Pangong Tso - the enchanted lake

                         It was too cold when we woke gradually beneath the sheets that morning. The owner of the tent was boiling water using huge logs of wood outside the tent, which helped us to spend some time around it to get a little warmth. After freshening up within an hour, we began the ride on day 9 from Hundar, our hub the day before. Few of us got their tanks filled from a nearby and only petrol pump. Mine was almost full, and had a couple of 5 liter cans of extra petrol as well. So we decided to manage with that. The road amidst sand dunes of the desert was a perfect canvas to do some really nice photo-shoot, and obviously we were not ready to miss it. After clicking a number of brilliant photos we continued the ride.

                         The ride of the day was one of the most challenging ones. Three-fourth of the distance was through really bad roads. The road through Nubra valley was covered with almost half-a-foot thick sand which required extremely careful maneuvering of the bike. One of us even slipped and almost fell at some point, but fortunately nothing harmful happened. Once we were past the Nubra valley, the ride was through the beautiful Changthang wildlife sanctuary. This protected area is home to some of the rare species of preserved wild animals. We spotted mormots, in fact plenty of them on the way. They looked very familiar with the riders and cooperated well for photographing them. We also spotted plenty of wild horses grazing in this valley.

Mormots

                       
                         There were two routes to the destination of the day. One had decent roads but is about 60kms more than the other, while the second route even though lesser in terms of kms, had terrible roads. No wonder, like any other people behind adventure we too opted for the latter option. We came across a number of water crossings and we got only negligible distance of decent roads on that route. At some places the entire land looked like a dried river bed and even figuring out the direction to be taken was hard.

At the Pangong Lake…

                         After covering more than 170 kms, by 5PM we got the first glimpse of the destination of the day – the Pangong Lake. The first glimpse of this mesmerizing blue pristine water body with the mountains in the backdrop simply took away all the fatigue of the tiring ride. This salt water lake is situated at a height of 14,270ft and is 134kms long with 60% of its length lying in China. Due to high salinity and extreme climatic conditions, the lake doesn’t have fishes, especially on the Indian side, but a few species of fishes is said to be spotted in the Chinese side. However, we spotted a small crustacean in the water. There were also few types of ducks and water birds in the lake but we couldn’t get a closer look of them, as they were swimming at a far distance from the banks.

                         This alluring lake and its vicinity was the shooting location for many movies, 3 idiots a famous one of them. To commemorate it the models of bum chairs and moped used in the movie is placed near the lake, which had become a mandatory photo-shoot point for all visitors, no exception for us too. 

                         As it got darker, temperature was also dropping faster, which forced us to leave the banks and get some shelter. We got a camp at a price of 900 for two rooms for 7 people. After having a few veg momos for dinner we went under the wraps of thick blankets.

Asked them just to look at the camera, and look at their impromptu pose..!

The nightmare…

                         The night was fiercely cold such that getting into sleep was not easy at all. It was so hard to breath, with the nose paining and I was mostly breathing through mouth. By 10PM when we were getting sleep, I heard some noise from the next room where the rest of our group were staying. The walls of the rooms were made of plywood, so we could easily talk with people in the next room. The noise was because of the chaos happened when one of the guys who joined us from Leh had developed breathing problems. I rushed to the room with the oxygen can and Diamox tablets we carried with us. After half a dozen inhales from the oxygen can he showed signs of improvement and within 15 minutes he recovered completely. The poor chaps had no idea about AMS or the precautions to be taken while travelling to such high altitudes. Luckily we had all those necessary items with us and we used take Diamox tablets daily while we were on the mountains. This time those items saved him too from any fatal condition. Only the next day we came to know that the temperature had dropped to almost -10°C last night…

More Passes…

                         The next day after spending almost an hour in the shores of the Pangong Lake we continued the ride. The main challenge for the day was the Chang La. This pass situated at an elevation of more than 17,600ft is also one of the highest and dangerous pass to drive on. A stretch of 25 plus kms on either side of the pass is road with loose dirt, rocks and slush, which made the climb as well as the descent very challenging. The temperature was 0 – 5°C which made our hands struggling to keep hold on the accelerator. We used the same technique of holding hands near the engine to get some warmth, as we did while climbing Khardung La. There were frozen water streams alongside the road and we also experience mild snow fall. On reaching the top, there was hot tea ready for the riders, put by the army in front of the military camp there.

                         After a ride of about 2 hours we entered good roads, and reached the nearest town, Karu after 3PM. After having lunch from there, we parted ways with the four riders who joined us from Leh. Since then, it was just the three of us. Staying in Sarchu in such extreme cold was not a good option. So we halted at Rumtse for the day, where we got a good economical home stay, whose hospitality needed special mention…