Leh-Ladakh via Jammu and Kashmir

The Trip of a lifetime: 

The actual planning of this trip started few days prior to the trip, with lots of discussions over how to go and then after a trail of suggestions and debate we zeroed in on going forward.

6^th Evening:   

We left at around 11:00 PM from Delhi, first stop being Murthal for dinner. We had to drive through the night so we ate home cooked Egg-curry, ordered tea(to be awake) and hot steamed momos (which seemed to be our staple food during the trip). Songs, tea and the excitement of the trip were keeping us awake yet a few caught up on some sleep while others chose to be awake to support the fellow travelers. Soon the dark night was replaced by the first glow of the sun and we were somewhere near Ludhiana admiring the “pinds” of Punjab.  We happened to have crossed Jalandhar and soon we were in Pathankot, the border of J&K, all that we could see was Indian Army all around since Jammu has the maximum Army divisions in its area  this didn’t seem to be a big deal. We observed some traffic at Udhampur and then later upstream traffic of the heavy loaded trucks going towards Srinagar before we could reach Patnitop where we intended to stay for the night as we were worn out from the journey but we still managed to reach Nathatop, in an Air Force Station which was apparently our first stay at a height of 9000 ft. We drove through rough and muddy roads and completed 14 kms in almost one hour amid beautiful green terrains and the valley. 

View from the top of Nathatop

We were welcomed by a serving Air Force officer, shown our rooms and were told to have lunch by 3:30 PM. Soon after the lunch 5 of us went off to sleep. The cool deafening wind woke me up so I was awake by 6:30 PM. I went out for some photography. It was drizzling and wind was blowing in a speed that at one point I thought it would gust me away. Later I went to wake everybody up so that we can hit the bar in order to get some heat with magical Old Monk. We called off the day to start our journey tomorrow for Srinagar at 4:00 AM.

8^th June:

We were all geared up to leave for Srinagar today. The journey was as normal as we did from Delhi to Jammu but with the fear of entering into an attack prone area our exhilaration was at peak. On our way what caught our attention were the beautiful houses of the locals in Srinagar and in no time we had a beautiful view of the Dal Lake. 

How i wish to have a house like that!

We parked our car and took a Shikara to book our one night stay at the house boat. A traditional wooden house boat with a dazzling sight of the boulevard road and facing other Shikaras made this stay memorable. As we checked in to our house boat, we decided to take a ride through the lake passing by the famous house boats where movies like Mission Kashmir and Haider were shot, we did a late lunch of kebabs, maggi and kahwa. After filling our hollow souls we went for shopping at the Boulevard Road for the famous Aari work shawls. It was decided on our way to Kashmir to have Mutton Rogan Josh for  dinner so we got it packed and had it by the window side gazing at the moon light hitting the lake bed and water gushing striking the sides of the boat. 

Evening at the Dal Lake seemed to be more peaceful

We called it a day but not before recalling the wrong turn we took in Srinagar city only to realize we were near to the Laal Chawk area, those of you who don’t know Laal Chawk, request you to Google. It was not funny at night akin to the afternoon battle of finding the way out of that place. As local describes that place is still hostile for outside people.   

Tonight’s goal: To sleep by 11 PM in order to be up by 4 AM tomorrow.

9^th June:

Our target for the day was to reach Kargil with a milestone of crossing Zojila Pass which separates Kashmir and Ladakh, we thought it to be a challenging task but was not that big a deal. 

Road to Zojila Pass

But even after thorough research we didn’t come across by the convoy system at Sonmarg after waking up much early in the morning we reached Sonmarg by 8:30 AM and realized the convoy would start only after 11 AM. The three hour halt seemed way too long so we ended up shopping some more Aari work shawls and Kashmiri suits. Sonmarg is known as meadow of gold, a heavenly place surrounded by rivers and glaciers and of course the astonishing emerald pasture along with a mesmerizing view of coniferous trees in the background made our halt worthwhile. 

Sonmarg, a meadow of gold

After leaving with the convoy at around 11:30 AM we happened to cross Zero point, another majestic sight for snow lovers. We had a hot bowl of magi and tea there and left for Kargil keeping in mind the next stop to be Dras.

Vijaypath, a war memorial built by the Indian Army is located in Dras, The memorial is built in the memory of the soldiers of the Indian Army who lost their lives during the 1999 conflict between India andPakistan. At Dras, we again had a round of samosas and veg momos to fill up our energy which we kept losing due to cold.

Somewhere near Gyumri, Kashmir

The recapturing of a range of hills can be seen at this war memorial by our brave Army men. The recapturing of Tololing Hill was one of the most crucial clashes our people faced and I am glad we stopped by the war memorial as it made a lot of things clear. As we approached from Dras we began to look for the Tiger Hill with the song from Lakshya on our minds but alas we couldn’t come across it.  On reaching Kargil as per the arrangements we stayed in one of the Army bases. While we were getting accustomed at Kargil, we were given a buddy who then told us the fascinating war stories and helped us locating the Tiger Hill which was amusingly right in front of our eyes. The moment of pride rushed in and we could relate to the tales narrated by our buddy friend. We ordered 2 OMs so that we survive the next few days in the fatal cold and started with the rounds of magic water before having dinner. It was apparent we had to wake up at 4 AM to reach Leh or Nubra it wasn’t decided where but we were unbending on leaving sharp at 4AM.

10^th June:

We left for Leh aiming to arrive at Nubra Valley by the evening which is approx 350 kms from Kargil. We happened to check in at the magnetic hill but there was nothing magnetic about the place besides the super awesome road and imposing landscape. 

We parked our car in the box, sadly nothing happened

There wasn’t a single pit hole on the road and the journey was even and thus we reached Leh at around 11 AM and decided to move further to Nubra Valley which didn’t seem to be arduous until we reached South Pulu (15000 ft.) and experienced snow fall thus ongoing traffic, some said the traffic is impulsive and can be either lifted within minutes or it might take hours. We held our patience in place and waited for the clearance. As the traffic moved we got to know about the permit which had to be taken at South Pullu before Khardungla Pass. There is a small dhaba in South Pullu so we decided to rest there and feed ourselves with maggi and tea without expecting the turmoil which was about to approach. One of the fellow traveller collapsed while we were waiting for our bowls of Maggi to arrive, I ran inside the dhaba to get water but by the time I was back she was in senses, thanks to a lady who immediately gave her camphor to sniff on. My friend gained senses but wasn’t sure what had happened, people started telling us that we should have got oxygen cylinders from Leh which we didn’t think was necessary but now I would recommend that one must always take some in case of such emergencies. We might think we are fit and since we are from the hills we were more than confident that it’s a piece of cake but it isn’t. 5 of us were breathless and acute mountain sickness had hit all 5 of us till then. The lady that came out as an angel gave us Diamox and one extra camphor which we broke in to 5 pieces and took Diamox right after we had maggi. Much terrified we moved further and passed Khardungla after a backbreaking journey it was decided that we wouldn’t stop at the Khardungla Top as we were sniffing on the camphor and the idea of losing the height (18000 ft.) seemed more appropriate at that moment.

The feeling of five of us upon reaching on the top: 

Me: Breathless and scared to death seeing the friend who was driving.

Friend 1(also the driver): Breathless and dizziness.

Friend 2:  Breathless and dizziness.

Friend 3: Breathless and nauseatic

Friend 4(the one who fainted was still in a shock): Breathless

       

We felt relieved at North Pullu and continued our journey. I believe it is the psychology of human to feel scared seeing someone suffer in a place where there is no vegetation, no hospital and no human. On our way we came across the rare and heavenly landscape of Nubra belt we stopped by at a tea shop and came to know more about the place. Nubra Valley is the heart of Ladakh, it is a high altitude cold desert with surroundings of green vegetation and river bed, something rare to witness in a single view. We reached Diskit, the capital of Nubra, from the window of our hotel we marveled upon the sunset in the rare landscape. In diskit everything shuts by 8 PM and when we decided to have hot steaming Tibetian momos it was way too late to look for a decent restaurant even though we found one place but we were not quite happy with the taste. We arrived back in the hotel room called for the food but not before a round of chitchat about the experience of crossing through the Highest Motorable Road and of course the magical water (temperature was cold), we called it a day!

Words cant describe this place

      

  

11^th June:

Time to go back to Leh before stopping at Khardungla which we missed the previous day but the distance to cover was not much today so we left at around 9 AM. The things we missed on last day seemed to be marvelous today and we actually felt on top of the world all we could see was the snow capped mountains and the indecent road. The place had an inimitable serenity which we couldn’t feel the day before due to sickness and soon we were at Khardungla Top (18000 ft.). 

At the very famous, Khardungla Top

We clicked the very cliché pose under the Khardungla Top panel, people were merry making and were feeling enthusiastic on completing the task to check in at the place, so were we. As the board suggests not staying beyond 20 minutes we decided to leave keeping in mind the previous experience we had with this place. On our way back we happened to cross a biker who gave us a ‘thumbs up’ after seeing our vehicle number being from Uttarakhand, perhaps he was from our state too. Our halt for the day was Leh, the capital city of Ladakh. After checking in the hotel we headed for some shopping and spent our evening at the German Bakery. As we had to take the bike on rent for Pangong, we rented a bike and wandered more in the market place. We ended up having dinner at around 11 PM, called it a day and had plentiful sleep!

P.S Tomorrow is the day for Pangong, a true place equivalent to heaven.

12^th June

We left for the spectacular Pangong Lake, as decided we went on bike in batches for instance two people on bike and three on car. The road was again too downy with a bit of a rainfall in between hence we stopped by Karu for the breakfast of Pakoras, Maggi and Paranthas. We started our drive in the majestic Ladakh and walked past the ever beautiful Chemrey Monastery which seemed to be in divine stillness in the middle of the deserted hills.

Chemrey Monastery

 Our next stop was Changla (17590 ft.) and my turn to hop on to the bike but weather conditions had some different plans after riding on bike for some time there was a change in climate from drizzle to slight snow fall. We didn’t have a pair of gloves, that’s when I realized that while we are on these expeditions we meet people from all over the world who appreciate our fervour and never shy away from helping. We asked some bikers for an extra pair and in no time we got one. This gesture kind of made our day and made our journey evidently simpler. We had to stop at a point about 40 kms before Pangong to get a permit. Yes, another inner line permit is needed before you reach the lake. We met a local there who told us that just 25 percent of lake is in India rest 75 is with China, there it is known as Bangong Lake and we realized that we were very close to the China Border. We came across Marmots which were rare to find otherwise, some Himalayan goats and Yaks too. 

An interesting sign board while on our way to the lake

Later after moving further we could see Pangong Lake welcoming us from a far boasting it’s blue-green shade in the mighty Ladakh. The undying beauty of mountain and clear blue sky made the surrounding more appreciable and yes I was happy to complete my trip there. We stayed in the camps and managed to get two tents in 5000 INR which seemed to be the best deal we got according to the care taker since the season was on. Rest of the evening was spent sitting in front of the lake and wondering if there is any sight more miraculous than this. In that area the nights are usually cold hence after finishing our dinner we cocooned ourselves in the blankets and started to evaluate the journey so far and the tremendous progress we made in the past few days.

A place as sacred as heaven

      

13^th June

It was time to head back to Leh but not before taking some shots of the magnificent beauty of Pangong Lake. I without doubt wish to come back to this place once again in my life I made a promise to myself before I bid good bye to this place. In Leh, we checked in to the same hotel we stayed a day back after coming from Diskit while we were in the market we happened to have the best veg momos ever. We bought some local Tibetain handcrafted jewelery and called it a day.

Tomorrow I leave for Delhi via flight while others will complete the circle via Manali.  

While returning to Leh, my last day of adventure