Road To Ladakh - Day 8

So this is supposed to be the last day at Leh and all we had to do was go for local sightseeing in the first half of the day and go for shopping in the latter half of the day.

Last night I heaved a sigh of relief as finally I would be able to wake up late in the morning. Waking up at 5 in the morning almost everyday had taken a toll on my sleep. So I was pretty excited to live in my dreams for a couple of hours more.

But... We got ready by 7 am. Passed sometime at the hotel by shoots vids and clicking pics of the scenery around.

Finally at 9 am we left for the local sightseeing tour. The first stop being Thicksey Monastery. The ambience is superb. Inside the monastery lies the sitting statue of Lord Buddha. The statue attracts thousands of onlookers towards itself. Flash needs to be disabled while clicking photographs. The mantra "Buddham Sharanam Gachchami" soothes the tired soul.

From Thicksey Monastery, we visit the Kali Mata Mandir. It is said that the whole Leh city is visible from the top of this Mandir. And it's really true. The view can be captured by video. (I intend to upoad the video soon.)
P.S.: Photography or videography is not allowed within the temple premises.

We make our way towards the Hall of Fame. It is the museum situated on the main road towards airport. The museum showcases the history of Ladakh region, the people, the culture, the food, the dances and the costumes of this area. It also has the history of the kings who ruled this region. What bowls us is the special section related to the Kargil War. The detailed explanation by the heroes of war arises the feeling of patriotism within you.

Finally we go to the Shanti Stupa which is famous for the statue of Lord Buddha. It is visible from half Leh region. The wind gushes at a high speed. The climate is freezing.

We didn't visit the Shey Palace and Stok.

Returning from the local sightseeing tour, we have our lunch, rest for a couple of hours and then make our way towards the market. (Trust me, its boring if you are a singleton. And its much more boring if you are with any lady of your family. Because ladies know how to kill time. Hahaha.)

So that's the end of the final day at Leh. It's time to pack up things as we need to catch a flight tomorrow early morning.

Ciao!

Road To Ladakh - Day 7

Last night was too tiring. Whole day travelling, then shopping, then cultural dance and finally sleeping late at night.

But today's a new day... And it has to be something exciting to write about. Well, the day has been exciting so far. We left The Kaal and made a journey towards Pangong Tso. Tso or So means Lake. Its about 150 odd kms away from the Leh city.

The journey towards the Pangong Lake is too tiring and people swear under their lips for making such a long journey to see a silly lake. But once you reach the destination, you say.... WOW!

Guys, one request... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE... DON'T MISS THIS PLACE. IT'S WORTH A WATCH.

So on my way I pass through The Chang La which is the third highest motorable road in the world. The climate is colder than the Khar Dung La. And the winds slap your body. It's difficult to stay there for a while.

Vehicles have problems in this journey... Like brakes getting hot, tyres getting punctured, etc. So there's an advice for those who are planning to visit this place. Please have a complete check up of your vehicle a day before visiting the place.

It takes us 4-5 hrs to finally reach the Pangong Lake. And that's what I call heaven on earth. It's a superb place. (MTV Roadies season 3 was shot at this place) and you know the reason why.

China border is visible through this place and the scenery is absolutely brilliant. We get to have a water boat ride that allows us to see the border more closely.

(P.S. No one's allowed to take a water ride. I wonder how we were allowed.)

After spending a couple of hours at the Lake we head back towards Leh. On the way, we have our lunch at Hotel Chang La Queen. The food is as super good as the people out there.

It takes us around 3 hours to reach back to our hotel. The evening passes away with leisure activities like photo clicking, playing cards, etc.

So that's the end of the day and me off to sleep after a sumptous dinner.

Road To Ladakh - Day 6

The climate is freezing and we have to give a hard thought whether to take a bath or not. Big guts needed to empty a mug of water (hot or cold doesn't matter because within a seconds, the water gets cold) on the body. After the act of bravery (bathing, of course), we pack our bags to return to The Kaal.

On the way we make a stop to the Khar Dung La again and indulge in some snow fights. An hour passes away, we get back in our vehicles and move back to the Leh city.

As we reach earlier than expected, we plan to explore the local markets of Leh. Moti market is a famous market that sells ornaments made of stones. Leh is famous for its dry fruits.

After an hour of time pass at the market, we get back to the hotel for the cultural programme organised for us. (It's a time pass show.) The songs on which they dance, went bouncer to me. Hehehe. At the end, we too danced with the dance troupe and had a great time.

Post cultural program, it was dinner and making preparations for next day's journey to the Pangong Lake.

Its time to sleep guys! Hope you enjoyed the read (though, this post may not have been helpful. But this is the best I can describe, as we hardly did anything today.)

Jhule!

Road To Ladakh - Day 5

Ah! The weather is cool as a cucumber and its just fun to stay out here and romance with the natural beauty.

We get ready for our next destination... Numbra Valley. It's about 150 odd kms away from Leh city. And its also known as the Valley of Flowers. (Guys, there are no flowers as per my knowledge. It's just the name kept by the localites to attract tourists. But it's worth a dekko.)

So we head towards Numbra Valley via Khar Dung La. La means Pass and Khar Dung is the name of the village. The best thing about this place is that it is 18380 metres above sea level and its the highest motorable road in the world. The temperature plays between 0 to 5 degrees. And we make a move ahead after a brief stop at the pass.

We reach the Sumoor Village near Numbra Valley at 2 pm and freshen up in our resective tents at The Mystic Meadows Camp. at the camp our cook prepares the pakodas for us and its an amazing experience.

We freshen up and get ready for sightseeing. After a 40 minute drive we reach at the Sand dunes between Diskit and Hunder villages. Its a desert in Leh. The view is superb and its worth coming out here to enjoy. Time for Camel ride... The camels out here are two-humped. Such camels are found in Mongolia.

The charges are a bomb. Rs.150 for 15 min ride!!!

After the camel ride and some sand fighting at the sand dunes, we head back for our camps. On the way, our vehicles go through a road in the middle of a very old dried river bed.

We reach back to the camp and it's dinner time. Post dinner, there's nothing to do except fiddling with my laptop and filling it up with today's experience...

Time to sign off... Good night.

Road To Ladakh - Day 4

So here we are... At Ule Tokpo Camp... Enjoying the best moments of the trip... Calmness and serenity all over.

As usual, it's 5.30am and I knock everyone's doors to wake them up. We get ready, freshen up at the common toilets and bathrooms (clean as ever.. hats off to the way these guys maintain) and get set for our breakfast. Nearly 3 hours pass out in this process and then we plan to go for river rafting. Damn excited by the prospect of thinking about it.

Tough luck... Due to some kind of accident at the river, the rafting was cancelled. Alas! Got to stay at the hotel...

11 of us... Planning how to kill time... All of a sudden we thought about having a body massage available at the hotel. (Guys! Don't act like perverts! Its a normal body massage with the massagers from Kerala's Coconut Lagoon something.. And males are handled by males and females by females... Sigh! Hehehe.)

(Tip: Bargain guys! I am very bad at bargaining... I nearly coughed up the actual amount. But thanks to some professional bargainers with me that I saved a few hundreds. Hehehe.)

So a Rs.700 body massage (1 hr duration) costed me actually Rs.500 and this way we all could kill our time. A short nap after the massage eased away my tiredness(and also the pain of my butts!!!) It's an hour to go before we have our lunch and we head straight to the games room to take another shot at the billiards table.

The gaming is over by now, the lunch is ready... Aah! Delicious aloo parathas, karela sabji, mutter paneer... Yummy... And the stomach's full. (Lucky for everyone that nobody had to answer nature's call after such a heavy food.)

It's time to take our luggages and move towards our final destination... Leh.

We bid adieu to the Ule Tokpo Camp and get ready for a two hour journey towards Leh. (By the way I forgot to write that the Ule Tokpo Camp is situated at an area called Shaspol. It's a village I guess. So anybody having difficult to find it can do so by checking Shaspol on the map.)

Two hours gone... 70 odd kms passed and here we see the first sight of Leh. The Leh Airport, Hall Of Fame, Thicksey Monastery, Shey Palace (guys! I aint doing sightseeing today, these places are just on the way) and the Leh Market.

We reach Hotel The Kaal (Looks like we have a fan of the Karan Johar movie.. Hehehe.) and we are welcomed by felicitating us with a special scarf like cloth. It may not be as good as the Grand Dragon Hotel but its definately worth living out here.

We freshen up, have evening breakfast and kill the rest of our time by playing cards.

Nothing much special to write about except that the weather is pleasant during this time. And it's time to sleep.