Ramble Diaries: Lovely Leh-Ladakh

Hello!

Well this is a post that has been lying in my drafts since ages or to be precise October 2012. Yes, it's 2014 now! But, with some posts the more details that you want to add the lazier you get and the result now I don't even remember the additional details that I wanted to add :(

So without much waste of time, let us continue with the post from how and where I had drafted it.

Hi fellow travelers,

Yes I have been missing for long. And not without a reason. I have been travelling and this time with no mobiles and no connectivity whatsoever. Yes, as the title says I was in Leh. A dream destination I must say. I guess both my husband and I had this destination on mind since a long time and the moment he declared that he can get leave this month, the first destination that popped in our heads was Leh and then there was no looking back. We had to plan it all in a couple of days. There was no time for second thoughts. And so off we go. Since we had a total of 12 days at hand of which 3 had to be spent in Delhi for personal work we decided to opt for a direct flight. From Goa to Delhi and Delhi to Leh. Though some prefer to drive down from Manali and return driving back from Srinagar, a route covering most of the beautiful locations. Also, the pros being while you are driving to Leh you tend to acclimatize as well to the weather and the altitude. With the flight it's like bam you are here, now face it! Hehe...

Now we had 9 days at hand and day 1 had to be spent in the room as advised by everyone who had been there, the blogs and everything that we read to prepare ourselves.

So here it goes:

Day 1: We landed at 11 AM, the temperature outside was 13 degrees and yes, the entire day was spent in the room, in cosy blankets, watching TV and eating chocolates!

Regarding the stay, we were put up at the Cirucit House which happens to be in the center of the town with the taxi stand and the local market a 2 minutes walk from our room. But stay is not a concern in Leh. You get decent accommodations at INR 400 a night with basic facilities like bed, blanket, hot water, room service etc. If I were to go by my experience you only need the room to sleep as you are bound to spend the entire day roaming around.

Food wise Leh is full of tiny restaurants, offering various cuisines and a variety of teas. And trust me you will need those teas to keep you warm and hydrated. My favorite being the herbal tea and lemon tea. Yes, lemon tea as I was quick at catching the cold and it offered great relief.

Day 2: Not to rush things we decided to cover places in and around Leh, in a radius of 45 km.

Places we visited:

1. Hemis Monastery: Also known as Hemis Gompa, it is a distance of 45 km from Leh and happens to be the place where the June and September festivals take place in the traditional dresses performing the traditional dance. We missed the September festival by a few days. We were told that that's the best time to visit weather wise, as it's not too hot and not cold either. We went around end of September and while the days were sunny and breezy, nights and mornings were cold for our bodies quite used to the Goan Sun.

On the way to Hemis you see a lovely landscape, embellished by the Indus river.

Hemis monastery is a very old one and some parts of it were under renovation when we visited. While the temples here had the same peace inducing atmosphere.

It was our first monastery and we had a good time talking to the lamas and getting pictures clicked with them.

Buddha at Hemis Monatery

This should give you an estimate of the size of Buddha

Prayer bowls

Every piece lying there looks beautiful

Prayer wheels

We didn't get what this was doing inside the temple but nevertheless!

Photoshoot with lamas

He was fun to talk to!

The ground where the festival takes place

Paintings after renovation

Renovation in process

Buddha at the temple being renovated

More prayer wheels

On our way to Army Museum

Mini Stupa on our way

You will often see the bridges covered with flags like these

2. Army Museum: This is a museum close to Leh. It has a lot of history related literature and memorabilia.

Shots from the museum

3. Thicksey Monastery: Situated 19 km from Leh, this is the largest monastery in Ladakh and the biggest attraction is the 49 ft Maitreya Buddha, also known as future Buddha. The Buddha occupies two floors of the Monastery.

Maitreya - Future Buddha at Thicksey Monastery

Maitreya Buddha from a different angle- This is huge!

Just the face on one floor! Remaining part of the body is on the other floor

Time to witness our first prayer in action

Whatever it was, it did smell good!

Kids having fun!

And one more joins in

Playing instrument

View from terrace of Thicksey Monastery

Entrance of Thicksey Monastery

Lots of mini-stupas. What our driver told us was this was a way of the King to punish the offenders. They were asked to build a Stupa.

4. Leh Palace: Sadly by the time we made it the Palace was shut for visitors. But it is said to house a good collection of paintings, thangkas, jewellery, crowns, pottery etc. Also, it is mainly used as a museum. The royal family lives in Stok Palace.

Entrance of Leh Palace. Sadly it was closed!

5. Shanti Stupa: Located on a hill top, not only is this structure beautiful but it also offers a great panoramic view of the Leh town.

Shanti Stupa

One of the pocket pinching factors of a trip to Ladakh is the transportation, It's expensive. And thanks to the condition of the roads it is advisable to hire a local driver instead of risking driving yourself. So yes, the tour that we had planned for day 1 included Hemis Monastery, Army Museum, Thicksey Monastery, Leh Palace and Shanti Stupa as these all fall in a single line in one direction. The idea is to cover everything in one direction on that day so you save the transportation charges.

Day 3: On day 3 we started early with Air Force base at Thois as our destiantion. That meant passing through Khardungla - the highest motor-able road and the desert land of Nubra Valley - Hunder.

On our Way to Khardungla Pass - Yes, the roads can be this tricky

Cafetaria at Khardungla Pass

Highest Cafetaria in the world

It's just starting to snow...

Munching on farm fresh Apricots all the way

Roads look like they are some wallpapers

At Nubra Valley

Crossing the bridge for the change in terrain. Notice the mountains and water and the sand that follows.

The famous double humped camels

Now the humps are more obvious

I got a ride!

Heading ahead on our way to Thois

You can spot the Air Force aircrafts in the sky as you get closer to Thois

Evening sky at Thois

Khardungla Pass : Now starts the need of having permits. Though there is no permit requirement for Khradungla pass but, to cross Khardungla for Nubra Valley you need permit from Leh, where you mention the purpose of visit and the duration. It is advisable to account for a day or two extra just in case you happen to extend the visit for some unforeseeable reason.

Khardungla pass can give you altitude sickness, I suffered some. But, the refreshing tea offered at the cafetaria certainly helps and the feeling fades the moment you move ahead. But, I did catch a bad cold which did cause me trouble the next few days.

Hunder : The desert of Nubra valley famous for it's double humped camels, this place catches you out of the blue. All throughout the way you see lovely mountains and water and then suddenly it's desert like sand and camels! I had a lovely scary ride, scary cos for some reason my camel decided to run wild and for a second I thought am going to fall any second and hurt myself really bad. Luckily the other camels followed and calmed this one down. Bah! Saved! Hehe...

Thois : Can't share much in pictures here as it being an Air Force base we chose not to click pictures. We were here to meet my brother in law and we certainly had a nice warm welcome and a really warm night thanks to the lovely bonfire and extremely comfortable stay, with rooms equipped with these heating blankets. Wow! we had a warm night!

Day 4: The day began with a sumptuous breakfast at the base and then heading back to Leh via Khardungla. But, we stopped at Diskit Monastery and got a chance view of the ibex on our way back.

Diskit Monastery : This is one of the oldest monasteries located on a hill top and just below the monsatery there's a 32 ft statue of Maitreya Buddha on another hill top.

Back of Maitreya Buddha visible from the road

Beautiful ornamentation at the base of the Buddha

Maitreya Buddha

Inside the building under the statue

On our way to Diskit Monastery

Maitreya Buddha from Diskit Monastery

Entrance of Diskit Monastery

View from Diskit Monastery

Statue at Diskit Monastery

Prayer lamps

Lama at work

On our way back to Leh

River on our way back to Leh

Another view of the river

Chance spotting of the famous ibex

Day 5: We decided to head for the famous Pangong Tso lake. The beauty of it can be seen in the pictures itself and yes, on the way we met these cute little Himalayan Marmots. They are so cute, furry and friendly that you can spend hours sitting among them. We did pass through yet another famous pass - Changla Pass.

Oh yes, it was getting colder!

But, then there was some Sun too...

Check out the shadow of the clouds!

Prayer scrolls

Road on the way

Near Changla Pass

At Changla Pass

Bright and Shiny Sun

Oh Yes, the tea that saved us at Khardungla was there at Changla as well

Water bodies begin to appear on our way to Pangong Tso

Stupa on our way

Highlight of the day - Himalayan Marmot

HImalayan Marmot - Isn't it cute?

Himalayan Marmot - curiously looking into the camera

And the pristine Pangong Tso

Pangong Tso - the water couldn't be clearer

Stone stupas at the lake

Another view of the lake

Birds at the lake

Camping site near the lake

Day 6: Well all the travel and weather changes certainly took a toll on me and the aforementioned cold got worse, so we decided to take it light. Not my husband of course, so after a short visit to the Leh Palace I decided to rest for the day and check out the town, where I bought Apricots, Kashmiri Rajma, Seabuck thorn tea and squash. Seabuckthorn is known for it's anti-oxidant properties and research is going on for it's medicinal value in curing cancer. And my husband decided to go for a cycling trek to Khardungla Pass.

Way leading to Circuit House- Our base in Leh

On our way to Leh Palace- Yes we decided to go on foot

Entrance of Leh Palace

Inside Leh Palace

Random shot from Leh Palace

View of a temple above Leh Palace

Inside Leh Palace

Effort to catch the full moon in Leh

Pics from Husband's cycle trek I

Pics from Husband's cycle trek II

Pics from Husband's cycle trek III

Day 7: Well it was time to move out of the room again and get going. The day was planned for Shey and Alchi Gompa. And the highlight of the day was a visit to an apple orchard and the lucky chance to pluck our own apples, as many as we wanted :) Yay!