Road Trip to Leh (India): July 2009 – Day 5 of 10

Pangong Lake (Leh)

A most extraordinary day indeed. We saw the craftsmanship of Mother Nature, cooked noodles on our grill near the most remarkable lake in the Himalayas, risked drowning while crossing an angry gushing stream, and our taxi almost toppled while negotiating a steep diversion from the blocked road.

Agenda for the day was to visit the Pangong Lake, 150 Km from Leh. Permits are required to go to the lake, as also to the Nubra Valley via Khardung La pass. We got one from an agent at one of the several adventure tourism shops in Leh for Rs. 170 per person. The permit is a single page with names of the tourists and the validity period (ours was 4 days); you can visit Pangong and Nubra with the same permit. You need to carry multiple copies (8-10) of the permit since the authorities keep a copy at each checkpoint.

We started at around 8 AM from our guesthouse. There is a small police post at Karu where you need to stop and get the permit checked. There is no clear signpost asking you to stop there, but it is necessary and you have to watch out for the place – it is located right after you take a left from Karu towards Pangong.

The road is good for the most part. You cross the Chang La pass en route, which is the world’s third highest pass after Khardung La and Tanglang La. However there is one really rough stretch where vehicles often get stuck, and it is aptly named the Pagal Nullah (mad stream). It is a point where water from multiple streams floods the road during the day. The water comes from melting ice and the level rises as the day progresses. It is usually very tough to cross after noon. Pangong Lake lies only a few kilometers beyond this spot.

The driver was somehow able to cross the stream and we reached Pangong around 1 PM.

The first glimpse of the lake was enough to make us forget our sore backs from the 5 hour journey. It was just like we had seen in the hundred photographs of the lake before coming here. The lake is located right in the middle of barren mountains and runs for 130 kilometers. Its water is salty, crystal clear and a lovely shade of blue. It looks its best when the sun is shining brightly, just as it was when we reached there.

After savoring the unspoilt beauty of Pangong for a few minutes, we took out our bar-be-cue grill from our taxi. A few minutes later a bowl of Top Ramen noodles was simmering over the coals we had bought yesterday. We were living the dream.

After a great couple of hours at the lake, we headed back to Leh. This meant we had to cross the Pagal Nullah again; only this time, the water level would be higher. We got off the car when we reached the stream which allowed the driver to easily cross over. But this meant that we had to cross the stream on foot now. Three of us were able to somehow tread the strong current and cross the highly uneven pebbled bed of the stream. However one of us was stuck and was finding it tough to wade through. Water seemed to be flowing down in increased volumes every minute and we were losing breath quickly in the rarified air. We made a sort of human chain finally allowing our friend to cross the stream. We required a few big puffs from our oxygen cylinder after this adventure.

Further on, the road was blocked by heavy machinery for repairing the road. The only person who could operate the machine was away. To bypass it we had to use the diversion – a steep slope by the side of the road which joined the road a few meters down. We thought it unwise to keep sitting in the car as it performed this maneuver. As it started moving down the rough slope, the rear tyres lifted off the ground. We pushed the car down from the rear and it managed to roll down without toppling over. Oxygen puffs again.

We reached Leh in the evening, signing out at the police posts where we had made a register entry while coming. After a light dinner we retired to our guesthouse. Today’s events had left some of us very tired and we called off our tomorrow’s trip to Nubra Valley. At most we could see the Khardung La pass and come back. This journey would be an hour and a half one side, compared to a five hour one-side journey to Nubra (via Khardung La).