गर फिरदौस रूहे ज़मीं अस्त

हमीनस्तो, हमीनस्तो

LADAKH

"The Heaven in India"

"If there is paradise on this earth somewhere, here it is, here it is"

[ Travel date : August 2016 ]

Ladakh, the land of high passes, will top the list of anyone who aspires to travel across India. Ladakh has so much to offer to a human eye and heart. One of the reasons this place is my personal favorite is because it was only being here - a place too beautiful to be real- that made me realize my passion for visiting new places. It was in Ladakh, I discovered the traveler in me and decided that I should travel more often to make myself feel better, happy, and free.

Places to visit in Ladakh :

Pangong Lake
Nubra Valley
Khardungla Pass
Changla Pass
Shanti Stupa
Leh Palace
Indus-Zanskar Sangam
Hall of fame

I got to visit Ladakh in August '2016. (The ideal time to visit Ladakh is between April to September). No matter the weather, the views and the vibrant color of mountains are always pleasant to look at. Considering its geographical location and weather, you must carry sunscreen, sunglasses, and a cap along with you when you visit Ladakh as you will be more exposed and close to the sunlight here, at such a high altitude.

If you are planning or wish to visit Ladakh, you might find the itinerary of my trip useful. Here it goes:

day 1: Arriving Leh

My journey began from Delhi to Leh (the highest commercial airport in India) at 4 'O'clock in the morning. Our flight was scheduled for 6 AM. Due to the mountain winds that blow intensely in the afternoon, all the flights fly in the morning and since the airport is located between the Himalayas, Leh Airport has made its presence in the list of the world's most scenic airports.

On our aerial journey to Leh, I experienced a beautiful and jaw-dropping view of the great Himalayan ranges. Clouds moving over from one mountain to another revealing the purest shade of blue in the background - a start to a trip cannot be better than this. It was so beautiful and promising and I was sure that the coming few days are going to be the best days of my life.

We landed at Leh Airport around 7:30 AM. You can see the picture just above, it speaks a lot about the beauty of the place. The rocky mountains seem to go as high as the sky and the clouds floating just above the tip of the mountains seem to fly like puffs of cotton.

After landing, we directly went to our hotel in Leh city and checked-in. We have our hotels booked already. We were welcomed by the local people in a very grateful manner.

The one thing I heard about for the first time there was: acclimatization !! Well, when you travel to Ladakh, you need at least one day to acclimatize so that you get accustomed to the oxygen level of Leh. We were given instructions not to do or involve ourselves in activities that require a lot of physical effort.

After a few hours of rest, we went to visit the local market.

Leh Market

What to buy from the Leh market?

We all love to collect/buy something from the places we visit to cherish them later. Some special and specific items that you will find here are :

1. Pashmina shawls

2. Stone jewelry

3. Dry fruits and oils (Apricot is very famous in Ladakh)

4. Kashmiri carpets

While roaming around the Leh market, I found out that some shopkeepers were not the locals and selling stuff at a much higher rate. Needless to say that one must be aware of such sellers or they can easily get fooled. This is pretty common in almost all the places in India which attract tourists from within and outside the country. But forget that, I loved almost everything that was being sold and I wanted to buy everything but alas the luggage weight limit and not to mention the limited funds :-P

The best souvenirs I could bring from Ladakh was the scenic views that are etched deep into my memory.

Later in the evening, the hotel had organized a music and dance event for us. We got to witness the local people performing Ladakhi dance and singing folk songs.

The local people of Ladakh are very sweet and polite. Kindness is the one thing that is rare to find nowadays but not in the people of Ladakh. They have lived among the clouds and were still grounded.

Day 2 :
Around the town

We woke up to a pleasant morning. Things were brighter than normal - perks of being at high altitude areas yet the weather was cold and windy. I remember sitting by the balcony and sipping a cup of warm tea, basking in the lukewarm sunlight, and enjoying the view of mountains hiding behind the tall Poplar trees found here in Leh.

On this day, we planned on visiting the nearby areas and sightseeing points. We covered the following places on the second day-

Indus-Zanskar Sangam

We started with Indus-Zanskar Sangam. As the name defines, it's a confluence of two rivers from the Himalayan and Zanskar ranges respectively. This place is known for the clearly visible difference between the shiny blue color stream of the Zanskar river and the slightly green color stream of the Indus river. At the Sangam, these two rivers kiss each other and the view is no less than a glimpse of heaven.

Magnetic Hill

What a magical place was the Magnetic Hill. On our way stood a yellow signboard stating "The Phenomenon That Defies Gravity". It's a downhill road. If we park our vehicle at the marked spot with the engine off, it's wheels start rolling uphill. People also call it "Mystery Hill" or "Gravity Hill". Well, there is a lot of explanation both mythical and scientific behind this mystical phenomenon. Please google about the reasons if you want to know more, I bet you will be amazed.

Later we left this place, and on our way, we paid a short visit to "Gurudwara Pathar Sahib".

Shanti Stupa

The Shanti Stupa in Leh is a white-domed Buddhist monument located on the hilltop. It is very popular amongst tourists as it offers a sweeping view of Leh and the nearby Changspa village. The sunlight sparkles at the white walls of the stupa.

I have heard that this place looks the most beautiful under the moonlight. My bad, I couldn't stay here at the night.

Hall of Fame

Last but not the least, we went to see the "Hall of Fame" run by the Indian Army. It is a museum built in the memory of brave Indian soldiers who lost their lives in the Indo-Pak wars. In the evening, we got to witness the parade and flag post and what did I see ???? Right, when the National Anthem was going on, the sky turned bright blue and the sunlight was a perfect shade of orange, double rainbow appeared with a full 180* arc. I never saw such a beautiful thing in my entire life, I started jumping then and there out of happiness.

Leh Palace

Then we visited the Leh Palace, a dun-colored former royal palace. This palace has nine floors (three floors underground).

You are not allowed to stay more than 10-15 minutes inside the palace due to lack of oxygen & light. There's a beautiful window inside the palace from which you can have a panoramic view of the entire Leh city.

City view from The Leh Palace

DAY 3 :
Journey to Nubra Valley

Not knowing to what place I am going to see next always excites me more. I was already mesmerized by what I saw earlier that day and was feeling even more excited to experience the beauty of the remaining places.

Khardung La

On the third day, we started our journey to Nubra Valley. It's a 5-6 hours of journey from Leh via Khardung La Pass. The entire route is through the mountains, reaching the highest motorable pass in the world "Khardung La".

The journey itself was so pleasant, a beautiful was there to my amazement wherever I looked from the windows.

However, as we were going to pass through Khardung La Pass, which I was so excited about, we were also being made aware that during our journey as the height will increases, we might suffer some a mild headache, or feel uneasy, which is normal due to the lack of oxygen and we don't need to panic about it.

Nubra Valley

We reached Nubra in the afternoon and stayed at "Chamba Deluxe Camp". We stayed in a tent. Mostly you will find tent stay in Nubra Valley, which is itself a really nice experience.

Nubra Valley is known for its orchards, scenic vistas, Bactrian camels, and monasteries.

The village is very peaceful and you can see lots of apricot trees. Post lunch we went camel riding. The camels were of a rare species: Bactrian camel (double-humped ). Watching the sunset from this valley would be the most surreal experience one can ever have. Many photographers actually travel to Nubra Valley just to capture these rare camel walking through the sand which sparkles due to the sunlight falling on it.

Sunset view from Nubra Valley

Day 4 :
Visiting Monasteries

After spending a chilly night in a tent, we had our breakfast in the morning and headed back to Leh through the same route.

Diskit Gompa

On our way, we visited Diskit Gompa (one of the oldest and largest Buddhist monastery). After entering the monastery, you will find a huge statue (32 meters) of Buddha whom they call 'Future Buddha'. This was named keeping in mind - the protection of the village, maintaining world peace, and preventing further wars with Pakistan. On the other side, there's an old temple and monastery.

Monks are often found praying, meditating, and reciting hymns in the monastery.

From this monastery, you can see the entire Nubra valley. The cold breeze and the feeling that you are on the top of the sky is one of the best experiences in the world.

One more thing that I love is eating Maggi at the roadside in such cold weather. Well, everyone loves having Maggi + Chai in the mountains.

Once we reached our hotel, we had our dinner and took some rest. We were not informed of where we are going the next day. But were just given brief information that "Tomorrow you are going to see one of the best scenes that you have watched to date". By that point in time, frankly speaking, I had already seen so many beautiful places, and I thought that it would be similar to those. And with this thought and a little tiredness, I fell asleep.

Day 5 :
Journey to Pangong Lake

So, we started our journey toward Pangong Lake. Leh to Pangong is again 5-6 hours of journey. To reach Pangong, we have to go through Chang La pass, another one of the highest motorable roads. While we stopped at the Changla point, what did I witness ???

Chang La Pass

MY FIRST SNOWFALL !!!! It took me few seconds to realize that it was snow. Actually, we were expecting snowfall in KhardungLa but you can never predict correctly about the weather here. Luckily I got to witness it in Chang La. I was dancing all around and couldn't stop smiling. My fingers were turning purple, I was feeling very cold but none of it mattered while the snow was falling. I mean, can this trip get any more exciting?? Well, read the story further, there's one more thing left.

Since we couldn't stay for more than 15-20 minutes, we had to leave. Once we crossed the pass, the roadside scene was so beautiful that I can't describe it in words.

The entire route made me feel like I'm in heaven. The peaceful environment and the sound and feel of nature, it’s just speechless. I loved clicking pictures there, of such beautiful views, but at some point, I just stopped and was admiring the lovely route. Through your entire journey, you will get to see different types of wildlife species here. Apart from the horses, yaks, sheep, etc. I got to see Himalayan marmots (part of the squirrel family, however as big as cats in size).

Pangong Tso Lake

As we were about to reach the Pangong lake, we saw this signboard saying ‘The first view of World Famous Pangong Lake’. And the view itself was so amazing, the sparkling water could be seen from a distance of hundreds of meters.

It made me realize that yes it is one of the best scenes that I have watched to date. I couldn’t resist myself to go there running and stand by the lake.

Pangong Lake is 50% in Tibet, 40% in Ladakh, and the rest is disputed but controlled by China.

When I started this journey I didn’t know that this place is going to win my heart. My feet couldn't control themselves to go and touch the cold water. The sunlight was reflecting and making the water glitter and shine.

We stayed in a tent here as well. The temperature at Pangong is usually very low, as it's a very isolated place surrounded by the mountains all around. And this is the reason that the power supply was not there. We used to get a bucket of hot water only once in the morning for basic use. At night the temperature was as low as 3-4 C.

There were so many stars at night I couldn't stop looking at them. I sat outside my tent and was observing the stars for quite a long time. At that time, I didn't know much about photography, hence no photos of the night.

Day 6 :
The Sunrise !!

On the last day of this wonderful trip, I was able to cross off one item from my bucket list: "Witness sunrise from a remote location." And what could have been better than watching it from Pangong Lake? So I woke up early in the morning at about 4 AM to watch the rising sun cast a rosy hue across the morning sky. Golden rays of the sunlight lit up the scene.

For every traveler who aspires to visit Ladakh, this thing will definitely be a part of their bucket list.

Again, I sat in the chair, covered in a blanket, observed the extreme silence of the place. Seeing the first light of the sun rising from behind the mountains and reaching the top of the clouds. What a mystical and beyond the world experience.

And then came the moment I dreaded throughout the trip when I had to leave this beautiful place, isolated from the entire world. Spent the last few hours walking around the place. Had the best breakfast with the best view. Tried to capture this beauty through my eyes as much as I can. I can still feel the pure air of Ladakh like it is stored in the brains of my skin and pictures of this place still flashes in my mind now and then.

While I was leaving, I literally had tears in my eyes. I felt so bad because I didn’t want to leave Ladakh that soon. That day, I promised myself to come back to this place again and also that I will travel frequently to new places now and then.

And this is how a traveler in me was born. :)