LADAKH-
A Beautiful ‘Dessert’ with an ‘Icy-Topping’
I dedicate this article to the ever friendly Ladakh natives.
Life has been just too hard for them. I salute their perseverance, vigor and determination to sustain against all catastrophes that have struck their people. They really are one of the best hosts of this world, the ones which you would expect in heaven.
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Prologue-
Very sincere, heart-felt thanks for your appreciation to my prequel, “Voyage of a Lifetime- The Manali-Leh Road” and also for the fact that you ignored my shortcomings while valuing my underlying content, nurturing me like a baby.
It’s your encouraging response to my prequel which forces me to jot-down these words, ogling incessantly at the most inevitable, 15.6-inch output peripheral of my Laptop.
I had very little encouragement, and even less confidence on my writing abilities while venturing in this arena of travel articles, but encouragement-cum-appreciation has overflowed from all ends- my family, relatives, friends old and new alike, with the remarkable ones being, “I’m surely going there, the next summer”, ”I actually felt I was right there!”, with some flattery ones being, “Your write so well, that I had trouble deciphering it”.
However, the confidence factor is still a bit stumpy. It’s the burden of expectations now, which adds weight to my feathers and assists me to keep my feet firmly on the ground.
Enough of my own story, it’s time now to take a deep plunge in the nostalgic Ladakh days and as in the first, here too you will find the entire work being separated into chapters which are further cut down by exercising the break-point pattern.
However there’s one pleasant change in the writing style. This time it will not be the old boring travel guide type ‘description’ of the places but a refreshing friendly type ‘narration’ of my own experiences which would more color and taste to the content.
Lastly, paying heed to ‘n’ number of complaints on my prequel, this time I’ve included a full family photo too too apart from the individual photos of everyone.
Come on; let us enjoy the beautiful dessert with an icy-topping.
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1. Mystique…Thy name is Ladakh
Before starting on with the journey let me give you a small piece of advice. If you plan your Ladak trip via road as per my earlier travelogue or even by via air, you will comfortably reach Leh around late afternoon. Do relax to come out of the continuous travel mode but do not waste this time by sleeping all day. Instead ask your hotel or guest-house caretaker to call up a driver from local taxi-stand for engaging his services to your Ladak sight-seeing trip for the next 4-5 days. Don’t worry, your hotel will not charge its commission because all drivers over there run at fixed taxi-stand rates, no matter where you book them from, besides there is a fair bit of honesty and respect for tourists which is quite difficult to observe elsewhere. Moreover, if claiming LTA is not a concern, ask your driver to charge you without bill, he will be more than happy to offer you a 10% discount on the final bill. And yes, the taxi fares are nothing less than sky-high but don’t get bogged down thinking about the expenditure and cut-short your trip, as it’s an experience you may never get again. Most importantly have your identity proofs ready for the travel permits he will arrange for each one of your members.
After you are done with stretching up your legs, come out in your hotel balcony to catch a foretaste of what lies in store for the next 4-5 days. The feeling of being trapped on a 20 square km dusty plateau with eye-pleasing patches of green gems, all this secured by heavenly icy giants from ill-intentions of both our dear neighbours will be simply majestic to say the least.
The background in this picture featuring my sister Priya, is for those who haven’t visited the place earlier and hence would find it difficult to comprehend what I said in stanza above.
I wish I had a camera competent enough to capture panoramic views. My narrative capabilities have been curbed due to an extent in its dearth. Isn’t it enough a reason for you to learn from others mistakes.
Like many things in the world this place too is a tool to judge a person’s perspective on life. The not-so-positive ones will grumble about it saying “Why the hell did we spend a fortune to land up on a desert in midst of nothing” while the other side will cheer about experiencing this place, which no other region in our vast geographical diversity, can even come close to offering. This heightened desert has a quite a stretch on the globe, from Afghanistan to Peshawar in Pakistan to POK to Ladakh in India. This means, the safest place to experience this geographical miracle is undoubtedly the last one. I think, if the whole prequel wasn’t enough reason to pay a visit to this place, this last line surely will be.
It is usually said that a culture is developed when many people share a similar lifestyle under similar natural habitats. But this axiom fails to explain how people in the Indian part of this desert are so peaceful with the others being so blood-centric. That’s the tinge of mystique attached to this place and the reason I gave this chapter its name. Perhaps the roots of Buddhism have a say in influencing the local mind-set when it comes to the Indian part of this topography.
I know that I have been too much philosophical and far-less a guide as yet, but all I wanted was to help you get immersed in the expanse’s beauty slow enough to enjoy it. More than anything it will help you fathom more to the later pages and build up a natural craving for a holiday in Ladakh next summer. I would have loved to dwell more in the above way but that would rob you off the descriptiveness and this piece certainly would not turn out to be a travelogue.
So, as a guide I would divide the stay and would want you to follow suit as per the next four chapters.
2. Day-1 Mount Lamayuru
We chose this as our first day trip for the reason that a visit to place does not require Army permission. So even if it was not possible for you to make those travel permits ready on day-0, a visit here will still provide the buffer.
This place is housed at a height approximately1000 feet more than that of Leh city. The road on way to this trip will be the best you will experience amongst all four days of your ‘sight-seeing’. It is simply because the road is National Highway-1D connecting Leh to Kargil. But don’t get too lethargic by the above fact and spoil your day by starting late, because it still is a 125-135 km long road. Additionally you’ve got to round it up too, to be back by the twilight in Leh City.
As a piece of advice if your total days in hand at Ladakh are more than 5, you can afford to start late and sojourn this excursion in two days. So, if you plan to finish this off on the same day, start by 7 am, else you can comfort yourself by 11 am. A one-way trip from Leh city to Lamayuru peak will last around 4 hours if all goes well, in this totally unpredictable piece of India.
That way you can stretch your legs more often in the voyage to your destination and most importantly fulfill yourself with the main attraction this peak holds, its soil which glitters like gold in day and shine like silver when moon’s rays are incident in the night. The whole of mountain doesn’t shine-out, this special soil can be seen only in patches, called the moonscapes.
A zoomed-in view of the glittering moonscapes which are even beautiful in night when they isolate out of the entire mountain.
Though this place is quite an isolated one in itself, it still offers decent stay conditions at some hotels down the hill. Unfortunately we were short of days, during our stay and hence could not afford a night’s stay at the peak. Hence, if possible plan out your trip with a week in hand and do witness this nature’s wonder.
The locals there say, one scene of the film ‘Tashan’ was shot at this exotic location. Maybe the producers would have thought the location a reason enough for the film’s box-office fortunes despite the film itself being so stupid!
There are quite a few things more on this excursion besides the moonscapes, one obviously is the monastery right at the top and three others being the Magnetic Hill, Pathar-Sahib Gurudwara, and the Indus~Zanskar confluence.
Since the moonscapes and monastery are the farthest ones from Leh, we decided to see them first and cover all other points on the way, whilst returning. That way, we were flexible enough to skip one or two points and still cover the main attraction but more importantly, planned, prepared and lucky enough to witness all of the above.
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In this picture the river coming from the left is Indus, which is very clear, and forms the fertile Indus valley (Leh, Saspol, Basgo, Alchi etc) and the one on the right is the muddy Zanskar, whose water is not that much useful for the cultivation purposes.
Next point on the way back is the Magnetic Hill, a scientific wonder. It is said that there are huge volumes of ‘Loadstone’ underlying this particular hill. At one such point on the way down-slope is a rectangular box marked by the BRO, wherein if you park your vehicle and turn off the engine, the vehicle moves upward defying the gravitational pull.
Only reason I could make out for this phenomenon to happen is, the magnetic pull by the loadstones exerted on the iron-metal parts of any automobile, help it overcome the gravitational pull and hence enable it to accelerate upwards.
This miracle unfortunately cannot be captured and described in a photograph but believe me and Google, you will find endless clips of tourists who have been up there. The only tangible proof I can share here is the official sign board put up by BRO, approving the above story.
Sign board by the BRO
Next up on the way is the Pathar-Sahib Gurudwara which has a very interesting tale attached. It is located some 25 km from Leh city.
It is said that during a journey from Tibet in 1515 AD, Guru Nanak Devji arrived along the route of Sikkim, Nepal, Yarkand and Ladakh. A wicked demon used to stay on the mountain overlooking this place. He used to trouble the local populace, kill and eat them. On hearing about the demon, Guru Nanak Devji, arrived here and started meditating on the river bank. Seeing Guruji the locals were relieved and happy but the demon got angry and upset. The demon then hatched a plan to kill Guruji. One day while Guruji was offering his prayers, the demon rolled down a massive boulder towards Him to kill Him. However as it is said, “Jako Raakhe Saiyan Mar Sake Na Koi”, the boulder miraculously turned soft like wax on touching Guruji. The rear body of Guruji sank softly into the boulder and His prayers continued undisturbed. Thinking that Guruji was dead, the demon came down to the site. He was astonished to see that Guruji was perfectly alright. He got annoyed and kicked the boulder with his right foot which also sank into the boulder. Seeing this, the demon regretted and realized that Guruji was a Holy disciple of God. He fell at Guruji’s feet and pleaded mercy for his evil deeds. Guru Nanak Devji opened His eyes and asked the demon to devote the rest of his life in the service of the people. The demon followed it henceforth and Guruji left the place towards Kashmir Valley via Kargil.
The shape of rear body of Guruji.
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3. Days 2 &3 - The Nubra Valley
The Snowy days are here again! In case you longed for their company in these 2 days after reaching Leh, here they come to be with you for rest of your stay. I am not referring to some sudden change in climatic conditions, but in next three days you will be passing through the highest and the third highest mountain passes of the world, hence the snow.
The Nubra valley lies in the most north western region of the Ladakh region with a close proximity to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Locals say, if weather permits, one can even see the siachen glacier somewhere along the route. The Nubra Valley excursion compels you to stay overnight since one way journey takes more than 6 hours to cover. There is much more than you think to this valley. Firstly, the white desert at Hunder which stretches about 10 square km and its special camels, the Phyang monastery on hilltop, Panamik hot water springs and the best of all, an overnight stay in a jungle resort by the river side.
Before planning this trip, get thorough details from your driver, because the road is so bad that the BRO allows upside traffic one day and downside the other. This alternating policy continues for 6 days of the week with one of the days, the road being entirely closed for maintenance purposes.
The Sumur village glimpse from somewhere on the drive en-way to Nubra
Picture featuring my younger brother Neelesh on the bank of this really small but more awe-inspiring river Shyok
Some 5 km down you will come across the Diskit town, the only one to host some decent inns for lunch. A personal advice, you will find many hungry dogs over here, but please don’t have pity and start feeding any one. We did precisely that and the result, some 5-7 dogs got gathered around the poor man’s hotel depriving him of any further customers that day. So, the choice is yours, do you care for a stray dog more or a deprived man more.
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After lunch, head straight for Hunder the ‘Real White Sand Desert’ at an altitude of 12,500 ft, a geographical wonder in itself! The first sight of this brilliance enchants tourists so much, that the local municipality has widened the road at this point and converted it into a ‘Photo-Point’. We were far luckier than having been able to merely view this desert. We could see a desert tornado somewhere on the other end of plain land mass and even managed to capture it in a picture.
After the many ecological ones, this one is a biological wonder of Ladakh
These camels are competent enough to take you to the high altitude passes, scenic valleys, and ancient trade routes which connected this Himalayan region to China, Tibet and other places.
Earlier used by traders as pack animals to load spices, fruits, clothes etc., these double humped camels are now used for safaris through the ancient passes and the villages. Short camel rides are also organized through the desert around Leh. As I have been saying, Ladakh is known for its unparalleled beauty, and that can be cherished to its best with double humped camel ride. All this will definitely leave an indelible imprint on your mind.
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Next up on the way will be the Monastery on top of a single hill, which overlooks the entire valley. Even if you have the least of interest in visiting a monastery, this one is surely a worth with its breath capturing view of the valley. If money is not an issue, I would advise you to hire a guide from Leh city for your five days of stay there, exclusively to throw some lights over the mythology behind them. We didn’t do it but I felt, we should have, when I eavesdropped over a tourist group being ‘guided’.
The valley view from Diskit Monastery Top
Picture featuring my brother Sidhesh in a resort within the thick of greens
This will also be a great chance to gather around the bon-fire after dinner, drinking the night in style. Mind you, the temperatures here will be worse than Leh city at night without the support of your hotel heaters, so better be ready.
The next day start early if you wish to see the Panamik hot water springs, else ease out of the bed and have a King style breakfast with a walk by the Nubra river behind the resorts. In case you missed clicking pictures, at the Khardung La point, as we did, because of time constraints on the previous day, you will have a full noon at your disposal this day.
On top of the world…atleast on road.
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4. Day 4 – Pangong Tso
With today’s excursion starts your last day in Ladakh out of Leh city limits and of course the last day with those high altitudinal passes. Tso is the Tibetan name for a lake, and this Pangong Tso is one of the few International wet-land borders in this world. This lake is 160 km long in length; you may not even dare to ask its depth after reading this! India houses a little over 40% of its vastness with the rest, resting in China. And yes, this is the same Lake where, Phunsuk Wangdu was apprehended by collective efforts of Farhan, Raju, Priya and Chatur.
This day’s trip will be by far the most tiring, simply because one way stretch is 155 km long and there are no overnight staying facilities, which force you to schedule the return same day. Positively, this day will also complete your trio of the three highest mountain road passes in the world, with Chang La, the third highest impending on the way.
Me, falling off the Chang La, quite literally!
During the initial 40 km, you will be on the Leh-Manali road, revoking the beautiful journey, accomplished sometime back. When you reach at the Chang La point, you will find a temple of Chang La Baba, who’s a deity of the locals, believed to be a protector of travelers who cross the pass.
The first look of Pangong, after reaching there, will feel as if you are witnessing an ocean at a height 15,000 ft above the sea level! If 160 km is hard to imagine for you, let me make it simple, it’s almost the Mumbai-Pune distance. Its more than where the horizon ends. Thanks to Raju Hirani, this isolated spot although an irksome 158 km away from Leh city, is now a rage amongst tourists.
As an advice please do not forget your monkey caps, the winds are strong, you will very soon start experiencing headaches.
Some surprises await bird-watchers here, a foreign species of birds, believed to be Chinese, flock on the Indian shore for feeding on whatever the habituated Indian Tourists feed them with. These beauties will swoop down all-out on food, making a noise festival with total chaos, but a delight nevertheless for the viewers.
The fantastic flights
It would be better if you could spend atleast 3-4 hours at this place. You never know when the sun will bless this lake with atleast 4 different hues. We weren’t as lucky, as it was snowing all the way at our time, I hope you will be. Sadly this lake is not an oasis in a desert but rather is a salty one, hence the surroundings are devoid of any greenery. Nevertheless the bare earth makes Ladakh special for what it is.
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5. Day 5 Leh City
Finally this is the day to roam and shop around within the cozy confines of Leh-City. If you think you’ve seen it all by now, you will surely be proven otherwise.
To start with, start late. Do have some leisurely breakfast you so crave for on holidays. First to be seen will be the Kargil-War Museum near the airport which showcases the personnel and weaponry prowess that won us the war. I won’t describe much of the museum and the weapon replicas therein because of confidentiality issues, but do be there in person and feel proud to be an Indian.
Uniform of a soilder on duty at Siachen Glacier displayed in Musuem
Next up will be the Local King’s palace, where the king although powerless still enjoys respect of the people and luxuries from the govt. Most weird thing being, there is an official ticket worth rupees 20 to see him “LIVE”. Photography isn’t allowed there else I would have surely saved your 20 bucks.
After all this travel frenzy, your only wish would be to have a peaceful place and spend some coveted idle moments in company of yourself. God will be kind to land you up in the ‘Shanti-Stupa’, which is the highest point within Leh City, from where you enjoy an awesome panoramic view of the city.
Relax yourself and meditate, your body will deserve it
Enjoy the last lunch on hills, you won’t get a chance, for many years now, to have it whilst viewing those snow-topped colossals. Shop around for beautiful memoirs showcased at the local market, as that is what your dear ones will expect most when you return back soon.
By now, it would be twilight and a perfect time for you, to soak your feet in holy waters of Indus at the Sindhu Ghat, which is some 10 km away from Leh city.
The term ‘Ghat’ here is to be interpreted in the Hindu sense of it, which means a place of worship on a river basin. The place where this Ghat is built up is the one where Indus is most beautiful, most easily accessible and nearest to Leh city in its entire flow within India.
Every year in the month of June, the J&K state government holds a festival called ‘Sindhu Darshan’ which lasts for three days. This Sindhu Ghat at Choglamsar village at the bank of River Indus was inaugurated on the 1st of June 2001 by Hon’ble Minister for Home Shri L. K. Advani. Every year Sindhu festival held on this bank of river forges bonds of unity between the Hindu-Muslim-Buddhist communities. The festival is an ideal opportunity for travelers from all over the country and the world to visit this wonderful region and to savour its rugged beauty and charm.
Personally speaking, many devotees throng this place then and it becomes too much a crowd to enjoy the serenity. Hence, as an advice, if you are not going there exclusively for the Sindhu Darshan festival, do plan your trip so that it doesn’t coincide with the same.
The Sindhu Ghat is quite a scene with snowy mountains in the backdrop, and a vast patch of green near the banks.
Soak into those chilly waters, nothing else will better compliment your Dasvidaniya.
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Acknowledgements-
This trip too was hardly anything different from our Manali-Leh Voyage and this article would hence remain incomplete without its share of acknowledgements.
Firstly , I thank our care-takers Toshi & Chamba, whose nonsensical ways of ‘caretaking’ made the trip all the more Hilarious. A big thanks to our driver ‘Aungchuk’ who steered his Qualis through the road, mud, water and snow alike to make our trip a worthwhile one.
Not for the sake of repetition but for the sake of genuine gratitude I have inserted the this last paragraph. I would thank my siblings, parents, uncle and aunty for sponsoring and planning this trip so well, and for enduring me all along.
A big whole-hearted thanks to the endless number of soilders who toil all day long, without the slightest of fear, to make this place as peaceful and as safe as it is.
Epilogue-
As I at last finish this, I’m still basking in the memories of the splendid 6 days I was privileged to live, in that desert.
Life once again became busy after returning and I almost forgot of these pending travelogues which I had vowed to pen. Sadly remembrance came fiercely and hurtfully like a lightning’s thunder.
If you liked my work, and wish to appreciate it, the best appreciation I yearn for would be planning a trip there soon, the summer is on its way!
- Ashish S. Lalla [The Travelover]
Watch out for my article on Andaman Islands whose trip I believe will execute soon [sometime in the next couple of years].
