Ladakh, a Heaven on Earth

A Nightmare but still worth it
Ladakh, a Heaven on Earth

It’s human nature to dream, so is the nature to do what few have done and is considered as a “foolish thing”. There is some allure in doing what only a select few can do, to make it to “The Top of the world”. Once your heart and mind is set on such a task, few things in the world can divert you from it.It is impossible to overcome the lure and fascination of the Himalayas if you love mountains. There are innumerable options right from simple sight-seeing to adventure, or a mix of both. No better place than Ladakh for this, what experienced a group of seven youth, who went to Leh in June, this year.

Tarun, Danny, Jaiveer, Doll, Jaggi, Sobi and Tony, all working had embarked a journey to the vary heart of Himalayas, a place known as Ladakh, land of passes

No sooner did they reach Manali, their adventure began.
Manali in Himachal Pradesh is the roadhead for the trans-Himalayan highway for the near-legendary two-day journey to Ladakh's capital, Leh.

The breath-taking view at every turn of the Manali-Leh highway imprints images that remain long after. In summer, a stream of buses and Enfield motorcycles set off from the Kullu Valley to travel along the second highest motorable road in the world, which reaches a dizzying altitude of 5,328m. This highway is open only for 3 months (between July 15th and Sep 15th approx.) every year. During the other seasons of the year it is closed because of the snow.

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The 485 km route from Manali, open only for 3 months in the year, takes around 24 hours with an overnight camp at Sarchu at an altitude of 4,000 m.

From Manali, the road crosses the Beas to begin its long ascent of the Rohtang Pass (3,900m). The views over the eternal snows of Solang Nala improve as you progress up, ranging from the coniferous forests to grassy mountain pastures. Just below the pass, we stood for a breakfast halt beside some dhabas. Nearby, a temple crowns the top of a bluff from where you get a great panoramic view of the upper Beas Valley.

The descent from Rohtang to the floor of the Chandra Valley affords tantalizing glimpses of the shining white sail massif. Koksar is where the road finally reaches the river. I can't forget the parathas we had there. They were aaloo-stuffed parathas, deep fried, yet not oozing oil, served with Tibetan chutney. Finger-licking irresistible!

The next few hours were some of the most memorable of the entire trip. As the road runs across the slopes of the valley, you see towering peaks and hanging glaciers. A sharp descent around the base of the sacred Rangcha mountain brings you to the Chandra-Bhaga confluence at Tandi, after which the bridge across the river takes you along the Bhaga Valley to Keylong. Beyond Keylong, the Bhaga valley broadens.

A hot bowl of Tibetan thupka from a roadside dhaba is a favourite. This is a dish of noodles in Chinese soup. The Tibetan chutney adds to the taste of thupka. We had a tasty samosa-like Tibetan dish called Momo.

From Darcha, the road climbs steadily along the mountain side of wine-red and pale-green scree to Zingzing Bar. As you move from this desolate land, you approach Baralacha La, which will blow your mind. The "twelve-horned" pass forms the head of three valleys, the Bhaga, the Chandra, and the Yunan. By the time you get to Sarchu Serai you'll be ready for a night's rest, which is in a tent.

Lachlang La (5,059m) from Sarchu, the second highest pass on the highway, before descending to Pang at 4,500m. 3 km from Pang is the extraordinary Moray Plains (4,800m), a 45-kilometre-long plateau encircled by rolling hills and brilliant white Himalayan peaks.

The road starts its ascent from Dibring Camp to Tanglang La at a head-spinning 5,328m. This is the second highest pass in the world and by the time you reach there, your nose might well start bleeding slightly. All along the route you can see slogans of "Save Tibet" and "Free Tibet". Tibetans cherish their dream of freedom from Chinese domination.

The Gateway to Ladakh from Manali is Upshi. This is where the project for constructing and maintaining the highway, undertaken by the Indian army concludes. Considering the rugged terrain of the mighty Himalayas, maintaining this road itself is a Herculean task. Project Himank, as it is called, is amazing. One roadside board read, "If you want a road to the moon, please contact Himank". And we didn't find any exaggeration in it!
On the way from Upshi to Leh (40kms) there are high peaks crowned with village houses and gompas. Gompas are Buddhist monasteries, ranging from solid stone structures to fairly large temples.

“The first impression of Leh was that of a desert with green patches fed by the Indus. One of the first things that we noticed was the prayer wheels with ringing bells”, asserted Tarun.

As Leh is 3,505 m above sea level, most tourists experience a degree of altitude sickness. The symptoms are persistent headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, bleeding and blocked nose, and/or shortness of breath. It is because your body has not yet acclimatized to the comparative lack of oxygen. So the tourism department suggests you take complete rest for at least 48 hours. Since we couldn't afford so much rest, we had to make do with 24-hours rest, before venturing out.

Predominantly Buddist, Leh has 25% Muslim population.These are Ladakhi Muslims, with their own cultural heritage, quite distinct from elsewhere.

Ladakh is a trekkers' paradise. Foreigners move around with their backpacks, heading in different directions. Attractions in and around the town itself include the former palace and Namgyal Tsemo gompa.

The power situation in Leh is very bad. Much of the time, including the nights, there was no power at all. That forced us to have many candlelit dinners. Telephone connection is through satellite. In the evenings, it is very difficult to get connected by telephone to the rest of India. Since Leh is cut-off from the world for around 8 months each year, they have to get most of the necessary cargo (like building materials, etc) during the 3-months' season. The only solace is that they are connected by air almost throughout the year. But the villages on the Manali-Leh highway remain completely isolated for 8-9 months a year.

If only there were more time to explore Ladakh as it deserves to be. The spectacular Zanskar valley, the blue-green Pangong Tso (Lake), the 7,000m Nun peak (situated at the Indo-China border).

Khardungla Pass, the highest motorable road in the world (18,380 feet) was the end point that made their journey “worth going”.