Friday, 25 March 2016
One of the most beautiful places on earth - Pangong Tso Lake
I had gone to sleep with plans of heading out to Tso Moriri in the morning. But I woke up late, and by the time I left, it was already 10am. Too late to leave for Tso Moriri which is about 240 km from Leh. Change of plans: Ride to Pangong Tso which is only 160 km.I had read about the gorgeous Pangong on forums, seen it in travel shows and desired for it in daydreams and night.
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| The beauty of Pangong can't be summed up in words |
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| World's Third Highest Motorable Road |
The tea's on the house!
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| On the house hot tea! Thank you, Indian Army! |
That's correct, the Indian army provides everyone with free piping hot tea. For everything else, you have to pay. As we sat outside surveying the view from the top and having a few bisuits, a cute four-legged friend walked by wagging his tail and making the cutest puppy face I had ever seen. We gave him a few bisuits and posed with him. We asked the armymen about him, they told us his name was "Shintu". If only I were travelling in a car at that time, I would've got him back with me for sure.
Leaving a few biscuits and my heart with him, we headed down Changla towards the village of Lukung - starting point of Pangong. About 10 km outside of Lukung, we encountered this sign - 'First view of the world famous Pangong Lake'. There it was, a tiny blue speck behind the brown mountains. Soon we reached Lukung and 10 km further, it was Spangamik. My new friends had already booked a tent accomodation for themselves. I was more keen on getting myself a solid place instead of a flimsy tent.
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| That blue dot, yes, that one WAS a part of my bucket list |
Pangong is completely cut-off from the rest of the civilization. No mobile networks work there, and unlike some other areas of Ladakh, you don't have any STD booths either (read about the most important phone call I made back home from an STD booth in Rumtse here). In fact, the accommodation booking system works in a very unique way. When you book an accommodation with a travel agent in Leh, you get a receipt for your payment which you need to show when you reach Spangamik (the village next to Pangong with the highest number of tents). The office in Leh can't contact the tent owners in Spangamik and hence no reservation takes place as such; your receipt is your reservation. In case there's a confusion, there is no way for you to call back the travel agent back in Leh and clear out the confusion. However, somehow, like everything else in India, this system works.
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| This sign greets you at the entrance of the Pangong Lake |
Miss Padma (owner/caretaker/chef of Padma Guest House): "There is a room with 3 beds. We give out each bed for Rs. 150. So I can give you one bed and if later on someone else arrives, he will have the second bed in the same room. But if you want the entire room, I can give all 3 beds for Rs. 350."
Me: "Just take the damn money."
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| Padma Aunty of Padma Guest House. She's really sweet and I insist you stay there |
If possible, design your itinerary such that you visit Pangong on Full Moon
I returned to meet my couple friends. It was about 7 pm by then. The husband was exhausted after the journey since he wasn't used to riding such long distances, in such harsh conditions. He had gone to sleep by then. His wife and I decided to take a stroll around the lake and catch the sunset. After clicking a few photographs and surveying the area, we retired to our respective rooms.
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| The moon overlooking the Pangong Lake |
Since it's so far away from the civilization, there's no electricity either. They keep their generators running only 1.5 hours a day between 8-9.30 pm. That's the time when you're supposed to have your dinner, charge your phones and get done with all your important work that requires electricity. At 9.30pm, post dinner, I retired to my room.
Playing with fire
Between setting myself up on fire and buying fuel at 4 times the price, I'd take my chances with the second scenario.When you're at Pangong, you're 150 km away from the nearest petrol pump. Hence, over there, there's a higher chance of the fuel being stolen more than anything else. I keep my additional fuel in jars in my saddle bag. For safety, I had kept the saddle bag in my room. My room was a 10ft x 10ft rat hole with a single (sealed) window overlooking the lake. In short, once the door is shut, there's no ventilation, not that you'd need one in those frigid nights. As I lay down on the bed with a tiny candle lighting up the entire room, I looked at the ceiling made up of bamboo sticks. With the door tightly locked to keep myself warm, the entire room smelt of petrol.
Alarm bells went up in my head!
Petrol vapours + bamboo ceiling + tiny space + candle light = boom!
No, thanks! Pangong Lake's Padma Guest House is not the place I'd like to kill myself at. There was an old wooden bed outside in the corridor. I chained my saddle bag with the bed and left it outside at a chance. Between setting myself up on fire and buying fuel at 4 times the price, I'd take my chances with the second scenario.
It was about 10.15 pm. Looking at the yellow shimmering glow of the candle light falling on the bamboo ceiling, I finally drift asleep under the heavy woolen blankets.
Sunrise
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| Sunrise at Pangong |
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| Prayer flags playing with the wind |
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| Pangong Tso |
Post breakfast and after being totally bowled over by the beauty of the Pangong Lake, the couple and I started our ride back towards Leh. Just outside Lukung is an army base and a souvenir shop for those wanting to buy tees or coffee mugs as a memrobilias. I didn't buy any of it. For me, the photos and the memories were enough to romanticize the entire experience of visiting Pangong.
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| Blackbird at Pangong |
Even during my second trip to Pangong, I couldn't go to this spot due to bad weather and indecisive friends. But that's a story for another day.
On our way back to Leh, we again stopped at the Chang La top to meet Chintu but the furry fellow wasn't to be found. By evening, we reached Leh and decided to catch up for dinner.
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| Adorable little Shintu |
After a hot shower and a shave, I went to meet my friends. Just then I learnt that it was their first anniversary and they were in Leh to celebrate the same. I couldn't buy them dinner since we had dinner in their hotel room but I thought of getting a gift for them. After we parted, I went to a studio in the market and got a few large prints of their couples pictures which I had clicked at Chang La and Pangong Tso. I left it at their hotel's reception and asked the hotel manager to give it to them the next morning since it was late in the night.
New friends
But the night was not over yet. At least, not for me. I reached my hotel only to learn that there was no electricity. I was in the corridor waiting for the caretaker to arrange for a candle/torch for me. There were a bunch of foreigners in the next room. They saw me and asked if I were alone. "Yes, I am," I replied. "What will you do alone in this dark? Come join us. Join the party," they said.
There I was, in Leh, in drinking and laughing with eight Hebrew-speaking Israelis. They offered me drink and exchanged travel stories. Every few minutes they someone would say, [in Israeli accent] "Hey, speak in English. Our friend here won't understand what we're talking." Couple of minutes later, they would get back to Hebrew and I would have to ask someone what they're talking about. But someone how managed to communicate. The Hebrew-to-English translation lasted for about an hour till we got the electricity.
Next morning, I was richer by more than half a dozen new friends in Leh; some of them are in touch with me even today.
Bucket list: Visit Pangong Tso lake on bike. ✔
Interesting blog. I stayed in tents, they pitched on slightly elevated ground next to lake. Staying at Pangong lake was highlight of my Ladakh trip.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sapna. Yes, Pangong is truly a majestic place. The thing with tents is that unless you have pre-booked it from Manali/Leh, you don't really get a decent place, all the good ones next to the lake are always taken.
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