Leh'd with the family

Yes, I know! It's apparently the age of travellers and not the tourists, the generation of road trips with friends and not a normal vacation with the family. But old times had its own charm! And that, I did experience in this one week of getting Leh'd with the family.

The usual, restless me, craved for a vacation, and with all my friends busy studying for the entrances, I quite literally had to drag my family into a trip to Ladakh.

So we took a flight from New Delhi and landed at the utterly beautiful Leh Airport by 7 am. Waking up at 3 for a flight, I was prepared for feeling like a sleep deprived zombie on the loose, but the air in Leh had something magical about it. It was as if there was something magical in the air to compensate for the low oxygen levels that we would have to deal with.
We reached our hotel, Unpacked and were strictly informed to not exert or leave the hotel till the next day because of the health issues it may cause. The hotels in Leh, need a special mention here.. They are all wood decor, with beautiful intricate designs on all the doors and windows.
So, as instructed, we stayed in our beds till evening, the elders complaining of headaches and dizziness. But by the evening, our urges got the better of us and we left for the Leh Market. It was a beautiful street full of coloured flags, tibetan markets, all sorts of cafes. We roamed around for an hour or so and returned to our hotel for a beautiful evening with a ladakhi dance group who entertained us with various ladakhi dances.

The next day, our traveller waited for us at our hotel gate. I had booked the trip from 'shoes on loose' and it was a group trip. So we ended up being 12 people in the group. Initially, I was really disappointed because I usually like doing trips in my way but I was up for a totally different experience and a few new friends for life. The day had war memorial,  magnetic Hill, confluence of zanskar & Indus river, rafting in stock for us.

I had been waiting for this day. Today was the day when we travel through the world's highest motorable road, THE KHARDUNGLA PASS. As the altitude kept increasing, everyone's symptoms kept worsening. Someone was dizzy, someone had a headache, someone was nauseatic... But the excitement, the thrill, the awe, not once, left a single person. Every few kms the landscape kept changing miraculously. From stony mountains to glimpses of snow to a blanket of pure white snow. We were all mesmerized. We were on our way to nubra Valley and stopped on our way to visit the deskit monastery which was a beautiful gompa with a mesmerizing view of the valley and a large budhha statue. From there we visited the hundar village to see the sand dunes and double humped camels. Finally we retired to our camps in nubra Valley. We had a bonfire session, and for the first time, I realised how just a normal conversation over a fire could make new relationships.

We woke up the next day to a beautiful morning. The morning tea in Our camps set in greenery, felt even more energising because of the nature surrounding us. We had our breakfast and left for pangong. It was a long journey (6 hours). I would be lying if I say the road was just beautiful. It was also one of the scariest roads I'd been on (I yet had to come back to leh). We stopped on our way near the river for a while and resumed the journey. As pangong started coming into picture, everyone just stared at it in awe. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. Painted like a canvas in different shades of blue, the beautiful lake stood there in between the huge mountains. We stopped for a few pictures, reached our camps. Decided to go click a few more pictures, but giving in to the cold, everyone had their supper, played a few games and just retired for the night

The next day we woke up early to visit the lake and get the most amazing pictures. Then we left for Leh. On the way came the changala pass.. The 2nd highest road of the world. The view as expected was breathtaking. But the route was equally scary. The road was broken at a few areas, had 'landscape prone area' boards every few kms. This, anyway, couldn't scare our driver, who, being used to driving on the route twice a week, kept driving at his usual speed while we were left there with sweaty palms even though the temp wasn't more than 0°c. On our way back, we visited the rancho school, shey Palace (converted into yet another monastery) and the shanti stupa before finally retiring into our hotel in leh

Next day we visited the stok Palace (which to my relief wasn't turned into a monastery). It boasted of the ladakhi culture, the Royal lineage. The Palace didn't look like the grand palaces from Rajasthan or the other northern states of India but definitely oozed out royalty. We talked to the locals in the village, visited a house or two just to have a taste of the local lifestyle. Later in the evening, we explored the local cafes, the local culture, the local food, and the market.

Next day, with a heavy heart, we took our bags and left for the airport by 6 in the morning. From 0°c to 45°c within 1 hour and 20 min, we were back to our normal routine life, but rejuvenated.