Ladakh - Part 3 - The journey to high passes

Continued From ...

Day 7 / 8 ( 13 Aug 2014 / 14 Aug 2014) - Leh - Turtuk - Leh (Nubra Valley)

We decided to make Leh as our base. There we planned to visit the attractions like Nubra Valey, Pangong Lake and Tso Moriri. While returning we planned to take the Manali route.

We added Hanle in the plan later at run time.

As the sun rays transformed the snowy peak from white to golden we started our journey for that day. We all were very excited as we have to cross the highest motorable road in the world. One more HVKayan Nilanjan Ray who flew from Bangalore met us in Leh.  His plan was to travel to Diskit and stay there for couple of days. So he joined us in our car. We spent good time together photographing the magnificent beauty of the nature around.

From Hotel Window

The target for the day was to reach Turtuk, which is a small village in Nubra Valley. Nubra Valley Known as Ldumra (the valley of flowers) is situated in the north of Leh. The average altitude of the valley is about 10,000 ft. above the sea level. The main attraction in this area is the Bactarian Camels (Shaggy double hump Camel) around sand dunes, Diskit. The name Nubra came from the Nubra river. The Nubra River is a tributary of the Shyok River, which flows through the Nubra region of Ladakh, into the Indus River to the east of Skardu, Pakistan. The Siachen Glacier melts into this river.

Turtuk is the northern most village in Indian territory. It is the last destination of Indian Territory towards western part of Nubra valley of ladakh and the only aesthetic Balty villages which became part of India after 1971, is situated in the K2 Mountains perched on a rock with an average elevation of 8890 ft. Beyond that village is PoK. Being at the lower altitude also known as "Apricot County of India" the area is rich in fruits and vegetable cultivation and possible to take two crops in a year.
 
The road map was...

Leh-Turtuk

As we started towards north of the city, the road windings took us on the hill top pretty quickly. We got to see the Shanti Stupa from there. This is a local attraction at Leh. The same hill on which we were on look out for moon rise the earlier day. The Shanti Stupa was seen from this point. It was an awesome sight.

Shanti Stupa

We continued drinking water all the time as we were gaining height rapidly. So far no problems to anyone. As we were climbing up and above, the mineral water bottles packed in Leh started crackling. Though our bodies were acclimatizing as we gain altitude, these packed bottles were finding the external pressure lesser than internal (as those were packed at lower altitude). This was fantastic phenomenon to understand the physics principles!

We could see Shanti Stupa and the part of Leh city from the hill tops. The patterns of the clouds, mountains, the roads and the green patches were very beautiful.

Leh from Top

Leh

Used the telescopic lens at times to get the snowy mountains in frame.

Ranges

Army and Air force presence in this area is pretty high. We saw Air Force planes flying above the mountain ranges at almost same altitude as of us. This is rare scenario when you see the flight flying below your level and you are in car.

Air Force

Some unique patterns

As we were creeping towards Khardung la, we saw small vegetation around the hills, the Blue flowers were adding to the beauty of the mountains. I was on continuous lookout for the wildlife and bird life in this area. The telescopic lens was deployed for the sole purpose of getting some snaps of the birds and animals in this area. As we were turning all over in these lovely mountain ranges, we saw a big squirrel like animal.. It was very shy and was on the move. Somehow got it in the frame to confirm that it was nothing but the famous Himalayan Marmot. We were so happy to see the first ever glimpse of the beautiful animal.

Himalayan Marmot

Few more miles after this, once gain we saw some movement in the stony patches. It was the camouflaged big bird walking and running around those rocks. It was the Snowcock. I am still confused if its Tibetian Snowcock or was it Himalayan Snowcock. Please confirm if you know this guy.

 Tibetan snowcock

The window photography continued all over. One thing that I realized here is that the journey is very enjoyable than the actual destination. The camera continued to take pics all the time. 

 Snowy Peaks

Road to Khardung la

Very soon we were at the highest motorable altitude. We were at Khardung la. It was like the dream come true. We really made it. We took break for about 10-15 minutes in there. Its advised that you should not spend long time in here. Walking few steps in here makes you tired and out of breathe. That too was experienced. Photography was also physically tiring. But the excitement of reaching here was so high that, could not resist myself walking few more steps to see the beauty of the surroundings. 18380 ft was the highest ever altitude we have ever touched.

Top of the world

At Khardung la

Amazing Feeling

From Khardung la

Lovely patterns

Snowy Peaks

Some More

As we climbed down, we took a breakfast break at Khalsar. 3 idiots movie has made such an impact to this area that most of the hotels were named after the character which Amir Khan played in that movie. The best food that we could get in there was Maggie and the momos. We had it in the Phunsuk Wangoodoo resort, which has 3 tables and 8 chairs and 2 items on the menu :)

From Phunsuk Wangoodoo Resort

Momos

Maggie

Around the human establishments, there are green patches and that attracts the birds as they get food around. I picked up the bigger lens to capture the bird life around. Clicked these shots in there. Black Redstart is the small bird which breeds in Ladakh and in winter its wide spread across the country. I had seen this bird in Pune at multiple occasions. Seeing it in its own land was a great experience!

Black Redstart Male

Black Redstart Female

Also clicked another Maggie lover, which is found all across the sub-continent. The morph was brighter than what we saw on plains though. 

House Sparrow Male

Post the breakfast we started our travel towards the Nubra valley. The Shyok River meets the Nubra or Siachan River to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and Karakoram Ranges. The Shyok river is a tributary of the Indus river. The average altitude of the valley is about 10,000 ft. Nubra is a high altitude cold desert with rare precipitation and scant vegetation except along river beds.

Nubra Valley

Shrubs - Rare vegetation

Reflections

As we moved towards Diskit, there were many birds in that area. That kept my bigger lens busy. We had to drop Nilanjan to his hotel which was bit inside from the main road. It has small water bodies and greenery where we saw many birds.

Diskit town in the valley has become the congregation center for people of the region. Diskit is the headquarters of the Nubra Valley and thus has lot of government offices with basic facilities. It is also connected by road with Leh. The 32 metre Maitreya Buddha statue is the landmark of Nubra Valley and is maintained by the Diskit Monastery.

Citrine Wagtail

Common Hoopoo

Diskit

35 meter statue of Maitreya Buddha

After seeing off Nilanjan, we started our journey to Turtuk. The next village that we saw was Hundar. It was the capital of the erstwhile Nubra kingdom in the 17th century, and is home to the Chamba Gompa. Between Hundar and Diskit lie several kilometres of sand dunes, and (two-humped) bactrian camels graze in the neighboring "forests" of seabuckthorn. We did not visit the Hundar city as we wanted to reach Turtuk as early as we can, so just took a photo far from the road.

Bactrian camel at Hunder

The sand dunes were just amazing. These dunes had great patterns created on it due to the blowing winds.

Hundar Sand Dunes

Here also we saw few of birds which were very much camouflaged and were difficult to spot. This was Chukar partridge. I had never seen this bird before. After reading on Wikipedia, I found that -

The Chukar is the National bird of Pakistan and its name is derived from chakor in Sanskrit. Literary mentions of it in the northern areas of the Indian subcontinent date back to the Rig Veda (c. 1700 BC). In North Indian and Pakistani culture, as well as in Indian mythology, the chukar sometimes symbolizes intense, and often unrequited, love. It is said to be in love with the moon and to gaze at it constantly. Because of their pugnacious behavior during the breeding season they are kept in some areas as fighting birds.

We were lucky to see it with its chicks, but not for photo..

Chukkar

Nubra Valley

The valley and the Shyok river was continuously on our left as we traveled towards Turtuk. But the patters on the mountains were continuously changing. The white desert, sand dunes and the greenery near the basement of hills was magical.

Nubra

Horses

Some more dunes

Near Turtuk, we saw many villagers. Most of them were running hotels or working in small farms. Some of the locals work for BRO. The children of the valley are very cute.

Dall of Turtuk

Pretty

The village of Turtuk which was unseen by tourists till 2010 is a virgin destination for people who seek peace and an interaction with a tribal community of Ladakh. The village is stuffed with apricot trees. The local tribe, Balti, follows its age old customs in their lifestyle and speak a language which is just spoken and not written. For tourists Turtuk offers serene camping sites with environment friendly infrastructure.

But the journey to Turtuk was bit hectic for me, so could not experience the walk around in this village. Just rested in evening and had a good night sleep post Alu - Gobi dinner. I thought may be a prior day of rest would have helped.

The hotel too had many apricot trees and the flowing water from the mountains. I had never tested apricots as sweet as those.

Apricots

Enjoying Dark Tea in Tented Accomodation

Next day, we decided to return to Leh.  Some of the shots were taken which were missed last time.

Some Roads

Beside Shyok River

Shyok River

Shaded slopes and Moon

Deserts above 12000 ft

Reflections

More Reflections

Nubra

While returning, at south Pullu the army / BRO folks asked us to wait there for an hour as the road construction work was in progress. At about 16,000 ft above we were stranded for more than an hour. We made use of it as a a small picnic. The location was awesome. There was a water stream flowing on one side of the road and yaks, horses were grazing along the shore. It was a awesome sight to get stuck though the walking and photography was stressful due to the oxygen level.

Once again we had to travel through the Khardung la Pass to reach Leh.  The excitement can be compared as seeing tiger in the wild. You would like it every time you cross it.

Khardung la traffic jam

Snow caps

Khardung la roads

B&W

Playing with shadows

2 caps

On the return as we came to Leh from Khardung la, the water bottles which we emptied in and the higher altitude had changed their shapes to something like these:

Reshaping

Day 8  (15 Aug 2014) - With the long trip to Turtuk and not much rest we decided to keep the next day for relaxing. We decided to do only couple of the attractions in Leh and keep something for the next time :)


The Leh district is the largest district of India, covering more than half the area of Jammu and Kashmir, of which it is the eastern part. It has many local attractions. But decided to do just three.

After having breakfast we decided to see the below attractions in Leh
1. Sindhu Ghat
2. Shey Monastery
3. Thikshey Monestry

Before starting from hotel, we had some discussions with the hotel owner and his brother. Got to take some clicks of his daughter.

Kiddo

Hotel Garden

Seeing Sindhu was high on agenda. The water was ice cold. This is also referred as Indus. This is the biggest river of the region.  Its estimated annual flow stands at around 207 km3 (50 cu mi), making it the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. All the other big rivers of the region are the tributaries of this river.

A Ghat was created on the bank of the river. This is highly documented river in Indian mythological stories. We visited here and took few snaps.

Sindhu Ghat

Rushing in Pakistan

We at Sindhu

Shey Palace or Shey Monastery is another attraction around Leh. As we reached there, I saw a big lake where couple of ducks were resting.

The Shey Monastery was also built in 1655 on the instructions of Deldon Namgyal, in the memory of his late father, Singay Namgyal, within the palace complex. The monastery is noted for its giant copper with gilded gold statue of a seated Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha is so named since Buddha was the sage (muni) of the Sakya people who resided in the Himalayan foothills and their capital was Kapilvastu. It is said to be the second largest such statue in Ladakh.

Couple

Shey Palace

All the monasteries in the region are built on hill tops. The road to reach the top has these praying wheels. People do rotate these wheels while going upstairs.

Road to Shey

As you go on the top there are many places from where you get to see the mesmerizing view of the lakes, mountains and cold deserts.

Lake View

The Monastery

The classic wooden carving on the front wall of the palace was very unique.

Tibeti Constructions

Greener part of Leh

The main Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the monastery is a 12 metres (39 ft) icon covering three floors of the monastery.

Shakyamuni Buddha statue

Some Artifacts in the monastery

Front View

Praying Stones

Thiksay Gompa -  We visited the other Monastery on the same road called as Thiksay Gompa. This is the biggest gompa of the region. The monastery is located at an altitude of 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) in the Indus Valley. It is a twelve-story complex and houses many items of Buddhist art such as stupas, statues, thangkas, wall paintings and swords. The monastery holds a huge 15 meter tall Maitreya Buddha. The buildings built in ascending manner on the hills are amazing to see.

Thiksay Gompa

Golden chorten spire of the palace

Road to Leh

On the way of climbing up the monastery, I saw this little reptile on the walkway. Still trying to identify its name.

Id?

Entrance

Large praying wheel in action

Front View

From the Terrace

Rituals

Door Handle

With small trip to these 3 places, we decided to come back to Leh and take some rest. On the way, we saw some stray dogs. The dogs in the region are so cute and are having such a thick fur that you can't believe these are stray dogs.

Doggie

In the evening, we decided to give some time for shopping. We walked down on the city streets to pick up few T shirts for us and for the kids. There are nice little shops along the road.

In one of the small shop in Leh when we were looking out for T-shirts and other shopping items, heard a voice of someone calling me. And to my surprise the old friend from Cygnus, Vikram Shinde, was there. Staying in Pune, we had not seen each other for years. Meeting old friend so far from the native place was an amazing feeling. And there we had a small XCygnus get-together!!

With Vikram

Post dinner in one of the nearby hotels we decided to go back to the hotel. We planned the next day and hit the bed dreaming about the most adorable place in here -  Pangong Tso!!

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