So far we had only heard of Pangong Lake as the one that had featured in the hugely popular Bollywood movie- 3 Idiots!!! So this time when we set off I was mentally thinking it will now be 11 Idiots at Pangong!! :))) <Am sure if I had said this out aloud the ten of them would have thumped me!! :P>
Even as we drove just outside Leh the views became amazing. The first bunch of Stupas we saw really excited us, Giri had sid something about how unlike what was originally thought, the Stupas had in recent times been discovered to host mummies- were they of hermits from the past??? Literally 'Stupa' in Sanskrit means 'A heap', they were just that a heap that housed Buddhist relics. I had previously seen Stupas only in Srilanka, so seeing them in Leh sure made me feel a bit nostalgic about the 2 months I'd spent in Srilanka ..!
A few kms ahead we were driving by the river Indus and we stopped to get a couple of pictures of the river that twined around some really barren looking mountains. Since these mountains were above the rain clouds, they hardly had any vegetation on them. But the valleys by the river were full of thick vegetation! The contrast was lovely!!
Slowly we passed a couple of monastries and the ascent to Chang La Pass began. This was the toughest part of the trip for us, we were all yet to get completely acclimatized and this sharp increase in altitude affected most of us...so groans about breathlessness and headaches was common. I almost felt like I had a fever by the time we reached the pass..I hardly remember what we did on this pass!
Once along the way they were laying roads and there was this huge traffic jam!!! We all felt like the cities traffic was back here in the mountains to haunt us...but it soon turned into a break by the lovely flowing waters!!
A little ahead and it was the first sighting of wild horses and pashmina goats for us. The goats looked so wonderful, their coat of wool almost seemed to flow as they walked. I have inserted some pictures of the goats close up for you to see..! The contrast between the mountains, the grass and a glorious sunny day made for some great photography!!
We even sighted a marmot basking out in the sun! These are such cute creatures!! Sadly they have been rather tamed by the tourists who feed them and click pictures with them.. I was guilty of the same too..only on hindsight I do regret it!!
Slowly but surely we were nearing Pangong Lake. Our first sight of the lake itself was amazing, but when we got closer it took my breath away!! The pristine turquoise blue waters against the burnt sienna back ground....gosh!!! What a sight!! Words fall short when one tries to describe this sight!!
We spent all afternoon and evening at the lake, there were moments when we sat on the shores and thought about how lucky we were to be seeing this sight! The colors of the mts kept changing with the changing sunlight, so did the colors of the water!! God must have painted this canvas with a lot of patience and skill... otherwise how else can one explain all that the eyes saw here??
As is obvious from the pics above, slowly but surely all the posing began!! Even as Roopa was getting the arrangements done for our stay the rest of us were busy trying to get 'picture perfect'. The funniest was Giri and Ashish, it was a lot of fun seeing them get pose ready!! :)) I even pulled Giri's leg on the same, since I felt I knew him well enough to take his case...hopefully he didn't mind too much!! He was a bit miffed with me though for a lil while... :D
Later in the evening we headed back to the camp, settled into tents and had a wonderful dinner. This was the first time we played a game called 'Mafia'. Can't say I was a big fan of the game!! For one it had some profanity in it, never having been a fan of the same I couldn't bring myself to whole heartedly participate. Thankfully most of us were too sick to go on with the game for long. So we retired for the day. Some others stayed up to do some star gazing...sure wasn't me!! :)
The next day was slightly cloudy, so the pics weren't the same. However AJ found some birds to photograph and you can see the same below:
By the time he was done, the sun was out again and we sat on the shores looking at what surely seemed like a road to heaven. We also clicked some pics of our camp and slowly headed back to pack up.
Just as we were leaving we met a whole group of people at the camp..... I sure thought they were from Nat Geo since their vehicle said that...one of the guys (not an Indian) mentioned it was his 17th trip to Ladakh and he was yet to complete seeing all of this region!! Meanwhile I got my pic next to their vehicle... :D This was the coolest thing ever!! :))
The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful. We got back to Hotel Horizon by the time it was night.
Even as we drove just outside Leh the views became amazing. The first bunch of Stupas we saw really excited us, Giri had sid something about how unlike what was originally thought, the Stupas had in recent times been discovered to host mummies- were they of hermits from the past??? Literally 'Stupa' in Sanskrit means 'A heap', they were just that a heap that housed Buddhist relics. I had previously seen Stupas only in Srilanka, so seeing them in Leh sure made me feel a bit nostalgic about the 2 months I'd spent in Srilanka ..!
Once along the way they were laying roads and there was this huge traffic jam!!! We all felt like the cities traffic was back here in the mountains to haunt us...but it soon turned into a break by the lovely flowing waters!!
Slowly but surely we were nearing Pangong Lake. Our first sight of the lake itself was amazing, but when we got closer it took my breath away!! The pristine turquoise blue waters against the burnt sienna back ground....gosh!!! What a sight!! Words fall short when one tries to describe this sight!!
We spent all afternoon and evening at the lake, there were moments when we sat on the shores and thought about how lucky we were to be seeing this sight! The colors of the mts kept changing with the changing sunlight, so did the colors of the water!! God must have painted this canvas with a lot of patience and skill... otherwise how else can one explain all that the eyes saw here??
The next day was slightly cloudy, so the pics weren't the same. However AJ found some birds to photograph and you can see the same below:
By the time he was done, the sun was out again and we sat on the shores looking at what surely seemed like a road to heaven. We also clicked some pics of our camp and slowly headed back to pack up.
As we headed back we saw a whole colony of marmots..! Like kids we got excited, we even indulged in feeding them some apples. The scary thing is how friendly they are with humans thanks to tourists like us...now on hindsight I am feeling so guilty that we did this!!
The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful. We got back to Hotel Horizon by the time it was night.
