My last updates have been short of pics, but the fact is the more difficult the trail, the less the pics.
but things will change now.
The road initially was very good. Again, this means less pics, as the focus is on reaching.
With time not being on our side we raced towards Tso Moriri. We wanted to reach early, because the decision was that if we did not like the options to stay there, we will drive back to Leh...
Thanks to the excellent roads we were at Mahe bridge at 12:45pm.
Submitted the permits and it was time to move forward.
The road was good, but we had a big scare.
As I am driving along at around 40-50kmph, suddenly there is rainfall ahead. Rainfall of rocks i.e.
Few large stones tumbled down.. I hit the brakes hard and with a screech stopped few meters before the rocks.
Labourers working came running to clear the rocks.
Apparently this section was seeing continuous rock fall due to rains, and the workers were there to fix things.
But that was some save!
Did not take many pics initially, except for the Yaks
Finally around 1:20pm we hit the 10th pass of our journey. The Namashang La.
Compared to the earlier ones, it was tame, and the road was good
I knew it will not last
The question was not "if the road will go bad" but "when will the road go bad.
The answer to that when is "When scenery turns awesome, the road goes real real bad".
For our share of awesome scenery, we had the Kiagar Tso, the small lake, which in some ways is more magical than the great Tso Moriri
And along the magical lake came magical roads!
But you have a choice here.
Do you follow the road, which actually is all sharp rocks dumped onto the track so that it does not turn to sand, or do you follow the sandy tractor trails on the mountain, a few feet away from the main track.
The taxis were taking the road as the sand was deep, but we did not think twice. It was onto the sand.
For now, no stopping at Kiagar Tso, we will see it on our way back, for now it was time for Tso Moriri.
The sandy tracks also meant serious 4x4 usage
The white elephant, at home in the sand
Though we were in a hurry, the lake was too magical, and I decided to stop more and click
More lake
Some wild horses.. and cows too, but not wild I am sure
The "road had started snaking up the mountain, and so it was end of our "sand track".
2 options, take the road, or go straight up the shortcut.
Well answer was obvious.
Goodye Kiagar Tso for now
after taking the shortcuts up the mountains, we came to more plans like place.
This will also have to wait till we come back, for now the lake was the target, and by my calculations it was just a few kms away!
Now plains is a misleading name, the track was pretty bumpy.
After the plains came the madness of the same sharp rocks. Driving so much in ladakh makes you hate these type of roads. Atleast your teeth are not falling out!
Now it was drive drive drive till you see the Tso
Soon the lake arrived, and we decided to first go and eat, No photography till hunger is satiated.
Korzok looked like a ghost town. Dirty places to stay, and some tents. It did not take long to decide that we will go back today.
In hindsight, if we had not gone to Pangong till yet,we may have stayed, but compared to pangong, Tso Moriri fails badly. Don't get me wrong, its lovely in its own right, but when you spend 2 days at Pangong, every other lake seems wanting.
Coming back to topic of eating, well the food was seriously lousy, and curd was made of goat milk. Really smelly stuff. If you want to participate in a reality show where they make you eat "things", you can practice with Goat milk curd.
Meal done(albeit a bad one), we headed to our spot by the lake, and decided to spend some time here, and also taste and see if water was as salty as Pangong..
TO BE CONT..........