley was definitely its Sand dunes located beside Hunder village.One could enjoy Sand biking or a Camel ride there.We reached there at perfect time before sunset and took some very good pictures there. Here lies the diversity of Ladakh. There is a desert, cutting through there passes few small streams from 'Shyok river', backdrop having some interesting rough mountains with snow covering the top of it. I mean where on earth would you get to see such natural diversity? Me and Susovan decided to walk across the sand dunes to get the feel of walking through a desert while others preferred to go to the main tourist spot by car.
We stayed at 'K2 camp' and the night had come at last.Yes tonight the sky was clear enough as I tried for the first time to capture the night sky. The result was decent.
15/07/17 : NUBRA to LEH
We left Nubra for Leh. In the morning we visited the ' DISKIT monastry' .It is famous for its huge Buddha statue. We spend some quality time there. On the way back to Leh we dint forget to have that 'masala tea' at North Pullu. We again crossed Khardung la but not dared to stop this time because it was even more crowded today. We were so tired that we changed our plan to stop over 'The Santi stupa' and 'Hall of fame'. Nothing special that day except evening was preserved for some more shopping.
16/07/17 : TRIP To LAMAYURU
Todays road trip was one of the best trip for many reasons. Its NH#1 so the roads were in good shape and most part it was flat roads where anyone can cruise at high speed.Sometimes I was wondering whether I was travelling in India or some Arizona,North America. Even I will not be exaggerating If I say that I felt out of this world literally, inhabiting in some Moon or Mars!. For example there is a place exactly called 'The Moonland' for its simulation with the lunar rocky land. Enroute to Lamayuru one had to pass 'Magnetic Hill' which had nothing 'magnetic' about it,only an optical illusion.
At the age old 'LAMAYURU monastry' we spent some time witnessing the rich culture and rituals of Buddhism.
There is a place called 'Nimoo', a meeting point of 2 rivers- Indus and Zanskar. 3 of us decided to do some daredevil river rafting on Zanskar river which was the experience of another level. We were dead tired after doing 14 kms of rafting.
One sad incident happened on our return to leh in the afternoon. One biker was speeding past our car which was very risky and a rare sight in Ladakh. We found later that the biker met with an horrible accident. The life was saved by the helmet but he had fractured his leg badly. Me and Prasun tried to splint his fractured leg with a piece of wood and other people around helped him to the hospital. Such a sad experience towards the end of our tour.
17/07/17 : DAY to say GOODBYE.
This was our last day in ladakh or specifically last morning in Ladakh as we took morning flight from Leh to Delhi and finally to Kolkata.
Thus the tour of a lifetime ends and for the rest of my life never will I forget the different emotions attatched with it as I traveled through the different phases of contemplation,preperation of this tour and when I found in real time as if the movie is unfolding in front of my eyes, I considered my dream came true.
Every travel enthusiast should plan to visit ladakh once in a life.
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