[Dr.AD]

A Week in Ladakh: Prologue

In late September 2023 (just last month), we (I and my wife) spent a week in Ladakh, exploring the terrain and the landscapes. This was our first Ladakh trip, and as expected, we were overwhelmed and blown away by the breathtaking beauty of the terrain, the landscapes, the lakes, the rivers, and the perpetually scenic and often challenging roads there! In this travelogue, I will at first share some of my most memorable photographs from this trip, and then will try to share a few travel stories and road trip photos.

Unlike almost all of my other travelogues, this time, unfortunately, we did not drive our own car there. Driving my own car to Ladakh still remains a dream. Lack of available time to be able to drive my own car all the way there and back keeps on pushing this dream further and further. Finally, instead of waiting forever to find enough time to drive to Ladakh, we decided to take a flight to Leh and then explore the terrain there in a rental taxi. So that is what we did this time. Driving my own car there is still on the "to do" list and hopefully that would happen soon.

So in summary, we flew from Bangalore Leh and back. And spent about a week there driving around in rental taxi. Thankfully, through some personal contact of close friends, we got a great driver and a great car. We got a fairly new Scorpio N, in top condition, driven by a very nice driver who also doubled as our local guide. And this vehicle was available to us for the entire time (from airport pick up to drop off), and thus it was as good as we had our own vehicle there. We essentially got a personalized, guided tour of Ladakh from a local expert, and that worked out just perfectly for our first trip to Ladakh.

Since I was not driving this time, it left me free to focus on photography. I thoroughly enjoyed this new experience. I focused on the views and the landscapes, and got plenty of opportunities to use my camera. In addition to those more purposefully composed photos in this report, you will also see plenty of photos shot through the windshield and windows while on the move. That was possible only because I was not driving this time.

The rough map of the areas we explored:


Since this was my first trip to Ladakh, I was quite excited and could not wait to see the landscapes that Ladakh offers. Thankfully, we had an early morning flight to Leh, and got our first glimpses of that magical land from the aircraft window. It was quite amazing to see that land in the morning light from the air, and it gave us a great preview of what we would see over the next few days. Both I and my wife had specifically picked window seats in our flights to/from Leh, and we are very glad we did that. Both of us got some lovely views of Ladakh from the air.

My first view of Ladakh terrain, from the air, under the morning light:



Mountains and rivers, the theme that would continue for next few days:


Before we get further into this travelogue, I should introduce the main hero of this story. That was the Scorpio N that took us comfortably over some really tough and challenging roads. It did plenty of dirt tracks, roads full of stones and rocks, and even managed a couple of river crossings. Although it was not my own car, I still loved it and appreciated it for what it did for us and how nicely it managed that terrain. And yes, it looked great too. This photogenic machine made sure I did not miss out on car photography in this trip.

The lovely machine that took care of us throughout this tough drive (here posing at the beautiful Pangong Lake):


With this introduction, let me jump straight into this photologue. However, before we go on, please allow me to explain the structure of this report. This is not a sequential or a chronological report. Instead, I have divided the report into multiple sections based on themes. The theme-based posts and the links to those posts are as follows (click on the links to directly jump to that section).

Post 1: Introduction and Prologue (this post)

Post 2: Photographic highlights of Ladakh (you can consider this as the "TL;DR" of this photologue if you will)

Post 3: Leh and Surroundings

Post 4: Leh to Nubra Valley via Khardung La

Post 5: Nubra Valley Sand Dunes

Post 6: Flowery Side of Ladakh (Nubra Valley)

Post 7: Great Off-road Journey from Nubra Valley to Pangong Lake

Post 8: Pangong Lake and Landscapes (another photographic highlight for me)

Post 9: Pangong Lake to Hanle via Rezang La Memorial

Post 10: Surreal Hanle

Post 11: Scenic Roads and the Roadside Experiences

Post 12: Hotels and Homestays (that we stayed at)

Post 13: Epilogue

[Dr.AD]

Photographic Highlights of Ladakh

Since I was not driving this time, I got an opportunity to wear a photographer's hat (quite literally; I bought a new cap for this trip ) and focus on my photography. I enjoyed being a dedicated photographer (and not having to worry about the car and driving) for a change, and had a great time with my camera.

In this section, I will share some of my favorite photographs from this trip. Hopefully these photographs will also serve as the highlights of the entire trip. Later, in subsequent sections, I will share more travel/road photos and stories. But this section is purely about photography.

Click on any image to see a high-resolution version of that image.

A Buddhist Temple on a hill, at sunset:



A SpiceJet flight taking off from Leh:



The amazing roads through the hills and the valleys:



Classical Ladakh Landscape with dry mountains and a river carving the canyons:



Diskit Monastery (with the "good luck charm" stones formations in the foreground):



A "Stupa" (a temple) in the hills:



A "Stupa" standing tall overlooking the majestic hills and the landscapes:



Sand Dunes of Hunder, Nubra Valley:



Sand Dunes, with Diskit Monastery in the distant backdrop:



Camel Rides through Sand Dunes:



A small lake near the Sand Dunes, to showcase the variety of the terrain:



Ladakh is not all about deserts and barren lands. It has some beautiful flowers and fruits too. Like these lovely red apples on a tree:



And plenty of flowers too:



Dirt tracks, bikes, and driving through a cloud of dust (a quintessential Ladakh picture):



A tiny village on the backdrop of huge mountains, another very common sight in Ladakh:



The colorful shades on a dry mountain:



The lovely roads through the mountains:



Cottages with a view, on Pangong Lake:



Pangong Lake, and the barren but colorful mountains overlooking the lake:



Pangong Lake and the mountains under sunset rays:



The magic of the last rays of the evening:



And the magic of the first rays of the morning:



Blue shades of morning on Pangong Lake:



The stones arranged as good luck charm, overlooking the lake:



Dark blue waters of Pangong Lake and the brown mountains form a unique landscape that is unlike anywhere else in the world:



Indus River and the Mountains:



Shiny blue waters of Indus River:



A landscape from Hanle:



The lovely riverside roads (running alongside the Indus River), another common sight in Ladakh:

[Dr.AD]

Leh and Surroundings

We spent two days in Leh, for sightseeing as well as for acclimatizing to high altitude, before starting to explore other parts of Ladakh. This post contains photographs from these two days of wandering around in Leh and the surroundings.

Click on any image to see a high-resolution version of that image.

Leh Palace (a telephoto shot from our hotel balcony in Leh):



Leh Palace, after actually driving there this time :



A Buddhist Temple near Leh Palace:



View of Leh City, a temple, and the snow capped mountains:



Flowers overlooking the valley:



Another view of the city and the mountains in the backdrop:



"Shanti Stupa", a beautiful Buddhist temple and a popular tourist place:



Peace and a prayer inside a temple at Shanti Stupa:



Restaurant with a view (near Shanti Stupa):



Another view of that temple of the hill:



The city under evening rays:



Temple views under sunset light:



"Main Market" (as this street is known) in Leh:



Buzzing Leh market in the evening:



The temple on the hill lighted up in the night:



Another view of the market at night:



Landscapes on the outskirts of Leh:



Views from "Spituk Monastery" on the outskirts of Leh:



Indus River as seen from "Spituk Monastery":



"Thiksey Monastery" on Leh-Manali highway:

Indus & Zanskar River Sangam

One of the most scenic spots near Leh is the sangam of Indus and Zanskar Rivers. This is about 40km from Leh, on Leh-Sringar highway. The highway offers fantastic views and landscapes all around, and we had a great time reaching this place and seeing this sangam and the surrounding areas.

Views of Indus River from somewhere on Leh-Srinagar highway:



Another view of Indus River before it reaches the Sangam point:



Zanskar River, just before the Sangam point:



Zanskar river and the beautiful road running alongside it:



Sangam of the two rivers (you can see the difference in colors; blue water is Indus River, and the grayish water is Zanskar river):



A parting shot at the Sangam, with the waters of the two rivers still distinct in colors:

[Dr.AD]

Journey from Leh to Nubra Valley via Khardung La

The road journeys in Ladakh were amazing. Ladakh offers some of the best examples for the the cliched "journey is more important than the destination". There were breathtaking landscapes all around, at every inch of every road we traveled. We felt like pulling over and getting out of the car and enjoying the views at every corner of the road, and we actually did that too on quite many occasions. You will see plenty of photos in this report just from the roads, and those views in my mind are as memorable as the destinations we visited.

For example, this Leh to Nubra Valley journey took us through some amazing landscapes. The highlight of this trip, both symbolically and literally, was that we drove through and stopped at Khardung La Pass, which is one of the world's highest motorable roads at about 17,800 feet altitude. In fact, it was the world's highest motorable road until recently, before it got surpassed by another mountain pass in Ladakh, Umling La pass, at 19,000 feet altitude.

Views of Leh City (you can see Shanti Stupa at the right edge of the frame) as we started climbing towards Khardung La:


Hill roads from Leh City towards Khardung La:



I could not get over how mesmerizing the hill roads looked:



Another shot of the roads cut through the barren hills:



And then we were here, at the second highest motorable passes in the world, Khardung La pass, at about 17,800 feet:



We spent some time walking around there, and had a nice hot tea at this cafe, which claims to be World's Highest Cafe:


It was very cold and windy at Khardung La pass, but the views from all sides were amazing. That hot tea in that cafe there, in that freezing cold and windy conditions, felt heavenly.

The road ahead of us from Khardung La pass:



With views like these (again I was mesmerized by the endless roads running across the valley):



A close-up of some of those breathtaking roads:



If those distant roads look smooth and inviting, the roads right next to us, at Khardung La, were equally scenic but certainly not so smooth:


Roads in Ladakh are both breathtaking as well as unpredictable. They can change from absolutely fantastic tarmac to challenging off-roads and back to smooth tarmac in no time. Here, the relatively rough roads in Khardung La changed to absolutely brilliant tarmac as we started descending down from Khardung La.

Now we had such brilliant roads ahead as we started our descend:



This is Khardung Village, located at the base of the mountain pass:



The scenic road ahead:



Roads in Ladakh can change from good to bad in no time:



Now the road passed alongside "Shyok River", and we had such lovely river views all along the road:



A close-up of the river:



The vast riverbed was mostly dry this time, but in the monsoon months the river flows full, and that would be an amazing sight for sure:



The ubiquitous stone formations:



Overlooking the Diskit Village, which is famous for a monastery and a temple:



The famous Diskit Monastery:



We climbed the steps all the way up to Diskit Monastery, and reached this main entrance at the top:


Diskit Monastery was a great place. It was extremely peaceful and also beautiful up there. We spent some time there just sitting in the monastery and soaking in the peace and the natural beauty of the place. The monks there were very nice to us. They showed us around and gave some good information about the monastery. And they also offered us hot tea there which was great!

Views of Diskit Village from a vantage point:



Next to Diskit Monastery is the famous "Diskit Gompa" (a temple), with this huge statue:



View of Diskit Monastery from Diskit Gompa (notice the "prayer wheels" at the Gompa, which you are supposed to turn one by one and complete the full round, as a prayer):



Another view of the landscapes and the mountains:



View of Diskit Gompa from the monastery:



And the huge statue at the Gompa:

[Dr.AD]

Nubra Valley Sand Dunes (aka Hunder Sand Dunes)

One of the tourist attractions in Nubra Valley is the Sand Dunes. The nearby town is known as Hunder, and thus, these sand dunes are also known as Hunder Sand Dunes.

These sand dunes are very unique to this area. Somehow, while the rest of Ladakh has just dry brown landscapes full of grass and stones, this small patch of area has fine smooth sand, and has nice sand dunes. Proper sand dunes in the middle of a high altitude desert and mountains. Very unique for sure!

We reached the sand dunes around evening time, and had wonderful views of the sand dunes in the evening light.

The sand dunes at Hunder:



Notice a "Bactrian camel" (also known as two-humped camel, because of the two humps it has) in the sand dunes (Nubra Valley is one of the few areas in the world where you find these two-humped camels):



Another view of the sand dunes and the evening rays:



Sand dunes on the backdrop of the mountains:



A line of tall green trees at the edge of the sand dunes provides a nice contrast:



A view with Diskit Monastery and Diskit Gompa in distant background, lit up by the evening rays:



Sun going down behind the mountain, while the tourist activities in full swing at Sand Dunes:



One of the most popular tourist activities there is a ride on the Bactrian camels:



One of the many Bactrian camels wandering around there:



Small puddle in that desert:



The camel rides offered great subjects for such photo compositions:



Another look at a Bactrian camel there:



Finally, one of my most favorite photos from the sand dunes:

[Dr.AD]

Flowery Side of Ladakh (Nubra Valley)

If the pictures and landscapes so far give an impression that Ladakh is all dry and barren mountains, that is not necessarily true. Ladakh has a great variety in terrain and landscapes, and there are some locations which are known for flowery meadows, fruits, and some greenery too. Nubra Valley is one such location.

For seeing flowers in Nubra valley, we did not have to go far. Our hotel there had plenty of flowers all around. It also had plenty of apple trees full of juicy red apples. Those flowers and the apple trees were in stark contrast to the rest of the landscapes we had witnessed till then.

Please allow me to share a few flower and fruit pictures here, before we go back to the dry and dusty landscapes.

Plenty of flowers and trees here offered a stark contrast to the barren landscapes:



Garden Cosmos:



Another shot of a garden cosmos:



Yellow Dahlia:



Sunflower:






Fresh, juicy red apples on a tree (that hotel premises had many such apples trees, all full of apples):



Apple trees on the backdrop of the distant mountains:



One more photo of a cosmos flower:



A close-up of Yellow Dahlia:



Butterfly:



And finally, a parting shot from Nubra valley, at a small lake on the side of the road, showing the variety of the terrain:

[Dr.AD]

Great Off-road Journey from Nubra Valley to Pangong Lake

The road journey from Nubra Valley to Pangong turned out to be one of the most memorable road trips for me. Our driver had warned us that "this road is bad", but that did not tell us what we were actually in for. It turned out that this was mostly a proper off-road journey. For hours we drove through dirt tracks full of stones, loose sand, potholes and even some river crossings. We drove alongside a dry river, mostly drove through the dry riverbed, and had to cross the river multiple times.

One great thing about roads in Ladakh is that good or bad road surface, you always have breathtaking views from all sides of the road. This road too, while being a complete dirt track, offered lovely views all around, and we thoroughly enjoyed this journey. We stopped at many places and got down of the car to enjoy the landscapes. At other places, just watching the landscapes and the great desert road running side by side to the river from the moving car itself was a great experience. We loved every bit of this journey!

This trip is not for the faint-hearted. Not just that the roads were quite challenging, at many places the roads were closed and we had to find alternative roads on the go. There was no network connectivity and no online maps. The random off-roads we took were probably not even marked in the maps. Our driver had very detailed knowledge of the local roads and that was very crucial here. If one goes there alone, on their own, just knowing where to drive to on that vast and open desert land would be a challenge in itself. And when the roads were closed, our driver had the intuition to know where to go to find the alternative roads. The whole experience was quite unique and adventurous for sure!

In addition to the driver's skills and knowledge of the land, for this journey, you also need a vehicle that is capable of handling crazy bad roads, can cross shallow rivers full of rocks, and can take a lot of abuse in general. Our Scorpio N was perfect for this, and I am very impressed by how well our Scorpio N managed this road.

By the way, most of the photos in this post (and also in the following posts) are shot through the car with my mobile phone camera, when the car was on the move on those bumpy and rocky off-roads. A mobile phone camera was much more useful for such spontaneous photos through a moving car than a bulky full-frame camera which was mostly packed away while in the car. You may notice some motion blur and lack of sharpness, and some improper compositions in these photos. The idea is to share a glimpse of this road trip experience, and not necessarily focus on image qualities in this section.

As we started our journey toward Pangong Lake, at first we traveled alongside Shyok River again, with views like these on the side:



Another view of the vast riverbed of Shyok River:



The perpetual landscapes on the side of the road, with river and snow capped mountains in the distance:



And then, very soon, the road turned into a complete off-road track like this, running through the dry riverbed:



The dirt track:



It got even more interesting soon:



And then the road ahead was closed for road work, and we had to find alternative paths:



And this was the alternative path that our skilled driver found (and this is why I say this road is not for the faint-hearted):



Crossing the river:



Views of the river while we find ourselves driving on the side of it on a complete dirt track:



Shyok River:



Soon we had company on that makeshift dirt track (notice the sloping track on that hill that we descended):



The bikers struggling to get grip on that loose sandy track:



The dirt track continues for hours, but can get a bit easier, like this, at places:



Lovely mountains on the side (shot through left window) while our Scorpio N was tackling those dirt tracks in style:



Now thankfully, we had such narrow bridges to cross the river back and forth multiple times (the path crisscrosses over the river multiple times and runs on both sides of the river):



We continued driving on such roads, with river on one side, the mountains, rocks, boulder, and everything else on the other side:



Sometimes, the road surface was better just for a short while, but the general landscape remained the same:



Just a bit ahead, the tarmac was missing again, and we were back on such vast open river beds, following this Innova and waiting for our turn to cross this river through these rocks:



Crossing the river (no bridge this time):



The track lost in the rocks:


After traveling on this great dirt track for what felt like an eternity (in reality, it was about 3 hours of dirt track journey), we finally reached butter smooth tarmac now. Ladakh does surprise you with its roads. A totally crazy off-road track, where you wonder if you are lost, suddenly meets some lovely smooth tarmac. But whether off-roads or tarmac, the landscapes around are always beautiful. We loved every moment of being on those roads, off-roads or tarmac.

Butter smooth tarmac now after running through the dirt tracks for hours:


By now we needed fuel. Our Scorpio had not taken in fuel at all since we started. After 3 days of wandering through the desert, the fuel tank was finally low, and we needed to refuel her. Just like everything else in Ladakh, even the refueling stop was a special one. The simple refueling turned into a ceremony, thanks to one special attribute of the fuel pump. By now we had reached a small town called "Tangtse". The town had smooth roads, and more importantly, a fuel pump.

Refueling at IOC pump in Tangtse:



And this was the special attribute that made this pump so special and the fueling there more exciting than usual:



Now the roads turned both smooth and scenic:



Lovely roads passing through the mountain ranges:



As always, a lovely landscape no matter which side of the road I turned my camera to:



Our Scorpio on that road, waiting at a scenic corner:

[Dr.AD]

Pangong Lake and Landscapes

Pangong Lake was surely one of the most memorable (and also most photogenic) locations we visited in Ladakh. The beauty of this lake is hard to describe in words. A huge lake (it is 164km long, out which about 44km is spread in India, and the rest is spread in China), with dark blue water, and with mesmerizing brown mountains in the backdrop is how I would describe it.

The blue water you see in the pictures below is exactly how it looked in real; that is not due to over saturation in photo processing. And the dry mountains offered a verity of shades from gray to brown to red to yellow, depending on the sunlight. That combination of blue waters and the colorful mountains made for an amazing sight, and also for photographs.

The lake is at about 14,000 feet altitude. This is above what is called as "treeline", and that means there are no trees or vegetation at that altitude. Just the dark blue water, and the dry colorful mountains.

I absolutely enjoyed my photography at this lake. As the sunlight changed, even in a short while from 5pm to 6pm, the scenes looked very different. Again, next morning at 7am, it all looked very different. I tried to capture the different moods and lights at this magical location, and hopefully the photographs below show that.

Although we enjoyed walking around and exploring the lake and the surroundings on foot, it was very cold and windy there. Temperatures were low single digits, maybe even close to zero after sunset, plus it was very windy. It was quite painful to walk there in those windy and freezing conditions. But the landscapes were so beautiful that it made us forget the painful cold and we still enjoyed spending a few hours exploring the area by walking around and taking photos.

Click on any image to see a high-resolution version of that image.

The first view of Pangong Lake in the distance, while approaching it from the road:



This is the lake, with many small cottages and temporary camps on the side (this area has no permanent hotels or resorts; one must stay in such cottages/camps near the lake):



The colorful mountains provide a great backdrop for this lake:



The mountains look different in different angles of sunlight:



Hills nearby with a bit of snow on them:



Another view of the vast lake and the mountains:



A lovely off-road track that runs on the side of the lake, into the hills:



This lake was made famous by the movie "3 Idiots", and this location with memorabilia from that movie's scenes is very popular with tourists:



Mountains on the other side of the lake, in evening light:



Another corner of the landscapes there:



One of the many "Brown Headed Gull" floating on the blue waters there:



The mountains lit up in lovely colors at the sun started to go down:



The dark blue waters and the yellow mountains under sunlight rays:



The blue waters around the gull look goldenish now at sunset:



The vast blue water and the hills in the distance far away:



Another view of the brown landscapes around the lake:



I could not resist clicking these bikes parked there at the perfect location:



The colorful magic of the last rays of the day before the sun went down:



Next morning around 7AM, the lake was bathed in blue hues of the morning:



The water looked stunning dark blue in the morning light:



A parting shot of the amazing lake and the landscapes:

[Dr.AD]

Pangong to Hanle via Rezang La Memorial

Pangong to Hanle was another memorable journey. At first, we traveled on a very scenic road running on the side of Pangong Lake. We got great views of Pangong Lake from multiple locations alongside this road. And then, as usual in Ladakh, this road turned into another off-road track, and for a couple of hours we traveled on some great dirt tracks, on vast open desert lands, while appreciating the beautiful views and landscapes all around. By now this had become a routine in Ladakh road journeys and we had got used to this.

However, what turned out to be a highlight of this journey was a visit to Rezang La War Memorial, in the middle of the long dirt track road, very close to the border of India and China. It was a touching experience to visit the war memorial, to say the least. More on that later below.

We started off on such lovely roads, running on the side of Pangong Lake:



Views from the road, with smooth tarmac, dark blue lake, and those ubiquitous stone formations seeking good luck:



The "good luck charm" stone formations:



Views ahead from the windshield as our Scorpio N traversed these scenic and smooth roads:



And the views from side window:



The road continued to be scenic:



We passed many such settlements, which were mostly tourist camps and cottages on the side of the lake, at multiple locations along the length of the massive lake:



Such landscapes are always around the corner when you are traveling in Ladakh:



I could not resist admiring and clicking this scenic lakeside road through the windshield:



Our Scorpio N totally at home in those rugged landscapes:



Lovely view of the Pangong Lake from one of the viewpoints on this road:



A parting shot of that memorable road, before we turned away from the lake and started driving on the vast barren deserts again:



And in now time, we were back on these off-road tracks, traversing the vast open lands:


And soon after driving on these dirt tracks, we crossed the historical village of Chushul, very close to the border of India and China, and very close to the site of the 1962 China war.

After crossing Chushul, we continued on those never-ending dirt tracks, and at times wondered if we were lost! There are just no maps, no signs or signposts, no network connectivity, nobody to ask directions, just absolutely nothing there. You just travel across the vast open land based on the intuition and knowledge of your driver. At times our driver was taking shortcuts which I could not believe even existed. This is an army area, with heavy presence of army, and we did see some army vehicles moving on those dirt tracks from time to time. But other than those army vehicles, there was just nothing there except for the vast open land and the never-ending dirt tracks. It was all a surreal experience.

And while still amazed by that experience, suddenly, while still on that dirt track, in what felt like the middle of nowhere, we suddenly saw a small building with the Indian Tricolor flying high, visible from the distance.

We went straight to that building, and it was the Rezang La War Memorial:



Indian flag flying high at Rezang La War Memorial:


Visiting this war memorial was an emotional experience. We were greeted by army personnel, who act as the tour guide there. They gave us a beautiful guided tour of the memorial, and told us the heroic stories of the 1962 China war and the significance of the place and the terrain surrounding it.

We heard the story of the 1962 China war, where 114 Indian soldiers became martyrs defending the very land we were standing on. We heard the stories of their bravery and courage, while standing there, right from the mouth of an army person who was pointing to the hills right in front of us and telling us what happened there. I had tears in my eyes. Luckily, I was wearing sunglasses and that helped me hide my tears and emotions while looking at that army person who was telling us the history of the 1962 war.

To understand the significance of the 1962 battle of Rezang La, and this war memorial, please allow me to quote a couple of paragraphs from Wikipedia entry on "Rezang La" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rezang_La).

Major-General Ian Cardozo writes in his book "Param Vir, Our Heroes in Battle":

When Rezang La was later revisited dead jawans were found in the trenches still holding on to their weapons... every single man of this company was found dead in his trench with several bullets or splinter wounds. The 2-inch mortar man died with a bomb still in his hand. The medical orderly had a syringe and bandage in his hands when the Chinese bullet hit him... Of the thousand mortar bombs with the defenders, all but seven had been fired and the rest were ready to be fired when the (mortar) section was overrun.

General T.N. Raina lauded:[19]

You rarely come across such example in the annals of world military history when braving such heavy odds, the men fought till the last bullet and the last man. Certainly, the Battle of Rezang La is such a shining example.

Hearing these stories from the army personnel there was a hair-raising and very emotional experience.

Ahir Dham, the main site in the war memorial, where the remains of the 114 martyrs were brought down from the hills (the war sites) 3 months after the war:



And the inscription here tells the story of the brave history:


It was both a humbling and a nerve-wrecking experience to visit this memorial. The memorial building has a movie theater, and there they show a film describing the bravery and courage of the 114 soldiers who sacrificed their lives defending our land from Chinese incursion in 1962. It is impossible to watch that film without having tears in your eyes.

In general, in Ladakh we saw the amazing work and sacrifices of Indian army. They work in the toughest and the harshest of the conditions there, selflessly work there 24x7, defending our country, and making lives of us civilians so much better. When we saw the work of army in Ladakh, we forgot our first world problems and the other mundane complaints of civilian lives. Every single moment in Ladakh we felt proud of being citizens of this great nation, and we felt proud of the great army we have and the amazing work of the army. This war memorial was the place where all those feeling came rushing back again. We left that place while still in an emotional roller-coaster, paying our respects to the Indian Army and the great heroes of the army!

As we continued our journey, we still had such dirt tracks for company:



We passed one small village with just a few houses (this was a tiny village called Tsaga, where we found a tiny restaurant that served us great food):



Another lovely dirt track with a nice mountain in the backdrop:



The roads became a bit better ahead, and as always, we had such nice landscapes all around:



Last 40km to Hanle was again a smooth tarmac; we had this nice single lane smooth road running across the desert and the hills, for the last 40km before Hanle:

[Dr.AD]

Surreal Night at Hanle

Hanle is a small village in Ladakh that is well known for the dark skies and the great views of the celestial objects including the Milky Way Galaxy. Hanle is India's first Dark Sky Preserve! Hanle is the home of Hanle observatory (Indian Astronomical Observatory), the tenth highest optical telescope in the world. This observatory is located atop a small hill in Hanle.

Our Scorpio N in Hanle just after we reached there (you can see Hanle Monastery in the background, on left):



The small hill with Hanle Observatory on top of it:


We drove up that hill to visit the Observatory. Unfortunately, that day the Observatory was closed due to some reasons. There was nobody there and it was all locked. Therefore, we could not visit it and had to be happy with the external views and landscapes from the top of the hill.

Hanle Observatory (which was closed for visitors that day):



Another view of the Observatory:



Although we were disappointed because the Observatory was closed, the views from the top of the hill were rewarding in themselves:



View of Hanle Monastery on a distant hill:



View of Hanle Village, nestled at the base with mountains on all sides:


Hanle is a very nondescript village with no buildings or architecture to talk about. It is just a flat land, with small single floor houses scattered all around, connected by small village roads. There are no proper hotels or resorts there. Many of these small houses serve as homestays, and that is where we stayed.

A typical scene from Hanle (a nondescript village with such small houses scattered around):



Surreal Night at Hanle:

Although we were disappointed in the daytime because the observatory was closed, there was nothing else to do in that village, and we had to just sit inside our basic homestay just passing time, we had more exciting experiences awaiting us in the night time. Hanle is most famous for its night sky. On a clear night, one can see Milky Way galaxy with naked eyes.

By the way, both at Pangong Lake and Hanle, electricity was available only from 7pm to 11pm. Hanle goes completely dark after 11pm. And we were told the sky looks most amazing after it gets all dark after 11pm.

Again, just like in Pangong Lake, it was freezing cold in Hanle after sunset. It was dark, cold, and windy in the night there. Not the friendliest of the conditions.

We were told that at a nearby homestay, they had a telescope and we could go there in the night to see the stars and planets through that telescope (for a small fee per person). In that freezing cold, at around 9:30pm, we went to that nearby homestay and joined a small group of people who had gathered there.

It was small house with a lot of open space and a big yard all around. There was that telescope arranged there in that open yard. There was one expert who was setting up that telescope and explaining things to the rest of us. And we (maybe a group of about 8 strangers) stood there, shivering in those freezing cold and windy conditions, moving around carefully without stumbling upon something in those pitch dark conditions, and looking up at the starry sky and listening to that expert. And there it was - we could clearly see the beautiful Milky Way Galaxy up above our head in the sky. It was an amazing sight.

The telescope operator-cum-expert aimed the telescope on various stars and planets, and one by one all of us put our eye to the telescope and viewed those objects. While we were waiting for our turn, we were listening to that expert filling in the darkness with his expert commentary. We could hardly see his face or anyone else's face. It was pitch dark. We could just hear voices. We could see nothing but the sky.

It was a surreal experience to be out there in the night, in that remote village in Ladakh, in that pitch dark and freezing condition, bracing the wind and the cold, out in the open yard of some nondescript house (and what felt like in the middle of nowhere), talking to complete strangers without even being able to see their faces in the dark, and looking up and admiring the starry sky and the Milky Way Galaxy! It is impossible to describe that experience in words. But the two hours or so we spent there in the night were really memorable and a great experience for sure.

Unfortunately I did not manage any decent photos of the sky or the Milky Way that I could share here. We saw the Milky Way with naked eyes, and it was wonderful, but somehow I failed to capture it well in my camera. The pitch dark and freezing cold night there was not the easiest of the environments to set the camera properly and do a proper photoshoot in the night. I still tried, but it did not work out for me.

Anyways, a small solace was that the telescope operator allowed us to put our mobile phone cameras to the eyepiece of his telescope, and capture whatever we could. This was no way close to proper astrophotography, but this was a fun experiment for amateurs like us anyways.

Here are a couple of photos from my wife's mobile phone camera through the eyepiece of the telescope.

Jupiter and its four moons:



The moon:


Whatever little time we spent in Hanle was memorable due to that surreal night sky observation experience.

[Dr.AD]

Scenic Roads and Roadside Experiences

Roads in Ladakh are an experience by themselves. They can change from smooth tarmac to complete off-road to back in no time. And regardless of the road surface, the views all around are always scenic and beautiful. There is no dull road in Ladakh. Every road we traveled on was exciting in one way or other.

However, one also needs a lot of patience and discipline while driving there. I really appreciated our driver in this trip, because he was extremely skilled in hill driving and also followed all rules, was always very disciplined, and was patient enough when required. There is a huge amount of road work going on everywhere in Ladakh. Amazing work is done by Border Roads Organization (BRO) in building such lovely roads through some of the most challenging terrains. And they are hard at continuing to build new roads. Everywhere we went, we saw road construction and road repair work by BRO in full swing. Many of the bad roads or the off-roads I mentioned above will be converted into smooth tarmac in next 2 years. And we were told than many of the smooth roads we traveled on were totally bad off-roads just 2 years ago. Thus, the roads and the road network there is evolving fast, and if I drive back there next year (which I hope to), I might see different road conditions than what I saw now.

Amazing work done by BRO in Ladakh, as this rightly says:


One price to pay for this massive road work in progress is that there are plenty of road closures, diversions, and other blockages on roads from time to time. This is where one needs patience to deal with these. Many times, we had to patiently wait for some temporary road work to get done and the road to open. I saw huge patience and discipline in the local taxi drivers about this, and that was indeed nice to see.

The smooth riverside road toward Nubra Valley (such riverside roads are very common in Ladakh, and for more than 50% of the total distance we covered, we were driving alongside some river):



Talking of riverside road, how about this riverside dirt road? (you can see that dirt track running parallel to the river; yes we took that track and actually drove on that for about an hour):



A temporary road blockage (for some road work) before we reached Khardung La:


This was just one of the many such road blocks we faced. In such cases, you just have to patiently wait. There is no escape and there is no other way around such blocks. You just wait, get out of the car, enjoy the views and the landscapes, and start again when the road opens. We did this routine several times. This is where one needs patience and flexibility in their schedules to allow such delays. You can never assume exact travel times in Ladakh. There are plenty of delays and obstructions, and the travel schedules there are usually flexible enough to allow these delays.

Another such delay (due to road work) in our drive from Nubra Valley to Pangong Lake:



And at some other location, when we were all alone on some total dirt track, that dirt track too was blocked for some time for this dumper to finish its work:


Our driver knew this routine well, and was very patient and we just waited at such times and moved on when the road was clear again. This delay varied from 10 minutes to 30 minutes in various such instances we faced.

Roadside Restaurants: We visited some unique roadside cafes and restaurants in our wanderings in Ladakh. Many of these restaurants are in the middle of nowhere, and they suddenly appear on the road as a pleasant surprise (when you are hungry and eagerly looking for a lunch break). Even on some really bad roads, where we were shocked by the road conditions, we were pleasantly surprised by a nice restaurant appearing suddenly. Many of these restaurants are on the sides of rivers and lakes, and offer great views too, in addition to nice local food.

For example, while we were traveling on that challenging off-road between Nubra and Pangong, when we crossed a river, we were greeted by this lovely riverside restaurant:



This bridge was the one we crossed just before seeing this restaurant (such small narrow blue bridges are another ubiquitous feature on Ladakh roads; you crisscross the rivers using these small bridges built by BRO):



Another garden restaurant near Diskit Village:



And look at this stunning location for a riverside restaurant, somewhere before we reached Pangong Lake:



The interiors of that restaurant (each table had such lovely river views):


In such restaurants, we (being vegetarians) usually tried vegetarian noodles (veg chowmein), veg momos, and veg fried rice. And everywhere it was made fresh, hot and delicious.

Veg chowmein, a meal that we enjoyed in many restaurants on Ladakh roads:



Another riverside road before we reached Hanle (this is Indus River near the road):



View of the Indus River from the side of that road:



Couple of more landscapes from the side of that road:







Indus River was our constant companion in most drives, and offered great views like these:


In the last leg of our road trip, from Hanle to Leh, we saw some of the best roads in Ladakh. The road from Hanle to Leh is not only a smooth tarmac, but it is also incredibly scenic, and runs alongside Indus River for almost the entire length of the road. We got beautiful views of Indus river at literally every corner of this road.

The amazing road from Hanle to Leh, that runs alongside Indus River:



And once in a while for a change, it moves away from the river but still has such nice mountains for company:



These gorgeous mountains provide lovely backdrops for this road:



A hilly section of this road:



These hills, somewhere on the side of this road, are called "Tiger Hills" because the texture on the hills looks like a Tiger skin:



Views of Indus River from this road:



Parting shot from this memorable road, which had such riverside views almost everywhere:

[Dr.AD]

Hotels and Homestays (that we stayed at)

We experienced a wide variety in our stay places in Ladakh. In Leh City, there are plenty of nice hotels including a couple of 5-star hotels. We stayed at two nice hotels in Leh, and we had great experience at both the places. However, once you go away from Leh, there are no good hotels or resorts in most of Ladakh. Especially at places like Pangong Lake and Hanle, there are just no proper hotels. You can only expect some basic accommodation at these places, in some makeshift tourist camps or cottages, or at some local homestays.

Our first stay in Leh, was at this "Bodhi Tree Hotel", which was quite nice":


This is a typical 4-star hotel that had nice and comfortable rooms, with all modern amenities and a nice bathroom with 24 hours hot water (the value of which you understand once you stay in basic places in Pangong and Hanle, where they claim to have hot water for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening, but which we never got in those freezing cold conditions). It also had a nice restaurant and we enjoyed the food there. Our rooms, on the back of this building, had a nice balcony with great views of the mountains and Leh City. For example, this photo of Leh Palace that I shared earlier was shot right from our room balcony at this Bodhi Tree Hotel.

A nice table for breakfast and morning tea with mountain views:


We spent 2 days at Bodhi Tree hotel and had a nice and comfortable stay there.

Layer we moved to Nubra Valley, where good accommodation can be rare. However, thankfully, and to our pleasant surprise, we found a lovely place there that exceeded all our expectations. We were booked into a "Sand Dunes Retreat" at Hunder, in Nubra Valley. And this place turned out to be just amazing.

The lovely small building of Sand Dunes Retreat at Hunder:



Beautiful flowers, typical of Nubra Valley, greeted us at the entry path to the small building:



Our room there was nice and comfortable, and had a nice spacious balcony with mountain views:



The hotel garden had plenty of flowers, including this sunflowers:



And it also had many apple trees, full of juicy red apples:


We had a fantastic stay at this Sand Dunes Retreat, before we moved on to Pangong Lake.

Pangong Lake was an interesting stay experience. As I mentioned earlier, here, there are no proper hotels or resorts. Almost all of the accommodation here is in makeshift camps or cottages that shut down and pack up in winter. Winter is quite harsh here, and there are no facilities to stay here in peak winter time. Even when we were there, in late September, it wad quite cold, and most places were preparing to shut down at the end of the season.

Further, there is no electricity or hot water here. Most of these makeshift cottages run their own diesel generator for about 4 hours a day (typically from 7pm to 11pm), and they rely on small solar heaters for hot water.

When we reached Pangong Lake, we saw many of these makeshift cottages all along the side of the lake, and all of those looked extremely basic. Thankfully, we were booked into what was probably the best of these basic accommodation choices there, something called "Snow Pine Cottages".

A welcoming sign to our cottages on the side of Pangong Lake:


Our cottages had an absolutely fantastic location, and were very scenic for sure. We certainly had the best of the location there.

Our cottages at the perfect location, right on the side of Pangong Lake:



Lovely cottages with nice parking place right in front of our room:



View of the bed and interiors of the cottage (it was a decent and comfortable space inside):



And view of the outside from the bed:



The cottages lit up in night (this electricity was available only from 7pm to 11pm; else it was pitch dark):


While these cottages were so scenic and offered great location and views, they were still quite basic. The biggest problem was that it was extremely cold and the cottages offered no thermal insulation. It was as cold inside the room as it was outside. And the electricity, available only from 7pm to 11pm was so weak that we were told they can not even run an electric kettle to heat up drinking water. There was no hot water available. In fact, the tap water was freezing cold, and it was painful to even wash hands in that freezing cold water. We were told the solar heaters operate for an hour or so, but during that time, all the solar heaters did was to bring the water temperature up from freezing cold to about room temperature cold.

But again, ours was still the best place there. Every other place there would be similar or even worse. There are just no permanent facilities there. Every place runs their own generator for electricity, for example. There is no fuel station in any nearby areas. It is quite challenging area to stay in for sure.

However, the location and the lake was so beautiful that we still fully enjoyed our time there, in spite of these challenges. It was a great experience to enjoy the views of the lake from our cottages. In fact, these challenges added a sense of adventure to our stay there, and it was all great fun in the end.

By the way, Pangong Lake is at 14,000 feet altitude, and staying at such high altitude can have its own challenges. There was an elderly group there staying at the same cottages, and we heard they needed oxygen in the night. We heard that many people need to be given oxygen in the night if they suffer from high altitude sickness and cold. Thankfully, both I and my wife handled both the high altitude and the cold fine during our entire week in Ladakh, and had no problems whatsoever.

Later when we moved on to Hanle, the basic theme continued. Hanle is also a remote village, and apart from the Observatory, there is nothing else there. There are just no decent hotels or resorts there. All you have are the simple homestays. Again, electricity is available only from 7pm to 11pm or so in most of these homestays. It was again freezing cold there in the night, and there was no hot water.

Our basic homestay in Hanle:


Although all these homestays are basic in Hanle, they offer lot of open space for stepping out in the night and viewing the amazing night skies. Our homestay had plenty of open space outside and also had a terrace, and it was a nice experience to come out after 11pm (when the entire village shuts down lights and it is pitch dark everywhere), and watch the night sky from there. Also, the hosts and the staff there were extremely friendly and helpful. Thus, although basic stay, we still enjoyed it. And that is what you expect no matter where you stay in Hanle. There are just no other options there.

And finally, when we came back to Leh again after our Ladakh explorations, this time we stayed in "Indus Valley Hotel", which was fantastic.

Indus Valley Hotel in Leh:


This is a proper 5 star hotel (or maybe 4.5 star to be more accurate) with great rooms with good views, all modern amenities including 24 hours hot water and a nice spacious bathroom. These amenities, which we take for granted in any other place of stay, felt so special after spending a few days in the basic places in the remote parts of Ladakh.

Our room in Indus Valley, which was nice and spacious:


The hotel had a nice restaurant and we enjoyed a delicious dinner buffet and also breakfast buffet there. Again, all these things, which we usually take for granted, felt like luxuries after our experiences at Pangong Lake and Hanle.

For example, this section of breakfast buffet, offering cheese and fruits, felt like a luxury after eating chowmein on roadside places for 4 days:


We enjoyed this wide variety in stay experiences, and whether a basic place or a nice hotel, every single stay was memorable and enjoyable in its own way!

[Dr.AD]

Epilogue

Time flies, and before we even realized it, the week was over and it was time for us to fly back to Bangalore. We had a great week in Ladakh, and when it was time to fly back, we were still overwhelmed by all the magical sights we saw, the landscapes we enjoyed and the experiences we had. We enjoyed every single moment we had in Ladakh. Ladakh has so much to offer that not a single moment was dull or boring. There was always something exciting to see and experience no matter where we were in Ladakh. And to top it all, the local people were very friendly, polite, and welcoming. We have only warm memories of our interaction with people of Ladakh.

By the way, one sign that we saw on a remote road in Ladakh, which resonated so well with us after our time there, was this:


This sign summarizes the proud feelings we had at the end of this trip.

With all these great memories, we bid goodbye to Ladakh (with a hope to drive back there soon, this time in my own car), as our aircraft took off from Leh to Mumbai (we had a connecting flight to Bangalore via Mumbai).

Just like while landing at Leh, even this take-off from Leh is quite special. First of all, the airport is at about 10,600 feet altitude. That is quite a high altitude for planes to land and take off at. To illustrate how challenging these take-offs and landing at such altitude are, consider this: Before landing at Mumbai (or any other sea level airport for that matter), when we were hovering around at about 11,000 feet altitude (roughly the same as Leh airport), we were still flying at speeds of more than 400km/h! And at Leh, at that same altitude, you need to be able to land and lift off. Quite tough for sure!

Another challenge is the terrain. As you sand at Leh airport tarmac, you see mountains on all sides. The aircraft must find a narrow channel though the mountain gaps to climb up and go above the high mountains immediately after take-off. I had specifically chosen a window seat to observe all this action.

Immediately after take-off, you see tall mountains very close to you, a sight that can be a bit scary and very unusual. You can literally feel the aircraft find its way through these tall mountains as it slowly gains altitude high enough to clear all the mountains. The sights from the aircraft window were amazing!

As the aircraft took off, I could see such aerial views of magical rivers and mountains again:



Now I could see the Sangam of Indus and Zanskar rivers, the exact same location which we had visited earlier in Leh:


And as the aircraft flew further south from Leh, it was flying over the great Himalayan Ranges, and we saw breathtaking views of the Himalayas from our window. The Himalayas are so tall that even at the cruising altitude of the aircraft, they appear so close and it was was a very awesome feeling for sure.

The Himalayan ranges, where the clouds and the snow-capped peaks mixing together beautifully:



A river flowing through the Himalayas:



A parting shot of the Himalayan Ranges, which looked so close to us, before the aircraft flew out to the plains of central India:



And finally, as we were landing at Mumbai, just as a dramatic change in the landscapes, we saw this beautiful rainbow over the lush green lands below:


And with that, let me end this rather long travelogue here. My apologies for the undue length of this travelogue, but I hope you enjoyed reading it.

That is all for now. Thank you very much for reading this!

[Sheel]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Kosfactor]

Thank you Dr for the beautiful travelogue, It sure was a treat to read. Love the photographs and special thanks for taking a camera along, you`ll cherish these images for a life time.

ScorpioN is indeed an impressive vehicle, those who take it into the hills would appreciate it even more.