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| The beautiful blue - Pangong Tso |
Leh is probably one of those very few places which would be hot on the list of "
must dos" of adventure enthusiasts, nature lovers, bikers, lazy bums and dopers alike. Mountaneous terrain, either river Indus or Zanskar alongside and deserted highways dotted with tiny hamlets is representative of Ladakh region outside Leh. We had flown down from Delhi and Leh and the magic of the place hit us even before we landed. Just as the clouds cleared, we could see the vast expanse of snow capped peaks and the valleys waiting there for us to embrace the beauty, Ladakh.
The acclamatization day was mostly spent loitering the streets of Leh (well technically, we were always in fort road), trying everything from Thukpa to momos to kehwa. A hike to the Leh palace which stands guard from the north end of the city gives you the perfect views of the whole valley. As the last rays of the sun set on the hills, you cant help feel a chill. The next day, we drove for ~6 hrs to get to the Pangong lake while covering the Thiksey monastery enroute. Serene waters ranged from turquoise blue to aquamarine while kissing teal intermittently. I have no clue what I just said. Lets just say that the waters were in shades of blue, and loads of them! Ladakh is just like what you see in post cards, picture perfect. We slept by the lake in the night trying to count stars in the partly clouded sky.
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| Young monk at Hemis Gompa |
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| The Thiksey monastery |
The next three days was the trek to Stok Kangri covering close to 45 kms. We had stayed in a home stay in Rumbak and camped at the base camp at Mankarmo. Starting at 3500m above sea level, we trekked to around 3900m for about 4 hrs to reach Rumbak. The community farming practices and the home stay model epitomized peaceful coexistance in this village. We then hiked to 4900m to get to the Stok la pass and decended back to 4300m at the Mankarmo base camp. The final day was yet another strenuous climb to the advanced base of the Stok kangri peak where we reached 5200m. There were river crossings, deer sightings, hail storms and needless to mention.. paradise on earth!
A trip to Ladakh would never be complete without biking around. We dared the Khardungla pass (5600m) on a set of 2 pulsars and 2 activas. Even though we made it to the top eventually, no pictures can relate the story of how one of us had to push the activa for 3 kms uphill as it refused to get loaded anymore. The ride down was a race of gravity. For our final tryst with Ladakh, we hired a car and a bullet and drove down to Lamayuru on the Leh Kargil highway. This road was the scenic, barren ladakh I have always seen in pictures. 150km from Leh, this bike trip was just something that had to be done!
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| Enroute Khardungla |
9 days of pure joy. No net or network (apart from the frantic jampots who managed to get signal even at the markarmo base). Prayer flags, lovely landscapes, colorful markets, apricots, Thukpa to momos, long and sumptious breakfasts, yaks, snow capped peaks were just the tip of the iceberg. In the end, we came out Leh'd!
