Phew finally sometime to write abt the trip again. Its been hectic at office and home. :-)
We had to go to visit Pegang Tso lake around 150 Kms from Leh towards the Indo China Border. This lake is one of the few salt water lakes in the world. And they say It was formed when the Himalays were formed and its the Tethys sea. We had to cross some 17800 ft above sea level and go to a place 30 Kms from Indo China Border. Check out the road.
Finally Ice on the way to the lake.
When we reached Changla Top it was freezing and it had just observed snow fall some 10 minutes back.
About to reach Changla Top.
At Changla Top it was all snow and rocks. Its around 50 kms from Leh and at around 17800 ft above sea level. Leh is at 11500 ft above sea level.
20 feet of snow.
Yak !!
We reached Pegang Tso and it was breezy like it is at any beach in India and the breeze was bloooooody cold. You can find some 10 different shades of blue and green and purple in the water.
We got the boat ride as we came with the army. Thanks Col Nair. :-)
Check the change in color. I really dont know why this happens. Some say its because of the depth of water, some say its because of the suns rays, some say both. Hmmm. Pata nahi.
Me, Trupti and Hav. Rahul Upadhyay. It is very important that you have a cap with you.
Everypoe moving except Trupti., She froze. hahahahaha..
Check the video and Trupti didnt even move her hands. She just froze. He He He He He!!!
See again. Freeze !!! Dont Move !!! Statue !!!
She didnt move. We changed the camera angle !!!
Check out the sky. I haven't seen such blue sky ever in my life.
Check the color change in just few meters from the end of the water.
The sand tells us that once this place was sea. You can find sand around 30 Kms before you reach the lake.
EME workshop while coming back to Leh. We met Major Virendra, who is in charge and he told us stories of playing cricket on the frozen lake. :-)
Jhaskar Valley. From top. Beautiful.
Points to remember
Its very very important to carry a cap. Or else very heavy headache.
Warm Clothes
Goggles. High UV.
Lip Balm.
Dont dont dont run or go out of the car as soon as you see the lake. Relax. Then walk slow. there is a huge difference of oxygen at 11500 and 18700 ft.
Dont worry if you vomit. Its normal. Drink tons of water.
We had a plan made out by the 208 battalion and we left to check out the monastries around the Leh town on the second day of the trip, i.e on 16th July. While we were driving to Hemis Gonpa we saw a very different kind of mountain range. Havaldar Rahul Upadhyay was with us and he is a map instructur in the army. It was very smart of 208 to ask him to come along with us as he was able to explain us every mountain's terrain and the peak height.
Just see the mountain here. Looks like a lot of slates have been kept and at an angle the mountain was formed. Nature at its best.
Hav Rahul always told us to walk slow and climb with a rest every 10 steps. Even a small climb to the Gonpa looked like we were scaling 50000 ft.
The Drukpa lineage was celebrating 800 years. So decorations and celebrations were all around!
Me admiring the insides of Hemis Gonpa. Its the biggest in the world.
We inside the gonpa. Look at us, it was so cold that our skin was completely rough and dry and chapped, we couldnt even smile! Here we looks like along with our clothes our skin was also starched hahahahha
Me with Hav. Rahul
Celebrations in all Gunpas!
You turn this clockwise its like saying the Buddhist main mantra some 180 times. Trupti is boringly religious that she kept turning each one of them, multiple times! They have written shlokas on pages and kept inside these drums. Nice idea.
They build gonpas right in the middle of mountains! No contractors or labourers, the lamas do such work themselves. Brave and strong!
Trupti posing near the "gopura" of the Gonpa. Wah wah kya pose!
In the nearby mountains they have hoisted the flags of the monastery. I found one but was not able to find out how someone climbed that high.
See Trupti stood with a big golden gopura and made me sit near a small one :( Not fair! And I'm in the corner in this photo! Not fair not fair! But see the lovely mountains behind me! Check out the surface of the mountains!
Admiring the statues inside the monastery.
Here she goes again! Turning each one of those everytime! What does she want from God?!?!?!! Well, God doesn't seem to understand that because its very hard to understand women you see.
They have a huge wall around the mountain on which the monastery is situated. the wall is called "Maane". The is made out of stones collected around Ladakh and every stone has this manuscript on it. It says "Om Maane Padma Hun", the Buddhist mantra .
They have this small temple kind of thing near the wall. This is called "Choutan". It has the ashes of the Lamas who have died serving the monastery.
The lovely backdrop of Zanskar Valley behind the lovely couple, we saw this on the way back from the Hemis Gonpa.
Next stop, Thiksey Gonpa. Its the oldest gonpa in the world.
The govt. protects it too.
Beautiful flowers and beautiful biwi. :-) I like this photo lots.
The Lamas make this flower kind of thing from butter and decorate the Buddha Statue, which is offered for pooja.
Video of the Zanskar Valley.
Please read what Dalai Lama says. Its really beautiful and if we give a thought its really very true. The Buddha Statue was really pretty.
Also the carvings inside the monastery were terrific.
Exit gate of Thiksey Gonpa.
Thiksey Monastery from a distance.
Trupti with some sweet kids. The kids were guides for a group of foreigners. The people in Leh are very hardworking. For 6 months in winters, everything is closed - school, shops everything. So the remaining 6 months, everyone works. Yes everyone. So that enough is saved for winter.
Next we went to Shey palace.
The Shey Palace roof top.
Next we went to the shores of Indus river. This is the river on the banks of which Humans made the first city. Harappa and Mohenjodaro civilizations. The water came down from the melting ice and it was veryyyyyyyyyy cold. Feet got numb in 2 minutes. We met thes kids here. Cool they look.
Superb Pose Biwiiiiiiiiii !!! :-)
Shanti Stupa above Leh city. This was made by the Buddhists from Japan. There is nothing much to see but the view from top is really great.
Me and Hav Rahul.
Look at me. I was all red due to extreme cold weather and Trupti was making fun of me and cracking jokes about me :/ "See your cheeks, nose tip all red" she kept saying and laughing. Then she took this picture and laughed some more. I didnt find it funny, and neither it was in the same zip code as funny. (Don't ask what the last sentence means, my biwi keeps saying that. Women!!!)
Suggestions:
If you have to go to Ladakh please split all these into two days.
Please have the first two days for acclimatizing. We were dead tired at the end of the day.
Next post, Day 3. Read this before reading the next post.
We had to go to visit Pegang Tso lake around 150 Kms from Leh towards the Indo China Border. This lake is one of the few salt water lakes in the world. And they say It was formed when the Himalays were formed and its the Tethys sea. We had to cross some 17800 ft above sea level and go to a place 30 Kms from Indo China Border. Check out the road.
Finally Ice on the way to the lake.
When we reached Changla Top it was freezing and it had just observed snow fall some 10 minutes back.
About to reach Changla Top.
At Changla Top it was all snow and rocks. Its around 50 kms from Leh and at around 17800 ft above sea level. Leh is at 11500 ft above sea level.
20 feet of snow.
Yak !!
We reached Pegang Tso and it was breezy like it is at any beach in India and the breeze was bloooooody cold. You can find some 10 different shades of blue and green and purple in the water.
We got the boat ride as we came with the army. Thanks Col Nair. :-)
Check the change in color. I really dont know why this happens. Some say its because of the depth of water, some say its because of the suns rays, some say both. Hmmm. Pata nahi.
Me, Trupti and Hav. Rahul Upadhyay. It is very important that you have a cap with you.
Everypoe moving except Trupti., She froze. hahahahaha..
See again. Freeze !!! Dont Move !!! Statue !!!
She didnt move. We changed the camera angle !!!
Check out the sky. I haven't seen such blue sky ever in my life.
Check the color change in just few meters from the end of the water.
The sand tells us that once this place was sea. You can find sand around 30 Kms before you reach the lake.
EME workshop while coming back to Leh. We met Major Virendra, who is in charge and he told us stories of playing cricket on the frozen lake. :-)
Jhaskar Valley. From top. Beautiful.
