As Leh taxi union opposes the use of taxis that are not from Leh, we had to hire a local Taxi. Thankfully our hotel itself had 2 taveras, So they arranged the trip. Because it was off season, the hotel proprietor even gave us a hefty discount.
The agenda of the day was to see Pangong Lake. The Lake is at a distance of around 160 km from Leh and it takes around 5 hours to reach it. After seeing Deepak tal which was small but spectacular, I was excited of seeing a larger and even more spectacular Lake.
So we started at 6:30 from our hotel. We stopped at outskirts of the city for breakfast. Even though the restaurant looked like a shack, it was crowded with tourists like us. So there was no place to sit, but eventually after sometime when we were contemplating about not having breakfast we got seats. We had paratha here and we also bought bananas and apples from a shop on the other side of road. Here we met a person from chennai who was a journalist with Hindu. Maybe he was looking for a scoop. Because for the past few days we were hearing news reports of incursions from Chinese Soldiers.
As there were two vehicles from our hotel, and the driver of the other vehicle did not know the route,we had to stopp 2-3 times in between for the other vehicle to catch up. While whenever Naeem drove fast on the hills, we used to feel very nervous, this driver never made me nervous even though he was going at very high speed and far more dangerous looking hills.
On the way to Pangong Tso we came across Changla Pass. This is at 17800ft. And the Indian Army has a post here and they serve free Tea to all. The Tea that I had here was one of the best Teas I have ever had. With so much cold, the tea feels even more tastier.
There is also a souvenir shop. So we bought ourselves Pashmina shawl, Cups with Pangong Lake photo and A Pangong Lake Photo frames.
The Landscape was stunning, with vast barren plains surrounded by huge Mountains, it was awesome. We could see several miles of road from which we came from the top. Intermittently we also used to come across Army camps. Living in such High altitudes with such low temperatures and fighting our enemies, Our Jawans are truly brave.
At around 11:30 we reached Pangong Tso. Pangong Tso is one of the highest salt water Lakes in the world. It is situated at a height of 14000 ft. Only one third of the Lake is in India, the other Part is in China. It extends to about 134 km.
As soon as we saw from far away clear blue water body, we knew this was Pangong. I am short of words to describe this Lake. Any word will fall short of capturing the beauty of the lake. With its clear blue water surrounded by barren high mountains and extending to quite a distance on one side, this can surely beat every scenery at beauty contest. Add to this the shadows cast on the mountains by clouds on the bright day, made the lake look even more dramatic. Till that day I never believed such a beautiful place existed. We stayed there for almost two hours. There was even boating conducted by Indian Army. But only for relatives of Army men. So we missed out on this.
So we left Pangong at 1:30 pm. While going back we stopped near Shey, so that our driver could smoke. There was a small fishery pond where lots of beautiful birds particularly ducks were present. We took some pics and some kids needed drop on the way back from school. So we gave them a drop till a nearby village on the way and reached hotel by 5:30. We went outside for food and came back. The plan for next day was to go to Khardung La and Nubra Valley. But as Akash was afraid to go to Khardung La because of respiratory problems at high altitude he was not willing to go. Also strangely, our driver was saying that if we cannot leave that next day to Srinagar we will not be able to reach Delhi by 29th. But on checking we came to the conclusion that we could reach delhi on time if we skipped a day in Srinagar. No way we were going to skip the chance to be on the one of the worlds highest passes after coming so close. Though we were not okay with leaving him and going to enjoy ourselves , so we tried to convince him to come, he was not ready to budge. So finally after much deliberations, we decided that Akash would stay in Leh while we go see Khardung La and Nubra Valley.
After next days plan was finalized we played Cards till midnight before going to sleep.
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