Ladakh - Jewel In The Crown Of India

"The Jewel in the Crown of India" is an apt name for Ladakh. No words can describe the beauty of this place. It’s one of its kind in India. It is part of India, yet so different and unique. Spent a week in Leh, Ladakh and still feel, I haven't had enough of this place. The mountains, the snow, the rivers, the valleys, the pristine lakes, clear blue sky, the fall colors, the colorful and peaceful gompas, the people, the silence, no traffic, no pollution, ... there is so much to see and experience. At every moment on this trip, I felt why do I have only 2 eyes and so less time. So far this has been the best vacation of my life. Felt so peaceful and rejuvenated that we started questioning ourselves on why are we even living in Bangalore.



Clear Blue Sky - View from Leh Palace

A minimum of one week is required to get a glimpse of this region. There is huge diversity in the terrain. If you are into adventure, the options are endless. What you need is time and more time, and good health. Personally I had no clue about Ladakh, until the Bollywood movie "3 Idiots". From the time, I saw the song "Behathi Hawa sa tha wo...." and the last scene, I wanted to visit this place.

So at last this trip was planned for Oct 2nd week as the kids has their Dasheera vacations during this time. Anytime between June - mid October is good time to visit. The place gets quite crowded between July and September, because of international tourists. In hind sight, we realized that the best part of visiting in October was that all the places had very few tourists. We could sit in a place staring at the mountains, without having other tourists around us. I would not recommend taking kids (less than 12 years) if you are planning to visit only for a week. This is not a place for people suffering from asthama, high blood pressure or other breathing aliments. Almost all the places in Ladkah are at an altitude 13000 feet and above.



Mountains and Lake - Pangong Lake

We planned to drop our kids with their grandparents in Belgaum and take a flight from Goa. Our plan was to go by Train to Belgaum. Freshen up, take a bus to Goa, flight from Goa to Delhi and then another flight from Delhi to Leh. All tickets were booked. Our accommodation was booked in "Ladakh Sarai Resort" in Leh and they gave us a package which included accommodation, all meals, transport and permits. Everything was set. Since it was only me and Pankaj who were traveling, we did not do much planning. We thought let's go to Ladakh and then go with the flow.

Our train from Bangalore was to start at 9:15 PM and reach Belgaum at 8:45 PM. Because of some operational issue, the train was delayed. The train did not depart until 11:30 PM and we were worried that we would miss the flight from Goa. We planned to get back home and thought of driving to Belgaum so that we could be in time to at least catch the flight to Delhi. Luckily the train started at 11:45 PM - the first hurdle was crossed. Now the question was what time would the train reach Belgaum and would we have enough time to drop the kids and take a bus to Goa or should we just take a taxi. We said let’s have a peaceful sleep and based on what time we reach Hubli, and then take a call.




White Sand Dunes - Nubra



Snow all over - Khardung La

Its 8:30 in the morning and we have not reached Hubli yet :( We did some calculations and figured that even if the train reaches Belgaum by 1 PM, we could have lunch and take a taxi to Goa to make just in time for our Delhi flight at 8 PM. As calculated, we reached Belgaum at 1 PM, dropped the kids in my parents place, had quick lunch boarded the taxi and all set to Goa airport. We reached Goa airport by 6:30 PM. Checked-in our luggage, we were all set with security checks and getting ready to board, when an announcement was made that the flight is delayed and we now need to go to another Gate. The flight was further delayed and at last departed at 11:30 PM (3 1/2 hrs, delay from the scheduled time). Luckily our connecting flight to Leh was at 5:40 AM the next morning; else we would have missed that flight. This was too much to take in a single day. So far we never had so many hurdles during any of our trips. We boarded the Delhi flight and crashed, I don't recollect the flight taking off. We woke up to the sound of other passengers collecting their luggage and realized that we had already landed in Delhi and it was 2:30 AM. Our connecting flight to Leh was from Terminal 3 of IGI Airport. Wow! what an airport. It is world class. It is huge, very clean, well designed and well maintained. Felt like we were in the airport of some developed country.



On the way to Pangong Lake

Luckily, the flight to Leh was on time and this was a non-stop flight (about an 1hr 20m). I had heard so much about the views of different ranges one can see from the flight, did not want to miss any of this, hence kept myself awake though was feeling very tired and sleepy. The views were worth all the effort. It was spectacular. Did not feel like blinking the eyes for 1 second too. On one side we could see the ranges which are brown and desert like with no vegetation and on the other side there were snow-capped mountains. Leh airport is right in the middle of these 2 ranges. You get down from the aeroplane and all around you - you see mountains and more mountains of different sizes and colors. We were spell-bound, didn't even realize that it was freezing cold out there. Looking at the way I was appearing spell bound, the lady who was sitting next to me in the plane, asked me if this was my first visit to Ladakh. She gave us some tips on how we should keep ourselves hydrated, what we should for the first couple of days. She was a resident of Ladakh.

Leh airport is very small and has high security, as this is on the border of Pakistan and China. You can see the presence of army folks all over the place. It was freezing in the airport (it’s not well heated) and we could feel our breathing was not as easy as in the plains. While we were waiting for our baggage, our mouths started feeling very dry - first signs of dehydration. Luckily at several places in the airport they have provided hot and cold drinking water. We felt better after having a glass of warm water. We collected our luggage and boarded the taxi that was waiting to take us to resort "Ladakh Sarai".



Ladakh Sarai - Our Yurt

Ladakh Sarai resort (http://ladakhsarai.com/index.php) is one of its kind in Leh. They have 14 yurt-style bungalows (tents with attached bathroom), very well equipped and in one of the best locations. The views from the resort are superb - especially from yurts 8, 9 and 11. Each yurt has its own "Bukhari" - this is a small metal box with a chimney. Fire is lit into this box, and is used to keep the room warm. Solar heaters and boilers are used to provide hot water to the rooms which was available all through the day. Enough provision of blankets, hot water bags, are provided in every room. It's unbelievable as to how much of comfort is provided even at such a remote and small town. The food was very tasty and global too. Mr. Rigzin who owns this place is very friendly, up to date with current affairs and knows how to entertain his guests. We got to know from the manager that because they have so many international guests, the food is always a combination of international and desi cuisine. This is a superb place to spend a romantic vacation.



View from our yurt - Leh

Day 1 - After checking in we had a heavy breakfast and kept drinking plenty of warm water to avoid AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). Symptoms of AMS are headache, nausea, loss of appetite etc. One needs to drink plenty of water, take complete rest at least for 1 day and avoid any kind of excursion. Keeping this in mind, we went off to sleep after the breakfast. By lunch time we were feeling better. Small sightseeing was planned for the late afternoon. With our cameras (make sure you carry enough memory card. You will be surprised as to how many pictures you can take), water bottles and warm clothes, we set out to explore Leh.



Leh Palace

Our first visit was the Leh Palace. This is a beauty and pretty much can be spotted from anywhere in Leh market. The Palace was built in the 17th century. The name "palace", is associated with glamour, size and richness. This palace is different. It has seven floors and is made from mud and wood. It is built on the top of a hill. During our visit it was fall time. The views from the top of the palace were very beautiful and colorful. On one side we have snow peaked mountains, on the other there are ranges in brown color and around the palace, you see the trees in different fall colors. From the top, you can pretty much see the entire Leh town. You wonder, how small the town is, yet so beautiful and serene. You also see the Tsemo Gompa from here. Climb to this gompa will take at least 45 min - 1 hr. We did this short trek on our last day at Leh as we were fully acclimatized by then. One should not do any kind of trekking/climbing on the first 2 days. The trek to this gompa is worth the climb. This climb is usually given as a warm up session for trekkers who are planning for serious trekking. From Leh Palace, we went to Shanti Stupa. This is a must in the itinerary. Visit to this Stupa around sunset is very beautiful. The shades of sunset on the white stupa, look very beautiful. After the stupa, we visited the Leh Market. This is a good 30-40 min walk. We got to experience the local fruits and vegetables, tourist stalls, plenty of Tibetan shops, selling souvenirs. After Leh market, it was time to head back to the resort. It was getting cold and dark by 5:30 PM. We were back in the room, with bukhari lit, sipping hot masala tea.



Shanti Stupa - Leh

7 PM sharp, we got a call from the staff for dinner. Dinner is very interesting affair here. The resort has a very colorful Tibetan style dining area. Since the government supplied power is only between 6 PM -11 PM in Leh, the dining room was lit with candles as a backup. The candles also added a lot of color, charm and romance to the place. This was the time, where we met other fellow tourists staying in the resort. The dinner was elaborate with plenty of delicious options. Apart from the main course (which included both Indian and international dishes) soup and dessert was also served on all days for dinner. A bowl of hot soup on a cold night was just what we wanted. The sky outside looked amazing with tons of twinkling stars. We hardly get a chance to see such clear skies in the cities. Some of gompas which were lit far off could also be seen from the resort. After dinner, we were given hot ginger lime water and a hot water bag. Enough firewood was kept in the room to add to the bukhari to keep the fire going. Because of altitude, the sleep on first day was not very sound. However from day 2 we were able to sleep soundly. As advised, for first 2 days we planned to stay and visit places in Leh to avoid AMS.



Magnetic Hill - Leh

Day 2 - Our first stop was Magnetic hill. At this point, even when the car is static it starts moving. The reason why the vehicles move is because of the huge magnetic hill which is right opposite this point. It is not clear whether this is because of the magnetic power or because of optical illusion. However, it was good to see the car move on the uphill road though it was static. The terrain here is very barren. We did not see a tree, bush or even grass. Neither can we see any birds or animals. One can see just the barren land and huge mountains and then suddenly on crossing the magnetic hill, we see the Indus river flowing. Little further down there is a Sangam of Indus and Zanskar rivers. This is point worth visiting. Zanskar river has clear blue water and the water of Indus river is muddy. At the sangam, one can easily identify which is Indus and which is Zanskar.



Sangam - Indus and Zanskar river

We spent some time here and then headed to Alchi monastery. This monastery is from 11th century and is still maintained in good condition. This is one of the few monasteries where you don't have to climb steps to reach the gompa. Since this was almost end of tourist season, and start of winter, the gompas were closed. The monks opened the gompa when requested. After spending some time here, we headed to the Likir monastery. Most monasteries in ladakh are closed during lunch time 1-3 PM. By the time, we reached Likir, it was lunch time and the monastery was closed. We too took a break here for lunch. We carried packed lunch as there aren't options to eat out. It is good to carry enough water and food when heading out. Also make sure to carry enough cash and in the lower denomination like 10s, 20s, 50s, 100s. You will have very few shopkeepers who will accept 500 Rs note. Since there are only a couple of ATMs in Leh, there are longer queues. So it is recommended to carry cash when visiting Leh.



Alchi Monastery

We had our lunch and relaxed for some time. By this time the monks opened the monasteries. Likir has a huge statue of Avalokteshwar - Avatar of Buddha. From here, our next stop was Basgo palace which was built in the 15th century. The castle known as Basgo Rabtan Lhartsekhar is situated here on a hill of clay. There is a sacred copper-gilt image of the Buddha Maitreya -’Golden Maitreya,’ which is two storey in height. Basgo was once an important cultural and political center and is frequently mentioned in the Ladakhi stories. 

There are some amazing views from this place. After this our next stop was Pathar Sahib gurudwara and the Hall of Fame - a defense museum in memory of soldiers who lost their lives in different wars. Hall of Fame is a must visit. It gives insights in what kind of life the soldiers live while protecting the borders for us. One can get really emotional here.



Avaloketswera Statue - Likhir Monastery



Defense Museum - Leh

Basgo Castle



Khardung La

Day 3 - We packed our bags for a night stay in Nubra Valley, had our breakfast and set out. Little had we anticipated on how this journey would turn out to be. To reach Nubra, we had to cross the world's highest motor able road "Kardung La", which is about 18300 Feet above sea level. This is about 40 Kms from Leh. The road to Kardung La is pretty good. It was all dry and cold until we were about 15 Kms to Kardung La. After this, the whole world changed. We started seeing snow and after a few minutes’ drive, there was lot of snow on the road and surroundings. Our car (Innova) started skidding. At this point I was scared and was wondering what would happen if the car fell into the valley (which was very steep) , what will happen to kids and so on. We reached Kardung La. Our ears were popping, there was a feet of snow all around. At the top of the pass, boards are put to inform tourists not to stay here for more than 20 mins to avoid AMS. The views are worth the drive. No camera can do justice to capture what we see here. It gives us a feeling of how small and miniature human being is in comparison to these huge mountains. - sorts of puts life into perspective. At the top we spent about 10 min. There is a army camp, which serves free hot tea. This was very refreshing and much needed in the shivering cold. I wonder how army men stay and work at such high altitudes. My respect for them has increased multiple folds after this trip.






Snow at Khardung La Top

While we were busy checking out views and taking pictures with our shivering hands, our driver was busy putting some chains to the rear tyre. This is common practice to avoid skidding of vehicles in snow. Because of the cold and altitude, we hardly felt hungry. We were excited we had made it so far, but were also scared what if something happens. Until we descended to a safe height, the feeling stayed with us. After descending and driving for few kilometers, we reached Kardung village, where the terrain changed completely. It was again dry and cold and no snow. However there was some greenery. I guess this is the beauty of Ladakh - every few kilometers the terrain keeps changing. You never know how it will be after few kilometers. We took a small tea break in North Pullu which has a heavy army base. You can hardly see any civilians here. It's only the tourists - which were also very few/none during this season.



Vibrant Colors of Shyok river

After North Pullu, the drive is extremely beautiful. The valley looks colorful with small trees in their fall colors and river Shyok in its ever beautiful color. I can never forget the colors of this river. They were as vibrant and colorful as peacock feathers. Though we were tired, we did not want to close our eyes even for few minutes in the fear of missing this experience. This surrounding continued till we took a turn to Diskit-Nubra Valley. All of a sudden, the land is flat with white sand dunes and all around you mountains of different shades - some brown, some colorful with monasteries lined and some snow-capped.

Around 3 PM we reached Diskit-Nubra valley, checked into our hotel Olthong. Our initial booking was with Nubra - Sarai (sister concern of Ladakh Sarai). Nubra-Sarai also has tents. But because the winter had started and it was getting colder, they had closed down for the season. Olthang was a decent small hotel. This was a luxury in a place which is so isolated from the other parts of India. We checked in and immediately left to visit the Sand Dunes. The specialty of the dunes here is - the sand is soft and white and we can ride on Bactrian Camels (2 humped camels), which are origin of Mongolia-China. The camel rides are available only for few hours in the morning and few hours in the afternoon. We did not want to miss this, hence just finished the check-in formalities and left to check out the Sand Dunes.




Bactrian Camels - Nubra Valley

If you are visiting Ladakh, then visit to Nubra is a must. The visit to sand dunes was a life time experience. It was shivering cold at 3:30PM when we reached the dunes and luckily the camels were available. The camels are really huge and have very thick fur. There were a bunch of 50 camels, all relaxing in the cold sand dunes without any trace of shivering. We with our multiple layers of sweater/jackets were literary shivering. A ride around the dunes on these camels was amazing experience. All the tiredness of driving from Leh to Nubra was washed out after this experience.

After the sand dunes, our next stop was the Diskit Monastery and the largest statue of Maitreya Buddha which is about 32 mts tall. This monastery is largest and oldest in Nubra Valley. Views from this statue are stunning. On one side we see the white and red huge monastery on top of a hill, on the other side there are snow-capped mountains. Below we see the sand dunes and from another side we get to see the Nubra river flowing in a zig-zag fashion. Imagine all this at the time when the sun is setting. No words can describe this scene.



View of Maytreiya Statue from Diskit Monastery

Though we wanted to just sit and gaze here, it was time to head back to the room as it was getting extremely cold and also dark. Nubra is a very small village, with very few houses. There are more hotels than houses. The hotel room was decent with all basic amenities. Do not expect any fancy stuff. One thing we missed was room heating. With multiple layers of clothing and mutliple blankets, it was still very cold. Dinner was served by 7pm and with nothing much to do, we slept by 8:30 PM (there is no TV, very limited power supply). Though it was freezing cold, we had a good sleep –could be because we were very tried.





Diskit Monastery

Day 4 - After breakfast, it was time to head back to Leh. Before we started to Leh, we visited the Panamik hot springs, Yarap Tso (lake). This lake is different and not very easy to locate. There are no sign boards. It is about 1 1/2 Kms from the main Panamik Road. It can be easily missed. Since the lake is surrounded by hills which are brown, hence the lake also looks the same color. Far away on the hill top we could see a shepherd with his herd. The water in the lake was so still and clear, the reflection of these far off sheep appeared as white spots in the water. After this, it was time to return back to Leh. We had to cross Kardung La again and this time there was more snow than we had on the forward journey. Our driver had to stop multiple times to fix the chain. The roads otherwise are in pretty good condition and drive is also quite safe, if it is not snowing. Until we crossed Kardung La, I was nervous and scared and kept worrying whether we would make it. Though Pankaj kept re-assuring me that when huge army trucks can cross the road, it is an easy ride for Innova, I was not able to take it out of my head. I sighed with relief when we reached the top of Kardung La. We had hot tea at the army camp and also bought some T-shirts. It was late evening by the time we reached Leh and back in our room of Ladakh Sarari, with warm bukhari and hot ginger water. Visit to Nubra was an experience for life.



River Nubra and White Sand



Yarap Tso - Panamik



Chang La - Third highest motorable road

Day 5 - Our next stop was Pangong Lake. This lake is about 136 Kms in length and is a salt water lake. Only 1/3rd of this lake is in India, remaining is part of Tibet. During the month of July, Aug, Sep, there is provision to stay in tents on the banks of this beautiful lake. It was pretty cold during our visit; hence we did only the day visit. The lake is about 3-4hrs drive from Leh. A day visit will take up your entire day. We started early from Leh around 7AM. To reach this lake, you need to cross the world's 3rd highest motor able road, Chang La which is at 17800 ft above sea level. After crossing Kardung La, this pass did not seem scary. 



Pangong Lake

We reached the Lake around noon. As we neared the lake, we get a small glimpse of the lake and that point I was spell bound. As we got closer to the lake, I was shocked to see the wideness, the colors, the surroundings... I cannot describe the experience. I had goose bumps by the sight of this magnificent view. This is nature at its best. I don’t know how many pictures we took. Make sure you have a good camera and enough battery and memory to accommodate all the pictures to want to store and cherish. This beauty of nature is unique, not spoilt yet by tourists and commercial buildings. Did not realize we had not eaten anything after breakfast and felt hungry and thirsty.



Clear waters of Pangong Lake

There are few make-shift tea stalls which sell food and Tea/Coffee. We had hot noodles and tea. This was refreshing. We were now re-charged to explore more of the lake. We took a small walk along the shores of the lake. The colors of the lake are very vibrant and water is clear. One can clearly see the pebbles below the shallow waters. The lake seemed like a mini ocean. Given a chance I would have preferred to just sit there gazing the lake and its calmness. 



Colors of Pangong Lake

After spending good amount of time at Pangong lake (though we did not want to return), it was time to head back before it gets dark to reach Leh. On our back, we were quiet and recollecting all the memories of lake and whole of Ladakh trip. We had only one more day at Leh and our trip would end. 



Trek to Tsemo Gompa

Day 6 – This was our last day in Leh. We wanted to spend this in Leh. After having a lazy breakfast, we headed for a small trek to Tsemo Gompa. This is a good 1hr trek from the Leh Palace. Treks, camping or any adventurous activities make you sync with the whole surrounding. The fulfillment of experiencing it is more than when a mere sightseeing is done. After the trek, we had lunch at Organic Restaurant in the Leh Market which served local Tibetan food. We had some soup and apricot juice. The juice was good. I did not like the soup much. After this we walk to the Jama Masjid. Next to this is a Kashmiri Bakery which sells good bakery stuff. We spent some time shopping. Most of the stuff is expensive as in any other tourist place. After this we visited the Thiksey Monastery and Stok Palace. 



Thiksey Monastery - Leh



Stok Palace - Leh

Next day was time to pack and bid good bye to Leh. In one week, we will get just a glimpse of Ladakh. We need more time to experience the beauty and calmness of this land. A trip to Ladakh is a must in one’s lifetime. We have promised ourselves that we will definitely visit Ladakh again and spend more time trekking.  In our next trip we definitely want to trek to Markha Valley in Ladakh which can be accessed only by trek. Until we plan our next trip to Ladakh, I will cherish the memories of this trip.