A Trip To Ladak: The Land Of Blues Of All Hues

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My solo journey to Ladak, one of the crown jewels of India, began with meeting few strangers at the Mumbai Central railway station, who are now my friends for life. Train journey from Mumbai to Delhi was pleasing, as soon as we reached the capital of India, we commenced an overnight journey to Manali. Manali, being a high-altitude Himalayan town, the roads were no doubt scary and steep with lots of blind curves, but this was just the beginning. I woke up with a spectacular view of all mountains around and the Beas river flowing. The view was mesmerising, as fog took over the lush green mountains, the combination of colours made me feel like we were moving towards the heaven.

Reaching at the hotel, we had breakfast, a brief round of introduction, and then dispersed into our rooms to take some rest. Late in the afternoon we left for Hidimba devi temple, built around a cave and surrounded by cedar forest. After a round of photo-shoot we walked to Manali market, which was located in the heart of the town with a spectacular view of the mountains all around. Post some local shopping and lip-smacking food we returned to our hotel. Next day, we began our journey to the most awaited destination Ladak. It was a Monday morning; usually Monday is a very boring day in a routine life in Mumbai, but today we were all charged up, thrilled to begin our journey to view beautiful landscapes, clouds hugging mountains and if lucky to witness a snowfall.

As we started our journey towards Ladak, where azure blue lakes competing with clear blue sky, embellished with pristine clear clouds. The view was picturesque, just like in any Bollywood movies. The scenic beauty of Rohtang pass was breathe taking. We were at around 13000 ft height, the roads were getting narrow, steeper as we ascended to the peak of the mountains, passing in between the clouds with zero visibility at times. All we could see was the mist of clouds around us. Feeling the wind into my hairs as the car took up the speed was one hell lot of experience, the air was so pure, gentle and peaceful. Even though it was cold and windy, still it was peaceful, with less traffic, no honking and unlike the polluted air we breathe in Mumbai.

We left for our camp site in Jispa, nestled in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by green mountains and a river running few metres from our tents. We spent some time near the river, sitting on the rocks, enjoying the cold weather. The night view was more mesmerising. The bonfire gave the perfect warmth we needed in the freezing and windy climate. The moon was bright, stars twinkling and the only noise was audible of the water gushing. It was so serene, that the sleep took over soon. Next day, we left to another set of memories towards Leh, which was tiring and exhausting. It was a Tuesday, we were going to second highest motorable pass to Tanglang La. The scenery was again splendid. The gigantic mountains, steep roads and the waterfalls in between being amazing. Tanglang La is situated at 17,500 ft and the oxygen level was pretty low. Mid-way, when we halted for lunch, for a few of us Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) started taking a toll, our health started deteriorating. Those who were still in better shape took care of the weaker ones.

We, somehow, managed to reach at Tanglang La, we were given 5 minutes to click pictures, but we couldn’t even stand there for a minute. It was kind of funny, me who loves to click pictures, was now sick of it. I wanted to laugh at myself, but had no energy left. We drove straight to our hotel. The variety of food you get in Leh is very limited. You have to survive on Maggi, momos, parathas or dal rice. Thankfully, the food in the hotel we were staying was appetizing. Post dinner and a briefing for next day plan we went to our room and I slept like a baby.

On Wednesday, we en-routed to Nubra Valley home for cold deserts and double hump camels, also known as the Bactrian camels. To reach the valley, we had to pass above the world’s highest motorable pass Khardung La (some people also claim it is not the world’s highest motorable pass). Since, couple of people in our group were not fit enough our co-ordinator decided to halt at World’s largest motorable pass the next day. Ladaki people follow Buddhism and so the place is also home for many monasteries. We went to the Diskit Monastery, built in the 14th century and is also a large in Nubra valley, there a monk guided us through the history and told us the significance of the temple. At the foot hill there was a 32 meter long statue of Buddha (also known as the future Buddha as per locals), facing down the Shyok river towards Pakistan. According to Wikipedia, the structure was made by Dalai Lama in 2010 to prevent future war with Pakistan and to promote world peace.

We then rushed to sand-dues as we were short of time to take ride on double camel and to explore the white sand desert. The camel ride was a bit scary. The white sand desert was cold and serene, with barren and snow-clad mountain visible at a distance. In the twilight we reached our campsite, which was hardly five minutes from the cold desert. At night, the stars filled the sky with their sparkles, even though the moon was shining its brightest. I couldn’t help but wonder is this what I have been missing all this while living in a metro city where we seldom get to see a bunch of stars hidden behind the clouds of polluted air? A pin drop silence, chirping of birds at the dawn, and sound of water gushing, maybe yes!

Thursday morning, we halted at Kardung La, clicked some pictures with little snow left in the region. Then we went to Leh Palace, which was not less than a haunted place and the market, where things were overpriced. Also, the weather in Leh was either extremely hot during the day or extreme cold during the night. We were honestly, exhausted in the scorching heat. Returning back to the hotel was the only thing on my mind at least, but we had one more stop before that Shanti Stupa, another monastery. At Shanti Stupa the panoramic view of the landscape was marvellous. The gigantic golden Buddha statue, with blue hairs and eyes in the meditation hall helped me make peace with myself, since I was too scared of the ghost stories I had heard at the beginning of the trip. Finally, we came back to the hotel and yet another long exhausting day came to an end.

Next day, we left for Pangong lake, the famous lake where the last scene of 3 idiots was shot. The journey was pleasant; at Chang La we witnessed snowfall (my maiden snowfall experience). I was excited to the core and jumping with joy like a kid. To my disappointment, we had to leave the place early as the roads to the Pangong lake were closed due to water logging. The view of the barren red mountains during our journey reminded me of scenes from Interstellar movie and a few images from NASA on Mars. Nevertheless, we made through the most famous lake and what we witnessed was nothing short of a heaven. Mix of various blue shades of water surrounded by big brown shade of mountains, with pure white clouds floating in the blue sky, creating a picture perfect view. As the sun was setting the environment was getting windier and colder and less bearable for us. Still, we stayed out to acclimatise in the weather and tried to enjoy the scenery.

Early morning, we woke up at 4.30 a.m. to gain the spectacular view of sunrise for which the lake is famous for. We waited for the sun to rise in freezing cold and windy weather. Though it was cloudy and we got just a glimpse of the sunrise hiding behind the mountains, the experience was most memorable one. We then headed towards Leh, for lunch in the middle of nowhere we halted a plush cafe, where we literally hogged into pizzas and pastas, it was so delicious. Also, we were tired of eating Maggi, momos etc. Evening, we checked into our hotel, we were a bit tensed due to ongoing curfew in Srinagar. All our flights were scheduled from the valley of lakes and beautiful flora. Finally, after exploring a lot of options the group decided to head to Srinagar with little change in the itinerary. The road from Sonamarg to Srinagar would be open only in the night, as a precaution to save tourist from the ongoing violence in the valley.

We began our journey to Kargil early morning. In between we did water rafting in the Zanskar River. River rafting was there is my bucket for a long time, never thought it would be ticked here. The Zanskar river is among the few rivers in India with white-water. Altough it was sunny outside, the water was ice-cold and rafting gave an adrenaline rush. To add I had a near death experience while doing a stunt, which will keep haunting me for sometime. All said and done, rafting was a cherry on the cake for this entire trip. We reached Kargil late in the evening. The hotel was fantastic and finally we saw fans in our spacious rooms. For last 10 days any hotels/guesthouse/tents we lived in didn’t have a fan!

Since we had to spend more time in Kargil, we all decided to visit to see the Line of Control (LoC), since that was the only tourist attraction available. Meanwhile, four of our team members had to leave for Leh as the airlines they had booked their tickets with had no scheduled flights from Srinagar airport for the next few days. Though they accompanied us till LoC but left soon after we returned and we all already started missing them. A reality struck that there is only one day left for this awesome trip to end.

Late in the afternoon we left for Sonamarg, a beautiful city of Kashmir which was in unrest. On our way we halted at Drass to give our tribute to the soldiers, but to our disappointment it was closed to civilians for Kargil divas (Kargil war was fought between India and Pakistan in 1999). After a few hours of the drive just before Zoji La, we again halted at a place with a picture-perfect view and some remains of the snow. Everything was just perfect, suddenly a bunch of cheap and filthy localities came from nowhere and started offering a ride in the snow. We all got into our respective cars quickly and drove past them. They even scared our driver saying the situation in Kashmir was getting worst.

Zoji La is one of the riskiest passes in that area, with muddy and bouncy road. It’s nothing more than a one-lane crumbling dirt trail that hugs some of the tallest mountains in the world, with imminent death waiting for those who show up unprepared. It was pitch dark and only headlights of the car showed an incredibly disorienting look over the edge, and the valleys a couple thousand feet below us. After reaching Sonamarg we had dinner, and waited in the car as the area was not safe enough for us to roam around. Even with closed windows, Army moving around and face covered we felt threatened. Finally, at around 12 a.m. the check post was open for the tourists. The driver drove as fast as possible. We all are very feeling sleepy but still on back of our mind, we were just praying for our everyone’s safety. It was one such experience that I’ll never forget. We all came together like a family. Finally, after two hours of riding, the coast was clear. We reached safely at Dal Lake, where the humble owner of our boathouse was eagerly waiting to receive us.



The houseboat was as beautiful as the city is known to be. Next day with some shopping in the floating market and with lots of memories we bid adieu to the beautiful valley.

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