The Chronicles of Ladakh - Part 13 - On Manali Leh Highway

Previous: Tso Moriri to Tso Kar 

 

Day 13, 20th September, 2012 , the Real Adventure Begins

Tso Kar > Moore Plains > Pang > Lachulung La > Nakee La > Sarchu > Bharatpur (173 Kms)

The Journey to Sarchu

In the morning, Rigzin greeted us with a good news that he managed to get a car for us, which would drop us at Manali, with an overnight stop at Keyong/Jispa. This car would pick us up from Debring – where the cut for Tso Kar meets the highway. We started around 9.30 am after the breakfast. The day was bright and sunny, but perhaps not our luck.

Towards the Manali Leh Highway from Tso Kar

We reached the crossing at around 11 in the morning. The other car was supposedly reach around the same time, but we couldn’t see any car till 45 mins as we waited at the Debring camp settlements. As advised by Rigzin, we started towards Leh hoping that we would meet the car coming from the other direction. We were the slowest car amongst the all going in either direction. Suddenly Rigzin parked his car and and stopped one Qualis coming from the other direction, it was the car for the rest of our journey. We, alongwith our luggages, were transferred to the Qualis. We sadly parted from Rigzin as he travelled towards Leh.
 
The road was pathetic because of the ongoing maintenance – it was bumpy and too dusty. As soon as we passed Debring, we were on the Moore Plains which is nothing but a stretch of 40 kms of flat roads towards Pang. The roads were really devoid of many undulation but the dust was too strong – it was really difficult to protect the lens of my camera and click some photos.

Moore Plains - sometimes tarred roads..

..but mostly 'make your own' type of roads

On our way, we could see some curious rock formation because of the erosion. We didn’t enounter such uncanny formation before. We reached Pang at around 1.30 where we had our lunch. No prize for guessing what the lunch was – Maggi!! Pang was nothing but some temporary settlement of tents offered by the local people. There were dormitory dhaba style accommodations as well.

Towards Pang

Rock Formation

Tents at Pang

As soon as left Pang, our driver (they were two actually – one uncle and his nephew) stopped the car besides of a small stream and pointed towards one direction and whispered “look, Ibex”. We could see a small family of Ibexes drinking water from that stream. All the bones that were crushed because of the ride, were back at their respective places again J as this sightings were very rare.

Ibexes

Neither the road improved nor the breathtaking scenery degraded till we reached Lachulung La. We could not see a single patch of tarred roads in between. The roads were too narrow – it was a scary experience whenever one car came from the opposite direction. Little did we know that these were just the trailers, the real show was about to begin soon.

 

 

 

Towards Lachulung La

Lachulung La Top

View from Lachulung La - where we came from

View from Lachulung La - the way ahead

We crossed Lachulung La and Nakee La back to back – after Nakee La the quality of the roads improved somewhat. Once we crossed Nakee La, we saw Ibexes on multiple occassions. The nephew said “ Sir appka kismat to bohut achha hai” (You are really fortunate to see them so many times). We also started believing that our luck must have been really great.

Nakee La - enlightened

The road we left behind - view from Nakee La

The road we'd traverse ahead - view from Nakee La

More Ibexes

 

The Sarchu Adventure

Without any more incidents worth of mentioning we reached Sarchu at around 4.30 pm, the sun was setting and the light was gradually fading away. Uncle assured us not to worry as we would be reaching Keylong by 8 – they knew the roads as the palm of their hands.

On the way to Sarchu

 

Army Camps of Sarchu

But in Sarchu, the first bad news arrived, one wooden bridge was washed away the previous day so we had to take a shortcut. Don’t ask me how the shortcut was. First it was a downhill with a 45 degree inclination, then a forceful stream of water to be crossed – upto this, though it scared the hell out of us, was no problem. Next was an inclination of 60%, uphill this time. Only a single car could venture. In front of us one truck as waiting to try it. It started and immediately it got stuck in the gravels, we could see one of its tyres were hanging in the air!! After a lot of adjustments, it finally survived but it fully depressed our morale. And it didn’t help when we got stuck in the middle of the inclination. On the right hand side, the  stream was running with its full force and our car was skidding and going backwards. We were pretty confident that it was the end of our journey and could be the end of ourselves when suddenly with the full force of the accelerator the car started moving upwards and we reached the highway. We were relieved. I was being showered over a long list of curses from my better-half because of choosing this road. I assured her that it would soon be over without any more trouble. If there is a God, He must have laughed when I calmed my wife down.

The Killing Nallah Incident

We passed Sarchu Camps and entered the region of snows. It was bone chilling cold. As I ponder over now, I admit that we should have stayed at Sarchu instead of moving ahead as the daylight was fast disappearing, though the drivers assured us that after Baralacha La – which was the next mountain pass ahead – it was a smooth drive to Keylong and they would reach there by any means today. Okay, we thought!

The commencement of the region of snow

Dark was approaching fast

We could see that we were gradually climbing upwards. After some time we could see an array of trucks taking a diversion instead of going through the ‘roads’ Upon enquiring we came to know that another bridge was completely washed out by the ‘Killing Nallah’ and now this Nallah has to be crossed by going through it.

The Nallah seemed a quite one from a distance and slowly the trucks crossed the Nallah one by one without any difficulty, so it was apparent that it wouldn’t be a difficult job. The dark was setting in and apart from a couple of BRO huts, nothing could be seen around. The mountains were snow capped and wind was cold.

The nephew was driving that time and we entered into the Nallah. We immediately realized that the Nallah was more forceful than it appeared. Perhaps we took lightly, our car got stuck!!!! It wouldn’t go forward, it wouldn’t go background. We were stuck under 1.5 feet of water. The nephew and the uncle they kept on trying all sort of things, but other than emitting black diesel fumes, the car didn’t move an inch. We knew we were screwed this time, though they kept us assuring all the time. My wife started crying and praying, but God was in no mood to listen today.

The nephew got out of the car to push the car from backwards, but nothing happened, so he went to BRO huts to request them to provide some assistance. He arrived with a long iron stick, which he attached to the front bumper of the car and then the other end to the back of a truck. The truck moved forward and instead of moving forward, the front bumper of the car gave up.

We now could see beads of sweats in the forehead of uncle. He advised something to the nephew and he now tried to pull it from the back using the same method. The rear bumper gave up this time. Now the only option was to either get it pulled by a bulldozer or to push it from backwards. We chose the second option as the bulldozer would take some time to arrive as the BRO guys advised.

So the nephew kept on pushing and pushing but nothing changed. It was now 6 pm and was almost complete dark. It was cold without any human civilization to be seen, I am with my wife and I could now see that water was making its way inside the car. Perhaps this made me fully crazy as I let go of my shoes and jumped in the water to assist the nephew. Immediately when I dipped my feet in the water, it felt like I was going to die of hypothermia as the water was so cold – it originated straight from the snows that melt during the daytime. There was a queue of trucks lined up behind to cross. After 15 mins or so I gave up and I saw that I couldn’t just feel my legs. It feels like to be paralysed with cold!! I without noticing, went into a truck where they wrapped me up with woollen quilts, I was shivering. My wife joined me soon – the uncle carried her on his shoulders dumper her in the truck. Then the bulldozer arrived. The huge machine pushed the Qualis from the back and without much ado, the Qualis got out and the uncle drove it out of the water, but the rear tyre was punctured, so the car couldn’t go forward. Our luggage were transferred to the truck. The truck driver and his assistant were both so kind, they offered us to drop to Keylong as they were planning to drive all night. We were out of minds so we couldn’t think much. Our uncle and nephew advised us not to trust these lorry drivers, instead we should come with them as they knew some people at Bharatpur where we could stay for the night. In the morning they would repair the puncture and we could start. But we didn’t know if the car could start at all, and we didn’t want to let go of this truck as well. I was not in a position to argue as I was shivering like anything – and I still couldn’t feel my legs. My wife kept rubbing my legs. After much argument we gave up to fate and agreed to stay at Bharatpur, which was 3-4 kms ahead. I just had a doubt in mind. While planning for Ladakh I didn;t read anywhere that Bharatpur does not offer decent accommodation to stay. But as we mentioned, we surrendered to fate now.

Bharatpur!

The truck started, and immediately we knew that perhaps we made the right decision to stay back, as the roads looks too much scary during the night – it was totally dark now. The truck driver dropped us at Bharatpur and we were pulled into a tent. We couldn’t see anything apart from a few tents there. We saw that it was just a dhaba style tent where we, the drivers and the shop owner – everyone will spend the night together. Naturally, we couldn’t do much about it anymore. Firstly, we dumped our luggage and wrapped ourselves up under a couple of huge quilts, but I was still shivering – so the shopowner offered some hot oil, which I applied to my legs and  slowly I started I feeling my legs. We also had some foods and tried to take rest as we knew we couldn’t sleep for the whole night there. The drivers got indulged in some chit chats with some other drivers, and suddenly the uncle approached me and advised that they are going to repair the car right now and bring it here and tomorrow we can start early. They managed a lift on a car which was going towards Leh. They left – we were even more insecure. The tent was a temporary one and it looked like it could give up at any moment under the gutsy wind outside, the temperature must be close to zero or might be less than zero degrees. There was nothing to do so we just waited for the drivers to come back. It was around 10.30 pm when they finally came back with the good news – the tyre was replaced and apparently no other damage to the car. Some relief – perhaps that was the best news we have heard in years.

Everyone went to sleep, apart from us – we were awake, we could listen to the dogs barking, the wind passing through the tents, the sound of army trucks passing by for the whole night. We planned to start as soon as the day breaks the next morning. The night seemed to be a never-ending long one.

To Be Continued...

Next: Towards Manali

The Chronicles of Ladakh - Part 12 - Tso Kar , a Slice of Heaven

Previous: The Magical Tso Moriri

Day 12, 19th September, 2012

Tso Moriri > Namashang La > Sumdo > Polakongka La > Tso Kar (96 Km)

Adieu to Tso Moriri

The plan was actually to head up towards Sarchu and stay overnight there but we eneded up in Tso Kar eventually.

We bade farewell to Tso Moriri as planned at around 8 in the morning after breakfast. Similarly like Pangong, the resort is at western bank of the Tso, so we could not click the snap of the morning light being reflected on the lake. Never mind, we still managed some good ones I guess. Here they are. The peaks looked whiter because of the snowfall previous night.

Shades Again

On Our Way

The Sting of the Scorpio – the adventure begins

As we were driving through the remote lands and approaching Tso Kiagar, Rigzin announced that the clutch was not working. The news seemed like a bomb had fallen on our car. The car stopped, it wouldn’t go. Rigzin said not to worry as he had his own clutch kit which he can install. We got down, I was the helping hand while Rigzin did all he could. The area was so remote we could not see any cars passing us from any direction – we were praying that some car should come and check it out and the car would get fixed. Suddenly one car came, it stopped as well. The car was heading towards Tso Moriri. Without offering any assistance it went away. I was irritated to see people clicking photos of our hapless situation!! That must be a heck of a snap of one car stranded in the middle of nowhere.

A couple of hours passed and we started pondering over the fact whether we should start working towards Tso Moriri when Rigzin said we could start now as he had installed the new clutch kit. We were ecstatic, but our ecstasy did not last long as the clutch was still not working. We had to push it from behind so that Rigzin could start it on neutral gear. Changing the gear was all but an imagination now.

However the car started on neutral and downhill was no problem – we passed Tso Kiagar and then the ascent started for Namashang La – the car stopped. Rigzin, I don’t know how, kept on pressing the clutch and managed to change the gear to second. The car started again, it feels like we were going in a slow-motion like in movies. However, it was around 2.30 pm when we reached Sumdo – we crossed the journey in around 6 hours which should take not more than a couple of hours!

We had some lunch – Maggi again – at Sumdo. It was pretty evident that we could not make it to Sarchu today. So we were thinking whether we should stay at Sumdo itself or head towards Tso Kar. Rigzin, still trying to fix the car for the second time, suggested Tso Kar. I was doubtful whether we can even make it to Tso Kar, but he said he would do his best. Hat’s off to his driving skill, patience and the smile – he must have acquired these skills during his days with the Army! Slowly but surely we started once again. To add insult to injury, the road beyond Sumdo was like hell as we were climing another pass Polakongka La. It was all ‘follow tyre marks on the pebbled road’. The car did all sort of tricks – it skidded, went backwards, it stopped multiple times at places, but we made it finally when we saw tarred road after the mountain pass. From then on it was a straight forward drive – for us at around 30 kmph only on 2^nd gear – to Tso Kar. For this whole stretch, naturally, neither we had the morale to click photos nor the courage to stop the car for any reason.

Tso Kar, a glimpse of happiness

When we managed to descend from Polakongka La, we got a glimpse of a blue lake lying at least 5 kms ahead – Tso Kar as Rigzin announced. Finally! It was around 4.30 pm. As we drove ahead, the lake seemed bigger and bigger and eventually we could identify that there were a couple of adjacent lakes instead of one – they must have been a single lake at ancient times.

Tso Kar, the first view

Can you spot the Kiangs?

Like Tso Kiagar, Tso Kar was also surrounded by snowcapped mountains – Rigzin here mentioned that those mountains are shelter of Ibex and Snow Leopards and in winter they come to lowlands. Under the setting sun, Tso Kar was glimmering. The heavenly beauty indeed lifted our spirits. We could even see the Tso Kar village at a distance.

Tso Kar Wetland Reserve

Wetland Reserve of Tso Kar

Approaching Tso Kar Village

At around 5.15pm we reached Tso Kar village and managed to get a great room at a great deal at the Tso Kar Resort, courtesy Rigzin. The resort was amazingly located – a bit far from both the lake and the village which enhanced the calmness surrounding the resort. The staffs were too cordial and instantaneously we felt at home and our dampened morale got somewhat rejuvenated. Rigzin mentioned, since there was no mechanic until he reaches Leh, he would manage a separate car from Leh which would drop us at Manali. He went away to make phone calls from the resort and we started roaming around.

The place looked like a huge open ground surrounded by yellow mountains from all directions. The setting sunrays made the whole place look like molten gold. And it was too cold because of the emptiness and close proximity to the snow ranges. In our opinion it was the coldest place so far during this journey (little did we know what we still had to face), The staff mentioned that the owner of the resort was actually a guide, working part-time with the National Geographic and CNN photographers, as many of them frequently come here to shoot the snow leopard and the ibexes. In addition to that the Tso Kar Wetland Reserve houses thousands of migratory birds every year.

 

First Hut of the Tso Kar Village

Tents of Tso Kar Camp and Resort

 

Tso Kar Resort Building

Vast emptiness all over

Tso Kar Village - under the setting sun

Tso Kar Resort and Camp - a fantastically located heavenly haven

The cold was become unbearable slowly as the dark prevailed soon. We watched the TV at the dining hall and chatted with the friendly staffs. India was playing Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup, and all of us watched the TV together and were cheering for India. I realized, though we all were from different social and cultural background and belonged to different ethnicity we were bonded by one common thread – we were Indians. I realized the meaning of unity in diversity once more. I salute Ladakh to make me truly feel the essence of these phrases.

We had a great food and India won the match – a perfectly satisfactory combination to sleep in peace. Moreover, Rigzin now was the bearer of some good news as he intimated us that he managed to get hold of a car returning to Manali, which we pick us up from Debring (at Manali-Leh highway) and drop us at Manali with a night halt at Jispa in between. The day finally ended thus on a good note.

To be Continued...

Next: On Manali Leh Highway - the Real Adventure Begins

The Chronicles of Ladakh - Part 11 - The Magical Tso Moriri

Previous: The Remoteness of Hanle

Day 11, 18th September, 2012

Hanle > Nyoma > Loma > Mahe > Sumdo > Namashang La > Tso Kiagar > Korzok (161 Km)

The Journey

Next morning, leaving the cosiness behind proved to be more difficult than we anticipated. We aimed to start at 8 in the morning but we could manage to set out at 9.15 am!! The room was so comfortable and the breakfast so alluring that we just couldn’t get up on time and went on stuffing ourselves shamelessly.

Anyway, Rigzin advised to skip the visit to the Hanle Monastery as the journey to Tso Moriri would take time and there would be nothing new at the Monastery. We obeyed his wisely advises and thus made up for some of the lost time.

Rigzin as usual started his humorous anecdotes and the never ending list of his stories. This is because of this quality of him, all the journeys seemed so smooth and easy – his smile never leaves his face. On top of that the day was bright and sunny which lifted our spirit. The Hanle Monastery seemed like no less than some world famous Roman or Greek architecture as it shined on top of the hillock which we visited yesterday from a distance.

Hanle Monastery at the Hilltop

Through the incredible meadows – it seemed more unearthly under broad daylight – we drove on. As I mentioned earlier we would need to backtrack till Mahe. And towards Mahe the landscapes were again fascinated us. Colourful and occasional patches of green served as a great contrast under the barren landscapes. Hordes of Kiangs were grazing on the valleys around. Nomads sometimes pitched their tents in and around these green valleys – we just were thrilled imagining how their lives could be. Perhaps we could never have so much guts to take on the adventure.

The Curious Kiang Family

We reached Mahe from where we took a diversion through a small wooden bridge towards Tso Moriri. The roads were sometimes good, sometimes ok and sometimes horrible but always remote. We reached Sumdo village at around 1.30 pm where we had our ‘luxurious’ lunch with a bowl of Maggi noodles – in my honest opinion noodles should be considered as one of the most useful inventions of mankind as you can get it anywhere and everywhere. From Sumdo another road actually bifurcated towards Tso Kar, which in turn will converge into the Manali Leh Highway.

Sumdo Village

We started from Sumdo and within no time the roads started going uphill as we were approaching another pass – Namashang La. Soon enough we were on top of it. We didn’t spend much time at the top.

Tso Kiagar

We were ecstatic to see a glimpse of a lake but Rigzin mentioned it is just a small lake called Tso Kiagar, and Tso Moriri is still around 1.5 hours from there. But the location of Tso Kiagar was fantastic. Surrounded by snow capped mountains from a couple of sides, Tso Kiagar was glittering with its part bluish – part greenish water. That was really a splendid scenery to watch. And the drive besides Tso Kiagar was an added bonus.

 

 

 

 

 

A Day with Tso Moriri

As soon as we left Tso Kiagar, the tarred road disappeared completely and it was all ‘make-your-own-road-or-follow-the-tyre-marks’ drive. We did both. Suddenly Rigzin stopped his car. We were inquisitive to know the reason. He pointed his finger towards the front, we followed. We now could catch the first view of Tso Moriri!

Make your own way or follow the tyre marks

Remoteness

Tso Moriri - the first glimpse

We drove towards the horrible roads towards our planned destination for the day and slowly, very slowly Tso Moriri appeared in front of us with all its vastness. After Pangong Tso we didn’t actually expect Tso Moriri to be this vast. It was also spread over an enormous area I guess. There were prominent shades of different blue-green colours of water. We drove past the lake towards the Korzok village after submitting our permits at the entrance check post as we had to search for an accommodation first.

 

Shades of Tso Moriri

Korzok village was now visible in front of us. It was like a stair, built as various steps in the mountains. The weather was chilled and the gutsy wind actually brought down the temperature even more. We were shivering – Tso Moriri was at higher altitude even than that of Pangong.

Korzok Village

Rigzin, as usual, did all the hard bargaining and got us a great room with a great view at the Nomadic Life Camp and Resort, needless to say with a great bargain again. We got freshened up quickly and devoured some Maggi once again. We felt to have regained our enthusiasm to spend some time at the shore of the lake. So we started roaming around.

Unlike Pangong, Tso Moriri is a fresh water lake and hence it houses many species of birds and flora. Though we were not fortunate enough to see any birds but we could see the shores of the lake were fully covered by various kinds of grasses and perhaps orchids, giving birth to many combination of natural colours. At one side fencing was present to prevent trespassers to enter the conserved area of the Tso Moriri Wetland Reserve. Rest of the area is open to tourists.

The lake was truly beautiful. It was surrounded by mountains from all directions, some of them covered by snow. The lake generated their reflection on its still water. Blue sky, white patches of clouds, barren yellowish mountains and blue and green water was a perfect combination for the nature lovers and photography enthusiasts. But it didn’t last very long as suddenly the cloud engulfed the whole place and we could see the mountain peaks getting whiter as snow was falling rapidly. Not good when you have a camera to protect and you have nothing to protect it. So we had to return to our resorts.

 

 

 

 

That was the pnly aviator we saw

Magical colours of Tso Moriri

 

 

Tso Moriri Weteland Reserve

Photography Enthusiasts were plenty

Within no time, dark set in. And when it was dark, there was nothing to do apart from the chitchats with the hotel staffs or fellow travellers. We did the same with occasional hot tea. Outside it was cold like hell. The hotel manager mentioned it was close to zero degree Celsius because of the wind.

Dinner was great with lots of options and quantity was enough for 3 persons. Now it was time to go under the quilts which we religiously did and prepared ourselves for another long journey the next day. As per the plan, as we were nearing the end of our journey, we would take the Leh- Manali highway via Tso Kar and reach Sarchu. But, man proposes God disposes. We shall see what happened to the plan in the next post – it was all adventure which we wished for.

To Be Continued...

Next: Towards Tso Kar - A Slice of Heaven