Maira: Exlopring Ladakh

Mystical Ladakh- the land of snow covered peaks, beautiful lakes, Gompas and mystic culture. We decided to explore this heaven on earth in April 2009.

Ladakh the land of cold desert is a land like no other. I am so fascinated by this place that I would recommend everyone to visit this stark beauty once in a lifetime. The best time to visit Leh Ladakh is between end of April to end of September. From October till March it is inaccessible due to extreme cold weather.

We took the flight from Delhi to Leh. Leh is the commercial centre of Ladakh .The aerial view while travelling from Delhi to Leh is panoramic and heavenly. As soon as we landed in Leh we could feel the chill in the air, and the scenic beauty was spell bounding.

Leh

Leh offers a lot of places to explore, admire and enjoy the main ones being the Leh Palace, Shey Palace, Thiksey Monastery, Shanti Stupa, Stok Palace, the beautiful valleys and not to forget the bazaars and the lovely food prepared and served with such warmth and hospitality.

It has a lot of beautiful monasteries. One can feel the peace and serenity inside the monasteries, some of the statues of Buddha are really ancient.

Leh Palace showcases the Tibetan architecture. It is an old palace of the Kings of Ladakh, with nine stories, and has many Buddhist paintings to admire.

Shanti Stupa is also called the Japanese Pagoda , Shanti Stupa means World Peace in Japanese. It is a magnificent white dome-like structure with a huge Buddha Statue. This spot offers beautiful sunset and sun rise view.

Shanti Stupa

View from Shanti Stupa

Shey Palace is the oldest of all the palaces in this region and the Thiksey Monastry is one of the most beautiful monasteries with a wide variety of the images of Buddha. Chamba Temple, Sankar Gompa and Leh Gompa are worth visiting.

In the colourful bazaars of Leh we found everything, from silver trinkets to beautiful beaded jewellery pieces, carpets, woollen and silk scarfs of vibrant colours, antique Buddha pieces etc.

The next day we headed for Uleytopko, enroute the Magnetic Hill and Lamayaru monastery. Magnetic hill- the name because the place seemed to possess some magnetic properties. Our stay was at the Uleytopko Ethinc resort which was ideal for camping. The gush of the streams was music to the ears at night.

River Indus- on our way to Uleytopko- love the hues of blue

From Uleytopko our next destination was Nubra via the Khardungla Pass

Khardungla Pass-is the world’s highest motorable road at an altitude of 18300 feet. The drive made me feel a little dizzy and to add to that was the lowering temperature. I was craving for a hot cup of tea which I was lucky to get. We spotted some small shops making and serving Hot Maggi noodles. Maggi noodles at 18,300 feet would have felt so gratifying J

Khardungla

The next day we drove to Nubra Valley also known as the Valley of Flowers. The divine green land offered a beautiful sight. The cold desert and sand dunes were so unique and we were thrilled to see black hairy double hump camels.

Nubra

Double hump camels

The cold desert

After Nubra we were heading towards our much awaited destination - The Pangong Lake.

On reaching there I was awe struck and speechless, I still am, I have no words to describe the beauty of the Pangong Lake .It lays right in the middle of the mountains on a height of 14000 feet. Truly majestic, enthralling and so close to heaven. The blue expanse of water is expansive and the hues of blue are a visual treat. Twenty five percent of this lake lies in India and the rest in China. We spent some more time gazing at the beautiful lake and wondered how lucky were those few inhabitants who were living in this village Spangmik surrounded by this heaven .We made most of the view by having a lunch there , a small hotel opened by a tibetan couple offering simple food.

Our beautiful journey was coming to an end, and we drove back to Leh travelling through various valleys and passing by magnificient land scape.
Evening was spent at leisure in Leh walking across the colourful bazaars, shopping for beaded necklaces, torqiouse earrings and having my favourite momos with some spicy chutney :)

Ladakh is truely a paradise, simply out of this world and this was indeed once in a lifetime experience, the memories of which will always remain close to my heart.