Jispa to Leh Day 3
Waking up to foggy mountains is
not a routine for a Mumbai-ite like me. The view from the dormer was blissfully
peaceful. Birds chirping, the soothing sound of Bhaga river leaves you in a
trance like state.
I was enchanted seeing a thick
blanket of clouds hovering above two high peak mountains. As we left Padma
lodge to hit the onward journey to Leh, little did I know that very soon I will
be witnessing exquisite landscape that can blow one’s mind.
 |
| View from Padma Lodge |
We were told by our driver that
we will be seeing two tals on the way which are smaller but only in size not in
beauty. Deepak tal was the first
small water body that we saw with emerald green water surrounded by snow clad
mountains. You then pass by Zing Zing bar which is also called as
the peace zone and baralacha before
you reach Sarchu.
 |
| Suraj Tal with emerald green water |
We stopped at sarchu for around
30 minutes. We had awesome butter tea with salt and magi at Zanskar Restaurant,
Sarchu. It is strongly recommended to not spend the night at Sarchu as acute
mountain sickness can hit you.
Our driver Tsewang was the coolest himachali
we met on our trip. He was very friendly and had an amazing keenness to share
the history of ladakh, lifestyle of people and their struggles. Lavita asked
him about wedding traditions in ladakh, he promptly said “first we send a
request to the girl’s father asking for the brides hand, if he agrees then we
get married, else we pick her up and get married in a temple.”
 |
| Bikers stay in this tent to overcome fatigue! |
 |
| Sipping some Butter Tea! |
 |
| Tsewang and Lavi! |
 |
| The Daredevils on the Manali Leh Highway! |
Our Michael Schumacher for the
journey Mr. Tsewang warned us to hold on to some support in the car, seat belts
were tightly buckled in to get ready for Gata
loops, a series of 21 harpin bends that can churn your stomach upside down!
It was nothing less than an adventure ride with some serious hair rising bends
that can fright the hell out of you.
Throughout the Manali leh highway
the Warning signs by Border Roads Organization continued to amuse us. Two names
Deepak and Himank are all over the highway and in Leh. Popular ones being
“don’t be a gama in the land of lama”, “It’s risky to drive after whisky”
“Darling I like you but not that fast”
 |
| Bro Is Cool! |
 |
| Winding Roads! |
We passed through one more high
mountain pass lachunglang la which
is at a height of 5079 m. The Road from Nakeela
to Pang is terrible and you will experience a rocky ride till you reach
pang. Pang (famous for being the
highest transit base, Height 15,500 ft) followed by moore plains which is a flat road, a striking contrast to the high
passes that you see on the highway. It was almost noon and fatigue started
crawling in. By now we had seen all shades of brown, purple and red mountains.
Yes, you read that correct Purple and Red mountains! Such raw beauty is beyond
imagination and leaves you at a complete loss of words. Beyond a point we
stopped clicking snaps, as what you witness is simply magnificent and not
possible to capture in anything but your mind! Infact at Pang, the needle shaped
mountains seem so unreal and carved that it’s difficult to believe that its
completely untouched and raw.
 |
| The heroes who work tirelessly for us! |
 |
| Needle Shaped Mountains! |
 |
| Moore Plains |
We
were now to ascend our final high mountain pass for the day, the famous “Taglang La” at a whooping height of 5328
m and also famous for being the second highest motorable pass in the world. At
Taglang, my friends’ husband, Mehul Bhai had some AMS symptoms’ like nausea and
breathlessness. We decided to immediately move ahead and not spend much time at
this mighty pass with low levels of oxygen.
 |
| Do the Tango at Taglang! |
The descend began post tanglang,
after a day filled with witnessing 4 high passes, snow clad mountains, heart in
your mouth kind of road journey, Rumste and Upshi are at a much lower level and
house some greenery which is in contrast to barren mountains that we witnessed
throughout our journey for the day.
We finally reached leh around 5
pm and we were exhausted and all we craved for was a good and comfortable night
sleep. We checked in to the wrong hotel, courtesy similar names of the hotels
across leh. We then moved to the correct hotel, Hotel Royal ladakh and
recharged our tired souls to gear up for day 4! The view of stok kangri and
shanti stupa from the hotel was amazing and it helped heal the soreness of the
rough but also one of the most beautiful days of my life!
 |
| Snow Capped Beauty! |
 |
| Soar Higher! |
 |
| Time to Munch some food! |