Chapter #8 - The Vibes of Pangong

First of all, I am really sorry for the late post as I was fully occupied with work for the last week. As I said in the last post that I will give all the details about the expenses, I thought first let me finish the trip then it will be more meaningful to give all the expenses incurred.

Here we go !!

Descent from Khardung la to Leh town was pretty fast as gravity does most of the work and lets the engine relax for a bit. It took about half the time to descent than it did to ascent. We reached Leh town at around 5 pm. The weather was getting cold. Leh was looking pretty clean and was lighting up as the night fell. 

One thing which I really liked in the hotel's design of Leh was the wooden work on windows. It was truly a piece of art. At around 8 pm, we had a pretty heavy dinner as we were without food the whole day as we did not find any food stall near khardung la. We slept early as we planned to go to Pangong lake the next day. Our plan was to leave early in the morning from Leh, reach Pangong by afternoon and leave from there before 4 pm on the same day and come back to Leh but, the beauty of Pangong and the vibes and the weather there changed all our plans. 

Here is clear evidence, how beautiful and serene the lake really is !!

Let's talk about Pangong a little bit. It is a high altitude lake of length around 150 km and out of this 150 km, most of the lake lies in China and only about 30 % of the lake lies in India. The lake is not a freshwater lake, the water is pretty salty and mostly still.  The lake is surrounded by mountains adding to its beauty. In the past, people used to camp just on the banks of the lake but due to environmental concerns and knowing how reckless people can be, the government restricted the camping area. The camping sites are now a little far from the lake.

The next day, we woke up at around 3 am, took bath ( yes, we did although it was too chilled) and we got ready for Pangong. So, we left Leh at around 6 am and it was exceptionally peaceful and the morning breeze was full of positivity and as I said in previous posts also, the roads in Leh town and the outer area are world-class. After about one hour of riding, we stopped for a short tea break and after having some nice hot tea with Biscuits, we started the climb to Chang La pass. The road to Chang La pass is pretty dangerous and Avalanche prone and is full of shooting stones. Although it is impossible to reach Chang La pass via roads in winters, however, if you still want to try, be wary of black ice. We had to struggle a lot passing through this pass as there was a lot of black ice and it was making the handling too tough. It was too slippery and at the same time, there were a lot of water crossings. 

On the way to Chang La

  

The road was not in good condition at all.  Finally, After a lot of struggle with black ice, we made it to the top. 

  

From Chang La, descent to Pangong Tso starts, The road after Chang La was pretty good with tight turns. The condition of the roads was pretty good. There was a lot of white sand on the roads.

Here is a video !!

The road near the Pangong lake was under construction so there was a traffic jam but it cleared in no time. In no time, we reached the milestone which says "the first view of the world-famous lake" and we were spellbound by the beauty of the lake. It was too beautiful and I literally have no words to describe its beauty. You need to visit in order to feel it. 

From this point, it was only a half an hour, slow drive to the lake. At the lake, people were busy taking pictures with the 3 idiots fame scooter. We asked about the stay near the lake but the prices were a bit too high and we wanted to experience the local lifestyle. Therefore, we chose to stay at spangmik village which was around 5 km from the first entry point of Pangong lake. Remember, you can drive to the last village of India ( before the china border starts) along the lake itself. 

Camping sites near Pangong

Anyway, we found a really nice homestay in Spangmik village for 1000 INR per night ( including evening snacks and dinner), the room was nothing special but was comfortable enough to spend the night. The owner was a lady and she really was very welcoming. 

After having some snacks, we went back to the lake in the evening, and believe me, it was pure heaven. The sky was full of clouds and evening vibes were making me wonder if I could stay there forever. It was really a blissful evening. We sat on the bank of the Pangong and were really admiring the beauty of nature. It was worth all that pain and struggle we faced while crossing Chang la. 

                    

No matter, how much I write, how many big words I use, it is impossible to describe the beauty of Pangong Tso. You will have to experience it !!

After having some unforgettable moments at the lake, we decided to do some off-roading on the way to Spangmik and we were able to do it without any issue although it was too dark and we could barely see anything. At around 8 pm, we made it to our room and went for dinner. Knowing how hard it is to transport food items to places like Pangong, the dinner was pretty awesome and had pulses and beans with some dry vegetable along with fried papad. All in all, the dinner was exceptionally good.

After having dinner, we went for a small walk just to embrace the place because we planned to leave early in the morning on the next day. It was fully dark. All the lights in the Pangong area rely on solar power so there will be no light in the room at night as most of the time, the sky is cloudy and solar cells are not charged to full capacity. The so-called smartphones were only good as cameras, nothing else. There was no connectivity at all. 

The nights at the Pangong get too cold so do not forget to carry extra warm clothes. I gazed at the clear sky for a while trying to find Andromeda galaxy but could not as I did not know the clear location and steps to locate the galaxy but try not to miss this chance as there is zero light pollution near the lake area so it is easy to locate stars which are otherwise invisible in urban areas.

Finally, at around 9 pm we loaded ourselves with warm blankets and went to sleep !! It was a good night !!

I hope you are enjoying this series. Please leave a comment and share as much as you can !! I am really sorry for the late post !!!

Thank you !!