The Leh Land

Tripping is in my veins! Nature with her flurry used to embrace me in my beautiful home town in northeast India. Hills, rivers, greens...so much in abundance, I never knew I had to seek nature living in a concrete jungle one day. My home was nestled between the hills, immensely green on all sides.



This write up is about the latest crazy trip I had. My travel buddy and I had almost wild adventurous trips while we set for our first abroad trip to Singapore, then all self arranged trip to Greece. Now that she's posted at an almost remote airport at Diu, with a three year old and the pandemic called covid engulfed our world, trips got fewer.



So this sudden unplanned trip materialised when we booked tickets the day before we travelled. Her family, work commitments and sheer distance made this trip next to impossible but we being hardcore travel freaks met at Delhi airport and with my favourite Salzburg blue coat hung over my shoulder, medicines and other essentials packed according to checklist, we were hugging and boarding the plane, catching up on office and spouse gossips!!

Both of us are well traveled, at least that's what we felt, with mountains by the window, we weren't excited, assuming we weren't missing anything. ' Oh I've had excellent views before landing at Srinagar' My friend too bragged about Alps, but then there was a commotion in the flight with maximum passengers huddling towards windows, we peaked outside and the barren Zanskar ranges caught us unaware and awestruck! The river was flowing between mountains, like few thousand years of year of civilization, we knew we were going to be transported in a different world in the week to come.

Leh airport was crowded, it was hot outside, contrary to AccuWeather prediction. We checked in to the super luxurious hotel my partner booked, way out of my budget. Day one as all suggest, stay put in room, at least rest for two/three hours to acclimatize before venturing out.

Evening we took a cab to visit the stupa, gobbled on some magnificent momos from the market, bought some local jackets, reasonably priced and warm and walked back to the hotel.

REAL DAY ONE: Leh can be daunting at times. My partner did not have a sound sleep, claustrophobia, breathing issues, high altitude syndromes. But travel freaks we are, sumptuous breakfast, photo session, we checked out from the luxury hotel, staying another night at this one would be ludicrous and we were set for the day. Glimpse of Indus nestled between the mountains, a river as old as civilization and the mountains out of picture, ancient, barren, wild and beautiful! Zanskar Indus Sangam was like someone flipped an ancient page from a lost civilization!

Breathtaking to say the least! Magnetic Hill was beautiful and rustic, though you need not comprehend magnetic theory for that! There was something about Leh and I understood it was #neverbefore for us! The landscapes, rugged terrains, clear blue sky..it was a gateway to Shangri-la I read about long back!

As it is with overworked drivers rushing everywhere even in my Shangri La, we checked into a very reasonable, almost sasta tikao hotel amidst his rush, almost one fifteenth of the price we paid the day before! Well that's the fun when two wanderlust wander merrily. Since travelling was our sole priority and also clicking pics like mad, we changed and went to visit Leh Palace after one round of average coffee and noodles.

DAY TWO:
We had planned for a hectic day, for Turtuk village and Nubra via Khardungla Pass and difficult to believe we were set at six thirty sharp. Well there wasn't any warm water, so we dispensed with necessary washroom antics, brushed, changed and checked out. I was wondering with family, a super lazy cribbing hubby, equally lazy child it's a mammoth task to awake them, plead them to get ready before breakfast clock ticks! Huh..here we reached Khardungla at eight in the morning, we might have been the first ones for the day!

We followed the pahadi Shyok river to Hunder, in between road closure due construction, we could sink in the sights slowly, feel the magic of the land we were in! I was awestruck by Leh, it's strategic location, Tibet , China, Pakistan, amazing place it had/has in history!

Food was basic, vegetarian to my surprise and disappointment!

Turtuk was our next stop after wild drive through ancient terrains, desert like arid mountains, I was transported to a different world, some where in the beginning of civilization, some where where nature was unscathed, somewhere where man has not been able to mercilessly rob nature of its abundance. After those rugged terrains, Turtuk was like an welcome oasis, tiny village with a lovely stream, lush green mountains and farmlands out of a Yash Chopra movie!

After some heated arguments with our driver, me playing peace mission agent, convincing him to stop for pictures, we drove towards Hunder.

Filmy poses in the filmy setting, we found our camp and slumped in bed after a warm dinner at the camp. Next day would be the drive to Pangong.

DAY THREE: We started for Pangong almost leisurely and our first stop was Diskit monastery. At our Nubra camp, the flow of stream echoed through the night, though I had a strong desire to view the source, we skipped it to save time. Diskit was a must as my father would quietly enquire...that large Buddha statue... would you go there!

Tried hard for the monastery shot and as with every travel..here the song echoing in my head was hunk John Abraham's ' Lagi tumse man ki lagan' 😀..well these are my travel inspirations, keeps me and my companions on toes always with craziness unplugged!

The Buddha pic for my Baba and many who were traveling through us, our wild spirit!

She wasn't as happy as us !!

Shyok and me ❤️...

Towards Pangong, driver Sahab was a bit cool today, given up on the crazy souls may be!

Pangong...we knew the hyped destinations normally disappoint specially with an overcast sky..let's see what the next day has in store.

It did look mundane, we suppressed our disappointment.

We retreated to our camp after an wild search without GPS...no signal works there. Camp was cold, power cut at night, no warm water at all. Solar power was supposed to give warm water in the morning, but overcast sky, bone chilling water, we stuck to basics. Over friendly guys in next camp, playing ' Manike maage hithe' , getting wide eyed as I declared we were traveling alone. Later I discussed with my buddy .... should we have said our hubbies are at Leh looking after our kids!!! I was hopeless at lies and with no lock in camps only zips, I tossed and turned in bed tensed, while I heard the heroes in next camp snoring off peacefully 😡. That was when I began to have a headache!

DAY FOUR:
We had plans like most women for a Pangong photoshoot. And we had a clear blue sky welcoming us, as I stumbled in the pebbles with headache gnawing at my forehead!

I did that too 😁

With driver Sahab getting furious at the photo shoots and the time we were taking, after argument and bargain he drove us to the main lake again brooding continuously. I perform worse with people breathing down my neck!

But wasn't it a dream what we just witnessed! Can I not be born for this again and also have the latest mobile for the pics!!

I am a non believer all right, but would have loved to believe in god, after the view we had in road.

We did not dare to ask driver Sahab to stop for the ethereal magic that was unfolding in front of us, I clicked from the car.

Chang La pass...we crossed the almost non existent road, high altitude headache drove me dizzy!

I have to mention here I was absolutely contact less with my family for almost twenty four hours. Husband was crazy without my whereabouts! I could message them after we descended from Chang La and surprisingly my headache disappeared at a sane altitude! ' Maa we thought, you were kidnapped' was my twelve year old's take with input from her Baba of course! ' Baba said China wale might have abducted you!'
The husband was murmuring , ' Leke rakh nahi paye, wapas kar diya!!'
Talk of a warm welcome from family after I emerged from the depth of ancient mountains!!

Driver Sahab rode like a supersonic and stopped at Thiksey monastery, his favorite one!

Driver Sahab got rid of us finally and we checked in a decent hotel, chilled , relaxed, reveled at the pics we have clicked.

DAY FIVE: We went to airport for our early flight to Delhi. As I read in blogs there's a grand finale not to be missed from flight window!

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Ladakh is going to call me again, transport me to my Shangri La!! Till then...

May we remain as crazy as we are!!

PS : I caught covid five days after I returned ! With my finicky husband jumping when the thermometer ticked 99, I went for a test just for his sake and lo behold! I did wear N95 mask, avoided crowds..yet..but being double vaccinated it passed away mildly me being furiously bored in a room! So girls pack your bags, take your guards, set sail with your pal, yes I missed my family a lot but let's take that ' ja Simran ja' trip once. Bon voyage , live your life , it's a beautiful world and we live once. Our moms, aunts, took this trip through us and it is with their indomitable spirit, we would wander off again into a different world soon!