Day 1: Gurgaon to Manali
We left from Gurgaon early morning at around 4:30am to escape the traffic and cover the stretch to Manali at the earliest. We reached Manali at around 7pm and took a halt for the night.
Day 2: Manali to Sarchu
We began our day early since the traffic at Rohtang Pass is huge, so we started from our hotel in Manali at 6:30am towards Sarchu. At an altitude of 14,500ft, Sarchu is a halt point between Himachal Pradesh and ladakh. It is situated between Baralacha La Pass and Lachulung La Pass. We stay in a camp for the night. Since it is practically a valley with zanskar river flowing by, it becomes freezingly cold and dry, with winds blowing at very high speed.
We began the next morning after breakfast towards leh . The roads were superb and we faced no trouble driving through. It was an amazing experience just soaking in the barren , dry landscape of the mountains and their sheer beauty
We reached leh in approximately 3-4 hrs. After checking in at our hotel, we went to the local market and relished thukpas and Tibetan momos with Butter Tea ! ( A different but a try)
Next day, we headed for Nubra Valley. You wi need an inner line permit to enter Nubra Valley and A Green certificate for your private vehicle. We had already arranged these prior to our travel from Gurgaon through online booking.
We crossed Khardungla Pass and then reached Hunder- The Cold Desert of Ladakh. Khardungla is the highest motorable road in the world. We reached Nubra Valley in approximately 5hrs and checked into our hotel which was nearby the desert.
Nubra valley is the northernmost part of Jammu and Kashmir and is the gateway and way forward to Siachen from there.
The Hunder desert is flanked by the karakoram mountain range and is famous for its double-Humped Bactrian Camels. Nubra valley was once upon a time , a part of the silk road that connected Mongolia with Ladakh and these camels were used to carry the trade goods. Our hotel owner had his ancestors from Mongolia who settled in Ladakh after the closure of the silk road.
We had a sumptuous buffet meal and rested for the night
We left for Pangong Tso the next day. It was a long journey of around 8hrs. We started early and reached Pangong Lake by evening and stayed by the camp at the side of the lake.
We were absolutely speechless and spellbound by the beauty of World's largest Saltwater Lake and at the highest altitude.
The camp arranged a small private bonfire and it was one of the most beautiful nights
The next day we returned back to Leh and took a halt for the night.
We did some local sightseeing to understand the local culture and heritage
Next day we left for Srinagar , took a halt at Udhampur and headed back to Gurgaon
My husband and I started our road trip to Leh - Ladakh from our house in Gurgaon.
Before I start the trip, some pre-requisites:
We were going to embark on a road trip, that involved extremely difficult terrain, high altitude and just the two of us. We drove in our car, Honda Amaze , stocked 5L of diesel ( since at various places in ladakh, you won't find a gas station for e.g from Nubra to Pangong), some cables/ropes in case our car got stuck somewhere, and an extra tyre.
We stocked a fair amount of ready to eat eatables, snack-bars , dimox (for high altitude sickness) and first-aid box
We carried as much cash as possible and pre-booked all our hotels, since finding an ATM is difficult in Ladakh. We also had one postpaid BSNL sim, as that's the only connection that works in that region
Let's Begin!!
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