Leh-Ladakh-Day-1: Leh


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Asia » India » Jammu & Kashmir » Ladakh » Leh
September 3rd 2021
Published: September 3rd 2021
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Leh - Ladakh: 23/8/21 to 29/8/21




There are three mis-matched regions of “Jammu & Kashmir” state: (1) Hindu dominated ‘Jammu’ region, (2) Buddhist ‘Ladakh’ and (3) predominantly muslim - ‘Kashmir’. This is not a political commentary on why and how they came together, but now some sense is being brought in by separating ‘Ladakh’ as a Union Territory with Leh as its capital.

Leh-Ladakh has many strange ‘world-records’ to its credit. It is in fact a (world’s highest) desert (rain-shadow area) in the Himalayas. Technically this region opened for tourists sometime in the 1970s but has developed as a major destination in the last two decades only. I will arbitrarily divide Himalayas in to six regions (for tourism purpose only) - (1) Snow clad mountains of Kashmir, (2) Deserted mountains of Ladakh and Kargil, (3) Green mountains in Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, Manali etc), (4) Religious shrines in Uttarakhand (Garhwal), (5) Kumaon Ranges of Uttarakhand, (6) Eastern ends of Himalayas in Sikkim and North-East India.

Although I have seen only the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, I would say that you should go to Leh-Ladakh only after you have exhausted all your other options of exploring the other areas of Himalayas. Certainly, it is a different terrain, different culture, different climate - different in many ways, it is not the best of Himalayas.

Although Ladakh is 99 percent barren mountains and dust / sand, it has become quite a popular tourist destination of late for perhaps two reasons: 1. During July/August it is raining elsewhere in India, whereas there is hardly anything like monsoon in Ladakh (upto 4 inches of rain in some parts). 2. Ladakh being a very vast area and thinly populated, it is felt to be safer post-corona.

Being part of J&K, only post-paid mobile connections of BSNL and Airtel work in Ladakh. Most hotels provide reasonably good internet connectivity. We banked on the availability of the internet while at the hotel and it was okay. Only on two occasions we felt the need for mobile phone connectivity, but we could manage without it.

How to reach? : Leh can be reached by air from Delhi or by road from Manali (430 km, 12 h). Also from Srinagar by road/air.

Acute Mountain Sickness:

Leh is situated at an altitude of 11,500 ft (3500 m). For comparison: Srinagar is at 1600 m Shimla - 2300 m, Kedarnath - 3500 m.

At this altitude, oxygen level in the air reduces to 65 percent of sea level. This causes Acute Mountain Sickness in many, especially in those reaching by flight - due to rapid change in altitude and body not getting enough time to adjust. Travelling by road should cause less problems. However in one survey carried out on tourists, AMS was found to be less in those who flew from Delhi than those who travelled by road from Manali. Possible explanations could be that road travel is far more strenuous and road passes through higher altitudes several times during the 12 hr journey.

Anyway, one should be prepared for AMS. Most common symptoms are headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, tachycardia, breathlessness on slightest exertion. Acetazolamide (Tab Diamox) 250 mg twice a day may be started 12-24 h before reaching Leh and continued for one day after reaching. Additionally, take complete bed rest on day-1 in Leh. Strictly no activity on the first day.

Best time to travel:

Best time to travel to Leh-Ladakh is from May to August/September. In May it is cold. In August/September, temperature is expected to remain in the range of 23-26 ⁰C during the day and 10-15 ⁰C at night. We experienced unusually hot days. Sun was very harsh and biting during the day. Maybe because of the high altitude. There was no perspiration though. Nights were really cool. Typical desert climate.

Staying and Getting around:

Plenty of guest houses (home-stay) and hotels are available in Leh, however, prior booking is advisable as searching an accommodation after reaching Leh is almost impossible due to its peculiar topography and nearly impossible local commutation. Every other house in Leh is now a hotel. In Nubra valley there are more hotels than native houses.

Taxi operators’ union is very strong and they dictate the terms. Now in spite of much improved road conditions, only larger vehicles like Xylo or Innova or Scorpio or 10-seater+ Travellers are available. There are few Omnis for local transport. No auto-rickshaws. Union has fixed charges for each destination / circuit. On an average it costs Rs. 7000-8000 per day for Xylo. Of course larger vehicles are safer on mountain roads compared to small passenger cars.

There is hardly enough milk and poultry produced for the local population in Leh. Leh-Ladakh region is so barren, Leh gets almost all of its vegetables, milk and eggs from Manali. Practically everything comes from Manali by road. Vegetables do grow in Sham and Nubra valleys for a few months in a year.

An area that is dependent on bringing life-essentials from 500 km (Manali) is trying to support tourists. It has opened up new avenues of earning for the locals but at a huge cost to the environment.

Whatever you buy as a souvenir, it has been transported from outside! There is no local product.

‘Inner line permit’ is required if you want to travel to central Ladakh (Nubra valley and Turkut) and for Pangong and Tso moriri lakes. Permit can be obtained online (https://www.lahdclehpermit.in/) for a fee of Rs. 400 pp. (for Indian citizens - Aadhaar number required). We didn’t know this and hence paid an extra Rs. 200 pp to the agent. Permit is valid for 7 days and single permit is valid all throughout Ladakh. Take 5-6 copies of the permit as one copy has to be deposited at every checkpoint.

Planning:

The Ladakh tour is physically quite demanding. It begins with Acute Mountain Sickness. All the sightseeing places require a good deal of walking, mostly on uneven surfaces with steep slopes. All monasteries and palaces require climbing hundreds of steps and the steps are at times 12 inches high. 90 percent of travelling is on mountain roads, steep, winding, at times scary. Although roads have reasonably good surfaces, most of the time they are narrow. This results in your vehicle going off the paved surface at high speeds.

Travel to Leh-Ladakh can include Leh, Sham valley, Kargil, Nubra valley, Lakes (e.g. Pangong, Tso Moriri - Tso=Lake) and Monasteries - as many as you can.

Ladakh being predominantly Buddhist, there are many ancient monasteries, many of them functional, some in ruins. All around Ladakh you see ‘Stupas’ and worship wheels. We can find caves and other remains of Buddhist monks all over India, the religion is thriving in Ladakh.

Every place requires hours of driving (travelling) on mountain roads with almost the same views of dusty mountains with snow covered peaks, small streams merging into a couple of major rivers (e.g. Sindhu, Shyok etc) and small patches of vegetation here and there - especially in the valley regions.

Our Plan:

Day-1: Reach Leh (as early as possible) and take complete rest.

Day-2: Towards Sham Valley - Leh-Srinagar Highway: Gurudwara Patthar Sahib, Magnetic Hill, Confluence of rivers, Alchi monastery.

Our driver added Leh Local: Shanti stupa, Leh Palace and Hall of Fame. This ‘Local’ part is not possible if you go up to Lamayuru. ‘Local’ sites will take half-a-day.

Day-3: Towards Hemis - Leh-Manali Highway: Shey palace, Rancho school (3-Idiots fame), Thicksey monastery and Hemis monastery. Full day is required. This can be covered on the way back from Pangong also.

Day-4: Nubra valley: via Khardungla pass (world’s highest motorable road) to Diskit monastery and Hunder.

Day-5: Hunder to Turtuk and back to Hunder.

Day-6: Hunder to Leh (4 hrs). Local sightseeing if not done.

Day-7: Fly back via Delhi.

We did not include:
Pangong Lake: One can go from Leh to Pangong or from Nubra valley (Hunder) to Pangong. Leh-Hunder-Pangong-Leh makes a triangle. Nubra-Pangong is ~ 7hrs. Leh-Pangong is ~5 hrs via Chang La (world’s second highest motorable road).Tso moriri (Lake)Kargil (became known only after the 1999 war).






Pangong:

Almost everyone goes to Pangong lake (4250 m). Pangong is located at 14,000 ft, overnight stay is required and till recently, only tent accommodation was available. Now homestays are available in nearby villages (Chushul. Spangmik and Man). We avoided Pangong as it is a bit risky in that, nearest medical aid is at least 5-6 hrs away and that too across Chang La (La = Pass). I was not confident about staying overnight at 14,000 ft (and 59 percent oxygen). It is also true that I haven’t heard of a major mishap. One full additional day is to be spared for Pangong - after a minimum three days of acclimatization in Leh.

Pangong Lake is India's largest (700 sq.km.) and World’s highest salt water lake. It is almost devoid of any life (no fish - nothing). It is famous because it is surrounded by tall mountains and the colour of the water changes (it so appears) 4-5 times a day. 1/3rd of the Lake is in Indian territory and the rest is in Tibetan China. It becomes out of bounds if tension with China increases.



Pangong Lake

Day-1: 23-08-2021 - Rest

We reached Leh via Delhi around 1 pm. The view at the airport is enough to tell you what you are going to see for the next 6-8 day that people normally spend in this area. I do not have the photographs because Leh being a defence airfield, photography is not allowed. Nobody stopped people taking selfies - that is a different thing!

Settled in the Laksdup guest house and rested.

The layout of Leh is so primitive, with tortuous very narrow lanes - two vehicles can not cross - it is impossible to move about once you deposit yourself in the hotel. Ours was supposed to be only ½ a kilometer from the main market, but there was hardly anything like the main market open at 1 pm.

Laksdup is more like a ‘home-stay’. Rooms were good. Food was also good. Post-corona, a new business of hosting IT techies for ‘work-from-home’ has developed. This guest house provided excellent internet connectivity and appeared to be favourite for such youngsters / young couples.

We did not move out of the room except for dinner. Headache had already started (in spite of medication).

Best part was, it was very quiet. No chirping of insects at night or of birds in the morning.

I noticed an interesting phenomenon: we had carried packaged namkeen (snacks). In Leh, the packages had ballooned! (See Pic-03a). That was because the atmospheric pressure in Leh is 0.65 of the pressure at sea level. Outside pressure was now less compared to pressure inside the packet. That had caused the packets to balloon!

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