Budget trip to Ladakh in April (Day 3 & 4)

Khardung La - Diskit - Hunder - Turtuk - Thang

Our plan was to Cover Leh - Nubra Valley - Pangong lake - Hanle - Tso moriri - Leh circuit in 5 days. We booked Taxi from Guest house for this 5 day tour.

To avoid stucking in traffic due to Army convoy, our Driver Dorjey Ji suggested us to wake up early in the morning and we started our roadtrip for Nubra Valley via Khardung La. As soon as we crossed Leh town the scenic view became more and more beautiful. Our Permit was check at South pullu check point and it took us around 2 hour to reach Khardung La.
The breeze was too cold for us and air was thin so we clicked some pictures, got back into the car and started our journey towards Nubra Valley.

We reached Diksit Monastery at around 11 am. Diskit Monastery also known as Diskit Gompa oldest and largest monastery in Nubra Valley.
It has a statue Cho Rinpoche (Crowned Buddha) in the prayer hall.

Turtuk is a beautiful and quaint village with all shades of green and warm wooden houses and Karakoram ranges visible from top. There is a iconic bridge over a stream of icy blue water of Shyok river which divides Upper Turtuk known as Pharol and Lower Turtuk known as Youl. Turtuk lies in Old Silk route from South to Central Asia.
Most of the population are Balti and they speak unique language known as Balti which is mixture of Persian and Tibetan Language.

Tyakshi is the last village in the Baltistan region of Ladakh. It was conquered by Indian army during 1971 war. As it was newly opened for tourists we were welcomed by Army personnel.
The official timing is to reach before 4 pm but we reached at check point at 5 pm. We requested them to allow us and promised them that we will come back within 30 minutes.
After some walk we reached the border line and Army person showed us PoK check posts and bunkers. There were some binocular type pipes which were set at position such that their posts were visible through them.

Next day after having breakfast at Homestay it was time for some adventure so we woke up early morning and met with Hotel owner. To our surprise he owned two camel and thus we ourselves took the camel along with two young boys who guided us to Sand dunes.
After reaching sand dunes we took camel ride, clicked few pictures and straight away hit the road to reach Pangong Tso.
On the way there were many adventurous activities but we were more interested in Quad biking. We stopped for tea at a spot who also has Quad biking field behind his shop. After hearing expensive rates we dropped our plan and again hit road. After travelling some five kilometers we eere arguing and discussing that god knows when we would again come to this place. Within 5 minutes we were going back to the Quad biking  spot. After some bargain they gave us cheap rates. It was fun riding the bike with four wheel and no gear.

We were awestruck with the first view of Pangong lake. We reached Lukung in evening and started our search for Home stay. While it was getting dark and we finally got a Homestay with a magnificent view of Pangong Lake.