Credits: Deep Pradhan
Those who know me know this about me — I am someone who plans a lot. I am not a last minute person, not my cup of tea. I get anxious if I don’t plan and the same happens to be true for any trip I make. This time around, a friend of mine and I had planned a bike trip to Spiti Valley, India. If you’ve followed the news you would know that there was a cloud burst in Himachal Pradesh which led to closure of the route that we were supposed to take. Three days prior to the trip, the trip vendor calls and tells us that the trip stands cancelled (how responsible of them!) Thanks to my anxiety, I’d even called the vendor a week before and asked him if all’s good and he had replied in affirmation. The trip was supposed to start on Saturday, the 17th of August with a flight from BLR to DEL and here we were on Wednesday planning what alternatives we could try. One thing was absolutely crystal clear — we weren’t going to cancel the trip. We were going somewhere or the other. That’s when a friend of mine suggested Ladakh. There you go! Calls were made in Leh and thankfully the friend who suggested Ladakh could get contacts in Leh who helped us book everything that we needed.
When I landed in Leh, I genuinely felt this — “God works in mysterious ways — Man proposes and God disposes”. The place had me on the first day itself. Such a scenic, picturesque location on Earth groomed by its ever mystic clouds. It was as if God had put little embellishments to lure these wondering eyes. Adjectives may not really do justice to the beauty, hence let me leave it at this.
Over the course of 7 days, we rode close to 1800 KM on a Royal Enfield Himalayan 411cc bike. Beautiful places, beautiful people and beautiful roads — these things led us to Nubra Valley, Pangong Lake, Hanle and a little bit of the Leh Srinagar highway.
Ladakh has ample beautiful monasteries. Some so beautiful that you would want to sit in the monastery and lose yourself in its beauty and grandeur and soak in the spiritual vibrations that the place has to offer. I remember I was once seated on a little parapet outside Diskit Monastery in Nubra Valley overlooking the Maitreya Buddha statue across the hill and was thinking to myself, “Can I sit here forever staring at the statue and contemplate on life?” There are umpteen places in Ladakh that’ll mesmerise us like this. In fact, the word “mesmerise” itself is an understatement.
Ladakh as you know lies in the northern part of India, some places bordering neighbouring countries like Pakistan and China. Needless to say, there’s a huge presence of defence forces in and around the region. During our ride, we passed by a plethora of army camps and army vehicles. Trust me when I say this, every time we passed by a camp or a vehicle, I would always get goose bumps. These mortals stay in very difficult terrains, with very limited access to their everyday needs just so that their countrymen get to live in peace. Next time you’re around the region and you pass by them, ensure you either salute them or even just wave at them. They will salute us back or wave back at us. They’re overjoyed when we do that!
If the Himalayas that surround Ladakh were to be her crown, the turquoise blue coloured lakes serve as the jewels on the crown. It is as if the almighty carefully chose the colours Ladakh needed to be decked with. The Pangong Tso and the Tso Moriri (Tso in Tibetan means Lake) are the two most beautiful alpine lakes of Ladakh. When you drive by the lakes you actually wonder if there exists anything more beautiful, more serene and more pristine than the lakes.
There are abundant places in Ladakh which hypnotise us with their beauty. The places are so enthralling that one can’t help but promise Ladakh that you’ll return again, to take in all that Ladakh has to offer, all that Ladakh has to enchant us with.
I’m putting down the itinerary that I followed during my trip to Ladakh. Each one of us will have our own constraints, so feel free to sprinkle a little salt when you read them. Also, each item here will probably contain some commentary from me. Kindly bear with me on that.
Day 1: Arriving at Leh and acclimatising
If you’re flying from a very low altitude, this is super important. You are landing at 3500m above the mean sea level (MSL) and it’s natural that your body needs to acclimatise with the quantity of oxygen in the air. The absence of it rather! I almost committed a blunder here. Unable to contain the beauty that Leh offered, I quickly freshened up, changed, had coffee and headed to Leh Palace which is right at the crown head of Leh. The palace has a lot of steep inclined stairs. Once I returned to my hotel, I had a good palpitation and had to keep drinking warm water and checking my SpO2. Long story short, keep an eye on your excitement the day you reach.
Day 2: Exploring Leh locally
There are a lot of beautiful monasteries and palaces around Leh like Shey Palace, Thiksey Monastery, Chemdey Monastery, Hemis Monastery. Start your visit in that order. Once you’re done with Hemis, your return journey towards Leh is going to be beautiful. After Chemdey, you come back to a junction (called Kharu), cross River Indus and go to the other side of the river to reach Hemis Monastery. When you return from Hemis, take the route to Leh from the same side. The coniferous trees on both sides of the road provide super peaceful ambience.
Day 3: Leh to Nubra Valley via Khardung La (La in Tibetan means Pass)
Some pointers here before we discuss the itinerary. If you think you’re struggling with the altitude, please take a Diamox tablet before you head to Khardung La. You drive from 11500 ft to 17500 ft in approximately 38KM and this rate of change in altitude is quite a lot. When in Khardung La, go to the hill top that has a monastery and prayer flags — it’s beautiful. Head down from Khardung La to Nubra Valley. There are a couple of stay options in Nubra depending on what you want to do the next day. If you plan to visit Hunder and then Phang, which is the last village of India on the Northern side, then it would be best to stay at Hunder. Else, Diskit is a good place to stay.
Day 4: Hunder to Phang village and back to Leh
While at Phang, you can watch the first village of Pakistan using binoculars. You can also see the Line of Control (LoC) beside Phang village. While at Hunder, you can watch the Sand dunes and double hump camels.
Day 5: Leh to Pangong Lake via Chang La
The route from Leh to Pangong is a very scenic one. Depending on the season you go in, you get to see the rice harvesting being done at the valley side. Pangong is a huge lake stretching across about 30 KM. Where you stay in Pangong again depends on where you want to head the next day. We stayed at a village called Merak since we had to head to Hanle the next morning. Wherever you decide to stay, ensure you book your stay at Pangong beforehand. Once you cross the main entrance of the lake, be mindful of the streams formed by the melting of glaciers since the streams can get rough if the temperature during the day is high.
Day 6: Pangong to Hanle to UmlingLa and back to Hanle
When you head from Pangong to Hanle, there are a lot of alternate routes. Be sure you take the shortest one. The best way to find out is to talk to the locals when you reach a village called Chusul. If you want to explore another pass and a lake on the way, like we did, then you can ask the locals to guide you to Mahe and you will find a pass and two beautiful lakes on the way. If not, you can ask the locals to guide you to Hanle and they will show you the shortest route. From Hanle, you can ride to UmlingLa, which is the highest motorable pass in the world. The shorter route to UmlingLa has considerable distance of off-road. Also, please ensure you don’t stay at UmlingLa for a long time since it is located at an altitude of about 19000 ft above the MSL. Another quick tip when you visit Hanle — if possible, plan your trip in such a way that you’re staying at Hanle on a no-moon night. Hanle is one of the places in India where you can watch the Milky Way with naked eyes. The view gets clearer on a no-moon night.
Day 7: Hanle to Leh via Tsomoriri
Tsomoriri lake is another beautiful alpine lake in Ladakh. Once you reach Mahe on the way back from Hanle, you would need to take a detour towards Tsomoriri which is about 70 KM from Mahe. Further ahead on the highway towards Leh from Mahe, there are beautiful hot springs in a village called Chumathang.
Day 8: Leh-Srinagar Highway
On the penultimate day, we ventured onto the Leh-Srinagar highway covering various monasteries like Lamayuru monastery and Alchi monastery. You can also watch the confluence of River Indus and River Zanskar along the highway. On the way back, we visited the War museum near Leh. This is one of the must-visit places near Leh where you get to see and read the stories of valour, of courage and of sacrifice.
Day 9: Departure from Leh
The flight from Leh to Delhi is a scenic one. It is as if the himalayas are there to bid us the final goodbye, with a promise that they’ll look forward to seeing you again, very soon. You can spot some of the largest glaciers of the region from the flight.
A mere eight days in Ladakh gave us an eternity of memories. I hadn’t really anticipated that a last minute trip would be so marvellous that it would make me crave for another one soon. Life as such is full of uncertainties and after this trip, I am kinda inclined to believing that the moment we start loving the uncertainties that revolve around us, we start appreciating the bigger plan that is in store for us. Before I returned from my trip, I ensured I promised Ladakh that I’ll come back. I’ve kept my heart in there hoping that it’s kept safe until my return.
