It was long…
It was tiring…
It was a spectacular journey…
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Let’s start from Day 1: (28th May)
All 4 of us met in Jammu. Sanchit and Naman came from Delhi via bus, while Pratyush and Neeraj came by Malwa Express from Indore. The weather was bad. A day before it had rained and now dusty sand storm prevailed. Even at 4pm sky got dark and dangerous. Took an auto and managed to get a descent hotel in jewel chowk. Next day, we had plans to leave early morning for Srinagar. But at night it rained a lot. We talked to locals and at Srinagar tourist center and got to know that in last 2 days it had rained heavily. Usually, May end is supposed to be hot and rains was a bad surprise. Travel agents said Srinagar-Kargil road will not be open and therefore there was no point in going to Srinagar. After talking at numerous places, we concluded that reaching Leh was out of reach. Therefore, we started thinking of 4-5 day treks in and around Srinagar. After discussing a lot, we planned to visit Vaishno Devi in next 2 days and see if roads get open later.
Got ready by 7 and headed towards taxi stand. While bargaining for taxi, Neeraj fumbled saying what the rates for Srinagar are, and hence added to the chaos. After bargaining for half an hour and finalizing the destination, we kicked off for Srinagar. Jammu-Srinagar distance is 300kms and 8-10hr drive. Journey started with a handful of monkeys along the road till Udhampur. After that, Ghats started and began ascent till highest point on the way Patnitop(2500m). It began to rain thereafter and weather got cooler, a relief from Jammu’s hot weather. Along the way we ate lot of cherries, kubani and strawberries. After that we passed through Jawahar tunnel and finally reached Srinagar by 5. We wanted to stay close to the Dal Lake and finally bargained a house boat. It had rained a day before and weather was just awesome. After quickly occupying the house boat, we set out for 3 hr shikara ride. First went to floating garden and had hot yummy pakodas. Sight was just spectacular. On one side, you can see ice caped gulmarg with shades of sunset, on other side mountains with dark clouds hovering and in between Dal main road market. For me it was one of the most beautiful lakes ever seen. Later while shikara, we bought pashmina shawls and kesar. 3 hr boat ride felt too short for such a beautiful lake, but finally went off to sleep in our house boat.
Day 3 (30th May)
Got ready by 6 and off the house boat. After lot of bargaining on taxis, we set out of for Kargil. It is 220kms and an 8 hr drive. Roads had just opened and we drove off on a high note. Around 11 we reached Sonamarg. Throughout the way to Sonamarg, Sindh River coursed beside us. Because of recent rains, we saw fresh glaciers. Small village settlements amidst mountains and mountain sheep along the way added to the delight. We had our lunch at Sonamarg. Road from Sonamarg to Drass is one way and opens around 12-1. We waited till 2.30 when we finally got a clearance. Just we would have travelled for half an hour, all cars had to halt again at Zojila pass. Military men told, because of rains land slide had occurred. Got stuck there for another 2 hrs and finally resumed around 6. Luckily we carried some chocolates and chips as there was nothing to eat. Sunsets around 8, so we still could see the view around. Soon we passed Amarnath base camp, and Captain Mode. Captain Mode is one of the most dangerous and breathtaking road I had ever seen. With snow on both sides, it is definitely ‘A must watch’. It got pretty cold and darker. We were passing through 10m high snow walls on both sides which reminded us of song ‘Ye ishq hai’ from Jab We Met. We wanted to stop and play with snow, but it was very late and we had to move on. Finally, reached Kargil at 12:30 in night. It turned out to be a hectic 18 hour journey. An uncle was travelling with us in our shared taxi. Luckily, he had a guesthouse already booked and helped us get a room there. Exhausted we all went to sleep without having any dinner.
Day 4 (31st May)
Beside our guesthouse muddy Suru River flowed. We had negotiated with the same taxi for our Kargil-Leh Trip with same uncle accompanying us. He had travelled a lot in this region and briefed us throughout the way. Trip was again a distance of 230kms and an 8-10hr drive. With some local bread and tea we kicked off our journey. Soon terrain changed from green ice capped mountains to brown Rocky Mountains. Sindh River flowed along with us creating a small lush green patch on both of its side. Wheat and Sarson were the main crops of the region. It seemed like a running oasis besides us, amid a lifeless dessert. All of us couldn’t stop praising the greatest architect ‘The God’ for such a striking contrast of varied colored Rocky Mountains, river with a hint of greenery and snow atop. It seemed God had taken brown, orange, red, green and black colors in a palette and mixed it to produce all shades of mountains. I called it ‘The Barren Beauty’. We passed through Namkeen (because of salt like white deposits) and Swarana (truly golden in color) mountains and ‘Fatula Top’ (13479 FT) the highest point in Srinagar Leh road. Towards end, we entered an enormous plateaus region and roads became just fantastic. By 5 we reached Leh. We felt a sense of victory (but for me journey was still unfinished, which were still eying on Pangong Lake). We got a very nice homely guest house named Siala in old fort road. Guest house owners were really very hospitable and gave us every bit of information about the city. Even being in remote location, Leh seemed to be highly commercialized place with almost everything available in market. In evening we had a nice dinner in hotel Lamayuru and explored the city.
Day 5 (1st June)
Next day, we went for local sightseeing to Leh palace. Trying a shortcut, we went through local streets and finally managed to reach the entrance. It was 8 and palace usually opens around 10. We managed to find the person in charge and asked him to open the doors. He escorted us to the main temple room. It was beautiful and we sat there for a while. Rest of the palace was mostly dilapidated. We went till the top and had an awesome view of the Leh city. We could hear soothing Tibetan music being played in city market monastery and a cricket match played in distant small stadium. Even at 10am we could see the moon visible. Surrounded by Rocky Mountains with a tinge of snow on them, sun and moon overhead, view of the whole Leh city was a pleasure. While returning, saw some cute furry dogs and donkeys. I must say, Leh dogs are the most adorable and at the same time laziest. Few of them woke up from one side and lay down on other side of road under the sun.
Next, we hired 2 bikes Thunderbird and Avenger and did booking for Pangong Lake next day. With tanks filled, we roared off for the monasteries. First, we went to Shey. Climbing few stairs, we talked a bit about Buddhist rituals from the priest and explored around. We could see lot of beautiful stupas along the way. Next, we went to Thiksey. Presiding over a small hill, this monastery is really picturesque (looks similar to what we see in Hollywood movies or imagine Lhasa). There are lot of temples and paintings inside. We spent a quite a time relaxing there. Then we went to a restaurant nearby and had native Tibetans soups and main course. Suddenly the weather became rainy and we sped to our last destination Hemis monastery. Driving the ascent, through magical terrain was one of a lifetime experience. We went through small villages and saw mountain goats and Yak for the first time. Finally, browsing through the terrain, we got hold of Hemis monastery at a distance. It is really a beautiful tranquil settlement. Inside, we saw group of monks dancing to the hymns. There is a large museum inside, containing priceless possessions from Buddhist culture. I was flattered to see a book containing sacred text written fully in gold. Even the constitution and amendments were written in gold on silk cloth. Some of the artifacts were from 3 AD and is definitely a must watch. Finally, we returned to Leh city and explored more of Tibetan food for dinner.
Finally, my dream was going to be true. Yes I was going to Pangong Lake.
It is 150kms and roughly a 5 hr drive. On the way, we stopped at ‘Chang LA’, the world’s third highest pass at a height of 17,586 FT. Our hopes of running and playing in snow were finally fulfilled, which we missed out in Srinagar-Kargil road. With 30kms away, Sanchit got first glimpses of the Lake - A patch of blue like snake. Finally when we reached, I could only say ‘Wow’. Different shades of peacock blue color and seagulls’ swimming around were something to die for. 40% of the 160km lake is in India and rest in China. We went up till last point ‘Spangmik’ were civilians are allowed. This is where concluding part of ‘3 Idiots’ was shot. I called it ‘Phunsuk Wangdu’ point. Finally yay, my mission became complete. I put my fingers in the lake, only to realization that my fingers went numb. We could not stay there for long as we had to return back same day. Lake is supposed to change color as the day passes. I could see the change in color from dark blue to lighter shade by the time we started off. Had a lunch by lake side, and returned to Leh by 7. While returning we saw a rare animal of this region, ‘The Himalayan Marmot Phiya’. They were damn cute and looked like bear cubs. We went to sleep early, as some of us felt symptoms of AMS and exhausted.
Day 7 - 8(3rd – 4th June)
We had planned to leave from Leh on 4th to Manali. But luck was little bad and roads to Manali had not opened. Also taxis to Srinagar started at 4pm instead of morning. So, we decided to leave the same day. 3-4 hrs to leave, we explored Tibetan and main market and did some handicraft and souvenir shopping.
Journey to Srinagar is a 16hr cannon ball run. Left around 6, we first went to Magnetic hill. Got down and evaluated the optical illusion behind it. Later, we reached Drass at 2 in the morning. Drass-Sonamarg one way opens around 4 in the morning. Suddenly around 6am, we were in zojila pass near Amarnath base camp when a tragic thing happened – fuel over. Amid cloud and rain, we were freezing inside, when driver left us in agony for fuel in passing taxi. After one and half hours, he finally came back with 10 liters of petrol. At 11, finally we reached Srinagar. Weather was rainy and delightful. In the evening, we went to Lal Chowk and bought variety of dry fruits.
Day 9 (5 June)
We started off for Jammu from Lal Chowk around 9am. Tired we slept most of our way reaching Jammu around 7. We went straight to railway station and had some food. Boarded our train to Delhi around 9pm.
Day 10 (6 June)
Explored South Delhi and Noida after a long time.
Day 11 (7 June)
Flew back to Jaipur, with fantabulous memories of Leh trip.
Conclusion: Trip gives you a lifetime experience. You get a combined experience of Venice (Srinagar), Switzerland (Srinagar-Kargil),Grand Canyon (Kargil-Leh) and much more. Truly worth going!
