Ladakh Memories -2015 Tour

Pune -Leh

"Long time back..... We visited the paradise" , this Covid 19 crisis had brought back those beautiful memories. It seems like a dream now,so thought of penning it down.

Hi, this tour is a memory of a adventure taken together  along with 5 more college friends of mine. Fascinated by all the laddakh adventure trips and the pure landscape that you get to see in picture, so we decided enough of " ahe bharna" and let go explore it first hand.

So after a month long research we came up with a 11 days itenary planning Ladakh- Kargil- Kashmir.we were assisted by a tours vendor for all our arrangements customised as per our needs.

July 22 2015 was the day we had booked our tickets for. We were travelling via Delhi. The flight from Pune- Delhi was for late evening and reached Delhi late in night. The connecting flight to Leh was for 6 in morning. So we had Delhi airport to ourselves for the entire night. Obviously we could not sleep the whole night out of sheer excitement,what all we did could account for a whole new blog 😃.

Finally it was morning and the time came when actually the call was made for boarding the Leh flight,as we walked towards the boarding gates I could feel music of  AC-DC "Highway to hell" being played in the backdrop while we board the Leh flight🙈.Sorry for being dramatic but that is how high we were on this trip.This was the very moment we have been waiting for past 1 month.

As the flight took off the excitement picked up to level 1000. We were just 40-45 min in the air but within sometime we could see people rushing towards their windows in cabin. Foreigner were going crazy,while few of us were sleeping with their mouth wide open 😃. To just understand what we are missing we peeped out of the window just to witness the divine himalayan ranges. Snow clad mountains, the dirt tracks clearly visible from so high. The ridges in various forms. I will never forget the first glimpse of this serenity. Each passenger had a child like excitement on their faces.

We had just started to enjoy the view thats when the captain announced we were supposed to land. The laddakh airport is a military airport and has a small airstrip surrounded by beautiful mountains and a blue sky.

We got down and we were welcomed by warmest and funniest  " Shafi bhai" our tour guide and escort.

" JULLEY........". That's hello in ladakhi.

We shifted to our hotel a very serene place in leh town. Rested for half a day as was suggested in various google articles that altitude acclamatization required a day or two of being rested in Leh. However we had carried most of medicines required for high altitude sickness as mentioned in various articles.

Till 3pm all of us slept like sloth bears😎literally. "Ab nind ho gayi tabiyat thik lagti thi to tumhare bhai k andar ka traveller jaga ho gaya tha" so we decided to explore leh town along with shafi bhai.

Leh city has quite few attractions - Shanti stupa , Leh Palace, Leh Market are the ones we visited. We could stroll around leh market the entire evening and later returned back to the hotel for a bone fire and proper  hot dinner waiting for us ( mind you it is one those precious thing you look for once you are in this hilly terrain )

Day 2 : This was the most important day of the entire tour. We started the day 2 with river rafting on the Indus river. You can take help of hotel or your guide for selecting the right operator.The rafting is done professionally and is highly recommended. It is safe for adults. The guides are good at their job you just need to follow as they say. Lunch is included in the package.

Before we started with the rafting we were given a pretour induction of the dos and donts then we started. The adrenaline of hitting the right waves  experiencing  the highs and low is pushed rightly by instructor.it is a well orchestrated team effort. This rush subsides after sometime as the waves become less aggressive and you experience the turquoise blue ice cold water of Indus,with the beautiful mountains and the blue sky. This landscape makes you forget any wordly issue for those 35-40 min.Once done, for mens changing room is the nature for ladies they have specific arrangements.

Post lunch we visited the war museum of the Leh city which has all the remains and memories of Kargil war Heroes and survivors. It is definately worth a visit. You have a humongous indian flag welcoming you in the backyards of this museum. Just adjacent to it is a gurudwara patharsingh saheb. It is mostly managed by military personnel and it has it's own mythological background to it. We ended the day 2 and went to the hotel and rested.

Day 3: We were more excited than day 2, as we were to visit the highest motorable point in the world, "Khardungla Pass". We hired a 500cc bullet to experience the thrill of ascending khardungla.The cold and soft breeze the twisties ( Twisted snake like roads) make this ride a enjoyable one. The more you reach closer to khardungla the ride starts getting stepper and colder. BRO has done a excellent job maintaining these roads. However you will experience one or two water crossings. It is a experience in itself.
Finally we reached khardungla, got our pics clicked and ran directly into the ice. By then we could survive the cold as the adrenalin to visit the place overcame the cold. Post 10-15 min the cold started hitting and most of us could experience breathlessness. We had oxygen cylinder in our vehicle,however one of us came up with a desi jugad smelling camphor balls. I don't know if this is right solution but it made us feel good.

After waiting for nearly 30 min at the pass we started on our way towards the beautiful Nubra Valley. It is the best part of laddakh. It has green grasslands, sandy terrains, rocky mountains so Nubra has everything.

Nubra valley is best known for its sand dunes and 2 hump camel rides. However the Nubra valley also happens to be close to the indo china border. That evening after enjoying the camel rides,we had stationed at a beautiful camping site in a small village in Nubra. Riding through Nubra valley you feel a different sense of freedom as if all your monotonous corporate routine is healed by these humongous looking valley and mountains. It is just you the roads and the open sky. No one else,it is that isolated (at least it was then).  The peace that you experience is out of world. No amount of money or worldly pleasure can buy you that feeling.

Day 4: Our night was stationed at Nubra so next day we started our journey back to leh. It took us half the day most of day went in relaxing at Leh.

Day 5: Leh to Pangong lake : Ladakh does not disappoint you, we were fascinated by what we had seen till date,but we were excited to witness the famous crystal blue pangong lake.

The road to Pangong lake passes through small villages, lots of iron bridges, prayer flags welcome you as you pass by them. But the wait is way too long. you start loosing excitement as in"  Kab ayega bhai "

After passing through various mountain passes you reach a grassy patch. Small cute looking marmots and the lazy but sweet yaks welcome you, and somewhere behind the mountains you get the first look.The first look of the lake is nothing short of a painting , you are left awe strucked by the beauty of this lake.Close to the lake you will find lots of camping sites. It is one of a kind experience to sleep under open sky with snow  clad mountains at you back. The campsites offer dinner and bonfire in night.All the stars can be clearly seen in the night as if you have the quil made of stars. The cold wind in the night  for the time makes breathing a bit difficult but it is worth experiencing.

Day 6: Way back to Leh and Rest.

Day 7: Leh - Kargil

We started early on this day to cover maximum distance in day light and rest properly in kargil.

The kargil war memorial fills your chest with pride and make you realise how privilaged we civilians are to experience life in all comforts. Where in these soldiers are stationed at hostile environmental conditions with less or no comforts and yes they do a damn good job.

Post visiting war memorial we reached kargil town.We stayed at kargil that night planning to start early for srinagar next day,but we got stuck in landslides just outside kargil, we had to stay a additional day at Kargil.

Day 9: Early morning 3 am shafi bhai got a call from one of the drivers who was struck in land slides that roads are now cleared. He woke all of us so we can start towards kashmir. Journey towards kasmir is magical one.Kashmir is more greener than ladakh. The green valleys covered with ice and the mules grazing makes it a paradise.

Day 10: We had planned for srinagar and Gulmarg in kashmir however some military activity forced us to change the plans. We could visit nothing more than beautiful Dal lake. We waited a day more and boarded flight back to delhi and then Pune.

The end of this journey was definitely not as expected but laddakh and kashmir left us with fond memories and the warmth people had shared with us. I still wish to go back at some point meet shafi bhai experience the same divinity.

Maybe someday.......Again...🙏😋