Pang, the place where we had halted is at about 15500 ft above sea level. And the fact that 2 days ago we were practically in the plains, everyone had difficulty of coping with such high altitudes. Besides it was extremely cold. All of us were sleeping on bed but the bed was put on the floor, so the beds were very cold. Because the beds were very cold, I had lot of difficulty of sleeping, coupled with this I also had breathing problems in the middle of night. Whenever i had breathing problem, I used to sit upright and breath for a few times and again sleep. This happened for around 8-9 times throughout the night. I thought I was the only one to suffer, because no one else looked awake.
But at around 4:30 morning, Akash was having heavy breathing problem. He began to panic, and suddenly started saying " I cant breath" , "I am going to die" and loads of other hyperboles. Everyone of us was worried. We calmed him a bit, but still he had breathing problem. The other reason that we might have been having breathing problems could be seven of us were sleeping in the small tent. So akash wanted to go out of the tent, but it was cold outside too. He wanted someone to accompany him. But as soon as I sat up I was feeling tired. It was as if I had no energy to get up from that position. Others also sat up, but they were also tired to get up from that position. Somehow Mayur got up and took Akash outside, though Mayur also was feeling unwell from the day before itself. As soon as akash got outside he started feeling better. I was also not feeling well. All food that i had eaten came out. Akash insisted that we move out from such high altitude place as soon as possible. And everyone seconded it. By this time it was already 6:15 am. In all this only 2 people were totally unflustered, sunil and our driver Naeem. Everyone else was feeling unwell.
Immediately after we left, we came across a big army post. After that we came across one of the best part of the manali-leh highway, Morey plains. Its a vast plain land extending to 40 km at a height of 14000ft above sea level! This stretch of road is like a straight dirt racing track. On either side there are huge mountains only that they are almost 2 -10 kms apart. But everyone was tired and sleepy, so none had the courage to take photos, though this part of highway from Pang to Leh is also extremely breathtaking. I dont remember much of this part of journey, but with few glimpses I remember the morey plains and Tanglang La. Immediately after Morey plains, we came across Tangllang La Pass. This is the highest pass on this highway. We did not stop here, just passed through.
As we came near to Leh, the landscape started to change. There was a river flowing right next to the road. While description might sound same as Jispa, but here the river had cut right through high mountains and the mountains were rocky unlike the sand like nature of mountains in Jispa.
We came across first glimpses of villages after almost 300 kms of traveling. Also I was feeling better because we had descended to the more acceptable 10000ft range. At upshi we paid the taxes to enter Kashmir region and Surprisingly we reached Leh at around 12 o clock considering it was 200 km away from Pang. River Indus passes through Leh. Considering that it goes through barren land of ladakh, it is no surprise that it is muddy.
Reaching Leh at 12 o clock also saved a whole day for us. Because we had set aside 1 day in our itinerary, to get inner line permit to go to Pangong Lake and Nubra Valley, we could get these on the same day.
I was hungry as well as tired by the time we reached Hotel. Our driver knew a hotel, Hotel Abu Palace. So he took us there. The hotel was very good. And since it was off season, we got the rooms at a fraction of cost. Initially I think only we were the occupants. Only in the evening few more tourists came to the hotel.
There was a small restaurant nearby, we had rice there for lunch and came back to hotel and slept the till 7' o clock. I had a head ache from morning, after rest it had subsided. So we went out for Dinner. Though I do not remember what I ate.
Taxis from outside are not permitted inside leh region. So we had to hire a separate taxi here to go to Pangong lake and Nubra valley. The hotel proprietor itself owned taxis, so he himself arranged both taxis as well as inner line permit. So with everything in order for the next day and also with everyone back to full energies, we were looking forward to the next part. We played cards for some time before going to sleep.
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