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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| That was the pnly aviator we saw |
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| Magical colours of Tso Moriri |
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| Tso Moriri Weteland Reserve |
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| 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...
