The Chronicles of Ladakh - Part 10 - The Remoteness of Hanle

Previous: Pangong to Leh

Day 10, 17th September, 2012 – The Remoteness of Hanle

Leh > Karu > Upshi > Chumathang > Mahe > Loma > Nyoma > Hanle (275 KM)

Around 8.30 in the morning we left Leh towards Hanle (the locals pronounce it as ‘Aanle’). We already submitted the required papers to the Leh IIA office for our accommodation at the IIA guest house at Hanle.

We were again on the Leh Manali high way through which we already travelled partially when we traversed towards Hemis and when we returned from Pangong. We crossed Karu and reached Upshi in no time. From Upshi one diversion towards the right leads the way towards Manali, crossing the Tanglang La. The road towards the left goes to Chumathang further from which Hanle is situated.

The journey again was uneventful and the landscapes were familiar to even us, so without wasting much time over photography, we drove all the way to Chumathang. It was a little village with only a single guest house – so staying here was not always a good idea if the guest house ran full. It did when we reached Chumathang. Anyway, at a small roadside dhaba we had our lunch with some tasteless food and Rigzin loaded some more Diesel.

Chumathang was popular for a hot water spring. We expected a lot from this hot water spring and in reality, it was just a small spring after all, but the water was too hot. The dhaba owner stated smilingly that they normally get the eggs boiled from the water within minutes.

Chumathang Hot Spring

Chumathang Village

From Chumathang, we reached Mahe where we had to submit our permits. A small wooden bridge towards our right indicated the road towards Tso Moriri. Rigzin mentioned that while driving to Tso Moriri we have to backtrack towards Mahe and then take the towards Tso Moriri crossing the bridge.

After Mahe, the landscapes changed completely, only similarity was the aridness. The mountains became too colorful gradually, vast patches of sandy valleys appeared and remoteness was too strong. As far as the eyes could behold, no symbol of human civilization could be found. That’s why perhaps this region was the abode of many wild creatures – one of them was the Kiang (Wild Ass), we saw many of them grazing in hordes. The Kiangs were too colorful as well.

The Kiangs

The remoteness of the route was so appealing that we wanted to stop our car at almost every nook and corner, we did so at many occasions but Rigzins mentioned to save some energy as we had to visit the Hanle Observatory as well and since we have to return through the same roads. We agreed. We crossed Loma, Nyoma and had to submit our permits once again.

The Way Ahead

We saw the diversion towards Koyul, Dungti, Fotula and Fukche but unfortunately tourirts are not allowed in these regions anymore, so we had to drive straight towards Hanle. Hanle Monastery appeared at our right side and the village on the left. One thing which struck us was the greenery all around. The whole village was more or less covered by a carpet of grass which was very strange given the desertscapes all around us. We asked our Encyclopedia – Rigzin. He mentioned that beneath the whole village there’s a big lake flowing which supplies the water to the village!

Desertscape

Where is it leading to?

Kiangs grazing

Hanle Monastery

Some Himalayan Buzzard - flying with speed of a jet

Hanle Wetland

We drove past the village and started ascending a hillock, on top of which the Observatory was located. When we reached the parking at the top, the village houses seemed tiny little boxes from there. The monastery even looked a house of the Lilliput. A 360 degree view of the gorgeous surrounding was a welcome, despite our tiring journey.

Hanle Monastery from the top

The observatory dome

The observatory curator explained the functionalities with eagerness to us, we saw how the telescope functions, how the dome above actually slides during the night in order to watch the night sky and how the mirror feeds the data to the computers. We saw how the liquid nitrogens were used to cool the machinery. We were too proud when we learned it was the 3rd highest observatory of such kind in the whole world.

Machinery

Coolant - liquid Nitrogen

Hanle Village from the top

Hanle IIA Guest House and the scattered data collection centres

The IIA observatory guest house was located at the base of this hillock. We reached there at around 5 in the afternoon. Getting a room was an easy task by showing the permission granted by the authorities. Rigzin dropped us there and left for his friend’s house where he’d spend the night.

The room was state of the art with all the modern facilities. When we were served with sandwiches and hot tea, we found some of our lost energy. After getting freshened up with hot water (the weather outside was too cold with severely chilled wind) we took rest till the dinner. The dinner was sumptuous too – no less than an extravagant hotel. So immediately after the heavenly food we sank into a delicious slumber.

To be continued...

Next: The Magical Tso Moriri