Part 4 - Pangong Tso
Pangong Tso (or Pangong Lake; Tso: Ladakhi for lake) is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas situated at a height of about 4,350 m (14,270 ft). It is 134 km (83 mi) long and extends from India to China. 60% of the length of the lake lies in China. The lake is 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its broadest point. During winter the lake freezes completely, despite being saline water.
I have been to places far and beyond, I have traveled trails where nature draws a picture which is nirvana to the naked eye. I have not seen it all, but yes, I have seen Pangong changing its colours every minute in sunlight. A brakish lake at 4200+ meters above sea level. To confirm the fact that indeed there was a sea in-between the Indian peninsula and the Asian land mass.
We started very early for Pangong, it was 0700 HRS when we were ready to proceed, after a few small hiccups, we made it to the first check-point where our ILP (Inner line permits were checked). Michelle had been unwell throughout this trip with a bad stomach infection. She was feeling a bit better today and we pushed along.
We had to travel to the main route which involved the trip to Chang La (world's third highest morotable pass/road). We had heard that it had snowed heavy in Chang La the day before, however, our driver (Sonam) was confident that he could make it just like he did the day before. We were slowly climbing up and my Casio Pro-Trek was registering an 8% gradient with a steep incline - when Sonam just muttered.."Jam"
Immediately we approached two stationary SUVs, we just stood behind them and out man stepped out to check what was happening. We waited for a while, and then he came back, saying...."too much snow, not possible to move ahead without chains", then after a bit of a pause, "don't worry, I have chains". I asked the others to remain inside as I was feeling a bit better, I slowly stepped out, clicked a few pictures and quietly slid back in, and making sure I do not exhert. At this high an altitude, a bit of an exertion can be deadly.
The group of guys, honeymooners, casual tourists were already partying outside, some playing in the snow, others just loitering around. We decided to stay inside and relax. It had been more than 20 minutes and my head started aching a bit...I knew that the altitude was getting to me.
In the mean time, I stepped out again, guided Sonam while he fixed the chains onto he rear tires and once this was done, we were the first ones from the convoy to go up ahead of the rest. After overtaking around 10/12 cars, we stopped on the bottom of an incline...where a Qualis was busy trying to climb this incline but, in front of us slide 15 meters down when the driver slammed the breaks dead! it was skidding, and I had my camera on. It slide and hit the bank and became dead-still, just meters off the side of the mountain. It was scary for us as well! let alone the occupants of that car.
Once these guys stepped aside, we moved along and were the first to arrive at Chang La, the pass named after Changla Baba. It was cold! It was snowing and the clouds were moving in a out quickly. At a pass, the could move in and out quickly as this is some kind of a wind tunnel. The weather on one side of the pass is always different from the other side.
While there was fresh snow on one side, it was sunny and non windy the other side. We moved along and pushed along the winding road towards Tangste, which is 40 Kms from he lake. We passed many army camps and depots and came across a place where the road disappeared after every 50/10 meters - we knew that its the Pagal Nullah and we are extremely close. Pagal Nullah is 5 kms before the lake and is the main water source from the north end of lake. Every evening around 4 the nullah floods and till arounf 12 midnight to 2 AM there is water flowing constantly from this Nullah to the lake. However, during the day it is completely dry. There is a lot of wildlife here in this region - the Marmots, Kiangs (Wild Asses), Yaks, Wild Horses and also a variety of birds, however, I saving one tiny detail for the last :)
Our first sight of the lake made us all believe...that yes, we came here for this and EUREKA, this is just heaven. We have not seen anything so majestic in our lives and coming to this lake was simply amazing! There are no words to describe how we felt, experienced, and would cherish! It’s the place we can come and visit again and again. I won't type much, just enjoy the view....
Thats China on the far edge :)
Soltitude
Me and Mich
Neil and Evi
Migratory birds @ 4200 meters
Flight
After this was over, we just thought ... now the long journey back to Leh. We started, all of us feeling tired and drowsy. We wanted rest but could not sleep because of the high altitude. We were rushing back towards Chang La, the sun was beating
down and the snow was melting like crazy at the pass - there was literally rivers (streams) flowing down from all directions. We got delayed for a bit towards the pass and we made one too many rest stops. While descending from Chang La, all of us were tired and sleepy and just after a turn our driver yelled..."Oh Fox! Look" we all got up! and I shouted from the back seat..."it’s not a fox, it’s a Lynx!" all the others thought, "what is that?" it was the best wild-life sighting of the trip! The driver told us that he had not seen something like this ever! and he has been in Ladakh for over 15 years now. It was a rare sighting. Later in Leh we learned that Lynx sighting is not at all common and in this part of the world, the Eurasian Lynx exists. We were so glad that we did something which (we believe) only a few get to do!
This was the most successful day of the trip, beyond this...things did not act up well for us and we were slowly but surely stopped dead by the weather.
I have been to places far and beyond, I have traveled trails where nature draws a picture which is nirvana to the naked eye. I have not seen it all, but yes, I have seen Pangong changing its colours every minute in sunlight. A brakish lake at 4200+ meters above sea level. To confirm the fact that indeed there was a sea in-between the Indian peninsula and the Asian land mass.
We started very early for Pangong, it was 0700 HRS when we were ready to proceed, after a few small hiccups, we made it to the first check-point where our ILP (Inner line permits were checked). Michelle had been unwell throughout this trip with a bad stomach infection. She was feeling a bit better today and we pushed along.
We had to travel to the main route which involved the trip to Chang La (world's third highest morotable pass/road). We had heard that it had snowed heavy in Chang La the day before, however, our driver (Sonam) was confident that he could make it just like he did the day before. We were slowly climbing up and my Casio Pro-Trek was registering an 8% gradient with a steep incline - when Sonam just muttered.."Jam"
Immediately we approached two stationary SUVs, we just stood behind them and out man stepped out to check what was happening. We waited for a while, and then he came back, saying...."too much snow, not possible to move ahead without chains", then after a bit of a pause, "don't worry, I have chains". I asked the others to remain inside as I was feeling a bit better, I slowly stepped out, clicked a few pictures and quietly slid back in, and making sure I do not exhert. At this high an altitude, a bit of an exertion can be deadly.
The group of guys, honeymooners, casual tourists were already partying outside, some playing in the snow, others just loitering around. We decided to stay inside and relax. It had been more than 20 minutes and my head started aching a bit...I knew that the altitude was getting to me.
In the mean time, I stepped out again, guided Sonam while he fixed the chains onto he rear tires and once this was done, we were the first ones from the convoy to go up ahead of the rest. After overtaking around 10/12 cars, we stopped on the bottom of an incline...where a Qualis was busy trying to climb this incline but, in front of us slide 15 meters down when the driver slammed the breaks dead! it was skidding, and I had my camera on. It slide and hit the bank and became dead-still, just meters off the side of the mountain. It was scary for us as well! let alone the occupants of that car.
Once these guys stepped aside, we moved along and were the first to arrive at Chang La, the pass named after Changla Baba. It was cold! It was snowing and the clouds were moving in a out quickly. At a pass, the could move in and out quickly as this is some kind of a wind tunnel. The weather on one side of the pass is always different from the other side.
While there was fresh snow on one side, it was sunny and non windy the other side. We moved along and pushed along the winding road towards Tangste, which is 40 Kms from he lake. We passed many army camps and depots and came across a place where the road disappeared after every 50/10 meters - we knew that its the Pagal Nullah and we are extremely close. Pagal Nullah is 5 kms before the lake and is the main water source from the north end of lake. Every evening around 4 the nullah floods and till arounf 12 midnight to 2 AM there is water flowing constantly from this Nullah to the lake. However, during the day it is completely dry. There is a lot of wildlife here in this region - the Marmots, Kiangs (Wild Asses), Yaks, Wild Horses and also a variety of birds, however, I saving one tiny detail for the last :)
Our first sight of the lake made us all believe...that yes, we came here for this and EUREKA, this is just heaven. We have not seen anything so majestic in our lives and coming to this lake was simply amazing! There are no words to describe how we felt, experienced, and would cherish! It’s the place we can come and visit again and again. I won't type much, just enjoy the view....
Thats China on the far edge :)
Soltitude
Me and Mich
Neil and Evi
Migratory birds @ 4200 meters
Flight
After this was over, we just thought ... now the long journey back to Leh. We started, all of us feeling tired and drowsy. We wanted rest but could not sleep because of the high altitude. We were rushing back towards Chang La, the sun was beating
down and the snow was melting like crazy at the pass - there was literally rivers (streams) flowing down from all directions. We got delayed for a bit towards the pass and we made one too many rest stops. While descending from Chang La, all of us were tired and sleepy and just after a turn our driver yelled..."Oh Fox! Look" we all got up! and I shouted from the back seat..."it’s not a fox, it’s a Lynx!" all the others thought, "what is that?" it was the best wild-life sighting of the trip! The driver told us that he had not seen something like this ever! and he has been in Ladakh for over 15 years now. It was a rare sighting. Later in Leh we learned that Lynx sighting is not at all common and in this part of the world, the Eurasian Lynx exists. We were so glad that we did something which (we believe) only a few get to do!
This was the most successful day of the trip, beyond this...things did not act up well for us and we were slowly but surely stopped dead by the weather.
posted by GameSetCatch at
10:05 AM
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