writing about this route was not a random thought...infact this is in continuation to my previous #traveldiary ....while we had finally decided to travel #ladakh .......it was very important for us to get acquainted to the weather there....it is always said and reality is that the oxygen count in the air is almost "nil" in leh so it is highly recommended "Just to stay and not to go anywhere in the first 48 Hrs" this acclimatization program is one of the very important and necessary program one should do before starting the travel program. After our acclimatization with the pleasant weather in #leh we had decided to travel towards #PangongTso. This route is #Leh – Shey – Karu [45 kms] ......#Karu – Shakti – Chang La [40 kms] .........#Chang La – Durbuk – Tangste [60 kms] ......#Tangste – Lukung – Spangmik – Pangong Tso [30 kms] :) :) so we started from leh city taking the road which goes towards Manali and started our journey ....on the way before hitting Karu we came across international school of Buddhist studies....after some small halts we have arrived to #SheyPalace and Monastery is only 15 km from the town of Leh. Shey Palace was built in 1665 by the King of Ladakh as his summer retreat house.......It is located in the vicinity of the village by the same name.......which used to be the capital of ancient Ladakh ....... after croissing the great palace we came to #Thiksay Monastery (Thiksay Gompa or Thiksay Monastery (also transliterated from Ladakhi as Tikse, Tiksey ) is a gompa(monastery) affiliated with the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located on top of a hill in Thiksey village, approximately 19 kilometers east of Leh in Ladakh, .......and now it was the time to visit #DrukPadmaLotusSchool (Druk Padma Lotus School) now popularly known as The Rancho School where some of the shooting of famous Amir khan movie #ThreeIdiots was performed......
crossing all such beautiful destinations we felt hungry and halted just before Karu Dist. had something quickly and moved ahead..... Karu had diversions for chang la and Rohtang Pass.....A huge army establishment at Karu is the prominent landmark for both the directions ....all vehicles crossing that territory have to pay the govt toll along with the promulgated forms with the details of respective vehicles along with the travelers details in three copies because of being the "high altitude area ".....further after fulfilling all the paper formalities we took the route for Chang la which further connects to Pangong Tso Via Lukung & Spangmik .
People plan for overnight stay at pangong Tso ....it has many reasonable options to stay along with stay in tents (as per the preference) starting from Tangste onwards ...because of the scarcity of time we have not chosen the option for an over night stay and preferred to come back to the hotel we were staying in #leh..... on the way further from karu we approached to #ChangLa via Shati a small town on the way..... and yes!!! it was cold indeed......and for the first time i felt actually low on the oxygen... :( but again seeing the beauty of changla it took me to some other world and my inquisitive mind started collecting information about the surroundings ......and it was found that .......this place is claimed to be the #ThirdHighestMotorableRoad in the world (which is either Merisimik La or Mana pass). The climb is very steep and requires a careful drive. The descent from Chang La towards Tangtse or Darbuk is again very steep. The Chang La is on the route to #PangongLake from #Leh. The name literally means "Pass towards the South" or "Pass in the South" it is situated at a height of at 17,590 ft.
further moving ahead in our desired direction via durbuk we reached the most beautiful Pangong Tso or popularly known as pangong lake and and as soon as i could touch the ground.....i mean the chili cold water..... it reminded me of two most popular scenes from two popular movies #JabTakHaiJaan & #ThreeIdiots :) :) (till than i was talking practical and realistic ...... :P ;) ) one for the dawn of love and the other one was for the confession......:) ;) i sat there !!! and thought ...........though i have not come here either to get into love or may be my love confession which happened long back has grown in me enough .......but i was really happy and felt eternity that my love was just beside me :) <3 ;* no wonder for me it turned out to be the most romantic destination and soon after that breeze felt very different........we loved sitting there....for hours and hours!! clicked pictures and helped others also to get their pictures clicked :P
Pangong Lake is also known by the name of Hollow Lake and appears as a clear symbol of nature craftsmanship. A high grassland lake situated at a height of 14,270 ft...a very unique feature of this lake is that is a closed #drainagebasin that retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water.It is 83 mi long and the only water marked disputed territory between India and china.The eastern end of the lake is in Tibet . During winter the lake freezes completely.... with the scorching cold wind in the month of may we could feel how critical it could be in winters :) but must be as beautiful what it looked than...:) or may be even better .......and just a feel of it and i was frozen till my last nail. ......and soon after this......after having something in the ranchos cafe at the lakeside we came back following the same route ......checking out from Karu.....that we have reached back safely.....:) :)
