I've always dreamt of visiting Ladakh & having a majestic snowfall experience. We planned our trip way in advance and had nearly everything booked and prepped. My trip was scheduled early March just when some COVID 19 cases started popping up & we freaked out.
The thought of traveling to Leh, switching two flights on our way, being in contact with thousands of people during our commute during this pandemic was scary. India had just popped up with one case at that time so we went ahead with our trip with some positive thoughts. However, on the day of our flight, the news was all over that Leh had two positive COVID cases detected. We read the news while holding onto our boarding pass, we knew it was going to be a difficult trip ahead....
As we landed at Leh Airport, we looked to see if the Airport staff was panicked & if they were taking any measures. We were scared & shivering as well as we landed early morning & the temperature was -5°c It was a complete switch from 35 degree to -5 for us. The airport staff was completely prepped to check the temperature of all the passengers, ensuring everyone wore a mask & gave a stamp on our hand & boarding pass as a green signal - we skimmed through there.
We went ahead happy & were excited to exit the Leh Airport & head to our pretty home stay. Little did we know, that it was just the start of a crazy trip with more obstacles ahead. But, at that moment, all we wanted was to get our thick jackets out & a boiling hot cup of coffee!
We chilled at our home stay for the entire day at Leh, it was freezing cold & definitely unbearable for a Mumbaikar - trust me. We had to take a day for ourselves to adapt to the atmosphere & weather including the altitude - we were at an altitude of 3,524 metres.
Our experience of visiting Changla Pass & Khardungla Pass was amazing & a life-time experience to cherish. It was SNOW all around - the mountains, the roadway, little houses, everything covered in snow. The best part about visiting Leh during the Winter - is you get to see fresh snow.
As we headed even higher - 5,359 m up to Khardungla Pass - the highest pass in India - we shivered & prayed to see a snowfall. Yes - it did snow. As soon as we reached the top, we hopped out of the bus & hurried to take pictures. As our hands froze, it started to turn numb as wind was blowing crazy & it was a mad snowfall! We hopped back into the bus with a bunch full of snowfall memories yet shivering amidst -15 ° c.
After this crazy snowfall experience, we headed to a home stay to a nearby village as Pangong was next up for the next day. However, most of the home stays around the town declined to let us stay. The home stay owners were pressurized by the locals to not allow tourists to stay over due to the COVID scare. We worried & did not know what we could do. It was difficult to even find restaurants or hotels to have a meal - as everything around was shut completely as there were anyway absolutely no tourists apart from us in Ladakh.
We somehow managed & got a place to stay the night - however, they would only agree after they asked us to visit a nearby hospital. We were checked for our pulse, temperature & asked several questions regarding our Travel History. They also checked our boarding pass & then let us go!
Our trip was an adventure & did not go as per how perfectly we thought it would, but - we indeed had a great time & knew we would return with a handful of memories. Our last stay was luxurious at one of the best hotels in Leh - Shanti Nest. The room had a heater to keep us warm, with a warm hot shower & excellent room service. Trust me, you don't get to see that around very often.
We somehow survived that cold night & pumped up next day for Pangong Lake. Pangong was beautiful & HUGE. It is a lake that is about 134 km long and extends from India to the Tibetan Region, China. The entire lake was frozen & white completely. It was as frozen as- you could just walk or jump over it - but of course, it was crazy cold.
We were excited to start our trip the next day - Leh market was up on our list. To our surprise, the market was pretty empty. Our tour guide mentioned, Leh was a little town & very different was any other town in India. He mentioned the people here were generally quite different & he said since it's a small little town - news here would spread like wild fire. He said everyone was scared about the COVID cases & took maximum precaution, hence, had shut their shops & had planned to keep it shut for the tourists for a while. The Market was definitely not like it had to be, with hardly anything opened - we headed to other tourist attractions thereafter.
We were the only tourists roaming around in the town of Leh. We hardly encountered any tourists & could only see locals. The locals have a very simple lifestyle & were very cheerful in nature. We enjoyed our day while visiting some famous tourist spots, monasteries & the School of Rancho! We loved our experience entirely - the roads were empty & smooth & almost every tourist attraction was empty & just to US!
The next day, we woke up with some really bad news - we were not able to get the permit to visit Pangong Lake, including Changla Pass & the highest pass in India - Khardungla Pass. That's not it, even Nubra Valley would be off the list as we needed the permit to pass from there. The locals had protested that no permits should be given to tourists for a while considering the little spike of COVID cases in India.
Can you imagine - Visiting Leh, Ladakh & not visiting Pangong Lake & Khardungla Pass? It would be like visiting Dubai & not seeing the Burj Khalifa - Impossible right?
We did not give up & our entire tour group planned on visiting the office to plead for a permit. They still did not agree but towards the end asked us to visit again in the evening. A ray of hope that was! We visited again & got the permit!
All geared up - we left for the perfect snow adventure road trip! We thought this was out last obstacle, had to be right? We got the permit - what other issues now? But wait for it.
Our road trip was a hilly way up to the mountains - it was great! It's always said - Ladakh is not about the destination, but about the road trip. We absolutely loved every bit of it. it was a 350 degree view of beautiful fresh white untouched snow. It was WINTER WONDERLAND for us!
