We woke up in Upshi to an empty can of fuel, which had burst open last night God knows why. Still it was a good day as today we were heading to Pangong Tso. Though I am not a big fan of water bodies but I was genuinely excited to see this particular one.
It was 7 AM and both of us were packed and ready to leave our rooms. We went down and did a quick inspection of the bikes as usual. Both of our bikes were running low on fuel and lucky for us there was a filling station in Karu which is just 2 kilometers from Upshi. So, we refueled and went on our way to Pangong. The roads were nice and went through a small village. There were so many diversions due to construction of roads that we eventually got lost. We would have never been able to realize that we were actually lost if we wouldn't have found ourselves at a DEAD END.
We rode back almost 5 kilometers to get back on track. We quickly began climbing as we approached the World's Second Highest Motorable road, Chang La. The views were as breathtaking as was the atmosphere. I felt out of breath and had to drink a lot of water to feel normal again. We did not spend a lot of time there as were not actually that tired. As we descend after the Chang la pass we encounter a couple of water streams which were challenging. A bus got stuck in one of the water streams which added to the difficulty. Immediately after the streams there was this huge frozen lake to our right with a massive mountain in the background. Swear to God it was straight out of one of those calendars we used to have in our houses when we were young (90's).
Then the quality of the roads took a U-turn and we found ourselves covered in sand. We were constantly riding in the mud and the roads were getting unpredictable. The thought that I was going to see pangong lake in a while was what kept me going plus the scenic route.
It would have been due to my level of excitement or the sand on the road, my bike slipped as soon I got a glimpse of the lake. Oh my God, it looked so magical and blue.
I couldn't stop swearing and had tears of joy in my eyes. I hugged my friend and took some dope pictures of the lake.
It is the biggest achievement of my life till date. I wouldn't trade the experience for a million dollars. I felt at peace for the first time in a long time. We spent the rest of the evening by the lake and then found a tent to spend the night under the sea of stars.
I'll leave you guys here now to stare at the pictures and make your own plans.
Will tell you in the next post about how we found ourselves on top of the world. Adios !!