Ladakh Revisit in
July 2014
17th July 2014:
After hectic days of office Budget Preparation (for last 7 days), at last a
sigh of relief in the afternoon....... Finally going to Ladakh, one of my most
favourite places. In hurry forgot to apply for official leave just informed
verbally. In the evening rushed Dhanbad (40 Kms.) from my Work Place (Maithon
Dam) to catch 12301 Howrah New Delhi Rajdhani Express. Lucky enough to reach
station 20 minutes before......... Surprised in Rajdhani Ac - 3 Tier without
any curtain. Tried hard to connect to online Wi-Fi train Onboard, but alas too
low signal.... Journey to New Delhi by watching Humpty Sharma ka Dulhaniya in my tab.
18th
July, 2014: Reached New Delhi on time.
Since I had nearly 4 hours of time in hand so took Delhi Metro to INA and
visited Safdarjung Tomb. Took beautiful lunch at Dilli Hat (Chicken Salad at
Meghalaya Food just loving it…….). Rushed to New Delhi Railway Station to catch
Una Himachal JanShatabdi to reach Chandigarh. (Oh, I forgot to tell that I was
with a Honeymoon Couple; of course my friend, throughout my trip. They were
spending some beautiful moments in New Delhi Hotel missing the drizzle on Delhi
Roads). Reached Chandigarh 5:30pm and went to ISBT to catch Shivalik Delux A.C
Bus Service by HRTC (Booked previously online) to Manali at 8 pm. The seat was
not good though reclining……. Took dinner at Haveli a fixed restaurant where
HRTC give stop en-route in Punjab. Ambience was awesome and food was equally good.
Air-condition inside bus was not working properly sometimes became too hot. But
after some time rain started outside and chased us until Rotang La (In Tibetan Language La means Pass; Rotang
means Heap of Dead bodies…In ancient Times lot of people of Caravan carrying
Silk and other materials used to lose lives because of inclement weather from
where it got its name). Then it became too cold inside bus.
19th
July, 2014: Reached Manali in the morning.
Bargained a room for Rs. 200 for 2 hours to fresh. Then we started the most
difficult part of our journey to Leh from Manali by HPTDC bus (Must book online
early. Buses ply only on alternate days and demand for ticket is quite high) by
10 am in the morning. As altitude increased temperature dipped towards Rotang
La (3980 m). On the way we saw so
many apple trees full of Green Apples…. Took Lunch Maggi Fry at Rotang Pass.
(Avoid Oily food to get rid of vomiting tendency). Reached Keylong by 5 pm
afternoon and journey ends for that day after covering 120 Km. by the side of Chandra
river (Later after confluence with Bhaga
river it becomes Chandrabagha after
Tandi). Provided Tent accommodation
by HPTDC at Keylong with common bathroom and toilet. Visited Keylong in the
afternoon and tasted Mutton Momo. (Don’t try it if you can’t tolerate smelly
mutton but taste good). Surprisingly very difficult to get Chicken / Veg momo.
Then tasted Apricot on our way to tent. Took dinner by 9 pm and went to sleep
as we were bit tired and next day journey will start by 4 am sharp. Night at
Keylong was very cold at that time (Nearly 8o C in night)
20th
July, 2014: Breakfast at 3:30 am and
journey started. Got Snow fall at Barlacha La (5030 m ) enroute. Tiny Landslide occurred and we removed the stones
for the bus to get through…… Took some 10 minutes break for Tea. After Barlacha
La greenery suddenly disappears and that is the start of barren land. Moved to
Sarchu after that. Now we began our journey in J&K crossing Himachal. Then
passed through Gata Loop (Famous for I-Bex and Hair pin bend). Then crossed
Nakee La (4739 m) and Lachung La (5065m) and famous India-Gate structure
formed in the rocks. Atlast reached Pang after crossing so many Passes.
Took Lunch with Egg-Maggi and after that crossed Moreys Plain and gradually
ascends to Taglang La (5328 m As
claimed by BRO, 2nd Highest motorable pass in the world). Road was
wide but condition is not good enough. The Pass experiences a strong breeze
throughout the day and night because of vast open places. After brief stoppage we descend continuously
and reached Leh at 5:30 pm crossing Upshi and famous Indus river. Immediately
after getting down at Leh, we faced problem due to non connectivity of mobile
phones (Only Postpaid mobile of Airtel
and BSNL service provider will work. You can ask driver for arrangement of
temporary SIM card during your stay at Leh). From local booth contacted our
driver Tashi Tsreing (Our companion for
whole of our Ladakh trip) for dropping us to our hotel Asia (You will get rooms at Rs. 800 – Rs. 1500
range. You can find other hotels also nearby. Just go to the hotel reception
and ask them so that a slight provision of Bargaining will be there. Don’t go
with any touts. Hotels on the opposite side of Asia is also very good hotel;
though I can’t remember the name. No need of advance booking at Leh even during
season)at Changspa Road (You will
find lot of mid-budget hotel there and main market is also at a walking
distance). Took rest atlast for 1 hour and then went for window shopping in
Changspa Road and Main Market. Remember most shops will down their shutters by
9pm in the night during season and 8pm during off-season. (I went there in both
seasons.
20th
July, 2014: We planned for Nubra valley
Trip started our journey at 10:30 pm as had decided on 19th and
informed Tashi Ji accordingly. (My
companion Honeymoon couple did their late night out in his room hence we were
late by 1.5 hours from our schedule 9 am without taking any breakfast. Give
them space to enjoy………..). We took Breakfast consists of Tea, Omlete,
Bread, Maggi etcat South Pullu check post and headed towards Khardung La (5359 m World’s Highest Motor able Pass
as claimed by BRO), gateway to Nubra valley. Due to rarefied O2 at
that level it is advised not to exhaust too much to avoid breathing trouble.
Lots of loose snow near pass played with it……… Then we descended to North Pullu
check post and continued our journey towards Nubra. After some journey we
travelled along Shayok river till our lunch point at a village on the route (This time we saw muddish water but if you
travel October midweek expect to see clear blue water, as I have seen earlier).
After lunch we visited Diskit
Gompa/Monastery (Remember to visit 2
parts one is new and another is old one which only we have seen during my
earlier trip, on two different hillocks).
Then we headed to enjoy camel ride at Hunder Sand dunes (White Sand);
truly cold desert. (There is fixed charge
for camel ride; no possibility of overcharge. Take longer time camel ride and
enjoy Double Hump Bactrian Camel ride. The camels have two humps with lots of
brownish fur to protect them from harsh winter unlike Rajasthan camels. You
have to sit between two humps and start enjoying………….). Stayed overnight in
a nondescript but good hotel near Hunder (Any cab driver can have a fairly good
idea regarding hotel to fit your pocket size.
21st
July, 2014: After morning we checkout from hotel at Hunder and
visited Panamik Hot water Spring. (There was a very small spring of hot water
with lots of Sulphur; evident from yellow traces nearby. Not at all worthy
visiting it rather visit the one on the way to Tso - Moriri(if you have plan to visit it but according
to my point of view it is better than Pangong Tso)……… Braved to taste the Ladakhi Bread as
breakfast (Cold and thick bread without
much taste though they serve it during celebration times, served with curd in
general…. They preserve it for 7 days during winter time because in winter
whole Ladakh is covered with snow and at that time it is very difficult to lit
fire and arrange Firewood). Return to Leh through same road. (Visited
one military establishment in Khardungla accompanied by one nice army
gentleman; served us tea, cashew nut, biscuits, Real Fruit Juice from his
ration. Helped one foreigner lady by giving her lift in our car. Petrol of the
bike, she and her friend were travelling depleted near North Pullu check post.
Took some petrol from other bikes near Khardung La and went back to refill the
bike). There are only very few petrol pumps in Ladakh only after some 200
km traveling. So carry your required Petrol in case of Bike trip.
22nd July, 2014: Our
itinerary was to visit Pangong Tso (In Tibetan language Tso means lake) and
back on the same day. Prefer to start by early morning atleast by 8am in the
morning otherwise on the way you have to cross a stream; it’s water increases
to its peak during evening and it may be such that you would have to wait until
midnight to cross it during return journey before the ice from where it
originates again becomes frozen (You may
face this only during ladakh summers from June to September months). On the
way we crossed mighty Chang La (5216 m
As per BRO’s claim world’s 3rd highest motorable pass). Though the
height of Chang La is less than Khardung La and Taklang La but road towards
Chang La is steeper as well as bad than both of earlier two passes. Visit
temple of Chang La Baba on the pass. Have some Maggi and coffee on the pass and
enjoy the beauty…………. Just after getting down from Chang La I braved to drink
Yak milk on roadside small shop. (Only
here in Ladakh I saw Yak milk, otherwise it is difficult to get in Leh. You can
take Ghee, and other by products of Yak milk from here and its absolutely pure;
no eye-washing technology for adulteration. I recommend you to take Yak milk,
it is quite similar to cow’s milk and no bad smell. It is easy to digest). After
brief stop we headed towards Pangong Tso. On the route we were lucky enough to
see Marmot (Rabbit type mammal but localities
called it rat, though it feeds on grass etc. but it prefers to eat biscuit
frequently offered by tourists. It is prohibited as per wild life law because
after forming the habit of eating tasty biscuits, it starved to death during
off season because it become reluctant to take other normal foods. Signboard
regarding it is found in the region). What is this was my reaction after
seeing one small region just before lake is forbidden by signboard “DANGER,
area with Landmine. Don’t go through it, probably additional layer of
protection from Chinese invasion, but nothing to worry about. At last reached
Pang Tso, a lake of saline and freezing water. So beautiful…… Water has got
different colors varying from turquoise blue to sea green spanning over 1800
in front of your eyes with barren snow capped mountain in the backdrop. Took
our lunch with Maggi (which is
omnipresent in Ladakh region) boiled egg, bread toast etc. If luck permits
you can get sight of Indian Army boat patrolling in the lake. Visited till the
last village Spangmik up to which tourists are permitted; from this place colour
of the water seems dark blue. Now our return journey to Leh began at 5pm…. too
late because probably we were the last tourist to commence our return journey.
During our return journey we faced a Yak race; actually lots of Yak was coming
down over the slope of the hill at fast pace among themselves. After Yak race
we have seen natural stone pelting towards our car.
23rd July, 2014: Our decided
itinerary was 2 day trip to Tso – Moriri and Tso-kar via Mahe bridge during
onward journey (the same road of Manali
Leh Highway upto Karu) and return through Taglang La. The road up to Mahe
bridge along the river Indus is more or less flat. On the route you can enjoy
truly violet color hills (Pick up any
stones on the route and you will feel why I am saying this). On the route we
stopped in a village having hot water spring, where we took our lunch also with
usual Chowmein, Momo etc. (Obviously
Mutton and vegetable ones as usual in whole of Ladakh. But if you are
comfortable with mutton try to take mutton ones because vegetable ones, in most
cases, are made of some spinach type green leaves whose taste, I think, you
won’t prefer). After lunch we continued towards Mahe bridge near which you
can spot some wild asses and horses. After Mahe, you are about to enter wild
life sanctuary for which you have to take permit which can be obtained very
easily from Mahe bridge. Here one road goes towards Chumur and you will enter
into another one towards Tso - Moriri. There are 2 (Two) villages on the way,
Sumdo Goma and Sumdo Oma. (In Tibetan
language Goma means upper and Oma means lower). After crossing Sumdo Goma
and Namasang La (5300m), we saw a very beautiful deep blue lake at the
horizon and thought it to be Tso – Moriri but it was an Kiagar Tso lake,
relatively unknown lake, but I can challenge that by scenic beauty it is better
any other lakes in Class A and Class B cities with lots of entry fees. After
crossing the lake we cross large green and brown meadow on the route towards our destination.
Ahhhhhhhhh what a awesome one !!!!!!!!!, our feelings just after seeing Tso –
Moriri from distant. On the backdrop of it there is bare mountain with clouds
on the top and shadow of the cloud over the lake was mesmerizing. I, personally
feel it is better than popular Pangong Tso. After crossing nearly 5 Km. you
will get some tent accommodation and Home stay option. If you are bachelor and
don’t crave for luxurious accommodation and don’t mind to you can opt for
Homestay. Homestay is absolutely safe, even we stayed at homestay with
honeymoon couple and it is also very much pocket-friendly. Visited one
monastery just beside our homestay. Here must visit place is the bank of Tso –
Moriri lake which is the integral of the bird sanctuary with beautiful
grassland. (Beware of mud and water
inside grasslands, marshy land when walking through it towards bank of Tso –
Moriri otherwise your shoe will get different looks after traveling but it is
very much walk-able road and rewarding also). Just like Pangong, its water
was icy cold and continuous breeze was blowing forming waves in the lake just
like smaller version of seashores. In dinner, they prepare chicken for us with
mixed vegetable and Roti /Rice. (As I
prefer rice, on the basis of our previous order. It’s a small place they
prepare specialty food like chicken on the basis of order only). After
dinner the homestay owner showed us their typical Ladakhi kitchen and served us
Lassi as complement.(Ladakhi lassi is
smelly enough, 1st take tiny amount, if you like it then take it
more otherwise it will be wasted. Here
electricity is available from 6pm to 10pm/ 11pm max. After that candle is only
means).
24th July, 2014: In the
morning I visited Tso – Moriri again to take snaps ad enjoy the beauty. (Here I witnessed one very peculiar thing.
Due to cold domestic animals like sheeps, goats avoid water. Due to this they
become dirty. The owners clean them by catching to legs by one person and
another two legs by other person then dipping them in running water of small
stream then throwing them in it). After taking Maggi in the morning we set
our journey towards lake Tso-kar. The road takes diversion from Sumdo Oma then
heads towards Tso-kar via PolaKongka La (4966m).
The road between Sumdo Oma to Tso – kar is so much deserted then you even would
not be able to see any vehicle throughout your journey of nearly 2.5 hours.
This is the first road encountered by us which is not maintained by BRO.
Instead it is maintained by state PWD. There are small patches of metallic road
in scattered parts but all the way is only made of gravels and rocks, truly you
can’t tell it proper road. After some tiring journey crossing several hot water
springs with lot of milky white salt deposition we reached Tso-kar. It banks of
Tso Kar is grassland but its is so marshy that I only able to reached on its
shore without dipping my new Reebok shoes into muds by jumping from one hump of
grasses to another (But rest of my
friends don’t even try to do it though it is not that difficult). Returned
to Leh after taking a small break at Taklang la and Karu village.
25th July, 2014: We just hovered
around Leh and seen Hall of Fame (Worth visiting….), 3 (Three) Monasteries
Shey, Thicksey and Hemmis, Indus view point and Shanti Stupa on a hill. (The
weather and sky is so clear in Leh that we were able to see Khardung La clearly
which is at a distance of 34 Kms. By road not radially) we took our car to the
Shanti Stupa and left it there. During descending we crossed 3000 stairs
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to reach Leh town. Don’t be disheartened, it is easy.
26th July, 2014: We have
planned to go to Srinagar by road from Leh. First we visited Leh Palace then
started our journey towards Srinagar. On the way we visited famous Gurudwara
Pather Sahib maintained by Indian Army. After short break we took another break
at magnetic Hill. Here you will feel the power of a magnet….. Just put the
vehicle in neutral in upslope of the road the magnetic hill will drag your
vehicle towards it. Then took our breakfast at Nimmu village. After a journey
of 2 hours we reached the famous spot of Lunar Landscape near Lamayuru
Monastery. It’s a beautiful landscape, supposed to portrait the land on the
moon itself. Took some snaps and headed towards Lamayuru Monastery where we
took our lunch. The Monastery is small but beautiful. Then we crossed 2 passes Namik La and Fotu La (Highest Pass of the road Srinagar – Leh Highway) to reach
Mulbekh. Near Fotu La there is a small view point gives you beautiful panoramic
view of the valley underneath and serpentine roads, maintained by Leh
Development Authority. Near Fotu La wind
speed is so high that you will feel to be blown by air. Mulbekh……… a giant
Buddha statue inscribed on a single rock. So tall that you will not be able to
see whole statue by standing on the foot of Lord Buddha without bending your
head. From Mulbekh onwards landscape changes from barren to greenery. After 1
(One ) hour of journey we reached Kargil. Night halt at kargil. In dinner we
ate some specialty Mughal Dishes.
27th July, 2014: Started at
7 am in the morning towards Srinagar. On the road observed bunkers of Indian
army as well as Pakistan’s. After one hour we reached Drass War Memorial (Built in the memory of the soldiers who laid
their lives to protect our country in Kargil war. There you can see arms,
ammunition, batches, photographs of captured and Pakistani rangers as well as
temporary shelters used by Pakistani rangers. Army officers will describe war
in such a manner that it bound to arouse patriotism inside you. Here you can
observerve Tiger Hill and other Peaks were Kargil war took place)…… a must
visit place. There is a canteen inside it…..heard about the quality of food it
serves but the day before was Vijay Divas so it was closed. We took our
breakfast at Drass village, the roti and mixed vegetable was just mind-blowing
type. This village till today bears the scar marks of bullets, sheels and
mortars fired by Pakistani rangers. After nearly 3 hours journey we reached
Zozila Pass, which was in very bad shape as road widening was going on. From
Zozila, there was a breathtaking view of trek route towards Amarnath shrine. (Asked your driver to go through upper lane
at Zozila and you will be able to experience the elevation of the Pass in true
sense). The we reached Sonmarg after crossing Ganderball (place where helicopter service for Amarnath
Yatra is available as well as starting point of trek route towards Amarnath
shrine) on the route. In Sonmarg, situated on the bank of Nallah Sindh the largest
tributary of the Jehlum
river, we visited Sonmarg Club, Riverside and various shooting points.
On riverside you can just spend several hours. Took lunch at Sonmarg then
approached Srinagar reached by 5:30 pm in the evening.
28th July, 2014: In Srinagar we took local sightseeing in
various places like Mughal Garden, Sankaracharya Temple, Nishat Bagh (From where former Prime Minister of India,
Indira Gandhi took its drinking water, supposed to have some medicinal value
till date), boating in Dal Lake etc. In the night took authentic Kashmiri
dish Rista (Made of Lamb, but don’t like
its smell at all) and fine Basmati rice.
29th July, 2014: In the morning roamed on the bank of
Jehlum river. Took our return flight to Delhi from Srinagar airport. In the
afternoon took Rajdhani Express to Asansol.
30th July, 2014: Back to my
Office with lot of works…….. Good days finished……..
Srinagar Stay: Approached JKTDC office
but there was no room. Then as per their suggestion stayed at Maqbool Inn. Good
hotel with friendly and cooperative staffs. Must taste Kawa (Special Kashmiri Tea here). Room Rent:
Rs. 900 - 1500
Address: Opp
Abdullah Bridge Raj Bagh, Srinagar, Kashmir (www.maqboolinn.com)
Ph. No. 0194 – 2477761
Mob: +919419060118, +919086910356
For booking contact Aijaz (+918803945357)
Leh Hotel: Asia Hotel, Changspa, Leh –
194101
For Reservation Deldan Namgyal (Mob: +919622284318)
Ph No. +9101982253403,
+919622958260, E-Mail: ladakhasia@yahoo.co.in
Our Driver: Mr. Tashi Tsering. Very
much recommended. Very well mannered. Has lot of
experience as he was
driver of Govt. of J&K in this region for more than 20 years.
For contact I can give
his mobile number.
