Leh Ladakh Trip: To Leh

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Leh Ladakh Trip

Kargil, 31 Aug 2015

कल खुबानी नही लिया !? अरे बहुत अच्छा हे !

The driver enquired in the morning. The body seemed to be little deprived of sleep, even though there wasn’t any city late night social occasion or last moment code or presentations. A slightly heavy head since last evening seemed to have reduced but lingered there. We moved for Leh by 7am, climbing over the Suru river’s tributary – the Wakha river. Had a small breakfast of Ladakhi roti and tea and headed to Mulbekh’s Buddaha. A small monastery  on the Kargil – Leh highway. The chill in the air was evident, every single person in around covered head to toe. Breeze was a constant companion here.

The land of high passes, Ladakh
The land of high passes, Ladakh

We crossed multiple passes, amongst them a 3700m Namikila top. The landscape continued to be barren and naked. At times resembling the overflowing thick skin of fat fawn colored Neapolean mastif. We stopped for Army Cafe to fill the voids with momos and tea. The Cafe actually run by the army, was manned by 2 jawans both from Maratha infantry. A big silhouetted Shivaji painting adorned the door of the cafe. Further ahead Fotula (4100m) had to be crossed which took us into Lamyaru Monastery, one of the largest and oldest Gompas in Ladakh. It was here that I had a first hand experience of the clay-baked walls of Ladakh.

Moon Land, Lamyuru, Ladakh
What on earth is this Moon land !?

The lunar landscape of Ladakh became so devilish yellow looking after Lamyaru, that its actually a tourist attraction – The Moon Land. The fawn colored thick skin changing to sulpher yellow colored clay with even softer self holding capacity.

Deserted and flat on the top of the world
Deserted and flat on the top of the world

We had our lunch by 1.30pm at Khalsi in a Punjabi Dhaba, a scarce resource in this part of the world in orchards of Apricots and Apple. After snoozing off in the vehicle for long, we halted on a flat land where the driver told that this a very long straight road. After a few snaps and some more drowsy minutes we stopped at yet another flat road.

ये मेगनेटिक हिल है

The Magnetic Hill, he put his car on neutral and demonstrated how the car is being pulled uphill on slight slope. Unable to comprehend on whats really going on, we felt its pointless to just assume the magnetic nature of the place and we headed further ahead overlooking the Gurudwara, to Leh.

Indus and Zanskar Confluence, Nimmoo
Indus and Zanskar Confluence, Nimmoo

Leh’s entry is marked by the Indus’ tributaries. One such is Zanskar river. We stopped on a ghat which overlooked the confluence of the Zanskar and the Indus rivers which continued ahead as Indus. After the confluence at Nimmoo Leh welcomed us with a barrage of Military camps and postings. These gave away for a more civil traffic on the roads, with shops, hawkers and hordes of cabs. We settled for a home stay on the Fort Road. It was close to 5pm.

In the night we walked up the Fort road almost a kilometer to a restaurant for dinner. Along the way we also booked a Bullet and Avenger motorbikes for our next day’s trip to Likir, Alchi and other close by sight seeing. The climb had left us exhausted ! Leh’s high altitude and this kilometer long climbing road made us pant ! It feels strange to just walk a few meters and feel exhausted – that’s high altitude’s low oxygen showing off!

Series Navigation« Leh Ladakh Trip: To Dras, KargilLeh Ladakh Trip: Roaming along, Alchi, Likir, Leh »

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