Every traveler's dream - Leh,Ladakh

Our first stop was Chandigarh. Had lunch at this nice,big hotel called "Haveli" and continued our journey towards Manali. Since, we had started a little late, it was already past 10pm (also it gets dark by around 5.30/6 during Summer) when we reached Mandi. Our driver wanted us to rest there for the day and start to Manali early in the morning. We din't want to put our lives in the hands of a sleepy driver either, so we rented rooms in a hotel there and had a nice sleep. Early in the morning, we started towards Manali where we had to change taxis. Some states in the North/East have this really weird rule that taxis registered in one state cannot be used for local sight-seeing in other/neighboring states. For example, taxis registered in Himachal cannot ply inside Kashmir. They can only drop you there.What's that about, really ??? I understand its done by the taxi unions for their benefit, but as a consumer, the prices are substantially high for you ????

So, we were dropped off at Manali to board our new taxi. Every story has to have a villain right ? Well, here was our's. He was unusually cheerful in the beginning. He introduced himself as Hemraj, which my husband heard as Premraj for some reason and when he called him by that name, he gave a killer look( and vowed to take revenge.Ha ha, that's my interpretation though for all that he did in the coming days). Alright, the journey from Manali-Leh takes around 3-4 days by road(with adequate stops in between for acclimatization) and the landscapes are to die for ! This is one of the main reasons why Leh is so popular and called the Paradise on Earth.

Our first stop was Rohtang Pass, which is a popular tourist destination in Manali during Summer(It is open only for a few months in Summer, the other popular point is Solang Valley, which opens during Winter). Rohtang Pass is beautiful with endless views of snow covered mountains. The weather was pleasing too ???? It was drizzling lightly. The view gradually transforms from green landscapes in Manali to snow clad mountains in Rohtang. There are many activities like skiing, para gliding etc available for tourists here. From there, we moved on to Baralacha La( La means pass). On the way, you will see snow walls on either side of the road and vehicles have to pass between them. I know what people who have watched the Bollywood movie "Jab we Met" are thinking. Yes yes, this is the same road to which Kareena dances to the tune of "Yeh Ishq Hai"( although in reality the snow does not look so clean ????).

Jispa is this quaint little village in the Himachal valley with amazing views and it is a popular place among travelers to halt for the night. There are not many options for accommodation here. We spent the night in tents. Early in the morning, we brushed our teeth with views of majestic mountains and the rising sun slowly pouring his rays on the mountain tops. It was magical really ! How often do you get to do that ??

We started towards Leh at around 6 am. You must be wondering why I called our driver a villain and did not bother to justify myself. Yeah yeah, I am coming to that. As I said earlier, Leh is the place where journey really brings greater joy than the destination( of course that is awesome too). So, we were planning on taking small stops in between to take pics( for our FB dp's :P). Well,as it turns out, man proposes, driver disposes :P. He used to get really irritated whenever we asked him to stop. There came a point when he even asked us to control our pee :O Whaddya say to that ?? And speed, OMG ! May be he thought he was auditioning for Fast And Furious ???? You see, Leh is really not known for great roads ????. So, we were all really really tired and a couple of us fell ill too. We were really angry with him but we had already had a glimpse to his wild side( He had knives and hockey sticks with him in the vehicle. We saw that when he took them out to threaten another taxi driver. Oooppss !!! ). So, we did not dare pick with him.

Next stop : Sarchu, which is about 5 hours from Jispa. This is another popular place to halt for the day. We did not stop there however and continued towards Leh after crossing several other points like Zingzing bar, Tingting bar(basically metal bridges) , Sissu falls, Langlang La, Chang La, Tanglang La etc.. I think if God planned to live on earth, this is the place he would choose.The beauty can't be described in words. The thing that strikes me about Leh is the clouds. Since, its a high altitude area, the clouds appear huge and the color of the sky is the perfect blue. Any picture you take here is guaranteed to be amazing ! I think God must have photoshopped this place ???? I could not get over the beauty of the clouds and the sky.

We stayed at hotel Mount Castle for the first 2 days in Leh. It was a sweet little place. The cooks and room boys were so helping and friendly. At one point, when we told them we were bored of the food, they even allowed us to cook ???? ???? We had to change taxi again 'coz as you know no HP taxis in Leh ???? (which was a relief for us though, in this case). Our Ladakhi driver was very shy. He hardly spoke to us. The first day typically includes local sightseeing - Hall of Fame, Pattar Sahib, Magnetic Hill, Spituk Kali Mandir and Sangam.

The next day we left to the very famous Pangong Lake(In India, its famous 'coz the climax in the movie 3 Idiots was shot there). Sitting on the bank, looking at the huge lake, the mountains and the seagulls flying really gives you a lot of peace. We stayed in a camp near the lake overnight. Sadly, we could not do any star gazing because it was really cloudy that night ????