The flight from Delhi to Leh is stunning, to say the least. Twenty minutes after taking off, the Himalayas rear their dramatic face, and then within minutes the green valleys and ridges turn into white snow-clad giants. After a while, no matter which side of the aircraft one looks, there is a carpet of white peaks peeking through clouds. The descent into Leh is apparently one of the most perilous landings as the aircraft passes through ridges with mountains on both sides - it certainly heightens ones expectations and anticipation of Ladakh.
And one is not disappointed.
Leh is at 3,500 metres so the first day one is advised complete rest to acclimatise to the high altitude. Which I dutifully did. If you imagine Lhasa with the skyline dominated by the Potala palace - that is exactly what Leh looks like - with the Palace and the Tsemo Fort looming large over this town. Apart from the Palace and the Fort, there are quite a few sights in and around Leh - the Shanti Stupa from where one gets a beautiful view of the Leh valley (which is surprisingly green since the Indus flows through there). Sangam, a very picturesque place where the Indus and Zanskar rivers meet. Spituk Gompa (Monastery) a dramatic 11th century monastery that overlooks Leh. Gurudwara Pathar Sahib - built to commemorate the visit of Guru Nanak there. And Magnetic Hill - where cars defy gravity (I was disappointed so I won't say anything!).
A few words about monasteries in Ladakh. Buddhism came to Ladakh/Tibet in the 8th century thanks to a gentleman called Padmasambhava. Most of Ladakh follows Tibetan Buddhism (of which there are two sects - Red Hat and Yellow Hat). The monasteries themselves are extremely picturesque, usually on a craggy cliff, they dominate the surroundings yet are themselves dominated by the snow-clad mountains in the background. I visited quite a few of these Gompas - Spituk, Thiksey, Hemis, Diskit, Stakna, Chimre, and Alchi. The monasteries are a beautiful, colourful, and serene melange of prayer wheels, prayer flags, frescoes, and large statues of Buddha in different manifestations (Avlokiteswara, Maitreya, and Manjushree). Of all the monasteries I visited my favourite was Alchi - apparently built by Zangpo in the 11th century - this monastery has the most beautiful frescoes (some say rivalled only by those at Ajanta/Ellora). Zangpo brought artisans from Kashmir hence the frescoes are in the 'Kashmiri' style and a lot of Tantrik influences can be clearly discerned.
From Leh we drove to Nubra valley - for which we had to pass through Khardung-la (la means 'pass' in Tibetan) which is at a princely altitude of 18,380 feet (or 5,602 metres). This pass has a number of superlatives attached to it - world's highest motorable road, world's highest cafeteria, world's highest souvenir shop etc. A bit of research later on showed that the altitude reading of 18,380 feet is debated by cartographers and topographers. Either way, the pass is bloody high and the air is really rarified and cold there. Fortunately when we passed from there it was a crisp clear day and the views all around of snow-clad peaks was breathtaking.
On the other side of this cold and high pass lies Nubra valley which is a high altitude desert. It feels really odd standing in the desert of this valley (average altitude of 10,000 feet) surrounded by two-humped bactrian camels with a river (shyok) and snow clad mountains. Remembering my ass-breaking camel ride in the Mongolian Gobi, I decided to give a camel ride here a pass. Diskit monastery (another one of those dramatic monasteries) has a huge statue of Maitreya (future) Buddha that can be seen from miles around.
The Ladakhi landscape conjures up quite a few words - 'dramatic', 'stark', 'lunar', 'desolate', and 'barren'. It is all of that but extremely beautiful. There are valleys interspersed with extremely high snow-clad mountains - added to all this is the colour of green patches (from where rivers flow), prayer flags, prayer wheels, chorten (stupas), dramatic looking monasteries, sheep, cows, yaks, and even horses. This makes the Ladakhi landscape extremely picturesque and unique and a vehicle journey through the changing landscape will never be boring.
On the way back from Nubra valley, when we passed Khardung-la, we got terrible weather. There was very heavy snow and the conditions were very foggy - progress in the vehicle was extremely slow. Inching our way forward we finally made it back to Leh. This route is extremely popular with motor-bikers and mountain bikers.
Next day we set out for Pangong Tso (a land-locked lake at 14,270 feet). The lake, which is about 3-4 km wide and approximately 130 km long, lies partly in India and partly in Tibet (er...I mean China). This lake is known for its stunning beauty and changing colours - so I was quite excited. Unfortunately, the weather was really bad that day and the pass (Chang-la) to get to this lake was closed because of the heavy snow. Disappointed we had to turn back. To kill time we visited Shey Palace, Thiksey Gompa, and Hemis Gompa. I found Thiksey to be a very touristy monastery (it is one of the richest monasteries!). Hemis is supposedly the largest monastery in Ladakh. At a restaurant near Hemis Gompa I had my usual staple lunch of Maggi. Maggi is extremely popular in this region and I used the opportunity to fuel my addiction to it (Masala flavour only please!).
Next day we made another attempt to reach Pangong (this time we decided to make a day journey out of it). Fortunately, the weather Gods were not nasty to us like the previous day and we were able, after a reasonably comfortable but extremely picturesque, four and a half hour journey able to make it to Pangong Tso. A lot has been written about the beauty of this lake but nothing, I repeat nothing, prepares you for what hits you when you first see the lake. This pristine water has the most amazing hues of blue and azure (these colours change every few minutes as the position of the Sun and the clouds change in the sky). One can spend hours just staring at the lake and its mystifying colours. Which is exactly what I did (apart from eating my obligatory plate of Maggi, that is).
