Leh to Pangong Lake

Pangong Lake - A Panoramic View

Pangong Lake: A Mesmerizing Experience

Pangong Tso (Tso means lake in Tibetan), literally meaning "enchanted lake" is definitely the most beautiful lake located in Ladakh. 60% of this lake is in Tibet and the Line of Actual Control between India and China passes through the lake. Even though a border point, this lake still attracts tourists from all over the globe. A trip to Ladakh is incomplete without a visit to this beautiful lake.

Pangong Tso

Monastery on the way to Pangong

And for good reason it was also on our list of must see places in Ladakh. Though it is suggested by many to complete the trip in two days we decided to do it in one day since we were short on time. We started off by booking the Xylo from the Leh market at Yak Travels @ Rs 7000. He offered us a discount of Rs 1600 for booking two cars; the other one we booked on behalf of the other 7 members in our YHAI mountain biking group.

Our group comprised of – Me, Akhilesh, Meet, Mili, Hamza, Mamta & Vinod.

As confirmed by the travels guy Dorje, our car arrived at 6 AM and we all settled down in the car and then started off for Pangong. The driver introduced himself as Akhtar. Akhilesh took the seat next to the driver and from the onset started requesting the driver to let him drive. Finally after stiff resistance, the driver obliged and let Akhilesh drive till Karu which was our breakfast point and also the junction from where the road bifurcates into two; one going towards Pangong and the other going towards Manali. 

After a bumpy ride to say the least we finally reached Karu and since it was quite early in the morning, there were not many shops open. We managed to find one breakfast joint and the only item on the menu was aloo parathas apart from tea or coffee. And with 7 hungry souls there was bo option but to go for the parathas. The parathas though turned out to be quite tasty unlike the experience that we had in the last week or so in Ladakh. We had to fill up a visitor form to be submitted at the TCP at Karu. This is introduced from this year onward post the requirement to have inner line permits have been abolished. While filling up the form we came to know that the driver's real name is Nurboo :)

Winding road towards Chang La pass

Off we were after breakfast. The road initially was passing through small villages and then started the climb up the mighty Changla pass. The Chang La pass at 17,688 ft is a high mountain pass in Ladakh. It is the third highest motorable road in the world. To put it in simple words, most places in Ladakh can be easily prefixed with adjectives such as highest, coldest or ONLY and ranked among the top three in the world or at least in India. Such is the might of Ladakh. The road up to Changla was winding through the mountains with rock solid mountains on one side and a deep valley on the other The road itself was bumpy at times and sitting in the last seat was a roller coaster ride inside the Xylo. 

Snow covered mountains near Chang La Pass

Sun beating down on the snow capped mountains

Saath Ajoobe :)

Welcome by Indian Army

Followed by warnings :)

As we got closer to the Changla pass, the air started getting chillier and thinner. The sudden drop in oxygen levels was quite noticeable to everyone. But everyone was fine as we were already acclimatized to Ladakh weather having spent a week in Ladakh. After about a hour of drive we finally reached Changla. It was covered with snow and there were clear instructions put up by the army that we should not spend more than 20 minutes. We clicked lots of pics to obviously upload on social networking sites to imply that we managed to scale the third highest motor able road in the road. There was an army post and a souvenir shop at the Changla. There is also a shrine of "Changla Baba", supposedly after whom the place is named.There was a makeshift bonfire lit by the army at the Chang La top just in case anyone feels too chilly and it can help tourists feel better. We also obviously took the benefits of the bonfire and made the most of it :)

Saath Ajoobe @ Chang La Top

Bonfire @ Chang La

Third Highest Motorable Road in the World - Conquered !!

Changla Baba Shrine

We left from the Changla pass and moved towards Pangong. On the way we took a break at Tangtse to have tea. This also gave us an opportunity to soak our body in the sunlight since we were quite frozen at Changla. We came across an alarming signboard; it is said that only in Ladakh can a man sitting in the sun with his feet in the shade suffer from sunstroke and frostbite at the same time!. I partly experienced this as my shoes were wet from the walk in the ice at Changla and the heat at Tangste. The route between Changla and Tangste was very beautiful and scenic. We experienced a wide range of changing vistas. I am short on words to describe the same and will let the pictures below do the talking !!

Changing vistas between Changla & Tangste

Changing vistas between Changla & Tangste

Changing vistas between Changla & Tangste

Changing vistas between Changla & Tangste

Moving ahead from Tangste we came across a place which inhabitants a mammal named “Himalayan Marmot”. The Himalayan marmot is found in the the Himalayan regions ranging in the elevation from 980 to 14760 ft. They can be seen in a wide arc ranging from Ladakh in northern India eastwards across the higher reaches of the Himalayas and much of Tibet to Nepal, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh in the north eastern India. They are about the size of a large house cat, and live in colonies. Marmota himalayana is closely related to the woodchuck, the hoary marmot and the yellow bellied marmot. It has a dark chocolate brown coat with contrasting yellow patches on its face and chest. We tried feeding the mammal and took some pics.

Habitat of the Himalayan Marmot

Himalayan Marmot

Rightly said by someone that every turn that you take while traveling in Ladakh is a photo frame. Every picture that you click can virtually become your desktop wallpaper. Just when we thought we had seen enough we came across this amazing landscape which just left us awestruck. Just try to imagine the scene, a long winding road, lush green meadows, a pale greenish blue pond, black, white & brown wild horses grazing, brown mountains and clear blue sky.

Stop Imagining & see for yourself !!

We moved ahead from there and after about half an hour we got the first glimpse of the Pangong lake. It was an eye catching shade of blue water seen through surrounding brown and black mountains.

First glimpse of Pangong Lake !!

We finally reached the lake and the driver parked the car near the many stalls by the lake having the posters of Aamir Khan to signify the importance the place has gathered post the climax of the movie “3 Idiots” was shot here.

Pangong Tso with black mountains in the background

Pangong Tso with brown mountains in the background

The many hues of Pangong Tso

Prayer flags @ Pangong Tso

We went down to the lake and tried dipping our hands and legs into the water. The water was really chilled. Some of us even tried tasting the water. Unlike all lakes where the water is fresh here the water was salty. Well that’s the USP of the lake; it is a saline water lake located at an altitude of 14K feet. The location of the lake is also in disputed territory as the line of actual control passes through the lake. Approximately 60 % of the lake falls in Tibet and the rest in India territory. It is approximately 130 km long and is 5 km long at its widest point. There is also an army post at the start of the lake and there is continuous patrolling on the lake.

Strike a pose !!

Saath Ajoobe @ Pangong

We took a lot of pics with the lake in the background, with the Ladakhi prayer flags, the brown mountains in the background and the snow capped peaks. Witnessed the flight of the sea gulls to be amazed at the view. The view of the lake was amazing with numerous hues of blue, brown mountains in the background and the clear clue sky above. Sat down on the banks of the lake and admired the serene and calm atmosphere around the lake.

Just then we got a signal from our driver Nurboo that we had to move some distance ahead to the actual shooting point where the climax of the move “3 Idiots” was shot now famously named "Rancho" point :) (How innovative). 

After about 10 mins of drive we reached the point and could see the actual place at some distance down the lake. That is when Nurboo surprised us by taking us off roading and took us towards the lake. There was virtually no road. We just followed the trail of the earlier vehicles. We finally reached the spot and got off the car to start walking on the sand to witness the actual place. The view was amazing.

"Rancho" point from the adjoining cliff

Sea gull @ Pangong

Took loads of pics and by then we ran out of battery in our DSLR. The rest of the pics were then taken on mobile and point & shoot cameras.

"Rancho" point

We left the spot though very reluctantly as it would have got very late to reach back to Leh. We just couldn't get enough of the view. We stopped at one of the stalls for lunch. The food was just about fine and edible. We started pulling Nurboo’s legs by poking fun at him. To get back us at he made up a story that it as actually him who suggested this place to Aamir Khan to shoot the climax.

"Rancho" point - Another view

Pangong Lake

Post lunch we started back for Leh. This time however we didn't stop at Chang La as it was pretty late and we had to cross the mountains before sunset. We finally reached Leh after a hectic and tiresome ride but with memories to last a lifetime.

To round it off, we all had dinner together and revisited the entire day, the ride, the vistas and of course the lake. Lets see when we shall get the opportunity to visit the Pangong again. Next time probably will plan for a 2 day trip with an overnight stay by the lake to experience the sunset and sunrise at the lake :)

Many more memoirs to share ……. Sachin