Khardung La & Leh

My last full day in Ladakh, I decided to do some sports and visit the highest motorable pass. I booked a trip to Khardung La with a bicycle renting company. They drove me and 4 British the 40 km up to Khardung La - the height of the pass is in dispute. Indian measurement reaches 5602 m while GPS data confirms 5359 m.

Khardung La - 5602 m? 5359 m

The correct height does not matter when it comes to altitude sickness that can hit you here in less than 20 minutes. Signs advice tourists to cut their visit short. While the driver got our bikes from the car roof, we clicked some pictures and dressed warm for our trip downhill.

Don't stay too long!

No shortcut to heaven!

The road consisted of 15 km gravel road and 25 km asphalt. Especially, the first 7 km with the abyss right next to me I was asking myself, why I had this idea and clung to the breaks for dear life (more fearsome than the paragliding). After that the road got wider and I braver and I started to enjoy the drive downhill.

let's go downhill

The driver always kept a bit in front or behind us in case we needed assistance. At 1 pm, we stopped for lunch at a little joint.

lunch joint

The view from the bike was fantastic and took your breath away.

snow covered mountains in the back

On the road, we met a lot of oncoming traffic like jeeps, trucks and motor bikers. Most of them giving us thumps up - they probably thought we also rode the bicycle uphill. We also saw a group of donkeys making their way up and greeted the road workers with the Ladakhi "Julley" (hello).

After returning the bicycle, I started to explore the Leh Palace. From the old town a labyrinth of little streets, alleys and stairs led up to the former king's residence. The signs are even in German painted on the building walls. 

old town

chorten in old town

The Leh palace sits on top of the old town, mosque and bazaar and is constructed as a multi-leveled building. I climbed up all ten levels and enjoyed a fantastic view over the valley. It was just a bit sad that all the rooms were empty and unfurnished so it was difficult to imagine how the people lived there.

Entrance to Leh Palace

Demons guarding the entrance

Schematics of the Leh Palace

The palace resembles the Potala in Lhasa, Tibet, and was found in the 17th century and the royal family lived there until they lost their power and were carted off to Stok.

Probable former Palace Library 

View from Queen's quarters

View of the Leh Valley

On the Palace terrace

As I could not find a taxi to drive me up to the fort, I took the steep slope on foot for 15 minutes. The Tsemo Fort and Monastery were built in the 15th & 16th century and is widely seen from across Leh sitting on the top of Palace Ridge. 

Tsemo Fort

On the backside, a walkway of stone and stairs leads down and back to the Changspa Road and my hotel Kang Lha Chen.

The stay in Ladakh was fantastic and I definitely want to come back - there is still open trekking and rafting in the Zanskar Valley.

Pangong Lake

About 5 years ago, the Indian press covered a movie called "3 idiots" a lot, so when I returned to India, I bought the DVD and the book it is based on - "5 Point Someone". The movie is one part college movie and one part road trip from Delhi to Shimla, Ladakh and finally Pangong Lake. The scenery was fantastic, so I decided to see all those places in reality for once.

3 idiots Cafe at Pangong Lake

In the morning, I got a call telling me that one of the group going to Pangong Lake got sick and that the trip is cancelled. So I headed out in search of a different group to join for the tour. Luckily, after questioning around for half an hour, I found two Indian women who were scheduled to leave in an hour. I returned to the hotel, grabbed my daypack and off we went. The first leg of the trip was the same as to the Takthok Gompa - before leaving the main highway and heading to the pass, we stopped to have our permits checked - there are checkpoints all around.

On the way up to Chang La (5360 m), we often had to stop on the narrow mountain road as a military convoy with more than 50 trucks made its way down. We already could see them from far like ants coming down an anthill. The lake is a border with China which explains the vast military presence and the off-limits areas.

Pangong Lake Road

Chang La (5360 m)

In between the pass and the lake, there is a military post and a little village where we stopped for a small lunch - just some Maggi noodles. Unfortunately, the shop did not even have a toilet. Further down the road, there was a Marmot spot and we stopped to take some pictures with the animals who showed.

Marmot spot

Soon we got a first glimpse on the lake from afar. After a 6 hours drive, we finally made it to the lake after a road full of potholes and bumps.

first glimpse

southwest bank of Pangong Tso 

our group

Our driver wanted to called it a day and dump us at the first camp at the beginning of the lake. We took a look and listened to the prices (3000 INR per person). We wanted to see more of the lake and also shop a bit around to find other camp options. Reluctantly, he continued to drive us on - the good road ended about 1-2 km outside the first camp and some kilometers further we completely got off the road as no vehicles were allowed further. 

Nomadic Life Camp

We found three more camps at the lake and the Indian ladies negotiated the price and we got the tents for 1000 INR including dinner and breakfast. After unpacking, we enjoyed the view of the lake and some tea in front of the tents.

lake view

Before dinner, we walked at the bank for a while and then met other travelers in the big tent for dinner. As it became very cold, we retired early and snuggled up in our beds. The tents were quite luxurious with a big bed and an off-bathroom-tent with toilet and sink with running water.

my tent

my bed

my bathroom

The next morning, we enjoyed the lake, breakfast and a slow start to the day. We had to go back all the same way. Stopping less for taking pictures but again for lunch at the same spot. After we reminded our driver that we wanted to see the Thiksey Gompa and the Shey Palace - he started to drive recklessly and the car and the breaks were not really up to this. One of the Indian ladies complained about his driving and the it got a bit better. At the highway later, he returned to Formula One driving.

Thiksey Gompa

Arriving at Thiksey Gompa, we enjoyed the return to civilization - modern bathrooms and restaurant. I got myself a pancake with nutella and banana. Then we entered the monastery that was very big and  had several prayer halls. When the clock hit 4 o'clock, the monks got out and closed the doors to the prayer halls and taking their tea break. We waited 15-20 minutes for them to return, so we could visit the rest of the monastery.

Buddha statue

The monastery was founded at the beginning of the 15th century and the monks belong to the yellow-hat-order (Gelugpa). 

decoration

prayer book, bell and other utensils

The last stop before returning to Leh was Shey Palace. In the mid of the 17th century, a palace and monastery were built on a hill in Shey village. The palace serving as summer residence for the Ladhaki kings lies mostly in ruins now, while the monastery is still working. 

Shey Palace

Entrance

By 6:30 pm, we returned to Leh and the sun set for the night. I booked my flight to Srinagar for one of the following days as internet was finally working.

Palaces & Monasteries in Ladakh

My first day in Leh, I mainly stayed at the hotel being sick - must have eaten something wrong.

In the evening, I visited the Shanti Stupa that sits on the top of the hill. It was part of the Peace Pagoda project and built by a Japanese Buddhist in 1991. The stupa promotes peace, commemorates 2500 years of Buddhism and symbolizes the ties between the people of Japan and Ladakh.

Late the next morning, Carla (an Italian who stayed also at my hotel) and I left for a sightseeing tour of the Leh Valley. We started with the Stok Palace - the former royal family of Ladakh still lives at this palace from 1825. The palace houses the residence and a museum that showcases a lot of paraphernalia.

Stok Palace

View from Stok Palace

Three stupas

Buddha statue near Stok

Due to the lunch break, we travelled a lot further to Hemis Gompa - it's the biggest monastery in Ladakh. It also was the only place where we saw other tourists. We visited the museum that showed statues of Buddha and other deities, tools of a monks life and religious pictures. We walked around the prayer halls and found unfinished mandalas and instruments.

Hemis Gompa

Monk's Living quarters

Mani wheel wall

Big Prayer Hall

After the biggest monastery, we headed for a very small one - Takthok is carved into the rock and has a house structure in front of it. The name means rock-roof. The monastery was founded in the mid-16 century and is the only of Nyingma tradition in Ladakh. Currently, a new monastery is constructed just a few hundred meters down the road. The 55 monks who should live here, we haven't seen - just the key monk who opened the place for us.

Takthok Gompa

Stupas near Sakti village

Takthok was the turning point - we drove back through the valley and visited another monastery that we had already seen sitting majestically on a hill top - Chemrey Gompa. Belonging to the Drugba order, the monastery was founded in 1664 and has a big collection of valuable scriptures.

Chemrey Gompa

Entrance gate

We made two more stops before the sunset - Spituk Gompa - there we still found somebody who opened the monastery for us. At Matho Gompa we were cutting it to close and even for pictures, it got too dark.

Spituk Gompa

We finished the day off by dinner at Wonderland restaurant - while exiting I also met the Israelis again. As internet connection worked only some hours a day if at all and non-Kashmir mobiles did not function in the region, running into people in the tourist district is the easiest way of communication. We chatted a bit about our plans of going to Pangong Lake the next day.