Heaven... Ladakh

Heaven.... please replace this word with Ladakh.
Following is the chronicles of the journey we (a group of 5 guys) took in August 2005 to this Country of Mountain Passes. (La-dakh means Country of Mountain Passes).

It might be coming late but I’ll try hard to send my neurons back and recall everything.

Group : Aaditeshwar Seth (Adi Seth) , Aayush Seth (Dude), Harsh Raju (Harsha), Mitesh Jain (Mitwa) and Aditya (Myself)

Day Zero:
Me and Harsh arrived in Delhi from Bangalore. After landing at airport we went for a game. Game was to reach Harsha's house in East Delhi by bus. So we went looking for Bus Stop near Airport. We walked almost a kilometer, loaded with our backpacks. We both like summers so it was fun but fun was short lived as there wasn't any bus. Finally a bus came from somewhere and we got onto it to get a ride till Som Vihar at RK Puram as we were advised that we would be getting a transit bus from there. After waiting for an hour or so we finally had to take an auto, and got Auntie’s (hash’s mom) daant as dessert with our growing hunger. On the bus stop we met a man who was serving in Delhi Jal Board and he had many nice things to say about life in general like Drinking is bad habit. And as nature was listening to him, just then a man heavily drunk fell from his bicycle and was simply lying on the road. This good man went to pick him up and somehow managed to pick him up and took that drunkard to the roadside, whereby the animal in him went berserk and he lashed all abuses at this good man. I guess drunkard's wife might have survived that day's fight at least.

Finally we reached home and Aunty ji had a superb dinner made and we just galloped everything in sight and went to sleep tight as our rucksack.

Day 1:
Me and Harsh felt the August heat hitting us as we moved from Harsha's home in Delhi. We were going to ISBT to book tickets for next day to go to Manali. We were joined by Adi Seth who had arrived from Lucknow the previous day. The Himachal State Transport has two Volvo luxury buses operating in evening but those were booked and we got last seats in normal bus departing at about 8pm the next day. ()
We were meeting Adi Seth after 2 years and he this time had this well built body clearly showing time well spent in Gym and climbing. And he was balder than ever before.

By the way we cherished the Delhi Metro (http://www.delhimetrorail.com/) from "Welcome" station to Kashmere Gate station on its Red Line. (Imagine a station named Welcome). Well this Metro is the best I've seen comparing it to New York, Kolkatta, Rome or Milan metros I had experienced. Metro has simply taken Delhi city miles ahead in terms of its infrastructure and public commuting. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Delhi_Metro)
We took the Metro for our return journey as well and our rucksacks were thoroughly checked by Delhi Police coming up with strict security for Delhi Metro. Task was toughened as Adi Seth had brought Tents and 4 sleeping bags and mats from Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF, yes this is better IMF!!!) office at Benito Juarez Marg. (http://www.indmount.org/)
Our plan was to maybe get a trek and also be able to camp at any site with our tents.
We were oblivious that our airy plans would crash land soon.

Day was more or less spent eating a lot and then taking rest in hot humid day. And our talks with Raju from Hardev Motors confirmed us that we are going to have one helluva bike ride from Manali - Leh. And we all went to sleep with this same dream.

Day 2: Mitesh arrived home in early hours with his flight landing late night. And we all watched mountaineering videos almost whole day and went through all his paraphernalia he had brought from US. We again had awesome lunch thanks to aunty. We took a taxi to ISBT and met Ayush (cousin of Adi and who would later be named Dude by us). We loaded our rucksacks and other camping gadgets in the bus and went to the last row and waited for bus to catch some speed on National Highway as soon as possible. As it caught speed my neurons sped fast towards sleep and was only broken as bus stopped at some Dinner Place. But we were all loaded so heavily with our lunch that we had lots of water and cold drinks.

Day 3 : At least I can't recall when we went past Chandigarh or Shimla, I woke up early next morning only to find we were very near Kullu and bus stopped for a quick breakfast. And this was really bad time for me. As I was experiencing vomiting sensations and it didn't let it stop there and I did let it flow. Every body started asking what happened? Mountain sickness? My answer was short, I need a place to shit. Problem was it becomes difficult for me to travel if I'm heavy on stomach in mornings. So I found a place and let it go boom boom. 5 minute later I had a new problem, how to wash my hands. Now I’ll leave this detail to myself, but believe me I was clean.
We moved on and I was doing great after my cleanliness drive.

Himachal is beautiful from its very beginning. If I say it is a totally hilly state, I guess nobody would prove me wrong :-).
After reaching Manali we called up hardev Motors as were planning to leave as soon as possible and be on our way. Our dream short lived as bikes we were supposed to go on were undergoing recovery phase and we soon realized it would not be possible to leave before evening or simply put it next morning.

Bad times had started.

We took a room and dumped our bags and headed for lunch after washing our faces. We ate like pigs and liked the weather. In between we tried on bikes as to how would it feel. actually Harsh, Adi and Mitesh tried bikes as they were the riders. I and dude were pillion riders. We were trying to get 3 Enfield Bullets. One was 500CC. Finally bikes got ready late night, in evening we took 3 bikes for a ride on the road we were to follow towards Leh, to get a feel of it. Few corrections were done on the bike.

And at same Motorist place, we met 4 people from our college and they were our juniors. They had a bigger plan to ride through Leh and come back through Srinagar route. As fate would have it, thanks to them meeting us, they also would end up doing something else.

Day 4: Though we had promised ourselves that we would be up as soon as possible, we could only after 4am and hanky panky started packing and loading our bikes with rucksacks and still empty cans meant for petrol. We could get out only by 6am. Mitesh's mom called up and we were remembered to take care. And now even I was having doubts over this trip as things were really getting awry. We reached the Petrol bunk and had our tanks filled up till it dropped out. But it did flow out from one of the bikes. It started dripping out slowly and then it was free flow suddenly.

We had problems even before we started now. We called up Mr.Raju as other group had developed problem as well in one of their bikes. We were feeling duped and doomed. But we tried to have fun and enjoyed bread omelet at the Taxi stand looking at all people around. It was fun how a traffic policeman negotiated with an ass (animal ass mind you) as it tried to enter a road which was meant for only tow wheelers. It was fun how the policeman negotiated with the animal and finally had it out.

By 10am we were on road fully loaded. We were enjoying the ride though we had an inherent fear that bike might fail anytime as none was having a comfortable ride. It felt nice to enter into clouds and we took our first pee break in between the misty clouds. And soon met a small traffic jam and passed Marhi village. We were just 5kms up on our way towards first pass on our journey - Rohtang Pass and the bike Mitesh was driving and I was riding pillion, went fuss. It was literal fuss, we somehow kick started it and went 2 more kms and later would cry for these 2kms. As it went total bust and would not start now. It was 500cc bike and was relatively heavily loaded and pushing it was Herculean task for both of us. And rest 2 bikes had gone ahead of us as well, we didn't have a way to call them back. We took our mobile phones and astonishingly network was working there. We called up Mr.Raju and instead of any help he was asking how why the bike is busted. We were pissed off and literally pissed on this not caring about any Delhi tourist going past us in their luxury cars up towards Rohtang.
After sometime Harsh came down and came to know our position. And great thing when such things happen we are laughing aloud instead of being pensive. We had a hearty laugh and wasted as much time as possible. Finally we all came down to Marhi village as Me and Mitesh went our way on this busted bike sometimes pushing this road roller and other times riding it downhill.
We were told by Mr.Raju that it was raining heavily in Manali so no person could leave to service the bike. This just led us to a heated discussion and frustration was oozing out with high tempers. Result was that we took a room in a restaurant where we could stay overnight and wait for someone to arrive to service the bike.

In afternoon I saw a bus pass by and I was bewildered to see the sign board mentioning Delhi - Leh (via Manali), I said WAT!!!! Thankfully bus stopped in Marhi at a restaurant and we ran to enquire about it.
Yes bus was indeed going to Leh and we asked the bus conductor about its timings to reach Leh and next topic of discussion was how come this bus can reach Leh by next day.
Major relief was that if at all we continue our journey we have bus at our disposal. Adi declined to hop onto bus as he didn't like the idea of getting transported from one place to another sitting inside a box. There was a big argument for bike vs. bus vs. train vs. car journey and final result.
We were to reach Keylong and me and Ayush would continue journey in Bus and Adi, Mitesh and Harsh would carry on bike. And the busted road roller or 500cc bike was getting dumped and Hardev Motors be told about the same.

Day 5:

It was raining since last afternoon and Marhi was coldest place and I could not find the reason. It was told that it was sub zero in the night and I could feel more. We more or less kept ourselves bound to our room and were asked to vacate as some important customer was arriving. And we decided to move as soon as we could see sun showing itself even though briefly.
Me and Ayush pitted ourselves in a Sumo and most of the luggage landed at Sumo's top, so that bikes could ride as cool as possible. Sumo stopped at Rohtang Pass and it felt like only we were the two passengers left.

We were still not right at the pass, somewhat below that and waited for our bike riders to reach. At a distance we watched them reach and we started again after sharing hi's and if everything was alright. We stopped for a moment at the Pass.

Rohtang pass is almost 55kms from Manali and is a gateway to splendid Lahaul valley.
We could see snow on the way and it had turned ice and was fast melting away. Rohtang is somehow a very popular destination specially for delhites and I could not find a good reason for it because actually beauty starts after you pass the Rohtang Valley. In general there is a heavy crowd in Rohtang, many people selling kesar etc and tourism industry blossoms here. Mule riding and even snow sledges are brisk business even in this summer. We could see many people visiting a cave like formation at a hill top. But scene on other side of valley was breathtaking as we entered into Lahaul Valley. It was downhill from here and Sumo was leading the way with Bikers following and I was keeping an eye on them so that we don't lose them.

Then an interesting thing happened. Sumo driver talked to a truck driver who belonged to Border Road Organization that builds all roads in the mountains. They had some talk and result was that Sumo driver was getting a decent amount of Diesel at some low price and this Diesel belonged specifically to armed forces. This was real part of scandal I was watching live and as mute as possible.

I jumped onto a bike and left dude alone in the Sumo as we bikers too charge. We waited at a place as we kept looking for Sumo to start. Lahaul valley is very beautiful and I could compare it to lush green southern alps but with more height as Himalayas are huge. We could see a small village on the other side of Chandra River as Chandra River transverses its way through the green valley, with distant snow clad slopes visible as well.

This road to Keylong (115kms from Manali and 365kms more to go to Leh) goes via Gramphoo, Gondia and Tandi villages. Condition of road was bad to worse as bike would go berserk at different times and swerve on its own and it was too tough to balance on these stony roads at different places. I was riding behind Mitesh and we were driving like crazy to reach Keylong as soon as possible.

In between through Gramphoo we managed to see a distant Glacier and an Ice Fall just about to fall off. There were broken nullahs at different places and at one place we felt like it was all over. Reason being, we could see a huge pile up of trucks and other vehicles lined up and seemingly a bridge had collapsed and it was taking time for it to get repaired. We were on bikes and managed to move ahead of all the traffic. On reaching the nullah we could see a way out for at least two wheelers on side of the bridge. We checked it out and crossed it walking. I guess Harsh and Adi took risk and didn't take out their shoes and they rued this mischief later as it was too cold and there was no scope for shoes or socks getting dried up so soon. Anyway they moved on with soggy socks and shoes.

Sumo overtook us as Harsh hopped onto Sumo at Koksar. He was seemingly pissed off by this time, more so by mistake of getting wet. Koksar has reasonable population and a huge road organization settlement as well. Most of the laborers were from Bihar and it was a pity to watch the conditions and hardships they were experiencing in these cold conditions. This was India, people are ready to take in anything with smile on their face.
Koksar bridge on Chadra River is very important and it gets breached many a times during floods. By this time we could see Tibetan flags hanging on the sides of bridges and this would become a routine affair soon.
We got off our bikes and spent some time near the river in the sand after crossing the bridge. We waited for the Sumo to arrive and Harsh would hop onto Sumo and Ayush joining Adi on bike.

The first thing I felt on stopping here was dry heat. Yes it was hot and total dry and we took out our sun screens and other creamy lotions and put on the skin which was going to suffer more. Was it the Dry Desert?

Koksar is about 115kms from Manali. It had many places to eat but we were adamant to reach Keylong first. So we soon followed Sumo but would never be able to catch up with them.

Mitesh, Adi and myself reached Tandi (2573 M) and it is 8kms before Keylong. A big hoarding tells the entire story. "Welcome to Last Fuel Pump before Leh" and Leh was
about 370 kms away. Tandi is the only Petrol pump on the Manali - Leh highway (please forget your usual definition of highway as new lines are drawn in this region.)
All the empty hanging cans were filled with Petrol and fitted and tied strongly on the side supports. Then we started off to reach Keylong, but mind you it wasn't easy to move this hauler called bullet now loaded with additional petrol cans.

Keylong (3350 M) is small town and there was a festival going on when we arrived. There is fork on main road and we turned the wrong way and took right way that gets you down inside the town and we realized our mistake after we had reached the main market and found all eyes on us. Thankfully one policeman came to our rescue and told us to go back. And it was a really bad move because we had moved onto a very dense location with people thronging the market and we were carrying huge amount of petrol. Now the haulers had tough time going up. One of the haulers stopped and would not move at all. Me and Mitesh came up though and Mitesh than went back to look for Adi and Ayush. Thankfully after 10-15minutes they were on their way back. We took the highway and reached Bus Stand and then Me and Adi crossed that as well and were on our way out somewhere. It was chaotic.
Thankfully Mitesh stopped us as he had found Harsh who was dropped by the Sumo person at Bus Stand. There were some heated exchanges as we were kind of lost though we had reached the place we wanted to reach at the end of this day.
We had missed the Sumo driver as he was returning back and we were supposed to pay him as Harsh didn't have any money. Another issue being struggling bikes. And most importantly we were bloody damn hungry. No one had taken anything since we started from Marhi apart from occasional water.

There are few small places where you can find a room to stay. Most probably one can get a bathroom with water heater as well. We badly needed to take bath but first came food. We ordered for food and the person serving us must have got tired of us as we simply didn't stop asking for more and more Rotis though we were realizing that our appetite was decreasing now. (Was it first signal of mountain sickness). And almost everyone was developing mild headache at least.

We retired to our rooms but one more task remained. We had to take 2 tickets for Bus to Leh. Me and Harsh went to check and searched for Bus Stop or ticket counter. To great surprise Transport Office was in a building on the left and we had to encounter several literally vertically upwards staircases which go more higher and only an inch to step on. It was funny and me and harsh simply laughed at this location and structure. The office was a typical local house type structure. Drivers and conductors were having some time off and sipping tea. We checked inside and we given 2 tickets for Leh. Ticket cost was about Rs.350 each and we were given seat number 41,42. Now the funny part was tickets. It was a big pile of paper tickets and not just 5-10 slips but two full piles. It was hilarious as I never had such tickets. Now here we got more information.
This bus we were hopping on was unique in many ways. Delhi - Leh was covered in 2 full days with night stoppage at Keylong. It is the longest distance covered in Asia by State transport Bus. All these came with tag that this Bus Journey is unique taking you through Lahaul Spiti Valley and transition into Himalayas and Zanskar and taking to Ladakh. And it crossed 4000M passes on its way.

Just about 2kms from Keylong, on a slight height adjacent to the road, local dance was getting filmed. I wished we could stop there and catch the ladies in their traditional dresses. Me and Harsh are always mesmerized by beauty possessed by women folk living in mountains. At least we see them and always their faces smiling with their pink cheeks (sometimes sun burnt) are so full of life. As we entered Keylong there were buses full of people going back to their villages as festival's day proceeding had ended. And you know what Harsh and myself were looking at those wonderful cheeks. And also looking for fatso kidos and we found one or two who had this huge golu face, you feel like taking the cheeks in your hands and our favorite face being of baby Jamling Norgay (son of Tenzing Norgay) from the book Touching My Father's Soul.
Now back to Keylong...

Keylong is based on the sides of River Bhaga and has Kadang Monastery some 5kms across the river. It is said that this Monastery was built in the 12th Century. We could see the monastery as we spent our time outside. But none had the courage to roam around now so we decided to retire to our rooms as soon as possible because Bus for Leh was scheduled to depart at 5am and bikers had to follow the bus. We shuffled the bags and luggage so that a tent would be carried by bikers and they would carry 3 sleeping bags as well as huge polythene sheet to cover from rain. And we retired to sleep after taking some medicine for headaches and all.

Day 5 was indeed big as can be seen from description.

Day 6 : We got up early at about 4am and waited and made a line for using rest room. It was a little cold in the morning and little time so had to have a quickie session. We quickly did our brushing and reached Bus Stop and there were about 30-40 people already waiting for bus to arrive. We sipped some tea and took bikes out and tied all the rucksacks, tent and petrol cans to balance the weight on both sides of bike. From here on, Adi Seth was riding alone and Harsh and Mitesh would exchange the other bike.

There were quite a few foreigners also waiting for the bus and later came to know 2 Indian couples were also in queue as tourists. AS soon as the Bus arrived there was a little movement as everyone wanted their luggage to be loaded as soon as possible at the top of the bus. We put all rucksacks at the top and carried a small jacket and cap along with my camera bag and a packet of Parle G biscuits. This was one of the few occasions in life when I had gone onto the top of the bus and then picking up the rucksack and stacking it up against the entire luggage as by this time roof was fully packed. We managed to drop ours somewhere and then also tied those with side railings and somehow made sure they won't fall off. That's another thing that I checked on those every time bus would stop as ride was amazing and quite conducive to bags hanging out and falling off and 2 times we stopped as few bags would fall off.

Keylong bus stop was buzzing with activity in this dark and cold morning. Tea was very tasty and Glucose biscuits were amazing. Tea was like some kind of herbal tea and later we would have Kashmiri Kahwa as well. But at present I was happy to get something in my stomach. I also bought water bottles from a half open shop. It was remarkable that shops were starting to open their shutters before 5am itself. I'm simply amazed by people living in these mountains. They have a tough routine and there would always be a smile and courtesy in their speech.

Bus finally took off at about 5am and as soon as we moved a few meters away it was pitch dark. It was slightly frightening to start with as lights from the bus always were hitting sandy rocks in front and then it would take a turn rapidly. The road was in bad shape, very bad actually. I just wished bikers started as soon as possible but after passing few kilometers I was sure they would not be able to catch up with the bus any time soon. And I was soon convinced that they would never be able to catch up with bus as driver sahib was taking the bus for airy ride. My feeling turned from afraid initially to total amazement at the control he had on the bus, having watched how he was taking on the sharp turns and specially on height gaining hair pin bends.
After sometime I was convinced that there is only one place where bikers would meet us and that was Leh. I was sure of one thing now, Me and Ayush were certain to reach Leh, but I wasn't so sure of the bikers. First, I was serious doubts on the capabilities of those bikes and second it was raining heavily and regularly and it must be tough and I thought they might camp somewhere.

We soon reached Darcha (about 24kms from Keylong and at 3360 m). Darcha is last inhabitant village of Lahaul Region, on this highway. It is a base campsite for many treks in Lahaul range. Bus stopped at one of the dhabhas that come right after crossing the bridge. It was continuously drizzling as Me and Ayush had a decent breakfast of omelet with breads and few glasses of tea. It was getting colder and now I was worried about bikers. I hoped they had jackets but I was sure rain would affect them anyway.

In between, I am not sure about he exact place, we stopped at an army camp. Army was not ready to send any vehicle move ahead because much ahead a bridge had caved in and army people were trying to build an alternate route. This was interesting as vehicles from other side came and told that it is not such a tough as vehicles were able to cross. So a group of people went to ask the in charge but he refuted every one after a heated discussion in such cold conditions. About 15-20minutes later we were allowed to move on.

The highway takes sharp turns and start its climb towards Baralacha La pass through a place called Zing Zing Bar (any chocolate bar makers listening here!!!). Baralacha La name means summit of cross roads. Its said to join Lahaul, Spiti and Ladakh ranges and has 3 rivers (Yunam, Bhaga, Chandra) flowing into three different regions. Baralacha La is situated at an altitude of 4833 m from sea level, and at a distance of 73 kms from Keylong on Manali Leh road. I missed the pass on onward journey and I guess I missed the breathless sensation and any headaches etc as I was in one of the strongest sleep sessions. I didn't miss much though as it was raining heavily at the top and there was no special scene form the pass as it is usually known for.

After crossing the Baralacha La, there is a steep and rough descent and once you reach plain, dhabhas in makeshift tents, welcome you at Bharatpur. It was still raining, rather drizzling now. It was a vast plain area full of rocks, and I thought it was a huge river bed and a delta kind of area nearby was prominent. We had stop there for lunch and again foreigners had their passport checks at the police post. The good thing was I could now see our biker team and they confirmed they had the wildest ride of their lives, as there was no way they could catch the bus so soon. They were all drenched and I climbed the bus roof top to get them socks and other clothes as they were helped by local lady in dhabha who made them sit near the gas stove and offered some woolen clothes. As I climbed the roof of the bus a cool gust of wind ripped through me and I was getting the feel how cold Adi, Harsh and Mitesh would have felt in their moist clothes in this cold weather.

A slight digression, I got to watch an amazing scene. As I was at the top of the bus, my looks wandered to one side of the road and believe me I had never seen so many people pissing all over at such distant places, trying to look for some huge boulder to hide. It was so hilarious and I could not laugh at seeing the naked back of so many people all over the place.

Coming back, Me and Ayush handed over the socks and some other clothes to bikers and headed for the bus. I asked them what's the scene and they were firm that they are continuing but will be leaving after having some hot tea and some food as at this point they looked shaky and some times shivering as well :-). The scenery was great as looking at distant mountains it felt as if some artist had painted the slopes in different shades of brown and grey. The river bed was dark grey, giving an impression as if all black rocks were minced here.

The highway leads to Sarchu now and gains some height again after crossing this huge vast plain river bed. Few kilometers before Sarchu, the landscape has a vast change. One can see goats and sheep grazing in vast green plain fields, then arid mountains as borders at a distant and in between a deep river flowing with banks bearing water marks and giving proofs of sand erosion.

Now the river area was amazing as it left impressions of Grand Canyon and my first reaction was, what the heck this has more to offer than Grand Canyon with these vast green pastures and those distant arid mountains as well. There was more to come soon as we approached the Traffic Post at Sarchu. This marked our entry into Ladakh and we had snacks break here.
Sun was out, it was dry, hot and windy at their limits. I could not resist myself and I too pissed off the cliff on one bank of river and then clicked a bad but interesting painting of a man and woman standing together in their swimwear on the wall of a dhabha. I could not resist imagining someone in swimwear here.

There was petrol carrying truck that had broken on the road ahead and all vehicles passing by had to digress through the sandy area and it made impression of dry desert literally true. We had to go through the same route and it was all sand filled bus that visibility was reduced to a meter or so. Then it was all plain fields for up to 20kms or so on one side of road and banks carrying those beautiful shapes due to sand erosion. Soon we reached the Brandy Nullah , I was a little dizzy so could not relate any story behind this nomenclature and was very late to realize we were in Gata Loops, the famous 23 hair pin bends signify these loops. Thanks to a traffic jam (imagine traffic jam at almost 5000m), I dropped myself out of the bus. But the picture would be deep rooted as I saw laborers completing a stretch of road and were literally drenched in tar coal and in these inhospitable and extreme conditions were in fewer clothes and some were wearing simple slippers. I could not imagine if these people were getting some huge amount of money working here.

Road was soon cleared as was my sleep and we soon reached Nakeela La (4739 m) pass through a shortcut and then descended to pass through Whiskey Nullah (mind you there isn't even water here let alone brandy or whiskey anyway near these nullahs). The road takes sharp turns and then ascents towards Lachalang La (5,065m ) pass.


By this time I had remembered that Road building in this region was taken care by an army unit called Himank and we salute these unit members. Thanks to the encouraging road signs they have put on at different places, one is always waiting to see the next signboard. The messages are like - "Darling I love you but not so fast", "I'm curvaceous, Go Slow", "On my curve, test your nerve" and I hope these are not digressing to the drivers. But I was simply amazed at the person who created these. And this toughest part of the whole highway can be covered with such interesting pastures midway.

After descending from Lachalang La bus made a stop at Pang (4555 M). This is a normal place for people staying overnight or camping with nice tents having rooms cum dhabhas. Pang is 173kms away from Leh. We reached Pang at after noon and still it was half way. It seemed like we would not be able to reach Leh so soon.
We had nice rotis, rice and dal and I remember I ate a lot here again. I had 2 teas again, even though in this afternoon it was very hot and everyone shed off their woolens. I verified the luggage at roof top and could see all rucksacks were in place.

Tibetan flag were flying rapidly at a nearby hill top and I was a little confused as I could not see a way to reach there. Strange things do happen and this was land of surprises.


A little ahead there were hills made of sand rocks and erosions had created holes in those and some famous photographs could be taken here. 7km of ascent unleashed a mega surprise called Moore Plains (4200 M). It is a 45km stretch of plain barren land, where even mirages do not get formed. This land is famous for gusty winds and extreme temperatures in mornings and evenings, thankfully we were crossing it faster through some shortcut. But soon I was getting irritated as this land was simply not ending and bus was going on and on at brisk pace but was not able to cross a distant parallel running truck, which was going on the usual road. There were no shortcuts here and there was no way out from here as well. I was not able to see the mile stones as well so even if we were covering some distance I had no proof and then we entered a sandy patch and were fully loaded with sand all over us. This was too much as this was the place to catch mountain sickness. This isolated place is amazing in itself as one can see distant nomads with their yaks and I was glad enough to see some life here after all. But definitely there is no water and no food for more than 50kms here. This road seemed endless all through this travel and definitely not leading anywhere.

Then suddenly landscape changed and we were making an ascent towards Tanglang La. Road near Tanglang La is all gravel road and sometimes one can easily wonder if there is any road out here. I heard this road gets washed away very often and I wonder it is so easy as it was all gravel road cut out of the mountain somehow and it would often be very difficult if any vehicle comes from front and it would take away moments to reverse and then other vehicle pass and it was always touch and go checking on the sides. I was simply mesmerized by the fact that drivers would do this exercise without pain and I didn't come across any heated exchange in terms of passing or overtaking as one can usually attend a presence in cities. I was waiting for Tanglang La but it would simply not come so soon. This journey was taking its toll on me and I was feeling more and more pensive.

I would later come to know that bikers stayed overnight at Pang in own tent and had their share of worries. They were definitely getting sick though not in serious condition but lack of sleep and fatigue were catching them alongside the height gain.

I had slightly dozed off as the bus halted at Tanglang La. Bus stopped hardly 50metres away from the top pass and as I came out of the bus to take few pictures, I knew something had struck me. It was chilly and wind was hitting straight inside my skull.

Me and Ayush ventured and clicked ourselves against the Tanglang La pass signboard loaded with Tibetan flags and a message written "Unbelievable is not it!" as it mentions it has 2nd highest road on earth.

But the most amazing scene that struck me was the sky full of clouds and clouds touching the mountain peaks nearby. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I have witnessed and it came more perfect in photographs. The sky in this region looks amazingly beautiful and the sun light that falls on the mountains amidst shadows created by clouds presents the picture of heaven.

We had hardly been out for 10 minutes and as I placed myself on my seat again in bus and bus went on a sharp descent, I suffered a severe headache and tried hard to sleep that had deserted me completely.

We are now on our way to Rumtse, a very famous destination as it gives you a feeling that finally you are in Ladakh, even though it is 75kms away from Leh. There was a slight hitch now as we were getting late. Problem for me and Ayush would be to get a Hotel this late and also get a place to dine as expected time for our reaching Leh was 10pm unless there is some road trouble on the way. Thankfully there wasn't any. Near Rumtse, there are fields, wheat crop was about to reap at that time and its dark green and few buds turning golden gave a massive display of splendor in the evening sun. There was everything now, green fields, and sandstone cliffs by side of road, village area and typical ladakhi houses, more and more people in ladakhi traditional dresses, Buddhist stupas. And I liked every bit of it as my headache was doing fine and I was looking closely at each road sign giving me the distance for Leh.

We took a right turn and suddenly I could see lots of lights nearby and I thought this was it we are going to be in Leh soon, but my hopes dashed soon as it was the Army Cantonment well before Leh. We still had 20 or so kms to go. By now it was pitch dark and my hopes of checking on Indus river were totally dashed in darkness. Though I now knew that my image of a marvelous huge river was going to be falsified soon as I would later find out, the river is very thin in this region. It is really remarkable to note that this Indus river had given rise to such a huge civilization famous by its own name - Indus Valley Civilization.

We finally reached Leh after a tea break at Upshi (though I hated it as I wanted to check in some hotel as soon as possible). At the bus stand we were totally attacked by all hotel people or mostly pimp for hotels. I got all the rucksacks down from the bus and we caught hold of a Qualis that would leave us at main market area. We were accompanied by a Spanish couple, who had also reached here by bus. They were also looking for a cheap accommodation. They soon left us on our own, as they realized we were totally unreliable people :-).

It is always a different unique feeling standing in the main market of some new town you are visiting for the first time and the same had gulped me. I was keeping the rucksacks as Ayush went to search for some hotels. But Leh gets dark as soon as sun sets in. It is a very quite town as one should be, but it gets dark too as streets and alleys have no great lightning. Ayush came back running that he could not dare to go deep into the streets.
There were 4-5 guys standing near us and finally we approached them asking if they knew some nearby hotel as we had just arrived and it was now very late rather after 10pm, so if they could help. It was turn of one of the guys to take on us, as he simply asked "Kya muh utha ke chale aaye", meaning( You are here without troubling to make any arrangement ) and our flat reply was yes. Then he simply made us realize that "you are on your own then, why bother asking anyone, enjoy the new place." These remarks were so brutal that I was not at all irritated at his remarks though Ayush was taken a back a little bit.

Ayush and myself then went to search for a hotel room as we were told about 1-2 hotels. We kept on moving and all shops and hotels came along the street except the one we were told to go to. So finally before moving to the less lighted areas we asked someone and were told to simply walk more. Now I was loading myself with 2 rucksacks and mountaineering course at NIM was helping me. I was somehow managing to scamper my face above the rucksack hanging in front of me.

After being told that there was no place, we moved to a very pricy hotel, giving a room for Rs.700 and this was bad, really bad but we were by now too tired and retired to the room and after quickly washing our faces and hands were off for dinner. We went o a decent looking restaurant and some army vehicles standing outside made me feel like this place should be decent. But we were told there was no space even though I could see place for at least 2 guys. I felt like there must be something written over my face that I was being simply denied an entry here. But more was to come later as we would be denied or treated like alien, though peacefully. And always making us realize we had something like dumba** written over our face or something similar.

Thankfully we had dinner at a place and I again ate decently. Then we had our task cut out to call up people who had been nominated as our messengers in crisis. So off we went to a telephone booth. Though I had a mobile phone only network working here was govt run BSNL network, other private operators are still to open their shop here.

Inside the booth there was an Irish Welch guy calling up his home. His talk went like this - "I fcukin met a fcukin nishe American Couple here on a fcukin trek in Ladakh. though all Americans are fcukin stupid but there are some fcukin decent ones among them And they fcukin one amongst those and they fcukin offered me a fcukin working. So come next year I gonna fcukin work in fcukin america. Can you believe this fcukin shit."

I loved the accent and quickly picked up a few lines and his few stress buster lines made an effect into my writing of an SOS mail to friends. I quickly called up 2-3 phones and finally met with one line and asked to pass on the message for 3-4 phone numbers we had agreed upon to contact incase we get separated which we had done successfully now. Though we were kind of screwed up, this English man with his broad and lengthy shape, tattoos and this nice worded talk, had changed my stance and I was at more peace though worried about the bikers now. We retired to our hotel room and quickly went to sleep, it was now acclimatizing time for us.

Day 7 : As we slept bikers were facing a different music. They had reached Pang the previous evening and opened up a tent and 'tried' to sleep there. They were struggling terribly now in this height. Somehow these guys managed to take some rest and then packed everything and started early from Pang.

But trouble started soon and Adi Seth's bike blundered. Soon these guys had hit 100-150 kicks each to start the bike but that wasn't there to budge now. They were passed by a team of bikers from Bangalore and those guys tried to help here. Those guys were professionals and knew much more about the Enfield bikes and their comment was - "How could you people think about reaching Leh on these bikes?" They did some magic trick on ammeter being shorted and some circuits being modified and bike started for once but eventually they said it is a lost cause guys.

Now what? These guys were stuck near the vast Moore plains, a region where you don't see even a mirror image of beings for miles. The land turns white, sand dunes come from nowhere, grass pops out of the blue and then goes off amidst the sand after a brief spell of life, feeling turns brackish from amazement and then back to wonder as one comes across such a unique landscape and I can firmly say I've been there.
Adi was rescued by guy driving a gypsy. His name was Anu and his reply on asking what do you do was "Just this, drive and roam around" and he literally was doing the same. He had started off at 2am from Manali and would land up in Leh at 3pm.

Mitesh and Harsh now had a problem at their hands, disposing off this bike. They were helped by an Army truck that sped past them first but then retreated back to ask these guys. The result being they loaded this bike somehow in that truck like a buffalo getting loaded in a Tata 407 truck. Mitesh was to hold the bike at the back and Harsh was riding on the lone bike. Army men made it clear that they would only be able to take the bike to Rumtse as otherwise they could land up in trouble with their officers. So that bike was dropped at Rumtse. And then Mitesh and Harsh reached Leh on the 'lonely survivor'.

Myself and Ayush checked on different hotels in the morning after breakfast and finally decided on Hotel Ree-yul (meaning Mountain View). I loved to roam around the gullies of Leh. Most of the houses were built with sand walls and this was a totally different architecture, typical of this region. We booked two rooms and were now waiting for bikers to arrive.

We were roaming in main market area when we saw Adi Seth strolling in the street. He was sun burnt and looking in bad shape. He had developed some traits of mountain sickness and had signs of fever and severe headache. We heard his brief story and met Anu also and wondered what a man. 13 hours Manali - Leh. Me and Ayush just had lunch and asked Adi but he was simply looking to drink water and rest. So we went to our hotel.

We had taken two rooms at hotel Ree-Yul, one at the top floor and other one, just a floor below. I was instant fan of the room at top floor. It was a simple room, made of wooden walls on three sides and roof and all around had glass window panes covered by flowery curtains. I liked it because it provided me with hot environment, and as sun was out and room would resembled like a glass house. Somehow I needed a break from cold, even though it wasn't really cold outside but there was chilly wind which made one cold once away from sun. Adi went to sleep instantly as soon as he arrived, probably he liked the room giving his face a break from chilly wind. Ayush and myself slightly delayed his sleep as we asked him the entire story they had been creating the previous day on bikes. He told us how they had torrid time sleeping in tent as they got up too early because they mistook bright moonlight for early sunrise. They had packed their sleeping bags and then had to wait for some more hours. Lesson learnt here, take watch too when going on a trip. These guys tried to get some feeling of time through observing position of moon first and then tried with some constellations. My bikers went on an astronomy ride....

Mitesh and Harsh were having such a ride for sure as they reached Leh somehow and there sun burnt faces told us all. They had tough time in finding the hotel as well so misery was elongated and frustration showing all over the face. Myself and Harsh were unison in our frustration that we had made a terrible mistake in taking this trip. Our philosophical moments had lots of swearing and a common decision that we would not take any trip based on sentiments alone. We would go ahead only if we get a voice to take it up on our own. We all had a decently heated discussion that what went wrong and what should have been done to avoid this utter chaos. Thankfully the discussion moved to topic of future affairs.

We needed to decide how we go ahead now. First, how do we return back, take flight back or go by bus or have another bike ride if possible. Importantly, we had already made a reservation for Manali-Delhi bus 4 days ahead. So, we decided to return to Manali by bus after 2 days, so that we reach just a few hours prior to our Manali - Delhi bus, reducing our waiting time.
Now this gave us 2 full days in Leh. Plan of any trek was ruled out very soon by a very vocal myself and Harsh, simply because we didn't see a single soul in us capable enough to enjoy any trek.
So second thing, was to decide where do we go from where for next 2 days? Again we had plenty of options - take bike or take taxi to roam around. More choice, it seems we are pretty good at exploiting the conditions and getting out conditions to make it more tougher for ourselves to reach upon a decision.
Choices for places to visit were helped by our Hotel owner - Aslam. He was a very good guy and helped us a lot. He told us that we needed to have authority passes to go to any place like Khardungla Pass, Kargil or Pangong Lake which would be possible only tomorrow. Once he told us that our personal presence was not needed at Collector office, we had another thing to decide now to spend the next day and go to neabry monasteries. So we decided to visit a few places the next day and then to Pangong Lake (Khardungla Pass was voted out in favor of lake more because of its photographs and description we heard and mainly because we already had been to 4-5 passes and were simply fed up of passes and moreover we were going to cross those passes again). Hotel owner helped us and arranged for taxi for next 2 days and also in getting us the passes for Pangong.


Third thing in our agenda and the biggest dilemma was, what to do with the bike in Leh and more importantly what to do with the bike lying in Rumtse. Quick decision was made that we will try to arrange to get the bike at Leh if possible. Today evening we were off to dinner. And again we had few disappointments as we were turned back from 2-3 restaurants. Was it something to do with Indians, or was it do with us zombie looking faces or more clearly something printed on our faces. We will never be able to guess that. But it did not leave a good impression. Shopkeepers would not even look at us and if we asked for price of any mask or some local antique item, we would be told such a hefty exorbitant price that we would run away. This was disgusting behavior according to me. We were being discriminated in our own country, this is what is referred as 'reverse racism' because foreigners were treated so well, maybe because most of them would pay any amount and would not bargain like us.

Anyway, we quickly retired to our hotel after sending out mails and calling up people that we were safe and together now in Leh. But then mountain sickness struck. Everyone except me had now caught cold and cough and some feverish conditions. No one was feeling sleepy, it was kind of zombie state for everyone. But we had to get up early morning to leave for Hemis Monastery, so we tried hard to sleep.
Harsh was still in angry mode and I shared his feelings and we both decided that after this, we are not going to get on any trip emotionally. We even discussed, how we could go back as soon as possible, maybe fly straight to Delhi by next flight. Then finally we ended up in sleeping and room which was hot glass house during day was getting colder and colder.

Day 8 : I got up early and checked if there was anyone at reception room and ordered for tea for everyone. I had my daily ablutions and checked if Adi and his cousin were up. Finally we had a quick breakfast and started in a Maruti Van.

We were back on highway towards Manali and we passed through Shey and Upshi. We kept asking the driver about different places we were coming across. We were wondering all the way at this amazing landscape. Even though everyone of us was disappointed at Indus river being such a thin river, but we were amazed at the thin green layer on the banks of Indus river, and then giving way to dry desert area and then rising mountains.

We took a road moving right off the highway near a small electric power generating unit.
Took a photograph of a kid enjoying himself in the canal. Clearly he must have been child of road making laborers as they had some huts on the other side of bridge. Totally deserted area suddenly turned into a green valley with the newly laid road waving through wheat fields on both sides. This road ends at the parking lot of Hemis Monastery.

One has to take a few steps to reach the main entrance of monastery. And believe me, taking these few steps at this height was giving a slight feeling of breathlessness. We took the tickets and entered the monastery. Though we thought visiting these monasteries would be costless, apparently the raising maintenance costs have made them introduce entry fee.
One has to take 5-6 long steps and as one enters this monastery, vertical pole with Buddhist flags and imprints is visible.

Coming upto the main arena, one can imagine the Mask Dance happening here.


Left side is a simple covered wall with paintings in the wall and right side has main building.

Immediate right are the Buddhist wheels. The building has 4 stories and has a basement level as well.

We followed a group of Japanese tourists and take few steps to enter the main building. Walls here are decorated with painting depicting different stages in life of Buddha. We could not get much meaning out of these and entered the main hall after stepping out of our shoes. The main door has red paint and also depicts few more symbols. This hall is prayer room and is decorated with different states of Buddha.

In the right middle of the room is adorned with the pictures of monastery's Lama. Right in the middle of the room, one can see open windows on the 2nd pier. The whole room looked like built on wooden planks and poles. There was pure silence and not even whispers could disturb it.

As we enter the adjacent hall and one adjusts eyes to the darkness and ears to the silence, one can find right in front a Buddha statue in folded leg position.
Feeling of calmness and peacefulness oozes out from this scene. And after a while hymns of prayers performed by monks would simply help in transiting to a pure spiritual environment.

Even though it is clearly mentioned that no camera flashes are allowed few people had to be stopped by serving monks to stop the flash, but things were not helped much as if no one understood what he was saying. But it was slightly different for me as I was always taking picture of a monk as of someone who would remain calm and composed every time. But here we was slightly perturbed and had to resort to raising his voice to stop people from using this camera flash that might be harmful to the Buddha Statue and other metallic statues, which were adorning this hall. The paintings on wall were amazing and depicted different phases in life cycle with historical significance.

We came out and came across two gentlemen who were supposedly some big professional photographers. We deduced this from the luggage they were carrying, which was a bag and it had amazing camera gadgets and I was feeling so ashamed of my camera now. So I hid my camera and just adored the beauty of the building all the while.

We went down and out on main square and after resting for a while went out and decided to move on. We got back in our van and now we were off to Thiksey. On the way we stopped near a road signboard showing the message of going slow as - "Darling I Love You but Not So Fast".

We reached Thiksey and first went for having some lunch as the monastery timings were such that we would have missed the closing time for lunch. So we took a break and just as you enter the road towards the monastery there is a restaurant and this was good. Even though he literally made us take sun bath and was quite late, but food was good we relished it with our driver sahib who suggested a few wonderful local dishes to try and he also explained us what those dishes were. We had nice food and then had trouble in getting off our a**e*. But some how we managed as most of us were excited about visiting Thiksey Monastery.

We were already enthralled by its set up on hill and it looked marvelous, giving a similar picture to that of Potala Palace, Lhasa. It has similar color combination of White walls and dark maroons or chocolate brown wooden doors/windows and roofs.


We went up and moved inside. There was some marginal entry fee and after climbing a few stairs we entered the main arena from where one could either go left or right and halls were few stairs away. We move towards right. Important thing was we didn't have any guide and we were enforcing our own knowledge of every thing and gut feelings were governing our movements that we should go right or left or straight or back. We made the right decision as soon we entered the main attraction of Thiksey Monastery. The famous Buddha Statue which is 2 floor tall and we had reached the top floor.

This is one of the most famous picture portrait of Ladakh and I made no exceptions by clicking the pictures from various angles and thankfully all the pictures came good even without using flash. There was an unique poise about this statue.

It was a calming presence and felt very pleasant to be there. There was a monk who was sitting all throughout in a platform overlooking down the valley through a window. Everything felt so static and still moving and paving way for movement ahead.

We went to a side room where small metallic statues of Buddha and pictures of lamas were kept. There was a wall painted in yellow and maroon colors and I was attracted to this color combination. As I was clicking this wall, I was asked by someone.. hello .. can you see someone there? What is it there that you are clicking pictures of?

I could tell anything but I was feeling there was something there in those colors.

We came out to the main arena and then we were attracted to one European beauty.
She had her head covered with a cotton drape and had a novel elegance in her that had fascinated us. Soon we were out and on our way to Shey palace.

Shey Palace is right on the Leh-Manali highway and it is also perched on top a hill and it must have been right on the banks of Indus.

First view of this palace tells us that it is a ruined place now. Again I was charmed by the ruins, the desolated windows, hollow doors, devoid staircases and hollow rooms. We climbed up the stairs and entered the palace to see that it is not fully hollow after all. We could see two local women and a small kid coming out of a main hall atop a few stairs. They were just closing those doors. We climbed those last stairs and tried talking to the kid.

Mitesh as usual was befriended with the child in few moments. The boy was really cute with those pink cheeks, which had a lollipop popping out from one side and this was making him not to utter any word. But his eyes and his motion of hands said hello to us and we waved back. All these local people are so peaceful and attractive as if their eyes would speak and maybe we can understand as well.


We went up and again saw that except this main hall, everything seems as ruin.

All rooms were uninhabited but I liked those walls and doors made up of sand and had not withered yet. There is stupa up there and we thought maybe there might be something on the other side of it but it was just the steep hill going downwards past that. So we retreated back and on our way to Leh.

Just before leaving we dabbled at taking a photographic shot through window panes and we got this shot of the valley through a window pane.

Then our driver sahib suggested that we visit the Stok palace as well. I was particularly not keen on it as I thought it must be same as this one as all palaces in this region have been vacated and are almost ruins. Anyway we took a diversion and turned left towards Stok. Stok is not far from this highway and soon as one thinks that we are now going to enter the mountains back from the Indus plain, we enter Stok.

As I had imagined this was a ruined palace too but still had something inside and many things were stored in form of a museum.

I didn't go inside the museum as I had found something more interesting. I was able to see a Sparrow after a long time. It is called the common House Sparrow but definitely hasn't been so common for years now. The Indian Sparrow population has really dwindled even from small cities. So I was really glad to have this sight with sparrows finding some grains in the main portico area. Then I concentrated in getting view from small wooden apertures on the side walls.

These were beautiful from outside with dark maroon colored panes on snow white wall and inside these were under porch supported by yellow colored wooden pillars. We had a few pictures clicked of all of us peeking through these openings.

There were green fields and in between golden colored ripe wheat crop standing in this evening sun casted a splendor to the scenery.

Finally we got back on our way to Leh and exchange pleasantries with our driver sahib who was also our guide as well and then we retired to hotel. We sat out and had coffee and tea. I had 2 or 3 cups I guess and by this time had developed a special liking for this hotel's tea and coffee. We also came to know about a cheap place to eat which in fact had amazing food. And we went through the gullies and alleys of Leh city towards market. There are many home stays and hotels in these alleys. The gullies are amazing and unique, giving a picture of village. I simply liked this place.

We had a nice dinner, in fact the best food we ever had so far and then spent some time roaming the streets of market area. Some time was spent on surfing or calling back home and letting people know that we were safe in heaven. We soon came back retreating ourselves through dark alleys of this city which was so serene during night time.

We contact our hotel wale bhai sahib and he told us that he had done all the required passes and also arranged for a Qualis to go to Pang-gong lake for next day. We collected all papers and then went to sleep as everyone wanted to catch hold of long sleep now.

Me, Harsh and Mitesh were sharing the glass house room. We went for our usual philosophical talk. Talked that it was nice day, and it gave us some reprieve. We immediately decided to come back again some time soon and also vowed again never to come for any trip for sentimental reasons. Then we came back to our usual topic of thoughts for future. Where were we headed in life and what did we want from life. Sleep.. damn sweet sleep.

Day 9 : I got up early after alarm buzzed off. And spent some quality time in ablution acts, only to be disturbed by a pigeon couple who were having a helluva time together. And they would burst every now and then against the small window and morning calmness would become excited at least for them.

I went down and woke up Adi and his cousin and asked them to get ready as vehicle would arrive and we should leave as soon as possible. Then came back to wake up Mitwa and Hash dear, who was having his normal long sleep but was being cut short in between due to slight symptoms of high altitude sickness. We had ordered for tea again which was real fun for us. We had decided that we should go for breakfast somewhere outside and avoid having bread this morning as well. So we all went to the main market area and had omelet and bread (we could not avoid bread ) and had special Kashmir Kahwa at this very small shop. I had inkling of having 1 or 2 more bread omelets but was told to control. But I still that had wonderful taste and smell in my mouth and I was feeling hungry from that moment onwards :-).

We came back to our hotel and waited for Qualis to arrive and by that time we had another round of tea/coffee. Finally we got on the Qualis and started our ride for Pang-gong lake at about 8am or so. By now I was not fond of this same route which we took till Upshi. I wanted to see some different route. Thankfully we took a left turn from Upshi and soon started to climb on mountainous roads. This road was amazing for quite a few kilometers. Such smooth road that we were wondering if there could such splendid roads built in this region, what was it taking to relay potholed roads inside Bangalore city.

As we were climbing up, we were leaving a valley laid with green crop fields stuck in between two mountain on its side and landscape was getting more and more angelic. As we climbed through higher through this Chemrey and Sakti valley, Zanskar range was showing up in south with few very high snow clad peaks. Road suddenly turned back to gravel road and people were working on this road in simply inhuman conditions as it was very cold at this height.
We soon realized the coldness as we stopped at Chang La pass, where our passes were checked by army people and they suggested us to visit the Chang Temple, which we simply did but soon we were feeling too cold at this pass.
Though it was sunny, the wind was simply passing through us.

We soon got back inside and started again and soon reached Tangtse where we had Lunch at a literally local house. It was great as we had home made rice and dal and some salad. We liked that food so much that soon we were fighting to grab whatever remained in the boxes and definitely salad got exhausted pretty soon and we asked Aunty if we could have something more and thankfully she had some more food to offer. After getting our stomachs full up our food pipes till throat we started again for Pangong. As we moved back to main road, we soon came across some boulders and rock formations and marked for climbing. People started making comments that we should have brought some ropes and climbing equipment and I silently said in myself thankfully we didn't have any.

It was now routine for our travel passes being verified at different posts on this route now. Army has based its check post at various positions in this region. At Lukung we came across a vast plain field area. and there was huge Army base established here. One sign boards caught our attention. It had marking for Ice Hockey Rink area. We were told by our driver sahib that Ice Hockey is common game in Ladakh during winters. I was simply amazed that Ice Hockey had a presence after all in indeed. It gave me a great feeling of satisfaction and the feeling was elation alter when I came to know that an Indian delegation had won in Junior Asian Ice Hockey championship and all players representing India were from Ladakh.

The road ahead of this region is very very bumpy. And on most of the route it is being re-laid. There were workers working on this road and here is the place where I captured the best photograph of this region.

There was tar burning and its smoke floating around and getting mixed with dust thanks to trucks running on sandy area and workers, literally drenched in tar and dressed in kind of ash burnt clothes, were working to repair these roads. It was amazing scene and gave the picture of grave situation in which these people were working. We were sure these people must not be getting some special money for working here but that's what made this country of ours. People are ready to go through any kind of pain and do anything for survival and living.

We moved ahead and soon we were getting tired and searching for any sort of water body. Soon a very tiny stream started on road side and we asked driver sahib how far it the lake and he said it is somewhat far. But we in our minds were thinking all the while that it must be round the next corner. Soon we saw a small pond and cheered that lake has arrived but we had read that Pangong lake was 150km long so this pong looked illusion and we went past it as well.
We soon had out closest sighting of Yak. A mother yak and a small kido yak nearby and his father and uncle-aunt yaks somewhat further near a village area that had more of green field area and tiny water streams flowing in between.


Finally we had sighting of blue-green waters of Pangong lake. But we still had a small hurdle to pass through and it was nullah that had gone all awry and it was simply magic that how could any vehicle pass through such huge boulders. We did that magic and got through on the other side and finally we were having more and more larger view of the lake and smiles on our faces broadened by as many more miles we were getting our view of.

And no one was uttering a single word. It was simply mesmerizing view and soon as we got out from this taxi we all sad in unison.. This is Heaven.



We reached the lake shore and gazed through the whole surrounding. The panorama was so hypnotizing and we tried to grasp more and more of it.

Different shades of blue were spread through the width of lake where they changed its color to sandy brown and camelish brown with that brown shade throwing its image on lake waters as well. Water was cold and it was very clear. A constant peaceful breeze was flowing that made us remember that there was coldness in air as well. But sun was fully out and soon we were feeling very hot. This was nature at its best.
And we rued that we didn't have our tents here and didn't plan in advance otherwise we should have camped at that place. It must be amazing place at night and heavens if coming to earth would arrive here and here only.

This was really a huge lake and we tried to guess where the Chinese post could be. It must have been 8-10kms away but we were sure that it must be at that next peak over that mountain. me and Harsh even portrayed two highest mountains Nun-Kun as two snow clad peaks nearby on Southeast side. We were imagining so many things suddenly. I must have clicked about 100 pictures alone at this place as every other moment I was feeling a change in landscape while there was none. We soon realized that we definitely had to reach back Leh as we had to catch an early bus the next day. So we soon got back on our road to Leh.

We came across same mountains, same landscape, same road, same boulders but one scene stood out was when I saw a worker cleaning himself out of tar by taking bath not with water but kerosene. It was too much of a scene. And this would surely haunt me time and again.

We reached Leh by late evening. Now I don't remember distinctly when did I go to my mountaineering course mate Takpa Norbu. I had searched his address two days back and went to check his house at his village. But instead we went to Shanti Stupa overlooking Leh city over a small hill. We simply went there and came back.

We were decently tired by this sojourn to heaven and back. We quickly went for dinner and this time a local restaurant and ordered for Ladakhi dishes and had those with small drinks. It was luxury at its best and we were enjoying the place just few hours before we were to leave. We quickly packed our rucksacks and went to sleep. It was so quick that we still managed to cross 11pm for our sleep time and now sleep would not come so easy, knowing that we had to wake up at 4am to reach 5am bus.

Day 10 :

We woke up at about 4am and then were soon on our way to bus stand. There was no vehicle to take us so we walked (trekked) our way. On our way we were joined by some more people mostly foreigners and the whole crowd went towards bus stand. It was again fun ride in early morning as I was looking for bus to stop at Upshi to get some breakfast. I was now starting to feel sick with cold engulfing me in its tight grip. So I was keeping more and more water with me and drinking tea as and where possible. After Upshi we hardly stopped. And surprise stop came somewhere in Moore Plains. 2-3 members of a local family dropped off and also took huge baggage with them as well. But surprising factor was it was a nowhere place. Nothing in sight but we soon realized there was a man nearby with a dog, apparently waiting for these people. But no village or any other animal was in sight. Someone told us now these people would walk 10-15miles to their village. Meanwhile on other side some people took a pee break in open world.
We traced back our journey back and reached Keylong after making stop over at Pang, Sarchu, Darcha.

By the time we reached it was about 9pm, clearly we were somewhat late, but I was satisfied as we had beat a so called luxury bus and many other vehicles on this way. And at Keylong we stayed at same place and ate at same restaurant as we had during our journey towards Leh.

Day 10 :
Again we had to get up early. Soon we were back in the bus and on our way to Manali. I was more or less sleeping on this way and my cold was worse by now. I was feeling weak and definitely feeling worse every hour. I used to wake up in between and then retire to sleep. Finally we hit a road block just 20kms away from Manali.
It was huge traffic jam with scores of trucks and other vehicles lined up on both sides for hours now. We had to catch a different bus from Manali but we were now having our sets of doubts.


We tried to make a good use of this time and clicked the Manali Valley which was so green and it looked more greener after we had seen all bare mountains in Ladakh region.

Suddenly we started moving through trucks as bus was given preference over other vehicles and we reached the place where the trouble lied. It was sharp hair pin bend and actually road had given way to huge pile up of mud and recent rains had done wonders and trucks were getting caught up in this melee.

Then came army bulldozers and those pushed the trucks on their way up and the road started to clear up. Bus driver made a sharp short cuts in this mountain region which was scary as well as remarkable. Finally we reached Manali and we instantly felt high temperatures and were already worries what lay ahead in Delhi.

We boarded our Delhi bound bus at about 4pm and reached Delhi early morning. And now I had my severe sold and cough to deal with memories of Heaven.