There and Back - Part II. Review on Ladakh

This is the Part - II of my travelogue from Manali to Leh. As there is no provision to give multiple review for same product I have to submit the Part - II in this section. It would be good if you read the Part - I under Home>>Travel >>Tourist Attractions >>Trekking>>Leh first. Thanks

16th August 2005, 3:30 a.m., I got up in Patsio camp. Yesterday we had traveled 163 Kms from Manali and reached Patsio. Last night was fun as it was my first experience of sleeping in a tent. It was a different experience though apart from the fact that I don't remember anything. I was snoring away to glory within minutes of lying down. The tough part was getting up at 3:30.

By the time everybody got up and got ready to go it was 4:30 a.m. and still very dark. Conversations were at the bare minimum in the bus as we took off only to be stopped at a military post 5 minutes away. We weren't allowed to cross the post till 5:00 a.m. We had no choice but to wait for another half an hour.

After driving through the dry arid land for couple of hours, we halted for breakfast and tea at Bharatpur at around 7:00.a.m. The sun was up by then. The place was looking magical in the morning light. There is nothing much to mark Bharatpur on the map actually. It's just 3-4 dhabas in a valley with Sarchu nala flowing nearby and mountains all around you. Although the sun was up the morning air was very chill. Imagine being stuck in this place for 3 days! That was what had happened to a group of 7 Israeli tourists. When they came up to us and asked for lift till Leh. At first we were a bit apprehensive but in the end we thought we should help them and gave them places in the bus.

As we reached Sarchu at 8:45 a.m. we felt happy that we didn't reach this place last night. It was a flat and plain plateau but at an altitude of 14500 ft. The wind there was howling and it was freezing cold. I doubt after yesterdays traveling how many people would have taken this kind of weather as fun. By this time it was finally sinking in to us that we were traveling through Ladakh! But with the realization came all kinds of sickness. Altitude sickness, motion sickness, travel sickness and all other possible kind of sickness kicked in full gear. Most of our crew was down with something. It was in such condition that we crossed over from Himachal Pradesh to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Very few of us were actually in a condition to open their eyes leave alone their mouths, but me and couple of other guys were off playing antakshari! and we were looking at the beautiful Gata loops and going ''Wow!'' and ''Cool!'' and ''Oh My God!'' and ''We have to come here on bikes!'' because Gata loops was such a place. It was a freshly laid road, all up hill climb and 21 wonderful loops; A bikers dream-come-true. One had to see it to believe it. Gata loops ended as we crossed the mountain at Nakeela pass(15547 Ft.)

After crossing Kanlajal, we reached Pang at 12:35 p.m. we had our humble lunch at Pang. It was a welcome break for all. It was at Pang that I noticed one thing very peculiar. From the moment we had left Rohtang La, till now, we didn't see a single Indian tourist! All the tourists we saw were foreigners, of course other than our group. It was really something to think about. We have such beautiful, adventurous, unique and out-of-the-world kind of place in our country and the people who appreciate this are the outsiders!

After having our lunches we set again on the road. I don't remember much of what happened next actually. I was feeling altitude sick, travel sick, lack-of-sleep sick and just in general sick! I didn't even realize when we crossed the great pang plateau. It is a huge open ground spanning around 45 kms. It's got one of the most amazing roads and is a biker's paradise. If you have seen the new advertisement for Bajaj Avenger, the very straight road with and amazing view that you see in the add, that's Pang plateau!

But it was only when we reached Tanglang La at 5:00 p.m. that I was jolted back to reality from the swirling. Tanglang La is the Second Highest Motorable road in the world and I was there, feeling all dizzy and giddy with wobbly legs. It is at an altitude of 17582 ft. Just for comparison, Kalsubai peak, the highest point in Maharashtra stands at 5400ft. Just for comparison.

But such a height has its own advantages. The view from Tanglang La was beyond words. Deep blue skies, white brown chocolate mountains and absolutely no pollution in the air, in fact, absolutely no air! I mean, the air was so thin and the oxygen so less that a simple task like tying up your shoe lace was enough to leave you breathless, especially if you are not properly acclimatized. I was caught-up in a dilemma whether to appreciate the view around me and feel good about coming to such an amazing place or to give in to the headache, climb up the bus, curl up and go to sleep.

Thankfully I didn't sleep and could enjoy the vast beauty of Tanglang La. My reward was feeling of true accomplishment, of true joy and of true serenity.

We started again from Tanglang La. We had to reach Leh fast, but that was not exactly in our hands. I was about to surrender to sleep again when a friend decided to open conversation with the Israeli tourist we were giving lift and a few of us started chatting with them. They turned out to be a really fun gang. All were in their early 20's and had tremendous adventurous spirit. They were in India from 5-7 months and told us about their experience in India. We taught them some Hindi songs and some Marathi too. They in turn taught us Hebrew words and songs. Few of them I still remember like ''Maaaaiiiiyarim!!'' and ''Taltaleeeem!'' Few of their names I remember, like Zohar and Dikhil, but others I forgot. They were very jolly good group of people and we didn't even realize when we reached Upshi at 7:00 p.m. The whole session did really help me get over my sleep and fatigue. We halted from some time at Upshi for tea and momos left again at 7:30 p.m.

Finally, at 9:00 p.m, after 480 Kms and 36 hours of traveling, we reached our destination. Leh!

Here concludes the part -II of this travelogue. Be asured there will be more parts as soon as I figure out where to put them :).

Comments and suggestions please !!!