THE TRIP
When I went to Triund (Mcleodganj), I was not sure whether this trip would happen or not. While returning, I was sleeping in the train when all of a sudden, I decided to make a trip to Ladakh.
The preparations started – woollens packed, maps printed, itinerary researched, flights booked, and so on.
The day was 8th July, when we started our journey from the Kashmere Gate ISBT.
DAY 1 & 2: DELHI - MANALI
We were going to Manali from Delhi, which was an arduous 16 hrs of journey and that too pinned down on a seat in a bus. Our ass got numbed, but we reached Manali at around 12:30 PM in the noon.
The hotel was the same one where we stayed when we went to Manali in January, and the room was also the same. What a coincidence! Actually it was no big deal since the hotel didn’t have too many guests.
We had decided to rest completely in Manali, and actually we needed that rest. After the ass-numbing journey we had to prepare ourselves for what lay ahead – 2 days of hill travel, and that too on one of the most uncomfortable road in the world, and not to forget the most inhospitable conditions.
DAY 3 : MANALI - SARCHU
The journey started next morning – infact the REAL journey started. We left Manali at around 6 AM, had our breakfast on the way and reached Rohtang La (‘La’ means a mountain pass, and it’ll be used in this a number of times).
Rohtang la wasn’t that picturesque and amazing as we had imagined it to be, as it hadn’t snowed there. We had another round of breakfast there and took out our woollens as it was cold. We were at 12,500 ft above sea level.
From Rohtang, the roads started showing their true colours. The road actually vanished, and it was replaced by a dusty road. Anyways we had expected that, and we were mentally prepared for this, so didn’t have much problem. What we were afraid of was the infamous Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), that happens over 10,000 ft and causes nausea, vomiting and headaches. We were actually waiting for it.
But the surroundings !! They were amazing. The best landscapes I had ever seen in my life (I didn’t have any idea that the best was yet to come :) ) I kept on clicking photographs after photographs, and the landscaped continued to be better and better.
We crossed a number of passes that day, including Baralacha la (14,500 ft, most beautiful of them all) and Lachulung La (10,500 ft).
The roads were sometimes cut through ice (not snow), streams were flowing on the road which could be crossed by a good 4 wheel drive only (a sardaarji tried to cross it by his WagonR, and had to be rescued by the truck drivers).
We reached Sarchu at around 7 PM. Sarchu is Midway between Manali and Leh, and is a point where people stop for their night stay. The panoramic view of the mountains was amazing at Sarchu. We booked one the tents, freshened up and relaxed. We saw a cricket bat and a ball, and started playing cricket. Trust me, at 14,000 ft you shouldn’t exert too much, which we actually did, resulting in some huffs and puffs, and had to rest to bring our breath under control.
DAY 4: SARCHU – LEH
The following morning we started from Sarchu and travelled across the majestic Himalayas. We passed through passes like Tanglang-la (2nd highest pass in the world), Lachulung-la and many more. We reached Ladakh in the evening
Since the blog is becoming long so from her I’ll be writing main attractions with photographs
Leh: roaming around the city, trying to explore the stuff and getting acclimatized
Panagong Tso (panagong lake): Trip by Tata Safari. Went through Chang-la and reached the most beautiful and the biggest lake in the country (143 kms long, max 6 kms wide, 1/3rd in India and 2/3rd in China)
Khardungla Trek: We hired two Bullet Thunderbirds and started the best part of our journey. The road through Khardungla pass to the Nubra Valley (Siachen Glacier Base camp) is the highest motorable road in the World at 18,380 feet. It was snowing heavily an was very difficult to drive due to the ice on the road and due to the fact that we were wet throughout.
We stayed in a place called Dikshit.
There was a rock-show organised by the Tibetens in the night.
Next day, we visited Hunder, the place with the Sand Dunes and two humped camels.
Visited Panamik for the hot springs but is was just a trickle of Sulfur-water, just enough to wash our hands.
While returning captured some beautiful moments in the camera
The owner of the hotel was most polite and humble in serving us. We had dinner in his nice kitchen in Ladakhi style. We talked a lot to him about Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, state of Ladakh, atrocities by army, life in the winters, terrorism etc. It was nice to know about these things from a person who is actually living there.
Went on the Leh-Kargil road. The view was amazing. The place where Indus and Zanskar river meet is breathtaking.
Observed the phenomenon of Magnetic hill. It was an Illusion but a good one.
Ladakh was beautiful from the Sky. These are the pictures from my flight.
I feel really sad not to be able to add all the photos. Each one of them is amazing. They are stored at http://picasaweb.google.com/ashu.iitkgp/LadakhTrip#
In short, an AMAZING trip. I'll definitely go back to Ladakh.
--Ashutosh
