Pangong Tso

Day 24 – Leh to Pangong – 17 Sep 2018

Pangong Tso is a 145 kms drive from Leh, and it takes around 6 hours with the high altitude pass of ChangLa on the way. Things looked pretty much under control, but our relaxed start of the day was spoiled by a slight deviation in the plan.  Our pre-booked stay in Pangong got cancelled as per the High court order that all tented accommodations in Pangong should be closed by Sep 15 because of heavy wind. That made us little nervous because, now we had to either plan for a one day trip to Pangong or stay at Tangtse on our way back from Pangong, in case we cannot find a new accommodation. However, people whom we talked to in our stay in Leh told that we will still be able to find accommodation in Pangong on arrival. Though we were confused on how to arrange a new accommodation, wife seemed to look more relaxed when she learnt we won’t have to stay in one more tent in such extremely cold weather. 

Cautions and Road conditions: The roads to Pangong was very bad compared to the one to Nubra. The roads near the ChangLa pass was extremely bad and the frequent stream crossings on the road made it even more difficult. The slippery patched road sometimes becomes too scary and chances of puncture are high on these roads. As we approached Pangong, at some places, the streams had even turned into ice. One major point is that, it is extremely windy and the climate is too harsh in Pangong. And it gets really cold during the night. So anyone traveling with kids or elders, I would suggest to go for a brick accommodation instead of tents. If you need to fill fuel, please make sure you do it at Karu as there are no options after this at Pangong or nearby places. Make sure you fill for the return journey from Pangong as well.

The roads were too bad as soon as we took the turn to Pangong from Karu. And climbing the Changla mountain pass got to be even more difficult than the KhardungLa.  However, there was no altitude sickness this time, probably we got gradually adjusted to the Ladakh climate.  The roads were completely unpaved for several kilometres before reaching ChangLa, and very bumpy and uneven. However, if you drive really slow and careful, you are not going to face any ground clearance issues. It will definitely test your driving skills at many places. Take your time, think, move on. If there are people waiting for you to cross a difficult section of road, ask them to carry on so that you don’t have to rush thinking they are waiting.

After ChangLa, the roads gradually get better, but still very narrow. The climate gets colder and colder, and the winds were extreme! The very heavy winds made it difficult for us to step out in between to click pictures. We had our lunch at a small restaurant at Tangste, beside a small green waterbody, where we were served simple but warm and delicious food. We resumed our drive soon, and the frequent streams crossing our path slowly turned into frozen ice on the roads.

We carefully crossed all the obstacles, moved ahead on the roads –  sometimes winding, sometimes straight stretches, and finally at the end of one of the curves, a marvellous dark blue shade was spotted between two mountain peaks! That first sight will be named forever as one of the incredible moments of our entire lifetime.

Despite the troubles on the way, given the 6 hours drive from Leh, dizziness while passing the high altitude mountain passes, and harsh winds, this unbelievable heavenly view just made us forget all the hardships so far. And then as we got closer, the surreal beauty of the gigantic bright blue lake slowly unleashed before us, and we experienced one of the best road drives of our life along the sides of Pangong Tso!

Spangmik is the main area near Pangong Lake where you can find most of the accommodations. As we drove along the lake, we found several camps in close proximity to the Pangong Lake with well-equipped facilities and amenities. Due to the government order, many of them were already closed, and we did not want to choose a tented accommodation as the climate was really windy and cold. We kept looking for wooden cottages and luckily found one without much trouble. And this stay turned out to be the saviour for us in Pangong. I am sure, it would have been so difficult to stay in a tent, given the climatic conditions, especially when traveling with kid. 

Our cottage offered a splendid panoramic view of the lake, cuddled by the snowy Himalayan mountain ranges. The sapphire like blue water of the lake stayed in perfect contrast with the arid brown mountains in the background, and just one click of this beauty made us wonder if we are really in India!

We were dying to go out and feel the beauty of the lake from its proximity, although leaving the warmth of the room was extremely difficult. We soon stepped out of the cottage and walked down! The freezing weather soon made us realise that it is not going to be so easy venturing out as seen in the “3 idiots” movie! Even though we were all covered up, we could hardly spend an hour near the lake due to the extreme winds. But we still managed to walk around along the cold shores of the lake, and even tried dipping our fingers in the ice cold water!  Several photography points with 3 idiots setting including the yellow scooter can be found almost everywhere. Every other restaurant or tea stalls along the lake side are named after the movie. We were lucky enough to have a very warm cup of coffee and Maggie sitting beside the pristine lake, enjoying an amazing sunset.

We got back to our cottage around 6 pm, as it started freezing outside. We searched for every vent that is open in the cottage, and started closing them. We wrapped ourselves inside a layer of 3 clothing, and then added caps, shawls and gloves on top of it. We had our dinner around 7pm, at the stay itself. We had to step out of the cottage, to goto the common restaurant area, and that itself was unbearable. We made phone calls to home from the landphone available there, as none of our phones had any coverage. Despite all these, as we got onto the bed, we felt extremely grateful for availing a comfortable stay in this extreme weather.  We were often disturbed during the sleep with a heaviness in the chest, and difficulty to breathe, however daughter seemed to be sleeping without any issues. Wife later on admitted that at certain point, she really started missing our home and family, and the warm climate back there. Of all the days we had in Leh, being in Pangong was the toughest, considering the climate and altitude difficulty.

Day 25 – Pangong to Lato – 18 Sep 2018

The lake has a completely different look from our windows, in the morning. Yes! the lake keeps changing its colour with time of the day! And each face of the beauty has its own wonders!

After a quick and delicious breakfast, we were ready to leave this incredible place! The car temperature reading was showing -6 degrees. I tried to start the car, but no signs of switching on! I tried keeping the Bonet open towards the sun for sometime, and tried again to start. The car got switched on but struggled and stalled in seconds. And finally after 10 minutes of continuous effort, I got the car started. Sigh! Relief! I kept the car on for sometime, before starting our return journey! The return journey from Pangong was fine without much trouble. We stopped quite often to capture the mesmerising beauty of the mighty lake, and cannot really recollect how many shots we clicked on our camera! 

Finally we are bidding farewell to Ladakh, and starting out journey to Manali.  We don’t have any accommodation booked for our next two nights as we have planned to reach Manali in 3 days – Pangong to Karu to Jispa and then finally to Manali. It was very difficult to properly plan the distance we could cover everyday on the Leh-Manali highway due to the unpredictable nature of the route, and hence we didn’t prebook any accommodation. Also it was very difficult to find proper stay options, online, for this route.

The route back felt as beautiful as the glorious lake itself. We stopped few kilometres after Pangong Tso to spot some rare Himalayan Marmots, which looked like large mountain squirrels. It was a treat for the eyes as we could see a plenty of them as they came out of their burrows, and daughter was super excited to feed them some leaves.

The bad stretch of almost 30 kms near ChangLa took some real patience and time to cover. We reached Karu (the point on Leh Manali highway) around 2PM and got fuel tank filled at the pump there. For all traveling to Manali, this is the last option for fuel for your vehicle on the road till Manali. So plan accordingly. We had our lunch at Karu with some decent Chinese non-veg food, and continued on the Leh-Manali Highway. After a 45 minutes drive from Karu, we stopped at a guest house at a place called Lato. We checked in to see if there is availability and found it to be a comfortable stay and decided to halt there for the night.  The guesthouse was very clean with well furnished and maintained bedrooms, and had a quiet tv hall and prayer room as well. The free flowing warm water in the bathroom, and electricity itself looked more than a luxury to us, compared to the previous day’s stay! The stay was very nice, with a friendly family that runs it. There was fresh water stream that was flowing seamlessly over a pipe and running into a barrel kept along the roadside, right outside the guesthouse. Seeing this, we decided to wash our car, and this was really an exciting experience for our daughter as well! We enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked fresh at our request in the guest house kitchen, and soon headed to sleep! 

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