My job is to
recommend great travel ideas but not necessarily insist you experience these.
But I will make an exception here: you must visit Ladakh, by road. And ideally,
drive yourself. Take four wheels or two, but make sure you go. Sooner
than later. You will not regret putting off other stuff for this.
The best part of
the drive starts from Manali - every passing mile will tell you more of what
heaven might be like. You will literally be at the top of the motorable world -
and never want to come back down. Pack your car, and be off without much
thought.
This route has
been branded Kunzum Route K13; complete driving directions and attractions have
been covered in it. For a detailed version of the same, you can get a copy of
the Kunzum Travel List at http://kunzum.com/travellist.
A BRIEF
DISTANCE / TIME CHART
Leg 1: Delhi - Manali: 578 kms (361 miles) / 11:38 hrs
Leg 2: Manali - Jispa: 144 kms (90 miles) / 6:44 hrs
Leg 3: Jispa - Leh: 366 kms (219 miles) / 11:15 hrs
Leg 4: Leh - Pangong Tso (Lake) and
back: 160 kms (100 miles) / 4:35 hrs one way
Leg 5: Leh - Tso Moriri with detour to
Tso Kar and back
Driving
Distance / Time from Leh - Tso Moriri with detour to Tso Kar: 301 kms (188
miles) / 7:00 hrs
Driving
Distance / Time from Tso Moriri - Leh direct: 221 kms (138 miles) / 4:40 hrs
Leg 6: From Leh to Kyagar in Nubra Valley and back: 152 kms (95 miles) / 6:00 hrs one way
Leg 7: Leh to Padum, Zanskar: 470 kms (294 miles) / 19:30 hrs
(You will need a
night halt at Kargil; Padum is 240 kms (150 miles) from Kargil and takes 12 hours)
Leg 8: Padum, Zanskar - Delhi via
Srinagar and Jammu: 1391 kms (869 miles) / 39:45 hrs
From Zanskar, you can either (a)
drive back to Leh and catch a flight; (b) drive back to Leh and onward to
Manali and Delhi; (c) go to Srinagar and catch a flight; (d) go to Srinagar and
continue driving all the way back. Given here is the last option - requiring
you to take at least two night halts at Kargil and Srinagar. Some useful
distances: Kargil - Sonamarg: 120 kms (75 miles), 5:30
hrs; Sonamarg - Srinagar: 86
kms (54 miles), 2:30 hrs; Srinagar - Jammu: 302
kms (189 miles), 7:53 hrs; Jammu - Delhi: 643
kms (402 miles), 11:52 hrs
Deepak Tal (on the Jispa - Leh road)
A little after
Jispa, you come to a small lake called the Deepak Tal. Hozer and his wife run a
shack here - you will see more like these run by entrepreneurs who set up shop
during summers to cater to travellers. They also offer a small yellow boat for
a ride should you want one. You can also sleep in any of these for the night
for a nominal amount.
Suraj Tal (on the Jispa - Leh road)
Go beyond
Deepak Tal and you come across another lake - the Suraj Tal. You know you are
in very high altitude country - the same lake has been seen with clear waters
and frozen over in the summer month of June over successive seasons.
The Baralachla Pass (on the Jispa - Leh
road)
The Baralachla
(La means Pass) is the first very high altitude pass you will cross on this
route - it is 16500 feet high. Like all high passes, be careful lest you be hit
by altitude sickness - stop for a few minutes and move on. Traffic jams are not
uncommon here. Again, this pass can be clear or snow bound even in the summers.
Sarchu is an
option for a night halt between Jispa and Leh. It has a beautiful landscape,
but it is at a high altitude, and it’s always very cold and windy here - many a
traveller is known to be hit by altitude sickness at this point. Recommended one
starts early from Jispa to reach Leh in good time on the same day. This is also
where you cross into Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh.
Gata
Loops (on the Jispa - Leh road)
They are popularly called the Jalebi bends, but
officially called the Gata Loops. They take you for a spin, curving sharply 21
times taking you up from 13,780 feet to 15,308 feet over 10 kms. Enjoy the
joyride.
Pang
(on the Jispa - Leh road)
When Jack climbed his beanstalk, did he meet the
giant in Pang? Pang's landscape is dotted with these gigantic needles, things
the giant's wife would stitch with. These conical rock structures could well
be colossal anthills, if only ants could survive the harsh climate. Geologists
are not quite sure of the origins of these odd obelisks.
The More (pronounced 'mo-ray') Plains after Pang are
a plateau to be seen to be believed. They are endless. Well, 50 km of flatlands
at an elevation of 15,000 feet deserves that epithet.¬ And they are flat, for
miles after miles, till they run into the surrounding mountains. What was the
creator thinking when He made all this? Did He expect Yetis to play football
here? For company, you can rely on hundreds of goats, sheep and yaks grazing on
the little tufts of grass; they belong to the nomadic Changpa clan. Just be
careful your car doesn’t get stuck; the sand track is suspect.
The
Taglangla Pass (on the Jispa - Leh road)
The Taglangla Pass between Pang and Leh is proud to
be to be the world's second highest motorable road at 17,582 feet, after
Khardung La (18,380 feet). Feel good to be standing at almost the top of the
world. After this the road goes all the way downhill, with the landscape
getting greener as you approach Leh.
Brown-Headed
Gulls flying over the Pangong Tso (Lake)
As you descend the road to Pangong Tso, an endless
blue awaits guarded by mountains on either side. The welcome party comprises
Brown-Headed Gulls, the Larus Brunnicephalus, hovering about on the most
exquisite lake you would have ever seen.¬ The gulls in flight conjure up images
of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. This species flies pretty low over the water
in direct purposeful flight, with low wing beat and frequent gliding. They
might go for the occasional biscuit but their regular diet is much healthier,
comprising fish, insects, slugs and green shoots. You find these gulls at Tso
Moriri and Tso Kar too in the summer, and westwards along the Indus valley
during their spring and autumn migrations.
Eons
ago, they say, a devil drank up all of the overflowing Tso Kar. A gurgle in the
stomach suggested he had drunk more than he should have. So he spluttered and
sprayed water all over. Some flew towards Korzok, forming Tso Moriri. Some
splashed in another direction, creating Starspapukh and Regul Tso. Regul is the
local name for Kar, an L-shaped saline lake at 15,367 feet (4,684 metres). The
lake covers only about 40 square km (16 square miles) but offers unique
attractions. Like one of the few pairs of the Black-Necked Cranes I was lucky
to spot, though from afar. Or the Kiang, the Tibetan Wild Ass.
Zanskar:
Not easy to drive to
The road from Kargil to Zanskar is one of the most
trying you will drive on. It is either pot-holed, or just a rocky track. When I
heard of the soreness inducing drive, I almost turned back from Kargil; on
hindsight, I am glad that a strong will prevailed! Zanskar is snowed under for
eight months of the year. Its only link to the world is the bumpy 240 kms (150
miles) track to Kargil. The landscape is beautiful and ever-changing. But you
will barely see a soul on the way, except at some rural settlements. You cannot
drive in the winters; your most adventurous option is a trek on the frozen
Zanskar river. Along the way, you will meet bubbly children and beautiful women
- all happy to chat. Most speak local dialects though - but smiles will convey
a lot. Move on now, you have a long way to go.
Leh and
the Buddhist Circuit of Ladakh
The monasteries and other Buddhist establishments of
Ladakh, mostly around Leh, can touch even the atheists. Most of these are
situated in and around Leh - these will be covered in separate posts.
Travel
Tips for Ladakh
1.
Best
time to go is between June – September but you can never be sure of the weather
and roads. In winters, temperatures drop to below -30 degrees Celsius.
2.
Always
travel with extra woolens even in the summers.
3.
Ladakh
has a very gentle society – respect the locals and their culture.
4.
Daily
flights go to Leh. You can even drive up from Manali or Srinagar; it takes two
days to Leh from these places. Both drives are exceptionally beautiful.
5.
Do
set aside at least 10 days to experience Ladakh – even then you will leave a
lot out.
6.
Mobiles
barely work anywhere except in Leh.
7.
You
may need a permit to visit certain places; these can be easily arranged for in
Leh.
– By Ajay Jain, a travel writer
and photographer. He publishes the Kunzum Travel Mag
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