Finally, I made it to my dream destination with the help of WOW (Women on Wanderlust) club. We were 18 of us from different parts of the country who met at Delhi airport on 18th Aug to fly to Leh. The first thing you notice is the barren-ness of the Mountains. The Mountains are so bare and so do the plains. The beauty of this place, probably lies in this.
At Leh, we checked into Spic N Span Hotel, fairly decent hotel with all basic amenities (hot water, STD/ISD, restaurant, hi-fi connection etc). As is required, all of us chilled out at the hotel on first day to get acclimatized to the altitude. In the evening, we strolled to the bazaar, though it was not easy walking with normal breathing pattern. Most of us had to halt every few steps to catch up on our breaths !
Ladakh is a Mountain Desert, all around one gets to see only huge mountains in amazingly different hues & colors. When you look down from the airplane on landing in to Leh, the Mountain tops look like the surface of Moon.
On day two, we went up to Thiksey monastery, Shey palace, Sindhu Ghat, Sankar Gompa, Leh Palace & Shanti Stupa. The highlight of the day was the morning prayers we attended at Thiksey, view of the mountains from Shanti Stupa and the beautiful Sindhu Ghat (Indus Valley)
Day three was a drive to Khardung-la pass, the highest motorable pass in the world. The place is cold. We did not stay too long and quickly made our way back to the hotel. To make better use of the day, I suggest one should proceed to Nubra Valley from here and probably stay overnight at Nubra.
Day four was the most amazing experience of the entire trip. We went to Pangong Lake, which is 5 hours drive from leh. The drive itself has many things to offer to the tourists, in terms of the different shades of Mountains around. The pristine lake, untouched by human beings is just out of the world. Two-thirds of the lake is in China, we are told. The water is so pure and transparent that you could see through to the bottom. One would love to spend the whole day at the Lake but since we had to get back to the hotel, we left the place early. My personal suggestion would be to camp somewhere close to the lake, if possible. On our way back, we went to the Hemis Monastery which is tucked behind a mountain, 50 kms from Leh.
Day five was a trip to the Lamayuru Monastery, famous for its spectacular setting amidst a lunar like landscape (see the pics). We had lunch on the way at Khalsa and then proceeded to Alchi where we stayed overnight. Alchi is a little hamlet by river Indus with its own share of Monasteries. At Alchi, we went around the Ladakhi houses and even managed to visit one family, just to get an idea about their lifestyle. Evening we strolled near the Indus river, which was another wonderful experience.
On day six, we visited the Alchi monastery, famous for its exquisite wall frescoes. On our way back to Leh, we also saw the confluence of river Zanskar with Indus. For lunch, we relished the Langar at Gurudwara Pathar Sahib (Langar is served only on Sundays) after which we went to the Spituk monastery.
Our last day was fraught with excitement as we went river rafting in Indus. Needless to say few of us were sunburnt (even after applying loads of sunscreen lotion !). Anyone interested in rafting should ensure they wear something which covers their hand and legs completely ! The main attraction of the run is that one gets to go between beautiful mountains. Most of the river along this route had grade 1 or 2 rapids, though we also got to experience grade 3.
Overall, it was an amazing experience to be on top of the world, though the drive through rough terrains is not easy. The best way to travel around is to hire a Scorpio. I must add that BRO(Border Road Organisation)has done exceedingly wonderful job in building roads across Ladakh. One cannot miss the eye-catching messages posted by BRO team on side of the roads.
